Let us turn once again in our
Bibles to Mark chapter 10. We're looking today at the last
verses in this chapter, Mark chapter 10, verses 46 through
52. 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
highwayside begging. 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 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 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. This passage we're looking at
today speaks of the Lord Jesus along with his disciples visiting
Jericho. They were on their way to Jerusalem
where the Passover feast would be observed. And along with the
Lord and his 12 disciples, there were many others who traveled. This was very common because
there were three feasts, the law of God commanded that every
male Israelite had to observe, had to attend in Jerusalem every
year. And so those who lived in the
outlying villages and places, they would start out first, and
as they traveled toward Jerusalem, more people would be gathered
in a caravan-like, and they would make their way up to Jerusalem. This was one of the yearly feasts,
as I said, the three yearly feasts. This was the Passover feast.
It was a memorial feast and it was to keep in memory how that
God had delivered the nation of Israel out of Egyptian bondage,
how the Passover lamb, the blood of the lamb had secured their
deliverance. That was for those saints of
old, the nation of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ has given
us a memorial feast as well. It is called the Lord's Supper.
And that's what we do when we observe the Lord's table. We
remember especially the deliverance that he has obtained for his
people by his precious blood being shed. He dying in our stead,
the bread reminding us of his flesh that was broken and the
wine reminding us of his precious blood that was poured out on
Calvary. that blood that washes white
as snow. What a blessing, what a privilege
for God's children to gather together and observe the Lord's
Table, the Lord's Supper. I want us to look back and point
out two things before we come to our text today. I want us
to look at two things that we've been told. We've looked at these
verses in the last several weeks, but I didn't emphasize these
points like I want to this morning. I want you to look at two things
that we're told about the disciples of the Lord. The first one in
verse 26. In verse 26, we read that they
were astonished out of measure. astonished out of measure. Simply means, of course, they
were greatly astonished. The Lord Jesus Christ had said
something that astonished them. The reason they were astonished
at the saying of the Lord Jesus Christ is they were expecting
a temporal worldly kingdom in which the Messiah would reign
here upon the earth. And in that kingdom, it would
be known by many things, but certainly by the wealth that
was associated with it. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
had told this rich young ruler that they that trust in riches
are not going to enter. How hardly can they enter into
the kingdom of God? The Lord Jesus told his disciples
and tells us this about that kingdom. He said, the kingdom
of God comes not with observation. You see, that's the kind of kingdom
they were expecting. That's what they had been taught
to expect. I tell you folks, it's hard to
unlearn things. I know some pastors and preachers
who were raised in churches where the gospel, the truth of God's
sovereign grace was always preached. That's all they ever heard. And
what an advantage those men have over some of us who were raised
up in churches that was teaching a false gospel, that is man's
free will and all of those things that go along with that. We have
had to unlearn. a great deal of things. And it's
hard sometimes to unlearn things. Those disciples, they had been
taught to expect, as I said, a worldly kingdom. And the Lord
Jesus Christ said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,
with pomp and all of that that goes along with mighty kingdoms
in this world. It comes not with observation,
neither shall they say, lo here or lo there, for behold, the
kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is in the
heart of every one of his chosen people when we come to know him. The King of kings, the Lord of
lords, he comes to live within us. Christ in you, the hope of
glory. And we have a new ruler. We have
a new master. Before we were under the servitude
or in the servitude rather of Satan taken captive at his will. But then, by the grace of God,
when we are translated from that kingdom of darkness, the kingdom
of evil, the kingdom of sin, into the kingdom of God's dear
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a new heart, a new King
who's reigning within. See what I'm saying? That's what
the word of God teaches. The kingdom of God, that's what
they were expecting, an outward kingdom. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ told this rich young ruler, he was rich, sell everything
you have and give it to the poor. Well, they couldn't understand
that. They were greatly astonished. Second thing, if you look in
verse 32, We read, this time, they were amazed and afraid. We're talking about the disciples
of the Lord, the 12 disciples of the Lord. First, they were
greatly astonished, and next we see in verse 32, and they
were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and
they were amazed, and as they followed, they were afraid. They
were amazed and they were afraid. They were amazed when they saw
the courage, the fortitude of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
face was set like a plant to go to Jerusalem, and they knew
that the Jews in Jerusalem were all about destroying him. And
they were amazed. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world, as we saw in that verse last time, to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many. His death was fixed
in old eternity by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, and his death, his life could not be taken from him until
God's time arrived. And he came to give his life
a ransom for many. The courage, the fortitude. Yes,
he knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. He knew he'd be betrayed. He knew that men would spit in
his face, that he would be crucified as a malfactor, as a common criminal,
a slave. Only slaves were crucified. Free
men were not crucified. Even the free men who were executed,
they were not crucified. It was such a shameful, awful,
suffering death. The Lord Jesus Christ knew what
awaited Him in Jerusalem. And here He is telling, He told
them what awaited them. And they were amazed. They were
amazed. And they were afraid. They were
afraid. Turn with me, keep your places
here, but look over in John chapter 11. You see this brought out,
what I've just said here in John chapter 11, around the death
of Lazarus. John chapter 11, verses seven
and eight. It said, then after that, saith
he to his disciples, let us go into Judea again. His disciples
say unto him, Master, are you sure about this? I read that in. Master, the Jews
of late sought to stone thee, and you're going there again?
