Mark 10, 46. 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
wayside begging. And when he had heard that it
was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the Lord a great deal,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he,
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Our Lord Jesus, You are our great
God and Savior. It's You who came. It's You who
bore our sins. It's You that honored God. It's
You that bore our wrath. It's You that bore our sin. It's
You that makes us acceptable. It's You that makes us able to
come into the presence of God. It's You that's able us to come
here and worship this morning. Indeed, it's to You we owe our
life, our breath, our all. And I pray that You'd be pleased
today to honor Yourself, honor Your blessed Son, our Father.
And Lord, we thank You for the great abundant mercies. You're
the Father of mercies. And here's a man asking for mercy.
And I pray that You'd be pleased to put it in somebody's heart
today. Out of these that's here today, that You'd put it in their
heart. that they'd do as Bartimaeus and cry out for mercy. Mercy's
what we need. And we thank you that you have
bags of mercy never yet burst on, never yet broken to put upon
sinners' heads and hearts. Father, have mercy upon our children,
our grandchildren. Make them see their great need
of Christ our Lord. Receive this service, this prayer,
the preaching, the singing, All for Your glory. For Your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Harry Sprackert mentioned this
in his message a couple of weeks ago, Blind Bartimaeus and Mercy. And it's been on my mind ever
since. So, I'm going to bring a message
this morning on this blind beggar. There in verse 46. And they came to Jericho. Now,
Jericho was a cursed city. It was a cursed city. And He came to Jericho, and as
He came to Jericho, He's leaving. He's on His way out of town.
On His way out of Jericho. With His disciples and a great
number of people. Blind Bartimaeus, the son of
Timaeus, sat by the wayside begging. And look what he asks for down
in the last part of verse forty-seven. Have mercy on me. And again in verse forty-eight.
Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. Anybody need
mercy? Anybody crying out for mercy? Anybody feel like they have a
need of God to be merciful to them? I know it's the desire
of all of us who know the Lord Jesus and trust Him, that everyone
here, every single person here, was like blind Bartimaeus, crying
out, O thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Blind bears. Blind bears. May you be like
Bartimaeus, a seeker, after the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's
what he became. He became a seeker after Christ.
Old Barnard one time said, I want you to put on my grave that he
was a lifelong seeker after the Lord Jesus Christ. Once you ever
seek Him, you'll always be seeking Him for the rest of your life.
So if you ever start, but I would that you is like Bartimaeus here,
this blind beggar, sitting here in his poverty, in his darkness,
But look what happened. He heard something. He heard
something. And in verse 47, he heard that
it was Jesus of Nazareth. He heard that it was Jesus of
Nazareth. And he was persuaded that it
was more than Jesus of Nazareth because he began to cry out there
in verse 47, saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. He knew that he was the Messiah,
the Son of David. Many, many scriptures prophesied
that David's son would be the Messiah. Now I want you to notice
what he did. He couldn't see. He couldn't see. He is blind.
But he made use of what senses he had. He could hear. He could
hear. He couldn't see, but he had a
voice. And he lifted up that voice And
he lifted it up to the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, and he cried
out. He cried out. Now, would you receive your sight
today? Would you receive your sight? Would you see Christ? Would you see mercy given? Well, I'll tell you how you get
your sight. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And
our Lord Jesus told them, he said, When He was going to raise
Lazarus from the dead, He told you, I told you, that if you
believe, you'll see the glory of God. You're going to see the
glory of God when you believe. And then when you believe, you'll
see the glory of God. And I want to describe this blind
man's salvation. By God's grace, I want to describe
how this man was saved. And I'm going to use four points.
about mercy. Four points about mercy. And
the first thing I want you to look at is that mercy was needed. Look what it said in verse 46.
