Mark chapter 10. If I had a title
for this message, it would be this. Who is blind? Who is blind? Well, in these
verses, we've read two somewhat familiar stories in the earlier
verses, beginning with verse 35. We read about the request
of James and John to sit. One on either side of the Lord
in his kingdom, in his glory. One on the right hand, the other
on the left. In his glory, seated on the throne.
Well, it's a selfish request. Wishing honor for themselves.
And then the second story at the end of the chapter concerns
a blind man named Bartimaeus who sat by the side of the road,
begging just outside Jericho. And it appears on the surface
that there's no connection between these two stories, but there
is. A closer look reveals to us divine
arrangement that these two things are together. The blind man sitting
there that day is not incidental or accidental. I'd have us note
first the blind man's name in Verse 46, Bartimaeus is his name. That prefix bar means son of. You remember Simon was called
Simon bar Jonah, meaning son of Jonah. And there's other bars
as a prefix meaning son of. Bar Timaeus, meaning son of Timaeus. And yet by divine inspiration,
the Holy Spirit repeats it here. Bar Timaeus, son of Timaeus,
the son of Timaeus. In other words, Timaeus' son, the son of Timaeus. Why say it twice? It's saying
the same thing. There's an emphasis. The Holy Spirit records. Attention
is drawn to the name Timaeus, which means honor, honor. James and John had requested
for themselves honor. And now here's the son of honor,
a blind beggar. It was believed in the time of
Christ that blindness was a curse because of one's sin. You remember
in John chapter 9, A man who had been born blind and Christ's
own disciples asked him who did sin, this man or his parents
that he was born blind. So they believed blindness was
what was a curse, a judgment on people because of sin. That's
what they believed with no honor possibly attached. But here's
the son of honor. That's a blind beggar. And here's the honor. He was
only blind physically. He's really not as bad off as
James and John were. Let's look at their story a little
closer. In verse 35, James and John come to the Lord and You talk about a verse that kinda
don't make sense. They said, master, we would that
thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. We want you to do for us whatever
we ask you to do. How selfish is that? We want you to promise us that
your answer is yes before we even tell you what it is we're
asking. That's what they say. And the Lord says to him, what
is it you want? And they told him and he tells
them, you don't know what you're asking. He could have said, we both know
why you're asking. You're wanting some glory for
yourselves, some honor for yourselves. And he asked them in order to
occupy these places, are you ready to walk the road I'm facing? Are you ready to Be baptized with the baptism.
I'm to be baptized with the drink of the cup that I'm to drink.
He's talking about his suffering and his death. And they said,
Oh yeah, we're ready. We're ready. And Christ said, you shall indeed
experience these things. But the sit on either side of
me and my glory is not mine to give that belongs to the father. And verse 41 says that when the
10 heard it, this is the initial 12 disciples. When the other
10 heard it, they got upset. They, they came unglued. And
I can imagine saying of all the selfish lowdown tricks to ask
something for their own honor. And verse 41 says he's other
10 were much displeased. It's another way of saying they
was mad as the devil. It actually says they began to
be much displeased. The Lord saw where this was headed
and he cuts it off. He has a word for them. Verse
42, but Jesus called them to him and said unto them, you know
that they, which are counted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise
lordship over them and their great ones exercise authority
upon them. You know, officials in this world,
politicians and so on, they are greatly honored just because
of the position. Of course, we see that nowadays
in time. When a company dedicates a new facility, maybe a fine
office building or something, large building, they don't have
the They don't have the town drunk up there to cut the ribbon.
No, they have the mayor and the CEO of the company and all those,
see, ranking officials. Christ said, that's how the world
operates. That's how they measure honor. But then he goes on to tell them
in spiritual things, that's not how it is. But so shall it not be among
you. Here's how it works in the spiritual
realm. Whosoever will be great among
you shall be your minister, meaning servant. And whosoever of you
will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. And then the
Lord gives himself as an example. For even the son of man came
not to be ministered Unto. I didn't come into this world
to be honored by the world. But to minister, to serve, to
be a servant, actually to give my life. A ransom for many. I've come to die, not in the
world's honor, but in shame. To pay the sin debt for my people.
