What a joy it is to be able to minister the word of God to you once again on this Lord's day morning. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter 10. As we continue to make our way, verse by verse through it, I've been titled my discourse to you this morning "Jesus Gives Sight to the Blind," beginning in verse 46, of Mark 10. "Then they game they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples, and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When He heard that it was Jesus, the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Many were sternly telling him to be quiet. But he kept crying out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' And Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him here.' So they called the blind man saying to him, 'Take courage stand up! He is calling for you.' Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, 'What do you want me to do for you?' And the blind man said to Him, Rabbioni, I want to regain my sight!' And Jesus said to him, 'Go, your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road."

One of the clearest proofs of human depravity is man's inability to see the depths of his sin, in contrast to the holiness of God. They are spiritually blind apart from Christ. You ask any believer, are you ever troubled over the ways that you have offended a holy God? And their answer will typically be something like, oh, I never even think about that. I don't believe in that stuff. They would only be ashamed of their private sins, if they were made public. But they have no shame in sin itself. If you were to ask them, Have you no fear of God's judgment when you die? And again, the response is typically, oh, I never think about that. I really don't worry about that type of thing. After all, I'm a good person, if there is a God, whoever he or she might be. I'm sure that I'll make the cut. And so people live as if there is no God. People trifle with death and with judgment. And they use all of the anesthetizes that the world offers them. Drugs, alcohol, entertainment. The Football season is getting started up in colleges, and you'll see hundreds of 1000s of people going to worship in the stadiums. And by the way, I like college football. But the point is, for many people were it not for entertainment on television, and in their sports, they would have no life. They pursue the fleeting pleasures of this world. And consistent with what Peter warned in Second Peter three, three, "In the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts." And this is what we see in the world today. People go merrily along their way with no thought of God, no thought of judgment, no thought of their own sinfulness, just living their life as if there is no God because for them, there really isn't. And they will continue to do that until that fateful day when they are confronted with their own mortality, and they will die and then be confronted with the God they have ignored and mocked. Dear friends, this is the consequence of spiritual blindness. In first Corinthians 2:14, we're told by the apostle Paul, that "a natural man," and unsaved man, "does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because he is spiritually appraised." In other words, he has no capacity to discern spiritual truth, when the evidence is right in front of him. He's spiritually blind. Moreover, in Ephesians, chapter four, we read an excellent summary of where people are, that are apart from Christ, beginning in verse 17. "The Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart; and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." Oh dear friends, the horror of spiritual blindness; to be spiritually incarcerated in a dungeon of deception and ignorance and arrogance; unable to see your hard hearted rebellion against the Most High God, blind to the reality that you are walking inexorably toward, and abyss of everlasting woes, what Jesus called in Matthew 22, "the outer darkness" that place there "will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And of course, there's that passage in Second Corinthians four and verse four, where we read that "the god of this world," small g, referring to Satan, "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ."

But dear friends, when God gives spiritual sight, a miracle takes place that we should never, ever underestimate. Man has suddenly awakened to his own sin, he suddenly sees it for what it is. And like the sting of 1000 Hornets, he remembers his sin down through his life. And he shutters to know that he will one day stand in the presence of a holy God. Guilty unless he cries out for mercy. Unless he says, as blind Bartimaeus said, "Oh, God, have mercy on me." Indeed, "the word of the cross is foolishness," according to First Corinthians 1:18. It "is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." And how I rejoice in that. And I might say from the outset, if you're here today, or you're hearing my voice, please know that if you trifle with your sin, if you dismiss God's indictment against you, and you refuse to trust in Christ as your Savior, your arrogance proves that you are spiritually blind. And you simply must cry out to God for mercy. Sadly, this was the perfect description of Israel in the first century. And of course, the Gentile world as well. But as we see in this text, Jesus gives sight to the blind.

