I am honored once again to introduce
my dear friend, Pastor Larry Criss from Sylacauga, Alabama. Dear brother, we love you much.
God be with you. Come and brag on our Savior,
shall you? Good evening. So good to be back with you. It has been, and I speak on behalf
of my wife and myself, it's been a delight been such a pleasure. The fellowship this weekend,
these last few days have been just delightful. We needed it. There's nothing like it. Nothing
can take the place of it. Before I first came here, my
first visit was a year and a half ago, January of 2023, but I remember
before Evening News and something about
California was on. And I'd say, aren't you thankful
we don't live there? I've changed my mind about that.
It's a good place to visit. We have brethren. We have brethren
from coast to coast. And I thank God for that. I thank God for that. Would you
turn with me tonight to the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 10. Kathy was thoughtful enough to
put me a glass of water on the left side, Marvin. How about
that? I appreciate it. We'll read the last portion of
the chapter, beginning at verse 46. Mark 10 and 46. And they, that is Christ and
his disciples and many others, they came to Jericho. And as
he went out to Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highwayside begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great
deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind
man, saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee.
And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. I know, I'm sure that this is
a familiar passage of scripture to you, but the Word of God is
unlike anything else ever written, isn't it? Everything else has
been written by man, but this book, this book was written by
God Almighty. God's Word reminds me of one
time I was visiting a friend, a brother in Christ who was in
the hospital and I went in during their lunch period and he was
in his bed with his tray eating lunch. And I told him, brother,
you just, if it's okay with you, if it doesn't bother you, it
won't bother me. I can just talk while you eat.
And after a few minutes, he pushed his tray away. And he said, brother,
I declare, the more I chew that piece of meat, the bigger it
gets. And so it is with the word of God. The more we learn it,
the more we study it, the more we read it, the bigger it gets. In Luke's Gospel chapter 4 we're
told this concerning the Lord Jesus. He came to Nazareth where
he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And
there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah
and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was
written The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he had anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to bind
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised. And here in Mark's gospel we
just read, an instance of our Lord doing that very thing. The
recovering of sight to the blind. But, as Brother Clay pointed
out last night in his message, the greater miracle, the greater
miracle is the one that is represented by this picture, this type of
blind Bartimaeus. And what I mean by that is this. Here's the greater miracle. There's
no doubt that this was a great miracle, opening the blinded
eyes of Bartimaeus. But here's an even greater miracle.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. what a miracle
that is. It occurred to me this afternoon,
wouldn't it be a marvel, a wonder, if God would be pleased to do
that today? Wouldn't that be something, Pastor?
If the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world, passed by
some poor blind beggar sitting there in his spiritual poverty,
blindness, in darkness, and says, let there be light, and reveals
himself to them. Oh, wouldn't that be something?
One hymn writer put it this way. It took a miracle to put the
stars in place, and it took a miracle to hang the world in space. Oh,
but when God saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, that took
a miracle of love and grace. In the song of Solomon, when
the bride was in search of her bridegroom, she charged those
that were looking, look hard, look hard, search hard, find
him for me, help me, help me in my search for my beloved.
And they asked her the question, well, how will we know when we
find him? I mean, how will we know him?
What sets him apart? What's so special about him? What makes him different from
anybody else? And she answered this way, my
beloved is the cheapest among 10,000. My beloved is altogether
lovely. Jesus Christ is without spot
or blemish. Jesus Christ is the very embodiment
of perfection. There's not a flaw in him. He's altogether lovely, no matter
in what view you consider. John read to us last night from
Hebrews 3 and 1. Consider. Consider Christ Jesus. No matter what view, in what
view you consider Jesus Christ, consider Him as your surety before
God the Father. Consider Him as the only mediator. I emphasize that. The only mediator. There is not another. There is
only one mediator. between God and man, and that's
the man Christ Jesus. Consider that wonder that because
his brethren were flesh and blood, he likewise himself took part
of the same. He became like them. Consider
that he's that one of whom the prophet spoke when he said his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. So again, you see, in whatever
view or consideration of Him, He's altogether lovely. There's
none like Him. And to me, this picture here
in Mark Chapter 10 must be included in that estimation of our Savior,
that He's perfect. I mean, this wonder This marvel
that we read of in Mark 10, especially verse 49, these few simple words. Would you look at that? Just
these words from verse 49. Jesus stood still. Jesus stood
still. First consider when this took
place. That might be beneficial, that
might be edifying to us if we remind ourselves when this took
place. In Mark chapter 10 again, verse
32, look at that. Mark 10 and 32, and they were
in the way going up to Jerusalem. That time had drawn near. It
was just a matter of days now that the Son of God would be
crucified. And Jesus went before them, as
the great shepherd he leads his sheep. And they were amazed. And as they followed, they were
afraid. They knew what the Pharisees
had threatened. They knew something about what
they had plotted. And they wondered within themselves,
why does he go there again? Why does he put himself in danger? And he took them, and they were
amazed. And as they followed, they were
afraid. And he took again the twelve
and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, And they
shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him,
and shall kill him. Kill him. They'll kill that one
who said I'm the resurrection and the life. killed the one
who told grieving Martha in front of the tomb of her dead brother,
whosoever liveth and believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live, and whoever believes in me shall never, never die."
