Good morning. I invite your attention to the
Gospel According to Mark, 2nd book in the New Testament,
the Gospel According to Mark, 10th chapter, And my text will be found in
verses 46 through 52. God willing, we will deliver
today an expository message given in exposition of verses 46 through
52 on the subject of Bartimaeus healed by Jesus. Barthimaeus healed by Jesus. I have you to note, first of
all, that in chapter 9 of Mark's Gospel, Jesus was in Galilee,
the northern part of the land. And then he was to go to Jerusalem. There
were two ways of going to Jerusalem. There was the straight course,
just go due south, but that was through Samaria. And Jews avoided
going through Samaria, although Jesus on one occasion had to
go through Samaria, John chapter 4. because there was a woman
at Jacob's well who needed his salvation. So on that occasion,
he went out of the custom and went through Samaria. But here,
he's going down to Jerusalem again. It was mandatory under
the law of that time that every Jewish male go to Jerusalem thrice
a year for holy days, and this is one of them. Now what does
Jesus do? Well, look in chapter 10, verse
1. And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of
Judea by the farther side of the Jordan. So what has he done?
He's going to go from Galilee to Jerusalem, but not the direct
route through Samaria. Rather, he's going to go due
east, cross the Jordan River, and then go due south on the
other side of the Jordan River until he came to Jericho, where
he would once again cross the river to the west and make his
way to Jerusalem. So that's where we are in the
passage that is here before us now. So looking in Mark chapter
10, let's look at this passage now beginning in verse number
46. And they came to Jericho, they,
Jesus and his disciples. Jericho was the city on the Jordan
River, on the west side of the Jordan River, Not far from Jerusalem,
it was just a short walk from Jericho to Jerusalem, which was
Jesus' destination. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho, having walked through the town with
his disciples, and a great number of people, a great number of
people, ah, in Jericho, a famous person has showed up, Jesus of
Nazareth. And so there are a lot of people
who have come to look at him so that they can say, I saw Jesus. I saw Jesus. And so there's a
great number of people. Jesus evidently is leading the
way. He's on his way. His disciples
are with him. And here are a lot of other people
following along with him. Most of them probably curiosity
seekers. And a great number of people
blind barked Timaeus, 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 Lord a great
deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
still and commanded him, Bartimaeus, to be called. And they called
the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, Christ, he
calleth thee. And he, Bartimaeus, casting aside 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. Actually, he called him Rabboni. We'll come to that in just a
little bit. Rabboni, that I may 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. Now we're going to
expound this passage line by line. There will be 12 points
in it, but we're going to just look at it. Now consider, Jesus
has left Galilee. He's crossed the river, the Jordan,
to the east side. He has gone south until he is
about parallel with Jerusalem. He crosses the Jordan to the
west and he's now in Jericho. It's an ancient city. And here
is where he finds this man, Bartimaeus. I find what we just read to be,
it's a beautiful story, but I believe it is more than that. It is a
very instructive lesson, because what is true of Bartimaeus is
true of you and of me in the spiritual realm. So let's consider,
Bartimaeus, he was a pathetic man, and the things that made
him pathetic physically make us pathetic spiritually. He was
blind. He was blind. Of the five senses,
the five physical senses, blindness was probably the worst to afflict
you, to lose your sight. Loss of hearing. I can speak from experience, being
a good bit deaf. And contrary to what you may
hear, I do not have selective hearing. But loss of hearing is a bit
inconvenient. Loss of smell. Now that could be inconvenient. unless your job requires you
to work around septic tanks, then it may be a blessing. Loss of taste, that could be
inconvenient, not knowing if you're eating an onion or an
apple. Loss of touch. I had a relative who, as a very
small infant, was in a vehicular mishap that
caused him to lose touch in his fingers. And you had to watch
him. He could put his hand on the
hot stove and not know it. You see, the loss of these senses,
the four that I've mentioned, could be very inconvenient. But
the loss of sight, I believe you will agree with me that that
is probably the worst of the five senses to lose. Loss of
sight makes you dependent on all your friends, makes you susceptible
to those who are full of mischief. Loss of sight. Well, this is
all of us by nature. We are those who are perishing
whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe.
lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine on them." We're blind, folks,
by nature. We're born that way. It is necessary
for God to restore our sight before we can behold Christ.
Blindness disqualified a Levite from serving under the law. Blindness
will disqualify you from serving Jesus Christ. I'm speaking about
spiritual blindness. If the blind lead the blind,
they both fall into the ditch. You need sight in order to follow
Jesus Christ and to be a blessing to others in his kingdom. The
Lord must open your spiritual eyes and remove your blindness. Furthermore, he was impoverished.
