I invite you to turn back with me to the Gospel of Mark. We're in chapter seven this morning, and we'll be in chapter 10 this evening. Mark chapter 10, verses 46 to 52. Let's give our attention to God's word as it's read. And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, He began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, call him. And they called the blind man, saying to him, take heart, get up, he is calling you. and throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? The blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, go your way, your faith has made you well. And immediately, he recovered his sight, and followed him on the way. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for all the records of faith that we have in it, all the wonders of Christ, the miracles he wrought. We pray, oh Lord, that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear. that you would open the eyes of our hearts that we might see wonderful things out of your word. Show us Jesus we pray, in his name, amen. Well this evening we come to the final healing miracle in Mark's gospel. It's the last in a long line of healings. Jesus has caused the lame to walk, He's already given sight to the blind. He's cured those with leprosy, that skin disease. He's made the woman well who had the discharge of blood. He's even raised the dead. When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was the promised Messiah or if they should wait for someone else, Jesus told them to report back to John all the things that they've witnessed, all the miracles. The blind received their sight, the lame walked, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news preached to them. In other words, go tell John that I do the works. that the prophet said Messiah would do. I am the Messiah, Jesus says. Now besides certifying his messianic identity, these healing miracles are recorded in the scriptures for a lot of purposes. One's to announce the arrival of the kingdom of grace, that the kingdom of grace is breaking into our world of sin and misery and suffering and bringing light and healing. Another reason is to illustrate and reinforce Christ's teaching of redemption by grace through faith in Christ. That it's Christ in him alone who gives health and salvation. It reinforces that gospel message. A third, it foreshadows the benefits which Christ would accomplish on the cross. through his resurrection, that is through his suffering, his death, his resurrection, he would heal, and he would liberate, and he would make people whole. And fourth and finally, these miracles are recorded in order to show forth the glory of our Lord and Savior, that he's the only begotten Son of God, that he's the great physician, that he's mercy, he is mercy incarnate, he's the all-sufficient Savior. And so the miracles of Christ that we read about, that we tell our children about, these are not cheap tricks. These are not flashy gimmicks to attract crowds. They are powerful pictures of amazing grace. And this is true of the miracle before us today, the giving sight to the blind man, to Bartimaeus. And as I said, it's the last of Christ's healing miracles in Mark's gospel, but we should note it's the first and the only healing miracle in Mark in which the object of mercy is named. And for that it kind of stands out. This is not merely the healing of a blind man, this is the healing of blind Bartimaeus. According to Matthew's gospel, there were two blind men given sight outside of Jericho. But Mark's gospel focuses in upon one of them, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, we're told. And Mark here, he's being a bit redundant in the giving of his name, since Bartimaeus, Bar Timaeus, literally means son of Timaeus. Well, we note that because we remember the audience of Mark's gospel. He's writing primarily to a Gentile audience, most likely suffering Christians, persecuted Christians who are in the city of Rome. And here it is, Jesus and the crowd are going up to Jerusalem. It's the pilgrim season. It's a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They're heading for that annual Passover feast. This is the time when on the road they would sing those songs of ascent, Psalm 120 to 134. That could be heard as the crowds are joyfully pressing in toward that holy city. And it's about 18 miles northeast of Jerusalem where you would find the town of Jericho. And this is the perfect place for Jewish pilgrims to stop and rest along the way, on their way to Jerusalem, a kind of oasis. And you know how in all ages and places of the world, wherever you have lots of foot traffic, what are you gonna find in those places? You're gonna find people selling their wares, right, at a pretty steep rate. You're gonna find all sorts of folks selling things, but you're also gonna find the beggars. You're gonna find the beggars. One commentator tells the story of a particular train station in a foreign country that he would visit on occasion, and every time he'd visit, he'd see the same man in the same place at the same station begging. And in fact, when another man visited that same country and took a picture in that train station, this commentator could see in that picture, his friend's picture, that same beggar at that same station in the same place. And so we know this, we know that beggars can be fixtures on the roadside. And here's blind begging Bartimaeus being such a fixture just outside of Jericho. As I said, he's the son of Timaeus. And the name Timaeus means honor. But he does not sit in a place of honor, does he? He's sitting in a place of need, a place of helplessness. And he's begging for his subsistence. He begs for money because he can't work. He