If you would, please turn to
Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. I want to read
the last seven verses, beginning in Mark 10 and verse 46. Mark chapter 10, beginning in
verse 46. 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
would 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 call 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. I want to speak about blind Bartimaeus. You can put on the end of that,
rise he calleth thee, or if you want to, you can put go thy way.
Now this, to me, is a wonderful account. The blind man, Bartimaeus,
is healed of his blindness. Jesus Christ gave sight to the
blind. And I'm going to tell you something right now. That's
about as much as the world will ever see in this account. And
that is about as much as most religion will see in this account. You'll kind of hear, if you hear
people talk about it, one of those sentiments like, well,
isn't that just nice? Jesus healed a blind man. He
healed. Yes, he did heal. Jesus Christ
did heal his blindness. This giving of sight to the blind
was a gracious miracle by the Lord Jesus Christ of physical
healing. It was. But that's not all it
was. There's a lot more here than
that. Because there's more to this gracious act than most people
know. And that's what I want to talk about because I believe
in this encounter of Jesus Christ and blind Bartimaeus. I see the
salvation of God in Christ Jesus. The gospel is revealed in this
account. This is another one of those people, sort of like
Walter the harlot Rahab, you always hear the harlot Rahab,
even though she didn't stay a harlot. Well, you always hear blind Bartimaeus.
He didn't stay blind. But that's how we talk about
him, that's what it says here. There's blind Bartimaeus sitting
by the highway side. Jesus encountered Bartimaeus
here in more than one way. Physical healing, the giving
of physical sight is a part of what happened here, but it's
only a part. It's only a part of what Jesus
Christ did for this man on this day. Yes, this really happened. We have no proof other than the
scriptures. We have no proof other than the
scriptures. I don't need anything other than
the scriptures. I'm not going to get into it,
but I heard a message not too long ago by a fellow who's a
grace preacher, and a darn good one, did some really fine messages
that I'd heard. He spent an hour and 15 minutes
leading up to a scripture he was going to talk about. And
he sat down building his logic, and he did a very good job of
it. And really, the first 30 minutes of it, Walter, it was very enjoyable
for me. It was a very good sermon. But
then he got into this other part, and he finally got to the scripture,
and he got to the scripture, and he basically said, that's
not what it means. It means something else. Now, his logic was impeccable. But if your logic leads you to
say that the scripture's wrong, your logic is wrong. because
it doesn't matter. Now, I do love the logic of scripture.
I love the line upon line, the precept upon precept, here a
little, there a little, where you can put it together, but
you never deny what the scripture actually says, because the scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and holy men of old moved by
the inspiration of God and wrote it down for us. Men are often wrong. The scripture is never wrong. The problem we run into is what
people say about it. But I can tell you this, every
encounter with Jesus Christ recorded in the scripture has more than
one result. Whether we see it or not, whether
I understand it or not, it's there. Our Lord did nothing without
the purpose of the Father in mind. I came to do the will of
my Father, and that's exactly what he did. And what does this
say? 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. Jesus went out of Jericho, and
blind Bartimaeus sat by the highway begging. Two seemingly random
events, but they weren't random at all. This was a meeting foreordained
from before the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ was exactly
where he was supposed to be, and I'll tell you, blind Bartimaeus
was exactly where he was supposed to be. Because there are two,
this is the first thing I want to point out about this, and
this is something that is a little different than a lot of encounters
you'll read in the scriptures. There are two named individuals
in this account. We have Jesus, the Son of God,
Jesus of Nazareth, and we have blind Bartimaeus. the son of
Timaeus. Because some of the things that
need to be pointed out here have to do with the fact that this
man is named. The focus, there are other people here. There
are other people here. It says his disciples in a great
number, but you only get two names. Because that's where the
focus of this account is. The other people, And I don't
want to denigrate this or anything, but the other people are extraneous
in this account. It could have been anyone. There
were people who were following Jesus, yes, but it doesn't give
their names. The only people we're going to
talk about today are Jesus and Bartimaeus. God could have used
anyone else here. But this focus is between Jesus
and Bartimaeus and Bartimaeus and Jesus alone. Second, the name of Bartimaeus. Now it tells us in the scripture,
he's the son of Timaeus. And if you look it up, Bartimaeus,
it's a compound word. The word bar means son. That's
what it means, son of. Now, where it gets interesting
is the word Timaeus. If you look in the Strongs, it
doesn't actually give you a definition of it. It just says it was a
name of a Hebrew. And it says, see the Hebrew word, I don't
know, 4920 or something like that, and the word's Timae, T-I-M-A-Y. But when you look at Bartimaeus
in there, and this is the thing, like I said, not many people
are named. We don't get the name of the
woman at the well. We don't get the name of the
Gadarene demoniac. We don't get the name of the
woman who eats the crumbs from the master's table. Now, we get
the name of Lazarus, but we don't get the name of the rich man.
