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Jesus and His Disciples were going toward Jerusalem, where Jesus would be crucified. On their journey they came to Jerusalem. Great multitudes were there on the road. They were going to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. In that crowd, by the side of the road, sat a blind man named Bartimaeus. When he heard that Jesus was there on the road he began to cry out, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” “Son of David” was a term showing that Jesus was the Messiah. While most of the nation of Israel were blind to the presence of the Messiah it is ironic that this man, who was physically blind, had enough spiritual sight to know that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah. Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). If you are here this evening for the first time, you are one who has been called. We called you on the phone and invited you here. You were called to hear the Gospel. Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” We will see if you are one whom God has chosen by whether you get saved. Many are called. But in this great city only a very few will be saved by faith in Jesus. There were great crowds on the road that day, but only blind Bartimaeus was saved.

Oh, yes, the healing of his blind eyes was a sign to us that the main business of Jesus is to heal spiritually blind eyes. This man not only had his blinded eyes restored, he was also converted, for Jesus said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” and he “followed Jesus in the way” (Mark 10:52). John Trapp (1601-1669) said that Bartimaeus was cured of both his outward and inward blindness “at once.” William MacDonald said, “His gratitude was expressed in faithful discipleship, following Jesus on his last trip to Jerusalem” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990 edition, p. 1349; note on Mark 10:48-52). But this evening I want to focus on the prayer of blind Bartimaeus.

“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” (Mark 10:47-48).

If you are a lost sinner this evening I want you to think about how Bartimaeus was saved. I will draw three lessons on that from our text.

I. First, notice his zeal compared to the rest of the crowd.

Yes, there was a large crowd of people there by the roadside as Jesus passed by. But only Bartimaeus cried out “Jesus have mercy on me.” He had only heard a very short sermon. He had “heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth” who passed by. He heard nothing more. He “heard that Jesus passed by” (Matthew 20:30). That’s all he heard. I don’t think he understood doctrine. I do not think he knew why Jesus came into the world. He had never heard a clear statement of salvation by grace. All he heard was “Jesus of Nazareth passes by.” But that short sermon led him to cry out in prayer.

No one else in the crowd cried out in prayer to Jesus. So no one else was saved! Some of you here this evening have heard many sermons. Some of you have heard more of the Gospel than the Disciples did before the resurrection! There are few who have been taught more of the Gospel than you. And yet you remain as unmoved and as unsaved as those people in the crowd as Jesus passed by that day!

How can this be? Dr. A. W. Tozer preached a famous sermon on John 3:27, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” Dr. Tozer said,

It is possible to grow up in a church, learn the catechism...But after we have done all that, we may not know God at all, because God isn’t known by those external things. We are blind, and can’t see, because the things of God no man knows but by the Spirit of God...

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14).

Now hear that, the natural man – that is, the psychic man, the man of the mind, the man of intellect – cannot understand nor receive the things of the Spirit of God...The Word does not say, “no man knoweth the things of God except the man who studies the Bible.” It does say that no man knows the things of God except by the Holy Ghost (A. W. Tozer, D.D., “How Christ is Revealed by the Holy Spirit: Not Through the Intellect!”, The Tozer Pulpit, Christian Publications, 1968, volume 2, pp. 24, 25, 28).

One of the young ladies in our church has only been here a few months, and has only been saved for a few weeks. Yet she has been attacked in the college classroom by an evil English teacher. She has been attacked time after time in the classroom, although she has not said one word about being a Christian. She heard it from another classmate. Some of you have never been attacked like that. Why? Because you are not yet converted. Wicked people, like that teacher, can sense if you are a real Christian or not! The Devil tells them! If you are never attacked, it is probably because you have never been saved! And that teacher hurled questions at her she could not answer, because she has only been saved a short time. But even though she didn’t know the answer, she was unmoved. The questions didn’t bother her at all. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has given her an inner knowledge of Christ that goes beyond the intellect. She can say with Job, “I know that my redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25). No one can take away your inner knowledge of Christ, once you have experienced Him by the Holy Spirit!

Blind Bartimaeus had a zeal to be healed and know Christ. The rest of the crowd went on their merry way, remained unsaved, and went to Hell. “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

II. Second, notice the opposition he encountered.

“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...” (Mark 10:47-48).

Many in the crowd rebuked him and told him to be quiet. “Shut up, blind man!” “Be quiet!” “Stop praying so loud.” “You’ve become a fanatic!” “Stop crying!” “Shut up!” That’s what sinful men said to people that were under conviction and cried out for mercy in the First Great Awakening. Many people came under such conviction of sin that they cried out to God for mercy. They were rebuked by lost and worldly clergymen who called them “enthusiasts” and “fanatics.” “Shut up, you Methodists!” they yelled. They threw rotten eggs at them, and often beat them for crying out to God, “Have mercy on me!” Listen to what John Wesley said about those who told Bartimaeus to shut up,

And so they will all who begin to cry after the Son of David; but let those who feel their need for him cry the more; otherwise they will [not find] a cure (John Wesley, M.A., Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, Baker Book House, 1983 edition, volume I; note on Matthew 20:31).