Mercy was needed first and foremost. And as they came to Jericho,
and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, a great number
of people, and a great number, blind Bartimaeus, the son of
Timaeus, sat by the highway side, begging. He needed mercy. He is blind, born blind, and
the Scriptures tells us in old 2 Corinthians 4, 3, that if our gospel be hidden,
if you don't see the gospel, if you don't see Christ, If you
don't see the mercy, if you don't see the grace of God in Christ,
the righteousness of God in Christ, if you don't see your need of
Christ, he says that if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them whose
mind is blinded. And I tell you what, beloved,
if you don't see that gospel, do you see the gospel? Do you
see Christ? Do you see mercy? Do you see
grace? Do you see that everything's
in Christ? All the mercy you need, all the
grace you need, all the righteousness you need? That you're complete
in Him that's ahead of all principalities and powers? Have you seen Him?
If you're not, then if the gospel's here, it's because the devil's
minded. You're blind. You can't see.
You can't see. And the Scriptures tell us that
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Why can't he? Because he's natural. Neither
can he know of him. Why? Because they're spiritual.
And you got to be made spiritual. That's why this man was sitting
here blind. He couldn't see. He was a natural
man. And then he was born blind. Now
let me tell you something about being blind. There's light in
here. Lots of light. Sun shining outside. Now there's no defect in the
sun. There's no defect in the lights
in here. The defect was in the man. The fault was in the man. The sun's bright for those that
can see. We can see these lights because
we can see. But a blind man can't see light,
he can't see the sun, he can't see anything. The defect was
in him, in his sight. And if you can't see Christ,
and if you don't know Christ, and you can't understand Christ,
and you don't see your need of Christ, it's because you can't
see. And you know, but he couldn't see Jesus, but he heard of Him.
And that's what I'm to do, is to tell you about it. Faith coming,
and you know, he said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him in whom they
have not what? Heard. You can't call on somebody
you never heard of. And you've got to hear the right
information. We're not presenting that Jesus
is sitting here begging and waiting for men to come to Him. I'll
show you that here in a minute. But this man, you know, here
he was sitting by the wayside, he was begging. Begging. Begging
for a living. And you know in Bunyan's book,
The Holy War, you know how Emmanuel finally took the city of Mansoul.
He took a battering ram, and he set it at ear gate, and he
just kept battering that ear gate, battering that ear gate,
and battering that ear gate until he got through. And the first
thing that, you know, the first thing that happened, the Lord
Mayor of that city, understanding, understood who he was, and welcomed
him in, welcomed him in. Let me say, not only was he blind,
but look what else he said. He said, by the wayside, Vicki,
Why was he begging? Because he's poor. He's poor. He's a poor man. He had nothing. Why was he poor? Because his
daddy was poor. When you've got a poor man, and
you're a poor man, and your father's a poor man, and your father's
a poor man, and go right on down the line till you get back in
the Garden of Eden. And you know where we got our poverty from?
We got it from our father Adam. Let me show you a stupid, cute
lesson. Look at Psalm 40, just a moment. I'll tell you something,
you know, most folks don't have a clue how they became sinners.
I'll tell you how you become a sinner, you're born that way. Born that way. Our father Adam
was put in the Garden of Eden and God created him out of the
dust of the earth. And God, he stood there before God, perfect,
Straight from the hand of his creator until Satan come along
and kicked in his wife and they partook of that fruit. And when
he partook of that fruit, he lost everything that he had.
He lost his standing with God. He lost his sight of God. He
lost the way to God. He lost truth. He lost everything.
And when we're born as sons of Adam, we come into this world
with absolutely nothing to contribute to our salvation. We ain't got
no money. We ain't got no strength. We
ain't got no ability. We ain't got no sight. We ain't
got no... We ain't got nothing. And you
know what an inheritance a poor man leaves a poor man? Poverty. You know why his daddy left him?
Poverty. Poverty. And I say something
about poverty. I know some folks that's got
lots of money. Maybe some of you all got lots of it, I don't
know. But I know this, that money has nothing to do with how poor
you are in the sight of God. And how poor you are naturally
has nothing to do with how poor you are in the sight of God.
There are some folks who say, well, we're rich and increased
with goods, and we have need of nothing. You know what God
said about it? You're rich and poor, miserable, blind, and naked. And look what David said here
in Psalm 40 and verse 17. Now this is David. Here's the
king of Israel now. Here's David that Christ is a
son of. He said, I'm poor and needy.
