Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm going to be reading from
Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 46. And I've entitled this
message, the story of every man. Now by every man, I do not mean
every man without exception, but I mean every believer. This is the story of every believer,
the story of every man. Now, we read beginning in verse
46 of Mark chapter 10, 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, in Luke's account, we read that he heard
a great commotion. And he asked somebody what that
commotion meant, and they told him, Jesus of Nazareth passeth
by. 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. That's so significant. He was
on his way to the cross. He'd gone through Jericho and
was on his way to Jerusalem. He had set his face as a flint
to go to the cross. But as he goes to the cross and
he hears this cry from Bartimaeus, 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, Bartimaeus, casting away
his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him
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. Now this man, Bartimaeus, had
saving faith. The Lord says to him at the end
of this story, thy faith hath saved thee. This man had saving
faith. And if we have the faith of Bartimaeus,
we will have the same faith as him, the faith that every believer
possesses. Now let me give you seven things
that we know about this man, Bartimaeus, and he serves as
a type of every believer. That's why I entitled this message,
The Story of Every Man, Every Believer. Number one, we know
who his father was. His name was Bartimaeus, which
means the son of Timaeus. You remember when Simon is called
Simon bar Jonah, that means Simon the son of Jonah. Bartimaeus was the son of Timaeus. Timaeus in Hebrew means unclean
and defiled. He was the son of an unclean
and defiled man, and he was born unclean and defiled. Now with regard to every man,
we know who their father is. Their father was Adam, and all
fell in him. If you're a son of Adam, I know
all I need to know about you. If I'm a son of Adam, I need
to know all I need to know about myself. I'm defiled and unclean. I am a sinner. When Adam sinned,
I sinned. When he fell, I fell. I was represented
by my father Adam. What he did, I did. Bartimaeus
was the son of a defiled and unclean man. He himself was defiled
and unclean, and that's the same that is true about me and you,
sons and daughters of Adam, defiled and unclean. Now we know that
this man, Bartimaeus, was a blind man. He could not see, and it
appears that he was blind from birth, because he didn't ask
to have his sight restored. He asked that he might receive
his sight. Now, when you're blind, you cannot
see. The natural man cannot see who God really is. Oh, he has his concepts of God.
Like a blind man might have concepts of what he thinks sight looks
like that he's never seen. But he's never seen God. He's
blind to who he really is. He's blind to his own sinfulness.
Because he's blind to God's holiness, he's blind to his own sinfulness,
and he's blind to the way of salvation. He thinks salvation
is by works. He is blind. Bartimaeus was a blind man, and
we know that Bartimaeus was poverty-stricken by his occupation. He was a beggar,
a blind man in extreme poverty,
And he had nothing to bring to the table. He was a beggar. There's no way he could be saved
by works because he had nothing. He was a beggar. And the fourth thing that we
know about this man is he could not work for a living. There
wasn't anything he could do. He was a blind beggar completely
dependent upon the charity of others. Now that would describe
you and I, unable to be saved by works. Do you hear that? Unable. to be saved by works,
completely dependent upon the charity of God. And with regard to this man,
we know of one thing he possessed, a filthy garment he would cover
himself in. You know, when he came to Christ,
he took that thing and threw it away. Casting away his garment,
he rose and came to Christ. Like him, we all have a filthy
garment, our own righteousness that we suppose God could accept.
But if we come to Christ, we will get rid of that thing. But
you know what the most outstanding thing you can say about this
blind beggar? He knew who Jesus was. Jesus Thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. He knew that this one they called
Jesus of Nazareth was nobody less than the Son of David, the
promised Messiah, God's Christ. And understand, that's what saving
faith is. It's knowing who He is. Everybody, without exception,
who knows who He is, believes on Him. They all have saving
faith. And this man came for the right
thing. Mercy. Jesus, thou Son of David,
now remember who He was, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, a defiled
man. He was a beggar. He couldn't
be saved by his works. He was blind. He couldn't see
who God is by nature or himself. He had this filthy garment that
he cast away when he came to Christ because he knew who Christ
was, the son of David, and he came for the right thing. He
asked for mercy. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Now, let me tell you something.
