Turn to Mark 10. Mark 10. I'm bringing with me this morning
well wishes from everybody in Lexington. We think about you
all a lot. I'm very thankful for you all
up here. Very thankful for your pastor. You got one of the best
ones. Frank's great. Mark 10. And if you would, just put a
bookmark there. And once you get to Mark 10,
put your bookmark there. And then flip over to John 6. I just want to
read one verse from John 6. It's verse 35. John 6, 35 says, And Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall
never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Notice the correlation between
the word cometh and the word believeth. They are the exact
same thing. If you are coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ, you are believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is the exact same thing. Now when I read this verse of
scripture, you know the first thing that comes across my mind,
the first thought I have, I think, Lord, I'm coming. I'm coming
sick and sore and poor and wretched and blind. I'm coming. I've got
to get to you. I've got to. I have to have Christ.
I'm coming. First thought. You know what
the second thought I think is? Am I? Do I even know what that means? Have I ever come? Y'all ever
thought the same thing? I'd say many of y'all probably
have. This morning, I'd like to examine this thing of coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ, believing on Christ. And to do that, I'd
like to do it by examining a story. The story is found in Mark 10.
It's the story of Bartimaeus. Everybody knows the story of Bartimaeus.
It's a well-known story. But in this story, this physical
man, Bartimaeus, he physically came to the Lord. But it is also
a beautiful story, an example of how a sinner spiritually comes
to the Lord, how he believes on him. Four things I'd like
to get out of this, four questions I really want to ask in this
whole ordeal. Number one, who's going to come?
Who's going to come? Somebody's going to come. The
Lord's going to have a people. Somebody's going to come. Who's
going to come? Second question is, how are they going to come?
How do you come? Third question is, what do you
want? If you're coming, you want something. You desire something.
What is it you desire? Those who come, what do they desire?
And fourth, much like the Sunday School message this morning,
I want to be given the grace to examine myself, and I want
to know if I've come. I want to truly know if I've
come. I hope you all be able to answer
the same question this morning. The Lord gives the grace. So John
10, look in verse 46, and I'm just going to read the whole
story to you to begin. 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. 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. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more, 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,
in answering, said unto him, What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? And 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. Story of Bartimaeus. First thing I would notice about
this story is this man's name. Bartimaeus. What's in a name? Well, this name Bartimaeus, the
prefix to this name, B-A-R, bar. As I understand it, what this
means is son of. If you read that in the scripture, that means
son of. Like Simon bar Jonah, it's Simon son of Jonah. That's
what that prefix means. So, in effect here we have Bortimaeus,
which basically just means son of Timaeus. What does Timaeus
mean? As I understand it, Timaeus means
one who is honored. One who is honored. So, real
quick question. Who is it that is honored? Who
is it? Turn to Revelations 5, 13. Revelations 5.13, who is it that
is honored? And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
blessing, and what's that word? And honor, and glory, and power,
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the lamb,
forever and ever. Who is it that is honored? It
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who is God and
he is God's Lamb. He is God's Christ. He is God's
Messiah. He is the sacrifice himself. He is the one who truly
is honored. So when we look at Bartimaeus'
name, effectively, Bartimaeus is the son of the one who is
honored. He is a son of God. a child of
God. Now the scriptures have a lot
to say about these children of God. There's a lot to be said
about it. If you want, turn to Galatians 4 real quick. Let's
look at a few things here. Galatians 4. And look at verse 4. Speaking
of these sons of God. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that we're under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons. Now in this scripture,
the Lord likens the believer's relationship with his God to
that of adopted children. Adopted children. And so a simple
logical question. In adoption, do the children
choose the parents, or do the parents choose the children?
That's very simple. The parents choose the children.