A king talking about being poor and needy? He's the king. He's got the robes. He's got
the crown. He's got men under him. He's
got authority. But do you know what he said?
He said, I'm poor and needy. Look what it says next though.
The Lord thanks upon me. Not only does he do this for
the poor and needy, but he says, you're my help and my deliverer.
Lord, make no tarrying in come. Make no tarrying in come. And
I'll tell you, beloved, I'll say, go back over to our text.
He was poor, sat by the wayside begging. And I've heard many,
many people say, I'm a mercy beggar, mercy beggar. You know,
all his father left him was poverty, big leagues, and excuses. When God said, asked Adam, said,
Adam, where are you? He said, oh, I'm over here. I'm
afraid. I'm ashamed. He said, what happened? He said, here's the woman that
you gave me. Started making excuses. And that's what people start
doing when they start hearing the gospel. They start making
excuses. Oh, I'm not near as bad as that
preacher says. I'm not near as bad as God says I am. I'm not
near as bad as people may think I am. But I tell you, when you
start making excuses for yourself in the sight of God, you're blind
as a bat. And you're poor and you ain't
got sense enough to know it. As long as you've got two pennies
to rub together, you'll never trust Christ. As long as you've
got anything of your own that you can hold toad cling to, I
mean, you're going to get poor as a church mouse. You're going
to get so poor that you ain't got nothing. You're going to
get so poor that you're going to come before God and you say,
Lord, I've got nothing to bring, nothing to offer, nothing to
give. I come empty handed. Empty soul. Empty hearted. Empty
headed. I'm coming empty. Oh, he lost his house. And I
tell you something, this fellow had no ability to better himself. He was born blind. He was a beggar.
And I tell you something, he couldn't change his condition
to save his life. Somebody went by there and said,
now listen. I said, what did you do? All you've got to do
is stand up for Jesus. You don't exercise your free
will. You've got the power. Oh, powerful?
Oh, just think positive. Oh, he couldn't change from being
blind. He couldn't change from being a beggar. He couldn't change
his standing. I mean, he couldn't change his
situation or condition. And he said here, the bottomless
means the son of Timaeus. So his daddy couldn't help him.
Don't you think that if his daddy had anything, that that man wouldn't
have been sitting by the roadside begging? I certainly couldn't
go to my daddy to have help. His daddy couldn't help him.
And I'll tell you something else. He was conscious of his poverty.
Look what it says there. He sat by the roadside begging. He was conscious he was poor.
He was begging. He said, I'm conscious that I'm
poor, so I'm begging. People said, I ain't going to
beg, because you won't get anything from God if you are. And not only was he blind and
poor, but he was hopeless. Oh, he said, by the way, so I
begged. Blind, and the only hope The
only way he could receive his sight, he'd have to have a miracle
performed. He'd have to have a miracle.
He probably expected to die in his blindness and in his poverty
and be buried in a pauper's grave. He was hopeless. I mean, the
only hope for him is a miracle. He's got to have a miracle. But
look what happened. In verse 47. And when he heard
that it was Jesus in Aspen, evidently this great number of people was
going by there, and he said that Jesus passed by and he began
to cry out, have mercy on me. Now let me tell you something
about salvation. Everything about God's salvation is a miracle.
Every believer in this building today that's saved by the grace
of God, they're a living miracle. You know why? I'll tell you why.
Election is a miracle. That God choose to save you.
How can it be, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die
for me? How can it be, how can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst love me? Depth of mercy, can there
be mercy still reserved for me? The very miracle of election,
that God would choose you and pass by somebody else. That God
would set his affection on you. That you were chosen of God. What made you different? Why
did he will to have mercy on you and pass by somebody else? Have compassion on you and pass
by somebody else? Why did he love Jacob and hate
Esau? Why did he choose Abraham and not somebody else? Why did
he choose Jacob and not somebody else? Why did he go by Baudelaire
and not some other blind man? Oh, election's a miracle. And
Christ coming into this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ coming
into this world. You talking about a miracle.
that God Himself, God Himself, the eternal God who inhabits
eternity, came down here and inhabited the womb of a virgin.