They're going to kill the son of man. Verse 34, and they shall
mock him, let's read it again, and scourge him, and shall spit
upon him, and shall kill him, and the third day They'll kill
him, yes indeed, but that's not the end of the story. No, it
doesn't end there. The third day, he shall rise
again. In Luke's account, we read that
our Lord said this, behold, he speaks to his disciples in private,
and he says, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things,
all things, that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accomplished. That time had arrived, just a
matter of days, that the Son of God would do that for which
He came into this world to do. Not attempt to do. Not try to
do. Not to leave half finished. No, He came to do. What He had
agreed to do, had promised His Father that He would do, in that
everlasting covenant of grace that they entered into before
they even created the heavens and the earth. Lo, Father, I
come. That time had arrived. I come to do Thy will, O my God. And this, this is the will of
God for His Son. This was the mission of the Son
of Man. This was the work that God the
Father committed into the hands of the Son, entrusted Him with
it. Listen to this. Oh, this is no
small thing. He was about to finish the transgression. He was about to do, as Clay told
us last night, what all those types and shadows were just pictures
of, but they could never, never take came to take away sin. To finish the transgression.
To make an end of sins. How do you like that? To make
an end of sins. And to make reconciliation for
iniquity. And to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. A righteousness that shall never
fade. A righteousness that shall never
grow old. A righteousness that God Almighty
will never fail to accept and be pleased with. Christ came
to do that. He would soon be made sin. Not long after He spoke these
words, He would be made sin. Clay Curtis, can you explain
that to me? You'd better shake your head
no, because you can't. John, can you explain that to
me, how Christ could be made sin? And I'll shake my head right
back at you. No, I don't understand that.
I believe it, and I rejoice in it, and I thank God for it. But
how can he who knew no sin, did no sin, and whom was no sin,
yet he was made sin? He wasn't pretending to be made
sin, He was actually made sin. The hour had come. He would soon be made sin that
His people might be made the very righteousness of God in
Him. The time had arrived for which
time had begun in the first place. When the Son of God would be
forsaken by God again. I can't grasp that. And nothing,
nothing could stop him. Nothing could stop him. He said,
I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened?
How am I determined? till it be accomplished. A baptism. I'm about to be immersed. I'm about to be covered up. Roll
after roll of the wrath of God Almighty is going to go over
my head and I'm ready to do it. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. In John 12, 27, he told his disciples,
now is my soul troubled. As the shadow of the cross began
to eclipse his holy, pure, immaculate soul, he said, oh, now is my
soul troubled. Something would soon happen that
had never happened before. The Son of God would be forsaken
by God the Father. He told his disciples before
he went to the garden, all of you will forsake me this night. You'll leave me alone, but yet
I'm not alone because my father's with me. You may leave me. You may deny me. You may flee
from my presence, but my father's with me. Until that hour of darkness
upon the cross, he cried out, my soul, my God, even my father's
deserted me. Why hast thou forsaken me? That
hour was at hand. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Judas, John 18, Judas, then having
received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh hither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, therefore,
knowing all things, turned away and ran. No, no. Jesus, knowing all things that
should come upon him, hid himself from them. Oh, no. Not the great
shepherd. He came to lay down his life
for the sheep. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said, Who
do you want? Who are you looking for? Jesus
of Nazareth, he said, I am. I am. Down they went. They recovered themselves. Who
do you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they say a
second time. He said, I am. I am. You found
him. You found him. Take me. Take
me. I don't resist. They bound him. That wasn't necessary. He willingly
went with them. He went to do the Father's will.
