You can keep your place there
in the book of Mark. Actually, the text I intended
to finish preaching from was Matthew chapter 20. And if you
remember in Matthew 20, Now the Lord gives a parable of a land
owner, a vineyard owner, and the vineyard owner goes out and
hires workers. He begins at the beginning of
the day and agrees to pay the workers a penny for the whole
day. And then at the end of the day
he finds others only one hour before the end of the day and
hires them. After the day's work is done,
he gives those who had only worked one hour a full day's pay, even
though they didn't earn it. Those who came at the beginning
complained that he would give them the same amount as what
they had earned. And their lesson from that was,
the Lord gave, was that many are called, few are chosen, because
God has grace. The Lord Jesus Christ has grace.
That's the way he gives to us, out of grace. If we only receive
what we deserve, then we're going to receive a just payment from
his justice, and we don't want that. We don't want that. although
it's just, we don't want that. And that's why we cry for mercy.
And the next thing in that chapter that the Lord told his disciples
is that he must go to Jerusalem and there the Jewish rulers would
deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles who would mock him
and scourge him and put him to death. But on the third day he
would rise again. Now it's interesting that the
grace that he gave to those workers, last hour workers, at the beginning
of the chapter is immediately followed by him going to the
cross. He's telling his disciples, I'm
going to the cross. And there he would accomplish
the work necessary to lay the foundation for giving those last
hour called workers a full day's pay they didn't deserve, giving
them grace. Because that's what grace is,
giving us God's blessings that we do not deserve. And so he
lays the foundation for the basis of that gift of grace in his
own death. And you don't see that so much
evidently, but we know this because we look at the scripture through
the lens of the gospel. And so the next thing that happens
in this chapter is that James and John, through their mother,
ask Jesus if they can sit on either side of him, the right
and left, when he comes into his kingdom. Of course, that
was ambition on their part, ambition to have preeminence among the
other disciples. And those other disciples, when
they heard what James and John did, were very indignant against
them because they also wanted to have a place of preeminence. And so the Lord is then teaching
us the natural heart we have, which is a lifted up heart of
pride. which is in exact opposite to
what he himself has because the only way that James and John
could sit at his left or right hand was, number one, they must
be baptized with the same baptism he would be baptized with and
drink the same cup of woe that he would have to drink. from
the hand of God, which was something he drank and something he was
baptized with in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross.
And that was to teach us what he suffered. Again, it was repeating
what he told him he would do. He would pay what was necessary
to give out of his grace what seemed good to him, to those
God had chosen before. But to be baptized with the baptism
Christ was baptized with and to drink the cup Christ drank
signified that all who are with Christ in glory, as prepared
by the Father before the foundation of the world, they themselves
in Christ and with Him would undergo the outpouring of His
wrath. And that's what Jesus asked them,
can you do this? They said, yes, we can. They
thought it meant they personally would have to endure that in
order to obtain that great place by Christ. But that wasn't what
he meant. He meant that all of his people
who would be with him in glory would be given the same reward
of grace as those workers who were called at the end of the
day, which grace and gift to them would be purchased by the
price of his blood, and they would be given that because he
was baptized under the wrath of God, because he bore their
sins drinking that cup. that cup of God's wrath and the
cup of our sins because under the wrath of God he suffered
because of our sins. So the cup was bitter to him
because it contained our sins and God's wrath against us for
our sins. And it's only by that that he
was given that place in glory. And it's only by that that we
are given that place out of his grace because he stood for us,
substituted himself. And so then he goes on to tell
them that those who in the kingdom of God are going to be honored,
who are going to be exalted, are those who are the lowest,
the lowest. Not the highest, but the lowest.
And this is contrary to the way we think. That's just not the
way it works. And so Jesus gave the example
of how the Gentiles have hierarchies of rule in our world. That's the way it works. We got
people at the top and people under them and under them and
it goes down to any number of levels. People like to have it
that way. There's this ambition for wanting
to be at the top, or at least at some level above the underlings. And Jesus said, no, no. The greatest
in the kingdom of God is the very bottom level. And so he
tells them that that's what he came to do, not to be served,
but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And so
again, he brings us to the reason and the basis for grace given
to those who don't deserve it. It's the ransom price of his
redeeming blood, which we sang about a minute ago. The ransom
price when we were yet without strength. The Lord gave his son
a ransom for us for our redemption. And so then he goes on, and this
is where we pick it up in Mark, the book of Mark, which I'm going
to transition over there in verse 29 of Matthew, Matthew 20, 29. It says, they departed from Jericho. A great multitude followed him.