That's why he sat by the road begging. Well, it is not uncommon
for the blind to be beggars for their infirmity prevents them
from employment and results in their impoverishment. He's unable to provide for himself
and therefore he sits by the side begging for alms, begging
for alms. He's a beggar and so are we by
nature. The Holy Spirit says of us, surely
these are poor, they are foolish for they do not know the way
of Jehovah, the judgment of their God. That's what we are folks,
we're spiritually impoverished. If salvation cost even a widow's
mite, you could not give it. We are impoverished. and we sit
by Religion Road hoping somebody will show some morsel unto us. Not only was he blind and impoverished,
but he resided in a futile place. Jericho, that's where he lived,
Jericho. Oh, what a nice name was that.
We're not really certain as to the origin of that name, but
It may have come from a sweet fragrance. And Jericho had sweet
fragrance. The palm trees of Jericho at
a certain time of the year just made the whole air so aromatic. My beloved and I were married
in a month at a time when the honeysuckle was in bloom. And
I love honeysuckle. I don't know if you have honeysuckle
out here. Okay, evidently not. All right. I'll have to do for
you what my mother did for me. Every year when I was ministering
in the West Indies, every year when the honeysuckle came into
bloom, she'd cut some blooms and put them in an envelope and
mail them to me. And I could be in a place where
it did not grow a honeysuckle. Well, Jericho was like that.
in the sense that the whole city smelled like palm trees, and
it was a sweet fragrance. But then again, it is possible
that this name Jericho was associated with the moon because it was
a center of Canaanitish moon worship. Well, that's us in the
spiritual realm. Man-made religion smells good. Babylon is noted for its cinnamon
and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, and man-made religion
is noted for its worthless gods. The moon is a worthless god.
Interesting, the word for moon is luna. We get our word lunacy
and lunatech from it. Well, that's man-made religion.
It is pure lunacy. It is of the moon. Then notice also that 2nd Bartimaeus
was nevertheless a son of honor. His name is Bartimaeus. That name means son of honor. When you read a man's name in
the scripture and the first syllable is B-A-R-bar, it means son. As when Jesus spoke to Simon
bar Jonah. Here is Bartimaeus. Timaeus means
son of honor. He's a son of honor. Well, that's
the meaning of his name, but it seems to mock him because when he's sitting by
the road in his rags, blind and begging for alms, Someone may
walk by and say, look, his name is Son of Honor. He doesn't look
like it, does he? Well, his name seemed to mock
him, Bartimaeus. But the Great Physician is walking
by and he heals blind beggars. And this man is about to become
Bartimaeus, the son of honor, in the highest way possible. The same is true of us. Jesus
says, if anyone serves me, him my father will honor. When you
become a son of God and you serve Jesus, you become to God a Bartimaeus. Son of God. Am I right, Shawn, Bartimaeus? It's right, you know. Think about
it. We are Bartimaeus' sons of honor. Well, then consider also that
Jesus went to the place of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus could not come to
Jesus. Jesus went to Bartimaeus. There were two men in Jericho
that Jesus went to see. The other one wanted to see Jesus,
but he could not because all the people thronging around Jesus
made it impossible for him to see. He was a short man. His
name was Zacchaeus. He was also in Jericho. Same
occasion, same occasion. He climbed up into a sycamore
tree so that he could see Jesus. And Jesus said, the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost. It just
so happened that one of them was blind. The Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which was blind. The blind will
never come to Jesus until, first of all, Jesus goes to them. We
are incapable of coming to Jesus. He says, no one can come to me.
But then he says, If my father draws you, you will come. Yes,
draw us and we will run after thee. Then furthermore, Bartimaeus
recognized Jesus for whom he is. In Luke's parallel account,
we read that hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it
meant. So they told him that Jesus was
passing by. And then Mark here continues
the narrative. He began to cry out and say,
Jesus, son of David. Now, consider, Jesus is walking
through Jericho with his disciples, and all these curiosity seekers
are there as well. They're probably maybe talking,
Jesus, would you like to see some palm trees? We have the
most beautiful palm trees you ever saw. No, I'm looking for
something else. Could we show you some of the
buildings the Romans have come and built, some grand government
buildings? No. I've already seen them. He's looking for something else.
And as he is walking through Jericho, here is this man who
recognizes whom he is, and he begins to cry out, Jesus, son
of David. Jesus, son of David. Now, the
others called him Jesus of Nazareth. He called him son of David. He
knew something they did not know or else something they were not
willing to accept. Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. This name declares him to be
the savior of his people from their sins and Bartimaeus called
him Jesus. He called him son of David. He recognized Jesus as the Messiah
because the Messiah is the Son of David. He also called him
by the name Rabbani in verse 51. Rabbani. You know that in Israel they
had rabbis? They were teachers. The highest
teacher was called Rabbani and that is what Bartimaeus called
him. How did a blind man know that?
