Now or Never (Part B)

But at some point, you're going to have to take a step forward. It's not a work to earn salvation. It is the act of receiving salvation.

The prosperity heretics will try to tell you that there's power in your faith, that there's a resource that you have, and it's in you. That was so that there would be no dead person could rise again. Jesus couldn't raise the dead. Sorry, he doesn't have faith. And faith, he's dead. Their faith has nothing to do with it.

Submission to Christ has something to do with it. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching his message called Now or Never in Mark Chapter 10. How many people in my life do I need to tell about Jesus when the opportunity is given to me by God? Now, there are times again God will tell us, no, that's not for you, as he did with Paul and Barnabas, closing doors for them. I don't want the gospel preached there yet, not by you, not right now.

I've got something else for you. That is a prerogative of the Holy Spirit, prerogative of God to lead and guide us. That's why he is Lord. Jesus was not coming this way again. It was now or never. He's heading towards Jerusalem, and there he will be murdered and crucified in public. Barnabas seems to be saying, I don't care what's going on, I'm calling out to him.

It is now or never. And so at this point, this blind man had to make two choices within his own heart. Was Jesus the Messiah indeed? The rabbis didn't think so.

Well, Barnabas, the son of Timaeus, evidently did not care what the rabbis said if it did not match what he believed. A lot of people will go wherever the wind goes. I've noticed driving, for example.

Here we go. A lot of folks, they don't want to do their speed limit. They want to do your speed limit. That's why you catch up to them, and then they won't let you go. Why can't they keep doing the 20 miles an hour in the 50 zone that they were doing before I got there? Okay, it's a little personal. I'm sort of like, I could see it happening, and you're not with me, because you must be the people I'm catching up to.

It's like, get your own speed limit. All right, back to this, since I'm the only one that struggles on the road. He said, no, Pastor, we've heard about your struggles on the road.

Tell us some other things you struggle with. No, don't be nosy. Anyway, the other point that he had to settle in his own heart is the Messiah good. If he is sovereign and all that the prophets say he is, is he good?

Does he care about me? I've been blind. I'm poor.

I don't even have a name. Why can I approach him? He did not allow all those things to get in his way. He is determined to get in front of Jesus Christ. The lessons that fly off the page, they rob those who have excuses for coming to Christ of any seriousness.

Are you kidding me? Again, if Rahab can understand these are the people of God, then what was wrong with everybody else in the city? Rahab had enough heart fortitude to say, I don't care what they think.

I know what I think. She acted on that. There are those that cast themselves into serving Christ, as I mentioned earlier, only to discover that faith and devotion do not deliver to them what they had hoped. They hoped that Christianity would be this miracle drug in life that would just somehow do the things that they listed before God. And when they find they still have to struggle, they still have to fight, they have to deal with fear, they have to deal with depression, they have to deal with opposition, they have to deal with all these other things still. Instead of clinging to Christ, they slide away because they factor out the important things of God's word that face up to these things. God does not shy away from human suffering.

Just because he doesn't stop it doesn't mean he turns a deaf ear or a blind eye to it. We all know this verse, we who believe. If I said, who said this, class? Though he slay me, I will trust him.

Like that, you'd say, Job, you'd know it. Though he slay me, I will trust him. The apostate does not do that. The apostate may do it early in the walk then fall away later in the walk and Satan is counting on it.

That's how he plays people. Oh, you do not listen to me today, I'll be back tomorrow. I'll be back next month.

I'll leave you for a while, but I'll be back. We know this. That's his MO. It's his method of operation. Job chapter 19, for I know that my redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth. This is deep into Job's experience. This is not the first day of his struggle.

He's been deep into this now and now he's got these four friends and the entourage with them show up. They don't help him, they hurt him, but he stands firm. I know my redeemer lives and you can't take that away from me.

I know the one that's going to rescue me is alive and I don't fault him for allowing this. Job struggled, there were those down days, the down moments that he had, you know, God is chasing me, he sets me up like an enemy, he comes at me like a warrior, then he'd get it back together again. He did not even know. He did not know that he was God's champion, that it was Job and his testimony, a righteous man who turned from evil versus Satan. Some question again the goodness of God.

