Matthew chapter 20. And I'm taking
the title for the message from what is said in verse 32 of Matthew
20. And Jesus stood still. The Lord Jesus Christ stood still
and called them and said, What will you that I should do unto
you? And they said unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened,
and he had compassion. Compassion is his love. He loved
his people with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness,
thus he draw sinners to himself. Now we read in Matthew chapter
20 here the story of two blind men who cried out for mercy to
the Lord, the Lord of all mercies and the God of all grace, And
the Lord stood still. Now you think about that. A cry
of mercy stopped the Lord of Glory. Now remember what He was
doing? He told His disciples, we must
go up to Jerusalem. I must suffer. I must be crucified. I must be raised again. And on
His way to accomplish our salvation, He stops to show mercy to these
two sinners. We know that one of these two
men here, From reading Mark chapter 10, one of these two men was
named Bartimaeus. Blind Bartimaeus. We've all heard
his name many times, haven't we? But the Lord Jesus Christ
stopped to show mercy. He's no different today. He always
hears the cry of mercy. You remember some years ago we
studied through the book of Joshua. And in Joshua chapter 10, the
Lord gave Israel a great victory over the five kings of the Amorites.
And Joshua, at his word and command, the sun and moon stood still,
and God brought it to pass." The sun stood still. God gave
them a great victory. It says in Joshua 10, and there
was no day like that before or after the Lord hearkened unto
the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. The sun stood
still. It's one thing to cause the sun
in the sky to stand still, and that's a notable great miracle. But here before us, these blind
beggars caused the Son of God, who created the S-U-N, to stand
still and to show mercy to sinners. That ought to encourage us greatly,
should it not? The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Son of Righteousness. with healing in His wings. He is the Son of Righteousness. He is the One who has salvation. Now, it's interesting that the
Lord healed three blind men here in Jericho. One blind man was
healed as the Lord came into the city of Jericho. And then
we read about these two blind men here that the Lord had mercy
on as He was going out of the city. And here we know that one
of these two men, as it says in verse 30, Behold, two blind
men sitting by the wayside. As they departed from Jericho,
a great multitude followed them. And behold, two blind men sitting
by the wayside, and they were sitting by the wayside begging.
When they heard that Jesus passed by, they cried out, saying, Lord,
Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David, thou Son of David. Now, we know that one of these
blind men is Bartimaeus. The Lord always crosses the path
of his chosen, his elect sinners in the time appointed, in the
time of love, in the time of his eternal decree, and nothing,
absolutely nothing is left to chance, luck, or faith. It wasn't
just these men, two men, three men all together. It just wasn't
their lucky day. The Lord passed by on purpose. God saves sinners by His eternal
purpose, which He purposed in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
from reading John chapter 4, there is a woman at the well
of Samaria. The Jews didn't have anything
to do with the Samaritans. They tried to avoid that place.
But it says the Lord must need to go through Samaria. Why must
he go there? To meet this woman. To save this
woman. To give her salvation. Salvation
by Christ alone. Now what can we personally learn
from this amazing story of these three blind men being healed,
they're psyched, being restored. As these blind men were naturally,
we are spiritually before God. We don't have any spiritual eyes. That is by birth, by nature.
We don't have any spiritual eyes to see our need of Christ, to
see His glory, to see His glory for us. His glory in showing
mercy unto us. Now remember from our lesson
last week, where the Lord said, look over in Matthew 20 verse
17 and following, Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve
disciples apart in the way and said unto them, behold we go
up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be betrayed and the
chief priests and the scribes and they shall condemn him to
death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge
and to crucify him and the third day resurrection. His most important
reason for coming to this world, to magnify God, to honor the
law of God, to enable God to be just and the justifier, to
go to Calvary's tree and to die for our sin according to the
scripture, his most important mission work that he came to
do, to go to Jerusalem and to die. And yet, when he hears the
cry of these two beggars, blind, he stops in his tracks. Amazing,
isn't it? Something else is interesting.