They were amazed. He was not afraid. The courage
that he showed. And then look down in that chapter
to verse 16, I think it's Thomas who said this. Yes, then said
Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, when
they saw he was going to Judea, well, let us also go that we
may die with him. You see what I'm saying in our
text? It says they were amazed and they were afraid because
they knew he had just told them. what awaited him in Jerusalem. Now, back in our text, I have
three headings in the message this morning. First of all, the
Lord coming to Jericho. Verse 46, they came to Jericho. We all know that Jericho had
a rich history with the nation of Israel. It was the first city
the Israelites confronted or encountered when they crossed
through the Jordan. Remember, God brought them out
of Egypt. He opened up the Red Sea. They came through on dry
land. And then because of their unbelief,
that older generation spent 40 years there in the wilderness
till all of those who were above 20 years of age when they came
out of Egypt died. And so when they go in, to the
land of Canaan after those 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
And listen, it was because of unbelief. Never, never, my friends,
never think that unbelief is a small sin. Unbelief is a great
sin. Not to believe God, not to believe
The one who cannot change, whose word is settled forever in heaven,
not to believe Him, that's not a small matter. So when the 40 years was up,
here they are at the River Jordan. Once again, God opens up a river,
not the sea, not once again, but again, He opens up a body
of water. so that the Israelites marched
through on dry land. There's that big city. First
one they see, Jericho. Walls built up to heaven, built
up to heaven. And it was there, outside that
city, that the captain of the host of the Lord appeared to
Joshua. Remember, Joshua was the commander. He had taken the place of Moses.
But there the captain of the host of the Lord appeared to
Joshua. Who was that? Who was that that
was a captain of the host, the armies of the Lord? Well, we
know that was one of those pre-incarnate appearances of the eternal son
of God. We know that was God because
He told Joshua, take off your shoes. You're in the presence
of God. So I wanted to say this wasn't
our Lord's first time to come to Jericho. We know that. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us.
He may have visited or gone through Jericho many times before, but
this wasn't the first time that The Lord, the eternal Son of
God, came to Jericho. You know, he told Joshua how
that city was going to be conquered, and it was one of the strangest
ways in the world. He didn't tell him to go, you
know, get you a Ford shop and make some weapons of war, some
arrows and some spears and some shields, and they didn't have
any of that. Now he said, I want you to march
around the city. I want you, the priest, to carry
the Ark of the Covenant around that city, and I want you to
do that seven days. And on the seventh day, go around
it seven times, and the priest then will blow the horns, and
the people will shout, and the walls will come down. That seems
so foolish, seems so unequal to the task of conquering
a city, and yet we know that, as the scripture says in Hebrews
11, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they compassed
about seven days. What does that mean, by faith
the walls of Jericho fell down? It means that Joshua and the
Israelites, they believed that message. Not only did they believe
that message, but they acted upon that message. They did what
God told them to do. They marched around the city.