And when He come forth from that virgin's womb, He was the Son
of God, Emmanuel, God with us. And He came here not to live
for Himself, but He came here and they said, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall, shall save His people from their
sins. And then there's the miracle
of redemption, the fact that he came here to pay somebody's
sin debt, to redeem them from their sin and the justice of
God. He didn't make a stab at paying
off his people's debts. He didn't make an effort to pay
off his people's debts. He didn't make an effort to satisfy
God. He didn't make an effort to fulfill
the law. I mean, beloved, he actually
paid the debt. When He laid down His life for
the sheep, every sheep is going to hear the gospel and believe
one of these days. He said, My sheep hear My voice. And we'll
get to that here in a minute. Oh, we've got a sheep here that
heard a voice. And oh, beloved, the miracle of life, you know
that we are, we were dead in trespasses and
sins. And you know what? Our life, our spiritual life
is a miracle. a miracle, that we were brought
from death to life. There was a time we didn't see,
we didn't hear, we didn't feel, we didn't feel anything. And
then God came, and He passed by us, and He came in the scripture
sense that He, the wind blew us where it wished it, and the
Spirit of God came, and it moved on our hearts, it blew on our
hearts, and it He regenerated us, we were born again by the
Spirit of God, and a new person came into existence. A spiritual
person came into existence. We're new creatures in Christ.
And now we see Christ, we hear His voice. We understand His
Word. We love Him, we need Him, we
desire Him. And there was a day we didn't
know Him, we didn't need Him, we didn't desire Him. What made
the difference? What happened? One day that one
day we couldn't hear and now we can hear. One day we didn't
want it and now we can't, don't do nothing but want it. What
happened? Lazarus come forth. He that was
dead came forth. Huh? Dirt come forth. Wreak come forth. David, come forth! And when he
says that, beloved, you know what happens? You come forth. Begotten again! He begat us by
his own will, being born again, not a corruptible seed, the incorruptible
by the Word of the Living God. Oh, beloved, oh, what a... And
then here's the greatest miracle of all. That we believe and still believe.
With all that's against us, we believe and we're going to keep
that old belief. That's a miracle. Let me show
you something in Luke 10. I'll tell you, I hope I ain't
taking too long. Look in Luke 10. Look in Luke 10. I want you to see this. Talking
about miracle of believing, the miracle of seeing. Look what
he said in Luke 10. Our Lord speaking to His disciples. You're talking about a miracle. Everything about salvation is
a miracle. Supernatural. Supernatural. If you go someplace where they
don't talk about a supernatural religion, you know God's supernatural. Everything He does for us is
supernatural. It's natural for it to rain. Natural for the sun
to shine. But for you to become a believer, for you to be raised
from the dead, for you to have eyes to see, for you to have
ears to hear, for you to come to Christ, that's a miracle.
That's supernatural. And oh, beloved, look what He
said in Luke 10.23. And He turned Him unto His disciples,
said unto them privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things
that you see. Bottom of the earth. But now
watch this. For I tell you that many prophets,
you know, Isaiah and all the prophets were prophesying of
things that they didn't fully understand. And look here, kings
have desired, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, have desired to see those
things that you see. And they didn't see them. And
they wanted to hear the things that you hear and had not heard
of. So, oh my, we see and hear things that even they didn't
see. Alright, let's move on. Back over in our text. Mercy.
Mercy needed. Now look at mercy sought. In
verse 47. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. Now here, let me tell you, let
me set this scene up again. There's this great crowd of people.
He's got all the disciples in the tent. People said, here,
there's a great number of people. And when you get a whole bunch
of people going all down through the roadside, and all these people
falling and crying, there's all kinds of noise, all kinds of
commotion, all their feet hitting the ground, all that. And lots
of all kinds of noise. And this beggar began to cry
out. And he began to cry out. And
it tells what this cry means here. He screamed. He had to
be heard above that crowd. He hadn't even heard above all
that noise. He said, I'm going to get Christ's
attention. I don't care what else happens.
