In Mark's Gospel in chapter 10,
verse 46, we read the following. 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
should 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 called a 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. 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. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. In this short passage, we read
of this blind man who sits by the wayside, who cries out unto
Jesus when he hears him pass, cries out for mercy. And Jesus
calls him unto him. He casts away his garment, he
rises, he goes to Jesus. And Jesus, at his request, gives
him sight. And behind this account is a message about faith. The
necessity of faith, the need of faith, the granting of faith,
the birth of faith in this blind man. Jesus answers at the end,
he says unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus in the way. What we see here is a man
who's given faith. And it's the faith that made
him whole. It's the faith that gave him
the sight that once he lacked. It's the faith that caused him
to follow, to follow Jesus. Without faith, he sat by the
wayside, begging, helpless and blind. But when Jesus passed
his way and when he heard that it was Jesus he cries out unto
him for mercy and the result is that Christ puts faith in
his heart and the result of faith is that his eyes are opened he
sees and he follows but here is a man in need of faith like
you and I by nature are in need of faith because he was blind
and because he was blind he could do nothing for himself he sat
by the wayside begging he was helpless he couldn't see anything
as it really was and because he was in the darkness he stumbled
about he couldn't help himself he was dependent on others so
he sat by the wayside begging he had nothing he was poor he
was blind all he had was a garment which
he could not see which did him no good and which he cast away
when Jesus came to him. He was blind. Where was he? 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. This blind man was sat by the
highway leading out of Jericho, that city of old, which Joshua
of old circled with the priests who blew the trumpet seven times. They circled that city and blew
the trumpet, a figure of the gospel trumpet, a figure of preaching
the gospel, by which the walls of that city fell down flat.
That great city full of sinners, full of wicked people, was destroyed
and brought to nothing by the gospel. And one or two in the
city were delivered by that very same gospel and that very same
judgment of God. The judgment of God came down
upon Jericho. It was brought to nothing. But
Rahab and her house, who believed the report sent unto them by
the children of Israel, who believed the gospel, was delivered. We read of her of course in Hebrews
chapter 11 where she singled out amongst others as an example
of faith. The very same faith that this
blind man Bartimaeus receives by which he believes, by which
he's granted his sight, by which he's saved outside of Jericho. Hebrews tells us, now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Bartimaeus couldn't see, but
with faith he knew who Jesus was. from whence Jesus had come,
that he was the Son of God, God incarnate, the only one who could
deliver him, the only one who could save him. With faith he
had the evidence of things not seen, never mind that he had
no sight, with faith he could see. And by it the elders obtained
a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. Without faith
it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Well blind Bartimaeus, when he
heard that Jesus passed him, believed who he was. He believed
who he was, he cries out, Jesus thou son of David, have mercy
on me. Now he didn't live in David's
age. David was hundreds and hundreds
of years before. Then why should he call Jesus
the son of David? And how should he know that he
has any relationship to David? Because he knew that of the lineage
of David, of the household of David, Messiah should come. And
Messiah is the son of God. And if Jesus was the son of God,
then he would also be the son of David, of the household of
David. He was royal. He was priestly. He was kingly. He was the son
of God. And Bartimaeus knew it. And Bartimaeus
believed it. He believed that God is and he
believed that Christ, Jesus, was the son of God and came from
God and was God and was the only one who could deliver him, the
only one who could give him his sight. So when he hears him and
knows that it's Jesus before him, he cries out, have mercy
upon me. The son of David, have mercy
on me. He believed. This one. sat on the highway
outside Jericho, that place of judgment. That city that stands
in the pages of scripture as an example, as a picture of the
judgment of God at the cross, that city where the gospel came
down in power and judged the city, judged the sinners within,
judged the evil of man and brought it to nothing, blotted it out,
destroyed it. but that city in which those
who were given faith of God were spared and delivered. Those who
saw the crimson line, those who looked and beheld by faith the
blood of Christ, the Son of God, those who believed that redemption
was in Christ. Well later in the chapter of
Hebrews we read, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after
they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab
perished not with them that believed not when she had received the
spies with peace. By faith the walls of Jericho
fell down. How by faith? Joshua and the
people were told of God. to circle the city silently. And then on the last day to circle
it and blow the trump. And they believed what God had
said. They believed that this practice,
though to the world it would have seemed foolishness, for
here they were. around a city full of enemies,
trying to take a city and they weren't taking up any arms. They