You have to wonder. This man knew things about Jesus
that even the people with good sight around him did not know.
He called him Lord. Called him Lord. As though to
say, my Lord and my God. I tell you, Something good is
about to happen to a man. Even if he's blind, if he recognizes
Jesus as Son of Man and Son of God, Son and Lord of David, Master
and Savior of sinners. Then consider number five, Bartimaeus
begged from Jesus what he could not obtain from others. He said,
have mercy on me. Now when others walked by, he
said, give me some alms, give me some charity, show me some
money, I'm hungry. He doesn't say that to Jesus,
he says, have mercy on me. Why did he say that to Jesus?
Because Jesus had mercy that no one else had. Here is Jesus
walking by and he says, have mercy on me. He probably remembered
the prophecy of Messiah's coming that promised that, then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like
a deer and the tongue of the dumb or the mute shall sing. And here's a man who says, this
man is Messiah. He can, if he wants to, give
sight to the blind. Have mercy on me. Number six, then many warned
him to be quiet. Verse 48, rebuked him. Think of it. Here's a man begging for mercy
from the only one who can give it to him. And his townsmen are
saying, shut up, be quiet. You are an embarrassment!" They ordered him to be quiet. We're not told why, but if you look in the context,
I believe you'll find the reason. The Jerichoites were willing
to accept Jesus as Jesus of Nazareth, the good man. But Bartimaeus
called him the son of David, the Messiah. And they probably
were not going to have that kind of word get around in their town.
Be quiet. He's not the Messiah. He's just
Jesus of Nazareth. Well, That can get you into some
trouble if you start telling people what Jesus is. If I walk into a certain church
this morning and I say, Jesus of Nazareth is the final
mediatorial prophet from God, they're going to say, shut up.
We have a prophet who came after Jesus, the founder of our religion.
is a prophet who came after Jesus. Now be quiet with this talk about
Jesus being the final prophet. I could walk into another church
building and say, Jesus is the final mediatorial priest to God. Well, you better be quiet. You
can't talk like that in this church building because we have
a priesthood that makes sacrifices for our sins. and gives us forgiveness
of them. Be quiet with this talk about
Jesus being the final priest of God. I can walk into another
church and I can say Jesus has freed me from the bondage of
the Mosaic law and keeping the Saturday Sabbath. Well, you better
be quiet. You can't talk like that in this
building. We are under the law and Saturday, not Jesus, is our
Sabbath. And I can walk into another church
building and say, Jesus of Nazareth saved every sinner for whom he
died. Boy, you be quiet. You can't
talk like that in this church building because we believe man's
free will has got something to do with his salvation. So you
can see in various places in which you go, You want to talk about Jesus
of Nazareth? That's okay. But don't tell completely who
and what he is. That'll get you in trouble. And
they were saying to him, Jesus of Nazareth, yeah, that's good,
but be quiet with that Messiah talk, son of David. Number seven, Barbamaeus more
fervently cried for mercy. He cried out all the more, Son
of David, have mercy on me. When a blind beggar realizes
that he is in the presence of the only one who can save him
and give him sight, you will not keep him quiet. You will
not keep him quiet. He cried out all the more, Son
of David, Have mercy on me. And then number eight, Jesus
mercifully responded to Bartimaeus' cry. So Jesus stood still and
commanded him to be called to him. Let me tell you, sinner,
and I speak to myself, let me tell you, Jesus never ignored
anyone begging for mercy. He never did. Jesus is walking
by and Bartimaeus can hear the shuffling of the feet and maybe
the whispered tones are being said as Jesus walks by. And then Jesus stood still. Bartimaeus could not see, but
he could hear. There was silence. When Jesus stands still, there
is silence. What can this mean? What can
this mean? Jesus mercifully responded to
Bartimaeus' cry. He stood still and so did all
those who followed him. Bartimaeus has to be encouraged.
It's quiet. Jesus has stood still. What does this mean? It has to
be good. He has not walked on by. He's
still here in front of me. His encouragement was increased
when he heard Jesus say, bring that man to me. Bring that man
to me. If Jesus requires that one be brought
to him, surely he will not refuse the one who was called. This
command evidently was given to Jesus' disciples, not the Jerichoites,
but Jesus' disciples. And they came to him and told
him that Jesus had called him. That's good news. It was to me. I remember that night when Jesus
sent a preacher to where I was and said, bring that man to me.
I remember being brought through the preaching of the gospel and
so it was with Bartimaeus. Number nine, Bartimaeus was dutifully
called to come to Jesus. Then they, assumedly Jesus' disciples,
called the blind man saying to him, be of good cheer, rise,
he is calling you. Well, I can tell you that when
you are told that Jesus is calling for you to come, you're going
to be in good cheer. You're going to be a happy person.