I'm going to get that man's attention. There was no soul winner here
to come by and say, Jesus is on His way by. You reckon you
won't accept Him tonight? No, no, no. And I tell you, he
sought the Lord under great, great discouragement. Nobody
come by and said, listen, Jesus come by. Come on, stand up. Stand
up for Jesus now. He's coming by. No, no. In fact, look what happened in
verse 48. Those around him discouraged
him, saying that he should hold his peace. They charged him. That word charged means commanded.
They said, shut up. I wonder why they told him to
do that. I wonder why they thought they
had the authority to tell him that. What they're saying, Bartimaeus,
you're embarrassing yourself. You're embarrassing yourself. You ain't nobody. You're sitting
there in your rag. You're sitting there in your
pocket. He didn't have a clue what his clothes looked like. Here's a
beggar. You're embarrassing yourself.
Don't make a scene here. You know, the Lord's got lots
of things to do. He ain't got time for somebody
like you. Quit embarrassing yourself. And
that's why so many people, and I'm telling you, if you're this
way, ashamed of Him, how can it be? Would you be ashamed of Christ?
Could you be ashamed of Him? And they were embarrassed, and
that's why so many people won't confess Christ, because they're
afraid they'll be embarrassed. Embarrassed to confess Christ?
Embarrassed to say, did the Lord Jesus save me? Did the Lord Jesus
put my sin away? Did the Lord Jesus accept me? Did the Lord Jesus bear my sin
in His own body? Did the Lord Jesus love me? Gave
Himself for me? The Lord Jesus gave me eyes.
The Lord Jesus gave me ears. Be embarrassed? Oh, don't. That's what the devil
gets on you. Don't, don't, don't make a scene
now. Don't be, don't embarrass yourself. I'll tell you why.
There's no way in the world you could ever embarrass yourself
or anybody else by coming to Christ. You'll fill a lot of people's
hearts full of joy. You'll bring a lot of tears to
a lot of people's eyes. But you'll never be embarrassed,
and Christ will never be embarrassed, and anybody who's a believer
will never be embarrassed. So if you're embarrassed, the
only problem is with you. And they told him, don't listen.
And look what it says there in verse 48. And then he charged him that
his whole should hold his peace. Now watch what happens here.
He cried the more a great deal. He got even louder. He began
to cry out more and more and more. Shut up. Oh, listen. The kingdom of heaven suffers
violence and the violence is going to take it by force. That
means I'm going to have Christ. I don't care who's in my way.
I'm going to have Christ. I don't care what anybody says.
I'm going to have Christ. No matter what crowds around
Him, I'm going to have Christ. No matter what's going on, I'm
going to have Christ. And I'm going to get to Him.
Like that woman with the issue of blood. Crowd around Him. She got on her heads and knees
and crawled through that crowd. Oh, here's a woman now. God on
her hands and knees. All around, she said, if I may
but touch the hem of his garment. She had been sick for 12 years. Went to every doctor she could
go, and she spent all of her money, and run out of money,
and couldn't go to another doctor. No doctor said, I can't do nothing
for you. Don't come here no more. In fact, she couldn't pay him
if she had to. She said, oh, listen, if I can touch the hem
of his garment. She got on her hands and knees and crawled through
there. And she got up there with one hand, Lord Jesus stopped and said,
who touched me? He said to him, well, Lord, they've
all touched me, brother. He asked him, who touched you?
Then that woman stood up and you know what she said? It was
me. It was me. It was me. He don't know who it was. He
wanted her to tell him. He wanted her to tell him. He
wanted her to say it. It was me that touched you. It
was me that was in need. It was me. He wanted everybody
else there. For the Lord just to touch the
hem of his garment. Huh? And he cried out the more. And he asked one, he said, who's
going to keep me from Christ? Nobody's going to keep me from
Christ. I'm asking Him to meet my needs. And look what he sought.
Look what he sought now. He sought the right thing in
verse 47. He said, Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. And again, he said in verse 48,
he sought the right thing, have mercy on me. He's like that publican who smote
his best and said, oh God, be merciful to me this. That woman
that brought her daughter and said, Lord, what do you want
me to do for you? I want you to have mercy on me. I want you to have mercy
on me. How many times a day, how many
times a day do we as believers, that's all we can say, Lord,
have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. And I
don't just say, have mercy on me, I say, have mercy on us.
