not any man, but a certain man, a man who's being set apart from
all the others, a certain man. 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 Timotheus, sat by
the highway side begging. Our Master and our Savior, with
his disciples in a great multitude, it said, had departed Galilee,
which they were in chapter 9, in the previous chapter they
were in Galilee, and came to the region of Judea, which we
see in verse 1 of this chapter. And they were heading to Jerusalem.
They were heading to Jerusalem. We see this in verse 32 of this chapter. Look at Mark
chapter 10 verse 32. And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem
and Jesus went before them. That's key there too. Our Lord
went before them. We should always pray, Lord,
go before me. Don't let me go anywhere where you don't go before
me, Lord. He went before them, and they
were amazed. And as they fall, they were afraid. And He took
again the twelve and began to tell them what things should
happen unto Him." So why are they going to Jerusalem? Well,
they're going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, but this
would be the Last Supper. This time would be the last time
that Christ went to Jerusalem for the Passover. This time He
would be the Passover Lamb. the great Passover lamb. Well,
how do we know that? Look at verses 33 and 34 of Mark
chapter 10. And he's telling the disciples
what's gonna come to pass. And in 32, he took them aside
and began to tell them what things should happen unto him. See,
he knew. He knew exactly what he, he was
on a mission, wasn't he? save his people from their sins.
He knew what was going to befall him. And he willingly went, like
a lamb led to the slaughter. Look at this. Saying, behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, which is
the Romans. They shall mock him, and shall
scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him. In the
third day, he shall rise again." Now, this hasn't even happened. He's telling them exactly what's
going to happen, isn't he? We know that from the gospel
narratives. Well, how does he know? Because
he's God, and he knows the end from the beginning. He already
knows what's going to happen. And look at the description here.
be delivered unto the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall
condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles."
Again, that's the Romans, and we're Gentiles too. Anybody who
was outside of Israel was considered a Gentile. And they shall mock
him, which they did, and scourge him, which they did, and spit
upon him, which they did, and kill him, which they did. And
the third day he shall rise again, which he did. Isn't that amazing? So they were headed to Jerusalem
to partake in the Passover, which again would be the last Passover
for Christ and where he would have the last supper with his
disciples. He was in the short time going
to suffer and bleed and die as the great substitute. And he
knew it. And he willingly was on his way.
Scripture says his face was set like a flint. Remember that's
in the movable stone. He was immovable to the purpose
why he came. You know why? To save you and
I. Isn't that amazing? In a whole multitude that no
man can number. My goodness. So we see him speaking
about his death, speaking about him being the great substitute,
speaking of him saving his people by the sacrifice of himself. And we see in verse 46 of Mark
chapter 10 that they came to Jericho. It says, and they came
to Jericho, and he went out of Jericho with his disciples and
a great number of people Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the highwayside begging. Now think of this. Jericho was
a large city. So when our Lord came into Jericho,
he passed by all these people. Keeps going. Now the scripture
says he's going out of Jericho. So think of how many people he's
just passed by. Just passed them by. On his way,
sent his face like a flint to Jerusalem. I must go. I'm going to die. I must save
my people from their sins. So he passed all these people,
because Jericho was a thriving city. It was one of the oldest
cities in the ancient world. It was often called the City
of Palms. The name means the perfumed.
And it was a very fertile area, a very beautiful area. It was
about 18 miles northeast of Jerusalem at the ford of the Jordan River.
And we see in the text here in verse 46 that our Lord was leaving
Jericho. And he was on his way to Jerusalem. And it also says there was a
great multitude with him, his disciples and a great multitude.
And we see here that blind Bartimaeus sat by the road begging. Now the account involving Jesus
and Bartimaeus is not only a beautiful story, but also a very instructive
lesson for us. It's a beautiful story. It's
a beautiful narrative. But it's also very instructive
for us. And we see here A picture also
of we who are the people of God in our natural state, spiritually
blind and begging, bankrupt at the mercy of others. And this is how we are. This
is how we're born into this world, spiritually blind. Let's read verse 46 again with
that in our minds. 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. So we see here, Bartimaeus was
blind. They say of the five physical
senses, sight is by far the hardest to live without, because blindness
makes you completely dependent upon others. They're completely
dependent upon the kindness and the consideration of others.
