One time, written by a missionary
to Papua New Guinea, and in the book, the natives, as he was
translating the Bible, told him, we are dying for the deliciousness
of these words. That came to my mind when she
was singing. I love to hear, I just soak it up when I hear
the gospel. I was thinking this morning,
if you give me just a minute to introduce this, as I was listening
to Kathy sing, I was thinking about all that we do here. You
know, we really have, we just, I should speak for myself, insignificant,
aren't we? And yet, like the widow who cast
in two mites, and cast in all her living, That's what we do. We just tell about what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done for us. That's all we have, but he blesses
it. And so I also think how that
if the Lord Jesus Christ died for you, what greater privilege
do I have than to tell you about him, the one who died for your
soul. Turn with me in the book of Mark, In the book of Mark, chapter
10, we're going to read about a blind man. And I pray that
if you're blind, your eyes will be opened by what the Lord Himself
says in this scripture. And if you see, that you will
be ministered to by what the Lord Jesus Christ does for His
people. Starting in chapter 10, verse
45, In my Bible there are little signs to indicate a paragraph
change. I don't know that there were
paragraphs in the original. I think these things are connected.
And so I'm going to connect them. In fact, it's often the case
that I understand much better what one scripture is saying
when I try to understand the total context. And so we see
here the same thing. in Mark chapter 10. Forgive me
in advance, the sermon will probably last about 45 minutes or perhaps
a little more. If I get too long, just raise
your hand, Pastor. Let's begin reading at verse
45. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. And they came
to Jericho, and as he went out of 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,
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, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying to 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 to him, What
wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said to him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said to him,
Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. This scripture
preaches the gospel to sinners. The lesson in it is clear. God
brings sinners in their need to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He causes them to know their
need and cry to Him because of it. He leads them to His Son
and He leaves them with His Son in the hand and at the mercy
of God, which is in Christ alone. Now there are seven points I
want to make here. First, a sinner needing mercy. Second, mercy sought by a sinner. And third, Christ glorified for
His compassion to a sinner. And then fourth, oh, sinner,
what do you want from Him? What do you want Him to do for
you? And then fifth, the gracious gift of saving faith and following
Christ by faith. And finally, redemption applied. So if you hold those things in
your thoughts. First, a sinner needing mercy. First we see here
a sinner needing mercy. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar. His need was apparent. He could
not provide for himself. He had nothing to give. He had
no money. He spent his time begging. He
therefore describes our spiritual poverty by nature. He had nothing
to contribute to his salvation, nothing to bring to God. And
he was unclean. Bartimaeus means son of the unclean. Like Him, we are unclean in sin. Isaiah 64, 6 says, We are all
as an unclean thing, and all of our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. We are guilty before God because
of our sins. What it says, it says to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. As Bartimaeus was the son
of the unclean, we became guilty before God in our father Adam. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners." Romans 5.19. Not only are we guilty for our
own sin and our sin in Adam, but the nature we receive from
our Father at conception is nothing but sin. David says in Psalm
51.5, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. We are spiritually blind from
birth. Romans 3.11 says, there is none that understandeth. We are alienated, in Ephesians
4.18 it says, we are alienated from the life of God because
of the blindness of our heart. We are guilty before God and
corrupt in our nature, sinners by practice and sinners at heart. Jesus said in Mark 7, 21, from
within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts. Sin comes
from within us. As physical blindness prevents
us from seeing physical light, spiritual blindness prevents
us from seeing the truth about ourselves and the truth about
God. Though we are sinners, we are
blind to our sin. We're blinded by our imagined
goodness to our blindness. We're blind to salvation in Christ. What a terrible state we're in.
And we cannot understand spiritual things. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says,
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. We do not know God. We do not
know His Son. We do not know our own blindness. And most especially, we do not
know His Son and His salvation. By nature, that's what we are.