It is no different with our Lord. He is the parent. He makes the
choice. And this is the first thing I
see about Bartimaeus. He's a son of God. He is an elect
child of God. Before the foundation of the
world, God the Father chose Bartimaeus unto salvation as Bartimaeus
was in Christ. He elected him unto salvation. Now, the world would have a problem
with me talking about election in a message about coming to
Christ. I'd say, well, don't mention election because that'll
make people apathetic. If you tell them that the elect
will come, there's no doubt, and only the elect will come,
people will just become apathetic. They'll say, well, if I'm supposed
to come, I'll come. That's just the way it is. So the many believers
that are here this morning, John Chapman, does that make you apathetic
in any way, this teaching of election? No, it makes you cry
out from the bottom of your heart. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. It emboldens you,
doesn't it? So that we understand election's
true meaning. Now, the people of this world, the religion of
this world, would paint this picture of election. They would
say that there's this large group of people who are crying out
for mercy, real mercy, and the Lord just holds them off at arm's
length and says, no, I just didn't choose you. I just didn't choose
you. But we know that is not true. Election does not hold
off men who wish to be saved. It only saves men who would otherwise
be dead. It wasn't for the Lord electing
a people unto salvation before the world began, no one would
come. No one would come. But because He has, because God
in His sovereignty has chosen a people unto salvation, the
door of salvation is now wide open to anyone who will be saved. Now, let me give you a scripture
and let me explain that statement. Turn, if you would, to Revelations
22. Look at verse 17. And the spirit and the bride
say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is athirst come. Now listen to this. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. Now somebody
says, how do you marry those two points? How do you marry
those two thoughts? How can you in one breath tell
me that only the elect will be saved, and they will definitely
be saved, they will definitely come, and in the next breath
say that the door of salvation is wide open to anyone who will
be saved? How do you marry those two points?
Well, it's very simple. It's because the elect are the
only ones who are given a new will in the regeneration. See,
the natural man has an old natural will. And our natural will is
obstinate to that of grace. It's obstinate to the manner
by which the Lord saves a sinner. Say, what manner is that? It's
the manner by which where He, the Lord, gets all the glory.
And we are simply just a trophy of His power and His grace. And
the natural man wars against that. You tell that to the natural
man, he says, I'll have nothing to do with that. I will not be
saved by that God. I'll perish before I have anything
to do with that. The natural man demands some sort of personal
glory in his own salvation. but the elect, those who have
been given a new will in their generation. We not only love
the fact that God gets all the glory in our salvation, we demand
it, do we not? We absolutely demand it. Now
I would ask this question, first question today, will you be saved
in this manner? How do you feel about that? How
does that sit with you? Will you be saved by a God who will
get all the glory in your salvation? You will simply be a trophy of
His power and His grace. I will stand in heaven and He
will point me and say, see that big trophy right there? It's
my greatest trophy. I was able to save even Him, even Aaron. That's how great and powerful
I am. I can save even Aaron. Just a trophy of His power and
His grace. Will you be saved in that manner? If you will,
it's because you've been given a new will. That's not natural.
It's not the natural man's will. It's because you're an elect
child of God, just like Barnabas. Now, let's ask, what does the
Lord do for us because we are his children? Turn to Galatians
4, verse 6. I think you're already there.
Look down at verse 6. What does he do for us because
we are his children? And because you are sons, because
you're sons, God sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Now in the process of time, if
you're an elect child of God, the Lord's going to send his
spirit into your heart. And this spirit in the beginning, it's
a very unexpected spirit, it's a withering spirit. It tears
us down. It tears down all our false refuges.
It whittles us down, and it reveals to us our natural depraved state. And you know what we find? We
find that Bartimaeus' physical condition is our spiritual condition. by nature. You say, what condition
is that? Barnabas was blind. He was blind. He could not see. And men by
nature, all men born in this world by nature, we're blind.
We're blind to the glory of God. We're blind to the way he saves
sinners. And we're blind to who we are.
We're blind to our own depravity. We're blind to our inability.
What's worse, we're blind to the fact that we're blind. We
walk around our whole life saying, we see, we see, but all the time
in the dark. It actually takes the spirit
of the Lord to reveal to a man that he is, in fact, blind and
he does not see. And he's in the dark, all alone,
blind by nature. Barnabas was poor. He was poverty-stricken. He didn't have anything. In a
natural man, he's poor. He's poor in righteousness. He
doesn't have one. He never kept the law, not once.
He's poor in spirit. He's poor in all spiritual gifts.
He's so poor in spirit that he's spiritually dead. Absolutely
and utterly stoned and cold dead. You can't take that too far.
Spiritually dead. And he's poor in every spiritual
gift. Can't muster faith. He can't hear. He can't speak.
