Good evening. It's wonderful
to be here again. I am truly so thankful to the
Lord for allowing us to be here. And I'm truly thankful for the
messages. We are a blessed people. We really are blessed people.
And we don't even know how to be thankful like we ought to
be. But I'm so thankful. Thank you for having me and thank
you to everyone here for doing this. I'm so grateful to every
member of our congregation who opens their home and has people
in their home. That's a real blessing. And I'm
always so thankful to a congregation that opens their home and invites
people to come in. And thank you for doing this. I would like for us to look at
a very familiar story, but I'd
like to begin the message by seeing some things first that
will lead us into the story. So turn with me if you would
to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, verse 14 says, And Jesus returned in the power
of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of Him
through all the region round about. There went out a fame
of Him. Our Lord, for 30 years, nothing
is mentioned about Him except for His birth and a moment when
He was 12. But after He began His ministry and went about doing
good, there was a fame of Him. Look at verse 33. And in the
synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil,
and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone, what have
we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to
destroy us? I know thee, who thou art, the
Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had
thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying,
What a word is this? For with authority and power
he commanded the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame
of him went out into every place of the country round about. Just
think about that. Let your mind enter into that. Enter into that scenario. The
fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. Look at chapter 5 verse 12. And it came to pass, when he
was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who, seeing
Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately
the leprosy departed from him, and he charged him to tell no
man." Don't tell anybody. Isn't that something? Don't tell
anybody. Our Lord was the true example of humility. He did not
cry nor lift up His voice in the street. He wasn't doing this
for Himself. But verse 14, He charged him
to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest, and offer
for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony
unto them. But so much the more went there
a fame abroad of him. And great multitudes came together
to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities." It just
couldn't be stopped. It couldn't be stopped. They
could not not tell about Him. He said, don't tell anybody.
And they couldn't not talk about Him. They just could not not
tell about Him. They had to. And great multitudes,
as they heard of Him, heard this fame of Him,
it went out into every region of the country. As they heard, they came to Him
to be healed. They heard and they came. And I can imagine the conversations
going something like this. Have you heard of this man Jesus
of Nazareth? No. What about Him? He makes lame men walk. What? Really? Really. I saw it happen. I saw it happen. He walked up
to a man who had never walked before in his life. And he said,
rise, take up thy bed and walk. And he got up, picked up his
bed, and walked away. Well, my best friend is lame. Where is he? Have you seen this man, Jesus
of Nazareth? This one everybody's talking
about. Have you seen what he's able to do? I don't think so. What can he
do? I saw him make a deaf man hear. Well, my father's deaf. Where
is he? Did you hear what this man Jesus
of Nazareth did? I don't think so. There was a 12 year old little
girl who died. And he walked up to her and he
grabbed her by the hand and said, I say unto thee, arise. And she came back to life. Are you serious? Yes. Well, if he can do that, my son
is grievously vexed with the devil. You think he could help
him? He can. Well, my mother has an issue
of blood. Do you think he could help her? He can. Well, my whole family, we're
all sinners. Do you think he could help us?
He can. I've seen it. He can. Everyone heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Now here's my point. Alright,
let's see if the Lord will let us enter into this just a little
bit. Alright, that's the point of view of the faint. Let's get
a different point of view. Can you imagine the thrill that
came over a soul who was infected with a terrible disease? when
they heard about Him and what He could do. This is just conversations. Just conversations. And here
they are in their condition, whatever that condition may be. Can you envision that soul, that
person hearing about Him for the first time and saying, Would you say that again? Would
you tell me that again? Tell me about what He can do
again. The thrill. I can only envision
the thrill of a soul hearing and thinking, Oh, if I could just get to Him.
What a time when He walked this earth and His fame went out. And all of these people thinking,
oh, if I could just get to Him. But I would imagine, and I would
almost guarantee that every soul in that condition experienced
an immediate reaction of sorrow. They had the thrill, oh, if I
could just get to Him. But I can also envision an immediate
reaction of sorrow thinking, that will never happen for me. That'll never happen to me. How
could I get to Him? This famed One. How could I possibly know Him? Why would He look on me? Of all people, why would He choose
me to show kindness to me? Well, go with me now to our text,
which is Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 verse 46 says, 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
highway side, begging. Our Lord passed right through
Jericho. He was coming out of Jericho,
and He passed right through thousands and thousands of people. Passed
right on by. And as He's leaving the city,
in the midst of all these people, there's a blind man Sitting on
the side of the road. And I have this man envisioned
in my mind. His back is hunched over. And he is weak. He's bowed down. And the reason
is because all he does is he sits on the side of the road
all day long. He just sits there all day long. He's dirty. He sits on ground level, it's
a busy road, lots of camels, lots of horses, lots of people. And all that traffic just kicks
up a lot of dust and he's just covered in it. This man is poor. He doesn't have anything but
the torn rags on his back. He doesn't have a home. He doesn't
have a shower. There's no hygiene about this
man. He stinks. Everything in him is rotting.