And it also makes one very susceptible to the wicked, people taking
advantage of them. And all of us, again, are born
in this state, spiritually blind, physically alive, but yet dead
in trespasses and sins, and physically blind. Scripture declares of
us in our natural state that those who are perishing whose
minds the God of this age has blinded. Satan's blinded the eyes of sinners
who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them.
So think upon this, physical blindness made a Levite unfit
for the priesthood. It made him unfit, just so spiritual
blindness makes us unfit to be priests of God, which is what
we're called. So one who is blind spiritually
has no relationship with the true and living God. No matter
how much they say, well, yeah, I know him. Many shall say unto
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done all these things?
Have we not prophesied in your name and done all these wondrous
works? He says, depart from me, ye cursed, ye workers of iniquity,
for I never knew you. So one who is blind spiritually
has no relationship with the true and living God. Only by
the power of God, only by the power of God, when we are regenerated,
when we're born again, can the spiritually blind see. And what do we see when the Lord
gives us spiritual sight? What do we see? We see our utter
hopeless condition before God, don't we? We see that we're sinners
from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We see that
everything we do is tainted with sin. Oh my. We see our desperate need
for Christ. We see that we have no hope of
eternal life by anything we do. Anything. And we see God for
who He is, don't we? He's not the God we thought He
was in our heads. Oh, He's a holy God. He's a righteous God. He's a sovereign God. We see Him for who He is. Righteous, ruling in righteousness. absolute sovereign. And take note in this verse here
that Bartimaeus was begging. He was impoverished, which is why he sat by the road
begging. And it was not uncommon in those
times for the blind to be beggars. Their disability hindered employment
and usually resulted in impoverishment. Therefore, they were unable to
provide for themselves. Blind Bartimaeus, he couldn't
provide for himself. So he sat by the road begging,
hoping that people would have mercy on him. And he'd get a coin here and
there. But none could cure his sight. None could give him what he really
desired, eyes to see. Now all of us by nature are like
him, spiritually blind and we're beggars. That's what we are,
impoverished. We can't save ourselves. Not
one of us in this room can save ourselves. Not one of us. Not
one who will listen to this message can save yourself. No one. With
man, it's impossible. It's impossible for us to save
ourselves. But with God, all things are
possible. Hooray! And we as people know that. He
saved our souls. He did that which was impossible
for you and I. He saved us by His grace and
His mercy. The Holy Spirit says of us, surely
these are poor, they are foolish, for they do not know the way
of the Lord, the judgment of their God, Jeremiah 5.4. That's
us in our natural state. We do not know the Lord. We do
not know His ways. And Bartimaeus resided, think
of this, he resided in a fertile place. Jericho was a thriving city. And the name Jericho derives
from either a root word meaning fragrant or another meaning moon. Now, one of our grace preachers
brought forth this, and I found it very interesting. Jericho
was indeed a fragrant city because of the sweet-smelling trees abounding
in that area. And Jericho was also associated
with the moon because it was the center of Canaanite moon
worship. So it was a pagan city. in the center for moon worship.
But none of that could help blind Bartimaeus. Those false gods
couldn't help him. None of the people could help
him. They may drop a coin in the basket
to help him out a little bit, but none of them could cure his
sight. Those beautiful fragrances of
that city couldn't give him his sight, couldn't help him at all.