So foolish to the world, yes, but it was God's way. They did
what God told them to do and the walls came down. And I mentioned
this this morning again because to the world, to those that perish,
the preaching of the cross to them is foolishness. That's what
Paul the Apostle said, it's foolishness. What I do here Sunday after Sunday
is foolishness to the world. The preaching of the cross, Christ
and Him crucified, that's the message of the Word of God. That's
the message that man need to hear. That's the message that
God has chosen to use in saving His people. It's foolishness
to the world, but to them which are saved, it is the power of
God and the salvation to them that believe. When Joshua, or when the walls
of Jericho fell down, Joshua pronounced a curse upon the man
who would rebuild that city, and the curse was He would lay
the foundation in the death of his firstborn son, and they would
set up the gates in the death of his youngest son. You say,
well, did that take place? It certainly did. You can read
about it in 1 Kings chapter 16. There was a man by the name of
Hiel. He laid the foundation in the
death of his firstborn, whose name was Abiram, and the gates
of the city was set up in the death of his youngest son, Sigub. And I mention this to us today
because the word of God will not fail. We've got a more sure
word of prophecy, the written word of God. Don't you love that hymn, how
firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith
in his excellent word? What more can he say to you than
he has said to you who have fled for refuge, to Jesus for refuge? What more can he say? What more
need he say? I remember a young preacher,
it wasn't me, but a man I knew years ago, and he was talking
to an older preacher, and I'm not sure what they were talking
about, but he told this older preacher, he said, well, it's
only found one time in the Bible, whatever they were discussing,
it's only found one time in the Bible, and the older preacher
said, said, Bill, how many times does God have to say something
for it to be true? How many times? One time is enough. Well, the second part of my message,
there was a resident here in Jericho. In fact, we know that
there were two residents in Jericho this day whose lives would forever
be changed and their lives would be changed by the Lord Jesus
Christ coming, visiting Jericho. Now Mark, he only tells us of
this one by the name of Bartimaeus, but Luke tells us of the other,
and his name was Zacchaeus. Two men who couldn't be any more
unalike. One man was rich, Zacchaeus,
the other man was a beggar. One man was, I'm sure the world
would have said, He's made it. He's somebody. He's listed in
the list of somebodies. The other man, most people probably
didn't know his name, Bartimaeus. But you know the same need both
of them had. And it doesn't matter where you
are as far as Society is concerned if you're on the lowest rung
on the ladder or on the highest rung. It doesn't matter. We all
are sinners. We all need Christ. We all need to know him. What a change happened this day
for these two men. Christ ministered to both of
them. That's what that text we looked
at last time said. He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister. And He ministers to Zacchaeus,
and He ministers to Bartimaeus. Here are several things that
we read about Bartimaeus in the text. First of all, he was blind. That has to be an awful thing.
He was blind. Second, he was a beggar. But
third, he was a listener. And fourth, he was an opportunist. I see that in the text. Now he
was not like the man who was born blind, the man that our
Lord gave sight to recorded in John chapter nine. He was not
like that man because Bartimaeus evidently was not born blind.
But you can believe this, Bartimaeus had heard what that blind man
that the Lord gave sight to had said that day to those Pharisees. He said, since the world began,
since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened
the eyes of one that was born blind? And don't you know that
message, it spread all over Palestine? And many people probably were
not interested in it. They weren't blind. But you better
believe this. Blind men like Bartimaeus, they
heard that message and they want to hear it again. What did you
say? He opened the eyes of someone
who was born blind? What did you say? You know, people
that have a need, have an interest in the gospel. People that do not have a need,
they don't know their sinners, they don't feel their sinfulness,
it's never been impressed upon them, they don't know anything
about the holiness of God, they don't have a need. And that's
the reason they have no interest in the gospel. But you show me
a man or a woman who's poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Someone who knows
what he really is. Not what society tells him he
is, but what he really is before God. Bartimaeus had a need. And when
he heard that message, and he heard it was performed, that
miracle was performed by a man named Jesus of Nazareth, that
stuck in his mind. And so this day, as the crowd
was passing through Jericho, he heard what the commotion was
all about. He heard that Jesus of Nazareth
was passing by. And I said he was an opportunist.
This was his opportunity. May not ever be another one.