And let me remind you of the context, the setting here, so that you get the flow of what's happening. Jesus is coming to the end of His earthly ministry, his final days on earth and he's on his way to Jerusalem to suffer and to die and to rise again from the dead. And from his miracles to his parables, what he has been demonstrating to everyone, primarily Israel, is that he is who he claimed to be, the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, the one who had come to offer himself officially and finally, as the king of the Messianic Kingdom, in exact fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. An offer conditioned upon national repentance. He has ministered in Galilee in the region of his homeland, and he's experienced enormous opposition. He ministered around the regions of the Galilee and the Gentile area, then journeyed to Jerusalem, and to Judea, constantly teaching, exposing the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees, performing many miracles; many, many more than what we have recorded in the scriptures. He's made a brief tour through Samaria and Galilee. Then he was in and around Perea, the Gentile region, on the east side of the Jordan. And now he has crossed back over the Jordan, right there north of the Dead Sea. And he's now around the city of Jericho, which is about 15 miles from Jerusalem, and about 3300 feet below Jerusalem. So it will now be a steep climb to get up to Jerusalem. You must picture that there are massive crowds following Jesus. They have witnessed His miracles. A lot of them are merely thrill seekers, but others are really wondering what is going on here. Some of them undoubtedly were those whom he fed in the feeding of many 1000s earlier in his ministry. They've witnessed him cast out demons, give sight to the blind, give hearing to the deaf. They've seen mutilated bodies of lepers, completely healed, limbs appearing on people. They've even witnessed Lazarus coming out of the grave, the raising of the dead. And they're amazed at his teaching. They're amazed at his authority. In fact, in Luke 12, and verse one, we read about the massive crowds it says, so many 1000s of people had gathered together, that they were "stepping on one another."

And by the way, in the context of that massive crowd, it says that he began preaching, "'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.'" He was fearless in the face of all of the crowd. You must understand that everything that Jesus is doing, is moving inexorably towards a high point, which is namely his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. That will be a day of Messianic presentation foretold by the Old Testament prophets. In fact, as we've studied before, the Old Testament prophets predicted the manner, the moment and the meaning of the King's final offer to Israel. The rejection by the civil and religious leaders has been unmistakable. But now an official offer needed to be made to the nation as a whole. Even in the realm of jurisprudence, even in the days of the Old Testament, in the realm of the theocracy, a legal proffer, or an offer of proof, must be made. And that's what he is about to do. This was Israel's time of her visitation to receive her King. But Jesus will later promise them of coming judgment in Luke 19:44. He says, "'because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'" So Jesus is now making his way to Jerusalem to present himself as the Messiah.

But I want you to know that prior to this, according to Luke 10, and verse one, "the Lord had appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come." And their mission, we know from reading the text, is very simple. "'Every city that receives you,'" he says in verses eight, and following, "'heal those who are sick and say to them, 'the kingdom of God has come near to you.' And if they don't receive you,' according to verse 10, and 11, 'go out into its streets and say, 'even the dust of your city, which clings to our feet, we wipe off and protest against you, yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'" But the two words "to you" are not there, a frightening omission.

So, everything that is happening here, everything recorded in the gospels, is part of God's deliberate, precise plan to accomplish his purposes. Now, mind you, all of this is extended over the course of about five months. And what Jesus is ultimately doing is presenting himself to Israel as the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy. And please understand that everything that we see in the gospels points to this. We see it in our text this morning, when Jesus gives sight to this blind man and what did the blind man call him, he called him "Son of David," in verse 47, the ultimate Son of David, the one who would fulfill the Davidic covenant promises of Second Samuel seven, which were really a reaffirmation of the regal terms of the original Abrahamic covenant. And this is yet another miracle, connected with the arrival of the Messiah that was prophesied, for example, in Isaiah 35 five, "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened," when the Messiah comes.

Next chronologically, we're going to see that Jesus will meet a dishonest tax collector named Zacchaeus. Mark doesn't record that, Luke does. And I'll take you to Luke, to see this. And we see Zacchaeus is saved by his grace in Luke 19, a man who Jesus called, quote, "a son of Abraham." And because he was the son of Abraham, he therefore obeyed the law of the theocratic kingdom of Israel, like we would see in Exodus 22 one, "and he restored fourfold all that he had stolen." This is yet another reminder of Old Testament prophecy concerning the kingdom when, as the King James puts it in Isaiah 40, in verse three, "the crooked will be made straight." He's then going to heal 10 lepers in Luke 17. We know according to Micah four and verse two that he's going to come or that when he would come, he would "come with healing in His wings," other passages, speak to this as well. And then in Luke 19:11, and following, he will give that amazing parable concerning a nobleman who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then he would return, and this, of course, portrayed his rejection, and an interval of delay that will exist until his future arrival a second time.

