When Mercy Stood Still

Mark 10:46–52
Preached at the Chattanooga Rescue Mission on July 22, 2026

It seems as though I have been going almost nonstop over the last several weeks. By the time I pulled into the parking lot at the Chattanooga Rescue Mission, I was tired. Honestly, I felt exhausted.

I sat there for a little while going back over my sermon notes and praying that the Lord would give me the strength to share the message I believed He had laid upon my heart.

The Rescue Mission is a very busy place these days. Sometimes it takes fifteen minutes or longer to get all the men checked in and gathered inside the gym for the chapel service. I will admit that I was beginning to feel frustrated. I knew the delay would shorten the time available to preach, and I did not want to feel pressed while trying to share such an important message.

But when the chaplain came in and addressed the gathering, what he said quickly extinguished my frustration.

He explained that there were many newer guests and that some of the check-in procedures needed to be clarified. He also told us that the Mission’s occupancy was reaching more than seventy people and that, because they were so full, more and more people were having to be turned away.

I looked across the room at the men who had gathered. When I considered the number of women who had attended the earlier service, I realized there must have been seventy or perhaps even eighty people staying at the Mission.

Suddenly, the delay did not seem nearly as important.

These were not simply people holding up the beginning of a chapel service. These were souls. These were men and women carrying burdens, battling addictions, facing uncertainty, and desperately needing to hear that there is mercy in Jesus Christ.

The message that evening came from Mark 10:46–52 and the account of blind Bartimaeus. He sat beside the highway begging, unable to see and unable to change his own condition. Yet when he heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

The crowd tried to silence him, but he cried the more a great deal.

Then Mark records five wonderful words:

“And Jesus stood still.”

The crowd considered Bartimaeus a nuisance, but Christ considered his cry. Jesus was walking toward Jerusalem. The cross stood before Him, yet He stopped for one poor blind beggar beside the road.

Mercy stood still because mercy had heard him.

During the message, I quoted Romans 10:13–14:

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”

I especially emphasized those words, “How shall they hear?”

That evening marked twenty-five years since I accepted God’s call upon my life to preach on July 22, 2001. For the past twenty-five years, through every high place and every low valley, that is what I have been trying to do—sound out the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There have been thrills and there have been sorrows. There have been seasons when preaching seemed to come with great liberty and other seasons when I wondered if I had even truly been called to do what I was trying to do. But through every changing circumstance, Jesus Christ has been faithful. He has continued to stir the fire within my heart to tell people that there is light for the blind, forgiveness for the guilty, hope for the broken, and salvation for the lost through faith in Him.

I am grateful that, after twenty-five years, the Lord has not allowed me to become a castaway. I am grateful that He still gives me opportunities to stand before people who need the gospel. To God alone belongs the glory for anything that has been accomplished.

This message is about more than the healing of a blind man. It is about the spiritual blindness of every sinner without Christ. It is about a man who came empty-handed, broken, and believing. Most of all, it is about the Saviour who heard his cry, called him near, opened his eyes, and changed his life forever.

Perhaps you feel as though you have spent your life sitting beside the highway, begging this world to give you something that will satisfy your soul. Perhaps you can see the world around you, but you have never truly seen the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ.

Do not allow the crowd to silence you. Do not allow pride to keep you beside the road. Cry out to Him.

Mercy still hears. Mercy still calls. Mercy still speaks. Mercy still saves.

I hope you will take the time to listen to this message.