And as spiritual beggars, we have nothing spiritually. Have
you ever heard people say, I'm a spiritual person? We are in
darkness. We are helpless in a kingdom
of darkness. What we need is mercy. And here
we see a man. The second thing here in this
scripture, we see a man, a needy sinner, seeking mercy from Christ. In the large numbers of the crowd
that were passing by here, isn't it interesting that only the
blind man cried for mercy? In Ezekiel 36, God promises,
as I read last night, that He promises great spiritual blessings
to His people in the everlasting covenant of His grace. In every
promise, He binds Himself to fulfill all the conditions. Remember
what He said? I, the Lord, have spoken it and
I will do it. God gives to those who have nothing
and can give nothing. That's what the New Covenant
is all about. He gives to those who have nothing
and can give nothing. He does all. He therefore gets
all the glory. His own sovereign prerogative
promised that He would give, that He would give, and to whom
He would give it in that covenant. But notice, in all of the sovereign
unconditional promises of Ezekiel 36, in the last verse it says,
Because it's God's prerogative not only to give, but also to
give in the way that He would give. He says that He would work
in us to cause us to seek Him. In that verse He says, Thus saith
the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house
of Israel to do it for them. Though God has unalterably determined
to bless His people in Christ, He has also unalterably determined
to bless them through the means of His own choosing. He will
cause us to seek mercy from Christ out of the poverty and the nakedness
of our need, even in the face of our own uncleanness. In our
utter helplessness to bring light, the light of Christ, into our
own souls, in this posture of needing mercy, He causes us to
seek mercy in Christ alone. Isn't that what the man in Luke
18, 13 said? God, have mercy, be propitious
to me, the sinner. Now in Psalm 34, 17, if you want
to turn there, I'll refer to a couple of Psalms, so hold your
finger there in Psalm 34. We'll be in the Psalms a couple
of times. And I want you to see this in Psalm 34, 17. It says,
the righteous cry. and the Lord heareth and delivereth
them from all their troubles." What a precious promise that
is. The righteous cry. When you don't know if you even
know God, when you can't produce peace and joy in your own soul
like a blind man who can't give himself sight, when you can't
even find words to pray, when you are in this bankrupt condition,
a spiritually blind beggar before God, What do you do? If you are the Lord's, you will
cry to Him. You will say from your heart,
Lord, I am blind by the ignorance of my own proud, unbelieving
heart. I'm full of sin. Do for me what
you do for helpless sinners. And when you thus pray, the Lord
hears. And if the Lord hears, He will save. That is His promise. Now, He tells us this beforehand,
that He causes us to cry to Him. He makes us to cry to Him in
Christ alone, so that when we cry, when mercy from God in Christ
is our only plea, then we will know that it is the Spirit of
Christ bringing us to Himself. He tells us what to do. Look
at Psalm chapter 50 and verse 15. He says, Call upon Me in
the day of trouble, I will deliver thee. and thou shalt glorify
me." Do you see the pattern? We recognize His work in us when
we are at the bottom and see Christ as our only help and hope. This man didn't cry to anyone
else in the crowd. Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Call. Call upon Me, He says,
in the day of trouble, in the trouble of your soul, and He
will save. He will glorify Himself in doing
so. His glory is great in His salvation. Psalm 21 5. And we will glorify
Him for His salvation. Psalm 107 2 says, Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Let Jesus Christ be glorified
for what He accomplished when He died. That's what we say.
Anything that causes me to cry out of the depths is a mercy,
isn't it? Anything. There is comfort in knowing that
it is God who uses all trouble, trouble without, trouble within,
especially trouble within, to drive me to Christ. Do you find
it so in your experience? I find great comfort in knowing
that though my sin is great, and that my sins are many, and
that I am by nature full of sin, that God has made this truth
the only truth, I believe, that Jesus Christ is all my salvation. Do you find that a comfort? Isn't
this truth given to us by the Spirit of Christ Himself? Psalm
62 says, Wait thou only upon God, for
my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. All mercy from God, all salvation
and all spiritual blessings are found in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. We call on God in Christ alone. We come to God by Christ alone. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4.12.
My soul, notice, Bartimaeus did not call upon Jesus as a man
calls on another man. He didn't say, Jesus, sir, please
open my eyes. Nor did he call on Jesus as a
servant calls on his master. Master, please help me. Bartimaeus
called on the Lord Jesus Christ as a sinner calls on God in his
mediator. This is important to understand. Do not think you can open your
own eyes or wash yourself from the pollution of your own mind
and nature. Do not think you can take away
even the smallest sin of your many and great sins. Come to
God in Christ only. Call upon Him. He will save. That was His promise. He will
glorify Himself in doing so. Salvation is not you making yourself
acceptable to God. That is not salvation. It is
coming to God in Christ as an unclean, helpless, needy sinner
and asking Him to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.
