We're going to be observing the
Lord's table together tonight. I'd like to read. A couple of
verses from Luke's account of what took place. In Luke, chapter 18, beginning
in verse 35, we read that it came to pass that. As he was
come nigh unto Jericho. A certain blind man. set by the wayside, begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. The Lord Jesus Christ. Came. For this purpose. To die. He came. To die. And the time has come. Look back
in Mark chapter 10. Verse 32. And they were in the way going
up to Jerusalem. And Jesus went before them. And
they were amazed. They were amazed that he was
going to Jerusalem because they knew that nothing but trouble
was ahead, and he had many enemies in Jerusalem. And as they followed,
they were afraid. And he took again the twelve
and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered
unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, and they
shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him,
and shall kill him. And the third day he shall rise
again. I repeat, He came to die. He came to be crucified, and
His time has come. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world had to be slain in time. So He's on His way to
Jerusalem to be crucified. His disciples are scared to death,
and I can certainly understand that. But He is doing what Isaiah
said he would do, he set his face as a flint. He would not
be hindered in what he's going to do. He's come to die. The time has come. Now, on the
way to Jerusalem, he had to pass through Jericho. And on his way
out of Jericho, as he's walking toward Jerusalem, to be crucified. Something stops it. We read where Jesus stood still. Now, what was it that stopped
him? He is coming for this one purpose. He came to this earth
to be crucified. He knew what he would accomplish
by that. This was an obedience to his father's will. It was
his father's purpose. He came for this. He would not
be stopped. But at this time, something stopped
him. We read, Jesus stood still. Look in verse 49 of Mark chapter 10, and Jesus
stood still. Now what was it that caused him
to stop? He's on his way to do his mission,
but he stands still. What was it that stopped him? Look at the last phrase of verse
48. It's where Bartimaeus cries,
Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still. The first message I ever attempted
to preach was in November of 1978. That's all 32 and a half
years. I thought that's amazing. I can't
believe I've been trying to preach that long. And if you would ask
me, what is the passage of scripture that I preached on most often?
You know what it would be? Blind Bartimaeus. This is the 10th time. I preach
for that passage of scripture and before I prepared this message,
I said, I said to Lynn, I said, you think I'm wearing this out?
She said, maybe. But at the risk of wearing it
out. I want to preach from this passage
of scripture again, I feel impressed to. I've entitled this message. When Jesus stood still. I want to see what it was that
caused him to stop. And it's my prayer that he'll
pass by here this morning, just like he passed through Jericho
when they said to Bartimaeus, he said, what's the commotion
about what's going on? Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Wouldn't it be something if he
would pass by in our midst even now? And even more than that,
that he would stand still and hear this cry for mercy. And if nobody else prays this
prayer of Bartimaeus, I hope I do. Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. 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. And let me say, this is one of
my heroes. When I enter glory by his grace, one of the first
people I want to meet is this man. Blind Bartimaeus. The word Timaeus means pollution. What a name. Bartimaeus, the
son of pollution. This man was blind. Now that
would be a terrible affliction in the life of luxury, wouldn't
it? To be blind? to be unable to see, but not
only was this man blind, he was a beggar. He was absolutely poverty
stricken. He was unable to provide for
himself. He was blind, he couldn't see,
and he was completely dependent upon charity as a beggar, and
he pictures you and I. Blind. spiritually blind. By nature, we cannot see the
things of God. We can't understand the Gospel.
It's beyond us. We're unable. We're blind. Not only are we blind, we're
poor. We have no ability at all to
provide for ourselves. We have no ability at all to
save ourselves. Blind and Poor. Completely dependent upon the
charity of God. Would that describe you? And that's a bad place to be.
If you don't realize you're that way. But do you know the Lord
said in John chapter 9, for judgment I'm coming to this world that
they which see not might see. And they which see might be made
blind. Now what in the world does the
Lord mean by that? He says I've come for judgment
so that the folks that are blind They're going to be unable to
see. And the folks who say, we see, I'm going to strike them
blind as an act of my judgment. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Those who can see why God would
save them. Now, listen real carefully. Those
who can see why God would save them. Well, he saved me because
I believe. He saved me because I repent.