Number 10, Bartimaeus dutifully responded to Jesus' call, verses
50 and 51. Now notice, and throwing aside
his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and
said to him, What do you want me to do for you? The blind man
said to him, Rabbani, that I may receive my sight. Now notice
these four points. Number one, he discarded his
outer garment of tattered rags. Here he is. He's sitting by the
road. He's begging for alms. Jesus
calls for him to come. What does he do? He gets up,
takes off his garment, throws it away and says, I don't need
that anymore. And off he goes to Jesus. He
cast off his garment, his outer garment, and came to Jesus. He's
not wearing his rags anymore. He's gotten rid of all that represented
him before. And it came to Jesus. So it is
with us. When Jesus calls you, get rid
of those rags, those filthy rags. Get rid of them. You won't be
needing them anymore. You're going to Jesus. He rose. He rose. The Greek word is the
same as when Jesus rose from the dead. That's what He did.
Bartimaeus. He rose from the dead. When Jesus
calls you, you are regenerated. He is risen. He now has life. He's risen from the dead, and
He came to Jesus. He came to Jesus. He had said, have mercy on me,
and now He went to the mercy. Do you realize that in Luke chapter
1, verse 72, Jesus is called the mercy of God? have mercy
on me, the mercy called him, he went to him, and then he prayed
to receive this sight." Boy, that's what he wanted. Now, if you're blind, you're
willing to do with that just about anything as long as you
can have your sight. And consider this, who was the first person he saw? The first person he saw, I have seen videos of little
children, and we're talking maybe one, two, three, four years old,
who are blind or have bad vision. They can hear their mother's
voice. but they've not seen her face,
at least not clearly. And physicians have been able
to find the problem that caused the blindness or the loss of
vision. And they fix it and then make
glasses that the children can wear. Little children, one, two,
three, four years old. And having made the glasses,
they put the little infant in front of its mother and they
put the glasses on the infant, and the infant now is seeing
the mother and then hears the mother's voice. The mother may
say, can you see me now? And when this little child realizes
that he or she is seeing its mother for the first time, the
expressions, you know, oh, oh, oh, the expression of seeing
the one you love most for the first time because your eyes
have been healed. Can you imagine the joy on Bartimaeus
when he's brought to Jesus? He couldn't find his way there.
They ushered Bartimaeus to Jesus. He stood before Jesus and said,
and Jesus said, what do you want me to do for you? Well, sir,
I'm blind. I want to see. And Jesus says,
OK, you may see. And his eyes were opened. And
the first person he sees is Jesus of Nazareth, thou son of David. Can you imagine this? Oh! Oh! What a joy it is to be healed. What a joy it is to be able to
see. What a joy it is! that the first
person I see is Jesus, thou son of David. Oh, what a happy occasion
there must have been in that street in Jericho. And what an
occasion, happy occasion there would be even today if Jesus
should open some blinded eye of some person here among us
this day. that the light of God would shine
in our hearts and we should see the glory of God revealed in
the face of Jesus Christ. What joy there would be if Jesus
would open our blind eye this morning to behold him, Jesus,
thou son of David. Number 11, Barth and Maris, my
faith was healed. Jesus said to him in verse 52,
go your way, your faith has made you well. Jesus does what no
religion can do. Final point. Barthimaeus' way
was afterward to Jesus. Verse 52. Now notice, Jesus said,
go your way. Go your way. That's what Jesus
told him to do. Your faith has made you well.
Go your way. You can find it OK now. You've
got sight. You can see. Jesus said, go your
way. And then what do we read? And
immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. Now watch carefully. Jesus said,
go your way. Bartimaeus said, you are my way. I'm following you. Go your way,
Jesus said. And Bartimaeus followed Jesus. When Jesus heals you, when Jesus
saves you, he becomes your way. And when he says, go your way,
you'll follow him and say, I'm doing it. You are my way. He followed Jesus on the road. He'll lead you all the way to
heaven's glory. Jesus is the way. Perhaps, perhaps He'll come into
our building this morning. Perhaps He'll give sight to some
blind sinner. Perhaps he'll say, now go your
way. And if he does, you will say,
you are my way. I'm following you. He said that
to me. I suppose it's been almost 50
years ago or so. Go your way. And I did. Been following him now for some
50 years or so. And that's what blind sinners
do when Jesus heals them. They follow Him. Are you following Him? Have you been blessed to see
Him? Were you not delighted when He opened your eyes? Well, now
follow Him wherever He goes. And O God, our Father, to the
glory of your name and to the honor of your Son, Jesus Christ,
bless, we pray this word to your glory. Amen.