He could smell them, because his nose, he still had the sense
of smell. He probably smelled the beautiful fragrances, but
it couldn't help him, could it? Oh, my. Think upon this. Same is true in the spiritual
realm. Man-made religion smells good. Oh, they tell you this,
and they tell you that. They promise you these things. Oh, you do this, you're gonna
have crowns and treasures in heaven. You know who my treasure is in
heaven? Amen, sister. Christ. Our king told Abraham,
I am thou exceeding great reward. Christ is our king. Christ is
our reward. In him we have all spiritual
blessings. In him alone. Now, it was not chance or luck
that Jesus happened to be going by Bartimaeus. Some people in
the world might say, well, he was lucky. No. No. God does things on purpose, always. This situation is on purpose. This situation is coming about
by the will of God. And only the true and living
God can give sight to those who are physically blind as well
as spiritually blind. So in the place, in the state
that Bartimaeus was residing, there was none who could help
Bartimaeus. But as these messages are, last
week was the first, he's going to have a divine encounter. He's
going to have an encounter with Jesus. A divine encounter. An encounter
that's been planned and purposed by God from eternity. So with that in our minds, let's
read verse 47. 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. I can just hear him. Crying out
like we did when the Lord revealed himself to us. And nobody couldn't
see him, but he heard. He heard about him when he heard
that it was Jesus of Nazareth. He heard people saying, that's
Jesus. That's Jesus of Nazareth. he cries out Jesus thou son of
David have mercy on me and our Lord was coming up out of
Jericho he was leaving Jericho he passed by all those other
people like I said on his way to Jerusalem to redeem
his people and he heard a poor blind beggar crying for mercy
again barn mass couldn't see him he could hear He still had
the sense of hearing, so he could hear. If it was Christ and his
disciples in the great multitude, he could hear them going by. They say that when you're blind,
your other senses are heightened. So he could hear them going by.
And then he heard someone say, it was Jesus of Nazareth. What
does he do? what does every sinner who is
born again by the Holy Spirit of God do he cries out he cries
out Jesus now son of David have mercy on me oh now let's read verse 48 of
Mark chapter 10 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. Well, we see here that Bartimaeus
had overcome some discouragements, didn't he? Which exemplifies the fact in
Matthew 11, 12, it says, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence,
and the violent take it by force. As soon as the sinner is brought
into a serious concern for his or her soul's everlasting welfare,
enemies of Christ and enemies of their soul will try to strifle,
try to quiet all that conviction. Try to crush the infant desire
for mercy, grace, and salvation. Even before Christ has been formed
in the heart is there hope of glory. Some of God's elect are
sharply tried by foolish counsel of those around him and by the
accusations of Satan. Some of those who were around
Bartimaeus discouraged him. Don't cry out. Don't cry out. Hold your peace, Bartimaeus. Suggesting maybe that he was
too poor, too impoverished, too dirty, too blind, too worthless
a person to obtain mercy from Christ. I'll tell you what, though. Blind Bartimaeus needed mercy.
He needed mercy. He'd been showing that he needed
Christ. He'd been shown that only Christ
could give him mercy. He needed it. He knew he needed
it. He knew he must seize this opportunity. And you know, he hardly even
noticed what they said to him. How do we know that? Well, look.
But he cried the more a great deal. People say, pardon me,
it's quiet. He just keeps crying out even
louder. I don't listen to him. I've got
to cry out for him. I love it. Isn't it wonderful?
He said, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Oh, have mercy on
me, Lord. Is that not our cry? Is that
not our cry when the Lord's drawn us to him? Is that not a cry
every day as believers? Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. Have
mercy on me, Lord. And consider this, too. Our Lord,
He was on His way to Jerusalem. He was on His way to accomplish
the salvation of His people, the redemption of His people.
He's on His way to fulfill the will of God. He's on His way to accomplish
that for which He was sent for, to redeem His people from their
sins. And his face, again, was set
like a flame. He's immovable to that which he must do. Nothing could cause him to pause.