Therefore they go on oftentimes to question his existence by staring too long and too hard at the curses in this world and they get their eyes off of God. Barnabas didn't have eyes to get off of God, you could say. He had a heart for him. He did not fall for that from hell. He knew that lie.

He likely had thought of it time and time again. He had every reason to be bitter at Christ, at religion, at people who talked about faith, God's mercy. Men have good reason to question God but no reason to deny him. You can ask all the questions you want. Sometimes you'll get answers. My experience is most of the time you won't, outside of what's been answered in Scripture.

There are exceptions but I cannot unknow him. Where else am I going to go? As Peter said to Jesus, there's nowhere else.

You're it. You've encapsulated everything that I need to know about God and I'm not going anywhere. Verse 48, then many warned him to be quiet and he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. People interfering with this man calling on Jesus. He overcame their interference. He dialed it up after that. I mean, what were they going to take from him?

His eyes? Was he going to make him a beggar? Maybe to give them some of the benefit, maybe they thought he was going to ask Jesus for money as a beggar would do.

That is possible. Anyway, this determined spirit to lay hold of God's blessings, it's found throughout Scripture. One of the most poignant or outstanding cases is Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord to obtain the blessing. He just wouldn't let go. He wouldn't stop. Now granted, in Jacob's case, the match lasted through the night. For us, it could be a long night.

A night can be a lifetime. But we will lay hold of the blessings. God will not silence a voice that truly calls out for him. He's not going to silence that voice. Isaiah said it this way, a bruised reed he will not break, a smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice and truth. That's what he does.

It doesn't mean he's on our timetable, but he does do these things. The truths of God are a must learn. We do not get a pass when it comes to spiritual truth. God never encourages us to be lazy when it comes to our faith, but to plow, to work hard and long.

And as I often say, I don't like it any more than you do. I want to go to heaven and be happy. I want to go to heaven. The only place on earth, back to the auto thing, it's a wonderful thing for me that in my driveway there is no speed limit. I can go as fast as I want.

That makes me happy. When I get to heaven, I can go as fast as I want. But right now I can't. Right now there are just things in the way, and I have to face them as my Lord. And Satan will come along and say things like, what kind of God is this that creates a circumstance where you find yourself and where you are miserable? The answer to Satan is, you know the answer to that. Shut up and leave me alone.

That is a fact. A. W. Tozier wrote a book and he titled it I Talk Back to the Devil. Well, Christ did. Again, this faith that we have, it is unique and it is fiercely contested by my flesh, by the world, and by these invisible spiritual forces. So, Christ, you have to ask yourself when we consider the scriptures and the gospel, for those of you who have not invited him into your heart yet, this story is a vivid picture of salvation also in this sense. Bartimaeus is not getting a second chance.

This is it. Christ is not coming this way again. And Jesus Christ does not guarantee us second chances.

You can, of course, drop dead at any moment. Why should anyone hear the gospel twice when there are those that have not even heard it once? What do we do with this kind of information? What happens when you hear these things? Do you recognize that it is God himself revealing this to you? God is patient with those who hesitate, but his patience will not help you if you go to your grave refusing him. Blind Bartimaeus was taking no chances.

He wasn't going to let anybody shut him up. As we unfortunately see so many of our college students go raise in the church, go off to the universities and pay for their professors to undo their faith for them, Bartimaeus would have none of that. He says, Son of David, have mercy on me. We can't hear the tone and the sob in this man's voice, but I don't think the apostles ever forgot it. That's why they all carry the story that went to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Verse 49, so Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man saying to him, be of good cheer, rise, he is calling you.

You know they felt stupid. I mean, here they are, quiet. No, let him come.

Oh, he wants to see you. Change of gear real quick for those people. But I'm always touched by these four words, so Jesus stood still. Whenever I read this, that stands out to me. Jesus stood still. All three of the gospels record those four words just like that. I think that's a trifold witness from God. I think it tells us what he wants to do. We'll later read in a moment that it was because of compassion that he stood still.