It is looking to Him for all that God requires of you in spite
of all that you are. It is looking to Christ and finding
Him to be everything in your salvation Now this blind man
who needed mercy is by the merciful operation of the Spirit of Christ
made to seek for mercy in Christ alone. That's what this is teaching
us here. That's the lesson. The second
lesson I want you to see here. In Psalm 107, while you're in
the Psalms, look over at Psalm 107, and we'll look at that at
verse 9. He says, This is the pattern. This is the way God, by His Spirit,
works in the hearts of sinners, and in His redeemed ones, even
after they believe. Verse 9. And He fills the hungry soul
with goodness, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled
against the words of God and contempt, they despised the counsel
of the Most High. Therefore, He brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down, and there was
none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and
break their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness, for His marvelous works to the children
of men. That's the mercy, that's the
pattern, that's the work of the Spirit of God. Remember what the Lord says,
I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them, to do it for them. His grace produces our
cry, the righteous cry. Call upon me in a day of trouble. When in the uncleanness and the
utter spiritual lack, we find ourselves looking to Christ for
mercy, we must recognize that that is his work. If we are left
with nothing but Christ, that is the signature work of the
Spirit of Christ in us. What a mercy. All men experience
trouble, but hypocrites do not look to Christ alone for their
salvation in their trouble. In Job 36.13 it says, hypocrites
in heart heap up wrath. They cry not when He bindeth
them. And in Hosea 7.14 he says, they
have not cried unto me with their heart. You see, it is a blessed
thing to be poor in spirit, Matthew 5.3. It is God's work to make
us so, but we must not trust our poverty. I say that because
for years I heard a man say, In answer to the question, what
must I do to be saved? Over and over and over again,
call out to God for mercy. Call out to God for mercy. And
there was never a message to say, look to Christ only. Mercy is only found in Christ.
But we do not trust our calling. We do not trust our crying. I
remember a woman called me a couple of years ago. on the phone and
she was distressed. I've done this, I've done that.
I've listened to Pastor Fortner, I've listened to these preachers
on the radio and I've cried and I don't know what to do. I felt
sorry for her. Look to Christ. We don't trust
our poverty. We do not trust our crying. We
thank God when we are enabled to look only to Christ. But true
poverty of soul leaves us with nothing but Christ, not with
our trust and our crying. The work of the Spirit of Christ
did this. Now, at his first cry in Mark
chapter 10, the crowd rebuked Bartimaeus. Isn't that strange? The crowd rebuked Bartimaeus. I'm going back to Mark chapter
10. Isn't it ironic? As I said, in
this entire crowd of seeing people who followed Jesus, there was
none who cried to him for mercy. Isn't that ironic? None cried
for mercy except this unclean, blind beggar. Why? Why did none in this faceless
crowd cry? Wasn't it because they did not
see their blindness? Why didn't they want to hear
this man crying? Wasn't it because they never
knew His need? They couldn't have compassion
if they never knew His need. They did not have that fellowship
of suffering in looking to Christ. needing and looking to Christ,
only they didn't. When we find Christ to be our
all, we have fellowship with all those who have been rescued,
I love the name of this town, rescued from that same sinking
ship of unbelief and free will works religion. I have to tell you that it was
out of free will, works, religion, and my blindness in it, that
God saved me. And if He saves you, I believe
He'll save you out of the same thing. All who have found Christ
to be their only rock of salvation, in the blindness of that, will
have fellowship one with another. And we ache, don't we? For others
who see that need to cry to Christ and find Him to be their all.
But this crowd were as those who knew nothing of need, and
they knew nothing of their eyes being opened out of the darkness.
So they told him to be quiet, to shut up. But Bartimaeus could
not be quiet. With the psalmist, Bartimaeus
cried. He could cry with the psalmist,
there was no man that would know me. No man cared for my soul. Though they scolded him to hold
his peace, he cried the more a great deal." In verse 48. Oh,
see here, the work of the Spirit of Christ in a needy sinner. As for me, the psalmist says,
I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. That is the
hope God puts in the heart of a sinner. I will call upon God
and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon
will I pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice. By God's
grace, Bartimaeus could find no rest until Christ gave him
sight to rest in Himself. in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
crowd rebuked him at his crying, but notice, Jesus stood still. See here the miracle of God's
grace. The Lord said that when the sun
and moon stood still at Joshua's command, there was never a day
like that, before or after, when God hearkened to a man. But here,
There is a much greater miracle. It was not noble Joshua who here
cried out, but an unclean, blind beggar, a sinner. He cries out
of his emptiness. Jesus came to do the eternal
will of God. He had set his face like a flint
to keep that eternal appointment. He would not be kept back. He would not be deterred. His
chief business from eternity was to give himself a ransom
for many and bring them to God. And he was about to accomplish
that work. But see here a great miracle
of mercy. A sinner cries to the Son of
Righteousness out of the depths and the Lord of Glory hears and
stands still." Why did Jesus hear this man's cry and stand
still? Why did the Lord Jesus have compassion
on him? The crowd showed him no mercy,
yet the one that Bartimaeus had offended by his sin now stops
in compassion to grant him mercy. Why does the Lord Jesus show
compassion to helpless sinners? Isn't it because He is rich in
mercy? For His great love, wherewith
He loved us, Because He's rich in mercy. Remember Ephesians
2? But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. By grace,
you are saved. And the Lord Jesus, here, hears
the cry of His own Spirit, from the cry of this needy sinner.