But he said, I'll tell you this. I'm telling you this. This is
how it's going to be. If you take me, my sheep are
going free. You can't have me and my sheep
too. Oh, how glorious. How wondrous
does the Son of God appear as he's drug off into the darkness
and afterwards made sin for his people. And nothing could deter
him from doing that. Not the devil. Isn't it amazing
how many foolish people think that the devil is a rival to
God Almighty? Not hardly. He's God's devil. He's on God's leash. And sometimes
it seems like a mighty long leash, but he's still God's devil and
God's in control of everything, and that includes him. The devil
couldn't deter him. The Pharisees couldn't stop him.
The Romans couldn't stop him. Jesus said, The hour has come. The hour of all hours, the hour
that the Son of God should be glorified. He said, except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Oh, but if it die, something
might come of it. Well, we'll just have to wait
and see. You know, it's sort of like a pig in the poke. You
don't know what you're gonna get. Oh, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. That's not how the Son of God, that's how stupid preachers
talk. But the Son of God said, if I
fall into the ground and die in this corn of wheat, it bringeth
forth much fruit. Hallelujah. What a Savior, what
a Savior. That's when this took place.
As he was leaving Jericho, That was the mission he was going
to. That's what he was going to do.
And we're told Jesus stood still. That brings the second question.
Why? Why? Considering the great work he
had in front of him. considering his determination
to do it, to accomplish it, to bring it to pass. Jesus stands
still. Why would he do that? Brother Don, I was reading Don
Fortner some comments he made on this verse of Jesus standing
still and Don said, Joshua commanded the Son to stand still in the
midst of heaven At the command of a man, the sun stood still. But in our text here in Mark
10, we have a thing even more remarkable than that. It is one
thing to cause the sun to stand still, but we have before us
a man who calls the Son of God who made the sun to stand still. Indeed it is. Why did the Son
of God, especially at this time, stand still? What caused that? Tyler couldn't cause it. Harry
couldn't cause it. All the religious powers couldn't
cause it. All the political powers on earth
couldn't cause it. No religious power, no political
power. You know what made the Son of
God stand still? He heard the cry of one single
blind beggar sitting by the wayside pleading for mercy and the Son
of God Isn't that something? Oh, that's
why I say, is this not also a picture of His altogether loveliness?
We're told in verse 46 here in Mark 10 that a great number of
people followed Him. I imagine it was noisy, don't
you? I mean, I imagine there was a Bartimaeus heard above all that
racket. How was he heard? You know why
the Son of God heard him? His ear was tuned to just that
one cry because that beggar, Bartimaeus, was the only one
in the multitude crying, Jesus, have mercy on me. They followed
him for various reasons. Some were hoping he would fulfill
another miracle and feed them. They got hungry, not for the
bread of life, but for just natural bread. Some were just there out
of curiosity. Multitudes followed him just
for that. But all here by the wayside,
as he left Jericho, sitting there in the dust was one black blind
beggar when he asked, what's all the noise about? Why the
commotion? What's happening? Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by. Whoa, Jesus of Nazareth, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. That man's greatest need was
not for money. Every day, every hour of every
day that he was there, that's what he asked for, money. Could
you help a poor blind beggar? Could you give me an alms? Please,
please, would you do that for me?" Oh, but when he heard of
Jesus of Nazareth, it wasn't money that he asked for, but
mercy. Mercy. And that one, who at that
moment was passing by, was the only one. That bears repeating. Jesus Christ is the only one
that could give him mercy. and nothing's changed. Jesus
Christ is the only one that can grant mercy to sinners. Jesus
Christ is the only Savior of sinners. He delights to show
mercy. His grace is always sufficient. John said, we saw Him, the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Sometimes
I try to calculate and it's a fruitless task. How much grace is required
to keep a sinner like me? How much grace of God does it
take to keep me? I mean the truth is, child of
God, We must confess like we sometimes sing, prone to wonder,
prone to feel it, prone to leave the God I love. How much grace
does it take to keep me from doing that very thing? Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? It's like a dead
corpse strapped to my back, and I can't get it off. How much
grace does it take? And Jesus Christ, there He sits,
on the throne of grace, dispensing all the grace needed to keep
me. Not just to keep me, but to bring
me all the way to glory. And I'll be like Him, without
spot or blemish or any such thing. Oh, imagine the grace needed
for a sinner like me, and yet, He has that grace for all His
people, every one of them. None ever come to Him that are
sent away empty. And after all that dispensing
of all that grace, He's never less. It's always running over. It's always full. He giveth and
he giveth and he giveth more grace. Oh yes, Barnimaeus needed
mercy. It wasn't money he was interested
in. Money wouldn't give him his sight. And money won't save a sinner.