And then two blind men were sitting by the wayside. And they cried
what Bartimaeus cried. So I'm going to go to the account
of Bartimaeus because it's an individual account and it really
unfolds to us the entire account. The two blind men, spoken of
in Matthew were still there, but Mark's account only gives
this one blind man. And he's a special case because
his name is Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus. Bar means son. It's like John's son. You have a last name, John's
son. It means you were the son of John. Bartimaeus means you
were the son of Timaeus. And why would God give his name?
Why didn't he just say a blind man like he did in Matthew 20?
in order for the Lord to teach us the way in which he saves
his people. Now we know from Matthew 20 and
here also that the way the Lord saves his people is that he gave
his son and Christ gave himself to be a ransom, to redeem them
from sin and from death and the grave and from the curse of God's
law, from everything that was against them because of their
sin. How are we delivered from all the things that our sin brings
upon us? How are we delivered from sin itself? by the ransom
Christ gave himself. He came to give his life a ransom
for many, he says in Matthew's account in Matthew 20, 28. But
here in the book of Mark, he says in verse 45, the Son of
Man came not to be ministered, not to be served. but to minister,
to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. So that sets
it up for us, doesn't it? What is that text saying to us? This is redemption. Redemption
at the price. Redemption of a people. You see,
there is no redemption without a redeemer. And there's no redemption
without a ransom price paid for the redeemed. You can't have
redemption without a redeemer. You can't have redemption without
a ransom. And you can't have redemption
unless there are a redeemed people. And also, finally, you can't
have redemption unless there is a setting free of those redeemed
people. And that's what follows here,
the setting free of the redeemed. And so I've entitled this message,
Redemption Applied. Redemption applied in Matthew
20, 28, and here in verse 45, in Mark 10, verse 45, it's redemption
purchased. The redemption price paid to
purchase the redeemed. The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
for many, not all. but many, and those for whom
he gave himself a ransom to God, he actually obtained their eternal
redemption. Hebrews 9.12 says, through the
eternal spirit he offered himself to God, having obtained, that
means it was given to him, redemption. And in Isaiah 53 in verse 8 it
says, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. In
other words, the ransom price paid by Christ was him being
stricken by God for his people. And they are those for whom he
obtained a redemption. And in Exodus chapter 30, in
verse 12 through 16, it talks about a ransom, a half-shekel
tax that they paid in the temple. And it was paid, it was required
that that half-shekel redemption tax, which is a ransom, be paid
only for those who were numbered in Israel. And so that the sum
of that tax was all used for the temple, and it was to signify
that everyone redeemed was counted in Israel, and none were counted
unless they were redeemed by the ransom. And so here we have
the same thing. The Lord Jesus says, I came to
give my life a ransom for many, for the numbered. Those counted
in God's church, those are the ones he gave himself a ransom.
He laid down his life for the sheep. Not all are sheep. He
told the Pharisees, the scribes and the Pharisees who didn't
believe on him, you don't believe because you're not my sheep in
John 10 verse 26. So it was because They were not
his sheep that they didn't believe. He didn't give them that grace.
They were not his. They didn't hear him. My sheep,
he said in verse 27 of John 10, my sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. I know them and they follow me.
And that's what this man here does. So this is about redemption
applied. Redemption purchased, that's
Christ on the cross. Redemption applied, that's what
we're gonna see here today. Now, One thing I want you to
see here is that this name of this man, in Mark chapter 10,
in verse 46, he says, they came to Jericho, and as he went out
of Jericho with his disciples, a great number of people, and
a great number of people with him, blinded Bartimaeus, the
son of Timaeus. There you have the explanation
of what Bar means. Shows that he was Timaeus' son.
Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. So there's three things that
we learn about this man. Number one, his name was Bartimaeus. It means the son of Timaeus.