Note that they were not at all like the dead Methodists today. They cried out to God until He made Christ real to them and pardoned their sins. Hear what the early Methodist commentator Adam Clarke (1760-1832) said about those who told Blind Bartimaeus to shut up and stop crying for mercy. Clarke said,

Whenever a soul begins to cry after Jesus for light and salvation the world and the devil join together to drown its cries, or force it to be silent. But let all such remember, Jesus is now passing by: that their souls must perish everlastingly, if not saved by him, and they may never have so good an opportunity again...When the world and the devil begin to rebuke...it is a proof that the salvation of God is near; therefore, let such cry out a great deal the more...When the desire of the heart is turned towards him, there can be little delay in the salvation (Adam Clarke, LL.D., The New Testament, Abington, n.d., vol. 5; note on Matthew 21:31,32).

Never forget that Satan is at work whenever a lost soul cries out for mercy. In the Gospel of Luke we read of a young man who was coming to Jesus,

“And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him” (Luke 9:42).

No doubt it was so with Blind Bartimaeus. No doubt it was Satan who inspired those in the crowd to “charge him that he should hold his peace” (Mark 10:48). And when you are praying, and crying out for Jesus to have mercy on you, no doubt the Devil will try to throw you down and tear you, and tell you to be quiet. But the Bible says, “Resist the devil” (James 4:7). You must resist Satan and continue to cry out for mercy, as Bartimaeus did.

III. Third, notice the intensity and persistence of his prayer.

“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” (Mark 10:48).

He shouted even more, in his prayer for mercy. He cried out with even more intensity. Spurgeon said,

He did not sit and whisper, “Thou Son of David have mercy on me,” but he shouted, and, as the opposition increased, his shouts grew yet more loud, “Thou Son of David have mercy on me.” He was vehement and persevering in his prayer, but he was justified in his zeal...This poor soul could not be content while there was a chance of a cure. But yours, sinner, is spiritual blindness, the blindness that does not let you...see your Saviour, the blindness that shuts out all spiritual joys from your eyes, and will shut out the joys of heaven eternally from you, and condemn you to wander hopelessly in the blackness of darkness for ever. However awfully earnest your prayers may be, they cannot be too earnest...Christ alone has power to save you, if your prayer should become as terribly earnest even as the shrieks of lost souls [in Hell] it would be fully justified, for yours is an urgent pressing case...This the beggar felt, and therefore, up went the cry louder and yet more loud, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (C. H. Spurgeon, “The Blind Man’s Earnest Cries,” The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Pilgrim Publications, 1979 reprint, volume XI, pp. 463-464).

Also, Bartimaeus cried out because he knew that Jesus might never pass that way again. This was the only sure opportunity he had to be healed and saved. It was now or never! And so it is with some of you. The clock is ticking, and if you do not find Christ now, you may never have another chance. The Bible says, “To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7, 8). Now is the time for you to cry out to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy on me.”

Yes, Christ died on the Cross to pay for your sins. Yes, He shed His Blood to cleanse you from all sin. Yes, He is alive in Heaven, at the right hand of God. But how can you come to Christ? How can you get ahold of Christ? How can you know Him and be saved? There is no way a sinner like you can get a hold on Christ unless God has mercy on you! You will die and go to Hell knowing that Jesus died for sinners and rose again. Those Bible facts can never save you. You can only know the Saviour and have your sins forgiven, by the intervening mercy of God!

Mr. Griffith sang an old song from Spurgeon’s hymnal a few minutes ago. May it become a reality to you as you pray.

With broken heart and guilty sigh,
   A trembling sinner, Lord I cry;
Thy pardoning grace is rich and free;
   O God! be merciful to me!

    With guilt from all my sin oppressed:
Christ and His Blood my only plea;
   O God! be merciful to me!

Far off I stand with tear-filled eyes,
   I dare not lift them to the skies;
But Thou dost all my sorrow see:
   O God! be merciful to me!

With broken heart and guilty sigh,
   A trembling sinner, Lord I cry;
Thy pardoning grace is rich and free;
   O God! be merciful to me!
(“Be Merciful to Me” by Cornelius Elven, 1797-1873; altered by the Pastor;
      to the tune of “‘Tis Midnight, and on Olive’s Brow”).

(END OF SERMON)
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Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“All for Jesus” (by Mary D. James, 1810-1883).