weren't following the wisdom of man. You can't just walk around
silently. How are you going to take a city
like that? But they believed what God had promised. They believed
in their God. They believed that if their God
said, do this, then he would bring about his purposes. He
would grant them Jericho. He would grant them deliverance. So Joshua and the people did
as God commanded. They believed and by faith the
walls of Jericho fell down. Now Joshua is a picture of the
Joshua who should come. Joshua is a picture of Christ,
Jesus, Joshua, who later came with the gospel. And at the cross,
as it were, figuratively encircled the walls of Jericho with the
gospel. And at the cross, the judgment
of God came down at the blowing of the trump upon that Jericho,
full of sinners. There was a Jericho at the cross,
and inside it was the sin of this world. And inside it were
a few Rahabs and their house, who were given faith to believe
in their Joshua and his salvation. And Jesus, when he was at the
cross, believed in the promise of his father. that by laying
down his life and bearing the sins of his people that the walls
of that city which separated his people from the Father would
fall down and they would be delivered. He believed that his Rahab, his
bride and his people would be delivered. He believed in the
covenant the everlasting covenant of grace that new covenant that
the father had made with him he knew that if he suffered in
this way that the walls would come down and his bride would
be delivered by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they
were compassed about seven days by faith the harlot Rahab perished
not with them that believed not when she had received the spies
with peace. At the cross, the world was separated
into two. At the cross, the people of God,
the sheep, were separated from the goats. At the cross, the
walls of Jericho fell down and destroyed the wicked in their
midst. At the cross, the wicked were
judged forevermore. were at the cross, the people
of God, were separated from their sins. Their sins were blotted
out, their sins were judged, the walls of Jericho fell down
flat and took them out of sight, but they were delivered. And they believe in this deliverance. Rahab believed that she'd be
delivered. That she was promised salvation. She did what was asked. She let down that crimson cord
from the window. She believed that the people
of God, the Israelites, would see it and would deliver her.
And her faith was rewarded. She was saved. She believed. What made her differ from those
who perished? Faith. Where did that faith come
from? The God who promised it. Blind Bartimaeus sat outside
Jericho, in that same place, believed that God could deliver
him. When Jesus came his way, he knew
who he was. He heard. He heard the gospel. He heard who he was and he believed
that this was the one who could deliver him. This was the one
who could spare him from the judgment. This was the one who
could make him to see. There he was, sat, blind in darkness,
helpless, begging. And here comes Jesus and he cries
out unto him, have mercy on me, have mercy on me. Now where are
you sat, O sinner? Are you sat inside your Jericho? Are you sat with your walls all
built up around you that nothing can penetrate? Have you got these
defences all around you to protect what you have and what you are
so you can carry on in your life in the pathway that you desire? Have you shut God out with your
great walls around your heart? Do you shut your ears to the
truth? Do you sit there blind to the
truth? When the gospel comes. will the
walls that you've built come crashing down? And if they do,
will you be sat inside with those who perished as the walls came
crashing down on top of them, who never believed? who never
cared, who never cared for Jesus, who never cared for the gospel,
who never cared for God, who never cared for eternity, because
you grasped at all that you could see in this world. All you wanted
was the pleasures in this world, which are gone in a moment. Oh
you that are young, don't you realise that in a moment you
will be old and all that you look for in life, that you think
you can do, the places you'll go, the things you'll see, are
grasped at for a moment and they're gone and then you're too old
to enjoy any of it and then you're gone. Are you sat in your Jericho? Have you built up your walls?
Have they come crashing down? Or are you sat outside, blind? You can no longer see. You can't
see anything right. But when Christ comes your way,
you hear. You hear. There's a blind man
sat here. A blind man. A picture of he
who is saved by the gospel. For we walk by faith and not
by sight. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 tells
us. He's a picture of the child of
God who walks by faith and not by sight. Therefore he must be
blind. He must start blind. He must
know what it is to be blind. Oh do you know what it is to
be blind? Oh you might see with a natural sight. Here was a man
who'd lost his natural sight as a picture of what it is to
have no spiritual sight. You might see with your physical
eyes and see all the things in this world that flash by your
sight until the day when they're gone. and soon they'll be past
you and soon you'll stare into the abyss. Soon you'll pass into
eternity and what will you see then? Will you pass into the
light, into the glory that shines forth from the face of Jesus
Christ? Or will you pass into that darkness
of the pit of hell forevermore? What will your natural sight
do for you then? You may see naturally, but what
do you see spiritually? Do you see that there is a day
coming when you will stand before God? Do you see the walls of
Jericho? Do you see by faith the blowing
of the trumpet? Do you see this man Jesus of
Nazareth that passes by in the gospel? Do you see your blindness? Do you see that you're begging?
