Matthew chapter 20, and let's
begin reading in verse 29. We'll read to the end. And as they departed from Jericho,
a great multitude followed him. And behold, two blind men sitting
by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out,
saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude
rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. But they cried
out the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called
them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They
say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus
had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately their
eyes received sight and they followed him. There are a few different accounts
of our Lord healing blind men. few different locations in the
scripture. And sometimes it will say that
there were two blind men in a certain account, like it says here in
this one. And then in another place on
the same account, speaking of the same account, it will only
acknowledge one blind man. And it doesn't say that there
was only one blind man in those other places. It only acknowledges
one of them. So we tend to think there was
only one of them. And that's the case for what
we just read. Because of how the scripture
is worded, it's commonly believed that one of these men was Bartimaeus.
Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. You read it in the other
accounts, and it says there was a man sitting by the highway
side, and there was. But in Matthew's account, it
says there were two men, and one of them was Bartimaeus. I
love the story of Blind Bartimaeus so much, I wanted to write in
my notes, I think that could be my favorite story, but then
I just couldn't bring myself to write that, I don't, it's
hard to put a favorite, isn't it? But every time that I get
to speak on Blind Bartimaeus, I feel so blessed to get to preach
it, I feel so blessed to just get to make mention of it, and
here it is, all right, we've come to it. But with that being
said, we're not gonna spend our time tonight focusing on his
story. I want us to enter into one truly
glorious thing from this story. And I pray the Lord will open
our hearts to it. I pray he'll open our eyes to
it. I pray he'll make it to be a
blessing. But it says two blind men were
sitting by the highway side begging. Two blind men were sitting there
begging. And verse 34 says, The Lord Jesus Christ had compassion
on them. He had compassion on them. Tonight, I want us to enter into
the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ. I enjoyed studying this
so much and I enjoyed, after I had these notes written out,
I enjoyed so much going back over my notes. And, uh, even
this afternoon, as I went back over these again, I enjoyed this
so much. This is so precious. It's so amazing to think about
to really enter into the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
us to enter in to an attribute of his character. You know how
we all have a character. We all are a certain way. We,
we have attributes and, uh, I want us to look at what goes on in
his mind and what goes on in his heart toward his people,
what he feels, what he desires inwardly and therefore does outwardly. I just want us to see that the
Lord Jesus Christ, our God, is the God of compassion. He truly
is. He truly is the God of great
compassion toward his people. Great compassion. Verse 30 says,
and behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard
that Jesus passed by. When they heard that Jesus passed
by, and again, every time I think about the story of blind Bartimaeus,
you know, you think he had to know who he was. He cried out
to him, he said his name, he had heard about him, and all
of a sudden they hear he is passing by right now. When they heard
that Jesus passed by, now, why did they hear that The Lord Jesus
was passing by. Why did that event come to them? Here's the reason why. It's because
their time was a time of love. Their time was a time of love. That's the case for all of God's
people in God's good time for them. He passes by. He brings
their time of love to them. He doesn't pass by in the way
that he passes by those who do not belong to him. Passing by in judgment. You know,
many in Jericho, he literally passed by in judgment. But for all of his people, he
causes his goodness to pass by them. He brings his goodness.
to them in their appointed time of love. Every child of God has
an appointed time of love. And in that appointed time, the
Lord Jesus Christ passes by. The truth, the gospel, the mercy
of God, there is an Everything about God's people is predestinated,
the way that our lives go. We read about it this morning,
predestinated. You wonder, well, why did I do
this? Or why did this happen to me? Or why am I here? Why
am I there? Everything is appointed to bring God's child to the passing
by of grace, the passing by of goodness. And that's the case
for every soul that belongs to Christ. Turn with me over to
Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel 16. Verse one, it says, again, the
word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause Jerusalem
to know her abominations. And say, thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite and
thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
washed in water to supple thee, thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. He's saying you were an outcast,
you were a heathen. Verse five, none I pitied thee
to do any of these unto thee to have compassion on thee. But
thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy
person in the day that thou was born." That's the awful state
of every child of Adam born into this world. Every man and woman
born into this world. We all enter this world destitute. You know, people naturally think
we enter this world saved and the goal of life is don't mess
it up. That's not how it is. We enter
this world destitute. We're destitute of God. We're
destitute of acceptance with God. We're destitute of salvation. But verse six says, the Lord
said, when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased, and waxen
great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned,
and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now
when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
a time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Compassion. Compassion. He said, no, I pity
thee to have compassion on thee until I pass by. Every soul who
is a chosen recipient of the Lord's compassion, there will
come an appointed point in time for that soul that the Lord will
pass by. Oh Lord, pass by, pass by us. passed by us. He passes by all
of his people on purpose. He comes to all of his people
on purpose. Our Lord passed through Jericho
on purpose. He walked right in front of those
two blind men on purpose. Why? Compassion. Why did the Lord walk right there?