The only time near you will truly ask God for mercy is if our sin
is all our fault. As long as I'm a victim, I'm
not gonna ask for mercy. I'm gonna want justice. I'm going
to want to be paid what really is due me. You know, when I hear people
argue with They say, how could it be fair for God to elect some
and not elect everybody? How could it be fair for Christ
to die only for the elect? I realize that person doesn't
really believe they're a sinner. Because if you really believe
you're a sinner, you believe your sin is all your fault and
forgiveness is God's to give or to withhold. If you come up
to God and say, you need to forgive me, I should be forgiven. Well, that's not asking for mercy.
That's not asking for forgiveness. If you come up to somebody that
you sinned against and say, you need to forgive me. You don't
come that way. You only come for forgiveness
to a sovereign. And this is how He came. Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy on me. My sin's all my fault,
and it's up to you to give it or to withhold it. That is how
He came to Christ. Now, the Lord Jesus was on His
way to Jerusalem to die on the cross. He had passed through
Jericho, and now he was on his way to Jerusalem. And there,
sitting by the wayside begging, was a man by the name of Bartimaeus. We know who his father was. I
know who my father is, Adam. And because of this, I was shaped
in an iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. I was
born like Bartimaeus, the son of a defiled, unclean man, making
myself defiled and unclean. And as Bartimaeus sat at the
highway side begging, he heard a commotion. Luke's account says,
hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant when he
heard that commotion. And someone said, Jesus of Nazareth
passeth by. And as soon as he heard that,
immediately he began to cry out, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Now, I'm reading in between the
lines here, but I know something like this happened, because faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Sometime
during the course of this man's life, maybe every Sabbath day,
he was led into the temple and heard the scriptures read. And
whenever the book of Isaiah was read, five different times in
the book of Isaiah, it was said that the Messiah would give sight
to the blind. Now, I'm sure the people that
heard that thought, that's a good thing. I'm glad he does that. But I'll tell you somebody that
heard it differently was a blind person. Oh, that meant something
to them. The Messiah would give sight
to the blind. And this is how Bartimaeus identified
the Messiah as one who gave sight to the blind. Now, one day while
he was sitting there at the highway, begging, he heard about a mighty
prophet by the name of Jesus of Nazareth who had given sight
to the blind. And he knew at that moment, this
man, this prophet, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. He knew
it. Only the Messiah could give sight
to one who was born blind. And he said to himself, if he
ever passes this way, I'm gonna call for mercy, I'm gonna cry
for mercy. That's the son of David. Well,
one day he was sitting there, and he hears this commotion,
and he asked the crowd what it meant, and they said, Jesus of
Nazareth passeth by. And he began to cry, Jesus, thou
son of David, Have mercy on me. Now he was crying out of his
sense of need, of mercy. Oh, how he needed mercy. Jesus,
thou son of David. He knew who he was. Other people
might've said he was an imposter. Bartimaeus knew better than that.
He knew he was the Messiah, God's Christ, the son of David, David's
Lord. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. me. Verse 48, and many charged him
that he should hold his peace. Now, when you cry for mercy,
you're going to be told to hold your peace. There's some things
you need to do first before you get mercy. You need to get your
life straightened out. You need to stop committing that
sin and start doing that good thing. Don't be crying for mercy
until you can come on the right footing, your merit. Then you
can cry for mercy. Oh, the false sounds everyone
will hear, the noise everyone will hear. But Bartimaeus was
one of God's elect. And let me tell you something
about God's elect. They must have mercy and they will not
stop seeking mercy. They told Bartimaeus to hold
his peace, but you know what the scripture says about him?
He cried them more. He cried the more, a great deal. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And verse 49 says, and Jesus
stood still. Now there was a great crowd following
him and many people were calling his name. I don't have any doubt
about that. Maybe even saying good things about him. But our
Lord was on His way to the cross. His hour had come. The reason
the universe was created, the reason He came into this universe,
was to die on the cross. And He was headed toward Jerusalem
to die on the cross, to glorify His Father, to put away the sins
of His people. He wasn't going to be stopped,
and all kinds of people were calling His name, but on He moved.
But all of a sudden, He hears this cry for mercy, and Jesus
stood still. You know, this is what gets his
attention. This is what causes him to stand
still. This is the cry he hears, the
cry for mercy. Now, you can make all kinds of
promises to him about all the good things you'll do if he'll
do this, if he'll respond to this. He's not gonna hear it.