Do you see that you have nothing? Do you see your need? A blind
man. A blind man. Sat by the highway
side, begging. And crying out unto Jesus, have
mercy on me. Have mercy on me. What does faith cry out when
it's put in the heart? Where there is no faith, there
is no cry. Where there is no faith, Jesus
can walk past your way and you'll say nothing. Or you'll just cry
out in condemnation. or you'll mock, or you'll scoff,
or you'll spit on him. Like they did, your heart will
say away from me. Because in Jesus you see a challenge
to the freedoms you think you have in this world. In Jesus
you see an opposition to where you want to go and what you want
to do. In Jesus you see nothing by nature
which is appealing in God you see nothing by nature which is
appealing you want to go this way not God's way you want these
things not God's things you want your so-called freedom not what
you perceive to be found in Christ you see nothing appealing in
Him and all you can say about him, maybe not with the mouth,
but in the heart, is against him. You'd rather he went away. You'd rather he didn't pass your
way. You'd rather he didn't come with his gospel. You'd rather
not hear the gospel. You'd rather be doing this or
doing that, or listening to this or listening to that, but not
the gospel. What a weariness! What a stirring! How it troubles you! If you truly
hear its words it troubles you, it takes away your freedom, it
takes away your pleasure, it brings you conviction, it troubles
you. It warns you that you're a sinner
and you don't want to be heard, to be hearing such a message.
It warns you that this world is brief and there's eternity
to come and you don't want to think about that. It warns you
that death is around the corner and you'd rather just look at
what is life to you. It warns you that this world
is full of sin and you'd rather not consider it. It warns you
that you're full of sin and how offended you are at this. So
when Jesus comes your way, you say away with him. Or you turn
your back on him. Or you run away. But when Jesus
came by Bartimaeus, this blind man, this begging man, this man
that others would have looked upon as a bit of a nothing as
pitiful despised by others cast aside
by others perhaps cast aside by you nothing great about Bartimaeus
but this man when Jesus passed his way cried out have mercy
on me If Jesus passes your way, what is your cry? Is it away
from me? Crucify him. Is it apathy? Is it to turn your back? Or do
you cry out as one who's blind? As one who begs, as one who's
got nothing, as one who knows you're blind, as one who knows
you've got nothing, do you cry out, have mercy on me? When he did cry out, 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. Here's this blind Bartimaeus,
and he cries out, Have mercy on me. And Jesus stops. He stands still. He doesn't pass
by and not answer. He doesn't leave him to continue
to cry, he stops. And his calling is answered,
his cries are answered. Jesus commands Bartimaeus to
be called and they called a blind man saying unto him, be of good
comfort, he calleth thee. He's heard your cries, Bartimaeus. He's calling you. He's calling
you. You may have heard the gospel
many times. You may know of Jesus. You may
know of his death. You may know that he bore the
sins of his people. You may wonder whether he bore
your sins. You may wonder whether he died
for you. You may wonder whether he cares
for you. You may have come to see your
blindness, your apathy, your rebellion. You may have come
to see how you have so little, nothing that you beg. You may
have found yourself sat by the wayside with no hope for that
Jesus should come by. And when he comes in the gospel,
Every time the gospel comes your way, you may have cried out in
your heart, oh Jesus, our son of David, have mercy on me. But has Jesus stood still? And
has he commanded you to be called? And has there been a word in
your heart by the Spirit saying unto you in particular, be of
good comfort? Rise, he calleth thee. As the Spirit of God come unto
you in your heart and said unto you, when you come to an end
of everything, you're blind, you're destitute, all you can
do is cry out for mercy as he come unto you at last and said,
be of good comfort. Rise, he calleth thee. If you have, then you will do
as Bartimaeus did. Faith having been placed in his
heart to cry out unto Jesus, of whom he'd heard, because faith
comes by hearing. And he'd heard, he'd heard the
truth, he'd heard the gospel, he knew who Jesus was. And in
hearing the gospel, God gave him faith, for faith comes by
hearing. Having had faith put in his heart,
when Jesus comes by and says, come, he cast away his garment
and came to Jesus. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. He threw away his garment. Now why does Mark mention that? What relevance, what importance
is there in stating that Bartimaeus threw away his garment? There
are many things that would have happened in this account. But why single out the fact that
he cast away his garment? And why did he cast away his
garment? Because of that that his garment
