Turn with me, if you would, first
to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, and read verse
14 with me. And Jesus returned in the power
of the Spirit unto Galilee. And there went out a fame of
Him through all the region round about. There went out a fame
of him. Our Lord was a famed man. He was famous. Everybody was talking about him. Everybody heard of him. Look
at verse 33 right here in Luke 4. And in the synagogue there
was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried
out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone. What have we to
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked
him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when
the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and
hurt him not. And they were all amazed and
spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! For with
authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they
come out. And the fame of him went out
into every place of the country round about." Every place of
the country. Look with me at chapter 5, Luke
chapter 5 verse 12. And it came to pass when he was
in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus
fell on his face and besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and
touched him saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the
leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no
man. Don't tell anybody. That's what
our Lord charged as people went out from him. Don't tell anybody. Our Lord was the true example
of humility. He was not doing this for himself,
not at all. Verse 14, and he charged him
to tell no man but go and show thyself to the priest and offer
for that cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony
unto them. But so much the more went there
a fame abroad of him and great multitudes came together to hear. and to be healed by him of their
infirmities. It just couldn't be stopped. It could not be stopped. They
couldn't not tell about him. He said, don't go tell anybody.
They just couldn't do that. They could not spread the fame,
not spread the fame. Have you heard about this man
Jesus of Nazareth? No. What about him? He makes lame men walk. I mean people who were born lame
in a bed never walked before. When he comes to them If they
get up, they pick up their bed and they obey His command. Well, my best friend is lame. Where is he? Have you heard about this guy,
Jesus of Nazareth? No. What about him? I saw him heal a deaf man. I was standing there watching.
A guy we know, he's never heard anything before. Never ever heard
anything before. All of a sudden, he could hear. Well, my father's deaf. My sister
is deaf. Where is he? Did you hear what Jesus of Nazareth
did? No. What? There was a little girl 12 years
old and she died. And he walked up to her and grabbed
her by the hand and said, I say unto thee, arise. And she came
back to life. Well, if he can do that. If he's
able to do that, my son is grievously vexed with the devil. Do you
think he could heal him? I sure do. Well, my mother has an issue
of blood. Do you think he could heal her?
I sure do. My whole family, we're all sinners. every single one of us. We're
all sinners. Do you think that he could heal
us? I sure do. I most certainly do. Everyone heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Everyone. Can you imagine the
thrill that came over a soul that was infected with a terrible
disease when they heard about him and what he could do? Can
you imagine hearing that? This man laying there with the
palsy and hearing that he causes lame men to walk? What? What'd you say? Could you tell me that again? Would you mind telling me that
again? Could you tell me about him again? What's his name? Where
is he? The thrill of thinking, if I
lay in there, just lay in there. If I could just get to him. If I could just get to him. I'll guarantee you that every
soul in that condition experienced an immediate reaction of sorrow. Soon as that thrill subsided,
it was immediate sorrow thinking it'll never happen for me. How could I get to him? Here
I lay. How could I possibly know Him?
Why would He look on me? Of all people, why would He choose
me to show kindness to me? Go with me to our text in Mark
chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 verse 46 says,
And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with
his disciples, and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side, begging. Now our Lord passed right through
Jericho. One end to the other, thousands
and thousands of people. Thousands of people. And he passed
right on by. You remember, Jericho is the
city that the walls fell down. There was a woman named Rahab,
a harlot in Jericho. God said, I'm going to have mercy
on you and whoever's inside that house. But here he comes through this
city and he passes by thousands and thousands of people right
on by. And as he's leaving the city
in the midst of all these people, there's a blind man sitting on
the highway side, begging. I have this man envisioned in
my mind. I can, in my mind, see him sitting
there. His back is hunched over. And the reason is because he
sits all day long. He just sits there begging. And he's weak
and he's bowed down. This man is dirty, very dirty,
because he sits down on the ground. He's sitting down on the ground
level, and this is a busy road. Jericho is a busy city. Lots
of camels, lots of mules, lots of horses, lots of people. All
that traffic kicks up a lot of dust. And he's sitting on the
ground and he's just covered in it. He's just covered in it. This man is poor. Very poor. He does not have anything but
the old, filthy, torn rags on his back. That's all this man
has. This man doesn't have a home.
