Okay, why don't we open with a word of prayer. Give you a minute to get yourself right with the Lord, and then I'll open us with the word. Thank you, Father, for another opportunity to come before you and study your words. I pray you teach us through the work of the Holy Spirit and let us be able to apply what we learn into the areas of our life that we really need to apply it into. So open up our hearts tonight to your word. In Jesus' name, amen. I don't know if y'all are like me, but a lot of times when somebody offers you a moment to confess your sins, it's not ever long enough. Hopefully that's not true of everybody. Okay, in the events of Jesus' life, he has left Bethany, where he raised Lazarus from the dead, the home there of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And he's leaving because the Jerusalem Sanhedrin have basically decided they want to kill Jesus. They're just going to look for an opportunity to do it. So Jesus and his disciples have left Bethany, gone north to a small village called Ephraim, and then they left there and gone up to the border between Samaria and Galilee. Now, when we come to our study today, we'll find that Jesus and His disciples have joined up with a group of Galileans who are leaving to go to Jerusalem to the Feast of Pentecost. And so, Jesus and His disciples join up with them, Now, this group is going to cross over. They don't like to go through Samaria, so they're going to cross over up here, get on this side of the Jordan River into Perea, and then cross back down here at Jericho to go to Jerusalem. So they do that to bypass Samaria. Now, when our study starts today or this evening, they're on the east side of the Jordan River down near Jericho, which is just down from Jerusalem there. And they're about to pass over into Jericho. So it will be at the Passover, this Passover then, that's where they're going. This is the last Passover that Jesus will go to, and this is where he will be killed. So we're about a six to seven or eight days from Jesus' death in our study. Now, next week we're going to see them leave Jericho and go up to Jerusalem. So, the very first event that we want to look at this evening is in Mark chapter 10, so turn there if you're not there, Mark chapter 10 and verse 32. Now Jesus is approaching Judea and Jericho, and he's going to tell his disciples, again, tell his disciples concerning his death and his resurrection. So let's first of all note that with this crowd that they're with, there's a spirit of expectation on the part of the disciples and on the multitude of the people with him. Now, let's remember that Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead a couple of weeks before this, and that raising Lazarus of the dead is the event that lit the fuse in the multitude of people because they recognized that event as a Messianic miracle. So they had Messianic expectations then that the Passover, that Jesus was going to be there, And so they were all excited about it, I guess we can put it in our words. Now, when Lazarus was raised from the dead, it was interpreted by all of the listeners, or all the followers of Jesus, as a messianic sign. We looked at that last week. And this began the sequence of events that would terminate in his crucifixion. So now they've traveled about 40 miles from Galilee down, and we would have to expect, wouldn't you, that since most of his disciples were from Galilee, that there are a lot of people in that group that they all knew. So I expect that they're with friends coming down, all excited, talking about Jesus and, you know, is he going to bring in the kingdom and all that kind of thing. So there was a high spirit of expectation on the part of the multitudes that something great was going to happen in Jerusalem. They just didn't know exactly what it's going to turn out to be yet. Now, the disciples were probably more excited than everybody else, because just a few days before, Peter had asked Jesus, What are we going to get for forsaking all that we own and follow you? And remember, Jesus said, you are going to sit on the twelve thrones when I establish my kingdom. So they are all excited about that. Well, if he is going to establish the kingdom, then we are going to be sitting on twelve thrones in that kingdom. So what do you think that was on their mind, these disciples? So Jesus had just promised them twelve thrones, He had raised Lazarus from the dead. They were with a whole bunch of friends in Galilee, from Galilee, and they were coming to Jerusalem and they were expecting Jesus to establish the kingdom. That's what they were thinking. Okay, now let's begin on Mark chapter 10 and verse 32. And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed him were fearful. So they were excited, and yet there was a little bit of fear mixed in with them because they all knew that the Sanhedrin had put a bounty on him, basically. They were gonna kill him when he came, next time they had a chance. So, and it's this time, at this point, when they cross over into, or right at the Jordan