Young People’s Blog

“As He [the Lord Jesus] went out of Jericho…blind Bartimaeus…sat by the highway side begging…And he came…to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto Him, Lord, that I might receive my sight” (Mark 10:46,50-51).

We might wonder why the Lord Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” Surely the Lord Jesus knew very well that when a blind man called out loudly to Him, he wanted the Lord to give him his sight. That is true, for the Lord Jesus knew that this blind man was calling to Him so that he might be able to see. In the same way, the Lord Jesus knows what we want even before we pray to Him. Why then did the Lord ask this question?

It was because the Lord wanted to hear from his own mouth what he wanted. He wants to hear our voices too, in the same way that parents want to hear the voices of their children asking for things they want. The Lord Jesus is the same today. He wants to hear our voices in prayer, even though He knows ahead of time what we need. The Lord Jesus Himself had said, “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

We saw yesterday that the bad boy, John, felt that the Pharisee’s prayer just would not do for him. Then the Sunday school teacher read the prayer of the publican, and asked, “How about that prayer, John? Is that one better?” John was a tough boy, and today we would say that he was “street smart.” He was used to fighting, putting up with hardships, and not showing his emotions. But the Lord was working in his heart, and when he heard the prayer of the publican, he started to cry. “Yes,” he said, “that is the kind of prayer I need.” I am glad to tell you that John got saved that day, because he came to the Lord Jesus simply as a sinner—a bad boy.

The Pharisee did not realize that his heart was bad too, and that he needed a Savior just as much as the publican. If we have been brought up in a Christian home, we may have been kept from doing some of the bad things that others do, but our hearts are just as bad, and we need a Savior too.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are” (Luke 18:10-11).

About 100 years ago a particularly bad boy in a Sunday school in a city in Canada suddenly came to his teacher afterward and asked, “Are there any prayers in the Bible?” The teacher immediately said, “Yes, there are,” and proceeded to tell him about this prayer of the Pharisee. If you read Luke 18:11-12, you will see that the Pharisee told the Lord all the bad things that he did not do, and all the good things he did. The Pharisee was quite satisfied that he was a good man, and better than most other men.

The Sunday school teacher read the prayer out loud, and then asked the boy whether this prayer would do for him. But the boy, whose name was John, after hearing how the Pharisee prayed, immediately said, “No, that prayer won’t work for me! Everyone knows that I am a bad boy; I can’t tell the Lord that I am a good boy.” We will see tomorrow the other prayer that comes right after the one the Pharisee prayed.

“The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).

As Christians, we should always act in a right way before the Lord, and this means acting in a right way before our fellow man as well. We have a new life in Christ that wants to do what is right, and to honor the Lord in the way we live. If we are righteous in the way we conduct ourselves, we will find that we live in the presence of God, and that we are free to pray to the Lord at any time. We will also have the sense in our souls that He hears us, and is ready to answer our prayers.

On the other hand, if we live in a careless and sinful way, and deliberately allow things in our lives that are dishonoring to the Lord, then we will find that we cannot really pray. If we try to do so, the words somehow will not come, and we will sense in our souls that there is a hindrance—a barrier, between us and the Lord. The Holy Spirit within us is grieved, and we will not be happy in the Lord’s presence until we confess our sin, and get right with the Lord.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

In the Old Testament, when the people of Israel were numbered, each one was to give half a shekel of money for the service of the tabernacle. It seems that somehow this part of the law had been corrupted by tradition, to try and say that redemption could be bought with money. Peter calls this “vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.” It was very clear, even in the Old Testament, that only the shedding of blood could accomplish redemption. The Lord said to Moses, “It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11).

For all of us, it is the blood of Christ that puts our sins away. More than 100 years ago, an elderly Christian man lay dying. One of his sons asked him, “Father, do you have any doubt about where you are going?” He gave a good answer—“I have no doubt about the value of the blood of Christ.” That is what we can rest upon before a holy God.

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

A steward is someone who is given responsibility for things that do not belong to him; rather he is entrusted with them by the owner, to use them properly, as the owner wishes. We saw yesterday that we are stewards of our money, but today we see that we are also stewards of our spiritual riches. What is the difference?

When you give away money to someone else, you have less of it yourself. But when you share your spiritual riches, you do not lose them; they are still yours. In fact, when you share spiritual riches, you enjoy them even more. In this way we are still stewards of them, but the Lord says (as we had in yesterday’s verses) that the spiritual riches are really our own, because even when we share them, we never lose them. We will not have money in heaven, but the spiritual riches will be ours for all eternity.

Again, our use of money and other natural things is an indication of how we will use spiritual riches. The Lord does not give spiritual riches to those who show clearly that they will not use them properly.

“If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:11-12).

In this particular passage of Scripture, the Lord Jesus is speaking of how we handle money. He calls it the “unrighteous mammon,” for the love of money can be a root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). The things in this world, such as money and other material things, are not really ours. They are given to us by the Lord to use for Him. We can either waste them on ourselves, or we can use them for the Lord, and thus lay up treasure in heaven. But how we use the things in this world is often an indication of how we would use spiritual riches.

The Lord wants to give us that which is really our own—spiritual riches. But if we do not use natural things for the Lord, is He going to give us spiritual riches? No, for we have clearly shown that we are not mature enough spiritually to handle them correctly. We will say more about this tomorrow. If we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then we should want to use whatever we have for Him.

“What king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31).

Yesterday we spoke about building in the Christian life, and here the Lord refers to warfare. This is not referring to war with military weapons, but rather to spiritual warfare. Satan and his evil angels (demons) are always trying to destroy the work of the Lord, and our enjoyment of Christ.

Satan is the king with twenty thousand men, and we are like the king with ten thousand. How can we win the battle? Perhaps, as verse 32 in our chapter says, we should try and arrange for peace. But then Satan will dictate the terms of the peace treaty, and will want us to give up some of the truth of God’s Word.

As we saw yesterday, there is only one way for us to win, and that is with the Lord’s help. He can help us win the battle, for He is stronger than Satan. Also, He can help us finish building the tower. If we really wish to follow the Lord Jesus, He can make it possible for us to do so!

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28).

When He was here on earth, many people followed the Lord Jesus because He fed them, and also healed them of their diseases. But He also reminded them that while salvation was free, there was a cost involved in being a disciple. Just as a man who was going to build a tower had first to count the cost, to make sure he had enough to finish it, so you and I need to count the cost of following the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus knew He was going to be rejected, and from that time on His followers would also be rejected and persecuted in this world. Sadly, many dear Christians have started out well in the Christian life, only to find that they were not willing to pay the price of being followers of the Lord. Then, when they turned away and went into the world, the world mocked them, just as they mocked the man who did not finish his tower.

Let us be honest and upright in following the Christ, and realize that only with His strength can we be faithful to Him in a world that has rejected Him.

“And death and hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged each according to their works: and death and hades were cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:13-14 JND).

Here is another very serious verse, for it tells us about the judgment of those who die without Christ. Two days ago we saw that the rich man in Luke 16 was in torments, even though his soul was separated from his body. Here we see that in the final judgment, death gives up the body, and hades gives up the soul. They are then reunited to one another, and the individual stands before the Lord Jesus to be judged. No believer will be there—only unbelievers. The books are opened, including the book of life. This makes it clear to those unbelievers that all their sins are recorded, and that their names are not in the book of life. God’s judgment is totally just.

Then there is that awful judgment—“cast into the lake of fire.” Scripture calls this the “second death.” Even though those unbelievers will live forever in hell, yet their existence is not spoken of as life, but rather as the second death.” The warning is clear, and God has given it to us, in order that souls may come to Christ before it is too late.