So we're in Mark chapter 10 and
verse 46. And we're speaking about the
Lord Jesus Christ as he is on his journey to Jerusalem. 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. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still
and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he,
casting away his garment, rose and 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. And 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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. I hope you've had the opportunity
to read over the little notes that I sent out yesterday in
the introduction to our service and just get a little bit of
a glimpse into this narrative, this story, this incident that
took place. in the Lord's journey towards
Jerusalem where he was going, of course, to be crucified. Because what I don't want to
do today is, as it were, tell you the story again. The story
is before us in Scripture. I suspect most of us are very
familiar with it and we've had a little bit of an introduction
to it. in the things that were written. So here we're going
to think about some of the key aspects of this incident. And I think, first of all, that
it is interesting for us to note that this miracle took place
in Jericho, or more particularly, in the going out of Jericho,
just as it were when the Lord was leaving the city. Jericho
will be familiar to many of us. It was an ancient city and it
was destroyed by Joshua when the children of Israel first
came into the promised land. They had crossed the river Jordan
and there was Jericho standing before them with its mighty walls
and that was an ancient city stretching back all the way to
the time of Joshua and the children of Israel coming out of Egypt
and out of the wilderness after 40 years. The city was destroyed,
as we know, by Joshua. And Joshua placed a curse upon
the city and upon its rebuilding. And there's stories throughout
the Old Testament about it being built again. The city, therefore,
was a city that had been destroyed, and it had had a curse placed
upon it. And yet it is also in this city
that the deliverance of Rahab and her family took place. So it was also a city of blessing
at least for some people. Rahab and her family were blessed. She had sheltered the two spies
that had come in to spy out the land and in turn she was protected
under the sign of a scarlet thread, a picture of security in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that in Jericho, in history,
deliverance had been discovered in the place that had been cursed. And what is true of Jericho is
true of this world. Because of Adam's sin, God cursed
the earth. Sin and the curse of the law
has followed men and women down through the ages of the history
of this world. Paul tells us, death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And yet to this same cursed world,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to redeem and to save his people,
to deliver them to glory, to make them holy and without blame. to give them a righteousness
which was not their own and fit them for the presence of his
Father for eternity. Paul tells Timothy, 1 Timothy
chapter 1 verse 15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Jesus Christ came into this cursed
world in order to save a people for himself. and the Lord Jesus
Christ here this day had come to Jericho to save particular
sinners. This is a lovely picture of saving
grace that we have and here it is in the setting of this ancient
city. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
Jericho in order to save sinners. Here he saved Zacchaeus. It was
in this city that Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree. Zacchaeus
was a lying, thieving tax collector. And perhaps we can see if we
just want to pause and make a likeness in the life of Zacchaeus. Perhaps
we can see in Zacchaeus a picture of the sins that are committed
by a person. Those sins in word, those sins
in thought, those sins in deed. But Zacchaeus was converted by
Christ here in Jericho. And Bartimaeus, this other man
of whom we have read today, he also was converted by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Bartimaeus, if Zacchaeus
speaks of the sins that we commit in word, thought and deed, Bartimaeus
speaks of the sins the guilt of which, or with which, we are
born into this world. This is a picture of the blindness
and the corruption of Adam and all of his fallen progeny. All of those that have come from
our father Adam and Eve, and her mother Eve, all of those
who have been born out of their generations, their children,
carry with them the same sin, the effects of the fall of our
father Adam. So that we see in Bartimaeus
the blindness of that nature corruption and we see in Zacchaeus
the lies and the thieving and the deceit and all the sins that
we commit. Let us never forget that we are
blind beggars first, because our sin simply comes from the
nature that we have before we ever begin to tally our own sinful
actions. Our sinful deeds flow from our
sinful nature, our wicked thoughts from our corrupt hearts. But
praise God, our Lord Jesus Christ came to the place of death, came
to the place of cursing, and he brought with him the promise
of eternal life and blessing for sinners like you and me. And I think it's appropriate
that we have this Old Testament backdrop to the events of this
day. This Old Testament context is
pertinent because we remember that these New Testament believers
like Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus drew their knowledge of Christ
exclusively from the Old Testament scriptures. Bartimaeus, in hearing that Jesus
of Nazareth was passing by, believed him to be the long-hoped-for
Messiah. He believed him to be the promised
one, promised by Moses and the prophets and typified in a multitude
of ways in the history of God's people down through the history
of the Jews, in the lives of the patriarchs and in the sacrifices
and in the tabernacle and in the temple worship. that was
the significance of Bartimaeus crying out, Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me. That little phrase son of David
in there shows us that Bartimaeus had this Old Testament context
to his understanding of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. I am sure that Bartimaeus knew
the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the coming Messiah. Let me read
you a verse from chapter 42, verse 7 of Isaiah's prophecy. This is what it says. Listen,
Bartimaeus knew this. That the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, I shouldn't say the Lord Jesus Christ, I should say
the Messiah, the anointed one of God, would come, and this
is what he would do, to open the blind eyes to bring out the
prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out
of the prison house. That verse would have been read
to Bartimaeus as a child. He would have heard that verse
and surely he would have harboured hopes and dreams of the Messiah
coming. He would have memorised those
words as he sat in the darkness of his own personal prison house
and longed for the day when the Messiah would come to open the
blind eyes and to bring out the prisoners from the prison. Bartimaeus longed for the Messiah
because he felt his own need and he believed that when the
Messiah came, the Messiah would be the one who would cure him
of his problem, his trouble, his disease. He felt his own
need. Do you feel your need as a sinner?