And Timaeus means unclean. It means defiled. It means polluted. How would you like to have a
father? You know, in high school or even grade school, kids would
tease you for all number of, anything they could find, they
would pick at, like a bunch of chickens, picking feathers off
their other members of their flock. And kids are like that,
they're cruel. Any little thing, out of order,
they're going to pick at it. Here comes Bartimaeus, son of
the polluted, the unclean. The defiled man's son, here he
comes, Bartimaeus. Oh look, he's blind. He's blind. No wonder he's blind. He's the
son of the unclean, you see. And it says he was a beggar. Okay, a beggar doesn't have anything.
We sang that song a minute ago. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry. The songwriter wasn't boasting
about the humility of their own self. They were pleading the
fact that their cry isn't worth anything. It's not worth anything. It's like the cry of a beggar.
It is worth nothing. I have nothing. I am nothing. And therefore, I can do nothing.
I'm a beggar. There's an absence of spiritual
value with me. I need. I have nothing, but I
need everything. Spiritually, I am an unclean,
a son of an unclean, defiled, polluted man. And I'm blind. I can't see. I can't see what
I need to see. What I want to see. Spiritual
things are beyond my ability. You see? This is about a sinner,
isn't it? And that's why this text of scripture
gives me such great comfort. And it does for all of the Lord's
people. Because here we can put ourselves there in the place
of the son of the unclean, the defiled, the polluted son, who's
blind and who has nothing. And all he can do is plead for
mercy because he doesn't deserve anything. God has to find a reason
in himself to show kindness and have compassion on this man.
It isn't going to come because of anything found in him. He
is absolutely valueless, a beggar, and blind, and unclean, an unclean
man's son, a defiled man's son, a polluted man's son. Now it
also says here in verse 46, they came to Jericho. Jericho is significant
because Joshua, remember, when he came into Canaan and the Lord
gave them the victory, they completely destroyed Jericho. In fact, the
walls crumbled before them and they went forward and destroyed
the city, everything in the city. And Joshua, after that great
victory, pronounced that whoever builds again lays the foundation
of this city. that that man would finish it
in his son. And what he meant by that, he
was pronouncing, Joshua was pronouncing a curse on the man who would
rebuild Jericho. So Jericho was a cursed city
twofold, wasn't it? First, because it was destroyed
by Joshua. And we know Rahab and her family
were saved out of that city. So there was redemption even
then. But then, whoever rebuilt that city would be cursed. So
here, the Lord Jesus, now he's exiting. He's leaving this city,
this place of curse, this city of destruction. That's what we
live in, a world that has been appointed to destruction because
the people in it are sinful and the wages of sin is death. We're
under the sentence of condemnation and judgment from God and we
can't escape. And so we have all these things
against us. But notice, as Jesus leaves Jericho, he came to Jericho,
and then as he was going out of Jericho with his disciples,
remember, those who are last shall be first. from Matthew
20. And so the whole thread, the
whole story here that's given to us in the account of the Gospels
is meant to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, through
His precious blood, who redeemed all of His people in that purchase. And now He comes, and as He's
leaving Jericho, the last person The last person there that he
sees is this blind son of the defiled and polluted man. And he's a beggar. And he's not
even right there. He's a distance from them because
the crowd is gathered around Jesus. So he's even further back
as the Lord is leaving Jericho on his way to the cross at Jerusalem
where he's going to give himself. And so this man is very unlikely,
isn't he? He's very unlikely. He's the last, but he's going
to be made the first. In fact, when you read through
Matthew 20, what you see is that all of it is building up to the
loneliness of Christ and the humility of Christ in his sacrifice
of himself to God for our sins and the salvation of this man,
Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, an unclean, defiled, polluted beggar,
a sinner. Now this is very significant
to us, isn't it? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
in the scriptures says that he came to save sinners. He came to save sinners. But
the problem with us is that we don't know if he came to save
me. Isn't that our case? Did he come
to save me? Now he told us in Matthew 20,
he said, many are called, but few are chosen. And so the first
thing we learn about our salvation is God himself is in control
of it. We got ourselves into this. We
cannot get ourselves out. We are helpless to do one thing,
to get ourselves out of this. As helpless as a blind man has
no power to open his eyes. He can't change his name, he
can't fix his eyes, and he cannot work, he can't do anything to
obtain a living except beg. He's a beggar, a mercy beggar. And so we see that we first have
to be chosen by God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many are called,
few are chosen. I came to give my life, Jesus
said, a ransom for many. But how do I know? And Jesus
also said that only those for whom the Father prepared a place
with him would be granted. that blessed privilege of being
with the Lord Jesus Christ in his kingdom. And, of course,
not only did they have to be chosen and God the Father prepare
that place for them in Christ before time began, but the Lord
Jesus have to give his life a ransom for them and then they have to
be given grace, grace from Christ himself and eyes to see him as
their redeemer. And so what we see here is that
redemption that is purchased, redemption purchased by Christ's
own blood would be applied by the Lord Jesus Christ. We have
to be set free from our blindness. And this is all depicted here
of being set free by the gift of God's grace purchased by Christ's
blood. And what is that being set free?