All right, men, Mary, we need mercy. I mean, we need it every
day. And oftentimes we sit and I'll take a drink of coffee and
I'll sit down and say, oh, Lord, have mercy on us, have mercy
on us, have mercy. Oh, my, he didn't stand up and
say, Lord, you just wouldn't believe what a fine fellow I've
been. They just went through that with the rich young ruler
who come here, you know, and says, I don't have need of nothing. And oh, mercy is the first necessity.
Mercy is what you need. Mercy is what you need more than
anything else. And then, then will come the
peace. Then will come the joy. Then
will come the assurance. And our Lord Jesus said, I'll
have mercy and not sacrifice. I'll give mercy to people. I
don't want anything you've got. I don't want you to bring me
a sacrifice. I don't want you to bring me your tears. I don't
want you to bring me nothing. You just come as a sinner. And
then he started not on the right thing, but he started from the
right person. He said, Jesus, now son of David. And he called
him son of David twice. You know who the son of David
was? I want you to keep this and look at Matthew 21 with me.
Just a moment. I want you to see Matthew 22. Excuse me. Matthew
22. You see, he had heard of the
works the Lord Jesus had done. how he had opened the eyes of
the blind, how he had healed and cleansed lepers, how he had fed the multitudes,
how he had raised the dead, he had heard of works that the Lord
Jesus had done, how they had brought multitudes of sick people
to him, and he had healed them, the sick of the palsy. And then
he heard about his claims. You know, the Lord Jesus made
claims that nobody else could make. I and my Father are one.
You can't come to the Father but by me. Except you believe
I'm He, you'll die in your sin. Nobody else has ever said that. I mean, He made claims, and I'll
tell you what, and I'll tell you that this morning, that if
you come to God, you're going to want to come through Christ.
If you see God, you're going to want to see Him in Christ.
If you're going to get mercy, you're going to get it in Christ.
If you're going to get God to look in your way, He's going
to look at you in Christ. Everything God has for you is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had those claims. And
I tell you what, you're going to come to Him as He is. And
he believed what he heard about Him. He said, that can't be nobody
but the Son of David. Jeremiah said, God said, I'll
raise up unto David a righteous branch. And he shall reign forever and
ever. Look here in Matthew 22. In verse 41, talking about the son of David,
he believed what he heard. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, they'd been asking him all kinds of
questions, I'm going to ask you one now. What think you of Christ?
Lord, what a question. And then here's, whose son is
he? A lot of questions. They say
unto him, why, he's the son of David. He'll be the son of David. He has the rightful heir to the
king. Rightful heir to the throne.
Then he saith unto them, how then doth David in his spirit
call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, Jehovah said
unto Christ, set at my right hand till I make you enemies
my footstool. And David called him Lord. How then is he his
son? I understand that. And they didn't
ask him any more questions. Oh my, only a king with all rightful
authority. And oh, back over in our text.
Oh, this blind man come here in all his hopes. Listen to me. And this is the way I am. This
is the way everybody in this building that knows Christ is.
All his hopes centered on this man who is passing by. All his
hopes, all his hopes centered on this man who is passing by.
And he's going through Jericho. They told him to shut up. But
oh, how sweet the name of Jesus sounded in a blind man's ear.
He soothes his soul, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.
And he did not want to deceit the right thing, the right person,
but he saw it at the right time. Look what happened. When Jesus
was passing by, Jesus of Nazareth was passing through there. Christ
was coming by. Oh, my. Now I'm telling you,
that she could at the right time, right now. Christ is there. Christ
is coming through. Christ is the one that could
do anything for him. He had heard of him. And he started crying
for the right reason, the right person, the right thing, and
because he has such a great need. And beloved, call on him right
now. Not when you feel sinful enough.