Nothing could deter him from his work. Herod couldn't. Satan
couldn't. The Pharisees couldn't. His disciples
couldn't. Not even his own mother could
stop the Savior or cause him to pause in his path as he went
about to do his father's business. With that in our minds, let's
now read verses 49 and 50. And Jesus stood still. God in the flesh stood still. And commanded him, didn't command
everybody, But he commanded Bartimaeus to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying, look at this, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. He's blind, he can't see, but
he's going to go right to where that voice is, isn't he? That voice is calling him. Oh, my. And as we consider these
verses, think of this. Jesus went to the place where
Bartimaeus was. Bartimaeus could not go to where
Jesus was. He was blind. But Jesus came
to where Bartimaeus was. He came to him. The shepherd
is seeking out one of his lost sheep. And just as in the case of Zacchaeus,
who was another Jerichoite, saved by the Lord, the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which was lost. And our Lord, we know in John
chapter 4, he said, I must needs go through Samaria. Well, again,
he had to go through Jericho. on his way to Jerusalem because
there was blind Bartimaeus. He had to. He needed to save
his lost sheep. And this is true of all of God's
children. We are all by nature incapable
of coming to Christ. In our natural state, we are
incapable of coming to Christ, so Christ comes to us. He found me. I was lost. Amen. I was lost. We were lost. And
He found us. He came, just like He came to
Bartimaeus here, He came to us, and then He called us. You know, the scripture says
of ourselves that no one can come to me. The Lord said, no
one can come unto me. No one can come unto the Father
but by me. No one seeks after God, Romans
chapter 3 says. None righteous, no, not one.
None that understandeth the things of God. So by nature, we're incapable
of coming to Christ. healing. But look in verse 49, at the
sound of the cry of blind Bartimaeus, we are told that at the sound
of blind Bartimaeus' cry, Jesus stood still. God incarnate in
the flesh stood still. I'm talking the one who rules
everything. at the cry of this poor blind
beggar, crying out for mercy, he stands still. The very one
who calmed the sea, remember? That tent has come up. And he
said, peace, be still. And it was like glass. That very
one, it says here, he stood still. 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,
rise, he calleth thee." What a wonderful, amazing picture
of God's grace we see here before us. Here is the omnipotent God
in control of all things, stopped in his tracks. Why is he stopped in his tracks?
Because of the cry of one of his sheep. That is amazing. That is incredible. The cry of one of his lost sheep
saying, have mercy on me. The cry of a needy soul. Cry from one of his lost sheep. whom he's now found. A cry from one of those the Father
had given him from eternity. A cry from one of those whom
he's loved from eternity. And we are told, because of that
cry of one of his lost sheep, that God, incarnate in the flesh,
stood still. He did not leave his sheep where
he was. Oh my. He didn't leave him in
that blind state. This is one of the ones whom
he was going to Calvary to redeem, to purchase his eternal soul,
to obtain eternal salvation for him. Oh, my. And our Lord did not
leave him where he was. He called blind Bartimaeus to
himself. He called him. Now, when the Lord calls one
of his sheep, this is a wonderful picture here, because when the
Lord calls one of his sheep, you know, they run to him. They
run to him. They flee to him. My sheep hear
my voice, and they what? Follow me. My, oh, my. So what does blind
Bar Mitzvah do when he's called? Does he stay there where he is?
Does he say, well, let me decide, Lord, if I want to come. I'm
going to think about it for a while. No. When God calls with the effectual
call of grace, God's sheep come running. You notice the little
thing, too, he left his garment behind? You know what that pictures? That pictures our self-righteousness. I'm going to leave all my works
behind. I'm going to leave everything, I'm going to leave it all behind.
And then what do we clothe then, beloved? We're clothed in the
perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. Oh, he's casting his garment
away, it says. Look at verse 50. And he casting
away his garment rose. He rose and came to Jesus. Oh, he ran to Jesus. He ran to
Jesus, didn't he? Because he knows only Christ
can heal him. He knows only Christ can heal him. And what a picture
of a sin-sick sinner we have here, running to Christ. Running
to Christ. Blind Bartimaeus had been made
willing in the day of God's power. He knows the only one who can
help him is the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. Oh my, and look at verse 49.