How does God give us this freedom? How does this blind man being
healed from his blindness, how does this show the gospel of
God's grace? Well, I'm glad you asked. You
see, because in scripture it says we live not by sight. We don't live by physical sight.
How do we walk? If we don't walk by physical
sight, looking around to make sure we don't stumble, to know
where we're going, how do we then live? He says we don't live
by sight, we live by faith. So the Lord explains the spiritual
analog to physical sight. What is it? What is that thing
that he compares to physical sight? It's faith, and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has done what?
He's shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ. So faith, then, is not just faith
in, I think things will turn out okay someday, somehow. No,
it's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God opening our
spiritual understanding, giving us a persuasion causing us to
perceive that the Lord Jesus Christ is all in our salvation. And this is the glory of God.
And that's what God commands when he commands the light to
shine in our hearts. You see, to see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. So when we're set free then,
when God sets us free because he redeemed us, that freedom
comes to us in this way. He gives us faith in Christ. The Redeemer. And that's why
this is so wonderful. In the way that this story is
presented to us here is that this blind man doesn't know that
Christ has any awareness of him. He doesn't feel it, does he?
He doesn't sense it. Jesus hasn't cast his eye upon
him to send through a glance to let him know, I'm coming to
you. He didn't do that, did he? He didn't call for him. The blind
man is just there by the wayside begging as he always has. Feeling
the ridicule of those who knew who he was by birth and his station
in life. He's a beggar and the fact that
he can't see. They would probably call him
stupid because he couldn't see. And they would set, you know,
little traps in the way so he would trip and fall and laugh
at him. Because this is the way the sinful heart of a man works,
is to do these kinds of things. Merciless, cruel. But this man
is to depict to us the hope that God give to sinners, and that
hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope in Christ. The Apostle Paul
said in 1 Timothy 1.1, the very first verse of the book of 1
Timothy, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment
of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. The Lord himself
is our hope. And isn't that exactly the way
Bartimaeus saw, even though he couldn't see with his physical
eyes, God had given him something by which he saw that the Lord
Jesus Christ was his only hope. In the Psalms, in Psalms throughout
the Psalms, it talks about the Lord. It says, as our hope, he
says in Psalm 33, verse 18, Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. God's eye is upon us. Now it's
one thing for us to see. It's another thing when the Lord
sees us. That's what we want. And I was
thinking about this last night. when I couldn't sleep as I normally
can't on Saturday nights, but I was thinking about this, how
it's not so much my knowledge of Christ that I want, as I want
to know that he knows me, that he sees me with this mercy. So he says in Psalm 33, 18, the
eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. And it defines
what that fear is, upon them that hope in his mercy. They
know that he's their only hope and they trust him. Let thy mercy,
he says in the same chapter, Psalm 33 verse 22, let thy mercy,
O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee. The Lord
himself gives his word to those that hope in him. The Lord's
eye is on you. We do not hope in our hope. We
do not hope in our experience of hope. We don't hope in our
feeling of hope. Well, if we don't hope, if we
don't sense our hope, how do we know we hope? The way we know
that we hope in Christ is that Christ is all of our hope, that
we have no other hope unless He saves us by Himself, by His
sovereign will, by the electing love of God the Father, by His
ransoming blood that He shed for us, and by this light that
He shines in our hearts, that He is our hope. Our experience
depends on our perception of our experience, doesn't it? It
depends on our measure of our measurements. All of that's suspect. Our feelings vary from moment
to moment, from day to day. Depends on how we feel physically,
the people around us, how they treat us. There's so many ways
that our feelings are up and down and sideways. But since
the Lord Jesus Christ is our hope, therefore we flee to Him
