CHRIST, THE ANSWER IS CLOSE BY YOU – PART ONE
Friends, I’m glad to come to you again today. And thank you for welcoming me into your homes all these times we’ve been together.
Today, I’m speaking on, Christ, the Answer is Close by You.
Christ, the answer is close by you
PRAYER:
Thank You again, Father. As we search the scripture now I’m trusting, Father, that You would speak to all who hear my voice – You would speak to them the Words of life…in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
Our text is taken from Saint Mark’s Gospel 10:46-52
Mark 10:46-52
46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
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.”
50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.
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.”
52 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.
Christ is the answer.
In a subway (that’s underground rail station, in the United States, in New York) someone scribbled the following words;
“Christ is the answer”. Another person came by and saw what was scribbled, and then he also scribbled his own below it.
“And what is the question?”
Human existence has become an endless series of questions:
Why do bad things happen to good people? even though bad things do not happen to good people because there are no good people anywhere. Those are not my words – Jesus said that there is none who is good: no not one… but God alone in Matthew 19:17
“Why me, Lord?” You are implying why me Lord, why not my neighbour?
Why do we have so much of man’s inhumanity to man, so much wickedness, so much killings, gruesome murders as we see these days on the increase around the world by people who do not have any value for human lives? Why do we have so much suffering in a nation endowed with rich human and natural resources, such as Nigeria? Why can’t state government pay the workers who are depending on their salaries to take care of their families? For months they received no salaries. Why? Why? Why? And because of these numerous problems, these numerous “why” questions some people have come to the following conclusions:
- That God does not exist.
The argument is, how can God exist when there is so many problems in the world.
- They say….yes…some say yes God exists; but He cannot be a loving God.
- Some say yes, God exists and God is loving, but He cannot be all powerful.
But one thing we forget, one thing these doubters forget is that this problem is not from God. Sin is the root of the problems of man. It is sin that messed up the beautiful world that God made. Suffering and pain are the resultant effects of sin that came into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. For in Genesis 3, God pronounced curses as a result of the sin that came into the world.
In Genesis 3:14,
14So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
The enmity between man and Satan came into existence as a result of sin. And in verse 16 of the same Genesis 3, 16To the woman He said: “l will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; ln pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
and in verse 17,
17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it‘: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you rectum to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
This relationship between sin and suffering is confirmed also in Romans 8, where in verse 18, the Apostle Paul says, “For l consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Christ is the answer.
God sent His son into the world as an answer to man’s problem of sin and suffering. And no wonder in Acts of the Apostles 10:38, the scripture says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”
Our text is an account of how Jesus Christ was the answer to the problems of a helpless blind man at Jericho (Mark 10:46-52).
From this text I will discuss two main points with applications:
- The Problems of the Blind Man Analyzed . In other words what were his problems?
- The Problems of the Blind man Actualized. How were these problems solved?
- The Problems of the Blind Man Analyzed. From verse 46 of Mark 10.
Mark 10:46
46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.
The problems of the blind man –
- He had no sight, one of the most precious gifts of God to man. For a man or a woman – for anybody to lose his or her sight is a big loss, indeed.
- He had no formal identity – – he had no name to himself. You’d say, but the bible said, Bartimaeus No: Bartimaeus is translated here “the son of Timaeus.
Jesus said to Peter, in Matthew 16:17, He said to Him, Simon Bar-Jonah. Bar-Jonah: son of Jonah.
Bartimaeus – son of Timaeus. There is no name to this man.
- He had no help, only a companion in misery. I said a companion in misery because Matthew’s Gospel says that there were two blind men. In Matthew 20:29, 30. But look as it were zeroes in on one of them: the son of Timaeus.
He had no help;
- He had no dignity – – life had reduced him to begging for a living.
By way of Application I want to observe that:
- Sin causes spiritual blindness.
- Many men and women cannot see the ugliness of sin;
- they cannot see God and people for who they are. They see God as a man and they see people as things – things that are marketable, things that are usable, things that are discardable.
Today we see slave trade in a different form. Some people market young girls, use them and discard them because they see people as things.
Those who have spiritual blindness are blinded to where they are going. They do not know that they are heading to hell.
- Sin has also robbed many people of their dignity. They do not have a name with God.
- Sin has rendered many people helpless, beggarly, and wretched.
In Romans 7: 19, 24
“For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
Verse 24 – Romans 7, O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Friend, have you received your sight from Jesus the Christ who is the answer? If you are still living in sin you are blind. The blindness of sin will lead you to hell if you do not come to Jesus Christ like Bartimaeus did to receive your sight.
PRAYER
Lord, we have come to the end of our discussion today. I pray that you give sight to my friends in radioland who are still blinded by sin, that You give them sight, that they may see clearly – see God for who He is, see human beings for who they are: precious creatures of God, and see where they are going, that they may turn and head to heaven, instead of hell. Grant this, precious Lord, In Jesus Name. Amen!