The Messiah's Mercy
Notes
Transcript
Then 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.
And 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 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, get up! He is calling for you.”
And throwing off his outer garment, he jumped up and came to Jesus.
And Jesus answered him and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”
And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
The Messiah’s Mercy
The Messiah’s Mercy
The mercy of Christ is worth losing everything else.
The mercy of Christ is worth losing everything else.
In our text we are seeing something play out that - if we are in Christ - it is something that has played out for us in each of our lives.
If you are someone who has not submitted your life to Christ, then you someone who needs to look to the example of this blind man, and ask Jesus - the Son of God - for His mercy.
Mercy is such an incredible word, and one we don’t examine too often. We love grace, we talk about faith, but mercy is often left out of the discussion.
In our text, when the blind man asks for Jesus to have mercy on him, the wording in the Greek is one word meaning, “show mercy upon” someone, or “to have pity”.
It is an attribute of God that - while it is rooted in His love - it often is quickly brushed aside.
We see it in the Old Testament, in Hebrew words like “raheem” - which sometimes gets translated as “compassion”, as it does in Isaiah 14:1 “When Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and put them in their own land, then sojourners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.”
Or in the Hebrew word “hannotiy” - which is often translated as “graciousness” as it is in Exodus 33:19 “...and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious...”
It’s a beautiful concept. In the New Testament we see it play out in passages like Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”
And in Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”
When many of you prayed that sinner’s prayer, when you became a Christian, it was His mercy that you were appealing to, it was the mercy of God that passes His wrath from your sin upon the Son on the cross.
It’s often stated that “Mercy is not getting what we do deserve, grace is getting what we don’t deserve.”
When we truly understand the holiness of God, we can understand that it is Mercy towards us when God’s wrath poured out upon the Son on the cross, grace is what saves puts the love for the Son upon us in spite of our sin.
It is the mercy of Christ is worth losing everything else.
Then 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.
Explain Text
Subpoint A.
Now, Mark says He was leaving Jericho, Luke says He was approaching Jericho. That’s quite interesting. Matthew says He was going out of Jericho. What’s going on here? Well, the best way to understand that is that those references can be taken to mean He was in the general vicinity of Jericho. He was going in and out of Jericho because He was not intending to stay very long, although He did stay long enough to spend an evening and a night in the house of Zacchaeus the tax collector to whom He brought salvation. Whether He was at this point coming in before the incident with Zacchaeus or going out after the incident with Zacchaeus, one can’t be dogmatic about. But safe to say, in any case, it is in the vicinity of Jericho where this happens. And that place would have been a buzz, filled with all kinds of sites and sounds and smells, even memories for Jesus, because very near Jericho was an area called “the devastation,” the devastation, the very place where our Lord had been taken by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil.
Subpoint B.
And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Explain Text
Subpoint A.
Subpoint B.
And 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, get up! He is calling for you.”
Subpoint 1. (Text Insertion/Verse)
Explain Text
Subpoint A.
Subpoint B.
And throwing off his outer garment, he jumped up and came to Jesus.
Explain Text
Subpoint A.
Subpoint B.
And Jesus answered him and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”
Subpoint 1. (Text/Verse Insertion)
Explain Text
Subpoint A.
Subpoint B.
And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
Explain Text
Subpoint A.
Subpoint B.
Conclusion:
- Call Back to Introduction
Restate Thesis
Solution and Call To Action
Closing Prayer