alone for the very reason that we have an absence of anything
we can call value to Him. and that we need to bring from
Him, from His Word, all that will save us. We bring it to
our hearts from His Word because He gives it to us that way. And
that's what he's doing here. He's going to give it. We find
nothing in ourselves to give us hope. And in this poverty
of spirituality, of having nothing, there's nothing sweeter than
to know that Christ is full of compassion and the object of
a sinner's only hope. That we ourselves as sinners,
because we have nothing, therefore have every reason to hope in
Him. Because He is the hope. He is our hope. What a great
savior that he delights to show mercy and to have mercy on helpless
sinners. And how do we know? Because he
had mercy on this man, this son of the defiled, this blind beggar. He gave his life a ransom and
he gave his life a ransom and therefore he came in that place. And then he's gonna show us here
in the way that he saves this man that God not only chose whom
He would save and by whom the Lord Jesus and His precious blood,
but also how He would apply that salvation to us. God is sovereign. He predestinated the entire matter. And that's why we say salvation
is of the Lord. It has to be from first to last. In fact, in Revelation 1, Jesus
said, I am the Alpha and the Omega, A to Z, first to last,
the beginning and the end, saith the Lord Almighty. So Christ
is the one who saves. He is our hope. He does the saving.
And the way that he does that here is seen in this, in this
man. He doesn't know Christ knows
him. He doesn't know Christ has heard him. And so it says here
in verse 47, when Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth
who was walking by and coming out of Jericho on his way to
Jerusalem, you know what he thought? This is my only chance. I won't
have another opportunity to get his attention. And so he was
urgent and earnest. And he cried out. He began to
cry, saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. See how personal
salvation is? He didn't check with those around
him. You think it'd be okay if I call? No, he was compelled
by his need and his belief, his persuasion that Christ was willing
to save even him and able to. And so he begins to cry. Now,
son of David, in the next chapter in Matthew 21, Jesus comes into
Jerusalem riding on the donkey. And what did the children cry?
Their mouths are opened and they speak out a fulfillment of Psalm
118 when they say, Hosanna, oh save, blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna to the son of David.
They were speaking of Him as Christ. That's who God spoke
of in Psalm 118. And in Psalm 118, He uses these
words. I want to read this to you, so
you see the glory of these things in Scripture. In Psalm 118, it
says, in verse 21, I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me,
and art become my salvation. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Son of David, Christ, God's Christ, have mercy upon me. The Lord
has become my salvation. You see what he saw? The other
people saw Jesus physically, but he saw him with eyes of faith.
And this is the way God saves. He saves those who have nothing,
who need everything, and find all of their need in the all-sufficiency
of Christ's redeeming ransom price. His purpose of grace,
to show grace to sinners, and His life laid down to make that
gift of God, the magnification of all of His justice and righteousness.
And so in verse 48, It says here in Mark 10, many charged Bartimaeus. They charged him that he should
hold his peace. You, be quiet. You can hear them
saying that, can't you? Hold your peace. You blind beggar,
you defiled, you son of a defiled, corrupt, polluted man. Hold your
peace. Why would they do that? When you hold this frame of mind,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to reward you for something
He finds in you, then step back. I want to be noticed. Or, I don't
need to hear all the time that Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
I don't need to hear that so much. Tell me something new.
I don't want to hear someone say, I'm a great sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. I get tired of you
saying that. Being so weak, so pitiful, empty,
you don't have any spiritual knowledge? No, I don't. I only know this, I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all.
Well, you need to tone it down, keep it quiet. We haven't approved
that message. We haven't given approval to
you either, and so they charged him, hold your peace. Hold your
peace. You're out of order. You're not
following the religious rules. You're not following the process. That's just not appropriate.