We don't get the name of the woman with an issue of blood.
the centurion who had a daughter. These were all real people who
met the Son of God, but we don't get their names. Well, Bartimaeus'
name literally means Son of the Unclean. That's what it means. There's a reason he gave the
name here. Bartimaeus is the unclean son. That makes everything seem a
little more different now, when I thought about that. Bartimaeus is a son, but he's unclean. Just like there was such a fellow
that Jesus gave a parable of, the prodigal son. He was a son,
but he was gone. My son was lost. My son was dead,
and now he is found. Bartimaeus is the son that was
unclean. That changes things for me when
I looked at that. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, thou son of
David, Have mercy on me." When he heard, it was Jesus of
Nazareth. Bartimaeus knew who he was calling
out to. And he said, thou son of David.
Now I don't know if Bartimaeus had been told of Christ's lineage,
but Bartimaeus knew the son of David. That's who he was calling
out to. Jesus of Nazareth, thou son of
David, have mercy on me. He asked for mercy because he knew
he didn't deserve anything. And he cried unto Jesus because
he had heard of Jesus. There are things going on, and
there were things going on, before we get to this point, that were
not told in the scriptures. Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus
of Nazareth. And he cried out with a purpose.
The unclean, if they know they are unclean, will cry out. for mercy. Bartimaeus knew he didn't deserve
anything. Now, I want to tell you, that's
not the natural state of man. The natural state of man thinks
he deserves a lot of things. So what am I saying here? I'm
saying something happened to Bartimaeus before we got to this
point. That's clear to me. And I believe
to you, it's clear. Because how many blind beggars
did Jesus of Nazareth walk by that did not cry out unto him? There's something going on here.
And I believe we know what it is. This is not Bartimaeus, okay?
Bartimaeus cried out for mercy. From the son of David, he cried
out for mercy. He didn't cry out for favor. He didn't name it and claim it.
You understand? We're full of that around here.
And it's full of that on the television set. You name it,
then you claim it, and it's just as good as yours. No. Jesus, the house son of David,
Have mercy on me. He didn't cry out for justice
because he didn't want justice. He didn't cry out for his rights,
Walter. He didn't cry out for his just
desserts. Jesus, now son of David, give
me what I deserve. You don't want to cry that out.
because you don't want what you deserve. And Bartimaeus knew
that much. Bartimaeus knew he needed mercy,
and he knew who to call upon, and so what? He called upon the
name of the Lord. Allowed. Why? Jesus was there. When he heard
Jesus Nazareth was there, that's when he cried out. The hearing ear, along with the
seeing eye, along with the heart that understands, come from God
and nowhere else. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more great deal. Thou
son of David, have mercy on me. Bartimaeus was told to be quiet by many. Now who's this man? These are people that are following
Jesus. And they told Bartimaeus to be quiet. Don't cause a ruckus,
just shut up. That's basically what it is.
They told him to shut up. Bartimaeus wasn't in a place
for shutting up. He cried out the more. He cried
out the louder. Why? Because Bartimaeus felt
a need. Bartimaeus felt had a need and
Felt the need and so he cried out the more Because the one
who could fix his need was there There are a lot of people Telling
a lot of people You can name it you can claim
it You've called upon the name of the Lord, okay be quiet When you're calling upon the
name of the Lord, you're not gonna stop until you hear His
answer. And that's the truth of the matter.
When God, I used to say it this way, I'll say it again, when
God lays hold of you, you know, you're gonna lay hold of Him. Not before, but you will lay
hold of Him. and you will cry out. And it
may not be out loud. We don't see Jesus Christ walking
on the road from Jericho right now. But this is the thing, if
God has done something for you and you see that you are an unclean
son, you see that you are unclean, you will cry out for mercy. And
doesn't matter what anyone else says, you're gonna cry out for
mercy because you're gonna need it until he gives it to you. That's just the way he does it. The election of grace has results
in time. Bartimaeus is the unclean son,
but he was already a son. Or if you prefer, a child of
God. They told Bartimaeus to be quiet
and it didn't work. Because when you hear that it
was Jesus of Nazareth, you'll talk to him. He wasn't talking,
Barnabas wasn't talking to the many. He was crying out to Jesus. And you won't listen to anyone
who tries to stop you from crying out unto Jesus Christ. He cried
out the more. Why? Because that's what you
do. That's what you do. And here we go. 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. Jesus stood still at the cry
of the unclean son. Is that not a miracle or what? Is that not a miracle or what? Now, let me be very clear here. Jesus knew he was there. Jesus
heard him the first time. There are illustrations in the
scripture. There's a parable that Christ told. right before
the prodigal son. About how a man having a lost
sheep would not go out and find it and get it and bring it back
home and rejoice, okay? There is that illustration given
of the shepherd going out to find his sheep and bringing his
sheep in. That's a valid illustration.