Dave Harrell

And as Jesus travels with this band of pilgrims, he is conducting himself once again, as the public claimant, to the Messianic mantle. And soon the multitudes are going to see him come into the city, and they're going to cry out "Hosanna!" to the son of David. And then that same crowd, will a few days later demand his crucifixion, demonstrating their final rejection. Well, there are many other events that are recorded and many others that we will examine in the days ahead, hat all fit into the same pattern going forward. There is a purpose in all that is happening here; these aren't just random stories, random events, but rather, Jesus is presenting himself as the Messiah of Israel, the king of the messianic kingdom, but it was conditioned upon Israel's repentance, national repentance.

By the way, whenever I think of these things, I find myself overwhelmed with the miracle of divine providence. Isn't it amazing that God can orchestrate all of these things in ways that we can't even imagine, to fulfill his prophetic word, and all that he has ordained in eternity past, to ultimately bring glory to himself. And to think that somehow in ways that we can't even imagine, we are a part of that. You know, only a fool would deny the infallibility and the inspiration of Scripture. Now, back to our text. Jericho if you go there today, as I've been on a number of occasions, it's not a very pretty place. It's in the Palestinian area. In fact, it's very dangerous to even go in there. They tried to destroy all of the ruins because it really proves that the Israelites were there and that it came down just exactly as Scriptures teach. But in Jesus day, Jericho was a magnificent oasis in a desert wilderness. It had a beautiful theater amphitheater, villas, baths. In fact, in 35 BC, the Roman politician Mark Anthony gave Jericho as a gift to his lover Cleopatra of Egypt. But Jericho was also a mecca for the blind. Because of the balsam bush that grew in that area they were able to extract certain elements of that bush to treat a salve for blindness. Ophthalmic diseases were a common problem in that day, a condition called ophthalmia. I need to get my words right here. We're not familiar with that as much, but it was common in those days. Its a severe form of conjunctivitis that would affect the inner eye highly contagious. It was transmitted by flies, aggravated by sun and the dust in that region. And it was very common in childbirth. They had a disease called trachoma, which was a virulent form of conjunctivitis, an infection that would blind infants, and also in pagan societies in that day, and even in this day, due to sexual promiscuity, venereal disease was common, and many women were infected by various kinds of bacteria, especially gonorrhea, or some other septic condition. And children would contact that at birth, and they would soon be blind. But the people in those days had no understanding as to what was really going on with this blindness, with eye disease. They didn't know how to treat it. And many believe that it was a result of sin, that only really sinful people go blind. You will recall in John nine, Jesus passed by a blind man and the disciples asked "Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" And of course, Jesus answered "neither."

Now, at times, we know in the Bible, blindness was a form of judgment. Blindness was a consequence of disobedience, in Deuteronomy 28 with the covenant people. We also know that he blinded the Syrians in Second Kings six. We know that he blinded the homosexuals of Sodom in Genesis 19. He blinded Saul on the road to Damascus to get his attention, that he might save him and he temporarily is blinding Israel even to this day, according to second Corinthians three and Romans 11. But here, and in many other passages, blindness is used to illustrate the condition of men's spiritual sight. You will recall, Jesus used blindness to illustrate man's utter inability to see the light of truth. For example, He said in Matthew 6:22, "'The lamp of the body is the eye if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!'" And certainly the vast majority of the people in Jesus day, as in our day, were filled with darkness. They were spiritually blind. And for this reason, Jesus said in Luke four and verse 18, that he was sent "'to preach the gospel to the poor'" and "'recovery of sight to the blind.'"

