the 10th chapter of Joshua, and
found there a place where the man by whom the walls of Jericho
fell commanded and the sun was made to stand still. At the command
of a man, the sun stood still. I sat and meditated on that a
while. We are told in the 14th verse
of that chapter, there was no day like that before it or after
that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man. But in Mark
chapter 10 and verse 49, we see something far, far, far more
remarkable. Look at it with me. And Jesus stood still. Now, it's one thing to cause
the Son to stand still. But we have before us a picture
of a man who, crying for mercy, calls God who made the Son to
stand still. Bartimaeus sat by the highwayside
begging, and he heard that Jesus of Nazareth passed by, and he
cried, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And the Scripture
says, Jesus stood As our Lord Jesus was coming
up out of Jericho on his way to Jerusalem to go to redeem
his people, he heard a poor blind beggar crying for mercy. And at the sound of his cry,
we are told Jesus stood still. What an amazing picture of God's
amazing grace we have before us. Here, the omnipotent God
is stopped in his tracks and held fast by the cry of a sinner
in need of mercy. Wonder if there's anybody like
that here tonight. Anybody in need of mercy, anybody. Cry out
to the Son of God where you sat and I'm telling you, he'll stand
still again right here for your sake. Our Lord Jesus was on his
way up to Jerusalem there to accomplish our redemption. There
to fulfill the will of God, there to complete his mission in this
world, and nothing could stop him. He had set his face like
a flint to go to Jerusalem. You'll recall when he went up
to Bethany, because Lazarus was dead, and he went there to raise
Lazarus from the dead, Thomas said, Lord, the Jews of late
sought to stone thee. But they saw that he could not
be restrained, and Thomas said, well, let's go die with him.
Because the Lord Jesus could not be stopped from his mission.
His disciples tried again and again to keep him from going
up to Jerusalem, not understanding the significance of his words,
that he must there go to fulfill the will of God and fulfill the
Scriptures. The Jews tried to stop him all
the time. Constantly they tried to prevent
him in Satan's hands. from going to the work which
God the Father sent him to perform in this world to redeem us at
Calvary. No doubt there were multitudes,
multitudes, of whom we do not read in the Scriptures, but just
those that were told about in the Word of God. They tried to
stone him. They tried to throw him off of
a cliff. They tried everywhere under the sun to keep him from
going to Jerusalem. Nothing could stop him. Nothing.
Not even the Roman soldiers arresting him in the garden could stop
him. He had set his face to suffer and die in our stead. But now,
as he is on his way at last, in this final, just short time
before he goes up to Jerusalem, he hears the cry of a man, Jesus,
thou son of David, not just any man, a certain man. a certain
blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus. He said, have mercy on me. And
the Lord Jesus stopped right where he was. Kind of like that
woman who with an issue of blood reached out her hand and touched
the hem of his garment. And immediately he said, who
touched me? I perceive that virtue is gone
out of me. Now let's read the text together.
Mark chapter 10, verse 46. And they came to Jericho. And
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, a space of about
ten miles, now let me put together the gospel narratives for you.
As they came into Jericho, there were crowds gathered everywhere,
folks just pressing against him everywhere. And Zacchaeus climbed
up in a tree so he could see Jesus who he was. He was a curious
little fella. And he climbed up in the tree
so he could see over the heads of the crowds. And the Lord Jesus
came to where Zacchaeus was and said to that publican, Zacchaeus,
come down today. I must abide at your house. He
said, this man also is a son of Abraham. As he went along
his way, Luke tells us that there was a man who was blind, much
like this blind Bartimaeus. And the Lord Jesus healed this
blind man as he was coming into Jerusalem. And then he passed
through Jerusalem. And on the way out of Jerusalem,
Matthew in Matthew chapter 20 tells us that the Lord Jesus
healed two other blind men. He seems as he's going to the
place where he would perform his greatest miracle, just scatters
miracles. He called Zacchaeus, the publican,
forgave his sin, went home with him. He called a blind man and
called two more blind men and healed them by his grace. Now
read what he says. And as he went out of Jericho
with his disciples, A great number of people, and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highwayside begging. And when he heard, he heard a
commotion. A great crowd coming up out of
Jerusalem, or out of Jericho, and Bartimaeus, he heard the
commotion. 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 casting away his garment,
or 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. Now surely the place
whereon we stand tonight is holy ground. Let us then put off our
shoes of idle curiosity and theological speculation and turn aside for
a little while from the trifles and cares of this world to see
this great sight. Surely there are lessons to be
learned here. that are far more valuable than gold. Let me give
you a few. Number one, true faith is frequently,
commonly found where it is least expected. There were great multitudes
who followed the Lord Jesus as he walked along the way and as
he talked to people. Some followed him for loaves,
others because they loved him. Some followed him out of curiosity,
others because of their conviction by his spirit. Some followed
him for greed, others followed him because they wanted his grace. But among the multitudes who
followed him this day, there were a few, very few probably,
but a few who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Many, many
who saw His miracles, many who ate the loaves and fishes, many
who saw for themselves firsthand the power of God the Son demonstrated
in this man who is Jesus of Nazareth were still blind in their sin
and knew Him not and believed Him not. But here is a blind
man, a man who never saw a miracle. A man who never saw the radiance
of the master's face. A man who never beheld his eyes
as he spoke his word. But this man knew the master
only by hearsay. Only by the testimony of others.
