The Gospel 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, 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 call 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.
MAN’S TERRIBLE CONDITION
What a terrible condition mankind finds himself in: dead in sin and subject to the wrath of God. Eternal destruction awaits each sinner who does not have a Saviour.
Those who believe in a free will gospel do not see the terrible situation that man finds himself in: yes, it’s true they see that we are sinners; but they then offer a quick and easy solution to man’s sin problem by the unbiblical idea of accepting Christ to be your Saviour. O how soothing it must be to dread the thought of being destroyed in hell ------for a moment or two------and then quickly decide that the option of heaven sounds much better, so I will accept Christ as my Saviour.
The TRUE GOSPEL OF THE BIBLE however, is not so quickly soothing and quickly comforting as the one that comes out of man’s mind. No, the true gospel of the Bible tells us that we are rebellious sinners and doomed to be eternally destroyed in hell as payment for our sins: unless, we turn from our sins and believe in Christ.
OK you say, then I will repent of my sins and believe in Christ to escape the damnation that is sure to come.
NO my friend, the true gospel of the Bible is not so quickly soothing and so quickly comforting as that: yes, if you repent and believe the gospel you will be saved; but listen to what the Bible goes on to tell us about ourselves: see Romans chapter 3:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Please notice that these verses in Romans teach us that there is not one individual who is righteous. The Bible says that there is not one single individual who understands. The Bible also says that there is not one single individual who seeks after God.
God tells us over and over again that we are spiritually dead. He does this in many different ways: including using word pictures that demonstrate this point. For instance, God typifies sinners in the Bible as being blind (as we have in our passage in the gospel of Mark, with blind Bartimaeus); He typifies sinners as being deaf; or as being lame and unable to walk. God also uses the illustration of physical death to teach us about our spiritual condition.
The sinner is in a terrible predicament. Here he is facing hell and look at what the Bible says about his situation:
Proverbs, chapter 5:
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be HOLDEN WITH THE CORDS OF HIS SINS. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Man is bound for the blackness of darkness forever; and it is his own sins that bind him and that are keeping him in captivity until that appointed day of judgment arrives.
Also, turn over to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 17:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Man’s own sins bind him; and man’s own heart deceives him. Go also to the 2nd epistle of Timothy, chapter 2:
In meekness instructing THOSE THAT OPPOSE THEMSELVES; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
The sinner’s own sins bind him fast. The sinner’s own heart keeps him in a state of deception. And the sinner’s own self opposes him. No wonder, no wonder, Christ said that salvation is impossible with man (Matthew 19:26).
These are the hard facts that each and every sinner must come to realize if they are going to humbly approach God on His terms. Hell stares them in the face; and there is nothing that they can do to avoid it. It is impossible for a sinner to repent of the sins that his heart so dearly loves: it is impossible for the sinner to believe out of a spiritually dead heart. Salvation is impossible for any one of us--------who then can be saved?
JESUS COMES TO THE SINNER
In our passage in Mark 10 we find a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. His name itself means son of Timaeus, which is later stated in verse 46. The name Timaeus is strongly related to a Greek word that means value, or honor. Immediately we see that by picking to save a blind man whose name is related to honor: God is letting us know that even though this poor man is cast away by the world, he none the less is a son of honor. Bartimaeus is a chosen vessel unto the Lord. He is a vessel appointed unto honor (and not unto wrath).
Poor Bartimaeus in his blindness sits by the highway side begging. He could never find Jesus. He doesn’t even see Jesus when He has drawn so very near to him.
Christ in His mercy has decided that this particular day is the day of salvation for this poor blind sinner.
Let’s read verse 47 again:
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.
Please notice the condition of Bartimaeus when he begins to cry out for mercy: HE IS BLIND! And remember blindness in the Bible represents being dead in your sins. Therefore, God is telling us that it is possible for a sinner to cry out while still dead in their sins.
Are you blind? Are you in your sins? Are you unsure if you are truly a child of God or not? Then BEGIN to cry out to God for His mercy.
GO BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE WITH WORDS
This is no formula for salvation. There are no preset words or certain texts that one should repeat in order to convince God to bestow the great gift of His grace upon you. But, God does permit us to beseech Him with more than just groaning in our spirits: notice, that Bartimeus cries out in recognition of Christ as the long promised Messiah: "…thou son of David, have mercy upon me."