River, that Jesus makes an announcement to them. And again, this is in the second half of verse 32. And again, he took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him when he got to Jerusalem, saying, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man," now let's just stop there. When Jesus used the term of himself, Son of Man, he's talking about his humanity. You know, the God-man has a nature, a divine nature and a human nature. So, He's talking in His humanity, and He's telling him seven specific things that will happen to him when he gets to Jerusalem. Now, this is the third time that He has announced this to His disciples. If you remember, the first time was in Matthew chapter 16, when Peter had said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Remember, we studied that. And Jesus immediately after that proceeds to speak of his death and his resurrection. Now, the second time that he's mentioned this to his disciples is in Matthew chapter 17, as they were coming down off of the Mount of Transfiguration, remember? He says again, he predicts that he would die and rise again. And in both of these instances, they didn't know what he was talking about. Well, here at the third time now, He's going to announce to His disciples that He will die and be raised again. But this time, He's going to give more specific details than the other two times. So, let's look at these details. It's in verses 33 and 34. In verse 33, Jesus says that He will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes. Now this is speaking of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, so that's going to happen. Then it says, they, that means the Jewish leaders, they will condemn him to death. Now this is referring to the trials, the Jewish trials before they turn him over to the Gentiles. Then number three, they, again the Jewish leaders, will deliver him over to the Gentiles. Now that's the Romans specifically. Then in verse 34, we see the they again, but the they this time are the Gentiles. Then they will mock him and spit on him. Okay, the fifth thing, they, the Gentiles, will scourge him. And this is in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5. And number six, they again, the Gentiles, will kill him. And then number seven, after three days, he will rise again. So Jesus responds to the excitement of the disciples and of the multitudes of crowds and their expectations of a coming kingdom. What he does is he predicts very specifically and in great detail the events of his upcoming death and resurrection in Jerusalem. So he's trying to get them in the right frame of mind Now, we don't know here, in Mark's gospel at least, how the disciples react to this, because we remember the first two times they didn't understand what he was saying. So in order to find out what the disciples thought about this, we have to go over to Luke. So turn to Luke chapter 18. And we're coming back to Mark, but you might put something there, a pencil or a dollar bill or something. Okay, verse 34 and 18, this is what Luke says. And they, that being the disciples, and they understood none of these things. And this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. So here again, the fourth time, they didn't understand what Jesus was saying. Three times he tells them, and three times they don't understand. Now, Dr. Constable says this, before we conclude that these disciples were particularly stupid. They didn't comprehend because they continued to focus on the coming earthly kingdom, which they believed was about to begin, and their roles in it. The time of Jesus' arrest, death, and resurrection did not make an impression on them at all, and that's exactly right. They were so concerned about what they were going to be doing on this new kingdom, They didn't comprehend what he was talking about. So these disciples had only thought in their minds of the kingdom, the throne, the deliverance from Rome, because that's what they expected, their position in the kingdom, and they didn't think at all about death, burial, and resurrection. Now, the disciples didn't understand what was going on, and it's demonstrated in the next incident that we want to look at. So, turn back to Mark if you're not there. James and John, along with their mother, approached Jesus and asked that Jesus let them sit, one on his right hand and one on his left hand, when he established the kingdom. Look at Mark 10, 35. And James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to him saying to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you. And he said to him, well, what do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, grant that we may sit in your glory, one on the right and one on your left. But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking for. Now Matthew notes in his gospel that their mother, Salome, by the way, who was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Salome asked the request for them. Now, James and John were the son of Salome, who was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Now, Constable