He heard Jesus was passing by. And as the hymn writer put it,
Pass me not, O gentle Savior." Oh, I would to God that the Lord
Jesus would pass by someone here tonight. And just make them cry
out. Make them willing in the day
of his power. Interfere with your free will,
so called. If he does, it'll be all right
with you. You won't have a problem with
it. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on
others thou art falling, do not pass me by. That's why Jesus
heard Bartimaeus above everyone else. His crowd was different. He had a need. He had a need. Like that woman, much like that
woman with the issue of blood, another mob. I mean, on that
occasion they were so surrounding the Lord Jesus Christ that he
could hardly move through the crowd. And there was that woman,
that poor, diseased, dying woman, that had spent all of her money
and the only thing that relieved her of was her wallet. She grew
worse. That's what religious hucksters
do. After they tell you, come up
and say the prayer, follow my direction, repeat after me, come
up to the altar, make your decision, sign on the card, say, you're
worse than you were before. Oh, it's not until you come in
contact with the living Son of God that you'll be made whole."
And she knew it. Oh, if I can just get through
this mob. Was she down on her hands and
knees, perhaps? And she's trying to get through.
Oh, if I can just get close enough, if I can just close enough, just
to touch the hem of His garment, and lo and behold, can you see
that diseased, feeble, quivering hand as it touches the Son of
God, bam, just like that, she's made whole. Perfectly whole. Oh, the Bible's defender that
truly believes that very moment from Jesus' apartment receives,
that needy woman's touch was like the cry of Barnabas. She
had a real need. She was sincere. Jesus said,
when he said, somebody touched me. And his disciples, of course
someone's touched you, Master. They're crowding all around you.
There's scores of people touch you. What do you mean somebody
touched you? He said, oh, you don't understand.
I felt virtue go out of me. I felt power go out of me. Oh,
power and virtue and grace flowed out of him into her. Out of her
went her disease. Into her went the precious blood
of Jesus Christ and cleanseth from all sin. Somebody touch
me. And only God in his grace can
enable a sinner thus touch Christ. Was it Joseph Hart that wrote,
what comfort can a savior bring to those who never felt their
woe? And the answer is none. He doesn't. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. I've tried to make people sinners.
You ever done that, Clay? I've tried to make my son a sinner.
Tried to make my daughter a sinner. Tried to convince them they're
a sinner. And they go, I know you're right, Dad. I know I listen
to you, Dad. Oh, and I'm praying, oh, God,
get a hold of us. They won't ignore you. They won't
dismiss you. Oh, bring them down. Bring them down. Bring them down
in your sovereign mercy. I believe that this picture of
Jesus standing still at the cry of one blind beggar, one blind
beggar's need of mercy is an example of that altogether loveliness. Isn't he lovely? Isn't he adorable? He stops. He's going to lay down his life
for his sheep, but he stops. He's on his way to be made sin. He's on his way to by himself
purge our sins. He's going to obtain eternal
redemption for his people, but he hears the cry of one blind
beggar, and he stops. Oh, glory to his name. The blessed result, the last
thing. The blessed result of Jesus standing
still. Bring him to me. They say the
Bartimaeus, those same people that told him he should be quiet,
now they're saying, Bartimaeus, take comfort. He's calling for
you. He wants you. And Bartimaeus
throws down that rag. And every sinner that he calls
to himself by grace, they'll throw down their rags of self-righteousness
and come to him. The Lord said, what do you want?