represented. Because his garment was a picture
of that with which he covered himself. That with which he covered
his shame. that with which he covered his
sin, that with which he covered his blindness, that with which
he covered his depravity. He covered his shame from the
sight of others with his garment. But here when Jesus comes unto
him he knows that Jesus can see all. And what good is such a
garment? He covered his sin with a garment
of self-righteousness. Like you do, like I do, like
we all do by nature. We try to appear what we aren't. We try to appear before God what
we aren't. We try to cover our sin with
good works and with the appearance of good works and with our self-righteousness
and our self-justification. We have an answer for everything
we've done and said. We have a reason why we do this
and do that. We justify everything we do. Or we try to do things right
to make up for what we've done wrong. We're self-righteous. We try to attain unto God by
our own good works, our law-keeping, our obedience. We try to cover
our sin, as Adam and Eve did, under fig leaves, under a garment. But when Jesus comes our way,
we will know that that garment's no good. Nothing's covered. If nothing's hid, it's merely
filthy racks of self-righteousness. So he cast it away. He knew that
garment was no good. He knew he needed another. He
knew he needed to be clothed in righteousness. He knew that
Christ himself could do that. Only Christ could give him faith.
Only Christ could give him sight. Only Christ could give him salvation. Only Christ could clothe him
in righteousness. So he cast away his garment.
And you'll only come to Jesus and you'll only be made to see
if you cast away your garment. Many came to Jesus who thought
they saw and never saw. Who were clothed in great garments
like the Pharisees. Oh how they thought they saw.
Oh how they thought they knew. They knew the Scriptures in and
out. They were clothed from head to
toe in great flowing garments to be seen of others how good
they are. and yet they knew nothing. And
when Jesus came to them, in the end they crucified him. But here's
a blind, destitute sinner who cast away his garment when Jesus
called him. and rose and came to Jesus. He could not stand up. He could
not come to Jesus. He could not receive his sight
until his garment was cast aside. And you, O sinner, will never
stand in the presence of God. You will never rise before Him.
You will never come unto Him. You will never see Him. You will
not see Christ. You will not see the Kingdom
of God until your filthy rags of unrighteousness, until the
garment of your works and your will and your glory is cast aside. You will never see Him whilst
you sit there in those rags. Throw them away. 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 he, casting away his garments,
rose and came to Jesus. He rose and came to Jesus. He
could only come to Jesus once he'd risen and once his garment
had been cast aside. Well how would his garment be
cast aside? And how would a dead sinner like
this, a blind sinner, rise? How can a blind sinner rise up
and come unto Jesus? Here in the account the blind
man casts aside his garment physically and rises up physically and walks
to Jesus but these are a picture of the spiritual casting aside
of our works and the spiritual rising up from death and the
spiritual coming to Jesus which were all brought about spiritually
at the cross when Christ died He took away the sins of his
people. When Christ died as he were,
he took their garments. And he was wrapped up in their
garments. He bore their garments. He bore
their sin. He bore their garments of unrighteousness. And he felt the fires of God
burn them up on him, in him. He bore them. He bore them away
under the searing heat of God's judgment in order that those
garments might be cast aside and cast aside forever. His people were with Him. They
were in Him. and their garments clothed him
and he felt the wrath of God the searing heat burn those garments
up and he died and they died in him and they were laid in
the grave and on the third day all those sins all those garments
having been cast aside he and they rose from the dead he rose
They rose. The garment had been cast aside
at the cross. Life rushed in to the souls of
his people as a result. And they rose. And he casting
away his garment rose and came to Jesus. They rose and they're
with Jesus. And they come forth with Jesus
from the cross, from the grave. and they are clothed in His garment
of the righteousness of God. At the cross Christ took their
garment. He was wrapped up in their sin
and the righteousness of God came down upon that garment and
burnt it up and it wrapped Him up and them up in the righteousness
of God and they came forth from the grave clothed in that righteousness
In that garment, in a garment, a seamless garment, an eternal
garment, the righteousness of God without beginning and without
end. They rose and they came to Jesus
and they come unto Him and having been brought unto Him by faith,
by the gospel, through the cross, through the grave, coming far
