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HOW GOD DEALS WITH MAN

Sandy McKay

This is a very interesting portion of scripture. It is interesting for those of us who have known Jesus as our Saviour for a long time, and for some of us it was of great interest when we were very young. It shows the way in which God deals with man.

I suppose we know that we have to do with God. We cannot go out at night and look up at the stars and not be impressed with the majesty of creation. God created the heavens and the earth, but not only that, He created man - you, me, men and women, boys and girls. Why did He create us? God was sufficient in Himself in one sense; but there is more than that. God's nature, love, desired an answer, and so He created man that He might have an answer for His own heart. Have you ever thought of that? That is why God created you and me, that He might have an answer. Sin came in, and man failed. Sin, lawlessness, had been before in heaven, but it was introduced on to the earth. It was not God's fault. When God created the earth, it was perfect, no flaw, no difficulty, no trouble, everything ran entirely according to God's plan. God created man, and before He created him, He created a garden so that man would have no cause for complaint of any kind, and put man in the very best conditions. I will tell you why He did that - because God knew that the enemy of your soul and mine would whisper into your heart that initially the fault was God's, and blame God. God put man into conditions where there could be no blame attached to God. Man was told to till and to guard that garden, but he fell down in that - he fell down in the guarding anyway - and sin came in. "By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5: 12). We cannot deny that there is every evidence of death around us, and we can go back to the beginning and we see where it came in. But where man failed, God introduced another Man, the Lord Jesus, His only-begotten Son, another kind of Man: and where man failed, God brought in a Man that did not fail. He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. That could not be you or me. God had a standard, and man failed to measure up to that standard, but that standard has been set out in Jesus. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3: 23), but Jesus fully measured up to the standard, and He glorified God. He said, "I have glorified thee on the earth" (John 17: 4). That may seem all very impersonal as far as we are concerned, but when we go to the gospel of Luke in particular, we see how Jesus drew near to people - not only in that gospel but in the other gospels as well - because when He is introduced in Matthew, it is "God with us", "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt 1: 21); alongside of that," 'God with us'" (v.24).

The writer of this gospel was one like ourselves, he was a Gentile. No doubt, by his name, he was a Greek. He had no claim to salvation; we will not go into that, but he had no claim to salvation. Some may have had a claim; we have no claim. Do you recognise that? No claim. Then why can we preach the gospel? We can preach the gospel because Jesus, the One who was holy, harmless and undefiled, died for us - we who had no right to anything but death and judgment, condemnation. Scripture says, "Christ died for our sins" (1 Cor 15: 3). Now, does that include everyone in the room? It must have included the company that Paul was writing to. It certainly should include everyone in the room, "Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and ... he was buried; and ... he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures". Most of us know that when Jesus died, He died on a cross, the most shameful and painful death that man could devise: that is what they chose for Jesus. If you had been there, would you have given your vote for that? Would you, if you had been given the choice - "this Man or Barabbas" - Jesus, the spotless, sinless One, or Barabbas, whom scripture tells us was a murderer - for whom would you have given your vote? The test is, for whom are you giving your vote tonight? It is very simple. Would you have been like the gospel writer who said when he saw the three men - Jesus and two malefactors crucified - "one on this side and one on that and Jesus in the middle" John 19: 18. Which side would you have been on? Would you have been on this side - or would you have been on that side? It is testing; it affects our life here for the rest of our time, and it is vital in view of where we will spend eternity. When Jesus died, as we have said, He died for sins, but when He went into death, He annulled death. That word 'annulled' means blotted out; it is a legal term and it means that whatever was on that part of the document was blotted out. (In effect it means that it makes it as though it had never been.) Now, as far as you are concerned, if you put your trust in Jesus, you can say, 'Christ died for my sins'. Anyone can say that - put your trust in Jesus and you can say, 'Christ died for our sins', that means that you are on this side, you are on the side of the crucified Jesus. But then as we have already said, not only did He die for our sins, but He was buried. Man of the order of which we are by nature had been an affront to God. We need to understand that. Whatever we may have been according to nature - born in a palace or wherever it may be - we were an affront to God on account of the way we had responded to Him. In spite of all His goodness, His wonderful provision, what was the reaction? We ignored God: not only that, we were rebels. But when Jesus hung on the tree, He died for sinners and He died for rebels. If you have resisted God up to this point, now is the opportunity to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as your Saviour and accept Him as your Substitute - that Jesus died for you.

We read here of a blind man. We do not know much about this man's blindness, but alas there are many blind people today. Do you think that God is interested in you? I can tell you that God is interested in you. He wants to have your heart - "My son, give me thy heart" (Prov 23: 26). He wants your heart; He wants your affections. Satan wanted to deny that to God at the outset. When He came in to the garden Adam was lost, he hid himself. There is no need for you to be lost; there is a way back. Grace reigns through righteousness, so God has established for you a righteous claim to have your sins forgiven, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1: 7). He died, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3: 18), He, the just One, the sinless One, died for us who were sinners the unjust ones, to bring us to God. This man was blind. Jesus opened his eyes. The same Jesus is ready to open the eyes of everyone in this room. If you have never seen Jesus as a Saviour before, God would open your eyes in order that you might see Him as a Saviour for you, a personal Saviour. This blind man was sitting begging. It had been his daily occupation, and we are told his name. He enquired what was going on. There is a commotion going on. What is going on? There was a crowd. Crowds are not always sympathetic, but I can assure you, anyone in this room who has never had to do with Jesus that this is a very sympathetic atmosphere. There is no-one here who would be unsympathetic. If you had any questions, there would be someone who would be only too glad to seek to answer them. That is the great principle of the glad tidings preached in places where there is sympathy. Persons are ready who have a heart, who have been touched by Jesus and want to bring others in to be responsive. And so it says, "And he called out saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me", have mercy! The God with whom we have to do is a God who is rich in mercy. There is an ample supply of mercy. Myriads have been secured and will be for God's glory eternally, happily and restfully now enjoying Him as a Saviour God because they have come under this wonderful touch of the One who was rich in mercy. Then, God has established His rights in mercy, "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth" (Psalm 50: 2). That may seem a strange reference if you do not understand it, but Zion means God's rights in mercy. God has come out to establish a right to have you for His pleasure. And so he says, "Have mercy on me". They say, 'Be quiet; it is not the time'. That is what the enemy would do - 'it is not the time, not the place'. Do not be quietened. Jesus has started to work with you. The Spirit of God has caused a certain seeking in your heart, a seeking after God and that is an evidence of the Spirit's work. You may not understand it but you will when you give your heart to Jesus. So today we can say, 'Whosoever will may come'.