says this, Mark put the words in their own mouths. So what we just read in Mark was that they ask, okay? And then Matthew says, no, Salome asked. So the gospel says, Mark put the words in their own mouths because the request came from their hearts even though Salome spoke for them. Perhaps they thought their family connection with Jesus justified their request. James and John were Jesus' cousin. Do you all know that? I didn't, quite frankly, until I started studying this. But anyway, it seems to be true because all the commentaries I read agreed with that, or at least most of them. Well, in any event, the disciples had completely missed what Jesus had said. They are expecting the kingdom to come when they arrive in Jerusalem. Now, let's read verse 38. But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism which I am baptized? And they said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. So their response is, We will suffer with you. That's what he's talking about. We know there's going to be opposition, but they were not thinking the same thing that Jesus was thinking. And Jesus says, yes, you will suffer with me. Now, he didn't say this, but he sure could have said this. Yes, James, you will suffer with me. You will be the very first disciple martyred. You will be headed for my sake. And that's what happened. And he could turn to John and say, John, yes, John, you will suffer with me. You will be exiled on the island of Patmos. And then he'll look at all the rest of the disciples and say, you are all going to suffer with me. And they did, every single one of them. But then he goes on to say in verse 40, But to sit on my right hand, or on my left, that is not mine to give, but is for those whom it has been prepared. So Jesus tells him that the position in the kingdom is for those for whom it has been prepared. So he denies their request for their positions of honor in his kingdom. But he did assure the disciples that it was God the Father who was going to assign those positions. So, Jesus as the human, the humanity of Jesus just says that's not up to me, it's up to God, the Father. Now, when the other disciples, you can guess this, can't you? When the other disciples heard James and John attempt to gain a preferential status in the kingdom, verse 41, they became indignant. Now, the fact that these ten became jealous of James and John reveals what? reveals that they probably wish they would have got there first, doesn't it? They have the same selfish ambitions. So, to maintain harmony among the twelve disciples, Jesus tells them again the meaning of true greatness in the Kingdom of God. Now, we studied this in detail in Matthew chapter 18, verse 1 to 5. But he's going to remind them again what it means to be great in the kingdom. And he does this by contrasting greatness in the kingdoms of the world with greatness in the kingdom of God. Dr. Grasknick says this, the contrast is not between two ways of ruling, that is between good rulers and bad rulers. The contrast is between ruling and serving. Now, notice that while we read through it, and you'll notice what he's saying. Verse 41. But hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John, and calling them to himself, Jesus said to them, You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. And their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. So the basic distinction he's talking about here in the position and the positions in the kingdom of men, they're obtained of men or they obtained that by lording it over their their people. Trampling them down and how to get, how one can get ahead in the kingdom of men then is to lord it over the people you over. But that's not true of the positions in the kingdom of God. Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be a slave of all. Now the word for servant means one who voluntarily renders service to others. That's a servant. The word for slave means one who forfeits his or her rights in order to serve all. So Jesus is telling the disciples that it is by humbling oneself and serving others that one finds a favorable position in the kingdom of God. Now that brings us up to Matthew chapter 10 and 45, 10 verse 45. Jesus uses himself as an example for greatness. It says in verse 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. Now here Jesus again is speaking in his humanity. He came as the God-man, not to be served, but to serve. And he did this voluntarily, sacrificially, and obediently to the Father. And the climax of his service was his death. He gave his life a ransom for many. So true greatness in the kingdom of heaven is attained by serving others in humility. And Jesus Christ is our example to follow. Now, when we, I wanna spend some time on this verse, verse 45. the last phrase in that verse, and he gave his life a ransom for many. This is one of the most important phrases in all of the New Testament, and it's also one of the most misunderstood verses in the Old Testament. So I'm gonna take quite a bit of time to go over this, because this is