So, with many hundreds of blind beggars lining the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, Jesus is orchestrating all of these things to demonstrate not only his compassion, but also the terms of salvation necessary to come to him in repentant faith. And this would also be a lesson to the self-absorbed bickering disciples, who are still jockeying with one another to figure out who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Now, as we look at this, there are four essential components of genuine conversion that I see being manifested out of this text. Let me give them to you and expand upon them. First of all, we must recognize who Jesus is. Secondly, we must recognize the severity of our situation. Thirdly, we must recognize, we must cry out for undeserved mercy. And finally, we must believe Jesus alone can deliver us. So let's pick up the text in verse 46. "Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road." "Bar" means son, so he was the "son of Timaeus." Now, it's interesting, by the way, in Matthew's account in Matthew 20, verse 30, it says, "And behold, two blind men sitting by the road," but we see here that Mark only focuses on one of them, but there are actually two. And if we read all of the texts, we see that he too, was given sight and was saved by God's grace. Now, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was prime real estate for begging because you have, especially around Passover, because you have 1000s of people going that way up to Jerusalem, for the Passover feast. So we have a blind beggar, named Bartimaeus.

So, he begins to cry out. To "cry out" literally could be translated, scream or shout at the top of his lungs; "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Friends, you must understand that no one will ever be saved from their sins and reconciled to a holy God unless they understand who Jesus is. He was not merely some great teacher, as many claim he was, not a manipulative type of God that could be, I should say, maybe a malleable type of God, that could be manipulated, to hand out the goodies to make you healthy, wealthy and successful. Nor was he some political revolutionary, as many say that he was in our day, one that came to tear down the established authority of Roman rule. Certainly, he was not some social justice warrior promoting the contemporary Marxist ideologies of liberation theology, particularly critical race theory, as many teach today. And as many ostensibly evangelicals have bought into, what a lie, he did not carry a sign that said, "Jews lives matter." He did not carry a sign that said, "down with Rome." No dear friends, the truth of who Jesus was, and is, can be seen in Peter's confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And we must understand that he is therefore the only acceptable object of saving faith. Jesus said in John 14 six "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, but through me."

In verse 47, we read, "When he heard that it was Jesus, the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And this brings us to the first point that I would like for us to examine. And that is, if we're going to be saved, we must recognize who Jesus is. Most of the world today, do not. Everyone knew Jesus was a famous miracle worker. But not many believed that he was, quote, "The Son of David," another name for the Messiah that was promised in the Davidic Covenant in Second Samuel seven. The long-awaited Messiah, of that unconditional and irrevocable covenant, where God promised David a dynasty in a kingdom that would never end. And again, that is a covenant that parallels the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, one through three. A covenant that will ultimately bless the Gentiles, the Gentile nations as well as Israel. In fact, in Acts two, Peter makes it clear that David, quote, "looked ahead." David looked ahead as a prophet and spoke of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the covenant he made to David. Let me read that text, Acts two beginning in verse 29, "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath, to seek one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ." So in the miracle of regeneration, God now reaches down into the heart of this blind beggar and causes him to see the light of his sin and the light of who Jesus really is; the Messiah, the King, the Savior of sinners. No doubt he recognized Jesus to be the one of whom the angel spoke to Mary in Luke one verse 32, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end." I believe that it's very possible that he along with many 1000s of others, were aware that this was the one of whom the angel described to Joseph and even the shepherds. Remember, the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1:22, that "Mary will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with us." It's fair to say that he would have also been aware of the testimony of the shepherds, because we know that they spread the word to everyone, as to what they saw. It's recorded into Luke 10, beginning of verse Luke to beginning of verse 10, "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"

And I must ask you, do you know who Jesus is? Because one day you will face him. You will either face him and triumph or in terror. He's not only the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, but he is the judge of the living and the dead. You remember what Paul said to the men of Athens in Acts 17. God is now declaring to men that all, everywhere should repent, "because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men, by raising Him from the dead." So we must not only recognize who Jesus is, but we, like Bartimaeus, must recognize the severity of our situation. And oh to be blind in those days was a horrible thing. It's hard today, terribly hard. But blind beggars were social outcasts. They were scorned. They were ridiculed, they were rejected. Because again, many people thought that their blindness was because of their sin. They were utterly helpless to care for themselves. Imagine what that would be like, dependent upon other people to do virtually everything for you. But you know the same is true spiritually. When we are blind spiritually, we are utterly helpless. We're walking in darkness; we can't see the truth. Two plus two is five theologically. We are spiritually "dead in our trespasses and sins," according to Ephesians two. Paul went on in Ephesians four to say that, "apart from Christ man is darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart." In Ephesians five it speaks of how that the unsaved "walk in darkness, and they participate in the deeds of darkness." And Paul said in Titus one and verse 15, "to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled." In other words, man's depravity, dear friends, is pervasive. Sin's corruption and pollution has made man both unable and unwilling to glorify God, and there is no hope of recovery in himself. He's utterly dependent upon God to do something. And so this dear man is begging Jesus not only for physical healing, but also for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. You say, Well, how would you know that? Well, in verse 52, we read, "And Jesus said to him, 'Go, your faith has made you well.'" The term that he uses there, for "well" is "sozo,"it's a term a Greek term, used frequently in the New Testament for salvation. And if being "made well" only referred to physical healing, he would have used the common word "iaomai," which means "to heal." Moreover, we immediately see the fruit of genuine saving faith being manifested in these men, verse 52, "Immediately he regained his sight, and began following him on the road." Matthew and Luke both record "following him glorifying God." So this indicates that they were not only physically healed, but also they were given the gift of saving faith, validated by their desire to submit to the Lordship of Christ in their life.