He's gonna keep going. But if you or I, like Bartimaeus,
cry for mercy, pure, free mercy. He hears. Jesus stood still. Let me tell you something about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He delights in mercy. He loves to give His glorious,
sovereign mercy to sinners who have nothing to bring to the
table. If you have nothing to bring
to the table, if you're blind and poor like Bartimaeus, cry
out for mercy. He delights in mercy. That's who He is. He loves to
have mercy on sinners. Now you come claiming merit,
He'll send you away. He won't hear you. You come making
all these promises about what you're going to do, You might
as well shut up, he doesn't hear it. But if you cry for mercy,
oh, he hears. Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. You see, when the Lord speaks,
it's always a command. That's because who he is. He
doesn't ask for permission, he commands. And Jesus commanded
him to be called. And they call the blind man,
saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, He calleth thee. And what is said of Bartimaeus
at this time? Verse 50, and he casting away
his garment, rose and came to Jesus. Now, as I said previously,
this was his only possession, a garment. No doubt it was filthy,
probably dry rotted, but it was the only possession that he had
and it was his covering. This is what he covered himself
with. This was his security, his garment. There's a scripture in Proverbs
28, 13 that says, he that covereth his sins. shall not prosper. But whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy." Now, that verse of Scripture used
to trouble me quite a bit. It seem to say that if my sin
was not first forsaken, I would not be given mercy. I need to first forsake my sin
and not commit it anymore, and then and only then will I find
mercy. Now, don't misunderstand me.
Everybody ought to confess their sin, and everybody ought to forsake
their sin. But if that means you will not
find mercy until you properly confess and forsake your sin,
then you won't have any mercy, and neither will I. But one of
the reasons I love the King James Version, if a word is not in
the original, it's always put in italics. And the word them
is not in the original, it's placed there in italics. He that
covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
shall have mercy. He confesses his sin and he forsakes
this thing of seeking to cover them. Now that is what Bartimaeus
did. He got rid of that filthy covering
and he arose and he came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you come to Christ, One
thing you will do, you will get rid of your covering. You will
get rid of that filthy garment of your righteousness, seeing
it will do you no good. The first thing that Bartimaeus
did is he cast that thing off of himself, and he came to Jesus
in verse 51, and Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt
thou that I should do? unto thee." Now understand, salvation
is what He does. He said, what wilt thou that
I should do? Now my only hope is not in anything
but what He does. You see, in this thing of salvation,
it's all what He does. He stood as the surety of God's
people before time began. He came in the flesh and kept
the law for them. He died for their sins and put
them away. He was raised again for their
justification. He went back to glory as their
representative. He's coming again as their mighty
king, and salvation is what He does. It's not what you do. Understand
that. It's not what you do. It's what
He does. What shall I do unto thee? And the blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. What is it that Bartimaeus
did not have? Sight. What is it that Bartimaeus
could not do? See. He asked the Lord to do
to him what he could not do for himself or to himself. He asked that he might receive
as the gift of God's grace, oh, 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. Now notice the Lord
says, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now why does
the Lord put such emphasis on faith? Because it wasn't Bartimaeus'
faith that made him whole, it was Christ who made him whole.
Bartimaeus' faith didn't die for his sins, Christ died for
his sins. Bartimaeus' faith didn't keep the law, Christ kept the
law. So why does the Lord place such great honor and emphasis
on faith? Because faith rests wholly in
Him. Faith gives Him all the glory. That's saving faith. It looks to Christ only and he
says, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Thy faith has saved thee. This
is saving faith. That which looks to Christ only.
Go thy way. You've been set free. Go your
way. Do what you want to. Thy faith
hath made thee whole and immediately This wasn't gradual. Immediately,
he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Now, when the
Lord said, go thy way, his way was to follow Jesus in the way. That's what he wanted to do.
And that's the glorious thing about the gospel. Trust Christ
and do what you want to do. Do what you want to do. You know,
if the Lord's done something for you, what you want to do
is to follow Jesus in the way. He gives you a new want to. That's
what Bartimaeus now wanted to do. And I love to think about
this. The first face he ever saw was the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He followed Jesus in the way.
Now that is the story of every man. That's the story of every
believer. May the Lord be pleased to make
this real to me and you. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you just like he did
to Bartimaeus. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at
gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information
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