one of the greatest theological debates through the ages of Christendom revolved around the interpretation of the death of Christ. Why did Christ die? Or what was accomplished in his death? What did he do on the cross? Believe it or not, that went on for 400 or 500 years in Christendom trying to figure out exactly what he did. So I want to straighten that out. There are three important truths that come out of this phrase, and these three truths come out of how we interpret the last three words in this phrase, ransom for many. Three problems, three words. And if you read them, you'll know why. Now, the Begate began in the 11th century, and it continues today. The theologians of the day were debating what did Jesus accomplish on the cross. Now the two protagonists, or at least the speakers of the time, one of them was named Peter Abelard. And the other one was Anselm of Canterbury. Now, they might be familiar to you guys and know church history. There are two theologians, and the debate revolved around the atonement, that is, the atonement of Christ. What did he accomplish? Now, Abelard, he was liberal, and he says this. God's purpose of his atonement, God's purpose was to manifest his love and thus to stir up love in the breast of man and draw man back to himself. In other words, he says that Christ died as a demonstration of God's love, which would change the hearts of sinners and draw them back to God. Now that's a view that's still held today, and most liberal churches believe that that is what Christ accomplished. In other words, they view Christ as a martyr who died to give his life for the cause and cause everybody to be good. Now that's Abelard. Now Anselm, on the other hand, he was a conservative theologian. And just to give you a little bit of background before we even get to Anselm and Abelard, the theologians believed in what was called the ransom theory of the atonement. The ransom theory was actually the reigning model, I am told by some of the commentaries I read. It's a reigning model used to describe how sin was forgiven. Christ died to ransom us from the devil. And one result of that was the forgiveness of sins. Because Adam and Eve sinned, humanity was held hostage by Satan. That's what they came up with. So the Ransom Theory of the Atonement was based upon this verse, verse 45. And the theory says that God offered Jesus his life, and Jesus voluntarily laid down his life to Satan to break his hold on believers so that they can be forgiven. Now, I have no idea how they came up with that other than the ransom word, and I didn't dig into it because it would, you know, if they argued about it for 500 years, I am not going to solve that. But Anselm came along, and he concluded the issue was much more complicated than that. He said that the atonement was not just paying off Satan's hold on humanity, rather the atonement secured forgiveness by satisfying the demand of the justice of God. And he was right, Anselm was. His thinking goes like this, man is sinful, God is just, and because God is just, he must punish sin. And God must punish sin before he can forgive anybody, the sinner. Penalty for sin is death, okay? So therefore, either every sinner must die to pay for his own sin, or an accepted payment must be made. says that's why Jesus needed to die on the cross. His death satisfied the demand of God's justice so sinners could be forgiven. Jesus paid the ransom for our forgiveness to God and the ransom he paid was his very own sinless life. So the conservative Christian today, then, recognizes the death of Christ as what we call the substitutionary atonement. And by that, he means that when Jesus died, he died as a substitute for men and women on the cross, and there he bore the judgment for our sin. And that judgment was death. It was separation from God. He bore the judgment demanded by a righteous God for our sin, and as a result of that, it is now possible for us to have our sins forgiven and to escape the judgment of God that we deserve as sinners because we have sinned. Now, we do that how? By trusting in Him and His payment on the cross for our sin. Now, I'm gonna dive into that a little bit deeper. And that is what the substitutionary atonement is. And that is what is being developed in this verse. He gave his life a ransom for many. Now, the word ransom is a very crucial word. The word basically means to loosen, to loosen something. A ransom is to loosen somebody from something. It doesn't fit very well in our language, but that's what the word means. Now, a form of this word was used for paying the price that would free a slave in the scriptures. The ransom was the price paid to set them free from their bondage. Now, that gives us a little idea of what we're talking about here. The verse then says, Jesus gave his life as a ransom. His death was the price paid to set men and women free from their guilt, from the eternal judgment of God that they deserve because they are sinners. Now, let's be clear about one thing, that that is the only way you will ever be set free from your