Who told you you could come out and call out to Christ? But you know what? He didn't
take any advice from them. He didn't seek their approval
before. And he's certainly not going to behave according to
their advice. You know why? because God put
it in his heart to call on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want
you to understand that when the Lord stirs us up to call on him,
then it's the answer, the answer of his own operations of grace,
And that answer, that calling of a sinner upon Christ, a sinner
who has nothing and is perfectly sinful in everything, their thoughts,
their minds are corrupt. And it doesn't get more corrupt
than that. Their thoughts and their words and their actions
are corrupt and they're sinful. How dare they trust in Christ
to save them from their sins and save them to the uttermost.
They're so unworthy. But the cry of a sinner to Christ
is actually the result. This is the outworking of the
will of God in that person. In Romans chapter 8 and verse
26, he says this about the Spirit of God. The Spirit also helps
our infirmities. Bartimaeus had plenty. For we
know not what we should pray for as we ought. But notice,
the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. God the Holy Spirit in the believer. Him joined in spirit to the believer. The Spirit of God joined as one
with the spirit of the believer now. is causing the believer,
through the Spirit, to groan to God, doesn't know what to
pray, the believer is at a loss, but the Spirit moves that poor
sinner to plead according to the will of God, and here is
a blind beggar, defiled and polluted, and without anything, no spiritual
value whatsoever, can only beg. And what's he doing? He's expressing
the groanings of the Spirit of God in him, joined to his spirit
for Christ. Save me, have mercy upon me,
and this is the very will of God. Jesus said, this is the
will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son
and believeth on him should have everlasting life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. Now that is the will of God.
Everyone redeemed by the Lord is just like this. You know what
blindness is in scripture? It's unbelief. It says in Ephesians
4, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them because the blindness
of their heart. Darkness, blindness, heart blindness. That's serious, isn't it? Who
can rescue me from heart blindness? There's no optometrist. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, the One who came to call sinners
to repentance, even He alone can do this. And our blindness
is self-inflicted. It's our fault, isn't it? There's
no greater blindness than that self-inflicted blindness. In
John chapter 9, is a very important scripture that helps us understand
this passage. In John chapter 9, there was
a man who was born blind. Jesus healed him. And after that
healing, the Pharisees and the scribes couldn't believe it,
that the Lord had actually healed him. They questioned whether
he was actually born blind. They cornered up his parents
and they grilled them. Then at the end of it all, they
couldn't deny it, that he was definitely A blind man, and now
he could see, and they were so befuddled by this that the blind
man himself had to tell them that he has to be sent of God,
because no one's ever opened the eyes of a man born blind.
And so they were indignant that he would pretend to be able to
teach them, and they cast him out. Jesus found him and asked
him, do you believe on the Son of God? He said, who is he, Lord? And in verse 37 of John chapter
9, Jesus said, thou hast seen him. Now has both seen him and
it is he that talks with thee. He reveals himself and he said,
Lord, I believe and worshiped him. And Jesus said this, and
this is what I wanted to point out here, John 9, verse 39. Jesus said, for judgment I am
coming to this world that they which see not might see. Now normally we think of judgment
as a bad thing, but this is a good thing. For judgment I'm coming
to the world, that they which are blind might see. And then
he goes on. He says, and that they which
see might be made blind. Now that is a blindness. That
is a heart blindness. And that blindness is this thought
that I am not blind spiritually. This thought. that I see, and
so Jesus goes on. Some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard those words and they said, are we blind also?
They didn't believe it, that's why they asked it that way, it
was kind of a sarcasm. Jesus said, if you were blind,
you should have no sin. But now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remains. Now, when you read those words,
what's our natural response to that? Lord, I don't see. Give me sight and take away my
sin. But the thing is, is naturally,
we're the same way as the Pharisees. We think we see, so we don't
confess our blindness. We have no need, so we don't
come to the Lord. We don't call on him like Bartimaeus.
It's evidence that we don't believe. We don't understand, by God-given
persuasion, how bad our condition is and how helpless we are. Nor
do we understand, most importantly, how Christ alone is willing and
able to save us. So we don't call. So the first
thing we learn here is that we need to call on the Lord to teach
us that we're just as helpless and just as needy as Bartimaeus,
the baker, the blind, defiled, polluted baker. Lord, cause me
to know my blindness and then to know that you alone take away
this blindness and give me this sight. That's a big thing, isn't
it? So this is the first thing we
see here. Only the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified can
be the object of a blind sinner's sight. He has to be the one we
see and he is the one who causes us to see. Now, I want you to
see here that the Lord not only turns us, he not only causes
us to see our blindness and to turn us from darkness to light,
and he's the one that does that, but also how he does that, how
he does that. He says, In Ezekiel chapter 36,
God gives all these blessings, unbelievable blessings and covenant.