He says here in verse 49, and commanded him to be called. What a thrill. He must have rushed over this man's heart, his body. What a thrill, rushed over Bartimaeus. Nobody called him before.

No one had wanted anything to do with him. Then comes these five words. Rise, he's calling you.

That's that change of tone. But Jesus is using these people. Nonetheless, the call was not wasted. If you've not opened your heart to Christ, as you hear me preaching, if you don't understand that it is Jesus himself still calling you, you may not get another chance. Maybe it's now or never.

Are you willing to risk your eternal state on that? For those of us who've been Christians a long time, Satan would like to make those words, that appeal, sound cliché. We've heard it so many times, it may seem to lose its punch.

It does not. Hell still quakes when they hear someone invite someone else to come to Jesus. May we never forget it. Jesus himself is calling.

As he was calling Bartimaeus' son this day, well Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, called him to come to him. Today he says come so that you can receive life. But many hardened their hearts.

Not now, maybe later. Years ago I did a conference and someone came up to me after and said, you know, the reason why I don't believe is because you pastors are so persuasive. That's like the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.

That's a hardened heart. You're making it impossible for anybody to reason with you. It's not possible. They're disallowed. Any opinion that might move you to the truth and away from the sway of Satan has now been rejected by you. It's like a court that says we will not accept proof in the prosecution of this man. It's a kangaroo court. He sealed his own fate.

In that case, the court would have a hardened heart, which is to this day, courts do these things. Sinners are this way. Verse 50. And throwing aside his garment, he rose up and came to Jesus.

Mark didn't leave that out. He felt this covering was hindering him, slowed him down from getting to Christ. He was in a hurry to get to Christ. You can see this blind man not knowing he's following voices. He can't see where he's going. This outer garment of his just gets rid of it because what Jesus had was more important than that. He could get another garment. He could not get another Christ.

It was now or never. Hebrews 12, therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, that means, since we have all these heroes of the faith in the Bible, it does not mean that those who have died are watching us from the bleachers in heaven. That's spooky.

I mean, when you go to the shower and you think that it's just not what's happening. But we have the witness of those who, in chapter 11, were people of faith. That's the witness. And the writer of Hebrews, whom I believe is Paul, said, because of this witness, this example, because if they can do it, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let us run, not crawl, not mope. You know, once the countenance starts to sag, it's reflecting what's happening in the heart. And sometimes we're in a place of grief.

But we're not supposed to stay there. To endure means to suffer. That's what it means. You take the pain. There's not much you can do about the pain except keep persevering.

That means keep moving forward, as you say. Look, a lot of people, everybody suffers in life, many of them for nothing. In the end, they get nothing but hell.

That's all they get. That's what Satan wants. We are supposed to be looking unto Jesus as this blind man, metaphorically, is looking unto Jesus. He can't see physically yet. Verse 51, so Jesus answered and said to him, what do you want me to do for you? The blind man said to him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.

This exchange is so real. Jesus asked him straight out, what do you want? Some come to Christ with all sorts of wrong requests, wrong reasons.

Earlier, James and John and their mom come to Christ for a position of prominence. Make us more important than these guys. That didn't go over well, but Christ was so patient with them. I don't know why. Why is he patient with these guys? Here's this opportunity to drill instructor them, and he does not do it.

He's very gentle, and aren't we happy about that? The blind man, here in verse 51, blind man said to him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. Soon, within days, there's going to be a criminal that is going to say this to Jesus Christ as they're both dying together. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. You know who, the man who really says remember me the most in the Bible is Nehemiah.

He's a man that just was a solid leader, and just determined and focused on what he had to do. One of my favorite lines is that the good hand of God on me, and then a few chapters later he says, shall a man such as I flee? Who do you think I am?

I'm going to run from this. And of course, you read that, and you say, boy, that's going to be me, until you start facing things you want to run from. But anyway, Nehemiah wrote into his journal, remember me, O God. Remember me. It was important to him that God remember. God says, I always remember.