begs for assistance because he can't see to get around. And here this professional beggar begs the Lord Jesus for sight. We're not told how long he had been blind, whether it was from birth or from later in life. We don't know what happened to him, but we do know that he wants to see. Being able to see changes one's life, and he wants that so bad. Jesus was with his disciples and a great crowd, we're told. And no doubt, Bartimaeus was used to hearing lots of people walk past as he's begging for money, as he's begging for subsistence. And he's used to hearing them sing and shout on their way to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. But this crowd sounded different. And according to Luke's gospel, he inquires, what's going on? What's happening? And they tell him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Now we've all heard of those once in a lifetime opportunities. Well here it is for Bartimaeus. This is his opportunity to receive what he desperately needs, what he desperately wants. Nothing and no one will stand in his way. And he's heard about Jesus. He's heard reports about his healings, about his teachings. He knows that Jesus is Messiah, the promised son of David. And so with all his might, all his soul, he cries out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Earlier in chapter 10, when those little children were brought to Jesus that he might touch them and bless them, the disciples, you might recall, rebuked those parents. They tried to send them away, and now here, what's the crowd doing with Bartimaeus? The same thing, they're rebuking him for crying out to Jesus. They're uncomfortable with the scene that he's making. Oh, be quiet. Perhaps they're even uncomfortable about the theological claims that are contained in his cries. It's Jesus, son of David. Jesus, king, messianic king. Have mercy on me. But Bartimaeus is a blind beggar. He's used to hindrances. He's used to pleading and begging continually. It's a hard life for him, and if he stopped at every rebuke or every attempt that comes up empty, he would not have survived very long. Besides, as we said, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Messiah has come and what is Messiah's coming? What does that mean for Bartimaeus? Isaiah 35 verse five says, when Messiah comes, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Jesus himself, when he read from Isaiah's scroll, chapter 61, said that the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and what? Recovering of sight to the blind. to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And then Jesus rolled up the scroll and he said, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Here I am, he says. So here's Bartimaeus' opportunity. And he keeps pleading, despite the rebukes of the crowd. And it pays off. Like the persistent pleader who won't stop knocking, his pleas are heard and answered. It's very much like the woman we heard of this morning. There's persistence here with this faith. Verse 49 says, and Jesus stopped. His persistence pays off. Jesus stops. Remember, the context here, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He's going to the Passover, and he himself is that Passover lamb, which will be slain for the sins of his people. He's going to the cross, y'all. But here he stops. He stops for the sake of this one man. The merciful heart of our Lord and Savior stops him in his tracks, and he calls for the blind man. You notice how the crowd quickly changes its tune? Their rebukes turn into encouragements. Take heart, they say. Get up. He's calling you. So note there, just to see this, how fickle crowds can be, right? And how fickle we can be. One moment we hinder, and the next we help. One moment we're discouraging, and the next we're encouraging. And I think there's a call here for more consistency on the part of the church, on the part of the crowds. Bartimaeus doesn't need the encouragement, really. His great neediness is what's fueling him. He throws off his cloak, he springs up, and he comes to Jesus. Again, nothing's gonna hinder him. Not the rebukes of the crowd, not his failed first attempt to be heard, not even his outer garment. And that's significant. I think Mark gives us this detail because it's significant. This outer garment, this cloak, is what Bartimaeus would have slept in as a beggar. This is his home. It's what he laid out and opened up each day, begging for people to toss their coins into this cloak. But when Jesus calls him, what does he do? He throws it aside. He doesn't carefully fold it up and carry it with him. I think that's probably what I would have done. He doesn't want anything to slow him down as he runs blindly to Jesus. He's all in. This is his one and only hope. And when he gets to Jesus, Jesus asks him a question. And it might sound familiar. What do you want me to do for you? It's the same question he asked James and John earlier in Mark's gospel. And I think Mark wants us to see the contrast here. What a difference there is between the audacious disciples who ask for places of honor in the kingdom of God and Bartimaeus, the son of honor, who asked for sight. The disciples' request was denied, but Bartimaeus' is granted. The disciples, you think about their request. They asked out of wrong desire, wrong motivations. It was to spend it on their selfish, ambitious passions. They wanted Jesus to serve them and not to serve him. They thought it was better to receive than to give. But here's blind Bartimaeus, he doesn't have anything to give. He's not asking for a place of honor, he's asking to see. He's asking for this necessary thing. He says, my master, let me recover my sight. And in that, we see that he