Compassion. Compassion. Our salvation is
the result of His compassion. It's not the result of our works.
It's not the result of our compassion. It's not the result of our love.
It's not the result of our anything. Our salvation is the result of
His compassion, His sovereign compassion. The compassion of
the Lord is a sovereign compassion. He said to Moses, I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. And the gospel for
those two blind men in that very moment was, he was willing to
have compassion on them. Doesn't that touch you? What I want us to find out tonight
is, will he have compassion on us? Will he have compassion on
us? Will the God of compassion have
compassion on you and me? I hope so. I really do. I pray
so. I pray God has compassion on
every soul in this room. I don't believe we should ever
assume that every soul in a given place is. One of the Lords. I pray that's the case right
now. I really do. The definition of compassion
is. to be moved in the heart. It's
the definition of the word. It is to feel sympathy and pity
in the heart for another. That's what happens in the heart
of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. He feels pity for
them. It's amazing to me. He feels
sympathy for them. His all-seeing eye that is constantly
on them, in His heart, He feels pity for them. He feels sympathy
for them. That just really touches me.
Turn over to Psalm 103. Psalm 103, verse eight, it says. The Lord is merciful. Why will
he show mercy? Because the Lord is merciful.
And gracious. Slow to anger, thank God. And plenteous in mercy. He will
not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He
hath not dealt with us after our sins. And every time I read
that, I feel compelled to say, He hath not dealt with us after
our sins because He dealt with Christ after our sins. He dealt
with the Lord Jesus Christ after our sins. He hath not dealt with
us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, So great is His mercy
toward them that fear Him. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Now
watch verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth
our frame. He remembereth that we are dust.
He feels pity for us in his heart. He has compassion on us. He knows what we need, and he
knows how to supply that need. This is what we poor, wretched
sinners need, and this is the need he supplies to us through
his compassion. I want to show you a few places,
okay? Look at a few scriptures with me. Go to Matthew 14. This
is what we need. And this is what he supplies. This is the need that he supplies
through his compassion. Matthew 14. Verse 14, it says, and Jesus
went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion
toward them, and He healed their sick. That's what His compassion
moves Him to do for His people. It moves Him to heal their sickness,
their spiritual sickness, their eternal sickness. And yes, even
sometimes, at times, according to His will, our physical sickness.
Our great need is our spiritual, our eternal sickness. That's
what His compassion did for us. It healed our spiritual, eternal
sickness, our sickness of sin. Look at Matthew 15, verse 32. Then Jesus called His disciples
unto Him and said, I have compassion on the multitude. because they
continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and
I will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way."
That's what his compassion moves him to do for his people. It
moves him to feed them and nourish them and strengthen them. Physically,
yes. But more importantly, spiritually,
he fills the spiritual hunger. And I'm so happy to know that
because we began this service begging him to do so. Lord, speak
to us, talk to us, bless us. What we're saying is we're hungering
and thirsting for righteousness. Fill us. It's in his heart to
do so. He's moved in his heart to do
so for his people, through his word, by his spirit, he feeds
us. Look at Matthew 18. In Matthew 18 here, our Lord
is giving a parable illustrating God's dealings with His people,
illustrating His love toward us. And He said in Matthew 18,
verse 27, Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the
debt. That's what the compassion of
the Lord Jesus Christ moves him to do for his people. That's
what it moved him to do for his people. It moved him to forgive
all their debts to him, all their debts to him. That's what he
did on the cross of Calvary. He removed all of the debts that
his people owed him. He removed everything that was
owed against Him, against His law. He removed it. Look at our text,
Matthew 20, verse 34. So Jesus had compassion on them
and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and
they followed Him. Immediately they received sight.
That's what the compassion of the Savior moves him to do for
his people. It moves him to open blind eyes,
spiritual eyes. Lord, do that. Do that. Open blind eyes. It moves him
to open deaf ears, spiritual ears. It moves him to cause the
spiritually lame to walk. the spiritual lepers to be cleansed,
the spiritually dead to be raised up to life again. And all of
that compassion comes through the spiritually poor having the
gospel preached to them. We're not going to turn, but
2 Kings 13 verse 23 says, Our Lord is going to have all of
this gracious compassion on his people because he made a covenant
to do so. He said, I made a covenant with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I'm gonna keep my covenant. I
made a covenant to have compassion. I made a promise to have compassion.
