February 10, 2019
Scripture:
Andrew
Hymn 20 - What means the eager, anxious throng
Prayer
The past couple weeks in Reading Meeting we have been going through the part in John where Jesus heals the blind man. Today we are going to look at another blind man that Jesus healed.
Mark 10:46-52
This is the story of blind Bartimaeus and I want to look at it as a simple picture of how we should go the Jesus for Salvation
Jesus was walking down the road with a bunch of people following Him and on the road he passes by blind Bartimaeus. We don’t know how he got blind but we know it was for God’s glory. It seems like Bartimaeus knew something about Jesus because as He walks by he starts crying out to Him. Maybe he had heard of the miracles Jesus had done before.
So he cried out to Him. This is the first step of salvation. Realizing that Jesus is the only way and crying out to Him.
Acts 2:21
Bartimaeus cried out for mercy. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. As sinner we all need mercy because we all deserve hell.
Eph. 2:45
When we cry out to the Lord we also need to ask for His mercy.
When Bartimaeus started to cry out the people tried to quiet him. Then all of a sudden they started to say come Jesus is calling you. As soon as Bartimaeus heard that he cast away his garment and started to go to Jesus.
When we come to Jesus there are thing we have to cast away from us.
Isaiah 64:6a
This verse shows us that we can’t go to heaven by works. You have to get rid of that thought or maybe you have something that you don’t want to give up. In order to get to Jesus though you have to lay aside all your hindrances.
Finally when Bartimaeus gets to Jesus he asks Him what he needs to do.
Matt. 20:34
As we see in a different side of this story Jesus puts His hand on him and tells him that he doesn’t need to do anything and that he is healed.
The next verse says that Bartimaeus followed Jesus. That’s what we have to do after we are saved.
John 8:12
Let’s just quickly look at a couple verses that will help us.
Psalm 34:6
Even after we are saved we can still cry out to God for help. He always helps even if we don’t see it.
Hebrews 12:1
We still have to continue to cast away hindrances. Hindrances could be sin, temptations and other things
1 Peter 2:21
The context of this verse is suffering but not just in suffering should we follow the Lord. We should follow him all the time.
So the three steps to coming the Jesus are
John 9:39-41, 10:1-18
The Pharisees didn’t have spiritual sight. Jesus didn’t come to condemn all the world, but the Pharisees are exactly what Jesus describes in verse thirty-nine. They knew that He was making reference to them. Their attitude manifested their condition.
In the beginning of our next chapter Jesus speaks of being the door into the sheep fold as well as the door out of it. He then says that He is also the door to salvation. He is speaking to those in the previous chapter. They were in the sheep fold and were trying to run it. They hadn’t come through the door, but climbed over the wall and kicked someone out. The fold represented Israel. It was the place to be. There were shepherds parked at the front of the folds to protect the sheep. The Lord chose his own people and made a wall of law to protect them and keep them for Himself. They were told of the One who would come to fulfill the law for them.
Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized. The Holy Spirit came down the the shape of a dove and God spoke from heaven. We see the whole trinity in that picture. The Lord had gone in the appointed way to lead them out.
Jesus’ sheep hear His voice. In the end of Leviticus we are shown the blessing of obeying and the danger of disobeying. If we had grown up with that we also might have had a hard time with Jesus taking it all away.
Jesus lead His people out of Israel into the realm of Christianity. He is the door and there is no other way to enter. It’s not just Israel who can enter, but any man. We can enter and be saved. We can go in and out and find pasture. We spend time in the Word, but we still live in the world. But we can enjoy the Lord as we go along. We can share with others what we find because we have a portion where ever we go. He knows exactly what His sheep need.
Hymn 351 One door and only one.
Prayer