If you look over in Luke chapter 19, you remember
the story of Zacchaeus? He lived in this same city of
Jericho. The Lord told Zacchaeus, come
down from that tree, make haste. Today salvation has come to your
house. So he saved not only these three blind men, but that one
notable publican, didn't he? Absolutely nothing could stop
the Lord from going to die for the sins of his people. Not his
disciples, you remember they tried that. Not the plans of
Satan, he tried that. Not the Pharisees who went out
and held counsel how they might destroy him before he got to
Calvary Tree. But here a cry of mercy beggars
stopped the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful, amazing picture
we have before us. As the Lord of Glory marches
to Calvary's tree to accomplish our salvation, he stops to show
mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ heard their
cries and it says there, In verse 34, Jesus had compassion on them. Now that's an interesting word.
We've seen this before. Turn back to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9. He had compassion on them. How
many times have we seen multitudes come around the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He had compassion on them, and He healed those who had need
of healing. In Matthew chapter 9, Verse 35,
Jesus went about all the cities, the villages, teaching in their
synagogue, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every
sickness of every disease. And when He saw the multitude,
He was moved with compassion on them. He was moved with compassion. That's His love. Because they
fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep, having no shepherd. Here's another place we've seen
this. Turn to Matthew 14. Matthew 14, verse 14. We go up and read beginning at
Matthew 14, 13. When Jesus heard of it, He departed
thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people
had heard thereof, they followed Him on foot out of the city. And Jesus went forth and saw
a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them,
and He healed their sick. He's no different today. He's
the same compassionate, long-suffering Savior unto His people. These men, like the poor leper,
cried out to the Lord. You remember in Matthew chapter
8, Lord if you will, you can make me clean? The Lord said,
I will. Be thou clean. Remember the publican
recorded in Luke 18? Lord, be merciful to me, thee
sinner." And the Lord said, that man went down to his house justified. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
same today, yesterday, and forever. The same Lord who showed mercy
to blind Bartimaeus, to Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, and countless
others, these two other blind men. That day is the same Lord
that hears our cries today. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. The Lord said, if you're in need,
call upon me. Call upon Him. He is the same
sovereign, omnipotent Lord that is able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever lives to
make intercession for us. What a privilege we have. The
call upon the name of the Lord, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm going to call. I'm going
to take my place before the sovereign throne of God as a mercy beggar
and ask the Lord to save me, have pity upon me for Christ's
sake. Now, about five things I want
to mention in the message here that I think we can learn from
this story. First of all, we clearly see
in this story the sovereignty of God in saving sinners. The sovereignty of God in saving
sinners. Our great God and Savior will
have mercy on whom He will have mercy. He will have mercy upon
whom He will have mercy." There was a great number of people,
a great crowd that followed the Lord, but the Lord was seeking
out two of His sheep for whom He was going to be a ransom for
them and make atonement for their sin. You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ, you go through the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ is always
looking for His sheep. He finds Zacchaeus. up a tree. He finds these two men just sitting
by the wayside, the highway side, begging for mercy. The Lord's
always looking for His sheep. He's on the trail of His sheep,
His elect. Even in this day, He will cross
their path with the gospel and save them by His grace. The Lord came to save sinners. He didn't come and call the righteous
sinners unto repentance. The Lord came to seek and to
save that which was lost. These sinners were given to the
Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant of grace, unconditionally
chosen by His grace, and blessed for Christ's name's sake. We
call that sovereign grace. We call that sovereign mercy.
We call that the Bible doctrine of election. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed that God from
all eternity chose a people unto salvation and predestinated them
to be conformed to the image of Christ. That's what we call
the Bible doctrine of election. God who has loved us with an
everlasting love and chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. We call that salvation by the
sovereign grace of God. All that the Father giveth me,
the Lord said, they'll come to me. All that are given to Him
in that covenant of grace, they will come to Him. And those that
come to Him, He said, I'll never throw them out. I'll never cast
them out. So that's the first thing we
see, the sovereignty of God in salvation. He'll have mercy on
whom He will have mercy. And whom He will, He'll harden.
