What is it about Jesus?
No one compares. Centuries beyond His ministry on earth, Jesus continues to capture the imagination of those who follow Him. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll presents another message in his brand new Easter series. It's called Compelled by the Cross. More than any other religious leader, Jesus ignited a spiritual revolution that has never slowed down. In this next study, we'll examine the perpetual power of Jesus. Originally presented on Palm Sunday, Chuck titled today's message with a relevant question, why is Jesus so fascinating? This is traditionally known as Palm Sunday for obvious reasons. It's the reminder of that time when our Savior came in His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem.
And what an experience that must have been. We'll do our best to relive it together as we see it portrayed in the 11th chapter of Mark. I want to begin reading a little bit before that entry in Mark 10, verse 46 and following. Please turn in your Bibles to that section of scripture, Mark 10, 46, and we'll read down through the 10th verse in chapter 11.
I'll be reading from the New Living Translation. Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and His disciples left town, a large crowd followed Him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy upon me. Be quiet, many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, son of David, have mercy on me. When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, tell him to come here.
So they called the blind man. Cheer up, they said, come on, he's calling you. Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked. My rabbi, the blind man said, I want to see. And Jesus said to him, go, for your faith has healed you. Instantly, the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. As Jesus and His disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead.
Go into that village over there, he told them. As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone asks, what are you doing? Just say, the Lord needs it and will return it soon. The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, what are you doing untying that colt? They said, what Jesus had told them to say and they were permitted to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it and He sat on it.
Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of Him and others spread leafy branches, palm branches that they had cut in the fields. Jesus was in the center of the procession and the people all around Him were shouting, praise God. Hosanna, blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David.
Praise God in highest heaven. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the Bible with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insight.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck titled, Why is Jesus so Fascinating? Every once in a while I pause and realize what a privilege it is to do what I do. Cynthia and I were talking very recently this week about how the Lord has led from one year to the next, one decade to the next. We realized that His hand has led us from one step to the next to the next.
And so often He surprised us by doing the unpredictable, some things that we would never have imagined took place. And I look back over the years and realize that it has been the greatest privilege imaginable to make a lifetime study of the Son of God. I probed and worked my way through the Scriptures year after year and continued to uncover truth. I just think of that as such an honor, such a privilege to be able to do that. I sometimes look for words that best define Jesus, His ministry. I've put a quick list together and came up with words like amazing, phenomenal, compassionate, glorious, faithful, forgiving, life transforming, loving, of course, loving. And in light of what He said and the things He did, the promises He made, the miracles He performed, I honestly don't know that there's a better word, though it may surprise you to hear me use this word for Jesus. Fascinating, fascinating. You may wonder, why would I choose that?
Well, look it up. I did that and I found that it means having the power to charm and allure, captivating, spellbinding, irresistibly attractive. Those are great words for Jesus. Irresistibly attractive.
I found that to be true over the years. I've never found the person of Jesus boring or irrelevant, out of touch. Jesus continues to fascinate me in my study and fascinate others as He changes their lives.
As a matter of fact, if I had to reduce the reason I chose that word to just one statement, it would be this. Jesus does the unpredictable that He might accomplish the incredible. He's forever doing that. Does that all the way through the Gospel story and Matthew and Mark, Luke and John, into the early part of Acts, doing the unpredictable, the things you thought He would say He doesn't say, and what He says, often surprising, or what He does, unexpected. And when it is all said and done, He does it to accomplish the incredible.
Let me add this. He isn't a show-off. He never presented himself as the star of the show, as if it was some kind of showmanship He was involved in.
Never. As a matter of fact, He did the unexpected thing. When others would look for the crowd, He often would leave the crowd and go to be alone or to be just with His disciples. The unpredictable. Often, more often than not, to accomplish something incredible. Think back over your life. Just pause and look back. Think of those surprises that at the time when they happened, you wondered about why is this occurring?
Why would this take place? We were reading the other morning at our breakfast time about Joseph, when he told his brothers to come closer. And he said to them, because they were just shocked, over the words, I'm your brother. I am Joseph, whom you sold into slavery. And I'm sure he saw guilt stretch across their faces.
But he said, but don't feel badly about that. God was in it. He brought me here that I might provide life for you. And exactly what had happened. What looked so bleak and wrong and bad at the time it occurred, led to life and hope and goodness as it unfolded.
He's always doing that kind of thing. I mean, even his death on the cross looked to the disciples like the absolute end of it all. It's over. And they slipped away in depression and discouragement. You know what happened. And they came to realize in only a few days, the resurrection. And all of it came to pass, just as he had said. They had been so caught up in the darkness and the loss of it all, that they failed to remember.
He told them he was going to come back. Doing the incredible, doing the impossible, doing the surprising and unpredictable, that he might accomplish something magnificent. This happens right here in the story we're dealing with.
We come across an example of it in The Blind Man, for example. We begin at Jericho, according to Mark 10, 46. They're on the road from Galilee all the way to Jerusalem. That's quite a walk.
And they pass through Jericho. There's a blind beggar by the road. That's not surprising. When you travel in Israel, to this day, you come across numerous beggars. Guides will often help tourists understand there's sort of a beggar protocol that you need to abide by. Because you never know if it's an authentic beggar or a phony beggar. They all look like they're needy.
They're all crouched down and all have their hands out. But you never know which one is truly a beggar, which one is truly in need. Now, this man certainly is. And interestingly, he couldn't see, being blind, and so he heard that it was Jesus.
And his heart leaped for joy. He believes in Jesus. That's why he calls him what he does. Oh, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And he says it repeatedly, repeatedly.