Now, Jesus stood still. That is one of the most touching statements in scripture, "Jesus stood still". Where was Jesus going? He was going on to Jerusalem. That is where He should have been acclaimed as the King. Would you acclaim Him as your King? (We have to make it personal.) They did not acclaim Him as their King, they crucified Him, put Him on the cross, and yet there was a notice put on the cross, His accusation was that He was King of the Jews. That same Jesus is coming to take up His rights. Alas then, there will not be gospel preachings as we know them. "Behold, now is the well-accepted time; behold, now the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6: 2). Bartimaeus may never have had another opportunity to come face to face with Jesus. This may be the last opportunity that you will have to accept Jesus as your Saviour because we are looking for Him to come and take up His rights. Jesus is coming soon. When He comes He will call all His own, every one. What a great matter, a wonderful thing for those that love Jesus to anticipate that day! And then, what we anticipate is that when He comes in glory He will be vindicated, the One who was crucified is the One who will come and He will be acknowledged as King of kings and Lord of those that exercise lordship.

If you give Him that place in your heart, you are really doing privately what will be done publicly in a day to come. And so "Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be led to him". Jesus would have those in sympathy with Him. We would like to be able to lead persons to Jesus. The next thing is that He says, "What wilt thou that I shall do to thee? And he said, Lord ...", "Lord". Now, the scripture says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation" (Romans 10: 9,10). It is very simple, "For with the heart is believed to righteousness", that is, we can now be counted righteous before God because the blood of Jesus has met the claims of God's throne, the blood of Jesus He has accounted our righteousness, and then we know what it is to come into the gain of salvation, "For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation". Simply confess Jesus as Lord and what you will find is joy flooding into your heart, a heart that has been hitherto unresponsive is now buoyant with praise and worship. Then it says, "See thy faith has healed thee". You can well understand a man who had been blind, the first thing would be that he might see, but we want to apply it morally. Have you never seen beauty in Jesus? Have you never seen Him as your Saviour? Simply ask Jesus that you might see it tonight and it will be granted. The eyes of your heart will be opened to see beauty in Jesus and see Him as the Saviour, your Saviour. And then there will be rejoicing.

The next man is a man who has a certain knowledge of Jesus. He did not need to know who was passing by, he knew about Jesus, but he wanted to know a little more, so you can see that things are put in consecutively. We are not intended to stay initially simply with knowing Jesus as our Saviour, although that is a great matter, and as we confess Jesus as Lord, that means we are fit for heaven; but then this man wanted to know a little more. He wanted "to see Jesus who he was". That goes deeper than recognising Him as a Man here, although He was that, He was more than that. Who was He? He was God. We want to see that we are brought to Jesus - initially it is a great thing to get a hold of, - but then that is only the beginning. He wanted to see Jesus, and he had to climb up that tree, but when Jesus came, He stopped again, "Make haste and come down".

That is something we all have to come to, that if we do not come down, Jesus will have to bring us down. Whatever thoughts he had of himself had to go because Jesus wanted this man, Jesus wanted him. What did He want him for? He wanted him for His service. Remember the incident when He sent for the colt, "the Lord has need of it"; well, Jesus needs each one, boys, girls, men, women - even though they are old He still wants them. He says, "Make haste and come down, for today I must remain in thy house". Zacchaeus had a house: Jesus wanted that house. Part of the glad tidings is, that when God gets a bit of your heart, He wants your whole heart; when God gets a bit of your house, He wants your whole house. God completes things. We read in Genesis, on the very first page of the Scriptures, of God finishing things, and seeing that it was good. When Jesus does a thing He finishes it, and it is good. So Jesus wants you. Why does He want you? He wants you for His service, He wants you for His praise and glory. And so He says to this man, "Make haste and come down, for today I must remain in thy house". This is "today" again. Why does He say, "today"? Because there may not be another day. He is sending out an invitation initially for us to come into the enjoyment of salvation, but He is also sending out an invitation for us to be found here for His service. What does He want us for? To do some great thing in the world? Oh no, not great as far as the world is concerned, but what a wonderful thing to be here in the scene where Jesus has been rejected, to be walking here pleasing to Him, and to be for His praise and glory. We were speaking this afternoon about a man who was lame in his feet and who would have been of little account - his name is Mephibosheth - for company but David had captivated his heart, so he had no eyes for the usurper, he had no eyes for the pleasantries of Jerusalem when David was absent; he was alone in Jerusalem (as far as he knew) and he did not want to fit into its social system or its commercial system or anything else. Now, that is what Jesus wants us for that we may be apart for Him so that we might be for His praise and glory. May it be so for His Name's sake.

EDINBURGH

20 January 1991

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