Here's the second thing we see. These two blind men, these two
blind men, Bartimaeus were in a sad, desperate
condition. They were blind and they were
broke. If you look back over at Mark
chapter 10, it says there in verse 46, And they came to Jericho,
and as they went out of Jericho with his disciples, a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side, begging. He was a beggar. He was not only
blind, but he was a beggar. Blind and broke. In the case
of Bartimaeus here, it says that he's the son. Bar means son of
Timaeus. The son of Timaeus. Some think
that Bartimaeus was born blind because his father was born blind. Bartimaeus received his blindness
from his father. He was a blind son, born of a
blind father. Isn't that our story? Isn't that
our story? In our father Adam, we've all
sinned and come short of the glory of God. In Adam, all have
lost their spiritual sight, their spiritual life. All are born
blind, having no eyes to see Christ's glory. No eyes to see
his beauty or to see the need of him. By nature, we love darkness
rather than the light. There's a second thing. Bartimaeus
was born in poverty. He was a bankrupt, desperate
beggar. He was reduced to publicly begging
on the street. That's about as low as you can
go. This too is exactly our condition
in our fall and ruin in Adam, and Adam all died. In Adam we've
been reduced to spiritual poverty, totally bankrupt, having no righteousness,
having no life, void and empty of all and any spiritual goodness,
no righteousness at all, none righteous, no, not one. We are spiritually bankrupt,
poor beggars. We cannot do anything to enrich
ourselves or enliven ourselves. Man in his best state is vanity.
And here's the third thing. They could not see, they were
blind. But you know what they could do? They could hear. They
could hear. It says that in the text. If
you look at verse 47 of Mark chapter 10, They could not see
Him coming. Ezekiel climbed up the tree to
see the Lord Jesus crying. These men could not see, but
you know what? They could hear. They could hear. When he heard that it was Jesus
of Nazareth, he began to cry out, saying, Jesus, thou Son
of David, have mercy on me. And like what it says over here
in Matthew 20, where they said, crying out, have mercy on us,
O Lord, thou son of David. Now, significant things here.
By the good and sovereign providence of the Lord, somehow, someway,
They heard about the Lord Jesus Christ showing mercy to others. They heard about Him. It says
in Matthew chapter 9, which we read just a moment ago, when
He healed another blind man there, that His fame spread abroad in
all the country. Everyone had heard about this
prophet from Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth. And they heard about
the many miracles that the Lord had performed. They heard about
the Lord healing lepers and causing the crippled to walk, even raising
the dead. And all this was done that the
Scripture might be fulfilled. Remember from Isaiah 61, and
the Lord quotes that in Luke chapter 4. The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted. He has sent me to preach deliverance
to the captive. He has sent me, recovering of
sight to the blind. That's me. to set at liberty those who were
bruised, bruised by the fall, bruised by sin. Without question,
they heard the Lord Jesus Christ, because look what they said here.
They said, Jesus, call His name Jesus, He shall save His people
from their sin. And they called Him Lord, and
they called Him the Son of David. Now why didn't they use some
other name than the son of David. Well, Jerusalem and these Jews,
they knew from reading the scripture that God had promised the Messiah
through David's family. Through David's family, through
the tribe of Judah, Jesse, David, Solomon, all the way down to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And his humanity came through
the house of David, didn't it? They knew that David The Son
of David would be the Messiah. If you'll turn back to the book
of Matthew chapter 22, let me see if I can make good on what
I'm trying to say here. Look at Matthew 22. Thou Son
of David. They're calling Him the Messiah.