But this illustration here where we've got this Jesus didn't go
to Bartimaeus. Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. He said it, other sheep I have,
them I must bring. I am come to seek and to save that
which is lost. And that is all gloriously true. But in this account, Jesus does
not go to Bartimaeus, just like the account of the prodigal son. And I want to point this out
very clearly. Jesus does not come at your call. You're calling because of him. It's not he's coming because
you call. Because if you truly are calling
upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is because he has
already came to you. Whether you know it or not. Because
something has changed in you that was not true before. You
live. Now, you still, the unclean son, The prodigal son was still the
prodigal son until he came home. But when he came unto himself,
he thought, my father has much food. He can feed servants. Surely I could get a meal there. Jesus stood still here and commanded him to be called. Guess what? They call the blind man, saying
unto him, be of comfort, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth
thee. Men told Bartimaeus what Jesus
said. There is a place for men in the
calling out of the sheep of God. Not in the granting of life. No. But there is a gospel call
to the sheep of God, to the children of God, saying, and this is what
they say, what do they say? The men said what Jesus said. The message God's messengers
is the Word of God Men spoke to Bartimaeus, but
they spoke the words that Christ spoke We are to repeat his words
We are to teach from his book. We are to speak only according
to the scriptures And what did they say? They said,
rise, be of good comfort, rise. He calleth thee. He calleth thee. But notice very carefully here,
this was not a request by the Son of God. He commanded him to be called.
And the call that he gave was also a command, not a request. God commands. And Jesus Christ
is God Almighty. Manifest in the flesh. And Jesus
Christ does not request. He is not pleading. He is not battling Satan for
men's souls. He commands and those whom He
commands come. They come. Because what did Bartimaeus
do? And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus in answer to the command of Christ, which
was relayed to him by men. But I like that first part. And
he casting away his garment. But let me be very clear. Yes,
we are to come to Christ. Yes, we do come to Christ. But yes, also, yes, we don't
come until He calls. That's just the way we are. I
mean, there's a reality, there's not only a reality to grace,
there is a reality to depravity. When He calls, you will come. and you won't come until he calls. That's just the way it is. And
he casting away his garment. When you come to Christ, you're
coming naked. I know it's not exactly normally
what people talk about in church. But you understand, here's the
point, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God manifest
in the flesh, doesn't need anything you have. You need Him. And when you come to Him, you're
gonna come as you are. Why? Because you can't change
what you are. You can't change who you are. Now sure, sometimes we can clean
up the outside of the cup. We can quit some things. You
know, well, I'm going to quit drinking and then I'm going to
go to Jesus. It's like, yeah, well, he don't want you drunk
or sober. Doesn't matter. If that's your attitude, He ain't
called you. When he calls you, you will cast
away everything you have. Even though he may just turn
around and give it right back to you. Because trust me, Bartimaeus
didn't run around the rest of his life without his garments
on. He put them back on. But when Jesus Christ called
and he rose and took off his garment, because he brought nothing
to Jesus Christ. but himself. And the only reason
he brought himself was Jesus Christ cried out and told him
to, called him. Because when he calls you, you
will leave everything behind and you will come. You will come. Come unto ye, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. And guess
what? Those that are laboring, those
that are heavy laden, they'll come to him and they'll receive
rest. But they won't come in their
pride and they won't come in their vanity because he will
have none of it. They're gonna come because he
is the only place to go. He is the only one to whom to
go. He cast away his garment, rose,
and came to Jesus. You will not stay where you are
when Jesus calls you. I'll repeat that. You will not
stay where you are when Jesus calls you. You don't stay a beggar on the
side of the road. You don't stay a beggar on top
of dunghill. He's raising up beggars off of
dunghills. What? Two. Two for the purpose
of seeding them with princes and kings. And he's going to see to it that
you're clothed. When he calls, when he truly
calls, you will rise and come to Christ. Isn't that great? Isn't that
great? Bartimaeus knew who he was. He
was calling on the side of the road, but Bartimaeus didn't get
up and chase him. Bartimaeus waited. The unclean son does
not approach the son of God until the son of God calls the unclean
son. But when the son of God calls that unclean son, he says,
come, commands him to come. You're gonna drop your garment,
you're gonna rise, and you're gonna what? Come to him. You're not gonna come to the
church, although you may go to church. You're not gonna come
to doctrine, although he'll teach you doctrine. When he calls you,
you're coming to him. And then you'll learn of his
doctrine. Then you'll learn where his people
assemble. Not until you may have been going
to church all your life, but it ain't the same. It's not even
close and came to Jesus because after
the rising up of Bartimaeus came the approach. This unclean son at this time
knew to whom he was going and he came. Crying out doesn't save you.