It's just rotting. He's in a horrible, miserable,
vile, wretched condition. And do you know that he represents
every single person in this room? And he cannot see the fullness
of his condition because he's blind. He knows something of
his condition. And the only way that any man
or woman can know something of our spiritual condition before
God is if God would reveal it to us, because we're blind. We're
blind. But it was much worse than I'm
sure he had in his mind. But he knew something of his
condition. And by God's grace, we know something
of our condition. We truly do. We are weak. We
are low. We are dirty. We are poor. Our filthy rags cannot cover
us. We are rotting from the inside
out. We are beggars in need of mercy. We are beggars in need of grace. We need help. We need help. I need help. Now because of what blind Bartimaeus
said, we can know that he heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know this story. We know what he said. So we know
that he heard of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is what he heard. And this is what we have heard.
The Apostle Paul said, have they not all heard? There's only one testimony concerning
Him. And it takes the power of God
to cause men and women to see this and see the truth of this.
But Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth is the great physician
And He said He came for one reason only and that was to heal the
sick. Bartimaeus heard that and I can
only imagine him sitting there in his own infirmity thinking,
I'm sick. I'm sick. Oh, I wish He would come to me. I wish He would come to me. As the fame of the Lord was told,
he sat there and listened. He heard. Jesus of Nazareth says,
He will bind up all the broken. He will lift up everyone who
is bowed down. Everybody who is humbled. Everybody
who is low in the dirt. Bartimaeus heard that and he
thought, I'm broken. I'm bowed down in the dirt, I'm
as low as a man can get. Oh, I wish he would come to me. Have you ever been there? Oh,
I wish he would come to me. I wish so badly he would come
to me. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
with all thy quickening power. Do you ever feel like blind Bartimaeus? On the side of the road? Just a beggar? Hello broken beggar,
Lord please come to me. I see this man thinking, oh I
wish he would come to me. While men and women ignored him
saying, alms for the poor, does anybody have any alms you could
give to me? While they ignored him saying
that, he heard them say, Jesus of Nazareth says, though he was rich, Yet for our
sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be
made rich. Bartimaeus says, oh, that I could
find Him. Oh, that I could get to Him.
Oh, that I could beg from Him. I'm a beggar. I'm a beggar. If I could just
beg from Him, if I could just beg from Him. I would strongly believe that
at some point, somebody walked up to Him and said, blind man,
you need to get to Jesus Christ. He goes around healing blind
men. And I can see Him thinking, I
would if I could. I'd give anything to, but I can't. I just can't. I can't see Him.
I can't see the way to Him. The only thing I can do is sit
here in my blindness. That's all I can do. I wish He'd
come to me. Hold your place right here and
go to Luke 18. Luke 18 verse 35 says, And it came to pass, and those
are some wonderful words right there. It does for all of God's
people. It came to pass that as He was
come nigh unto Jericho, A certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging, and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant." And I would love to preach this
in a way that we could enter into this, but maybe the Spirit
will let you enter into it anyway. Just envision this man. begging
and wishing that he could get to the Lord. And here he is sitting
there in all of his wretchedness and all of his miserableness,
and he hears all this commotion, all of this noise, and he starts
asking, what is going on? What is all of this commotion?
Why is everything so loud? Somebody tell me, what is it?
What's happening? Verse 37. And they told him,
Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Jesus of Nazareth is walking
by right now. This is the commotion. What's
all of this commotion? What's going on? You've heard
of that man Jesus of Nazareth? He is walking right in front
of you right now. He's passing by right now. And he cried. And I've cried this before. Inside. And I want to cry it again. And
I cry it right now. He cried. I can only imagine
all the noise. Can you imagine the volume? I
won't even try to imitate it. Can you imagine the volume of
this man? From the depths of his soul. With all that is within
him. He cried, Jesus, thou Son of
David, have mercy on me. Please have mercy on me. Savior,
Savior, my King, my Lord, pass me not,
O tender Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on
others thou art calling, please don't pass me Have mercy on me. Have mercy
on me. Verse 39 says, And they which
went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But
he cried so much the more. Thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. I can see Him, as they were saying,
Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. The Savior is passing by.
I see Him crying at the top of His lungs. I'm sick. Based on who you said you are,
I'm sick. I'm so sick. I am low. I am broken. I'm broken. You came to seek the lost? You
came to bind up the broken? You're looking for the broken?
I'm broken. I'm poor. I'm blind. I'm blind. Please, please, please, please,
please have mercy on me. Please have mercy on me. Please
have mercy on me. I'm at your mercy. I'm at your
mercy. I don't assume on you. I'm at
your mercy. Please have mercy on me. While
everybody's saying, hush, hush, he's crying, please, please. Go back to Mark 10. Verse 49 says, "...and Jesus stood still." Oh, the depth of what that means.