They're calling Him the Christ. Matthew 22 verse 41, while the
Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them saying, what
think you of the Christ? You see that verse 42. Whose
son is he? And they said unto him, well,
he's the son of David. He's the son of David. He saith
unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sitteth thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then called him Lord,
how is he his son? How can He be His Lord and His
Son? But if He's God, manifest in the flesh. And no man was
able to answer Him a word, neither does any man from that day forth
ask Him any more question. They called upon Him as the Christ
of God, the anointed of God, the anointed prophet, priest,
and king. That One that can show mercy, they called upon One who
is the Christ of God. So they heard of Him, they heard
that His name was Jesus of Nazareth. They heard that He was the Son
of David. They heard that He was the Lord
of heaven and earth, the Lord of salvation. They heard the
truth and were given faith to call upon the Lord. Now what
can we learn? We see the necessity of hearing
the word of the Lord, of hearing the gospel of Christ. Faith is
not granted nor given apart from hearing the word of truth. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing what? The truth of God, the truth
about Christ, who he is, what he's done. It's the truth that
sets us free. No lie can ever be the truth,
and the truth can never be a lie. It's impossible for God to lie.
Let God be true in every man, a liar. We need to hear the truth.
What is it that sets sinners free? The truth of who He is,
who we are, and who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Secondly, God
has ordained the preaching of the gospel to the calling out
and conversion and regeneration of His people. It pleased God
through preaching. They heard of Him and they cried
out. Have you heard of Him? Have you
heard about Him? He's altogether lovely. It pleased
God through the preaching of the gospel to call out His people.
Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth. The gospel
comes when it comes not only in word but in power. It comes
in power to God's people. So they heard and we have heard
the gospel. Lord is pleased to bless His
Word to our understanding and grant us faith. We cannot but
cry unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, that man is born of God. And what does he do?
He cries out for mercy. Lord, like the publican, Lord,
have mercy on me, the sinner. And notice what happens here.
Look at Mark chapter 10. So they cry out for mercy. They
heard about the Lord Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David, and
they cried out, have mercy. And look what happened, verse
48, Mark chapter 10. The crowd that was around that
day got displeased. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. But he cried to more, O blind
Bartimaeus. They told him to shut up. He
wouldn't shut up. He cried the more, a great deal.
Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord stood still. A miracle, is it not? The crowd
tried to shut him up. And these men just kept right
on begging. They were determined in their
heart to seek mercy where mercy is found, where mercy is dispensed.
Where is it found? In Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see their desperate need,
don't you? And their desperate determination and persistence
to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We study in Matthew chapter 11,
where it says, from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take
it by force. No one could shut them up. They
kept calling upon the Lord for mercy. And I'll tell you what
we can learn from this. Those who are convicted by God
the Holy Spirit in their heart, and made to know that they are
sinners, they will never stop crying, looking, and coming to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Never. Always. I would encourage
all of us to call upon the Lord for mercy. He's able to meet
all our need according to His riches in glory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's able to meet all our need.
We had that on the radio this morning. Are you thirsty for
the water of life? What does the Lord say? Come
unto me and drink. Oh, everyone that's thirsty,
come eat of the waters. He that hath no money, come ye. Buy, eat, yea, come buy wine,
milk without money and without price. Without your works, without
your morality, you thirsty? The Lord said, come. He told
the woman at the well in Samaria, whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I
shall give him will be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life. Are you hungry for the bread
of life? The Lord said, come and eat. Come and eat. Come and
dine. I'm the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger, shall never thirst. Are you a
weary, heavy laden sinner with guilt and grief over your sin
against God? What are we to do? The Lord said,
come unto Me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. How did we
come to Christ? It's not anything physical. It's
by faith. He that believeth on me and cometh
to me hath everlasting life. Here's the fourth lesson. Misery
is the object of mercy. The cry of mercy stopped the
Savior in his tracks. Our great Savior hears the cry
of his people. David said, I waited patiently
for the Lord, and He heard my cry. He brought me up out of
a horrible pit, out of my reclay. He set my feet upon the rock,
established my going, put a new song in my mouth, even praising
to our God. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and I called upon Him, and He heard my cry. Now I like this,
in Mark chapter 10 verse 49. Mark 10, 49. And Jesus stood
still and commanded him to be called. This wasn't an invitation. He 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 the Lord Jesus Christ. The cry of mercy stopped the
Savior in his tracks. The Lord commanded him to be
called, and he came. You remember in Matthew chapter
9, when the Lord called Matthew, Matthew, follow me. What did
Matthew do? He followed the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord stood before the
tomb of that man named Lazarus who had been dead four days and
commanded him to come out, Lazarus come forth, he that was dead
came forth. What a great blessing to be called
with that powerful, irresistible call of the Lord. The Lord commanded
them to come. The call of the Lord with the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ never goes unheeded, but is always
answered in a suitable manner. When God calls his people out
of darkness and death into life and light, his people willingly
respond. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. Peter writes about it this way.