guilt. That is the only means A deliverance from the judgment of God is the death of Jesus Christ. There is not one single thing that you and I can do on our own to escape the judgment that we deserve because we have sinned against God. But because of his love for humankind, the second person of the Godhead, that is the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, The second person of the Godhead, God the Son, came to earth and through the virgin birth took on the human nature. He lived a perfect, sinless life on earth, and on the cross he died as the perfect substitute for all of humanity. He died on the cross praying for the sin of every man and every woman and every child that ever lived on this earth. He paid the price that a righteous God requires for man's sin. But that does not mean that every man and every woman and every child is now saved. Even though our sin has been paid for, we are still sinners. We are unrighteous. We do not have a righteousness acceptable to a holy God. And there is only one way for us to obtain that righteousness. And that is by faith, trusting in Jesus Christ, death on the cross as payment for our sin. Now when you do that, what happens? God imputes to your account the very righteousness that the son earned by living a perfect sinless life while on earth. Then because you and I now have a righteousness acceptable to God, he then declares us righteous. You are justified, that's what justified means, to be declared righteous, and that's a judicial declaration by God. We are now declared righteous, even though as long as we live on this earth, we will still be sinners. Now, because God has justified us, that is, because He has declared us righteous, we are now saved. We are in Christ. We will now be with Him in eternity, all eternity. Now, according to our study just a few days ago, or a few weeks ago, in John chapter 10, remember we studied about His sheep. His sheep are in His hand. We are also in God's hand, and nothing can tear us out of there. No one is able to snatch us out of those hands. So what does that mean? It means we are eternally secure. So, because we do not have a righteousness of our own, there's no way we can save ourselves. God the Son came to earth, took on the form of human nature, died in our place, And God took the righteousness that Jesus earned on earth, and he imputes it to us. It's a legal decision on God's part. We're still sinners. We're still unrighteous. But when we impute that righteousness, we are now, in God's eyes, righteous. And because of that, we are eternally saved. And that's what this verse is talking about. And when he's talking about the ransom. Now, we still got two more problems in this verse. Let's look at the next problem in verse 45. He gave his life a ransom for many. Now the liberals say he gave his life for the benefit of many. Now this goes all the way back to Abelard. That's what Abelard was saying, basically. That he gave his life as a benefit to encourage us to live a good life, like a martyr. But this argument really is pretty simple. It just shows to me that most liberals don't know Greek because the Greek preposition that they translated that's far, and they translate that meaning for the benefit of, is a-n-t-i, anti. It actually means instead of. or in the place of. That's what the Greek word means. A good example of this is in Luke chapter 11, 11. We don't need to go there. I'll read it to you, but just write it down so you can have it. It says this, What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a snake? So in that verse, that's exactly the same word, instead of a fish. So it means, so in Mark 10, 45, the Greek text is clear. When Christ died, he died instead of you, or he died in your place. Now this very clearly teach substitution. So it's the substitutionary atonement. He gave his life in the place of many. Okay, that brings us to the third problem word, many. He gave his life a ransom for many. Many, why not all? Did Jesus give his life a ransom for all or just some? Now this brings us to the theological debate of the extent of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Now the debate is, did Jesus die for everyone, or did he die to pay for the sins of only the elect? To say that Christ died for the elect only is found in the phrase limited atonement, if you've ever heard that. If you've ever been around a Calvinist, you have heard it, because that's what they believe. Now this view is held mostly by the Reformed theology camp. and who described himself as Calvinist, okay? Now, although from what I've read, it's not even clear that John Calvin himself believed this. So, we can take that for what it's worth. But in any event, those of this persuasion say that when Christ died, he was only paying for the sins of the elect. And a couple of weeks ago, we got into this, who the elect are, and I'm not gonna go into further in that other than if you remember that the elect were chosen in eternity past by God himself. Okay, so those that believe this view use this verse right here. God died for the many, and you can see where they get that. to support their view. Now, we here at Fredericksburg Bible Church, and all of the teachers here at Fredericksburg Bible Church, do not believe that, okay? We believe that Christ died for the whole world. Now, the reason that we do, or at least one of the reasons we do, is in 1 John 2, verses one and two. So if you want to turn there, turn there. If not, I'll just read it. 