So, Bartimaeus recognizes his sinful condition. He recognizes his guilt and in desperation, he cries out to the Lord. And again, the foremost attitude necessary for spiritual sight is this one of desperation, where we see the reality of our sin. I think of the Canaanite woman with a daughter that was demon possessed in Matthew 15. Remember, she sought the Lord in humble persistence, and she said, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." And the tax gatherer in Luke 18, "Unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, he beat upon his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me the sinner.'" You see friends, divine mercy, always responds to spiritual desperation. This is the prayer of the penitent. This is the cry of the contrite; those broken over their sin. Jesus said in Matthew five, verse three, "'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'" In other words, blessed are those who are collapsing under the weight of their sin; those who acknowledged the impoverished nature of their state, they recognize that they're alienated from God, that they are helpless, that they are corrupt, they are hopeless and apart from mercy, they will perish for eternity in their sins. So, they're longing for God to act on their behalf. That's the one God blesses. And I must ask you have you come to that place in your life where you realize who you really are before a holy God? Or are you still blind to the ways that you have violated his law and offended his holiness and therefore continued to live in spiritual darkness? We must recognize who Jesus is; we must recognize the severity of our situation and thirdly, we must cry out for undeserved mercy and that's what he did.

Verse 47, "'Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!'" Verse 48, "And many were sternly telling him to be quiet." But he kept crying out again screaming at the top of his lungs. "He kept crying out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'" And can't you see it? People saying, 'shut up, you blind beggar, he doesn't have time for you. In fact, you're probably getting what you deserved. He doesn't have time to deal with you. Plus, we were here first.' I bet some of that was going on. In fact, Luke hints at that and Luke 18:39, "Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet." That was probably the disciples, "He doesn’t have time for you, he's dealing with us right now, we're in the in crowd here."

Dear friends when the Spirit of God is at work in the heart of a man or a woman, there is absolutely nothing that can stop them from screaming. God is merciful. But he will only save those who recognize their need for his saving grace, and who will cry out for it. This is the response that God demands from us. And here I might also add that we recognize the irresistible power of regenerating grace. Jesus said in John 6:44, that "'no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.'" The idea of drawing means. in the original language. means to cease, or to grab hold of. There's an irresistible, supernatural, compelling at work. And this is what happens when the Father suddenly activates what was decreed in eternity passed; when the Holy Spirit breathes life into a spiritual cadaver and gives them sight to see the glory of the cross. And when God does that work, there is absolutely no force on earth, that can stop a sinner who, in desperation, begs for saving mercy. A sinner will not be silenced by any opposition, when in their spiritual desperation, they're seeking forgiveness and help. Sadly, most people today have a very superficial understanding of regeneration, what it means to be born again, that's what the term literally means. They talk about asking Jesus into their heart. But for many people, they really don't have much of an understanding of who Jesus is. Worse yet, they're clueless about the depths of their depravity, their spiritual condition; they have no sense of desperation. So they really don't cry out. This is why so many people today, and for many years, have used manipulative techniques to get people to get saved, to get them to walk in aisle, to get them to repeat a prayer.