Not when you won't wait until you feel sinful enough. Don't
call when you feel faithful enough. Don't come when you feel good
enough. Don't come when you feel strong enough. Because, beloved,
he couldn't do anything. He was poor. He was blind. He was begging. And that's the
condition he came to Christ in. Poor, blind, beggar. And the
only thing he had was his ears and his voice. And if you hear
today... And look what happened. This
is one of the most astounding things in all the Word of God. In verse 48, excuse me, verse
49. And Jesus stood still. He's walking along, this great
crowd around Him. Jesus! That's not good! Quit embarrassing yourself. Quit
making a scene. Jesus! There's no needy! Have mercy on me! Our Lord's walking along. What did I hear? Did I hear a
sinner? Did I hear a poor man? Did I
hear a beggar? Is there somebody calling out
to me? Is there somebody calling out
to what I have abandoned Him, denied Him? Oh my! Jesus stood still. Oh, David
said, I love the Lord because He hath heard my cry. Heard my
cry. And then look what happens. Now
watch what happens there in verse 49. And commanded Him, He stood
still and commanded Him to be called. Now, I want you to notice
something here. The difference between the Christ
of the Bible and the Christ that preaches to preachers, He commanded
him to be called. He didn't say, will you accept
me? Will you let me into your heart?
I'm standing here knocking at your heart's door. Will you please
open and let me in? No, that fellow was sitting there.
He's still sitting down. And He commanded him. See, that's
what Christ does. He makes commandments. He don't
beg. You're the beggar. He don't make offers. He makes
commands. And look what happens. And they
obeyed Him. When Christ commands something
to be done, it's going to be done. And they called the blind
man. And look what they said. Oh my! They obeyed the blind man. And
look what He says to them. Be in good comfort. Now watch
what he said, rise. He's still sitting down. Now
this is what I like. He calling thee. He's calling you. Oh, his heart and soul was so distressed,
he cried no more, had to be heard above the crown. And he said,
and so he was distressed and cried out. And the first thing
they told him, be comforted. Let your heart be comforted.
You need comfort. You're in distress. You're crying
out for mercy. Just let your heart be comforted
right now. Let it be comforted. And oh, beloved, He calls you. The one you're crying out for
mercy, He calls you. He wants you. And the Lord called him. And
oh, my, that was a comfort. For the Lord to call you, that's
a comfort. Oh, remember when He came to
and he was still yet outside of town, outside of Bethany.
And the Scripture said over in Matthew 11, 28, it says, told
her, it said, come here. She said, they went in there,
slipped in to Mary and says, Mary, the Master's calling for
you. And she got out and went outside,
went out to where he was. And then the very next thing,
after he had risen from the dead, the same Mary was looking for
him. And she was walking around weeping
and crying, looking for where he was. And the angel said, Christ's
not here. And there's a man standing there
and she thought he was the gardener. And he said to her, Sir, wherever
you've laid his body, show me and I'll go get it. And about
that time, Jesus says, Mary... She knew it was the Lord just
like that. When you hear His voice, you'll know it. You'll
know it. Let me give you a couple of calls.
There's a universal call. That's what happens. Preach the
gospel to every creature. If Christ be lifted up, he said,
I'll draw all men unto myself. And then there's a character
call. Now what's a character call? That's directed to certain
characters. Come unto me all you Weak and
heavy laden. You that are burdened. You got
me? If you are heavy laden and burdened, Christ is calling you.
He stood that last day, that great day of the feast and said,
if any man's thirsty, let him come unto me. Now, he was directing
that call to a certain kind of person. Thirsty people. He came
to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance. Now, if you're
thirsty, and you're burdened, and you're weak, and you're heavy
laden, And you're a sinner, that's who Christ calls. And then there's
the preacher's call. And that's what I'm doing today.
Preachers are used of God to preach the gospel, to describe
sinners accurately, to describe Christ as the only Savior, and
then there's the effector call, and that's right here. In verse
49, they called the blind man, saying to him, Be of good comfort,
rise, he called him. And then look what happens when
he called him. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came
to Jesus. Why? Because the Master called
him. You reckon he couldn't not come? Rise, come, the Master called
him. And he arose, got up, thrown
away his garment, and came to Jesus. That's the effectual cause.
And let me tell you something. When he got up, he left his position
as a beggar. He ain't gonna sit by the wayside
begging. He was sitting by the wayside begging. Now he stands
up, he left his position as a beggar. And look what happens now. And
they said he cast away his garment. Oh my, that old I don't know
what it was like, but I know one thing. He said, I've got
to get rid of this. Cast away your garment of self-righteousness. Cast away your garment of self-trust.