And to give my life a ransom a payment for many, the many
being God's elect. Immediately following those words,
verse 46, and they came to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho, it's interesting that Mark does
not include anything that happened in Jericho. Even the story of
Zacchaeus, great as that was, and going home with Zacchaeus
for the day, Mark omits that and goes straight to the scene
as they leave Jericho. They leave town and they see
here something, not an unusual scene, but a blind man begging. and then gives this unusual introduction,
doubly stated. Honor's son, the son of honor. Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. Now for the question, who is
blind? Who is blind? Well, I want to
mention first now the the perception of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus has
a spiritual vision in that he knows the coming Messiah is the
son of David. Of the house and lineage of David.
Of the tribe of Judah. Bartimaeus is physically blind. But he's not spiritually blind.
And we notice we read here in verse 47, that when he hears
about the commotion coming down the road, he hears that it's Jesus of Nazareth. That's a coming, but Bartimaeus
doesn't cry out Jesus of Nazareth. He cries out Jesus. thou son
of David. There's the spiritual emphasis
of who it was that's coming and where he's coming from of the
house of David. And he's coming to redeem his
people. He's the Messiah. He's the savior. So this Bartimaeus. He knows more about who Jesus
is than those who saw him every day with their physical eyes. Who's blind? He's not so blind
after all. Then we read secondly of the
plea of Bartimaeus. What does he cry? Have mercy
on me. He don't cry, Hey, I'm not such
a bad fella. I'm good as anybody else. No,
he's not wasting his time with that. And you need not. But his cry is have mercy on
me. James and John, rather than being
humbled by the honor they already were given. selfishly asked for
greater honor. But this man, knowing his unworthiness
of any honor, does not ask for honor. He asks for mercy. So who's blind? Third thing I notice here is
Bartimaeus' persistence, persistence. Verse 48 says, and many charged
him that he should hold his peace. Well, that says it nicely. They were saying, shut up over
there. We're trying to listen. To this man's teaching. And we
can't hear when you're screaming. So just be quiet. This is nothing
to you. This man don't have time for
you. He got better things to attend to. This wasn't just one or two doing
this, but it says many, many charged him, rebuked him and
said, shut up, be quiet. But you see, spiritual vision
cannot sit quiet in the presence of God's Son. The crowd can't turn this man
off. So very persistently, verse 48
says, he cried the more a great deal. He kept on crying, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. In those brief words, the man
is saying so much really. He's saying, I know who you are.
I know my need of mercy. I know
you can show me mercy. And I'm asking, will you have
mercy on me? Verse 49, and Jesus stood still. Try to imagine that, the moving
company, and he stops. When a crowd is moving, just
even walking, there is a certain momentum in a moving audience, people
crowding around, trying to keep up, and some walking on out in
front, trying to listen, trying to be close. And when he stops, the procession
don't immediately stop. They may be going a few steps.
Finally, everybody stops. And Jesus says, call that man
over here. Commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man saying
unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. They must know by now the Lord's
intention. They don't say to the man, you've
had it now. You wouldn't be quiet. He's going to rebuke you like
we've been doing. No. They said, be of good comfort.
I believe it's good news for you that he stopped and asked
us to call you over here. Be of good comfort. We believe
he's heard you cry. We believe you're going to receive
the mercy you've cried for. He casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. This garment, whether it's a
blanket or a sheet or a robe, He throws it off of him. And
I've often thought what all is involved in this casting away
his garment. It's casting away all hope in
yourself. It's casting away any worthwhile
merit I may think I have. It's to be empty. It's to be
stripped. It's to be helpless and hopeless. It is to trust
Christ alone. Cast away his garment. Now in verse 51, Jesus asked
Bartimaeus, what is it you want? Now, now James and John are standing
there and it registers with them that just a little while ago,
he asked them the same question. What is it you want? What is
it you want? And Bartimaeus, unlike James
and John, never asked selfishly and said,
well, I'd like to be something great. I'd like to be honored above
other people. That's what they'd ask. No. When he says, what do you want?