Isn't it true? In Romans chapter 8 verse 26
and 27 it says, The Spirit also helps our infirmities, our weaknesses. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
It doesn't say in us, but that's where He is, isn't He? In us,
the Spirit of God makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who searches the hearts,
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession
to God for the saints according to the will of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ knows the mind of the Spirit. And knowing that
mind of the Spirit who's groaning within us, He knows that mind
and He Himself intercedes for us according to that. The mind
of the Spirit is the will of God for the salvation of His
elect. Isn't that it? John 6, 40 says,
This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. The other reason I think the Lord Jesus had compassion
on this sinner, and perhaps the most endearing to my heart, is
that the Lord Jesus had compassion on him because,
I'm sorry, He had compassion on Him because it was the Lord
Jesus Himself who cried out of the anguish of His soul. He cried, the Lord Jesus, on
the cross, out of the darkness, didn't He? He says, in fact,
turn to it with me in Matthew 27, verse 39. In Matthew 27,
listen to these words, Most important words. In Matthew
27, verse 39, he says, And they that passed by reviled him, wagging
their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and
buildest it in three days, save thyself, if thou be the Son of
God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest,
mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others,
Himself, He cannot save. Truer words were never spoken,
were they? If He be the King of Israel,
He is the King of Israel, is He not? Let Him now come down
from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God, let Him
deliver Him now, if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son
of God. The thieves also which were crucified
with Him cast the same in His teeth. Now, from the sixth hour,
there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. That's when He cried, My God,
My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Remember those cries? My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from
helping me and from the words of my roaring? Here the Lord
Jesus hears this crying sinner. And in Lamentations 3.8 it says,
When I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. That was our Lord
Jesus Christ speaking in prophecy. When I cry and shout, He shuts
out my prayer. Did not the Lord Jesus show compassion
to this sinner? Because as our substitute, He
felt the burden of our sins in His own body and soul? He who
is all compassion, was denied compassion, that he might have
compassion on his beloved bride, who were guilty sinners. When
he was made sin and bore the curse of God in his body and
soul on the cross, the sun in the sky did not shine on him. For salvation's light to shine
on us, the light of the world bore the darkness of the loss
of God's presence in his own soul. Oh my God, I cry in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and
am not silent. Isn't that why the Lord Jesus
hears the cry of sinners, even his own spirit crying from them? And is this not His glory that
He hears and shows mercy to sinners? He had come and He had passed
through and He was now leaving Jericho, that cursed city. Before
He went there, He said He came to give His life a ransom for
many. That's what we read in verse
45. To give His life a ransom for
many. He paid the ransom of Himself
that God demanded to redeem cursed sinners from the curse of His
law. But now the Lord Jesus passes
on his mission. He pauses on his mission at the
urgent cry of a desperate sinner. It was all determined before,
what a blessing of God's providence to have made this man blind,
to put him in the way that he might know his need and find
himself on the wayside as Christ passes by in the crowd, and then
to find Christ alone as his all. You see, redemption's work was
finished on the cross, but it must be applied to the redeemed. A king may pardon a prisoner
with immediate freedom from all punishment, but no peace and
joy is known by that prisoner until that news is delivered
to him, until they unlock that cell. The ransomed must be released. And so it says In Acts 13, 38
and 39, through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. That's the release. And by Him
all that believe are justified from all things which they could
not be justified by the law of Moses. Christ and His redemption
is preached because the release He earned by His ransom must
be preached to the redeemed. When it is, God's Spirit gives
them faith to see and know their liberty. Jesus came and passed