And yet, he believed him. His name is Bartimaeus. A blind
man. He's a pretty good picture of
us. The name Timaeus, Dr. Gill tells us, suggests the idea
of honor. And the Jews say that Bartimaeus
was a well-known man because his father Timaeus was a very
honorable man. And Bartimaeus, now the son of
this very honorable man who was blind and reduced to poverty
and to begging, and he sits by the highway side. That's a pretty
good picture of us. Were the sons and daughters of
a man created an honorable man? God created Adam upright in the
garden, but we, by reason of our sin in Adam, came into this
world and spent our days in blindness, reduced to poverty, spiritual
poverty, reduced to nothing before God Almighty, except sin and
corruption and darkness. And the Lord Jesus came to this
blind man. Now, Bartimaeus simply heard
other men and women talking about the Savior. The scripture tells
us here, when he heard. I looked at that and I thought
probably it was sort of like this. The Lord Jesus had been,
he came up to Jericho and he called Zacchaeus and he healed
that blind man and he went through the streets of Jericho and man,
it was a buzz. Did you hear what he did? He
went to that publican, Zacchaeus. He went down to old Zac's house.
Went home with him, said he was a son of Abraham, and he'd come
to call him that day. Did you hear about that blind
man that he healed? And as they were coming out of
Jericho, healed two more. Healed two more of them. And
Bartimaeus heard the gossip about him. Oh, blessed gossip. That's a good way to witness
to folks. You want to witness to folks? Just gossip to them
about what the Master's done. He heard the gossip about the
Master. And when he heard, he believed. Now, perhaps he had heard how
the Master had healed these other blind men, how that he had called
Zacchaeus. But without question, he heard
who he was. Now, I don't have any idea how
much he heard or didn't hear, but he heard this. He heard that
his name was Jesus of Nazareth. He heard his name was Joshua,
Deliverer, Joshua, Jehovah, who saves. He heard that his name
was the Son of David. He claimed to be that one who
was the king, who was spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures.
And this man speaks to this one now and says, Jesus, thou Son
of David. More than that, he heard he was
in charge because he called him the Lord. He called him the Lord.
He heard about the Lord's mighty miracles of mercy. And he heard
he was passing by. Here I sit. There's one thing I've wanted
all my life, more than anything else, just to see. And now, now this one who comes,
God from heaven in human flesh, who's given life to many and
who's given sight to many, now he comes my way. He's passing
by. If ever I'm gonna say it, it's
gonna be right now. He may never pass this way again,
and he didn't. And as he was passing by, he
cries, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Bartimaeus
believed the Son of God. Oh, how his faith puts our faith
to shame. We have books of Theology and
apologetics and evidence. We have biographies of men who
for years have served the Lord and faithfully witnessed to his
miracles of grace and mercy in their lives. And yet how little
there is of this childlike confidence and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even among true believers, how
little faith there is. The humble soul believes God
and walks in peace. Bartimaeus just believed God.
He just believed God. Scripture says, Abraham believed
God. God said, I'm going to give you
a son. He believed God. God said, I'm going to protect you. He
believed God. God said, I'm going to be with you. He believed God.