This man doesn't have a shower. There's no hygiene about this
man. He stinks. Everything in him is rotting. But do you know what? He can't
see that. He can't see that. He can't see
how dirty he is. He doesn't know how dirty he
is. You ever had a big smudge on your face and had no idea
until you look in the mirror? He has no idea how dirty he is. He can't see how torn and how
ragged his clothes are. He has no idea. He cannot see how black and how
rotten his teeth are. This man is blind. He is blind. And do you know that he represents
every single one of us in this room, spiritually speaking? This is the spiritual condition
of every man before God. That's how God sees man, because
that's how man is. That's how man is. We are weak. We are low. We are dirty. We are poor. Our filthy rags
cannot cover us. And we're rotting from the inside
out. But until God reveals that to
us, we're spiritually blind. You know that? We have no idea. Until God opens our eyes to the
truth, we have no idea. Now, because of what Blind Bartimaeus
said, we can be certain of the fact that he had heard of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He had heard of this famed man,
and this is what he heard. And we know this is what he heard
because this is what we've all heard. The Apostle Paul said,
have they not all heard? There is only one testimony concerning
Him. There's only one testimony concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Bartimaeus heard Jesus of Nazareth
is a great physician. THE great physician. And he said
that He came for one reason only. He's only here for one reason.
And that's to heal the sick. Bartimaeus heard that and he
sat there in his own infirmity on the highway side begging,
thinking in his mind, I'm sick. I'm sick. You know, the Lord
has to put us in a place where we start to see the true condition
of ourselves. That's grace before grace. Here
he is sitting there thinking, I'm sick. Oh, I wish he would come to me. As the fame of the Lord was told,
people passing by talking about this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
he heard, Jesus of Nazareth says he will bind up all the broken,
every broken soul. He will lift up everybody who's
bowed down, everybody who is humbled. Everybody who is low
in the dirt, the miry clay, he came to those who are stuck in
the miry clay. Bartimaeus heard that and he
thought, I'm broken. Do you ever think the same thing? I'm bowed down in the dirt. I'm
as low as a man can get. Oh, I wish he would come to me.
Oh, I wish he would come to me if he would just come to me.
While men and women ignored Bartimaeus sitting there saying alms for
the poor. Totally ignoring alms for the
poor. He heard them say. Jesus of Nazareth
says. Though he was rich. Yet he became
poor. that we through his poverty might
be made rich. Bartimaeus sat there thinking,
I'm poor. Oh, I'm poor. Oh, that I could find this man.
Oh, that I could get to him. I'm a beggar. I know that. And if I could just beg from
him, If I could just beg from him, I'm begging from everybody
if I could just beg from him. I don't have any doubt in my
mind that at some point somebody walked up to him and said, blind
man, you need to get to Jesus Christ. You need to get to Jesus Christ.
Everywhere He goes, He's given sight to the blind. You're in
a condition that He can heal. And I'm telling you the truth,
you need to find that man and you need to get to Him. Bartimaeus
thought, I would if I could. I would if I could. I'd give anything to, but I can't. I just can't. I can't see Him. I cannot see Him. I cannot see
the way to Him. The only thing I can do is sit
here in my blindness. That's the only thing I'm capable
of. Hold your place with me. We're
going to come right back. Turn with me over to Luke 18. This is Luke's account of the
same story. Luke 18 verse 35. And it came to pass that as he
was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. What's going on? Why all this
commotion? Why is everybody so loud? Verse 37, And they told him that
Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Savior, my King, My Lord, have mercy on me. I can't believe
it. This is too good to be true.
Jesus of thee, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Verse 39, And
they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace,
but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. I'm sick. I'm sick. I'm weak. I'm blind. I'm poor. Please have mercy on
me. Go with me back to Mark 10. Verse 49 says, and Jesus stood
still. God Almighty stopped. Passing
by thousands and thousands and thousands. And here this poor
insignificant blind man is crying, please. God stopped. Oh, the depth of what that means. That means so much more than
he stopped walking. Christ stood still for him. He looked on him. I can just envision the Lord's
face smiling. He chose him, he had compassion
on him. He knew, you remember whenever
that woman touched him and he said, wait a minute, virtue just
went out for me. He knows virtue just went out
for me. For that man right there. Bartimaeus didn't know it. He's
still crying. He can't see, he's still blind.
He has no idea the Savior's standing there looking at him. He has
no idea Jesus stood still. That man, that poor man, his time was the time of love.
That's what happened to that poor man. His time was the time
of love. God Almighty stood still. And this is what our Lord did
for us a long time before we ever knew about it. I mean, before
the foundation of the world. Long when we were still blind,
when we couldn't see, hear blind Bartimaeus is crying and God's
looking at him crying. I don't believe for one minute
he stopped until he heard him say, bring him to me. He cried
and he kept crying. And long before God opened our
eyes, while all of the accusations were railed on him for the sins
that we committed against him, he never opened his mouth in
his own defense, did he? He just stood still. They were
spitting on him. They were ripping his beard out,
smiting him in the face, smiting him on the back. And the whole
time he just stood still. Lying on him. But they weren't
lying on me. And he stood still all the way
to the cross, he stood still. Verse 49, And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort. Now, that's the gospel. They said,
Bartimaeus, we have good news for you. This man Bartimaeus, he heard
them say some things. He was asking what's going on.