And they called a blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort,
rise, he calleth thee. Oh, rejoice, beloved, he's called
you. And if he's calling you, If he's
calling you now, if you do not know him and he's calling you,
rejoice, because he's not calling everybody. But he calls his people. He calls
his people with an effectual call. Rejoice, it says. Be glad. If you're one of his people,
rejoice. God's called you. He's called you just like He
called Brian Barmas here. He came to you, He came to me.
He came right where we were. And He called us by His grace
and His mercy. And we know that was an effectual
call. I like to call it an invincible call. You cannot resist it. People
say, well, you can resist it. No. When God truly calls a person
to Christ, you cannot resist it. I like what Brother Rupert
Reibenbach used to say. A team of wild horses tied to
you couldn't stop you from running to Christ. So true. You're going to flee to Him.
You're going to rest in Him. Be of good comfort. We need comfort,
don't we? We as God's people need to be
comforted, especially going through this world. We need to be comforted.
Well, here's a good comfort for us to remind ourselves. He calleth
thee. There was a time when God calls
every one of his sheep through the preaching of his
word, and Christ calls for them. The
blessed great shepherd calls for the little sheep, the lost
sheep, the blind beggar, the one who they say, no, no,
no, don't He won't have mercy on someone
like you. Oh yes, he will. See? We're all sinners, aren't we?
And you know, we always say, you know, people say, well, such
and such is a great sinner, and I'm not bad as a sinner. No,
we're all great sinners. Let's just put it that way. We're
all, and to our shame, we're all sinners. Like Dave says,
sin is sin in God's eyes. I love that, because it's true.
Sin is sin. But He's a great Savior, isn't
He? He's a great Savior. He can save all who come to Him.
I'm proof of that. You're proof of that as a believer.
He can save anyone, can't He, who comes to Him? He can. Comes
to Him. Comes to God through Him. He
can. He's a poor, blind beggar, and
yet the God-man, the Word of God incarnate, calls Bartimaeus
to himself. What a picture of how he calls
the spiritually blind to himself. And he comes to Christ, doesn't
he? He casts away his garment. He rose up, and he came to Christ. He's blind, but he's going. And no one's gonna stop him!
And plus, the pathway probably cleared. Knowing our King, the
pathway probably cleared. Because you know what? All hindrances
to coming to Christ are cleared. By our Master. Oh my. We see here how the Son
of God loves needy sinners. He loves needy sinners. Our Savior's
love for this poor, needy soul is to be seen in everything he
did for him. Our Lord Jesus graciously blinded
the eyes of his body for a season. For a season. That he might open
the eyes of his soul forever. See, God has a purpose that we
don't understand. And in the time that was set, the Son of
God sent someone to tell this man about his greatness and his
grace. He heard. Obviously, he had heard
of who Christ was, because he's crying out to him. His greatness is in the grace.
And then the Lord, he hears. He hears, then, that the Lord
Jesus Christ himself is passing by. And his cry, his cry is, Lord,
have mercy on me. Have mercy on me, Lord. And when the Lord heard that
cry, he stood still. And what a call the call of Christ
was. What a call. What great cause
for comfort in Bartimaeus. He calls for What great comfort for a needy
soul. He calls for me. See, the message of the gospel
is quite simple, isn't it? Look and live. Look to Christ
and live. We convolute the messages sometimes,
as humans. But we gospel preachers, we have
a simple message. Christ is the only Savior of
sinners. And his salvation, as Sister
Kathy's saying about it, is a full salvation. And it cleanses away
all the sins of his people so that God remembers them no more. So what great cause for rejoicing
for Bartimaeus here. They say, be of good comfort.
Rise, he calleth thee. Then Bartimaeus rises up. and
comes to Christ. Now let's read verses 51 and
52. And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that
I should do unto thee? Now this isn't for information.
The Lord already knows what he's going to do for him. And he already
knows what he desires. But look at this note. You've
heard me before say that we don't make Christ Lord, he's already
Lord. We just acknowledge his lordship. But God's people call him Lord. We don't have to be taught to
call him Lord, do we? When we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, we call him Lord. We acknowledge his Lordship.