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. John is writing, and he says, my little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." Now, let's look at that for a minute. Propitiation means that through his substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus satisfied the righteous demands of God, making it possible for us to be saved. Now, if you take this verse, 1 John 2, 2, and take it literally, the normal, common-sense reading of the verse says this, that when Jesus died on the cross, he satisfied the wrath of God against all sinners. making it possible for every sinner to be saved. Now the Calvinists take this verse, this term, for the whole world to mean for both Gentile elect and Jewish elect of the whole world. But the normal common sense reading of this verse doesn't allow that. They're changing the verse to align it with their own theology. So I don't buy their argument. And so what did Jesus mean by the many then, okay? If we throw out the problem of limited atonement, then the answer is pretty simple. Jesus here is contrasting the one with the many. It is necessary for one to die in the place of many. That's a contrast between those. I think Dr. Cospel describes this best. He says, many contrast with the one life of Jesus giving up as a payment. The point is that one man's act affected many others. Many does not mean some in contrast to all. While Jesus' death benefits everyone in one sense, and only the elect in another sense, that was not the point of Jesus' contrast here. Jesus took the phrase, Jesus took the place of everyone by paying the penalty for their sins. And he quotes, or he says, look up John 3, 16. Anybody remember John 3, 16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. God would be lying if he wasn't, and whoever if he wasn't offering it to everybody. So, that's all I'll say on that. Well, okay, why is this important? because it supports the fact that every person has the opportunity to accept Jesus through faith and respond to God's call to salvation. In other words, I can stand up here tonight and I can say to you, Christ died for your sins. Well, a Calvinist can't do that because he wouldn't know out there how many were elect or not elect, right? So anyway. I better move on. Oh, I think we've got enough time. Okay, we're gonna speed up a little bit, because I'm gonna try to, I'm sorry I spent so much time on that, but it's important. It's important that you understand that. And if you ever run across a Reformed theologian, who is the same thing as a Covenant theologian, the same thing as a Preterist, except they're really off, we'll get to that one day. Anyway, Jesus and His disciples now, along with His group, let's go back to them, you know, they're just crossing the Jordan River, and they're going into Jericho, okay? And there He heals a blind man named Bartimaeus. Now this miracle is mentioned in all three gospels, and here again we have a problem, so I just want to go through it quickly. All three gospels, and there are three accounts, and critics love problems. They get to say, well, the Bible is not true, it's got all kinds of problems in it. Well, they haven't been able to really prove one yet, but let's move on. Okay, here, Matthew, turn back to Matthew 20 in verse 29. So, Matthew chapter 20. Oh, keep your finger in Luke 18, Sue. We're coming back. Matthew 20 in verse 29. This is what Matthew says. It's really kind of simple, but I just want you to know the answer. There is an answer. And as they were going out from Jericho, a multitude followed him. Now turn to Mark verse 46, it says this. And they came to Jericho, and as he was going out from Jericho, there again, out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting in the road. Okay. Now, Luke, go back to Luke, verse 18, 1835. And it came about that he was approaching Jericho. Uh-oh, we got a problem. As he was approaching Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting by the road. Okay, I hope you picked up on the problem. There's two problems. First of all, Matt and Mark tell us that it is as he went out from Jericho that they healed this man. And Luke says it was as he was approaching Jericho that he met the blind man. So what's the answer? Well, I went to Dr. Frutenbaum, the Jew, and he says this, the historical geography of Israel dispels this apparent discrepancy. In the first century, two Jericho's existed. the Old Testament Jericho and the New Testament Jericho that was built by Herod the Great. In fact, that's where Herod the Great died was there in Jericho, the New Jericho. He says they're separated by about three