The Lord allowed these people to preach a message to him. The
first thing he heard is Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. That's
the first thing he heard. The one who is able to heal you
of all your disease is passing by right now. Right now. It's his right to pass by. He can pass by whoever he wants
to. He can heal whoever he wants
to. The second thing he heard is,
hold your peace. He started crying. They said,
hush. You're unworthy, Bartimaeus.
Don't you see what you are? You're just a blind beggar in
the dirt. You have no right to him. He
does not owe you anything. Hush. Now the final point in his message,
the message he heard was verse 49. Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. And they called the blind man
saying unto him, you be of good comfort. Rise, he's calling you. He's calling you. This is a sovereign physician.
This is a sovereign physician and you're not worthy of his
healing. I'm not worthy of his healing and neither are you. But I've got good news for you.
Jesus the Christ stood still for you. For you. Verse 50 says, and he
casting away his garment. This man got up, he had these
old filthy rags, these old tattered rags, and the first thing he
did is he flung that garment off. Wait a minute, Bartimaeus,
you don't have much. You're pretty poor. Why don't
you hold on to that one and just add to it? No, no. Why would I want to do that when
he has a brand new one waiting for me? Why would I want to ruin
anything He has for me with the filthiness that's on my back
right now? And that's our righteousness, isn't it? That's our righteousness
before God. It's all filthy rags in God's
sight. And when Jesus Christ calls a
sinner to Himself, He realizes, I have nothing that will make
me desirable to God. Christ has it all. This has to
go. This has to go. Verse 50 says, and he casting
away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. If he was still blind, how did
he come straight to the Lord Jesus Christ? He was led there. He was led to him, and so is
every beggar that God calls. Every single one, they are led
by God's Holy Spirit. That Spirit brings them straight
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 51 says, And Jesus answered
and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And I do want to ask everybody
here this morning, every person here, what do you want the Lord
Jesus Christ to do for you? Answer that in your heart. Answer
that in your own heart. What do you want that He asked
this man And this is a question for every single one of us. What
do you want the Lord Jesus Christ to do for you? Do we want happiness in this
world? Ultimately, I just want to be happy in this world. Is
that what we want? No. The finest the world has to offer? Easy street? No. Verse 51, 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. I want to see. I want to see. Lord, through your mercy, through
the mercy of your own blood, I want to see. I want to see your glory. I want to see your goodness.
I want to see your kingdom. I want to see your salvation.
I want to see eternal life. I want to see you. I want to
see you. First thing that blind man saw
as soon as God opens his eyes was Jesus Christ. I want to see
you. I want to see you open my eyes
that I may see. Verse 52, And Jesus said unto
him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received his sight. God opened his eyes. What did he do in that transaction?
Nothing. What role did he play? He didn't
have one. God had mercy on him. After God
opened his eyes to the truth and the Savior, what did Bartimaeus
want to do after that? Verse 52 says, Jesus said unto
him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. But Bartimaeus,
you have your sight now. You can go wherever you want
to go. You can literally go do anything you want to do. What
do you want to do? I'm going to follow that man
right there. That's what I want to do. I want
to follow the one who healed me. He followed Christ, and that's
what every saved sinner wants to do. We're not here because
we have to be. This is not our moral duty. This is life. God's people follow Christ. They
follow Christ. You know why they truly follow
Christ? It's because they love Him. It's just because they love
Him. They just love Him. I was thinking,
I wonder how many times Bartimaeus told the Lord, Thank you. Thank you. I know I've been telling
it to you and I just want to say it again. Thank you. Thank
you. I'm just so thankful. I am so
thankful. I can see Bartimaeus going around
telling everybody from that time on, telling everybody his story. I was just a blind, broken beggar. That's all I was. I was just
a blind, broken beggar, but he passed by me. I was just sitting
there. I had no hope. I was without
God in the world, but God passed by me. And he stood still for me. And
he called me to himself. And then he opened my eyes to
it all. After he did all that, the last thing that happened
is he opened my eyes. After it was all done, after
it was all over, the last piece of the transaction was he opened
my eyes to it all. That's a familiar story, isn't
it? It's mine. It's yours. Every center's story. All right,
stand together with me.