owns Jesus as his teacher, as his master. Not simply as a teacher or master, but my teacher, my master. And he asked him for mercy out of a sense of this need with a firm belief, a firm conviction that Jesus, as the messianic son of David, could in fact grant his request. That this man, and this man alone, can open his eyes. And indeed, that's what happens. Jesus says to him, go your way, your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and immediately he went on his way. And what is the way of Bartimaeus now that he can see? Where does he go? Who does he follow? Well, he follows Jesus. Think about what Bartimaeus would have seen as he opens his eyes. As his eyes are opened, One of the first things he sees is Jesus. And in the days to follow, what would he see Jesus do? He would see Jesus enter into Jerusalem as that messianic king, palm branches strewn along in the path. He would see Jesus cleanse the temple, having that zeal for the house of the Lord. He would see Jesus go to the cross and suffer and die an atoning sacrifice for sin. And perhaps even Bartimaeus might be one of those 500 brothers who would be eyewitnesses of the resurrection of the risen King Jesus. Jesus opens his eyes and with opened eyes he could follow Jesus. Now this inspired this personal account of the opening of Bartimaeus' eyes. It certainly shows Jesus as the promised Messiah. That's one of the main points we see. It shows us that the kingdom of grace indeed has come. It illustrates and reinforces the gospel message. And it foreshadows the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection. It shows forth the glories of Christ as the only begotten Son of God. But friends, it also pictures for us how an individual sinner can be saved from the danger and the darkness of spiritual blindness. So what I hope, by God's grace, for you to see here is that Jesus mercifully opens eyes. Jesus mercifully opens eyes so that we might, by faith, see Him. and follow him as our master and Lord. It's in the blind and begging condition of Bartimaeus that we see a picture of our natural state in sin, our neediness. And it's in his great faith that we see a worthy example. Another worthy example, we saw one this morning in the Syrophoenician woman, but here's another example of great faith. And it's in his following of Jesus along the way that we see what a true disciple does. And so those are our three points this evening. First, that in our natural state in sin, we are indeed spiritually blind. I don't know how many times you've noticed in the Bible that the physical condition of blindness is used as a metaphor for our spiritual condition in sin. That the whole human race in Adam suffers from this blindness. We can't see, we lack spiritual sight. According to Paul in Ephesians 4, believers saved by grace must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. Paul says they are darkened in their understanding. That is, they're blind. That's our fallen state in Adam. Apart from Christ, we're spiritually blind. When it comes to the things of God, when it comes to the worship of God, when it comes to the gospel, we're groping in the dark. We need someone to turn the light on. We're without understanding. Children, when you are working on a math problem or when you're learning something new, you might sometimes say, oh, now I see, right? And, well, you saw the problem before, right? But what you mean by that is, oh, now I understand, now I get it. And it's the same thing for us with our spiritual sight. We're blind, we don't understand, we don't see. But when God turns on the light through his word by the spirit, suddenly we see and we say, I understand, I see. The scales fall off our eyes, we understand, we see something in a new light from the right perspective. Suddenly we understand who God is. Suddenly we understand what worship is all about. Suddenly we understand the gospel and the hope of our salvation. Suddenly we see our sin for what it truly is. And we see Christ for who he truly is. When God saves us, he takes the scales from off our eyes so that we can see. Now Bartimaeus, he's the beggar. He knew he's blind, he knew he needed help, but sadly that's just not the case for so many today who are truly blind spiritually. They're so needy, but they don't see their need. They think they have 20-20 vision, spiritually speaking. They think that all is well with their souls. Peace, peace, comfort, comfort. That's just not the case. Or else they don't even believe in God. Psalm 14, the fool says in his heart, there is no God. That's spiritual blindness. That same psalm goes on, the Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. It says they have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. Folks, that's our desperate condition in sin. We are spiritually blind. And it's easy. to assume that we can see. It's easy to think that we have sight when everyone around us is blind, when everyone else thinks the same thing. But Jesus warned his disciples. He warned them about the Pharisees and their teaching, saying, let them alone. They are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, what? Will it end well? Both will fall into a pit. It's folly. Because of our spiritual blindness, we cannot rely on our fellow fallen men to guide us in the way of truth. We need something else. We need something to break into our fallenness. And that's where the scriptures come in. We need the light of the gospel to shine into our hearts. We need the spirit of God to open our eyes through the word of life and to give us spiritual understanding. Otherwise, we remain in the dark. In light of that, there's a few applications. The first is that because of our