miles. So to go through, to get to Jerusalem, you had to go through the Old Testament Jericho to reach the New Testament Jericho if you're coming from the north, which they were. So putting the two together, you have this. Matthew and Mark, as Jesus went out of the old Jericho, and then Luke says, as he approached the new Jericho. And apparently that's the answer. It makes sense, if you know there's two Jerichos. And we went there, Jenny and I did, and we did see the old, we looked at the old Jericho ruins, and you could see the new Jericho up on the hill. But, you know, whether there was somebody living in the old Jericho at the time, we can't prove that, but nonetheless, that's what, that's how they explained it. Now, the second problem is that Matthew says there were two blind men, but you saw Mark and Luke refer to one man. Well, how do you account for that? Well, Matthew says that there were indeed two men, but Martha and Luke center on the spokesman for the two. Now, there's Bartimaeus was the spokesman for the two, and that's what they're doing. They're focusing in on him. But there were two blind men and two healed by Jesus, but we're only looking at the one. Okay. Chapter 10, verse 46. Let's read this. Go back to Mark. And they came to Jericho, and as they was going out from Jericho with his disciples, a great multitude, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting by. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, see, he'd already heard about Jesus from the Lazareth hill. And so he just kept bugging them and bugging, hollering at Jesus, hollering at Jesus. And he calls him the son of David. It shows that he does believe and understand what's going on. And so we get down to the first 51 and answering him. Jesus said, what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said, I want you to regain my sight. I think that's what I'd want too. And Jesus said to him, go your way, your faith has made you well. Immediately he regained his sight and began following him. Okay. Now what's the significance of this miracle? Well, the first thing we need to know is this is the last miracle that Mark records in his gospel. And it concludes Mark's section on discipleship, which is chapter 8, verse 31 to 10 through 52 in Mark's gospel. And what was God doing in this time frame? He was teaching his disciples about discipleship. He would specifically teach him about discipleship. We've already looked at some of that. So in this story, Bartimaeus was a clear picture of discipleship for these disciples. See, Bartimaeus recognized that he had needs, and his needs were that he could not see. He was blind, and he also recognized that he could not solve the problem himself, so he goes to Jesus Christ to solve his problem that he cannot see, and Jesus meets that need, opens his eyes, and he can see. And when he could see clearly, he began to follow Jesus, a good example of what a disciple is. Contrary to the nation of Israel. Okay. Dr. Pentecost says it. Probably say it better than I can. He says this. This incident was designed to be a lesson to the 12. The nation Israel was spiritually blind and did not recognize their need. That being the case, they saw no reason to turn to Christ for help. Christ could not remove the blindness from a nation that would not acknowledge that they were blind. Christ helped those who recognized their need and turned to him for help. Now that's what that little story is telling us. And that sets up for the next and last story that we're going to look at tonight. Jesus is still in Jericho, and as he's walking through the ruins, he meets the chief tax gatherer in Jericho, Zacchaeus. Now, we all know Zacchaeus. Turn back to Luke chapter 19. Like Zacchaeus is the one that climbed up in the tree because he was short and he couldn't get to Jesus, if you remember him. I'm not going to read this whole section. So, but Zacchaeus was a tax gatherer that collected taxes for Rome. And, of course, tax gatherers skimmed a lot off the top for their own pockets. And so, Zacchaeus was the chief tax gatherer. He was probably the most hadest man in Jerusalem. Anyway, he was seeking Jesus, and he climbs up in a tree, and when he gets up in the tree, and Jesus walks under him, he says, Zacchaeus, I'm going to be with you tonight. Come down, and we're going to stay with you. And apparently, it doesn't tell us how, but Zacchaeus believed in him as his Messiah. So, here in this story, we have a picture of a seeking Savior, that's Jesus. It is He, by His Holy Spirit, that quenched the sense of guilt in Zacchaeus, the sinner. And that is also He who comes to that sinner and calls him by name, which He did. He said, Zacchaeus, come down out of that tree. And they go to his home. And just as they get there, Zacchaeus turns and says, Lord, I'm going to give half of my possessions to the poor, and those that I've defrauded, I'll give them four times as much. Now, all of this was in the Mosaic law, that this is if they did this to somebody, they had to accept. Zacchaeus says he's going to do