Cast away your garment of waiting. Cast away any hope that you have. Just cast it away. You don't
need it. Come like you are. And now look what happens in
verse 51. Oh, listen, what a question Christ asked. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, What wilt that I should do unto thee? What
do you will for me to do to you? You notice the will's in Christ's
power, not in this man's. You know, what do you will for
me to do for you? I've got the power. I've got
the ability. But what is it you want? The Lord's willing, but
He's going to make this man confess his need. He's going to make
this man confess what he is. What should I do under thee?
The blind man stood unto him, and what was the first words
out of his mouth? Lord. Lord. Lord. And then he says, I want to see. I've been blind. I want to see
now. I want to see. I want to see. Oh, I want to see my sight. That's
what I want. That's what I want. Because if
I can see, and he had to confess his need, he had to confess it,
Lord. What do you want me to do? I
want to receive my sight. I'm blind. I'm blind. And there ain't no
way in the world I can have sight except you give it to me. And
then my last point says, mercy needed, mercy sought, mercy received. Now, look at mercy enjoyed. Our
Lord Jesus says, you want to see? And Jesus said unto him,
go your way. Go your way. Your faith has made
you whole. And watch what happens. Immediately
he saw. He didn't have to wait four or
five days. He didn't have to wait until he felt like he could
see. No, no. Our Lord, and he believed what
the Lord Jesus said. For by grace are you saved, through
faith in that night of your soul. Without faith it's impossible
to see, to please God. And he said here, that word made
whole means saved thee, made you whole, hath saved you. And
so he received immediately, he received his sight. And let me
tell you what, you know what the first thing he saw when he
received his sight? He saw the Lord Jesus. When his eyes opened up, the
first person he looked at was the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
God opened my eyes to see Christ, that's the first person I saw.
I didn't care about the person next to me, behind me, around
me. I just saw Him. Wouldn't that
be something if the Lord opened your eyes and met now you see
Christ? As Penny Crosby, born blind, lived blind all her life,
enrolled in an incredible amount of hymns, And when she got to
glory, you know what the first thing she saw? She saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. But she saw Him by faith all
of her life. And I'll tell you something, you'll love it. First
thing he saw, he heard, now he sees. Amazing grace, how sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but
now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. He didn't look what he said to
him. In verse 52, he said, Go thy
way. And immediately he received his
sight. Do you see Christ? Do you see Him now? Do you see
Him? You know why he said, Go thy way? And he did. He didn't
say, Well, Lord, I want to run home real quick to see my mom
and dad. I ain't seen them. He didn't say, I want to go out
and look at the countryside. I've never seen the countryside.
No, no, look what he said. He said, go thy way. And he went
exactly the way he wanted to go. And immediately received
his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Oh, my. And you know, it's the
love of Christ that constrains us. He followed Christ. He said,
go your way. This is my way. I'm going to
follow Him. I'm going to follow Him. The love of Christ constrains
us. And let me tell you something
in my last points this, and I'm through. He followed Him only
after He received His sight. Blind men can't see Christ and
follow Christ. Huh? Blind men can't. Do you see? Our Father, in the blessed name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the gospel. Thank you
for our Lord Jesus. Thank you that one day you passed
by and you called us. You called us to yourself. You
gave us sight. You gave us life. You gave us
a new heart. You gave us the will. You made
us women. So, Lord, our salvation is all
of you. And Bartimaeus knew that. Bartimaeus
knew that if he had anything, you had to give it to him. That
you had to perform a miracle. And Lord, when you do these miracles,
when you save us by your blessed grace, you told us to do the
same thing, go your way. And Lord, your way is our way.
Your way is our way. We follow you. Wherever you lead
us, wherever you guide us, wherever you take us, wherever you go,
Lord, we're following you. We're following you. Direct our
steps. Give us a heart to love you,
a heart to know you, a heart to desire you. And Father, save
your people in this place and ask that you do it for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to number 50, 236. Stand with me. Everybody knows this.