I'll say this, you better be
careful who you listen to when they try to instruct you to do
something. I was sitting there by Amy, brother
Dave's daughter, when Lindsay said scoot over and huddle up.
And I said, are you married? She said, no. I said, I am. It's not lawful for us to hug. It is a blessing to be here.
I realize what an awesome responsibility that Brother Don has asked me
to come here and preach to you. I take this very seriously. I
want you to turn with me this evening to a very familiar passage
of Scripture over in Mark's Gospel chapter 10. I want to read to you this evening
the account The incident that took place began in verse 46
of a man who came to the Lord Jesus blind, received His sight,
and followed the Lord in the way. Let's begin reading in Mark chapter
10 in verse 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
highwayside 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
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I may 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." Mainly, I want to
look at this this evening as it concerns the difficulty that
this man had coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. I could, I guess,
and maybe it would be a blessing to spiritualize this, I know
many preachers have. They've looked at Jericho as
being under the curse, destroyed. This world has been destroyed. It's under the curse. But the
Lord Jesus Christ left heaven. He come to this cursed earth.
Was made a curse. Went back to heaven. And here
we are as blind sinners, unable to know God. Unable to see the
Gospel as it is so clearly revealed in the Scriptures. We need eyes
to see. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that is able to open our understanding. And I am sure
that we could look at that this evening and that would be a great
blessing to us. But really what I want to do this evening is
look at this just as it took place. I want to look at it really
from a physical standpoint. Blind Barnabas was a real man.
He had some real problems. And out of his troubles, he made
his way to the Son of God, had his eyes opened, and literally,
physically followed the Lord Jesus Christ in the way. Now
that's how I want to look at that this evening for the most
part. The trouble he really had. I'm interested in that because
I'm interested in men and women coming to Christ. I've came myself. And it gives me a measure of
joy if I can hear or if I can see that others are coming to
Christ. The Spirit and the bride say,
come. And there's joy in heaven and
joy in this earth when you and I see men come to the Christ
that we set forth. But the main reason I want to
look at this this evening, hopefully, just as it happened, to instruct
the lost. That's what I really feel like
doing this evening. You never preach to the lost, but what
you're blessing to God's saints. Because just as you had a time
in your life when you came to the Lord Jesus, you're still
coming to Him. And there was a time when you came to Him and
you probably experienced some difficulty in coming. And I'm
sure you would tell me that you still experience some difficulty
in coming. So I want this evening, if the
Lord will help me, to seek maybe to encourage the lost. Maybe
those who have never come to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved
by Him. Maybe some who are maybe thinking
about coming to Christ. Maybe those who have tried to
come and got discouraged in trying to come to Him. are those who
want to come and don't know how. Coming to Christ must not be
all that easy, really. It must not be all that easy.
When you and I consider the multitudes that aren't coming at all, it must be that it's not that
simple. It's simple in the Word. It's
plain in the Word. But you and I are so carnal.