Can't do any of those things. He can't love. Can't muster repentance. Can't do any of it. He's poor. He doesn't have anything. And
Barnabas was a beggar. A beggar. And by virtue of this
term, beggar, what this really means is it is one who is completely
and utterly dependent upon the kindness or the grace of someone
else to have what you need to live. And if you're a believer
here this morning, you know that's the case for you. Completely
and utterly dependent upon the kindness, upon the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ to live. That's what the Spirit shows
us. Now what does the Spirit cause us to do? If you look back
up in verse 6 of Galatians 4, it tells us, it says, And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, doing what? Crying. Abba, Father. This causes us to cry out. Now,
our example, Bartimaeus, he cried out, didn't he? What does this
cry look like? Let's look at Bartimaeus's. Turn
to Mark 10, verse 47. Mark 10, 47. This is Bartimaeus's
cry. It says, 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 I'd like to break
that statement down into two parts. The first part, how he
addressed him. And the second part, what he
needed. First he said, Jesus, thou son of David. Now understand
that all Jews, even the poor and blind, were given a religious
education. All Jews knew that there was a Messiah coming, that
the Christ was coming. And I think of the woman in the
well in John 4. She's speaking the Lord, and
she gets religious, and she says, well, I know Messiah's going
to come. And when he comes, he'll tell us all things. All Jews
knew their Messiah was coming, that Christ was coming. And they
knew this in particular about him. They actually knew what
physical lineage, what physical heritage he would come from.
And that was the line of David. Let me show you that in Scripture,
Matthew 22. Matthew 22 and look at verse
41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They say unto him, the son of
David. Now here's the point. When Bartimaeus addressed the
Lord Jesus Christ as the son of David, He was saying, you,
Jesus of Nazareth, you are God's Christ. You are God's Messiah. You are that sacrifice. You are
God himself. All those Old Testament types,
all those Old Testament teachings, they all point to you. This one
who's passing in front of me right now, Jesus of Nazareth. You remember Abel's Lamb, Cain
and Abel. Abel brought the appropriate sacrifice. He brought a slain
lamb alone. He laid it on that altar. And the scripture says
the Lord had respect unto Abel and unto his offer. Abel found
acceptance in the type, the type of what that lamb represented,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Bartimaeus was saying, that's
you. That's you. That slain lamb, that typified
and exemplified you, this one who's walking in front of me
right now, Jesus of Nazareth. Remember the rock that followed
the children of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness.
Abraham smote that rock, and from that rock flowed life-giving
water. The Bar Mitzvah is saying that's you. That's you. You are that rock. You're going
to be smitten very shortly. And life is going to flow from
you. It all points to you, this one Jesus of Nazareth. You are God's Christ. You are
God's Messiah. And so I would ask, do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? This Jesus of Nazareth, do you believe that he is God's
Christ? Do you believe he is God's Messiah?
Do you believe that he is God himself? Do you believe that
he has accomplished what he said he has accomplished? He hath
perfected forever, and that it is sanctified. Well, if you do,
you believe the same way Bartimaeus did, because he referred to him
as the son of David. He was that Christ. He was that
Messiah. He referred to him as the son
of David, and then he referred to him in a manner to where he
expressed what he needed. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. Mercy. A probably good question
to start here with is, what is mercy? What does that mean? Mercy
is relatively simple. Mercy is the Lord not giving
us what we rightfully deserve. That's mercy, the Lord not giving
us what we rightfully deserve, and a few thoughts on mercy.
Number one, mercy is only for the guilty. You cannot cry out
for mercy unless you truly are guilty. Now, I've seen this happen
before in a courtroom. A man had been found guilty of
a crime. And he did not believe that he committed that crime.
And he was about to be sentenced to a punishment. And he said,
this is not fair. I do not want to be punished.
You should relieve this punishment for me. I don't deserve this. He wasn't asking for mercy. He
wasn't asking for mercy, he didn't believe he was guilty. He was
asking for justice. I said all that to say this,
this is a scary point because the Lord will meet us on those
grounds. If we come, not as a guilty man, but one not wanting to be
punished, what you're asking for is justice, and justice will
be given. And justice for you and me is damnation. It's to
be cut off. Mercy is only for a guilty man,
one who knows that he is guilty. Another point about mercy is
mercy can rightfully be withheld. And I would ask this question,
and I'm sure you've been asked it before. If the Lord were to
come here and save everyone in this room and pass you by, pass
me by, would I have been mistreated in any way? Any wrongdoing to
me? Not if you're guilty. Not if
I'm guilty. See, the Lord's going to be merciful
to someone because being merciful It's part of who he is. It's
one of his wonderful characteristics. But he's sovereign in showing
mercy. He will show mercy to whom he will show mercy. And
while he's going to show mercy to someone, he has to. It's part
of who he is. He does not have to show mercy to me. And he does
not have to show mercy to you. He's sovereign in showing mercy.