That means so much more than He stopped walking. Christ stood
still for Him. He looked on Him. He chose him. He was a certain blind man. He had compassion on him. Virtue
went out for him. Bartimaeus didn't know it at
the moment. He's still blind. He's still sitting there crying,
please, please. He has no idea. But the fact
that Christ stood still, what this means is His time was a
time of love. Long before the Spirit of our
Lord Jesus Christ opened our eyes. 2,000 years before, roughly. The Spirit of the Lord opened
our eyes while all of the accusations were railed on our Lord. for the sins that you and I committed, our Lord stood still for us. God stood still. And He never opened His mouth
in His own defense. All of the sins of us, His people,
were laid on Him. and He never opened His mouth
in His own defense. He just stood still all the way
to the cross. Bearing all the judgment, all
the sentencing, all the crucifying, all the shedding of His blood,
He stood still. He just stood still. Enduring it, suffering it, paying
the penalty of it, Like a lamb done before his shearer, he opened
not his mouth and stood still." Thank God. He stood still for
his people. Verse 49 says, "...and Jesus
stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called
the blind man, saying unto him..." Bartimaeus has heard a message
to this point. He's heard a three-point message,
and this is what he's heard so far. The first point was, Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. It's the first thing he heard.
He is passing by. The one who is able is passing
by. And it's his right to pass on by. He can heal whom He will and
pass by whom He will. The second thing He heard is,
hold your peace. You're unworthy. You're not worthy. You have no right to Him. He
doesn't owe you anything. The final point of the message
he heard. Verse 49, Jesus stood still and
commanded him to be called and they called the blind man saying
unto him, be of good cheer, be of good comfort, rise, he's calling
you. He's calling you. He can pass
by whoever he wants to pass by. And he doesn't owe you anything.
But be of good comfort and be of good cheer. Good news, great
news, Bartimaeus. He is calling you by name. He's calling you. This is a sovereign physician.
And you're not worthy of his healing. I'm not worthy of his
healing. But the glorious news of the
Gospel is Jesus Christ stood still for you. He stood still
for you. And He has called you to Himself. Verse 50 says, and he, Bartimaeus,
casting away his garment. But Bartimaeus, wait now, you're
poor. Hold on, you're poor. Don't you
think you ought to just keep what you have and add to it? No. I don't think so. I believe He's going to give
me a new one. A perfect one. A seamless one.
Why would I want to hold on to these filthy rags any longer?
That's what every sinner says when God calls. Why would I want
to hang on to my own filthy self-righteousness? He has a brand new one waiting
on me. A spotless one waiting on me. Verse 50 says, And he
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. If he was
still blind, how did he come to Christ? How was it possible
for him to get to Christ? He was led there. And that's
what all of God's people... That's what happens to all of
God's people. They're led by God's Spirit to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 51, And Jesus answered
and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
And I'll ask every person here, answer this in your heart. What
do you want Christ to do for you? Really. What do you want
Him to do for you, really? Do we want happiness in this
world? Because that's what some people
want. Is that what we want, really? The finest this world has to
offer us. Easy street. Is that what we
want, really? What do you want Christ to do for you? Verse 51,
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. What he said is, I want
to see you. I want to see you. Lord, through
Your mercy, through Your grace, in what You do for sinners who
are low and blind and broken, I want to see You, and that's
what we want to see, in the blood and the mercy that's in that
blood, in the righteousness that He's robed us in and the blood
He's covered us in, I want to see Your glory. I want to see
your goodness. I want to see your kingdom. I
want to see your salvation. I want to see you. I want to see Christ. I want
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I want. I want to
see the Lord Jesus Christ. Job said, I know with these two
eyes I'm going to see Him. Verse 52, And Jesus said unto
him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received His sight. Then what did he do? He can see
now. He can go wherever he wants to
go now. He can see. He can go do whatever he wants
to do. What did he want to do? He followed Jesus in the way. He followed Christ. That's what
every saved sinner has a heart to do. They all follow Christ.
Wherever you go, that's where I want to go. And why do they
all do that? It's because they love Him. We
love Him. Oh, we love Him. I can envision
Bartimaeus being with the Lord after that. Can you only imagine
how many times he said, Thank you, Lord. Can I say thank you
again? Thank you again. Thank you again. I can see him going around telling
everybody, you'll never believe what happened to me. I was blind. And he came to me, he passed
by me where I was. And he stood still for me. And
He called me to Himself, and then He opened my eyes to all
of it. After it was already finished, He just showed me everything
after it was all over. He opened my eyes to it. And
that's a familiar story, and that's all of our story. Well,
thank you, Brother Donnie. Pray the Lord to bless you.