Is not that I did choose thee? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 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 Niver. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Do I Have Saving Faith? Do I Have Saving Faith? The Lord said to Bartimaeus in
verse 42 of Luke chapter 19, Receive thy sight, thy faith
hath saved thee. Thy faith hath saved thee." For
me to know whether or not I have saving faith, I'm going to have
to understand what saving faith is. And here we're given a very
simple and clear illustration as to what saving faith really
is in the healing of this blind man. Now, this is obviously a
very important subject. Do I have saving faith? I will
not be saved unless I have saving faith. That's how important this
subject is. This is a salvation subject.
Now, we can be wrong in a lot of ways and still be saved, but
we can't be wrong here and still be saved. Do I have saving faith? Now, you will notice the Lord
said, receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. He had
this saving faith before he received his sight. So what was it that
this man believed that the Lord said, thy faith hath saved thee? Now the story begins in verse
35 of Luke chapter 18, and it came to pass, I love that statement,
it came to pass. God purposed it and it came to
pass. You see, everything comes to
pass because God has purposed it. God is absolutely sovereign
and how we love this kind of language. And it came to pass
that he was come nigh unto Jericho a certain blind man set by the
wayside begging. I love the language, a certain
man. You see, salvation is not generic. He saves certain individuals. John 3.16 is not a generic promise. God so loved the world that he
gave his own begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should
have everlasting life. Salvation is not a generic offer
to a generic world. God saves certain men and women
that he has determined to save. Now, if you are listening this
morning and you do not have saving faith, But God has determined
to save you. He will save you. Nothing can
prevent it. I think of John chapter 4 where
it says he must need to go through Samaria. Why must he need to
go through Samaria? One of his elect is there. There's
a poor pitiful woman that he's going to go and save in Samaria. He saves certain men and this
man is described as a blind man sitting by the wayside begging,
a blind beggar. And we know from Mark's account
that his name was Bartimaeus. Now I don't know why that God
was pleased to make us to know this blind man's father's name,
but I know this, I know who my father is. My father is Adam. And the mess I'm in came to me
through the mess he got our whole race in when he fell and became
spiritually dead and spiritually blind. I know who my father is. Now, he's described as a blind
beggar. Blind. He could not see. If you put him in the most beautiful
environment, it wouldn't do him any good. He couldn't see. If you would give the most accurate
description of what's there in such plain terms, it still wouldn't
matter. He can't see. He's blind and
that describes the state of the natural man. The Scripture says
in II Corinthians 4.4, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost, whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. You see, the
natural man is blind. He cannot see. He's blind to
the true character of God. He has no understanding of who
God really is or any of his attributes. He's blind. He's blind to himself. He can't see that he's nothing
but sin. He has high thoughts of himself
and proud thoughts and self-righteous thoughts. He cannot see by nature
that he is completely sinful, blind to what sin is. Not understanding
it's not just things you do, it's what you are. It's what
makes you. Blind to what the gospel is,
how God saves by His grace. Blind to the beauty of Christ
and the beauty of justification by faith. The natural man is
blind to these things. And this man was a beggar. He
was a man without resources. He couldn't work and he was completely
dependent upon the charity of others, just like the natural
man is bankrupt before God. He has nothing to commend himself
to God, and he's completely dependent upon the charity of God. What a condition to be in! a
blind beggar. Now, as he sits by the wayside
begging, verse 36, and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked
what it meant. He heard a commotion. He's blind. He couldn't see what was going
on, so he asked what it meant. This makes me think of The Ethiopian
eunuch, when Philip came to him, he said, do you understand what
you're reading? He said, how can I, except some
man should guide me. He was dependent upon a man to
tell him what this meant. What's this mean? What a question. Verse 37, and they told him that
Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, I wish I could
imitate his cry, I know I can't, but he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now when he hears the
commotion, what's this all about? Jesus of Nazareth passeth by,
and he cried out immediately, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Now, in this verse, we have stated
in the plainest terms what saving faith is. This man had it. Now, look how they tried to stop him.
We're going to get back to this. And verse 39, and they which
went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But
he cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now, he couldn't be stopped.
They tried to stop him, but he couldn't be stopped crying for
mercy. Now, this will tell us exactly what saving faith is. Now, this man knew something
the crowd didn't know. They said, Jesus of Nazareth
passeth by. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. Now, this blind man knew that
Jesus was the son of David. That means he knew that Jesus
was the Christ. That means he knew that Jesus
was the Savior. Now, we're not told how he knew
this, but I have no doubt that someone had told him of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He sat by the highway side begging.
People were coming by all the time, and he heard many things
spoken of concerning Jesus of Nazareth. I don't know that anything
made any sense to him, but one day somebody told him that Jesus
of Nazareth had given sight to one who was born blind. And I don't have any doubt that
he had heard, and it meant something to him in the book of Isaiah,
that when the Messiah would come, he would give sight to the blind.