If I can digress for a moment, they use Charles Finney's method, the altar call method. Charles Finney was a New York lawyer turned evangelist back in the early 1900s. And he believed that man was sovereign over salvation, not God. And so he devised some mechanical methods to manipulate the human will. And he created mainly what was called the anxious bench. And the key to this was a sequence of things that had to happen in in a meeting or a church service, in order to get people to make a decision for Christ. The first step was to create the mood with music, because we know that emotions tend to bypass reasoning. So the music had to be just right, to establish the mood. And then secondly, to offer something easy, like, you know, "won't you bow your head, and if God is moving in your heart, why don't you raise your hand." So let's make it easy at first, kind of prime the pump, and then prime it even more with a third step; have certain people begin to walk the aisle. If you remember the Billy Graham crusade, they would have hundreds of people who would begin to walk the aisles so that others would kind of decide that they would go as well. Kind of a herd instinct to go with the flow. And then fourthly, make it easy to believe. Repeat some prayer and bam, you're in the kingdom. There's no real crying out. In fact, In the famous Purpose Driven Life, bestselling book, you can read how people are invited to come to Jesus quote, "The author invites people to quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity." Here it is, "Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you." Oh, that's easy. And then Pastor Warren goes on to say, "if you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations, welcome to the family of God, you are now ready to discover and start living God's purpose for your life." Beloved, this is the danger of easy believeism, of cheap grace. Where's the desperation there? Do these people really understand the alienation that is going on between them and a holy God because of their sin? It's fascinating just before this event in Jericho, in Luke 13, an unnamed enquirer noticed all the multitudes. You may remember the story and realize that these people really aren't seeking salvation. They're, they're wanting you to do something for them. So in verse 23, he asks, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And of course, numbers aren't the issue. Jesus ignored the question and he answered it this way in the very next verse. He said, "'Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able.'" You see, Bartimaeus was striving. Now some will say, "Well, wait, I thought it was easy, I thought you just quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity, Jesus, I believe in you. And I receive you." I mean, where's the striving in that? You know, the term "strive" comes from a Greek word "agonizomai." It means to fight, it means to engage in hand-to-hand combat, to engage even in an athletic contest that requires great intensity, exhausting effort. So where's the fighting in this easy believeism? And what's this stuff of "many I tell you will seek and will not be able," again, people will say I thought the road was easy. Well, yeah, you know, Satan has offered a wide gate and a wide way, but not Jesus.

My friends, please understand salvation is far more than just kind of reaching out and accepting a free gift and whispering a prayer. There's a sense of desperation. There's a sense of striving, Matthew seven, verse 13, Jesus said, "'Enter through the narrow gate,'" narrow comes from the Greek word "stenos," which means the restrictive compressed gate, and it comes from a root word that means to groan. You don't enter this gate with ease. There will be intense pressure, you're going to fight your own flesh, you're going to be conscious of your own pride. There are going to be other people that are in your mind that you know are going to ridicule you and mock you, may even try to kill you. So when you come to Christ, there has to be a determined effort to seal out all of the crowd that's telling you to shut up. And to say, "I am going to focus exclusively on the Lord my God, I am desperate for mercy. I don't care what anybody says, I don't care what my flesh says, I see the horror of my sin." In Luke 16:16. We read how quote "the gospel of the kingdom of God, when it's preached, everyone is forcing his way into it." The idea of vigorously, forcefully pressing into the kingdom. You will remember in Matthew seven, Jesus said there are two ways to enter the kingdom, the narrow and the broad. There are two gates, the narrow and the wide. There are two destinations life and destruction. There are two groups, the few and the many. There are two trees, the good and the bad, producing two kinds of fruit, the good and the bad, two kinds of people who profess faith in Christ, the sincere and the false. There are two builders, the wise and the foolish. There are two foundations, rock and sand. And they build two houses, either one that is secure or insecure. And I would challenge you to ask yourself to which group do you belong? And once you sort through all of the deceptions of "this way to heaven, this is the real Jesus," once you sort through all of that, and you go into battle with yourself, then you begin to deal with your self-righteousness, your pride, your unwillingness to deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow Christ.