Do you know that you have a problem, a problem that divides you, a
problem that separates you, a problem that condemns you under the condemnation
and guilt of God's holy law? Bartimaeus was convinced that
the Jesus of Nazareth who was passing by that day was none
other than the Messiah that he so longed for. He was convinced. He was convinced that this Jesus
of Nazareth was the Son of David. And under that conviction, under
that divine revelation, he cried from his heart, with an eye to
the promises, with an eye of faith, Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. And in that moment, in that instant,
as Jesus passed by, Bartimaeus realised that this was the one
of whom he had heard. The one to open blind eyes of
those that sit in darkness. The one that Isaiah had spoken
about. The one fitted exactly for his
need. Today's evangelism tries to convince
men to come to Christ. No one had to convince Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus longed for Christ. He probably longed for Christ
for years. He had held this prophecy, this
thought, this hope, this desire in his soul that someday, wouldn't
it be wonderful if the Messiah passed me by as I was sitting
here at the side of the road. Notice therefore the urgency
in his cry for mercy. He wouldn't be put off. There
were those present that day who tried to get him to be quiet. Maybe it was a Pharisee. Maybe
it was a Pharisee who said to him, There's a right way and
a wrong way to do religion. And this is the wrong way. So
you be quiet and stop shouting for mercy. Or maybe it was a
scribe who said to him, there's a right place and there's a wrong
place to do religion. Go to the temple, open the books
of the law, follow the rituals that Moses has given us. Don't
just sit there and shout for mercy out in the middle of the
street. Be quiet. And maybe there was a Sadducee
who said, who do you think you are? Jesus isn't interested in
you. Jesus isn't interested in someone
like you. You've a long way to go yet.
So be quiet. But a man who needs mercy will
not be put off. A woman who needs forgiveness
will not be stilled. A boy or a girl who trusts in
the Lord Jesus Christ will cry all the louder, Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. And then a remarkable thing happened.
Jesus stood still. I say it's remarkable because
Previously we've been thinking about the fact in our studies
that Jesus went before his disciples. Jesus was a pressed man. He was a man in a hurry. He was hastening to Jerusalem. He knew he had to hurry to reach
Jerusalem to achieve his mission, to win his bride. He longed he
longed to win his bride. But he had stopped on the road
that day because there was a cry for help. And I mention it because
it also happened with Zacchaeus. The Lord interrupted his journey
for Zacchaeus as well. He said to Zacchaeus, make haste
and come down. He tells him, hurry up and come
down. I don't have a lot of time here.
I'm in a hurry. So you hasten and come down,
for today I must abide at thy house. And that little incident
with Zacchaeus drew from the Lord a beautiful, a delightful
little statement. It says this. This day is salvation
come to this house, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to
save that which was lost. The Lord Jesus Christ went to
Jericho to seek and to save that which was lost. What do we learn
from this? What do we learn from these incidents,
these men? Well, we learn this, that the
Lord Jesus Christ stops for the cry of faith. The Lord Jesus
Christ stands still when there is a call for mercy. And I'm
going to make another point with respect to this. Bartimaeus could
never have found the Lord Jesus Christ in the melee that day,
in that crowd of people, in that hubbub, in that noise, in that
confusion. Bartimaeus would never have been
able to find the Lord in that moment. All he had was his cry
for help. But when that cry went up, the
Lord found him. Maybe today you would like to
find Christ. Maybe the time will come, someday
in the future, when you discover that you have lost your way in
this world so badly that you can't find your way home again.