Listen to those words. Son of David. He had really given thought to this Jesus.
Not just a man from Nazareth, not just a master of disciples, but the promised Son of David. So he calls out to him in all of his misery of blindness. Now, Jesus breaks with protocol. You see, when you pass by beggars, you're not even to stop and look at them, because then they anticipate you'll be putting money in their hands.
You certainly don't talk to them, for then they know that's what you're going to do. But Jesus pauses. Let me add here that he certainly has more on his mind than a blind beggar. Think about what's ahead of him. Within a matter of hours, oh, he'll be betrayed by one of his 12. The deceiver will plant a kiss on his cheek. He'll be arrested in the garden. He'll be pushed through trials, all of them illegal. He'll stand before Pilate and go through that episode of what we could call an inquisition. He'll be tortured for no good reason, for they never really proved that he did anything wrong. He'll be nailed to a cross and crucified and hung up to die on that cross.
That's what's on his mind. Normally, you would think he wouldn't have time to even care what some beggar is saying or doing. But Jesus does the unpredictable. He stops. He says to those around him, bring him here. They brought him to Jesus.
And here is Bartimaeus standing before the one in whom he believes. And he asks him the most unpredictable question I could imagine. Now, if a person is blind and is brought before you and you're able to do whatever, whatever needs to be done, would you ask that individual, what is it you want me to do for you? I doubt that we would ask that. It's obvious. He could have asked him, how much money do you need?
Do you have a wife and family? How long have you been blind? Those are questions that you wouldn't know in just passing by. But everyone knows when they pass by that he's blind. But he asked, what do you want me to do for you? Sounds a little odd to me to ask him a question that is that obvious. But he wants Bartimaeus to specifically state what it is that he wants Jesus to do.
And I love his, I love the warmth of his answer as it's revealed in the New Living Translation. My Rabbi, I want to see. I doubt that I'm talking to anyone right now who has suffered from blindness.
Or if you have, you would be unusual in our group. We rarely come across the blind among us. There may be some in our broader audience who struggle with blindness. I've had difficulty with my eyesight in these recent years. I can't see out of my left eye.
It is not focused and probably never will be from here on out. But I'm far from blind. I have a good right eye that makes driving kind of exciting.
But no, I'm not trying to be funny here. I do take precautions. But I can't drive at night. I don't drive long distances.
So I have this partial problem. Really, it's nothing compared to Bartimaeus. He is a darkness.
I mean, of all the difficulties one could suffer, probably we would agree blindness would be the worst. And he's standing before the miracle working, magnificent, amazing, remarkable, phenomenal Christ of God who says, what do you want me to do for you? Oh, I want to see.
Did you notice the response? There's no surgery, no bandages, no bleeding, no oils. There's not even touching or waiting. Instantly. In fact, the text says immediately he could see. Jesus simply said, go.
The man had specified exactly what it was he would trust the Lord for. And this marvelous man named Jesus says, you have sight. I have an ophthalmologist friend who is now retired from the practice. But when he was working as such, he had an interesting part of his work that he did. He would frequently work with people who struggle with partial blindness, sometime very close to total blindness. And he said as a result of surgery and the process, we would take them through.
We would make it possible for them to see. And he said that the joy of being an ophthalmologist is that I'm right there when that happens. And he said, I finally decided this is the great moment to tell him about my Savior. So he said, rather than a flip chart that comes down with letters or now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country or whatever may be on there, he put on there, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And the whole four laws and other statements inside, sometime he would flip down and show them scriptures. That would be the first thing they would read. Although that is the most, that's a terrific evangelist.
What a great idea to use that. But Jesus simply says to him, go, you're healed. You're healed. You have sight. And from that moment on, the man is with full sight, fully focused.
And what do we read? We read that he followed Jesus down the road. He didn't go home and tell anyone else. He followed Jesus along the road. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is a rugged road. He's right there with Jesus. This one who has healed him, he feels deserves every bit of my time and praise and attention. So he's right there with him to be an eyewitness to this magnificent moment when prophecy is going to be fulfilled. We're just getting started in this message from Chuck Swindoll called, Why is Jesus so Fascinating? It's founded on our in-depth study in Mark chapter 10. To dig into this passage right now, remember every sermon you hear on Insight for Living is paired with Chuck's online study notes.
We call these free resources, Searching the Scriptures Studies. To take a deeper look at Jesus' encounter with the blind beggar, go to insightworld.org slash studies. Today's program is featured message number five in the six part series called Compelled by the Cross. If you carry a burden for those who've yet to place their trust in Jesus Christ, would you be praying for Insight for Living and your fellow listeners? We're asking God to use this teaching series to bring men and women all around the world to himself. Greatfully, we have a lot of evidence that God is using this program in this way.
Let me share an encouraging note. This person said, Chuck, as a young couple, we were struggling terribly in our marriage when we found Insight for Living on the radio in Boston. We know this was used of God to save our marriage from falling apart. We just celebrated our 50th anniversary and we thank God for being there when we so needed the help.
Well, maybe you feel that way too. Perhaps God has used this daily program as a source of spiritual strength and encouragement, and you realize that Chuck's teaching has helped you cultivate a deeper relationship with the Savior. Bear in mind, it's your financial support that enables us to provide these daily visits with Chuck. To give a donation and share your comments with us, go online to insight.org, or you can call us.
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The tour to Alaska is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to join us again next time when Chuck Swindoll's new series called Compelled by the Cross continues, here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Why Is Jesus So Fascinating?, was copyrighted in 2022 and 2023, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2023 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
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