Well, without any need for manipulation, with no mood, music, or anything else, Bartimaeus, despite all that's going on, cries out for the Lord, to heal him. "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Then I love this verse. In verse 49, it says, "And Jesus stopped." I mean, folks, put yourself out there. I mean, when Jesus stopped, everybody stopped, because everybody was watching Jesus, he actually stopped. Now, it doesn't say this in the text. But I think it's fair to assume that suddenly, a hush comes over the crowd, perhaps 1000s of people. And all they can hear is a blind beggar crying out "Son of David, have mercy on me!" In fact, two of them doing this. You see, I don't believe Jesus wanted anyone to miss what they were saying, but for all to hear, and for all to see. And then it says, "And Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him here.'" Oh, what a blessed invitation. Here again, beloved, here, we witnessed the miracle of irresistible grace and regeneration. When God overcomes a man's natural resistance to the Gospel, when he gives man spiritual eyes to see the glory of Christ, when God frees man's rebellious will, so he will come freely and willingly and embrace the irresistible Christ, man's will is not violated, it is transformed. This is what's happening.

I remember it well, when I was a little boy of nine years old, when he moved upon my heart, and I must ask you, have you heard that call? Have you come to him? And if the answer is no, then you simply must recognize who Jesus is. You simply must recognize the severity of your situation and cry out for undeserved mercy.

And finally, as we see in this text, you must believe that Jesus alone can deliver you. "So they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you." In verse 50, this is really interesting when I thought about it, "Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus." Okay, now imagine being blind. There's all this going on, and you kind of know who he is, and you throw your cloak away, and you get up. Probably some people are helping him, but you get up and you move towards Christ. And I was thinking about this whole issue of the cloak. You know, a cloak in those days was a matter of life and death. The average temperature around Jericho, especially in the spring, goes from 54 degrees at night to 85 in the day. If you know anything about sleeping in the desert, being in that type of an environment, it is cool at night. And so he throws aside the cloak. It's like all of a sudden, that cloak doesn't matter anymore. And why would he think that? Because he had absolute faith that God was going to give him sight, and he could come back and find his cloak if he needed it. I mean, there's faith at work. But we must understand that there will be no hesitancy when a man or a woman responds earnest to the irresistible grace of regeneration, because God has sovereignly ordained in eternity past, the salvation of all of his elect, and there is nothing that can thwart his eternal purposes.

Verse 51, "And answering him, Jesus said, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' The blind man said to Him, 'Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!' And Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road." Matthew's statement regarding this is in chapter 20, verse 33, "They said to Him, 'Lord, we want our eyes to be opened,' and it says and "moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him." I'm reminded of Jesus words, "My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me." Luke 18:43, "Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it they gave praise to God."

What a beautiful picture of our compassionate savior. And what a magnificent illustration of his saving grace. I want to challenge you. Do you recognize who Jesus is? Do you recognize the severity of your situation? Have you ever come to a place where you cry out for undeserved mercy, believing that Jesus can and will deliver you? Those of us who have been given spiritual sight can appreciate this closing illustration. This reminds me of the great hymnists of the 1800s, who though she was physically blind, had perfect spiritual vision. Her name was Fanny Crosby. And once a well-intentioned Scottish minister, remarked to her quote, "I think it is a great pity that the Master, when he showered so many gifts upon you, did not give you sight." She was quick to respond and say to him, quote, "Do you know that, if at birth, I had been able to make one petition to my Creator, it would have been that I should have been born blind." He was surprised. He wanted her to explain and here's what she said. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight, will be that of my Savior." And out of that testimony, she wrote that great hymn that we've sung many times, "When my life work is ended, and I crossed the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my redeemer when I reached the other side, and his smile will be the first to welcome me." And the chorus goes, "I shall know him, I shall know him, and redeemed by his side I shall stand. I shall know him, I shall know him by the print of the nails in his hand." One day we will meet Fanny Crosby and we will meet the man who was once blind by the name of Bartimaeus, and his buddy, and many others, amen? What a glorious hope we have in Christ. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the magnificent truths of your word that speak so clearly to each of our hearts. I pray if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it what it really means to be in fellowship with the lover of their soul, I pray that they will cry out to Christ this very day. Beg him for the mercy that he will so get so rich and freely give. And thank you, that the rest of us who know and love you solely by your grace, can celebrate these magnificent truths in our lives. May we live them out in such a way that others will see Christ in us. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.