Jesus saves. Christ saves. Coming doesn't save you. Christ saves. Laboring and being heavy laden
doesn't save you Jesus saves You're gonna come to him or you
haven't come at all Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden come unto me and The unclean son rose and
came to Christ when he was called And Jesus answered and said unto
him, what wilt that I should do unto thee? The blind man said
unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And I'll tell
you this right now, Bartimaeus, at that time, before his eyesight
came back, was seeing better than most people. But he wanted his physical sight. And Jesus Christ gave it to him.
And that's the only part most people see. Jesus converses with the unclean
son, whom he's called to him, and the unclean son is willing
to come and does come to Christ. And now, guess what? Christ speaks
to him, and he speaks to Christ. When you come to Christ, there's
a relationship established. Like I said, no one else in this
account is named. There are many people around
and they know many things about Jesus. But this, this instance,
this account has to do with Jesus and Bartimaeus alone. Salvation is always individual. I can't help you get saved. All
I can do is from here is say what Christ has said. Teach to
the best of my ability what Christ has taught Through his words through the
words of his prophets through the words of his apostles that
is given to us this scripture right here Now Bartimaeus did ask to be
able to see I Know my problem. I can't see I And here's the thing, Bartimaeus
knew it was my problem. It's his problem. I know you
can fix it. And not only my problem, you
can fix me. That's why I came to him. You're gonna know who can fix
you when you know you're broke. Start feeling a little bit of
your depravity. you'll know whom to go to. He'll show you, because
he's the one that showed you your depravity. And seeing is a good thing. I
want to see, and no one wants to see more than one who knows
he is blind. And what'd Jesus say to this man
who asked for his sight? He said, Jesus said unto him,
go thy way. Faith hath made thee whole and
immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way
But look at those first three words. He spoke to him Go thy
way What Bartimaeus Bartimaeus had
a way Yes, he did And I can tell you this Everyone that comes
to Christ has a way And that's the way Christ said
it, go thy way. We all have a way to go in this
world. And I'll tell you this, we're
going that way. Until he takes us out of it. But how could Bartimaeus go his
way? Thy faith has made thee whole. Where's faith come from? Come
on, we used to be Baptists, you know that. We have Baptist roots. I was born Catholic, I can't
say nothing about that. Faith is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. And it is Bartimaeus' faith,
thy faith. It's also Christ's faith. It's
also the faith of Christ's elect. There's only one faith. And that is the faith of God's
elect. The faith of Christ, who is the author and finisher of
faith. But he gives it to his people. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go thy way. Immediately immediately immediately
he received his sight I Tell you this when Jesus gives
you sight you will see Right then right there you will
see you will be happy you will have sight You will see all around
you and every one of God's children
will see when he calls them. It's his gift, the hearing ear,
the seeing eye, and the heart that understands. Now, once you are given sight, you
will never not see. Now, understanding and comprehension
Growth in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ it does
grow You don't have it all at first, but you see You will see
You may not understand everything you see you still don't understand
everything you see I still don't understand everything I say I
See new things every day in the scripture but you will always see. Comprehension and understanding
is a whole nother thing. Lord, increase my faith. Help me to understand what he
said in his word. Not what I think he said in his
word, what his word actually says. Once you have been given sight
it's time to go thy way And how was part of what was
Bartimaeus his way this is the part that I love this Christ
told him Jesus told him go thy way what and Followed Jesus in
the way Guess what? Bartimaeus his way was Jesus
following Jesus his way And it is your way It's your way or
you haven't come to it. It's your way or you don't know
him. Because the unclean son, who's
no longer unclean, still to pray but given life, receiving sight
and he's seeing, guess what? He followed the way of Christ. The way of the unclean son who
has faith, who now can see, is to follow Jesus in the way. Because there is only one way. And he is the way. And Bartimaeus
went his way. He followed Jesus in the way
because now that is Bartimaeus' way. So that's the question. What's
your way? Is this your way now? Following
after him? Bartimaeus did get what he cried
out for, but he didn't get it because he cried out. He got
it because Jesus Christ called him. brought him in and gave
him life and gave him faith and Sent him on the way Now that
is mercy That is grace and that takes the work of God The unclean son was saved and
by the Son of God, and go thy way. And he followed
Jesus in the way. Our Heavenly Father, help us to follow your way, to walk in thy paths. Make us
to walk in thy paths. We'll give you all the glory
and the honor now and forever because it is yours. In Christ's
name, we pray. Amen.