He saved me because I've turned my life around. He saved me because
I'm doing my best. He saved me because I'm seeking
to serve him. He saved me because I believe
the right way. My friend. You've been made blind. You are far from the kingdom
of heaven. You don't even have a clue. You're utterly blind. If I is in your testimony, you've
missed Christ altogether. I'm telling you the truth. But to the one who cannot see
why God would ever look in favor on them. The one who cannot see why a
holy God would ever have anything to do with you. The one who cannot
see why he would extend his saving grace to one as sinful and unworthy
as you, you really believe that if he saved everybody but you, you really believe that if he
had mercy on everybody but you, he'd still be just. He'd still be right. You couldn't charge him with
being unfair. How do you respond to that? What if God saved everybody in
this room but you? And let you drop into hell? Would
God be just? Now, if that's you, You can't
see a reason in yourself as to why God would ever look in favor
on you. If that's you, bless God, He's
going to give you sight. You're going to see. You see,
He came to blind those who say, I see. And He came to give sight
to those who say, I can't see. And there the blind beggar sits
on the side of the road, the son of pollution, begging. Verse 47, Luke's account tells
us that he heard a commotion and someone told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. And he began to cry out and say,
Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Now, the first thing that strikes
me about this is blind Bartimaeus knew something that the crowd
didn't. Notice what the crowd called it. They said, Jesus of
Nazareth passes by. But Bartimaeus knew something
they didn't know. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was
the son of David. He knew that Jesus was the Christ. He knew that Jesus was the Messiah. As a matter of fact, if you look
at the end of this passage of Scripture, The Lord said, Thy
faith hath made thee whole. And then it says he received
his sight. He had faith before the reception
of his sight. Jesus, thou son of David. Now, Barnabas didn't know whether
or not he was a believer. He couldn't have said, yes, I'm
a Christian. He couldn't have said, yes, I know I'm saved.
Yes, I know I'm born again. But I tell you this, he knew
that Jesus was the son of David. He knew he was the Christ. He
knew he was God's Messiah. He knew something that the crowd
did not know. Now, we have to speculate as
to how he knew this, but we really don't have to speculate because
the Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word
of God. He heard the Word of God. I don't
know when. I don't know how. Now you think
about this fellow. Blind Bartimaeus, he sits there
every day, begging at the side of the road, hoping somebody
will give him some money. Sits there every day, blind as
a bat, poor as a church mouse, had nothing. But you can bet,
as he sat there, he heard all the gossip, and he heard all
the commotion about Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody talked about
him, all the miracles he performed, all the making bread that wasn't
there, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and so on. He heard
all the miracles, about all the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth.
He heard the gossip. That's about all it could be.
He heard the gossip. Now, I also have no doubt that Bartimaeus
heard the Scriptures read at some point. Maybe somebody led
him by the hand into the temple every Sabbath day to hear the
Scriptures read. And I have no doubt that he heard
Isaiah chapter 35. And Isaiah chapter eight, there's
three different passages of scripture in Isaiah where it talks about
the son of David, the Messiah, says he'll give sight to the
blind. And don't you reckon that meant something to Bartimaeus
when he heard that? You know, to other folks, they
said, well, that'd be good if I'm ever blind. But Bartimaeus,
oh, it meant something special to him because he was blind.
And he said, I know this about the Messiah. He'll give sight
to the blind. That's what he held on to. Now
one day, he heard that Jesus of Nazareth had given sight to
one who was born blind. And he knew at that time, only
the Son of David could do this. And in his heart, he believed
that Jesus Christ was the Son of David. He believed he was
the Messiah. Now, he hadn't come into physical
contact with him yet. Of course, he hadn't seen him.
He was blind. But he just heard. He heard that Jesus of Nazareth
had given sight to one who was born blind. And he said in his
heart, if he ever passes this way, oh, I'm going to cry, Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Others may have scoffed
at Jesus of Nazareth, but he didn't. In his heart, he believed
him to be the Messiah, the Son of David, the Christ of God. Isn't that what faith is? And he said in his heart, if
he ever passes by here, oh, how I'm going to cry unto him. He heard a commotion. And Luke
tells us, he asked what this meant. And the crowd said unto
him, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. The crisis of the soul. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. He's passing by right now. And what did Bartimaeus do when
he heard that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by? He began to cry out,
Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Now, there's no way I can even
take his cry. And I love the greatness of his faith at this
time. Now, me and you, here's what we do. We'd have to wait
for the Lord to have to call our name. He'd have to say, Todd,
come to me. And Bartimaeus, all he had to
hear was that Jesus of Nazareth passes by. That's all he had
to hear. And he began this cry, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now, when you ask for
mercy, There are two things that you're sure of. Have you ever
asked for mercy? You know, I have talked to people
before that said, well, I've asked for mercy. He hasn't saved
me. Don't believe it for a second. Anybody who's ever asked for
mercy, he's saved. No exceptions to this rule. Now, if you ask for mercy, he'll
save you. Now the question is, what is
meant, what is involved in this thing of asking for mercy? Have
you ever asked for mercy? Now there are two things that
you know when you ask for mercy. Number one, you're sure of this,
you have no merit. And your sin is all your fault. You're not a victim. You can't
blame God's sovereignty that he allowed you to be this way.