You can't find your way back to Christ. And let me say to
some of our younger listeners, you have some hard times coming. We all have hard times coming. Times in which we will lose sight
of the Lord. And I want us all to remember
Bartimaeus' shout. You may not be able to find the
Lord, but with this shout, the Lord will find you. Jesus, the
son of David, have mercy on me. And I love the next sentence
as well. The next sentence tells us that
they came to him, they came to Bartimaeus and they said, be
of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. Remember, how could we
forget, Bartimaeus is a blind man. He doesn't see what's going
on around about him. He can hear, but he can't see.
He doesn't see that Jesus has stopped. All he can hear is a background
noise. All he can hear is his own shouting. He doesn't see
what's happening in front of him and he fears that he's missed
his opportunity. The Messiah has passed. His opportunity
for healing is receding. Jesus is moving on down the road. He's moving away. So what does
he do? He shouts louder and he becomes
agitated and he shouts louder still and his panic begins to
rise in his mind and in his heart. And then someone whispers in
his ear. Someone leans over to him and whispers in his ear,
be of good comfort. Rise, he calleth thee. When Jesus calls you, brothers
and sisters, be of good comfort. I said it before, I'll repeat
myself again, no doubt. I want us always to remember
that the word fort is in comfort because Christ is our shield
and our defender. Christ is our fort. He is the
one who defends his people and all the troubles all the troubles
of time, all the troubles of this world, all the troubles
of our own hearts, all the troubles and anxieties and fears of our
own circumstances and all the dangers of eternity are met in
Christ. And if Christ calls, if Christ
calls a sinner, comfort is assured. The greatest privilege that I
have as a preacher of the gospel is to bid comfort, the comfort
of Christ, to anxious souls. Isaiah again, 40 verse 1 says,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. How do we do
that? How does a preacher do that?
How does a preacher comfort? How does a preacher say to a
Bartimaeus, be of good comfort? by speaking to that sinner about
the Lord Jesus Christ, by speaking to that sinner about the gospel
call, that Jesus Christ has come today to seek and to save that
which was lost. Look what Bartimaeus did next.
He cast off his garment and he made his way to the Lord. You
know, I think, I hope that he was already rejoicing in his
heart when he did that. I hope that it had dawned on
him that in that moment as his shout stopped and disappeared and the
word of comfort was whispered in his ear, I hope that the penny
dropped and he was already rejoicing in his heart when he threw off
that garment, and he was saying, I don't need this anymore. The beautiful hymn by Joseph
Hart, we've missed because of the circumstances today, we didn't
use our first hymn which came from Joseph Hart, but here's
another one, and he says this, it's just the first verse. Come
ye sinners, poor and wretched, Weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you. Full of pity, joined with power. Joseph Hart wrote that and he
wrote that Jesus stands to save you. Isn't that lovely? He'd
even picked up, such is the precision of these old hymn writers, he'd
even picked up that Jesus stands to save. And then somebody has,
it wasn't Joseph Hart, I don't think, but somebody has added
in a little chorus to that hymn. And this is what it says. I will
rise, I will go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms,
in the arms of my dear Saviour. Oh, there are 10,000 charms. Now I'm not suggesting that all
of what I am about to say went through the mind of Bartimaeus
in this moment, in this instance. But I think that the fact remains
that Bartimaeus took time to throw off his garment And I think
the fact that both Mark and the Holy Spirit take time to tell
us that he did makes that action important. Jude, the writer of
the little epistle at the end of our Bibles, speaks of the
garment spotted by the flesh. The garment spotted by the flesh. Bartimaeus threw his garment
away Would that we could throw off all the sinful passions and
tempting power of the flesh. Would that we could. But every
believer finds that they cling to him. No matter how hard we
try to cast them away, they cling to us. But listen, brothers and
sisters, not forever. Not forever. Thank God, not forever. Bartimaeus didn't just let his
garment drop. It wasn't absentmindedly that
he got up and his garment fell off his shoulders almost by accident. He cast it away. There was purpose
in his action. And I like to think it speaks
of him leaving his old life behind. I like to think it speaks of
the fruit of conversion, the transformation of faith and the
beginning of a new life. And surely it speaks of confidence. It is in itself a manifestation,
if you like, or an evidence of the very faith of which the Lord
then spoke. in his dialogue, in his conversation
with Bartimaeus. It was as if Bartimaeus was saying,
I'm not going to need that anymore. I'm finished with roadside begging. I've got another calling now.
