What Is Salvation

              What Is Salvation?
Mark 10.46-52 October 27, 1991
Bartimeus begged all his life. D ay after day he sat in the same place, cloak
wrapped around his shoulders, quietly sitting, waiting for someone to put
a few coins into his hand, or a piece of bread. One day while he was sitting
there he could hear shouts of excitement. Jesus was nearby! Here was his
chance! Jesus, he shouted. Son of David, he shouted again. "What do you
want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. "My teacher, let me see again."
Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he
regained his sight and followed him on the way." He had experienced
salvation.
"What do you want me to do for you?" Mary Arguelles writes in
Newsweek's, My Turn, of an 8 year old boy who found $600 in an envelope
and returned it to the bank whose name appeared on the envelope. The
man was happy. He gave the young man a reward of $3. Some teachers at
the boys school thought this inadequate, raised $150 for a savings bond,
explaining that they felt his honest should be recognized. The promise of
the golden rule--that someone might do a good turn for you--has become
worthless collateral for the social interactions of the mercenary and fast-paced
'90's. Can't you see that! We need salvation!
Bartimeus understands his condition. He is blind! H e doesn't want
to be blind anymore.
A. He could have lived in spite house.
1. Living in spite house. Ron Lee Davis in his book
Mistreated tells about a millionaire who owned a lot in an
exclusive residential area of a large city. This presented
an unusual problem. It was only a couple yards wide by
nearly a hundred feet long. There was nothing he could do
with such an oddly proportioned piece of real estate but
sell it to one of his neighbors. The neighbor said he would
buy it only as a favor. You can't sell it to anyone else and
you can't build on it. So here's my offer, take it or leave
it. Be built a house, five feet wide and running the full
length of his property, his house was little more than a
row of tiny rooms, each barely able to accommodate a
stick of furniture. He moved in and stayed there until he
died. It became known as Spite House,
2. In a real life parallel to the recent movie War of the
Roses, a couple in Switzerland became estranged. The
husband canceled one too many vacations. Her
disappointment was expressed when she poured
bicarbonate of soda into the fish tank, wiping out his rare
tropical fish. After a long argument he graved a selection
of his wife' diamond jewelry and threw it into the garbage
disposal. She responded by flinging all his stereo
equipment into the swimming pool. He then doused her
$200,000 wardrobe, fur coats, designer gowns and all with
liquid bleach. She poured a gallon of paint over his
$70,000 Ferrari. He kicked a whole in a $180,000 Picasso
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