Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. The name of
the message is, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. Oh, we'll read two verses in
this wonderful chapter, then we'll read a few more in this
chapter two as well, where we will see one of God's lost sheep
crying out. to the Lord Jesus Christ, crying
out to him. And the amazing thing is God
in the flesh stops at the cry of one of his lost sheep. Oh,
it's just incredible. And he saves him just like that. Let's read verses 46 and 47 of
Mark chapter 10. And he came to Jericho, and as
he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timurus, sat by the
highway side, begging. So here's blind Bartimaeus. He's
sitting at the side of the highway, begging, begging. And when he
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, saying,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Oh, what a wonderful
cry, beloved. That's a cry of a lost sheep
right there. That's a cry of a sinner who needs to be saved. Oh, Lord Jesus. Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. Remember the publican? God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. And Paul says Christ came into
this world to save sinners. Oh my, my. Now blind Bartimaeus
is an example provided by the mercy of God for all who desire
to see Christ in his glory. He's a picture. of what the sinner
is by nature, hopelessly blind. He couldn't see anything. He
was blind. And that's how we are spiritually,
beloved. We come into this world dead in trespasses and sins.
We are spiritually blind to the things of God and to who he is.
He must reveal himself to us. And unless the Savior intervenes,
unless the Savior intervenes and gives sight. Oh, so the hopeless
sinner finds hope in Christ. Oh my, the blind spiritually
find sight, look into Christ by God given. He gives us that
sight by faith to look to him, doesn't he? Oh, it's wonderful,
beloved. It's wonderful. Blind Bartimaeus
was a man that was prepared to do anything necessary, everything
necessary to cry out to the only one who could save his eternal
soul. And we see he's crying out to the only one who can save
his eternal soul. He's crying out to the only one
who can deliver him from his wretched state of total blindness. What a picture again of us in
our natural state. Now take note of verse 48. He
wouldn't be discouraged, beloved. He wouldn't be discouraged. Look
at this. He's being drawn by God the Holy
Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not be discouraged. Look
at this, Mark 10, 48. And many charged him, saying
that he should hold his peace. They're saying, shut up, Bartimaeus,
shut up. That's what they're doing. Tell
him, hold your peace. That's just a nice way of saying,
shut up. But look at this. And they called a blind man,
saying unto him, be of good comfort. Oh, I'm sorry. I got too far
ahead there. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great deal. Oh! He
wouldn't be silent. What's he say? Thou son of David,
have mercy on me. Look it, on me. He sees himself
as a sinner. I need mercy, Lord. You're the
only one who can give it. I need forgiveness of my sins.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. He's the only one who can save
us from our sins. Mark this, oh, I love this, in verse 49.
The Lord of glory, God in the flesh, stands still at the cry
of one of his lost sheep. What comfort for us as believers
is found here. God hears the cries of our heart. God hears the cries of his people,
beloved. Don't think you're praying in
vain. He hears every word. Oh, my. He sees every tear. Look
at this. And Jesus stood still. That's God in the flesh standing
still, beloved, and commanded him to be called. And they called
the blind man, saying to him, be a good comfort. Rise. He calleth thee. Now, Bartimaeus
is totally blind. And they're telling him, Be good
comfort. He heard you. Rise. He's calling you. My you know
a team of wild horses couldn't keep all blind blind Bartimaeus
from going to Christ Couldn't keep one of God's lost sheep
From fleeing to Christ when we're made willing by God the Holy
Spirit by the power of God to come to Christ This is what we're
seeing here and look at this. Oh look at this First 50 and
he casting away his garments rose and came to Jesus. He's
he's running. I can't see but I'm coming Lord
Oh my! Castaway is gone, but it just
shows that casting away anything that would hinder us from fleeing
to Christ. My oh my. My oh my. He had heard from the seed of
David. He had heard that from the seed
of David there had arisen a great prophet. who worked miracles
and preached glad tidings to the poor. And he was convinced
that this one passing by was the Messiah, the sent one of
God, sent to save his people from their sins. Oh, he was convinced
by God, the Holy Spirit. And this blind man could see
the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies in Christ. And he
was convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Look what
he calls him. Look what he calls him. Thou
son of David, have mercy on me. The Messiah, Jesus, the anointed
one. Jesus, his name. He shall be
called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Oh,
the Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh my. The Messiah, Jesus
of Nazareth, the sent one of God. God incarnate in the flesh. And he saw him as the Messiah,
the long-promised Messiah, beloved. He'd been born again to see Christ
for who he was. Him crying out to the Lord, he's
just exercising his faith, isn't he? He's exercising what God's
given him. Rejoice when someone starts coming
to Christ. God's doing something, beloved.