I've got a call to follow Christ. And so he arose and he went and
he came to Jesus. And the Lord said to him, what
wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Not that the Lord didn't know,
but the Lord wanted to hear him ask. He just wanted to hear him
ask. Right there in the street, in
front of all those people, a blind man says to another man, I would
like to receive my sight. Is there a lesson there? I hope
so, I hope so. Ask Christ in faith for what
you want. Ask him, ask him. I like the marginal reading here. I like the marginal reading as
well. It says, go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee. What do you want, Bartimaeus? Oh, I'd like to receive my sight. What could be more appropriate
than asking the giver of sight for sight as a blind man? And what could be more appropriate
than asking the saviour for salvation as a condemned man? What do you want? Ask for it. Ask for it. As we wrap up our
thoughts today, I want you to see one last thing. The Lord
said to Bartimaeus, go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee. Or, that's the marginal reading. Go thy way, thy faith hath made
thee whole. But he said to him, go thy way.
And what did Bartimaeus do right there and then? What did Bartimaeus
do? He didn't go back for that garment.
He didn't go back to his seat. He did as he was told. He went
his way. And which way was that? Well,
it tells us. And immediately he received his
sight and he followed Jesus in the way. Why did he follow Jesus
in the way? Because that was the way he wanted
to go. It was as simple as that. The Lord said to him, Bartimaeus,
go thy way. You've got what you asked for.
You've got your sight. Not only his sight, he'd got
salvation that day. he evidenced the faith that was
in him. That faith that he had drawn
from those Old Testament prophecies, those Old Testament prophets
that had looked forward and said the Messiah will come and when
he comes he will give sight to the blind. Bartimaeus believed
that. and he found in Jesus of Nazareth
that day the very son of David who gave him his sight. He saved
him and he had faith and that faith brought salvation to the
experience of that man. The Lord said to him, go thy
way. Bartimaeus' desire was to go
the way of the Lord. Which way are you going, Lord?
That's the way I'm going to. He at once followed the Lord
Jesus Christ in the way. And that's exactly why we continue
to emphasise the great distinction between law and gospel. The Lord didn't say to him, now
here's what you have to do. He didn't even say, follow me. He said, go your way, go whichever
way you want to go. Go where your heart takes you.
And Bartimaeus said, Oh Lord, there's only one place that my
heart wants to be, and that's as close to you as possible.
Do you see this? Conversion brings a new heart. The reason why there is so much
emphasis on law and doing things and righteous living and all
of that stuff in our churches today is because preachers are
trying to whip goats into conformity. But the sheep follow the shepherd's
voice. Conversion brings a new heart,
it brings new desires, it brings new motivation. Bartimaeus followed
Jesus in the way, literally, literally. He was then part of
that group with his disciples, with the Lord's disciples and
his other followers that made their way up to Jerusalem. It was only a day's walk. but he also followed him in the
way of truth. He followed him in the way of
life and living. He followed him in the way of
service. He followed him in the way of ministry. I don't know
what happened to Bartimaeus, but the way that he was going
led to Jerusalem and it led to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we follow him, we will take
up our cross and follow him. and we will follow him, supposing
it was to persecution, Bartimaeus followed. Maybe he followed him
to the ends of the earth. Maybe he was one of those who
went out and took that gospel along with the apostles to the
ends of the... I am sure that he would never for the rest of
his life fail to mention what the Lord Jesus Christ had done
for him that day on the edge of the street at Jericho. That was the way he wanted to
go. Bartimaeus means Child of Perfection or Child of Honour. Perhaps his earthly father had
been someone special and that was why he was given that name,
Child of Perfection or Child of Honour. Who knows? Doesn't
matter. Now he really was a child of
perfection. Bartimaeus was truly a child
of God, a follower of Jesus Christ. He was a new man and in this
new man he was holy, he was undefiled and he truly was a child of perfection
and a child of honour. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today and encourage our hearts with them. Amen.