God encourages us in the book of Hosea, chapter 14, to reason with Him with words:
O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. TAKE WITH YOU WORDS, AND TURN TO THE LORD: say unto Him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
My friend, the time is short. So take with you words and beg the Lord to take away all iniquity from you. Beseech Him to take out your heart of stone and to give you a heart of flesh. Cry out as Bartimaeus that you might see. Begin by taking with you words that acknowledge the multitude of your sins like the publican of Luke 18:13b "….God be merciful to me a sinner." Cry out as the mournful king David with the words of Psalm 51: "….blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins."
The Bible is full of words that can be taken unto the throne of God’s marvelous grace.
HOLD YOUR PEACE
We have to wonder as we look at our text and see the crowds reaction to this beggar; and to his cries for mercy: we have to wonder why they would not encourage him in his attempt to be healed by Christ?
PHYSICALLY:
Do they have no compassion? Do they not know that this man has suffered great afflictions due to the curse of sin? Do these people not know that Bartimaeus is blind; and that his only hope of ever seeing rests with whether or not Jesus gives him sight? Could it be that these people were of such hard hearts as too not care that this man would spend the rest of his life in darkness?
SPIRITUALLY:
Likewise, we have to wonder about those in the churches today that attempt to discourage people from crying out to God for mercy. The professors, the scholars, the pastors, the ruling elders: do they have no compassion? Do they not know that the poor beggars in spirit are dead in their sins; and that the only hope of salvation rests in Christ? Could it be, that these people, overseers of the flock of God themselves, could it be that they are of such hard hearts as too not care whether a poor sinner spends eternity in darkness?
Why would any one discourage a soul from crying out for mercy?
When Christ was being praised as the King of Israel, the Pharisees quickly sought Him out and asked Him to rebuke His disciples: Jesus responded that if they were to hold their peace then the very rocks would cry out. The Pharisees did not like God’s plan of salvation. Because God’s plan of salvation interfered too much with their own plan of getting right with God.
Likewise, many do not like the idea of crying out for mercy because it makes them uneasy about their own salvation plan. Therefore, an attempt is made to silence the true teaching of God’s Word in this matter. The theologians of our day would label a poor sinner such as Bartimaeus as a hypercalvinist.
HE CRIED THE MORE A GREAT DEAL
When God moves a sinner to do a thing none can resist. Bartimaeus was still blind. Still under the wrath of God, still in bondage to his sins and to Satan; and yet, the pressure to go the way of the world did not persuade Bartimaeus to cease in his attempt to find sight. Let’s read verse 48:
And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy upon me.
My friend, with all due respect to the church leaders who would dissuade you from falling down on your knees and begging God for forgiveness-----with all due respect to them----cry out for mercy before you find yourself utterly destroyed in the lake of fire.
My dear friend, with all due respect for your church friends that do not think beseeching the Lord is necessary, -----cry out for mercy before your eyes behold your day of destruction itself.
My lost sinner friend, with all due respect to your friends and family, and to the world itself, -----cry out for mercy all the more a great deal----while you can.
None of these are able or willing to give God a ransom for your soul. Cry out to the One who is able to redeem a sinner’s soul from death. Let’s turn to the book of Jonah, chapter 3:
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and CRY MIGHTILY UNTO GOD: yea, let them turn from their evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?
Latch onto God. Grab a hold of Him in prayer and beseech Him for His mercy. After all, is there anything else as important?
Keep in mind, that crying out for mercy of itself is no guarantee of salvation. Notice Jonah 3:9, who can tell "if" God will turn and repent? It is entirely conditional and the condition rests in God’s sovereign choice to bestow mercy upon whom He will bestow mercy.
Also, keep in mind, that crying out for mercy is not a work that can earn you anything with God. God permits man to cry out for salvation because the very act of crying out is a recognition that man can DO NOTHING as far as salvation is concerned. Man cannot repent and man cannot believe; all man is permitted by God to do is to cry out in his spiritual blindness in the hope that the God of all mercy might have mercy upon him.
Finally, let’s turn to Genesis, chapter 32:
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I WILL NOT LET THEE GO, except thou bless me.