One of the wonderful things for
people who are simple like me and need all the instruction
I can get is that the scriptures give us remarkable descriptions
as we've just read in Zacharias' prophecy in Luke chapter 1, but
also we just have it pictured for us. And I like pictures. I like pictures. And the picture
I'd like us to look at just briefly this morning is the healing of
blind Bartimaeus. Luke doesn't give us his name,
but I'll just read the passage quickly. It's in Luke chapter
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, and they
told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried,
saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. 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. And Jesus stood, and commanded
him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight, thy faith has saved thee. And immediately he received
his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people,
when they saw it, gave praise unto God. We read there in Luke
chapter 1 verse 79 that a light comes to those that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death. Every time we read these miracles
of the Lord Jesus Christ they are particularly chosen out of
multitudes of miracles to give us pictures of how God saves
his people. The band of Bartimaeus is the
son of Timaeus. There he is, this man. You can
picture him. We saw plenty of them in India.
There he is. He's helpless, isn't he? And
he's in darkness. Every step he ever took was a
potential danger. One of the things that was amazing
in India, in the villages, they used to have these huge wells,
and they'd be four and five, six metres across, and 30 metres
deep, some of them. And they didn't put fences around
them. So when you were walking in the evening in India around
the villages, you were very, very careful about where you
trod. If you were a blind man, every step you ever took was
potentially a danger. And of course, Blind Bartimaeus
is in Jericho. It's a city that was cursed.
You might recall that it was cursed by Joshua in Joshua Chapter
6. And that curse was fulfilled,
that if you ever build this city again, your son will die. You
can read that story in 1 Kings Chapter 16. Jericho was the city,
of course, that Rahab was from. But not only was Bartimaeus blind
in darkness and he was in a cursed place, he'd had three years and
he'd heard about the Messiah. And he'd had three years where
he'd heard about Messiah healing blind people. Three times in
the book of Isaiah it talks about the Messiah having this particular
miracle which is His, and it's a particular miracle of His salvation,
isn't it? But He opens the eyes of the
blind. You can read in Isaiah 35, and then shall the eyes of
the blind be opened. And He is given as a covenant
to the people, a covenant that Zacharias was talking about,
a covenant to the people to open the eyes of the blind. to set the prisoners free. Bartimaeus had a particular interest in
a messiah. If you're not blind, receiving
your sight and having sight is something you take for granted,
isn't it? Bartimaeus didn't take blindness for granted. Not in
that day, in that world. He would have been continually
the jive of those who would, like the blind man in John chapter
9, who sinned. Did he sin? Is he blind because
he sinned or is he blind because his parents sinned? So Bartimaeus
For Bartimaeus, a messiah, is a very big deal. A messiah coming
is a very, very big deal. But Bartimaeus also, not only
was he blind and in that cursed place, he'd had three years or
more where he would have heard these stories about the messiah
who healed the blind and healed all that came to him. And Jericho
is not very far from Jerusalem. And for three and a half years,
no one took him to the Messiah. Bartimaeus set himself in Jericho
on that road, that if the Messiah ever came by, he was gonna be
there. And I'm sure he was determined
in his mind, if the Messiah ever comes by, he's never gonna hear
the end of it. He'll never hear the end of it
from me. Bartimaeus, of course, is a picture
of salvation. Not only is Bartimaeus a picture
of salvation, but he's a picture of sanctification. Salvation
and sanctification are all intimately linked together in the scriptures,
brothers and sisters. The same God that saves you is
the same God that sanctifies you. The God that delivers you
is the God that keeps you. The God who was faithful to you
in bringing Himself and revealing Himself to you in salvation and
taking away your sins is the same God that comes back and
reveals Himself again and again. Which is why we need to hear
Him and we need to see Him. We need to see something of His
glory again and again. Bartimaeus was blind. Bartimaeus was in danger, Bartimaeus
was in a cursed place, and Bartimaeus was a beggar. He was humbled
by the providence of God. He was seeking food for his body,
but he heard about a Messiah. When God Almighty comes and visits
chosen sinners, He puts a cry into their hearts. When he heard, when he heard
that the Lord was coming by, he asked what it meant, verse
36, what is all this? There he is begging, and they
told him that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. And he cried out to the only
one, the only one in all of history and the only one in all of scriptures
that can do anything to help him. You cry out to the God of
salvation. It's a cry that God has put in
your heart. by the revelations. Bartimaeus
was operating on the basis of the light that he was given. I love what Ralph Barnard said,
if you walk in the light that the Lord gives you, he'll give
you more light. I think there's a lot of truth
in that. You see what he says? He says, Jesus, our son of David. See, he acknowledged that the
Lord Jesus Christ was the Messiah, was the son of David. In Matthew's
account he says, O Lord, our son of David. And what's he crying
for? He's crying for mercy, mercy. Have mercy on me. You've shown mercy to others.