It's as if Bartimaeus says in so many words, it's not just
something I selfishly want. It's not about my wants. There's
something I really need. Lord, that I might receive my
sight. Now notice in the address here. As Bartimaeus speaks to the Lord,
his first word, the spiritual vision, see the spiritual vision
now, Lord. James and John had addressed
him, master, which means teacher. We want to be at the head of
the class, teacher, master. But Bartimaeus knows he doesn't
deserve anything. But he knows Jesus is the Lord,
thou son of David. And he calls him Lord. How blind
is this man? Only physically, only physically. Lord, that I might receive my
sight. That's what I want. I can't help but insert right
here the importance of this word receive. Lord, that I might receive
my sight. Contrary to today's. Freewill religious mindset. Jesus never said I've got whatever
you need. All you have to do is accept
it. Just accept Jesus. The ball is in your court. It's
up to you. Did you know the New Testament
never says except Jesus? It's your choice. No, we read
the word receive. As many as received him. You can't receive something that
wasn't sent. The word receive puts the emphasis
and the authority on the sender, not on the recipient. You receive a letter in the mail,
but you can't receive it if it wasn't one cent. The emphasis
is on the sender. As many as received him. So Bartimaeus
does not say that I might accept my sight. I know it's my decision
and I accept it. No, no. He said, I'm pleading
for mercy. What I need, I cannot presume
upon. I must receive it from you. It's
your decision to give it before I can receive it. Now in verse 52. is free grace declared. Free
grace declared. Don't miss this. The Lord does
not say to the man. Raise your right hand, place
your left hand on the Bible and repeat after me. I solemnly swear
I'll take this oath. That if you'll do this for me,
here's what I'll do for you. No, no, the Lord doesn't say anything
like that. Here's what he says. Go thy way. That's free grace. He don't say, follow me. Are you sure you're going to
stay in line, buddy? No. He says, go thy way. He don't have to tell the man,
follow me. He knows he will. He knows he
will. But he says, go that way. Get
on with your life. You won't get a bill for this.
It's free. Go that way. Thy faith hath made
thee whole. Christ calls it thy faith, not
in the sense that it originated with Bartimaeus, but in the sense
that it was God given. It was a God, God's gift to Bartimaeus. Spiritual vision. The eyes of
his heart were open to see long before the eyes in his head were
opened to see. Nowadays, people want healing
of every kind except heart healing. Pray for my aches and pains.
Pray for my back and my feet. my arthritis, pray for my lungs
and my cancer, but don't tell me how to live. Don't mess with
my heart. People are saying, I don't want
any spiritual miracle, just physical. Well, this man received physical
sight only in the exercise of his spiritual vision. You said, don't you believe in
praying for people physically? Not at the expense of ignoring
their spiritual condition. The apostle John said over there
in third John brethren, I wish above all things that thou mayest
prosper and be in health, that you'd have physical healing,
but he didn't stop there. He said, even as thy soul also
prospereth. He's really saying, I don't,
I don't care about you feeling any better in your body than
you do in your soul. It's your spiritual health. That's
first. 99% of prayer requests. Starting
to get a little quiet now. Y'all ready for me to slow down?
I'm fixing to in a minute. But 99% of prayer requests I
hear is for physical help. And I don't want you to quit
asking. Please don't think that. But think this through. People
say, you know, my friend is facing this or that. Am I so-and-so?
The doctor said, you know, that they might not survive his surgery.
Well, please pray they'll be all right. Nobody ever comes
to me and says, my friend, my family member is in this critical
situation and I'm afraid they're going
to hell. Please help me pray for their
soul. And that's how it should be.
That's how it should be. No, we're like James and John.
Just raise them up, Lord. Please raise them up so we can
go on living our selfish lives and ignoring you. See, the whole issue here is
about this. Going to hell blind is no worse
than going to hell with good eyes. This going to hell is the issue.
But the Lord says to this man, go your way, go on about your
business. But there's a secret here. Christ
knew. He knew. That the work of grace. Which said, go thy way. That
same grace had made Christ's way, Bartimaeus' way. And he knew that Bartimaeus would
say, I'm not wanting to go my way. I want to go your way. And that's what happened. And
he immediately received his sight. Did he accept it? Foolish question.
He received it. He received his sight and followed
Jesus In the way Jesus way was Bartimaeus way. Is his way your way? Well, apart from spiritual vision,
it's not. He can heal all your physical
ailments and let you really enjoy life all the way to hell. But what's that worth? The person crying for mercy is
the person that's already received mercy and will receive more. And that's Bartimaeus. To have a heart for God is the mercy we need. So who's blind? Is it Bartimaeus or is it James
and John? Is it you?