from the grave, rising up, having been brought to him, they cry
out unto him. And he says, what wilt thou that
I should do unto thee? And they who were once blind
say, Lord, that we may receive our sight. And he says unto all
his people who've been brought unto him this way, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus
in the way. And everyone that comes unto
Jesus this way, everyone who died with him and rose with him,
everyone who sat by the wayside as he passed their way, everyone
who was blind and begging, everyone who cast aside their garment,
everyone who rose and come unto him, receive their sight immediately. because their faith that he gave
them has made them whole. And immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus in the way. This man had heard faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God he'd heard
he'd heard the gospel he'd heard the reports of Jesus of Nazareth
he knew who he was when he came by he knew who this man was he'd
heard the gospel And having heard the gospel, faith came by that
gospel. God put life in his heart. God
put faith in his heart to cry out, to cry out for mercy unto
the only one that could save him. He'd heard the gospel. Have
you heard the gospel? Are you sat on the highway from
Jericho? Have you seen the ashes of the
walls crushing down? Have you seen the one that passes
by? Have you been sat there begging,
having nothing and knowing you've got nothing? Do you know your
blindness? Have you heard the gospel? Have
you cast aside your garment of self-righteousness and works
and your own will and your own glory? in the things of God. Have you cast it all aside? Salvation is of God, not of your
works, not of your will, not because you chose to, but because
Jesus came your way. Blind Bartimaeus could have sat
on that highway forever, begging. He could have sat forever wanting
to be saved. But Jesus had to pass his way. It wasn't his begging that saved
him. It wasn't even his calling out
for mercy that saved him. It was Jesus who came his way. Jesus put faith in his heart. Christ caused him to cry out. Christ caused him to know he
had a need. Christ caused him to know he
was blind and in need of salvation. Christ came unto him in that
state where God had placed him. Do you have a need? Are you blind? Are you sat by the wayside begging?
Well if you are, then you need Jesus to come your way. and if
he hears you, and calls you, and you rise, and follow, and
cast aside your garment, your garment of works, your garment
of your will, your garment of your religion, if you cast it
all aside, and believe, and see, and follow, it will be because
God chose you. He chose you before the foundation
of this world. He chose you before ever Jericho
was built. He chose you before ever you
found yourself in this place. He chose you before ever Christ
went to the cross. He chose you before you died
with Him. He chose you before you were
buried with Him. He chose you before you rose
with Him. He chose you before you heard
the Gospel. He chose you before He came past
you in the Gospel. He chose you before He called
you up. He chose you before He granted
your prayer and gave you sight. Because He chose you and He loved
you and He offered Himself up for you. This man had hurt. He'd cast aside his garment.
He'd risen and come to Jesus. But Jesus made him see. He wanted to see. Have you heard
the gospel? Have you seen the filthiness
of your rags of self-righteousness? Have you risen and come to Jesus
and yet still you can't quite see? You want to see him, you
want to behold him, you want to know he's heard you. You cry
out. And the cry comes from faith.
And then Jesus one day says, go thy way, thy faith hath made
thee whole, and immediately you receive your sight and follow
him. If God gives you faith like he
gave to Bartimaeus, You will see. You will behold by faith
Christ crucified for you. You will behold the Saviour and
you will follow Jesus in the way. What does faith do? Did it leave Bartimaeus there? Did he just say that's wonderful
I'm saved and let Jesus follow on and go off to another place?
No, faith caused him to follow Jesus in the way. It didn't leave
him to wander. Faith works by love. He followed in the way, not by
his own strength, not by his works, but by faith. Not because
he was told to, not because he was constrained by man to, but
because the faith within constrained him. The love within constrained
him. He could do nothing else. Faith
works by love. It must be where Jesus is. Wherever
Jesus goes, faith will follow. And if you have faith in your
heart, you will follow Him. You will go after Him. You will
listen for Him. You want to hear Him. You want
to hear His gospel. You want to hear His voice. You
want to see His face. Go thy way. Thy faith hath made
thee whole. Have you heard Him? Are you blind
by nature? Have you nothing? Have you cast
away your garment? Has thy faith made thee whole? Has God granted you sight to
see and behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world? And have you followed Jesus in the way?