I've heard of your mercy. I've heard of the blind being
healed. I've heard of the dead being raised. I've heard of you
bringing life where there was no life. Bringing light where
there was no light. Bringing salvation. Have mercy
on me. Have mercy on me. I've heard
of your mercy to others, have mercy on me. What is your prayer
to God? My constant one is Lord have
mercy upon me. Lord have mercy upon me. Lord
save me. Lord save me. Salvation from
man's perspective begins so often with a cry. And sometimes we
think that we've gone beyond that, don't we? That's for people
who are beginning. Well, my friend Jeremiah. My
friend Jeremiah was set apart from his mother's womb. My friend
Jeremiah, our brother Jeremiah, lived in Jerusalem as almost
the only one of God's witnesses in that city that was under the
curse of God and falling apart. And Jeremiah had seen and heard
remarkable things from the very mouth of God himself. But by
the 17th chapter of Jeremiah, if you go and read his history
here, he has seen so much, and he's witnessed so much. But in
Jeremiah 17, 14, there's a wonderful verse. This is an old prophet
of God. He says, Heal me, O Lord, and
I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. for thou art my praise." For
those who are, who have the God of the Scriptures, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as their God, they'll be calling
out, heal me Lord, heal me. I can't heal myself, but if you
heal me I'll be healed. Save me and I shall be saved. We don't ever, brothers and sisters,
go beyond being needy, helpless beggars. We don't go beyond it. But listen to what the Lord does
in response to that cry. The Lord stood It's remarkable, isn't it, to
think who we're talking about here. We're talking about the
God of this universe. The God who upholds things, all
things, by the word of His power. The God who can call on light
and say a word and a universe comes into existence. That God
stood still. And Jesus stood. And Jesus stood. He stands still. When he hears the cry of his
people, and don't forget Bartimaeus' cry was a cry that came from
a deep need, but also it came in the face of those who were
telling, don't be so embarrassing. Don't be so embarrassed. In verse
39, And they which went before rebuked him that he should hold
his peace. And what did he do in response
to this religious world around him and to his own flesh and
to those who were embarrassed by him? He just cried them all. You see, he was needy. He was
needy. See, a cry for mercy. A cry from the heart for mercy. stops Almighty God in his tracks. And not only that, but it brings
a command from the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? Verse 40,
he says, Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him. We've just already been looking
at John the Baptist, wasn't it? Andrew, what did you do? They said, come and see the Lord
Jesus and he brought him, he brought his brother to the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord could have easily gone
over, couldn't he? He could have, as he did with Lazarus, he could
have said a word and Lazarus came immediately out of the grave.
But He commands him to be brought. There is always, in the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a place for man. He commands
him to be brought. He probably commands him to be
brought by those who are rebuking him. Bring him to me. Call him to cry for mercy. causes our God to stop. A cry
for mercy causes our God to speak words of command and promise. It's such a typical response,
isn't it, of this world, when there is an awakened soul, when
grace has begun to work in the hearts of people, there is, don't
be so fanatical, don't take that so seriously. Again and again
and again I was told, don't take it so seriously. We can have
our religion and we don't have to be so fanatical about it.
We don't have to be so passionate about it. But a cry, a cry from
a chosen sinner brings a command and brings a word from our God. He says, command him to come
to me. Don't invite him to come. You
command him to come. He'll come. What will ye, what
will thou that I shall do unto you? What do you wish for me
to do? There is going to be in the salvation
of all sinners, like Paul did on Damascus Road. What will you
have me to do? You are absolutely sovereign
here. You have come into my life as an absolute sovereign reigning
monarch. And I am in your hands. And you
can do to me as you wish, my God. And whatever you wish is
right, because it's you who wish it and you who do it. That's
our sovereign God. See, Grace, brings a cry, an
unstoppable cry. Grace brings a word of command
from God. And he says, Lord, that I might
receive my sight. That I might receive my sight. The Lord, in salvation and in
sanctification, puts his people in the way where he passes by. He puts his people where he will
be. He brings a cry into their heart. He brings This chosen sinner,
this blind man. It's a lovely picture, isn't
it? He brings this blind man right up into his presence. It
says in the other accounts that he touched them. That's how close
he is. And he calls him. So the Lord
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. For three and a half
years he'd had no visit. For three and a half years he
sat in that way. And now, now the time of love has
come. And he cast away his garment.
The beggars in India used to have their garments lying out
in front of them. That's where the beggars and where our buskers
put their money. It was his only means of sustenance
and support and he just threw it away. And he came to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come to Jesus. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, come unto me. Come unto
me. Our warrant for coming is his
command to come. Don't stay away. Come. Come like
Bartimaeus. poor, blind, helpless, wretched. Just as I am without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid'st me come
to thee, O Lamb of God, I come." See, we come to God to receive.