Just believed God. The humble soul hears God's word
and believes Him. But learned, intelligent, brilliant,
theological-minded, well-trained men Spend their days dissecting
and studying the things of God. And spend their days harassed
with doubts and questions of unbelief. God forgive us. I don't know whether I know the
Lord or not. I hear preachers talk like that
all the time. You studied too much. Don't know whether I ever
really experienced God's grace or not. You're looking at the
wrong place. The humble soul. He said, I'm
blind and naked and poor and needy. The only hope I've got's
the Son of God. I trust Him. And being as how
He came to save poor, blind, helpless, naked, needy sinners,
I qualify. He believed God. Secondly, if
we hope for mercy, we must avail ourselves of every means of good
to our souls. I keep stressing this because
I realize that men, especially as they get a mental idea of
God's sovereignty, sort of push this to the background. I know
that God's sovereign. I know that salvation is of the
Lord. I know that every chosen, redeemed sinner will be called
by God's grace and they will enter into heaven. You know that
too. And yet I know that every man is responsible for his own
soul. and that we are responsible before
God to use the means at our disposal which God has given us. This
man was blind, but he wasn't deaf. And he used what he had
and heard that Jesus of Nazareth pass by. And when he heard that,
he was found sitting by the highway side, crying for mercy. What wisdom he displayed. He's
a blind beggar. Now, he could sit back and say,
well, I live back here on the backside of town, down this alley,
up the corner here, and if the Lord wants me to eat, he'll bring
me some food, I'll just sit here and wait. Kind of dumb, but I'll
sit here and wait. I believe God's sovereign. No,
this blind beggar found somebody to take him and put him in the
busiest place in town. So that if there was anybody
likely to give him anything to eat, any money to give anything
to him, they'd trip over him sitting in the way. They'd have
to walk over him to get by him. He said, I'm hungry, I'm going
to go where I'm most likely to get something to eat. I'm needy,
I'm going to go where I'm most likely to obtain mercy. I'm blind,
I'm going to go where I'm most likely to be in the eyesight
of other men. This man went and put himself
by the highway side, hoping to meet with some who might be compassionate
to him. And I'm saying to you, you who
are yet without Christ and you who know Him, we are responsible
under God to use the means He's given us. You be wise enough,
be smart enough, be obedient enough, not to neglect the assembling
of God's saints. Don't do it. Don't do it. He
said, well, I realize that church is kind of important, but other
things are important. When you forsake the assembling
of God's saints, you've forsaken the one place where God said
he'd meet with sinners. You've forsaken the one place
where the Lord of glory promised to assemble with people. You've
forsaken that one place, that one place, where God promised
to spread out his word and feed men with manna from heaven. Don't
forsake the reading of God's word. Don't do it. Whatever else you have to give
up, don't give up reading and studying this book. It's able
to make you wise into salvation. Study the scriptures. Search
the scriptures so that you may know the things of God. And don't
forsake prayer. Don't forsake personally worshiping
God, calling on him. These are God's ordained means
of grace. To despise them is to despise
His grace. To neglect them is to neglect
Him, His grace in your own soul. To use them is to sit like a
blind man, right smack dab in the middle of the road of mercy.
If the Lord Jesus is going to pass me by, He's going to have
to tip over me to pass me by. I need mercy. The Lord said,
where two or three are gathered in my name, I'll be there. God helping me, I'm gonna be
there too. I'm gonna be there. Well, my
folks think about coming to visit us this weekend, what you gonna
do? I'm gonna go gather with God's people. Well man, they're
coming from the other side of the world, I don't care if they're
coming up from hell, I'm gonna go gather with God's people.
And if they're determined to go to hell, I'm still gonna go
gather with God's people. Doesn't matter. Oh well, don't
get to see him but once a year, I don't get to see him Just rarely,
rarely, and I'm going to be there when he makes, when he's determined
to show himself. Thirdly, we learn once more by the example
of this blind man that as the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
so the violent take it by force. Look at this 48th verse. 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, I can picture this old boy, he's
sitting down by the highway side and the Lord Jesus is coming
by with his entourage. His entourage wasn't much, just
a crowd of ragamuffins, but he comes by and This great crowd's
all around him and everybody's hanging on every word. What's
he gonna say next? What will he do next? And here's
this dirty, poor, blind beggar making a ruckus. Jesus! Jesus! That son of David! That
son of David! Have mercy on me! And he keeps
crying. And folks came over and said,
shhh. You're making too much noise. Just wait a little bit. If the master's gonna say anything
to you, he'll speak to you. Don't get so excited. Don't be so quick about this
thing. Don't be in such a rush. You're too early. You're too
late. You're too old. You're too blind. You're too
poor. You're too dirty. And he cried all the more, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. I don't pretend to know
a great deal about prayer, but I see four things here that exemplify
true prayer. And I'm certain these four things
will always be found where true prayer is. First, there's faith. He said, Lord, thou son of David. And secondly, there's humility.
Have mercy on me. Now, this beggar asked for something
he had never asked for before. He'd been sitting by the highway
side, all of his adult life with his tin cup, begging for money. For the first time, he's begging
for mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. And there's importunity. These folks, they said, now,
you be quiet. And he continued to cry the more.
Our Lord in Luke chapter 11 talks about prayer. And when he talks
about prayer, he tells us that true prayer implies something
concerning importunity. It implies something concerning
this matter of being earnest before God. If you want something
from God, knock. But don't just knock walls, just
knock and knock and knock and knock and knock and it'll be
open to you. You see, if you need mercy, that's what you do. If you're hungry and you need
bread, you go and a man said, but I'm in bed and I put my wife
and children to bed, don't bother me now. He said, but I'm hungry.