But know this about the Lord. Turn to Micah 7, verse 18. Micah 718. Who is a God like unto thee,
that portenteth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because what? Because he delighteth in mercy. Now while it's absolutely true,
Lord is sovereign showing mercy. He will show mercy to whom he
will show mercy. Do you know that in this book,
there has never been an example of any man coming to the Lord,
begging real mercy, that he turned away? I would challenge you to look.
Read these stories. I'm going to give you some examples. I don't want to go through them
today, because it would take up too much time. But Luke 18, 9 through
14, the publican, the publican and the Pharisee, the publican
wouldn't even approach. He smote on his breast, said,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The Lord said, that man went
down to his house justified. And there's many other examples in
this book, but I would read these interactions, these stories. Never once did
a man truly come to the Lord begging mercy that he turned
him away. And that does not give us some
confidence in coming. I don't know what will. If today
you are a guilty man and you are in great need of mercy, if
you come begging it, do you know he'll show it? He delights in
showing mercy. Let's examine some of the hindrances
of coming. Turn to our story in Mark 10,
look at verse 48. Bartimaeus experienced some hindrances to
coming. It says, and many charged him that he should hold his peace.
But he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Now as Bartimaeus cried out,
the crowd attempted to shut him up. They're like, be quiet, Bartimaeus.
Don't say anything, just be quiet. He experienced some hindrances
coming. Now, I can't say through my own
personal experience that I have had too many physical people
try to keep me from coming to the Lord. The better part of
32 years I've sat in a gospel church, I've had a faithful gospel
minister preach to me, I've been kind of sheltered in that respect.
But I understand many of you all's experience is different.
But I can say this, that ever since the Lord has put in me
a desire to come, there has been one man I know who has tried
to keep me from coming. He tells me, just be quiet. He's
not going to hear you. He says, shut up. Look at everything
you've done, and everything you've said, and everything you've thought,
and everything you desire. Look at all your motives and
all your intentions. Just be quiet. Die with some dignity.
Ever since I've had a desire to come, the Lord put that desire
in me. This man has been with me, and I know him very well.
You know who it is? It's me. It's my old man. And this is the war that rages
in the believer, the new man and the old man. But thank the
Lord, the old man is in subjection to the new man. The elder shall
serve the younger. And the new man always prevails.
Now I understand by saying this, I've thereby inferred that before
a man ever comes, before a sinner ever comes, before he ever believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, a new man is present. I'm making that
statement. What we must understand is that
our God is a God of order. He does things in a particular
order. But we also must understand that the chronological order
in which the Lord does things is oftentimes different than
the chronological order in which we experience them. Now I'll
give you this example. In our experience, spiritual
life and belief in the truth come at the precise same time,
don't they? A man believes and he is saved. He is saved and
he believes. They come at the precise same
time in our experience. Is that not true? But, in reality,
in the true chronological order in which the way the Lord does
things, spiritual life must logically come before belief in the truth. Now, I'll give you this scripture.
John 6, 44 says, No man can come to me, except the Father which
has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
And I'd offer you this example. Think of Lazarus for a moment.
Lazarus was dead. Lazarus was so incredibly dead
that he had already begun the process of decay. His body started
to stink. And the Lord issued Lazarus this
command, Lazarus, come forth. Simple, logical question. Can
a dead man hear anything? No, a dead man can't hear. Logically,
what must have happened? Before the Lord ever issued Lazarus
this command, he had to will him back to life. He had to breathe
life back into this man. And then he issued the command,
and he obeyed the command. Now I've said all this to say
this. Here's my point here. I hope this would give us some
confidence in coming. If today, if right now, you're coming,
you're coming for mercy, aren't you? I need the Lord to be merciful
to me. I need him not to give me what
I rightfully deserve. I'm coming for mercy. But you
know what, if right now in your heart you're coming, it's not
just for mercy, it's because you've already been shown mercy.