Your sin is all your fault. Is that where you're at? Your
personal sin is all your fault. Now, if you're not totally responsible
for your sin, you know what you don't need? Mercy. You need somebody to pay you
what you got coming. But if your sin is all your fault, you know
what you need? You need mercy. The mercy of God. Now, here's the second thing
you understand that you know when you're asking for mercy.
First, you understand that you don't have any merit and all
your sins, all your fault. But secondly, you understand
that mercy is his to give or to withhold. You understand that. You're not going to come and
say, I demand that you give me mercy. It's not fair for you
to not give me mercy. You know, whatever he does is
right. If he gives you mercy, he can. If he withholds it, he
can. He's the Lord. Whatever he does
is right. And you're in his hands for him
to do with you whatever he is pleased to do. It's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. Now, if you object to this, You've
never come on the ground of mercy. You don't even know what mercy
means. You've been coming on work somehow. You don't believe grace.
You don't believe mercy. If you object to this, if you
say that's not right, I mean, you've never come. If you come
to him for mercy, you'll know, you'll understand that it is
to give or his to withhold. And that's exactly what the leper
understood. He said, Lord, if you will, He didn't say, Lord,
I will that you make me clean. He didn't say, I gladly accept
you as my personal Savior. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. Now, he wasn't sure if he was
willing. He knew he was able. You see, he didn't know the Lord
as he should because the Lord delights in mercy. But he said,
if you will, if you will, you can make me clean. Now, look in verse 48. 47, 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 evidently, the Lord did not
answer him at first. Evidently, the Lord did not yet
stand still because the crowd grew weary of him crying for
mercy. He said, Barnabas, be quiet. To be crude, Barnabas, shut up.
That's what they were saying. But say that, this is ridiculous.
You don't need to be doing it. Leave us alone. The crowd told
him to be quiet, and the crowd will tell you to be quiet. It's too late for you. The day
of grace has already passed for you. You're far too sinful to
be saved. You've continued in the same
sin way too long, and it's too late for you. It's over for you. You sinned against the Holy Spirit.
You're not one of the elect. You're far too big a hypocrite
to be saved. I mean, it's presumptuous for
you to think he'd have mercy on you. You're far too sinful. Give it up, Bartimaeus. But what
did he do? Verse 48, many charged him that
he should hold his peace. But he cried the more. A great deal. Now, son of David,
have mercy on me. I know this. If the only hope
you have is the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, you will never
be shut up. Nothing will shut you up. Now,
if you've got other options, you probably will take those
options. But if this is all you've got, you will not be denied. I think of that scripture, the
kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Here's what it is. I have to
have mercy. I don't know what else I need,
but I know this. I must have the mercy of God, and I will
not shut up. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And verse 49 says, And Jesus
stood still, even when he was on his way to the cross. When he set his face as a flint,
this stopped him. And my dear friend, if you cry
for anything other than mercy, he's going to ignore you. He's not going to hear anything
you've got to say. What you have to say is worthless and a lie. But if you cry for mercy, he's
going to stand still. And He's going to hear you, and
He's going to hear your plea. If you cry for mercy the way
Bartimaeus did, He will stand still for you. And Jesus stood still, verse
49, and commanded him to be called. I love the way the Lord never
speaks in any way other than a command. He didn't invite him. He didn't request him. He commanded
him to be called. Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called, verse 49, and they called the blind man, saying
unto him, Be of good comfort, rise. He called that, thee. And he, casting away his garment, his
covering, his security, that which kept him warm, that which
covered his shame, he, casting away his garment, he rose and
came to Jesus. Now, all who come to Christ cast
away their garment. Their garment of self-righteousness.
You see, when you come to Him, you come to Him naked. You come
to Him exposed. You come to Him in all of your
shame. You come to Him in honesty. needing a covering of his providing. For our first parents in the
garden to be clothed with the coat of skins, what had to be
removed? The fig leaf apron of their own
making, of their own righteousness, of their own covering. He rose
and he cast away his garment. In that strong language, He cast
it away as disgusting and revolting. Have you ever seen your garment
as filthy rags? It's what Isaiah 40, 64, 6 says
about our righteousness. Our righteousness is as filthy
rags. He cast that garment away. Didn't want to have anything
to do with it. And he rose and came to Jesus. And I know this,
you will not come to him in your own righteousness. As long as
you have any righteousness, you're not going to come to him. It's
only when you cast that away, when you get rid of it and come
to him in honesty and nakedness and in all your sin and need
of him coming to have him clothe you. That's the only way you
come. He rose, he cast away his garment and he came to Jesus. Now look at verse 51. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou? What is it you wish? What is
it you desire? What is it you want that I should do? Do you hear that? Salvation is not what you do. It's not what you do for God.
It's what He does for you. What wilt thou that I should
do? And notice what else he says.