I gotta have some bread. That's how the Lord taught us
to pray. Jacob said, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me. And where there is true prayer,
there's perseverance. Bartimaeus needed mercy. He knew
that Christ could give him mercy, and he knew that Christ alone
could give him the mercy he needed. He might never get this opportunity
again. Therefore, in spite of the opposition he met with, in
spite of all the clamor of other men, this man seemed hardly to
notice it. He just ignored what they said
and cried all the more, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on me. Now then, learn this as well. Oh, God help you to learn it.
Oh, how the son of God loves sinners. Sometimes he shows that love
in the beginning in strange ways. But our Savior's love for this
poor and needy soul is seen in everything he did for him. In
verse 49, Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And
they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort,
rise. He called us there. Oh, if he
calls you, you've got reason to be of good comfort. If he
calls you, that's because he chose you. He calls you, that's
because He redeemed you. He calls you, that's because
He's put away your sins. That's because He's come to give
you life eternal. The Lord Jesus graciously, graciously blinded
this man's eyes for a season. So a preacher, how can you say
that? Oh, if he hadn't been blind, he wouldn't have been by the
highway side and he wouldn't have been begging and he wouldn't have
known his need of mercy. I read the other day about Samson.
He was in love with this Philistine girl. He told his daddy, he said,
he said, go get me that woman. I love her. She pleases me well.
And his father said to him, said, Samson, why go to those uncircumcised
Philistines? This is contrary to the commandment
of God. This is contrary to the word of God. It's going to bring
misery and trouble to you. It's going to bring misery and
trouble to us. And the scripture says this. He didn't realize
it was of the Lord. Because the Lord sought an occasion
against the Philistines. Samson's fall and Samson's sin
and Samson's pain and all the misery he brought on himself
because of his love for that woman was all in the hands of
God's purpose because God was determined to overthrow the Philistines.
And this is how he's going to do it. He's going to ultimately
bring grace because of this thing. Bartimaeus was blind. But the
reason he was blind was so the Lord Jesus could give him sight.
That's the reason. Other men are blind, yeah, but
this man was blinded because the Lord was gracious to him.
Gracious to him. Somebody asked Fanny Crosby one
time if she considered her blindness her greatest affliction. And
she said, oh no, no, no, it's one of my greatest blessings.
She said, the first face I'll ever see is the face of my Redeemer. The first face I'll ever see
is him who loved me and gave himself for me. And then the
Son of God, at the time of mercy, sent somebody to tell this man
about Him, His greatness, His grace, and His glory. And the
Lord Jesus passed His way in mercy, love, and grace, and He
stood still. God Almighty came to where this
man was and stood still to hear this man's prayer. Oh, listen
to that. Listen to that. Jesus, thou Son
of David, have mercy on me. Oh, how the prayer of a needy
sinner arrests the heart of the Son of God. He stood still. What sweet music. And then he called him. He called
him particularly and distinctively. and sent a word of comfort along
with the call. And he spoke this word of grace
to him. What is it you want? He said,
he said, give me, give me my sight. And the master said, it's
done. It's done. What is it you want? Oh, I want to see. I've been
blind all my life. I want to see. I hear others
talk about the glory of God, the grace of God. I hear others
talk about forgiveness and mercy. I hear others talk about freedom
in Christ. I hear others talk about the burden of sin being
taken away. Oh God, I want to see. Give me
my sight. It's done. Your faith has made
you whole. You're looking to me, who alone
can make you whole. Your faith has saved you, he
said. Not that faith itself has any
power at all, but faith looking to Christ gets everything. And
the Lord Jesus went to Jerusalem to redeem this sinner. Now then, let me show you one
more thing. Faith always gets what it seeks. The master called this man and
the scripture says he rose. He rose from the dung heap of
fallen humanity in his spiritual darkness and cast off his garment. That's exactly what sinners do
when they come to Christ. They start throwing off the filthy
garments of not just their sin and ungodliness, but their sin
and ungodliness of self-righteousness. And they cast off these spider
webs of ungodliness. and they come to him. He came,
but he didn't just come anywhere, he came to Jesus, the master. And immediately, he received
his sight. Not just with his eyes, he received
his sight here. How do you know that? Because
the master said, go thy way. And he followed Jesus in the
way. Because now the Master's way became His way and He followed
Him. He followed Him in the path He
walked. They tell me He's going up to
Jerusalem. They tell me He said He's going there to die and He's
going to rise the third day. I'm going to walk in His steps.
I'm going to follow Him. He followed Christ who is the way, doctrinally
hung on His every word. I can just imagine. I just imagine
this fella, he's been poor, black, dirty, all his life long. And
now he sees the Son of God. And he said, I want to listen
to everything he's got to say. Whatever he says, that's what I want.
And that's what I'll hear. And that's what I'll do. And
he walked in his ordinances and worshiped him in the way. He followed him in the way until
it followed him to glory. This blind man. was healed by
His grace. May God be pleased to grant you,
who are blind, eyes to see. And may He be pleased reminding
us of His grace to revive our cold, empty souls. Amen.