through and was now leaving the cursed city. Yet, He is here
granting to His redeemed the liberty His ransom purchased. Forgiveness of all my sins with
perfect righteousness and faith to see that He is all. That is
the Gospel. In Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14,
it says, he obtained eternal redemption for us. It says that
the blood of Christ shall purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God. That's the freedom. That's the
release we experience because of the ransom price. From enslavement
to sin to freedom in our conscience that we might serve God with
a pure conscience. Thus, redemption purchased is
now applied to the redeemed. That's why Jesus came to Jericho,
to open the eyes of this blind man. And that is why the Spirit
of Christ moved him to cry, to apply the redemption Christ would
purchase by the offering of himself. For this I will be inquired of
by the house of Israel to do it for them. That's His promise. And just as Jesus restored sight
to this blind man, He gives His people faith to see their Redeemer
in Christ and the redemption He obtained for them by His own
blood. Now, Jesus commanded this man
to be called, did you hear that in verse 49, he commanded this
man to be called. King David, remember, commanded
Mephibosheth to be called in 2 Samuel 9.5. Here, David's son
and David's Lord fetches this sinner to himself. Every believing
sinner is rightly named the called of Jesus Christ, Romans 1.6. And they're also the called according
to his purpose. Romans 8.28, the crowd now carries
the good news from the Lord Jesus, be of good comfort, rise, he
calleth thee. Christ speaks comfort to all
who are brought to him, doesn't he? Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out." John 6, 37. What a wonderful promise. And His call actually accomplishes
His will, doesn't it? In Psalm 71, 3, Thou hast given
commandment to save me. What a wonderful promise. The
Lord says in Ezekiel 16 verse 6, When I passed by thee and
saw thee polluted in thy blood, I said unto thee, In thy blood
live! Yea, I said unto thee, In thy
blood live, rise, he calleth thee. And next we see that Bartimaeus
in verse 50, cast away his garment, that smelly, foul thing that
he once clutched. Close, he now flings away. Isn't that what salvation is?
is getting rid of everything I formerly trusted. All that
He formerly held close became of no value when His Redeemer
called Him to Himself. Even so, all the possessions
of the world, all of the approval and praise of men, and especially
all that I once trusted, is now disgusting, nauseating, and revolting. Didn't Paul say, God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world? In
my blindness, I thought something that I could do, something that
was called mine, even the rags of a beggar, had some value to
God. I thought that something I had,
or something I could do, something I could feel or experience, years
for years. But seeing that God finds all
value in Christ for me, and hearing His call, I gladly relinquish
all to have Him alone. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
in the body of Christ. What else do we need? We're complete
in Him. And the next thing we see in
verse 51 is that the Lord Jesus asked Bartimaeus, what do you
want me to do for you? What do you want? What do you
need? The Lord of glory stands before
you in His human nature, the Creator and Upholder of all things. The one who asked Solomon, ask
what I shall give thee. Now ask this unclean, blind beggar,
what do you desire I do for you? Oh, dear sinner, what do you want
from the Lord of glory? Now consider it carefully. Consider
who you are asking. He's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think. Ephesians 3.20. John Newton said,
you're coming to a king. Large petitions you should bring. Examine your great need in the
light of the gospel. In the light of your eternal
debt of sin, consider that the Lord Jesus Christ is rich in
mercy. There is help in no other, but
there is all help in Him. Isn't there? Let His compassion
open the springs of your need to bubble up in supplication
and ask Him for what only the sacrifice of the Son of God could
procure. Think about that. Ask from Him
what only His sacrifice could procure from God. Ask what He
purchased by His own sacrifice. Can anything be of greater value
than that which required the blood of Christ to purchase?
Ask Him for full, free, perfect redemption, forgiveness of sins. Ask for your soul's cleansing.
Ask from Him that in which God Himself delights and holds up
to this onlooking universe His perfect, justifying righteousness. I will ask him to be found in
him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. I will ask him to dwell in me
by his spirit of grace, that he might be precious to my soul.