And he'd heard some people say one thing about Christ and others
something else, some good things, some bad things, but when he
heard that, he knew He was the Messiah. He knew he was the son
of David. Oh, how this just thrilled him
to think of that. And as he sat there in his blindness,
he thought to himself, if he ever passes my way, if he ever
passes by, if I'm ever able to cry out with him coming through,
I'm going to cry, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now, I don't know how long he
knew that, but there he was by the wayside begging. He thought,
maybe last week, maybe last year, he believed that Jesus was the
Christ. That's all he believed. He believed that someone who
gave sight to one born blind, only the Messiah could do that.
If he ever comes by here, oh, how I'm going to cry out for
mercy. So he hears the commotion. What's this all about? Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. Now, he believed that Jesus was the
Christ, the Son of David. Same thing, the promised Messiah. He believed that Jesus was the
Christ. What's that mean? Well, that
means that he believed that Jesus was the prophet, God's anointed
prophet, the one who brings the word from God. He believed that
Jesus was God's anointed priest, the one who could bring him into
God's presence, and God could accept him because of the priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he brings me into God's presence,
I'll be accepted through his sacrifice. He believed that Christ
was the Word of God, God's prophet. He believed that Christ is God's
anointed priest, and he believed that Jesus was God's anointed
king. one who actually reigned. The
king is the one whose will is done. He believed that Christ
was the absolute sovereign king of the universe, the Lord of
lords and the king of kings, the one who controls everything,
the one whose will must be done. That was his faith. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. He believed that the only one
who could show him mercy was the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
believed mercy was in his hands. He was the dispenser of mercy.
Now there are several things involved in asking for mercy.
First, you have to have no merit. Absolutely no merit. You have
nothing to bring to the table. Not one work that God could be
pleased with. You believe you're nothing but
sin. Secondly, you have to believe that all your sin is all your
fault. You can't blame Adam. You can't
blame your environment. You can't blame your mom and
dad. All your sin is all your fault. You're guilty before God. You have no merit And all your
sin is all your fault. And you know that it's in His
hands to give mercy or to withhold it. You can't demand it. You
can't claim it by right. He's just if He passes you by.
And if you don't believe that, you don't even believe in mercy
in the first place. If you think that you have mercy coming, that
it wouldn't be fair for God to treat you this way or that way,
all you prove is you don't really believe you're a sinner. Because
if you really believe you're a sinner, you believe that He
would be just if He passed you by. Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me." You're like that leper. The leper said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He didn't say, Lord, I'm
going to let you make me clean, or Lord, I will that you make
me clean, or Lord, I'm going to accept you so you can make
me clean. No, Lord, it's in your hands. It's up to you. If you
will, you can make me clean. Now, saving faith will not be
denied. I love the way it says in verse
39, And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold
his peace. But he cried so much the more, Thou son of David,
have mercy on me. He knew this was it. If he doesn't have mercy on me,
I will not be saved. He could not be denied. This
reminds me of the Syrophoenician woman. You remember when she
came crying to the Lord, saying the same thing, Jesus, our son
of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. The scripture says he answered
her, not a word. He didn't even respond to her. And the disciples said, send
her away, she's crying after us. Evidently, his lack of response
or no response didn't stop her from continuing crying. You see,
if you ever need mercy, you can't be shut up. You will continue
crying for mercy to the day you die if you need it. You don't
give up, not if you need mercy. If you give up, it's because
you never really thought you needed mercy in the first place. She
continued to cry, and then the Lord said to His disciples, I'm
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This
was a Gentile woman, but what our Lord was saying, I wasn't
sent to save everybody. I was just sent to save the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Did she say, well, that's not
right. I mean, here I am. No. She came and worshipped Him.
Then she came and worshipped Him. You see, she knew she was
in His hands. And she said, Lord, help me.
And he said, it's not right to take the children's bread and
to cast it to dogs. He's telling this woman, you're
nothing more than a dog. And you know how she responded?
That's the truth, Lord. That's the truth. If I ever heard
the truth, that's it. But the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. I'm not looking for a play setting.
I wouldn't dare think of something like that, but I'd be so grateful
for the crumbs of your mercy. She wouldn't be denied. And the
Lord said to her, oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee
even as thou wilt." Well, Bartimaeus was like that. He would not be
denied. He continued crying, have mercy
on me. Now let's go on reading verse
40. And Jesus stood. Now remember, he was on his way
through Jericho to Jerusalem. He was going there to be crucified,
and he had set his face like a flint. Nothing would stop him. On he goes. The reason he came
was to die. And many people were calling
his name at this time, but he didn't stop. But there was one
cry that stopped him dead in his tracks. Mark's account says
Jesus stood still. And what was it that caused the
Lord Jesus Christ to stand still? The cry for mercy. Jesus stood still. And you know what? If you cry
for mercy, you will have his ear. There's never been anybody
who ever cried for mercy, sheer free mercy, that he turned away. Somebody says, well, I've asked
for mercy and I didn't receive it. No, you weren't asking for
mercy then. You were trying to make a deal with God. You were
trying to bargain with God, but you weren't asking for mercy.
Because anyone who asks for mercy, he hears. And Jesus stood still,
saying. And Jesus stood and commanded
him to be brought unto him. Now this is the call of irresistible,
invincible grace. You cry for mercy, and Christ
is going to command for you by His Spirit to be brought to Himself. And this is Christ's command.