We're so dead in trespasses and sins. If it were so simple as
some tell us, then wouldn't multitudes be coming? If it was as plain
as some tell us, if it was as easy. And what about those that we
find in the Scripture that seemingly begin to come and went back? Those who were disappointed. Those who were offended. Those
who seemed to come for a while or follow a while, and like a
sow that was washed, they went back to their wallowing in the
mire. Or what about those who have come to Christ and been
saved by Him? And what they'll tell you of
the difficulty they had in coming to Him. Now, if coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ is simply making a decision for Christ, That may
be easy. If coming to the Lord Jesus is
simply walking down this aisle and making a profession of faith
and being baptized in water, that may be easy. If coming to
Christ is simply, in my mind, believing a system of theology,
that may be easy. But if coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ means that with all my heart I believe Jesus Christ
to be the Son of God who was crucified, buried, and rose again,
and with all my heart I believe in Him for righteousness, that
I so believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that I who was condemned
in an instant find myself standing before God and willing to stand
thereto uncondemned. That all my sins which was upon
my conscience, I have so believed in the Lord Jesus Christ that
now I have peace with God and I have seen all of those sins
put away in His blood. That's what I mean in coming
to Christ, to be saved by Him. It's believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ with all the heart that you know that God is now a tender
and merciful Father to you. He is not displeased with you
anymore. He has accepted you in the Beloved. That's what I mean by believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Coming to Christ. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. How is our sins put from our
conscience? By faith in Christ. Listen to
this verse in Acts chapter 10 verse 43. To Him gave all the
prophets witness that through His name through his merits,
through his sufferings, through his blood shedding, through his
intercession at the right hand of the Father, through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission for sin. That's what I mean by believing
in Christ. Not working to put your sins away. not seeking to
merit anything, but so believing in Christ that you see your sins
are gone in His blood. Now, it's impossible to believe
that. It's impossible to believe Him. It's impossible to come
to Him apart from grace. But those who have so come to
Him and believed on Him with all their heart, they'll testify
that it's still difficult to come by grace. And not only when you initially
come to the Lord Jesus, but sometimes still this day when you come. You tell me, you say, Bruce,
I've come to the Lord Jesus, I've come to God by Him, I have
no difficulty. That may be so. I won't doubt
that. But you're the exception and
not the rule. Now here's some things I want
us to look at this evening, for just a few minutes, concerning
the difficulty that this man had. And first of all, we find
this about him, that he had a very narrow window of time that he
could come. Did you notice as I read this
here, the scripture says in verse 46, the Lord Jesus was just passing
by, Did you notice that? Our Lord was never still. He
was always on the move. We have two or three times that
He came here to Jericho, but He never stopped. We're told
that He entered and He passed through Jericho. And that's what
He was doing here. He was just passing by. As He went, is what the Holy
Spirit said. As He went. And here was a blind
man who was a beggar. I doubt seriously if this man
ever ventured far outside this city. I don't know if he physically
ever come this close to Christ before. But there was one thing
for certain. This was his opportunity to get
the Lord's attention. And if he did not get his attention
now, he may never. There was a narrow window of
opportunity in which this man could call on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he felt it to be so. This man felt in his soul,
this is now or never. That's anxious. Anxious. I think we could conclude this
evening, as far as this man was concerned, he must come to Jesus
Christ this very instant, or he may never come at all. And
that's why he cried out, that's why he hollered, Jesus, thou
Son of David, have mercy upon me. And when he faced this opposition
to be still and to be quiet, he cried out no more, Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. Why did he do that? He was anxious. If he had not have been anxious, he could have thought within
himself, he'll be back through here tomorrow. Why not just wait? Why not listen to the crowd?
I'll have another opportunity tomorrow. He didn't feel that
way. It's now or never. Why? Christ is on His way. Christ is passing by. Why do
I emphasize this this evening? Why don't we tell young people,
go ahead, you're a young teenager, go ahead and enjoy life. Go ahead and sow your wild oats.
You've got plenty of time. You can marry a wife or you can
find a husband and you can concern yourself about your education
and getting a job. Take a vacation, enjoy and relax
and lay aside some money for your retirement. When you're
older, you can be concerned about these things of the soul. When
you're older you can settle down, and you can listen to the gospel.
Why don't we tell people that? We have a man in the gospel that
tried that. He thought he would try that.
His crops came in, he reaped a great harvest, and he sat down
in his desk late one night, and was figuring out how much money
he was going to have for his retirement. And he said, I've
got many goods laid up for a long time. Sold is take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. And
God said, you fool. You presumptuous fool. Nobody
has the promise of tomorrow. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Today, if you will, hear His
voice. Harden not your heart. I think
it would be presumptuous on my part to think that the Lord Jesus
Christ healed every blind man in the city of Jericho. As far
as we know, two or maybe three at the most, and He passed by
the rest of them. And brothers and sisters, it
would be presumptuous of us this evening to think that the gospel
of God's grace is going to be preached at this place. a year
from now. And if the gospel is preached
here, it would be presumptuous on our part to think the Holy
Spirit is going to give me a hearing ear and an understanding heart.