I never forget. My reward is with me. Do you believe it? Because it's only by faith you can lay hold on these things. Without faith, it all just sort of evaporates.

Thus, the apostate who once wrote books telling people how to do this for God and how to get to God, and the next thing you know, they're writing songs about God, and then they become apostates. Matthew adds this, which makes the whole story come together. Matthew 20, verse 34, in his account, he says, so Jesus had compassion and touched his eyes. What if he didn't have the compassion? I would be a little more reluctant to get in front of him, but he does have compassion. Our English word, made up of the Latin, compassion, means to suffer with, along with.

That's the idea here. Jesus could feel his pain. He doesn't say, I'm going to lift the curse on humanity.

I hate how the lions take out the wilderbeast and other such things. Of course, he doesn't like those things. But God is on a mission, and he will not be turned from that mission. He will have for himself a race of people who believe him through the fires and through the waters of this life. And Satan can't stop it. Verse 52, he continues, and then Jesus said to him, go your way.

Your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. First thing this man saw was the face of Jesus. Again, he would not be quieted. He would not be silenced. He would not be deterred. He was going to get to Jesus.

And when they told him to be quiet, he yelled louder. And now he's rewarded. For now, even now, literally as we speak, his reward is in paradise with God. First thing he sees is the face of God. Faith was the link between him and that cry out for Jesus, the son of David, to have mercy on him. The cry of Bartimaeus was the cure of Jesus because he trusted him. He trusted that Jesus was who he said he was, who the Scriptures said he was, that part of our faith that surrenders to Christ. It leads to other types of faith. There is the faith that saves the soul. There is the faith that serves once the soul is saved. To trust God moving forward. Everything we know in life is made up of parts. There's no single thing.

H2O, water and oxygen. I mean, everything has parts to it. And so does our faith. It's not singular in that sense.

And this is the beginning of this man. There is the faith that follows and there is the faith that serves as it follows. Some just have following faith.

They come to Christ and just don't do anything for Christ. Don't be happy with that. You say, well, what do I do? You have to talk to God about it.

But at some point, you're going to have to take a step forward. It's not a work to earn salvation. It is the act of receiving salvation.

The prosperity heretics will try to tell you that there's power in your faith, that there's a resource that you have and it's in you. That was so that there would be no dead person could rise again. Jesus couldn't raise the dead. Sorry, he doesn't have faith in faith.

He's dead. Their faith has nothing to do with it. Submission to Christ has something to do with it. Faith is a surrender of self to God and the God of our Bible as we know it and not some energy that is out there that we control.

Otherwise, again, Barna Meis would have healed himself. If he had faith in his faith, who needs Jesus? I've got faith. This is the wackiest thing and there are many people who believe it.

You want to be rich, all you got to do is do X, Y, Z. And don't forget to put the offering in the plate. A big one too. Never mind. Let's move forward. Incidentally, again, we are in the age of faith based upon the truth of God's word. Miracles are secondary for us. If we see no miracles, our faith is supposed to still stand. We don't say, you've got to do something if I'm going to believe you. And he says, I've already done it.

You've got to believe that I've done it. And immediately he received his sight. That's what it tells us in verse 54. A recognition that Jesus is Messiah prompts Jesus to heal him, as I said, and follow Jesus on the road.

A blind beggar no more. Now he's a follower of Jesus Christ. John's gospel, Jesus says this, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. The apostate jumps out. No one snatched him out of God's hand.

They jumped on their own. You come to Christ. He's not going to chase you away. Well, we're almost, few months we'll be finished with Mark's gospel if things go according to plan. Again, if we get raptured before I'm finished, I'll meet you in heaven to conclude the rest of the chapters. I'm sure you'll be there.

I don't know where we're going next. I had thought of the book of Acts because it's been a while. The precepts of Paul are so important for our church body because coming from the pastor is not enough. You need to hear it coming from the Bible that some of you are doing some messed up things.

Or maybe it'd be the prophet Hosea. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You could search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross Reference Radio.