He doesn't say, I'm offering this to you, Bartimaeus. He commanded
him to be brought unto him like David commanded for Mephibosheth. He said, go fetch him and bring
him to me. I'm going to show mercy for his
dad, Jonathan's sake. Same command. He commanded him
to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee." Notice
the language. What wilt thou that I shall do? I love thinking of the Lord asking
me this question. He commanded him to be brought. Now Mark's account gives us another
detail about this. It says when he was commanded,
he rose up and cast away his garment to come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now throughout the scripture,
A garment is represented as a man's covering, as a man's righteousness. We have the parable of the wedding
garment. You had to have a wedding garment
or you're thrust out of heaven. We read in Revelation chapter
19 of the fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the
saints. We read in Isaiah 61 of the garment
of salvation. A garment represents our covering,
our righteousness. And this man, when Christ commanded
him to be called and to be brought to him, he rose up and he thrust
off that garment. that which represented His righteousness. Now Isaiah 64, verse 6 says,
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And what that actually,
what that word filthy is, is minstress. Our righteousnesses
are as minstrelss rags. Somebody says, you shouldn't
use language like that. I didn't, God did. That's God's testimony
of our righteousness. And if Christ ever calls you,
you're going to see your righteousness for what it is, and you're going
to cast it away, and you're going to come to him in nakedness,
in honesty, and in vulnerability. You're going to be vulnerable
before him. Now, here's what the Lord said to him. What wilt
thou, what do you want me to do unto you? What wilt thou that
I shall do? You see, saving faith understands
the only hope there is is found in what the Lord does. The Lord didn't say, what wilt
thou that I should enable you to do? He said, what wilt thou
that I should do for you? Not what do you want me to do with you? What do you want
me to enable you to start doing? But what will you, what do you
want for me to do? What a question. And he answered,
Lord, that I may receive my sight. Now, saving faith knows that
salvation is what the Lord does because saving faith knows he's
the Lord. This man knew he was the Lord.
And in saying he's Lord, that's not an empty title. He is the
Lord. That means he controls everything.
He's the Lord of creation. He created the universe. He's
the Lord of Providence. That means that everything that
happens in time, he's the first cause of and he's in control
of. He's the Lord. And he's most
especially Lord in salvation. That means salvation is in his
hands. That means you and I are in his
hands. That means my salvation is up
to him. It's not up to me. It's not up to you. It's up to
him because he's the Lord. And when he says, what wilt thou
that I should do unto thee? He said, Lord. that I might receive
my sight." He was blind, and what he needed was sight. Now, I think of the Lord asking
me that. How would I respond if the Lord
Jesus Christ said to me, what wilt thou that I should do unto Lord, I want my sins forgiven. More than that, I want them blotted
out. I want them canceled. I want
them erased. I want them to be where they
are no more. I want my sins forgiven. I want to be justified, justified
before you. And that's what Christ did on
Calvary Street. He justified his people. I want to be just. I want to be without sin, not
merely having sins forgiven. I want to be without sin. I want
to be absolutely just before you. You see, I need a new history.
I need a history of nothing but perfect righteousness. That's
what I want you to do for me. What do I want you to do for
me? I want you to give me a new heart. Mine's no good. I need
a new heart. I don't say I'll give my heart
to you because it's a wicked, evil thing. What I need is you
to give me a new heart. I need you to give me faith.
I can't believe unless you give me the faith. I need you to give
me repentance. I can't repent unless you give
me that. I need you to give me love, love
to you, love to your gospel. That won't be there unless you
give it to me. I need you to give me these things. I need
you to do this for me. I need you to be my Savior. I
need you to put away my sin. I need you to represent me before
God. I need you to preserve me all
the way to the end, because if you don't keep me, I'll fall
away. I need you to stand for me in judgment day, so that when
my name is called, you say, present and accounted for, he's one of
mine, I saved him. I need to be found in you. That's
what I need. Oh, how desperately I need that. I need what you do to me, not
what I do through your help. But I need what you do. What
shall I do unto thee, Lord, that I might receive thy sight? And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And what was his faith? Now, let me remind you, he had
this faith before he received his sight. Well, here's his faith,
quite simply. He believed that Jesus Christ
was the Son of David. He believed that Jesus was God's
Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king. Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, 1 John 5. He believed that Jesus Christ was the Lord. He called him such. He believed
everything was in his hands and he was in absolute control. And
he believed that Jesus Christ was the dispenser of mercy. Mercy
was in his sovereign hands. If he willed it, he could give
it. He believed that. And he knew that salvation could
only be what the Lord does. Now that, my friends, is saving
faith. Do you have saving faith? That
is saving faith. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received
his sight and followed him. In Mark's account, The Lord said,
Go thy way, and he followed Jesus in the way. You see, when God
saves a man, He gives him a new want to. He now wants to be a
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Scripture says, He followed
Him glorifying God. Saving faith always gives God
all the glory. And I have no doubt that when
it says He followed Him glorifying God, it was Jesus Christ He was
glorifying. He knew that Jesus Christ was
God. Now that my friends is saving
faith. To request a copy of the sermon
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