And I'm gonna do that. Now this is what I want us to
understand from our text and from every other place in the
scripture that mentions the compassion of our Lord. Our Lord is compassionate
to every soul that needs His compassion. Our Lord is compassionate
to every soul that needs His compassion. Will the Lord be
compassionate toward us? Will His mercy and compassion
be extended directly to us? Well, do we need His compassion? Do we need His compassion? Honestly,
there are many people who do not. It's shocking. It is shocking to me how many
people do not, in their heart, in their soul, in their mind,
in their cry, do not need the Lord's compassion, do not need
His merciful compassion. There are many people on this
earth who do not cry out from the depths of his soul, Lord,
please have mercy on me. Please have compassion on me.
If any sinner truly cries out to him for his compassion, God is the one who made the sinner
cry out for it. If a sinner does that, God is
the one who made the sinner do that. It is the compassion of
the Lord that causes a sinner to cry out for his compassion
in the first place. Therefore, that crying out for
his compassion, that's the evidence of his compassion. Does that
make sense? Do we desperately need for his
compassion to be on us? Do we desperately need that?
Listen to the cry of these two blind men. Verse 30 says, and
behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard
that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord,
thou Son of David. Please have compassion on us. Lord Jesus, do you ever get into
this place where you just desperately? I feel like, you know, to my
shame, I probably speak on behalf of all of us, but a lot of times
our prayer is lip service. We're going through the motion.
We know we need to. We know we should. We, you know,
we pray and we'll sit down before a meal. Well, you can't eat until
you pray and all of those things. But there are moments in time
where, honestly, I mean, you could not cry. Your soul is being
wrung out like water. You just couldn't cry out to
Him more from the sincere depths of your soul than you're doing.
Like, there are times when you know you're praying, you're crying
out. Lord, please have mercy on us. Please have compassion
on us. They said, Lord, they said, Jesus,
Savior, Thou Son of David, our King, you're the Savior, you're
the King. We desperately need your merciful
compassion to be on us. Verse 31, and the multitude rebuked
them because they should hold their peace. But they cried the
more saying, have mercy on us. Oh Lord, thou son of David. Lord,
we will not be able to stop crying until you have compassion on
us. Merciful compassion on us. Verse 32 says, and Jesus stood
still. I love those words. Man, do I
love those words. It comforts my heart to know
that every soul who needs His merciful compassion will receive
His merciful compassion. Every soul that, I mean in absolute
sincerity and desperation, Christ Lord, please don't pass me by. Don't just keep walking. I need
you. Every soul, every time, He will
stand still. Every time. It says in verse
32 in Jesus stood still. And called them. And said, what
will ye that I shall do unto you? He knew what things they
had need of. He had already purpose to do
it for him. That's why he passed by him.
But our Lord is going to give us the opportunity to say, please.
Lord, please, would you please do this for us? Let's all cry
that to Him. Lord, would you please do this
for us? Verse 32, they say, Jesus stood
still and called them and said, what will ye that I shall do
unto you? They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. Lord, that our eyes may be opened,
that our spiritual eyes may be opened. I encourage every person
here, ask the Lord that in sincerity. Lord, open my spiritual eyes. I'm asking Him that. Open my
spiritual eyes. Our Lord said this is life eternal,
that they might know thee. I mean truly know thee, truly
see thee. The only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Having our spiritual eyes open
to see Christ, who is our only hope, that's salvation. That is salvation. When our eyes
are open to see that through the blood of His cross, everything
is finished, everything is complete, that's salvation. Seeing Him,
seeing the truth, that is salvation. Verse 33, they say unto Him,
Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them. and touched their eyes and immediately
they received sight and they followed him. And that's what
salvation will bring. That's what salvation will produce.
That is always the end result of the compassion of the Lord.
Every soul that receives it follows him every time. Where else can they go? He has
the words of life, beautiful words. Wonderful words, compassionate
words of life. Now, in closing, let me say to
everybody here who needs the compassion of the Lord, if you're
one of the ones who desperately from the depths of your soul
cries out to God for his compassion, then I have good news for you.
I have very good news for you. If you need his compassion, Then
let me end this message with the gospel of good news to you,
all right? Turn with me over to Lamentations chapter three. Just after Jeremiah, Lamentations
chapter three. Verse 21 says, this I recall
to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore, will I hope
in him. Psalm 86, 15 says, but thou,
O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering,
and plenteous in mercy and truth. If you need the compassion of
his mercy, his grace, his truth, all you have to do is cry out
for it. He has a never-ending supply
of compassion for His people. Lord Jesus, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. Have compassion on us. Here is
the promise of our Lord according to the word of His own covenant.
Ask and you'll receive. If He has caused you to ask,
if He has made you to be willing to ask, Because he could swear
by no other, he swore by himself. He said, I swear to God Almighty,
you ask for my mercy and my compassion, you'll receive it. That is good news. That is such
good news. Lord, reveal the evidence of
your work in us. Cause us to cry out. Turn us
and we'll be turned. Cause us to cry and we'll cry.
Lord, cause us to cry out. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on us. All right.