that I might know Him by this precious faith as He reveals
Himself in the Gospel. I will ask Him for the saving
and keeping and glorifying grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." Look
at Philippians chapter 4 and verse 23, very end, last verse
in the entire book, Paul says this, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
We heard it this morning from our brother speaking from Psalm
103 and verse 19. He's the Lord of all, isn't he? The Lord of all, that's the one
from whom we need grace. Ask him for his grace, the grace
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I will ask Him what the psalmist
asked Him. I will ask Him what the thief
on the cross asked Him and what the psalmist asked Him in Psalm
106 when he said, Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that Thou
bearest unto 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. Give me, Lord, because of your
purchased redemption, give me what you purchased with your
people." What else do we want? And I will ask Him, as He says
to ask in Hosea 14.2, take away all iniquity and receive Me graciously. And with King David, on hearing
the prophet in 2 Samuel 23, when he heard all of the promises
of that new covenant spoken by the prophet, do you know what
David said? Lord, do as You have said. Isn't that what faith says? Lord, do what you said. And I
will ask what the Lord Jesus Christ asked for all His people
as He suffered as their surety in Psalm 35. Say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation. What sweeter words. Lord, give
me this faith in Christ that is more precious than gold. That
is what is meant by Bartimaeus' answer when he said, Lord, that
I might receive my sight. And Jesus said, This fifth thing,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Now in the passage here in Mark
chapter 10, the word whole is used. But in the New Testament,
the same word is translated 93 times as saved. Here, another
8 times as whole. You see, The Lord Jesus opened the physical
eyes of this blind man and made him whole. But in the Gospel
the Lord says, Go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee. What did Bartimaeus believe?
That was his faith. He believed Jesus to be the Lord
and Christ. Who did he call him? Son of David. That's what Christ is. And you
can read about that in Psalm 118 and Matthew 20, 21. It proves that the title, Son
of David, is the title for Christ. He knew he was the Christ. And
he calls him Lord. In the account in Matthew chapter
20, two blind men cry out and they say, Lord, have mercy upon
us. So He's calling Him Lord Jesus
Christ. He believed Him to be the Lord
Jesus Christ. He believed that only Christ
could save Him. Therefore He cried only to Christ,
the Lord. And He was only quieted when
the Lord Jesus called Him and told Him He was a saved man. He believed Christ was His only
salvation and that is what He received. Isn't it? Do you believe God only receives
you in His Son who perfectly finished the work of redemption?
Do you believe that? By faith has saved thee. The
object of your faith, the one who gave that to you, the author
of your faith, that's the faith that saves. Believers believe
Christ. They believe He is everything
in their salvation. Psalm 62 says, verse 6, He only
is my rock and salvation. All who see Christ as their only
salvation have already been given what they believe. Everlasting
salvation in the Lord. Isn't that what Isaiah 45, 17
says? That they shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting salvation? Notice also, here in Mark chapter
10, that after Jesus spoke this to him, after he opened his eyes,
that it says he followed Jesus in the way. We see in this account
that saving faith follows Christ. Jesus told Bartimaeus, go thy
way, thy faith has saved thee. But God-given faith finds Christ
crucified as my only way to God. Every believing sinner goes this
way. That's His way. Bartimaeus' way
was Christ alone, isn't it? Isn't that what Paul said? I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me. Saving faith lives on Christ. Jesus said, Whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. We eat and drink Christ
when we worship God in Christ, trusting that we have no other
righteousness but the perfect obedience of Christ alone. By
God's grace, we find all of our sustenance in Christ crucified. Faith in Christ is not a one-time
act. How many times have you heard,
I think it was Pastor Fortner last night saying the same thing.
Maybe they made a decision for Jesus back when they were a child.
Saving faith is not a one-time act. If ever you believe Christ, you
will continue to believe Him. Remember what Peter said in John
6, 68 and 69? Jesus asked them, will you also
go away? Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. And remember what we read even
in the bulletin on the front page, it says you're saved by
these things if you keep them in remembrance because the Spirit
of Christ is the great remembrancer who always holds up Christ to
our eyes. Jesus said, my sheep hear my
voice and they follow me. They shall never perish. They
continue believing Christ because they have no other Savior, no
other Lord. And finally, we can see here
the glorious work of Christ our Redeemer. On His way to the cross,
to pay the ransom of Himself to God for His people, Jesus
here hears the cry of his own spirit from the heart and lips
of this poor, unclean, blind man. He cried to have what Christ's
ransom would soon obtain for all of his elect. The Lord of
Glory stands still. He calls him. He opens his eyes
to see that his salvation, full and free, is Christ alone. And the blind man goes on living
in this Christ-given faith. The redemption Christ purchased
is continually applied to him. The Redeemer and His ransom become
the life and sight and joy and peace of this believing sinner.
And this is how He lives. The redemption Christ purchased
by His blood is now applied to His redeemed. Isn't that what
happened here? I go to give myself a ransom
for many, go through Jericho, rescues this blind man from his
darkness, gives him sight, And all he does is follow Jesus in
the way. Lord bless you.