If you're coming, you're coming for faith. Archie, I know I am
coming. Lord, give me the grace to trust
you. Give me the ability to look to the Lord Jesus Christ as my
only hope of acceptance. Give me that ability. I need
the ability to believe. But you know, if you're coming
for faith, you've already been given faith in some measure freely. If you're coming, you're coming
for repentance, Archie. I need the Lord to change my
mind about who he is and who I am. I need to be given the
grace to take sides with Him against myself. I need to be
given that gift. But you know, if you're coming
with that prayer on your heart, it's because you've already been
brought to a repentant state. This is grace, my friends. This
is sheer, sovereign grace. It's that before we ever had
any interest in Him, that we ever sought Him, we ever thought
a thing about God, He came to us. As an act of his sovereign
will, he came to us. Where did he find Abraham? When
he first came to Abraham, Abraham was in a tent, worshiping idols. Did he not find you and I in
a similar circumstance when he first came to us? Are you coming right now? Are you trusting the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope of acceptance
right now? Are you coming begging mercy right now? Someone may
say, I want to. I want to come. I don't know
how. I don't know how. Bartimaeus came. Look over in
verse 50 in Mark 10. Let's see how he came. And he, Bartimaeus, casting away
his garment, rose and came to Jesus. How did Bartimaeus come? He came naked and exposed just
as he was. I don't know if you all have had
many interactions with beggars, true beggars. By virtue of my employment,
I actually come across beggars quite frequently. I interact
with them quite a bit. And I don't mean to be hoarse in this statement,
but it is true. They are generally filthy people.
They're just hygienically unkempt. That's how they appear. They
just don't keep themselves up very well. They're normally very filthy.
If you can imagine Bartimaeus at this point in history, a blind
beggar, how filthy he must have been and how filthy his garment
must have been. That robe, that blanket, whatever
it was that covered him, how filthy it must have been. I bet
it was never washed. How vile it must have been. But
you know what's interesting about Bartimaeus is he's blind so he
couldn't see. He couldn't see how filthy his
garment was. How tattered and torn and probably just repulsive
his garment was. And this garment, this is a picture,
a type, of man's personal righteousness. A salvation we believe can be
based upon our personal merits, our good works, for lack of a
better term. And they're filthy, and they're vile, and they're
putrid, but by nature we're blind and we can't see it. We have
to be given eyes to see that they are vile. But notice, before
Bartimaeus comes, what does he do? He casts that garment away. that type, that picture of a
man's personal righteousness. He gets rid of it. He gets rid
of that garment, that putrid garment. And he comes, he comes
naked, and he comes exposed, and he comes just as he is. And
so I would ask today, have we ever come in this manner? Have
you ever cast off all your hope on any type of personal merit
in your salvation? Cast off all thoughts of do and
live your old personal righteousness, that tattered, disgusting, vile
garment, have you just cast it away? Have you come just as you
are? Just as I am, in all my depravity, in all my filth, in
all my sinful lusts, my evil thoughts, all my unbelief? Have you ever come that way?
You know that's the only way you can come? If you ever do
come, if you are coming, that's how you're coming right now,
just as you are. And I'll tell you what, if you're a believer,
If you truly are a man who every imagination of the thoughts of
your heart is only evil and that continually, this is good news.
Because you don't have anything to bring and you don't have any
cover. This is good news that you come, you're commanded to
come just as you are, with all your sin and all your depravity,
to a man that has his own righteousness. A man who believes he can justify
himself by his own personal merits. He'll hate this. He'll war against
it. But if you have no garment, this
is good news. You come just as you are, just as I am. That's how we're commanded to
come. Now, the Lord poses a question to Barnabas. Look in verse 51,
Mark 10. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, what wilt thou, don't miss this, that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. Now in this interaction,
Who would be doing the work? The Lord said, what wilt thou
that I should do under thee? In a generation that paints this
picture of a God who's pacing the halls of heaven, wringing
his hands, waiting for a man to allow him to do his will,
know this, that that is an untrue. Untrue. In salvation, salvation
is what the Lord does for us. It is not what we do for him.
Notice Bartimaeus' response. He says that I might receive
my sight. Bartimaeus asked for what he
most desperately needed, sight. And understand this, need will
always dictate desire. True need will always dictate
desire. And I would ask you to ask yourself right now, what
is it you want? What is it you need? Why are
you here? Do you really need mercy? I'm
talking about are you a guilty man who needs mercy? Do you need
grace? Do you need the Lord to freely
give you what you do not deserve and what you have not earned?