We don't make him Lord, because we can't do that. God's already
made him Lord. But we sure call him Lord, don't
we? And look at some of the first words out of this man's mouth. The blind man said unto him,
Lord. He acknowledges his lordship,
that I might receive my sight. Oh, that these blind eyes might
see, Lord. No one else can help me. Nothing
in my surroundings can help me. I can't help myself, but oh,
Lord, just like that leopard, Lord, if thou will, thou can
make me clean. Lord, that I might receive my
sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy
way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately, like
I mean immediately, it says immediately, that's what it means, immediately.
There was no procedures, there was no recovery time, just like
we looked at last week. Look at that, immediately he
receives his sight and followed Jesus in the way. What power! What powers on display here?
Oh, what wonderful words from our Lord. Barnabas, what would
he have Jesus do for him? Well, what's the cry of a spiritually
bankrupt sinner? Lord, save me or I'll die. Oh, Lord, save me or I'll perish
in my sins. Give me eyes to see thee. And
salvation is all about looking to Christ. Do you know we don't
look to Christ until our spiritual blindness is taken away? And then we look to Christ, don't
we? And we never stop looking, beloved. We never stop looking. Look what our Lord says to him.
Oh, what comforting words here. Jesus said unto him, go thy way,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Now who's the center of his faith?
Who's the center of true God-given faith? Who's the object of true
God-given faith? Christ, amen. It's Christ and
him alone. So what a word of grace here.
What wonderful words pour forth from the lips of our master,
the savior of sinners, the only savior of sinners, God in the
flesh, tells him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. He's been given true, God-given
faith. We know faith is a gift from
God, right? Not of works, lest any man should boast. He's been
given true, God-given faith. His hope now is only in Christ,
in Christ alone. And that's what true faith hopes
in, is Christ in him alone. What does he seek? Well, he sought
mercy, didn't he? And what does he receive? Abundant
mercy. pressed down into overflowing
mercy. You know, you and I, as the people
of God, his mercies are new every morning for us. We receive so much mercy from
God, we couldn't count it all. Why does he do that to a poor
sinner like me and like you? For Christ's sake, amen. That's
right, only for his sake, only for his sake. And this man again,
he receives mercy, he casts off his garment, he comes to Christ,
and this is the sweet result of God's effectual call, God's
invincible call. The poor sinner is then enabled
to do that which he could never do, come to Christ. that which
he could never do by nature. And the same grace that calls
him to cast away everything of his own, his filthy rags of self-righteousness,
which is pictured in the casting away of his garments, the same
grace will keep him, because it saved him. And he came to Christ, think
of this too, just as he was. He didn't go through 40 steps
to become a better Christian, right? Or how to come to Christ
by doing this formula. No. He came just as he was, a
beggar, blind, unable to help himself. And he receives mercy. Oh, what's the result of this
God-given faith of casting all upon Christ? Well, we see that
immediately he received his sight. Immediately. He could see. And
this sight wasn't just sight with blurry things. It was sight.
Could you imagine that? All of a sudden he can see. And
who's he looking at first? Christ. He's the first thing
he sees is Christ. Oh, my! First thing we'll see
when we get the glory is the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as this sinner comes
to Christ, as soon as the sinner comes to Christ, he receives
his sight, and it's immediate, complete healing. It's a complete
salvation, a full salvation. And it all comes about by the
power of God. And note, Bartimaeus followed the Lord.
He followed the Lord. The result of a sinner coming
to Christ is we follow the Lord. We cling to him every day, don't
we? Every day. Oh my, let us rejoice as we leave
here. We who are the people of God,
let us rejoice that just as blind Bartimaeus, we were blind beggars
spiritually and God has called us by his grace and given us
sight to see him. That's great cause for rejoicing
and he called us just like he called blind Bartimaeus. Rejoice, beloved. Rejoice in
the Lord Jesus Christ.