Oh my. And he was determined that if
Jesus came his way, he'd cry out for mercy, because he knew
that the Messiah would come to open blind eyes. So when he heard
that Jesus passed by, he cried out, thou son of David, save
me, save me, have mercy on me. Oh, I love it. This is a cry
of every born again, blood washed believer, isn't it? It's wonderful. My, look at verse 51 and 52.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? Now this is not for information,
okay? Christ isn't asking this for
information. He's God in the flesh. He already
knows. But this is for us. And this
is for those who were around him at that time. And it's for
our learning here too now. For our information. The blind
man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. He's
totally blind, can't see a thing. He says, oh, Lord, that I might
receive my sight. And you know who he's going to
see for the first time? When God gives him sight, you
know who's the first person he's going to see? The Lord Jesus
Christ, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? When the
Lord saves us, the first person we see is our king. Oh, Jesus,
thou son of David, you've had mercy on me. Praise your mighty
name. Look at this. And Jesus said
unto him, go thy way, thy faith. That's God-given faith, isn't
it? That's faith given from God, has one object, and he's looking
right at him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy faith hath made thee
whole. And immediately, look at this,
there was no, now notice this. Notice this. There's no rehabilitation
or no having to go through different things to get a sight. Immediately,
he saw. Could you imagine that, beloved?
Could you imagine that? And the first person he saw was
Christ, God in the flesh, Jesus, thou son of David, the one who's
had mercy on him. Oh, my. Oh, beloved. Beloved of God, every example
in the scriptures of Christ healing the person is a picture of how
he saves a soul. He gave this poor blind man sight
to see him. What's he do for us? By faith.
And notice that was by faith, too. By faith. God-given faith. We see Jesus. Oh, we see him
now like we've never seen him before. We hear his voice preaching
of the word. We hear the shepherd's voice.
Now we see him by faith, don't we? Now we've never seen him
face to face, but you know what? As soon as we're in glory, just
like that, we'll see him face to face. Isn't that wonderful?
Oh, it's so wonderful. All because Christ shed his precious
blood to redeem our eternal souls on Calvary's cross and pay everything
that God demanded for the ransom of the souls of his people. My,
oh, my. If you've not cried out to Christ
for mercy, it's my hope and the hopes of the folks here at church
that you would consider the claims of Christ and that you would
cry out like this blind man, like this is what we've done
as believers. We've cried out, God, have mercy
on me. I'm a sinner. Have mercy on me,
please. Oh, my. I pray you cry out to him to
save your soul. Now, you may have done a lot
of commendable things in the name of religion, but have you
cried out to Christ? Have you cried out to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Lots of religious folks out there
never cried out to Christ yet. Oh, but I do all these things.
I do them for the Lord. I do all these things. Never
cried out to him. Oh, it's my prayer they will.
Now, you may not be able to see, but you can cry for mercy. Look
at blind Bartimaeus. He couldn't see, but he'd cry
out for mercy, couldn't he? Yeah. Yeah, oh my, it's beautiful. You may not be able to get up
and get into that pool of Basadia like that man in John. The Book
of John. But we can claim hopelessness
and helplessness. We can say, Lord, I'm hopeless.
I'm helpless. Without you, save me, please. Please save my soul. You may not be healed of the
issue of blood. When that woman had an issue
of blood, and she said, if I just but touch the hem of his garment,
I'll be healed. And she touched. And the Lord healed her. The
Lord saved her. That was one of his lost sheep. Reaching out
for him. We can touch the hem of his garment,
can't we? By faith. When you hear the gospel, when
it's preached by the grace of God, it's made effectual, and
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's just like reaching
out. That's just like blind Bartimus coming to Christ. Oh my. And you know, he has the same
faith that every born-again blood-washed believer has. And look into Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith. Bartimaeus had no sight,
but he had ears, didn't he? And he had a voice. Oh, my. And he used what he had. Therefore,
when the Savior passed by, he cried out to him with all his
might, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord
stood still, beloved. That's the cry of one of his
lost sheep, beloved. Isn't that amazing? Oh, my. My, the Savior, when the Savior
passed by, he cried out to him with all his might, the cry of
a sinner. You know what? The cry of the sinner for mercy
never disturbs the gospel preacher and never disturbs the Savior.
the true cry out of a sinner who sees their desperate need.
And when the Holy Spirit of God brings the gospel home to your
heart, nothing will stop you from crying for mercy, just like
blind Barimaeus said. He said, I heard the Messiah's
coming. That's Jesus. That's the Messiah. I'm going to cry out to him.
And he hears from the people that he's going by. Jesus, the
Son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord stops, beloved.
Oh, it's beautiful. And He heals them. Oh. Oh, if you think He does not
hear, cry the more, great deal. Cry louder. Cry louder. Do not give up in despair. Do
not be afraid to come to Christ, for He calleth thee. And the
only reason we cry for mercy is because He calls us by His
grace. And when He calls you, you will come to Him. And you
will not go to another. When the Holy Spirit of God brings
Jesus near and brings you near to Jesus, then this word is for
you. Be of good comfort. Rise. He
calleth for thee. Those words are beautiful, aren't
they? Oh, mine. Christ said this. All that the
Father gave me shall come to me. Shall. And him that cometh
to me, I will no wise cast out. He will never cast a sinner away
that comes to him by faith. Amen. And amen.