He said, you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. You're
a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the
praises of Him who called you out of blindness, darkness, into
His marvelous light. Weren't you glad the Lord commanded
us to come to Him? He commanded us to live in a
day of His power. The call of the gospel and the
power of God the Holy Spirit is an effectual call. It's a
personal call. He knows His sheep by name. It's
a powerful call. And it's a call of comfort. Conviction
and comfort. Notice what it says there in
verse 49 of Mark 10. Be of good comfort, arise, He
calleth thee. Or be of good cheer, the Master
is calling you to Him. Now here's the last thing. What's
going to happen? Mark 10, verse 50. And he, that
is blind Bartimaeus, and I think this is true of both these blind
men, or all three of these blind men, and he casting away his
garments, rose and came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what
this man did when the Savior called him at the command. He
cast every hindrance away and He came directly to the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the glorious sight. This
is exactly what the Lord causes a sinner to do when he's powerfully
called by the gospel. They come to Christ. They come
to Christ. He raises us up from the dead
to see our need of the Lord Jesus Christ. He causes us to throw
away our filthy garments of self-righteousness and religious pride and count
it all done and ruined and lost that we might win Christ and
be found in Him. He causes us to flee unto Him,
to come unto Him, to look unto Him for all of salvation. Remember our Lord said, no man
can come to me except my Father which sent me draw him. Now look
what happened when he came. When these blind men came to
the Lord, the Lord asked a simple question. What will you, what
will you that I should do unto you? Verse 51 of Mark 10. What
wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man said
unto him, Lord, I need to see. I'm blind that I might receive
my sight. What's your need? I'll tell you
what his need was, Christ. What's our need? Our one need
and our only need, one thing needful, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we are complete in Him. Lord, that
I might receive my sight. Look at verse 52, Mark 10. The Lord said, What will you
that I should do unto thee? The blind man said, Lord, that
I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy
way. Thy faith made thee whole. And
immediately, immediately, he or they received their sight,
and they followed They followed the Lord Jesus Christ. All those who call upon the Lord
and ask for mercy shall receive mercy, because He delights to
show it. He delights to show it. Blind
Bartimaeus and these other two blind men, after they received
their sight, after they were made whole, and I believe they
were given spiritual life in Christ, what did they do? They followed the Lord Jesus
Christ. They followed the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now don't turn to this, but let
me read it to you. Where it tells of the Lord healing
another blind man as he came into Jericho. Immediately he
received his sight and followed Him, glorifying God. And all
the people, when they saw it, they gave praise unto God. Who do we thank for the salvation
of our soul? Thank You, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank You, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank You, Lord, for giving to
me Thy salvation so full, rich, and free. They followed the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the way. He became their way, their Lord,
and their life. Now, suppose a week or two or
a month later, when these blind men had met someone else who
knew their story of how they were blind and could not see.
And now they've got perfect 20-20 vision. They're seeing everything
so well. Their spiritual eyes have been
opened as well. And someone in their family would
say, well, Bartimaeus, how were you made to see? He said, well,
you know, I became a good person. I joined the church and I did
all these different things. He wouldn't say that, would he?
What would he say? I was blind and he gave me sight. I was lost and now I'm found. You remember the words of John
Newton? We're going to sing this in our closing hymn. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once
was lost, but now I'm found, was blind. Oh, I see now. I see Him. I see Him who was
altogether lovely. I see Him as all my righteousness. I see Him as all of my salvation. I pray the Lord will do that
for us over and over and over and over again.