Bartimaeus had absolutely nothing to offer the Son of God. We come to an almighty giver. We come to an almighty caller. We come with a cry in our heart,
a cry for mercy, a cry for grace. We come like Bartimaeus, and
if we come like Bartimaeus, we'll keep coming like Bartimaeus. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight. And what was the first thing
he saw? The first thing he saw was the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that's what happens in salvation,
isn't it? The one thing that matters is
that you know Him, that we see Him We look unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. We come looking. We remain looking. We spend eternity looking. You
come and you cast away all of your righteousnesses, all of
your filthy rags. We come, we come and we wait. We wait. And what happens? What happens? when our Lord meets
His chosen sinners, and immediately, verse 43, He received His sight,
and He followed Him, glorifying God. If you receive your sight,
If you are taken out of darkness and transferred into the kingdom
of light and into the kingdom of his dear son, the first thing
you see is his face. You don't physically see his
face, but you see his presence through the word, don't you?
You realize that he's alive and he's present and he's real and
he's holy and he's merciful and he's gracious and he's almighty.
You see him We see him to be in reality as he's described
in his word. And we never want to move beyond
what he is described as in his word. The first site of Bartimaeus
was the site of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says in the other
accounts, he followed him, it says he followed him on the way. Where was the Lord Jesus Christ
going to? He was on his way to Jerusalem. He was marching up
that hill. He set his face like a flint
for the likes of Bartimaeus and the likes of sinners like us. See, the way we go is dependent
upon the one we see. And we see by a divine creative
act. We see what we could never see
before. And that's why, if the Lord will
allow us, we need to have some kindness and patience with people
who are blind. They can't see. They can't see. The only time they will see is
when God, in mercy and grace, creates a life and creates light
and creates eyes. The Lord gives sight as His Word
is heard. He gives sight in His presence. And that's why we preach the
Gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. And we keep saying
to people, come and see. Come and see. Behold the Lamb
of God. Come and see. And Bartimaeus
gives us another great lesson, don't we? To be in the place.
To see Him as He is. To be healed of your blindness. To see who He is and who you
are. It's always wise to be in the
place where he promises to be. He was on the one road in Jericho
where he knew if the Messiah ever came by, he was going to
be there. And if Messiah came by, he was never going to hear
the end of it from me. Lord, I want to see. I want to receive my sight. We see him in the preaching of
the Gospel. We see him in his shed blood
on Calvary's tree. I love what Paul says. There's
a great description of sanctification, the work of God in the lives
of his people. in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and
if you read the rest of chapter 3 you'll see that Paul is actually
saying, and the Holy Spirit is saying, with extraordinary emphasis
and clarity that you cannot go back to the law of Moses except
be blinded. But he says at the end of that
chapter, he says, but we all, verse 18, but we all with open
face, beholding as in a glass, The glory of the Lord are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord. We all with open face behold
Him as in a glass, as in a mirror. We don't see Him as clearly as
we would behold Him. And you are changed. You are
changed as you look at Him, as you be with Him and spend time
with Him and spend time in His Word. He changes His people. He causes us to see Him. And when you see Him and you
receive grace, all you need and all you want is more. So Bartimaeus
couldn't be pardoned from the Lord Jesus. He followed Him on
the way. He began his life, Bartimaeus,
as a helpless, blind, hopeless, wretched beggar. Other than the
fact that he received His sight, Bartimaeus remained a beggar. He went on that way, and he went
on that way with the Lord Jesus Christ. When light shines, it will lead
the way to the cross. It will lead us to the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And there's one remarkable statement,
isn't it, that the Lord Jesus Christ says about Emmaus. He says, thy faith, verse 42,
thy faith has saved thee. See, faith is not just the gift
of God. True saving faith is the possession
of his people. And if you'd ask Bartimaeus for
the rest of his life, how was his healed? And how was he saved? If you told Bartimaeus it was
your faith and your activity, Bartimaeus, he'd say, absolute
rubbish. And yet the Lord says, thy faith,
thy faith not just has cured your blindness, Bartimaeus, and
removed you from darkness, and removed you from the danger that
was around you all the time, and taken you out of that cursed
city, it saved you. Meeting the Lord Jesus Christ
and having Him shine His light, the light of who He is upon His
people, is salvation. This is eternal life, that you
know Him. You know Him. You know him as
the one sent from the Father. You know him as the one sent
by the Father to Calvary's tree to shed his life's blood. You
know him as the one who's gloriously resurrected, as proof that our
sins are gone, and as proof that our great God reigneth. Let's
pray. Now, Heavenly Father, we pray
that you would take these words of yours, our Father, and apply
them to our hearts, and grant us, like Bartimaeus, that we
might be called to come to you, and come to you, we might receive
a sight of you, our Father. We do pray, Heavenly Father,
that the way, like Bartimaeus' way, is going to be a way that
will lead us to at times feel as if our Lord has suffered and
is absent from us. But like Artemis, we'll be relieved
to know that on Calvary's cross, our Lord Jesus Christ shed his
life's blood, his precious blood. And we're washed whiter than
snow in the blood of the Lamb. Our Father, call on us to come
and give us the grace to cry as needy, helpless, begging sinners
for you to have mercy upon us. Open our eyes to see your Son,
to see him crucified, to see him buried, to see him risen
and reigning, and for us to see that blood as precious, our Father. that we might find ourselves,
like these people, glorying in who you are. Bless your words
to our hearts, Heavenly Father, for Jesus' sake. We're in his
name we pray. Amen.