Do you need the forgiveness of sins? Do you need to be washed
clean in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you need his
righteousness to be given to you? So much so that it really
is yours, that when God the Father looks at you, He sees nothing
but the precious righteousness of His Son. Do you need that? Do you need Him to represent
you before the bottle? Do you need those things? I would ask
you to dwell on that question for just a second. What is it
that you need? What is it that you want? Why
are you here? Look at the Lord's response to
Bartimaeus, His final response. In verse 52, 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. When the Lord
said, Thy faith hath made thee whole, what did he mean? What
did he mean? Probably a better question to
start with. What is faith? What is faith? Well, I love Paul's
declaration of faith. Go to 2 Timothy 1 verse 12. In this verse, Paul makes a three-fold
declaration of faith. 2 Timothy 1 verse 12. For the witch cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. The first part, I know whom I
have believed. Our faith, our trust, it doesn't
rest in a set of doctrines. It doesn't rest in some rituals
we perform. It doesn't rest in the fact that
we go to church on Sunday and on Wednesday. It doesn't trust
in an experience or a feeling or anything like that. Our faith
rests and trusts in a person, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
one who has redeemed us, who purchased us back to God. And
he says, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able, that he is able. Now, I think that everyone, every
believer suffers with faith. I think everybody does. I've
never met a man who is like, no, I'm completely good. And I think we all suffer with
faith for a little while over certain things. And you know
what? I have no problem with this. I don't suffer with this,
this thing of him being able. You know what I sometimes wonder?
Is He willing? I don't struggle with the idea
of Him being able to save me. He's God. He makes the rules,
and then He satisfies Himself. No, I don't struggle with this
thing of Him being able. Sometimes I do struggle with
His willingness. Is He willing to save me? You know what's interesting,
though? In Paul's threefold declaration
of faith, he really doesn't address the Lord's willingness at all.
Now, we should never doubt the Lord's willingness to save a
sinner. It's sinners who He's come to call. But actually, the
Lord's willingness has much more to do with assurance than it
does faith. Faith believes that He is able.
Able to do what? The last part is to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day. Now, this is
not a commitment where I agree to hold up my end of the bargain
and He agrees to hold up His. This is where the sinner, one
of God's elect, completely and utterly trusts and looks to the
Lord Jesus Christ as his only hope of acceptance before God,
his only one. Here's the thing with a commitment,
and here's the way we're wired, here's the way we are by nature.
If we have anything else to commit to, we'll commit there before
we'll ever commit to the Lord. If we can commit to an experience,
a feeling, anything else, maybe a perceived good work we performed
years ago, religious experience we had, if there's anything else
we can possibly commit to, We will. But if you have nothing
else to commit to, if you have nowhere else to go, then you
commit to Him. Because He's all you got. But
what's great about that is He's all you need. He's everything.
That's faith. And where does faith come from?
Ephesians 2.8 says, it is the gift of God. Now a gift, by definition,
you can't earn a gift. It can't be merited. It can't
be earned. A gift can only freely be given. Faith is not earned.
or merited, it is simply freely given. It is a gift. And I find
it interesting that the Lord freely gives a man faith as a
gift, and then he turns around and gives him credit for having
that gift. Told Bartimaeus, thy faith hath made thee whole. What
did he mean by that, though? That was the original question.
What did he mean? Did he mean that Bartimaeus' belief that
the Lord could restore his sight actually restored the sight?
Strictly speaking, no. And we see that from our story.
In the story, who restored Bartimaeus' sight? The Lord restored Bartimaeus'
sight. We don't look to our faith. We
don't look to our faith. We look to the object of our
faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. We trust him. I make an issue
of this statement, thy faith hath made thee whole, simply
because the religion of this world would seek to twist this
and make a work out of coming, make a work out of believing.
Faith is the gift of God. Faith trusts Him. Faith looks
to Him. Let's wrap it up, and I'll ask
the final question is, have I ever come? Have I ever come? Turn
to 1 Peter 2. Look in verse 4. Really the first
three words here is what I want you to key in on. To whom coming, as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up spiritual house and
holy priesthood. They're all for up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. To whom? Coming. This thing of coming,
this thing of believing, this is not a once and done thing. It's not that I came years ago
and had a religious experience. It's not that I took some man's
hand and I recited after him and made some sort of declaration.
This is a continual thing. Because you're in continual need.
Are you in need today? Do you need mercy today? Right now, are you looking solely
to the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope of acceptance before
God? Right now? Well, if you are, if you are,
I'll leave you with this last scripture. John 6.37 says, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. Obey the command and come. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on Him. I'll stop there.