twice as much as what's in the law. Now this brings us to exactly what's going on in this story. Here you have a sinner being convicted of his sin, apparently by the Holy Spirit. You have the Savior calling the sinner to himself. The sinner by faith turns to the Messiah and is saved. Now the sinner displays his faith in the Savior by his works. And the evidence of saving faith is a changed life. Here again, we see another example of faith and it works. Now Zacchaeus had that kind of faith. It's changed his life. Now, Dr. Frutenbaum sums all this up. He says, as a result of the national rejection, Jesus focused on the individual rather than on Israel as a whole. Salvation came to the Jews indivisibly and not nationally. Jesus emphatically called Jesus a son of Abraham. Now this lesson was on an individual personal faith and ended with the purpose of the first coming. In Luke's gospel, this is the purpose of the first coming. For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost. That's in verse 10. So Zacchaeus, a son of Abraham, was lost but now was found. His personal faith in the Messiah saved him. Now, Jesus and his disciples leave Jericho and they make their way to Jerusalem. Now while on the way to Jerusalem, he tells a parable to them. And he gives the reason why he gives this parable in verse 11, 19 verse 11, so let's look at it. And while they were listening to these things, he went on to tell a parable because This is why he tells the parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. See, they're still thinking that it's going to happen. So these 12 disciples were excited. They were sure that Jesus was going to start his kingdom when he gets to Jerusalem. and he would institute his Messianic kingdom, okay? So Jesus corrects that deal with these parables. And they're pretty easy to understand, so rather than read all of them, I'm just kind of gonna put it all together here. The nobleman, well, let's read the verse first. He said, therefore, a certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. Okay. The nobleman is Jesus, is going to a far country as heaven to receive from the Father a kingdom, the millennial kingdom. So we got the parable and I'm giving you both. Now this is showing that when they get to Jerusalem, Jesus will not set up his kingdom. And the reason why is given in verse 14. Verse 14, his citizens hated him and rejected him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. And so the kingdom is going to be postponed. That's what Jesus is saying in this parable. Now, before he leaves, he gives to each servant, and that's a believer, one mina. Now there's a debate on what the mina is. A lot of the commentaries say that it's the gospel. I believe it's spiritual gifts. It's either one or the other. For us to be effective in the, and he's talking about the time we're living now, the church age. So whatever it is, he gives them, let's say, a spiritual gift to carry on the ministry while he's gone, and he leaves. And when he returns, the servants are gonna be what? Judged, that's what he says. Now this is talking about the judgment seat of Christ, because these are believers. Those who invest what is given to them will be rewarded. That is, if they use their gifts, or the mina, or go out and preach the gospel, those who are faithful to Christ in that will be rewarded. Those that do not use, what is given to them will not be rewarded, however, they will still enter the kingdom. Now the citizens, in verse 27, notice what happens to them. These are the ones who do not want Jesus to rule over them, that we've brought before them and slain at the second coming. So that's the, I got one thing, one other thing I wanted to read to you from Dr. Weersbe. He says this, the faithful servants obeyed because they trusted their master and wanted to please him. The unfaithful servant disobeyed because he feared his master. But these citizens rebelled because they hated their king. Now, which one of these are we? I hope you're not the third group. They don't have a very good future. And here again, as disciples, we are to follow Jesus Christ and to serve him. Let's pray. Father, I do thank you for your word. Sometimes there are lessons that we learn are hard for us to follow through on and you know that. But when we fail you, our responsibility is to confess our sin and to move forward and keep following you as best we can and obeying you. And for any of you out there that are listening or that are in that third class, you need to think about the fact that those at his second coming will be slain. So I advise you tonight, which is a good place to start, to recognize that you cannot save yourself. Your righteousness is not acceptable to God. And the only way you can gain the righteousness that is acceptable to God is by trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Trust what He did for you on the cross. Put your faith in Him and Him alone for salvation, not in anything that you can do because you can't do anything before God. So I recommend that you do that tonight.