And yet he says after that, at the end of the chapter, he says,
for this, for all the things God said he would do, for this
will I be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for
them. The way that God saves is he
calls those he has redeemed, he calls those for whom he gave
himself a ransom, and he calls them to call on him. He causes us, he opens our heart
to call on him. In Psalm 50, in verse 15, he
says, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee,
and thou shalt glorify me. God is glorified when we call
on Christ, because that's his work. So when we call on the
Lord, it's the way, it's the means by which He reveals Himself. That's the way He applies His
redeeming blood for us. He causes us. Look at 2 Timothy,
in chapter 1. See this order in which God does
this. Verse 9. Notice what He says
here. Speaking of the Lord, He says,
who has saved us. That's the first thing He says
here. He saved us. And then He says, and called
us. It seems like that's the reverse.
Shouldn't it say He called us and then saved us? No, He wants
us to understand that God chose us to salvation. He chose in
predestinated Christ to shed His blood for our ransom. And
then, having saved us by the ransom price of Christ shedding
his blood, he called us. So he says here, who has saved
us and called us, notice, with a holy calling. It's holy because
God has taken care of his justice and his law and shed forth his
grace, which is always right for him to give as he sees fit
to do it. And it's not according to our
works, see? This holy calling is not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. What
an amazing text of scripture. But look at the next one, in
verse 10. But is now made manifest, that's
the shining of the light, by the appearing of our Savior Jesus
Christ, who has abolished death. That's what his ransom blood
did and has brought life and immortality to what? To light
through the gospel. So that's again teaching us this
is the way God determined to save his people. He chose not
only the Savior and his precious blood, but he also chose that
he would save us by calling on us, having redeemed us, calling
on us to call on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's go back to
Mark chapter 10. It says, many charged him that
he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal,
son of David, have mercy on me. Notice he's helpless, he's needy,
he trusts Christ, he knows that he can, he asks him, he calls
on him to do that. And then it says in verse 49,
and Jesus stood still. That's amazing, isn't it? A long
time ago, I heard this expounded as so much more significant than
when Joshua, while in battle, commanded the sun to stand still.
And the sun stood still until the battle was complete. But
here, a poor sinner, needy, defiled, polluted, begging, The Lord Jesus,
leaving Jericho on his way to Jerusalem to lay down his life,
a ransom for many, this poor sinner cries, and the Lord Jesus
stands still. He stands still at the cry of
a helpless blind sinner. And then it says, and he commanded
him to be called. That's what we just read in 2
Timothy 1.9, he saved us and called us. And they called the
blind man and they said to him, be of good comfort, rise, he
calleth thee, what a blessing that is. Get up, rise up, he
calls you, be of good comfort. Is there anything more comforting
than that? The gospel is that call. Christ calls to sinners
and he tells them in the gospel, be of good comfort. Get up, rise
up from the dead. He calls you. That's what Ezekiel
chapter 16 says. Son of man, speak unto these
bones, live. And God the Spirit gave them
life. And in verse 50, and Bartimaeus
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. He left everything. Christ, the Lord, was calling
him. What else would he want than to go to Him who called
him? The Apostle Paul said, I count everything but dung. Everything
I thought was going to benefit me, everything I tried to do,
it's worthless, it's worth less than dung. I repudiate, I find
nauseating what God finds nauseating. Anything of my own, anything
by which I could present myself to God is acceptable to him.
He says, no, it's worthless, it's dung. It's repugnant, it's
nauseating, it's filthy rags. And so he casts it all aside.