Come into the Lord Jesus Christ. Hearing the gospel of the words
of eternal life is an opportunity. It's a gracious opportunity. Because it's one God owes no
man. God owes no man that. One of
the things I despise the most about free will is its presumption. God owes us a call. God owes
us a chance. God owes us nothing but judgment. That's all He owes us. Men think
they can go through life carefree, in rebellion, neglect
of the gospel, neglect coming to Christ for the salvation of
their soul, and when they're old and on their deathbed, all
they have to do is say, God forgive me, and He owes me that. A man told me one time, a dear
friend of mine, not long before he died, he said, you know, I've
always had the opinion that me and God was walking together,
our paths were running parallel, and all I had to do when I got
ready is just to step out of my path into His path. It's not
that way, folks. It's not that way. Oh, God, help
us this evening to be anxious about coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Second thing this man faced was
this. There was a great number of people
with the Lord Jesus. Did you notice that? His disciples
and a great multitude, a great number of people. It was next
to impossible for blind Bartimaeus to make his way to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I think sometimes we forget how
difficult it was physically to get to the Lord. It was almost
impossible. You could probably get to the
President quicker than you could get to Him sometimes. Remember
one time the Lord was preaching, there were so many people in
the house. They brought a friend, he was paralyzed. Had him on
a bed and they couldn't get him to the Lord. They had to take
him up on the ceiling and bust up the roof and let him down
in for the Lord to heal him. That woman with an issue of blood
that came to the Lord, she had to press her way through that
crowd just to be able to touch the hem of his garment. And here
was this blind man who was hindered from coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ by this crowd. Where they did it ignorantly,
where they did it knowingly, they hindered him from coming
to Christ. I'm amazed, but there's something
I've almost come to expect. Anytime somebody begins to express
an interest in the Gospel, you talk to them through the
week, and they say, I'll be there Sunday morning. I'll be there. I'm interested in this. I'm concerned
about the Word of God, about my soul, about being right with
God. But you come Saturday night,
you come Sunday morning, and something happens. And sometimes
it seems so legitimate. Well, I just can't make it. I
can't make it. The Scripture refers to that
sometimes as cares of this life. The thorns that springs up and
chokes the Word, it becomes unprofitable, unfruitful. I've been on the way a few years
now, and I've learned there's many things that will sidetrack
us from seeking the good of our souls. A lot of things. But I've also learned this. No
matter what it costs you, no matter what stands in your
way of coming to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by Him, be
anxious about getting past that. Be anxious about getting over
that, through that, around that. I wouldn't discourage anybody
this evening. That's not my purpose in saying what I'm saying. Not
my purpose to discourage anybody from coming. But I must tell
you the truth. Hell is opposed to your salvation. The devil and all his fallen
angels live for this one purpose. To make sure you don't get to
Christ. This world is against your coming to Christ. You're
living in a nature, a fallen nature, that's opposed to come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is opposed to your
salvation. And if you cannot get to the
Lord Jesus Christ over all of this, then you'll be lost forever. Many charged Him. Many charged Him. He had men
in front of Him. Hold your peace. He had men behind
Him, pulling Him back. Hold your peace. Hold your peace? Hold my peace? I can't see a
lick. I'm in blindness. I've lived
my life in darkness. I've never seen the sun. And
the only one that can give me my sight is just before me. And you're telling me to shut
my mouth? At what cost? What does a man have to do not
to be saved? Just hold his peace. Just let
something get in your way from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's all you have to do. You don't have to live in rebellion
to be lost. You don't have to argue against
God to be lost. Just neglect to come to Christ. Just neglect to believe on Him
with all your heart. That's all it takes. Hold your peace. I'm on the brink
of eternity. I have no hope. I'm without God
in this world. God's law is calling for my eternal
overthrow. Justice is standing in view.