What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Not just for thee. I need something done for me.
But I need more than something done for me. I need something
done to me. What will thou that I should
do unto thee? Now, I need, like I said, I need
something done for me. I need something done about my
sin. I need my sin forgiven. I need my sin to be put away. I need to have a perfect righteousness
before God. I need something to be done for
me. That's justification. I need God to justify me. I can't
justify myself. I need God to do that for me.
But not only do I need to have Him do something for me, I need
to have Him do something in me. I need a new heart. I need faith. I need repentance. I need a new nature. I need Him
to do something in me. I need Him to do something for
me, and I need Him to do something in me. Salvation is utterly what
He does. He doesn't say, Barnabas, what
do you want me to enable you to do? He says, what wilt thou
that I should do unto thee? That's what I need. I need him
to do something to me. What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? And I love the simplicity of
Bartimaeus' answer. The blind man said unto him,
Lord? See, he knew who he was, didn't he? He's the Lord. He's the dictator. He's the one
who's in control. Bartimaeus, I'll tell you this,
Bartimaeus knew who he was. He's the son of David. He's the
Lord. Lord, here's what I want you
to do to me, that I might receive my sight. I want what I need. How about
you? I want what I need. I need sight. Lord, that I might receive my
sight. Now, verse 52, this is very important.
And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Did you hear what he said? Bartimaeus had not yet received
his sight. It says after the Lord said this, immediately he
received his sight, but he hadn't received it yet. Yet the Lord
says to Bartimaeus, go your way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now, I'm sure some people that
are more sound than the Lord, you know, I'm saying this facetiously,
would say, well, he shouldn't say it that way because it's
not our faith that makes us whole. But the Lord said to him, And
so this is a good way to say it, if the Lord said it this
way. He said, go your way, thy faith, thy faith, the faith that
you possess has made you whole. Now, why does the Lord say that?
You have to look at a lot of things about Bartimaeus that
I admire greatly. Bartimaeus had such importunity. He wouldn't be denied. He wouldn't
give up. He had such reverence for the
Lord. He knew he was the Lord, the son of David. He showed so
many good things. He showed earnestness. He had
knowledge. He had humility. He had repentance. But the Lord doesn't say your
knowledge or your humility or your repentance or your efforts
or your cries have made you whole. He said your faith. Your faith hath made thee whole.
What was his faith? He believed that Jesus of Nazareth
was the Son of David. He believed that Jesus of Nazareth
was the Lord. He believed that Jesus of Nazareth
was the Christ. Anything else? Nope. What else is needed? That's faith. Now, why does the Lord put such
honor on faith when he says, Thy faith hath saved thee. I can answer that question. Romans
4, 16 says, Therefore, it is of faith that it might be by
grace. That's why. Faith refuses to take any of
the credit to itself. Faith knows it's all of grace. Therefore, it is a faith that
it might be by grace, sheer, free, sovereign grace, to the end that the promise might
be sure to all the seed. That's why it's a faith, that
it might be by pure, free, unadulterated, unmixed, sovereign grace. That's good news, isn't it? Go thy way, thy faith hath made
thee whole, and immediately, don't miss that word, immediately. Immediate salvation. Immediate
justification. Don't wait or think you have
to wait to get better or to know. Know immediately. Anybody who
believes that Jesus is the Christ. That's the only requirement. Faith in Christ. Believing who
He is. That's what faith is. It's believing
who He is. Now listen to me. Faith is not
believing I'm saved, but faith is believing He's the Savior.
That's faith. Do you believe He's the Savior?
Do you believe he's the son of David? Do you believe mercy is
in his hands? And if he's pleased, he can save
you? Do you believe that? That's faith. Go thy way, thy
faith that made thee whole. And he had this faith before
he was given sight. And then it says immediately,
he received his sight. No probationary period. I remember
one time a preacher was talking about how, you know, people,
when they wanted to be baptized, they had to go through a probationary
period. Let's watch and wait and see whether you work out.
Let's see what kind of life you have. And then maybe you're a
candidate for baptism. Now, somebody that believes that
way is a stranger to the gospel. Stranger. No, immediately. He received His sight. And you
know what He did? Remember when the Lord said,
go thy way? Do what you want to do. Go your way. What did
He do? He followed Jesus in the way. That was His way. I know you got to say this in
a qualified way, but I still think it's one of the greatest
statements I've ever heard. Bill Clark made this statement
many years ago. Trust Jesus and do what you want
to do. What do you want to do? I want
to follow Jesus in the way. That's what I want to do. Now,
if somebody would take something like that and look at it as a
reason for wrong behavior, you'd miss the gospel altogether. Your
want to has changed. He trusted the Lord, and he followed
Him in the way. Let's pray together.