He left everything to have Christ. And that's what the Apostle Paul
says, that I might be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
but the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ. And
so he comes to Jesus. And Jesus answered him and he
said to him, What wilt thou that I should do to thee? What do
you want me to do? Can you imagine? The Lord Jesus,
he looks at you. You can't see anything. You have
nothing. And you were over there thinking
that this was the last opportunity to get his attention. And you're
jumping up and down. And you're crying and waving
your arms. Son of David, have mercy on me. He calls you. And
he asks you, what do you want me to do for you? What do you
want me to do for you? Now. I want you to be careful here
when you think about this, how we answer this. How are we going
to answer this question? What do you want me to do for
you? What do you want? What do you need? The Lord of
glory. The Lord of glory is standing
before you. You still can't see him. He stands
before you in human nature. He came to serve. He came to
give his life. He told his disciples the Jews
would condemn him and deliver him to the Gentiles and mock
him and scourge and crucify him. And now the creator and the upholder
of all things, the one who asked King Solomon, ask what I'll give
you. And King Solomon said, I'm just
a child. I don't know how to go out. I
don't know how to come in. And then so I ask that you give me
wisdom. And here's a blind beggar. And he says, what do you want
me to do for you? What do you want from the Lord
of glory? Shouldn't we choose our words carefully? Consider who you're asking. He
is the one who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think. You know what that makes me think?
Lord, you decide. You decide the case. John Newton
said, you're coming to a king. Large petitions you should bring.
So examine your great need in the light of the gospel. And
consider the one who is standing before you, that he is rich in
mercy. And for his great love wherewith
he loved us, he raises dead sinners from death to life. Also, consider
that his father gave him a work to do, and that that work was
to save sinners. All that the father gave to him.
And so, find that God has deposited all salvation and all help to
sinners in the one, who stands before you with all of his compassion,
and let his compassion open the spring of your need and bubble
up in supplication with the aid of the Spirit of God for what
only the sacrifice of the Son of God could procure." Because
that's why God sent him. That's what he required of him.
and ask what his father gave him to do. Ask him to do what
his word said he would do, what his power did do when he laid
his life down. Ask him to do for you what he
purchased by his own sacrifice of himself. Can anything be of
greater value than his blood? Can anything be of greater value
than His full and perfect redemption? Ask for your soul's cleansing.
Ask what God Himself delights in to give you free grace. everlasting and justifying righteousness,
everlasting life, to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and to
never be separated from Him who loved us and gave Himself for
us. Psalm 106 says, Remember me,
O Lord, With the favor that thou bearest
to thy people, oh, visit me with thy salvation, that I may see
the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness
of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. In Psalm
35, the Lord says, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Say it to me. Say it to my soul. That's what I ask. Do all that
is in your heart. Do all that you've said. Do all
that you purchased with your own blood. Let it be for me that
I may rejoice with your people. Visit me with your salvation.
Lord, that I might receive my sight, that I might receive the
application of your own bloodshed for the cleansing of my soul.
Apply it to me. Let me see that Christ and him
crucified is my all, all in salvation, all in life. The Lord Jesus says
this. He said, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Now, we think, well, see, he's like one of those people who
has great faith. He could believe the mountains would be moved
when he believed it. No, that's not what it means.
It means that the one he believed was his faith. He believed he
could do it. He believed he could save and
would save him because of his ransoming bloodshed. And so he
asks the one he believes, And he says, be it unto you according
to your faith, that one who stands before you, who asks you, what
do you want? Be it unto you according to your faith, according to Christ,
who is the object of your faith, your hope. Your faith has made
you whole, Christ made you whole. And immediately he received his
sight. He knew that Jesus was all of
his salvation and all that he needed, and he followed Jesus
in the way. He was able now to see the one
who saved him. And what did he do? He followed
him. He followed him in the way, in Christ's way. What is that
way? It's the way of salvation, the way of life, the way in which
Christ saves and applies his redeeming blood to sinners through
faith in him. God gives us this and God causes
us to cry. Don't pretend you have what you
need. Come without anything and look to Christ. Let's pray. Lord,
thank you for your word. Help us to be like Bartimaeus.
We have nothing. We are undeserving of everything.
We actually deserve the outpouring of your just wrath. And we are
helpless in our helplessness. We don't even know what to ask.
We pray, Lord, that you would give us a sight of the Lord Jesus
as our Redeemer and call on Him and not call on another. And
help us to stick our fingers in our ears and not let anyone
dissuade us or to turn us aside from Him, but to go to Him at
all times, urgently, earnestly, and not based on our earnestness
or our urgency, but on our great need. Lord, look upon our need
and save us for Your namesake. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.