My conscience is guilty. My sin is upon me. And hold my
peace. O Thou Son of David, Have mercy
on me. Have mercy on me. Well, here's
the third thing. This man was blind. He was physically
blind. Now imagine what a dilemma this
man was in. He was blind. You know, he really
couldn't tell for sure where the Lord Jesus was. He was blind,
and all the noise going on. He may have been crying, Lord
Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy! And the Lord may have
been over here. He couldn't see Him. He didn't really know where
He was. He just knew He was in that general location. But He
didn't know how to get there, and He sure couldn't see Him.
I asked a fellow one time, I said, why don't you come to Christ?
And you know what he told me? He said, I don't know how. I
don't know how. I wept over that. I don't know
how, he said. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of people
concerned about coming to Christ. But they're so spiritually blind. They're caught up in such darkness
in their thoughts. They don't know how to come to
Christ. They've got so discouraged and
almost despair with even thinking about coming. Let this encourage you, dear
soul. If you're here tonight and you're in that condition,
let these words encourage you. There was a man here in our text
that couldn't see a lick. Yet he got the Lord's attention,
if you will. I don't seem to set much with
my theology. I don't know how to get it in.
But he got the Lord's attention. And the Lord opened his eyes
and he followed Jesus in the way just as well as James and
John and all those other disciples. Now won't that encourage you? When your poor mind seems so
blinded that all around you is dark, lay hold upon this precious
promise. The Lord has given you this promise. I will bring the blind by a way
they know not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked places straight. These things will I do and never
forsake you." He said, let that promise be an encouragement to
you. Let this encourage you. Though you do not, perhaps now,
and you cannot see the Lord, He can see you. You say, I can't
see Him. They tell me that He must be
revealed to my understanding. I can't see Him. I can't see
Him in the Scriptures. I can't see Him through the eyes
of my understanding. Perhaps you can't, but He can
see you. And you may not see clearly how
to come to Him, but He sees clearly how to bring you. Let that be
a comfort to you. And let this be a comfort to
you, dear soul. There's others that have been
right where you are now. There's others who have experienced
the darkness that you're experiencing right now. And yet they have
come to the Lord Jesus Christ and now are following Him in
the way. Our Lord delights in mercy. But
not only does He delight in mercy, but He delights to manifest mercy. And He'll not be sought in vain.
Your great misery will only serve to draw out great mercy. Jesus,
Thou Son of David, have mercy. And when He manifests mercy,
you'll learn what this man learned. When he heard the name of Jesus,
he associated it with mercy. Mercy. I hear Brother Mahan say one
time years ago, nothing ever stopped the Son of God in His
tracks but a wretched blind beggar. Nobody else did it. Pharisees
never did it. Heard that fox couldn't do it. Pilot couldn't do it. But this
poor, wretched, blind man stopped the Son of God in his tracks. And lastly is this. He was a
beggar. He was a real beggar. He begged
for his living. Ragged, dirty beggar. Couldn't help anybody. He's the
one always in need of help. Had no influence with anybody.
He didn't have any favors he could call in. Had no leverage
to negotiate. Nothing to bring to the table.
He was a blind man. A crowd stood in his way from
coming to the Lord to be healed. And he had nobody to help him
to get there. He is in pitiful shape. Nobody could go to Jesus Christ
for him. Why would they? He was a beggar.
He couldn't hire him to do it. Hire him to do it. He couldn't
persuade him to do it. He had no influence. Nobody listened
to him. They avoided him. He was a beggar. He couldn't lay hold of somebody
and say, you owe me. Go to this man and bring him
here to me. He can heal me or take me to him. He had no friends. He was a beggar. If he was to get to Christ, he
had to come himself. Brothers and sisters, there's
a mediator between God and man. And God looks upon it as being
a most horrid sin for those who seek to approach unto Him apart
from this mediator. But there's no mediator between
us and Jesus Christ. We go right to Him ourselves. And we go right to God by Him. It's cruel sometimes, at least
people think it is, when a pastor has to tell someone under conviction
for sin, I can't help you. That sounds cruel, don't it?
I remember what it was like to be lost, go to a pastor, I can't
help you. What do you mean you can't help?