Oh, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said, well, so be it.
Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith hath made me whole. That's what the grace of God
does to every sinner whom the Son of God touches. You're whole. You're whole. Like Clay preached
last night, you're complete. You don't lack anything. Religion
says you need this and you need that. You know, you go down and,
oh, father, I've sinned. Well, give me three push-ups
and some knee bends and get out of here and leave me alone. No,
no, no, no. Christ said, your sins, which
are many, are all forgiven. All forgiven. They're gone. They're
gone. Have you heard what Jesus did? They're all taken away. I like this old hymn. I have
it on a CD. Brother Milton Howard, I think,
is singing it. I was near to despair when he
came to me there. I'm not thinking about Barney
Mays right now. I'm thinking about Larry Criss
sitting in darkness. cast out, shivering in the cold,
undone, as lost as I could possibly be. Didn't have a clue who God
was, who I was, until he got me lost. I was near to despair
when he came to me there because I thought, God won't save me.
Mike, that's what I thought. God won't save me. I've been
too vile. I've been too evil. I've sinned
for so long and so much. God can't have mercy on me. And
I thought he won't. He won't. I was near to despair
when he came to me there. Oh, lo and behold, he showed
me that I could be free. Then He lifted my feet and gave
me gladness complete when my Savior reached down for me. Oh, how lovely! How marvelous! When He reached down His hand
for me, He had to reach way down for me. I was lost and undone
without God or His Son when He reached down His hand for me. One hour we're full of sin, and
in an instant When Christ speaks to our hearts, thy sins are forgiven
in an instant. Our sins are gone. Our past sins,
our present sins, and all my future sins, they're all gone. They're buried. He buries them
in the sea of His forgiveness and puts up a sign that says,
no fishing allowed. They're gone. They're gone, never
to be remembered again. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Come ye sinners, poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome.
God's free bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings you nigh. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor a fitness fondly dream, because all the fitness he requires is
to fill your need of him. Come ye weary heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall, If you tarry till you're better, he
will never ever come at all. Immediately, here's the last
sentence, immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus
in the way. What a beautiful close to this
miracle. This man, this poor man received
his sight and followed Jesus in the way He followed him in
newness of life and he followed him all the way to heaven. We're
told in Revelation chapter 14, these are they which follow the
Lamb, whether so ever he goeth. I don't recall whether when I
was here before over a year and a half ago if I used this illustration. If I did, since it's been a year
and a half, you probably don't remember it anymore. But dear
Lindsey Campbell, many of you know him or know of him. Faithful,
faithful man at Grace Baptist Church. He was there before Don
came to be their pastor. But each year as part of his
family reunion, they would have a golf outing. So the Campbell's
cousins and brothers and so forth would take on whoever else they
could get to play in the golf alley. And one of the matches
was being played at the Danville Country Club as a private club
play. I've never been there. I saw
it when I could see everyone I would drive by, but they never
would let me in because I wasn't a member. But Lindsey arranged
for us to have one of the events there, one of the rounds of golf
there at his private club. He was up there. So I got there
early. I wanted to check it out. And
I'm in the clubhouse. You know, I'm checking things
out. This is nice, very nice. They
don't have this where I play. And some guy keeps eyeballing
me. And then he kind of swallows
up to me. And he says, how you doing? I
said, I'm good. He said, are you here to play
golf today? I said, I sure am. He said, are
you a member here? I said, no, I'm not a member.
First time I've ever been here. He said, well, you can't play
golf here unless you're a member. You've got to be a member here.
About that time, old Lindsey comes through the door. And I
tell this fellow, I'm with him. He said, oh, well, then it's
OK. It's OK if you're with Lindsey. Very soon, God Almighty is going
to declare time shall be no more. and all mankind will be ushered
into the presence of a thrice holy God. As he sits upon his
pure white throne, and the books are being opened, and death and
hell are giving up the dead that are in them, and everyone whose
name is not written in the man's book of life is being cast into
outer darkness, And someone should ask Larry Crisp, what gives you
a right to be here? I want to point at Jesus Christ
and say, I'm with him. Amen. I'm with him. And God the Father is going to
say, well, welcome home. Welcome home. All this is for
you, from the people of the foundation of the world. God bless you.
Brother John, thank you again for inviting me.