This was his opportunity. And he began to cry out, and
they could not hush him up. We sing that hymn, that chorus,
sometimes reach out and touch the Lord as he's passing by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your heart's cry. He's passing by this moment,
your need to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he goes by. Bartimaeus, he wouldn't be quiet. And notice his cry was not Jesus
of Nazareth. Now that's what he had heard,
that miracle. The healing of that blind man
was done by a man called Jesus of Nazareth, but he doesn't call
out, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me. Oh, no, no. He's
already figured out. God's already revealed to him.
This Jesus of Nazareth is none other than the promised son of
God, the Messiah, the son of David, Jesus, thou son of David. have mercy on me." Now God had revealed through
the Old Testament that the seed of the woman would bruise the
head of the serpent, and that seed would be of Abraham's family,
and that seed would be of David's family. And so he begins to cry
out, Jesus, our son of David, have mercy upon me. And the third part of my message
The cry for mercy stopped the Savior. Stopped the Savior. What a merciful, gracious Savior
is the Lord Jesus Christ. I would imagine in a crowd, you've
been in crowds and the noise is deafening many times, isn't
it? And in this crowd of people marching
and going along and there was so much noise and, you know,
he cried out for mercy. The Lord could have asked, who
cried for mercy? Like he did when that woman touched
him of his garment and he said, who touched me? And his disciple
said, all these people around you touching you? And you ask
who touched you? Yes, but someone touched me. I felt virtue go out of me. If he had been asked this day,
You ask, who's crying for mercy? You hear all of this noise? Oh yes, but someone cried out. Who is he? Someone cried for
mercy. Don't you see the fickleness
of this world? One moment they're telling Bartimaeus,
be quiet, hush up. You're making too much noise.
And then the next moment, they're telling him, be of good cheer. That's the way the world is,
isn't it? When the Lord would soon enter
into Jerusalem this very week, they'd be crying, Hosanna, blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And just a few days
later, the same people were crying, crucify, crucify. The fickleness
of the world. What does Bartimaeus do when
he hears this? He's crying for thee. And I noticed
this, I want you to notice here in the text. 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 calleth thee. Our Lord
told the man to call him. He commanded him to be called.
In other words, call him. And they tell the man, be of
good comfort, he calleth thee. And what I see here is God uses
men in preaching the gospel. God uses men in calling. Yes,
there's a general call, I understand that, that goes out wherever
the gospel is proclaimed. But there's an effectual call.
There's a special call. He calleth thee, the Lord Jesus. He calleth thee. He cast away his garment. You
say, well, that's no big deal. You've never been a beggar. You've
never been a beggar in this society. Yes, a man's garment, that was
his house. That's what he lived in. That's
what he slept in, his garment. And I tell you, when he heard
that Jesus was calling him, I said he was an opportunist. Away goes
that garment. Nothing, nothing's going to get
in my way. Nothing is going to impede me.
I must, I must get to Christ. Lord Jesus said, what would you
have me to do for thee? that I might receive my sight.
He knew what he wanted. He knew what he needed. Do you? Do you know that you need to
be saved? That you need Christ? Do you
know that? And if you know that, have you
ever asked that he save you? I don't find in the scriptures
he ever turned anyone away. Do you? no matter what the need
was, blind, lame, dead. But he met the need of everyone
who looked to him and came to him. Now he was made whole through
his faith in the Son of God. It was through faith, for by
grace are you saved through faith. It was not his faith that gave
him sight. No, it was the Savior who gave
him sight. But believing in Christ, he received
his sight. And notice this in closing, the
Lord told him, go thy way. Bartimaeus, go thy way. And he followed him in the way. His way was now the way. His way was now the way, the
truth, and the life. He followed Him in the way. He was His way of deliverance,
His way of salvation, His way of serving God, His way of glorifying
God. He was the same Bartimaeus who
woke up that day blind. But he was different. Oh, what
a blessing it is when the Lord has mercy on a sinner. And just that quick. Oh, it was
planned in eternity, I understand that. But it's so wonderful,
isn't it, preaching the gospel? To know that just this Just in
a moment, as far as we're concerned, the Lord may call one of his
elect, and their life will never be the same. Never. Oh, my. I always liked the story
of Bartimaeus. It's not a story, either. It's
a history. I just know today he's right
there around the throne, don't you? Praising and worshiping
the Lamb of God. Let's sing this hymn, Saved,
number 230, Saved, Saved.