spiritual blindness, we need to seek spiritual understanding through the Holy Spirit speaking in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. This is what the Spirit loves to do. The Spirit loves to open the eyes of our understanding through the word read, preached, and studied. Second, because of our spiritual blindness, we need to beg for sight. We need to beg for sight. Ask the Lord to show you your sins in the light of his word. Ask him to show you his grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask him to show you his power through salvation. Ask him to show you his holiness, to show you the hope you have in the resurrection. Like a blind man by the wayside, we need to beg for spiritual sight. Misery is the object of mercy. And we truly are miserable apart from Christ and apart from the word. So cry to Jesus. Tell him that you're blind. Tell him that you're without understanding. Tell him that your sin has made you foolish and your heart dull. Tell him that you want to recover your sight. to be able to see without the blinders of your sin and the futility of your mind. Beg for sight. And third, because of our spiritual blindness, we need to be cautious of other voices. We need to be cautious that we're not deceived. Bartimaeus hears other voices that day. Same voices, saying different things. One time the crowd's rebuking him, at another point they're encouraging him. They tell him to shut up, then they tell him to get up. If he would have heeded their initial rebukes, he would have missed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He would have remained in the dark, remained blind. And how many souls are there who are in that same condition? They remain in the dark, they lack spiritual sight because they heeded the sounds of the crowd. They've listened to the world. They've listened to other voices. Maybe those voices are external. Maybe they're internal. What did Jeremiah write about the heart? The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Who can understand it? And yet, what voice do we listen to the most in our day and age? What are we encouraged to do? Follow your heart, listen to your heart, Do what's right in your own eyes. Oftentimes the greatest hindrance to spiritual understanding and coming to Christ are not external forces, but they're those internal ones. We deceive ourselves through our lust and our idols and our own foolishness. And like the disciples from earlier, we think we see things clearly. We think we know exactly what we need. We think We're following Christ, but in fact, we're operating according to the passions of our sinful, selfish flesh. So friends, be cautious of other voices. If anything's gonna be loud in your life, let the word of God be loud. Our natural state in sin is a spiritual blindness, but praise God that Jesus is merciful, that Jesus is in the business of giving spiritual sight, and so let's cry to him, let's say with blind Bartimaeus, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And friends, if you're sitting here and you're a believer, and you're thinking, oh, I've already got my sight, I'm good, I'm good, pastor. Let me remind you that we are not there yet, that we still have a long way to go. Even if we're redeemed, even if the eyes of our hearts have already been opened, there's still so much darkness and foolishness according to the flesh. And there's therefore reason to continue to seek God's mercy, to continue to seek spiritual understanding through the Holy Spirit, speaking in the scriptures, to beg for spiritual sight, and even as Christians, to be cautious of other voices, lest we be deceived. Well, we move on now to consider the worthy example of great faith that we see in blind Bartimaeus. He might be physically blind, but there's true spiritual sight here. What he couldn't behold with his physical eyes, he beholds with the eyes of faith. And thankfully for Bartimaeus, faith comes not by seeing, but by hearing, by hearing the word of God. And it's clear as day that he had received the word. He'd received reports about Jesus. He'd received the good news that Messiah had come, that the merciful, mighty son of David was going about and doing good, healing and teaching. Bartimaeus couldn't see the works Jesus did. He couldn't see the multiplication of the loaves and fish. He couldn't see the calming of the winds and waves or the raising of the dead. But he heard about it. And the Holy Spirit blessed his hearing of these reports and he worked faith in his heart so that Bartimaeus is full of this spirit-wrought conviction that Jesus is Messiah and that Jesus can heal his blindness. that Jesus has come to save his people. And nothing, friends, nothing can hinder such a faith. Even faith the size of a mustard seed, we're told, can move mountains. And so those little roadblocks, those little hindrances that Bartimaeus faced are nothing to him. If the crowds try to drown out his voice with their rebukes, he's just gonna cry louder. If they accuse him of making a scene, the fear of man's not going to make him hesitate. Even his only possession, his livelihood, all that he has, his outer garment, his cloak, is thrown aside. It's thrown aside as a hindrance. Nothing will hinder saving faith from coming near and closing with Jesus Christ. Friends, if you don't have this faith, get this faith. It comes by hearing, hearing the word of God, hearing about Jesus, hearing that he is the Christ, the son of David, the promised prophet, priest, and king, the one who comes to save his people from their sins. Get this faith. And when you get it, you must employ it. Faith believes the promises of God's word. Faith trembles at the warnings and threatenings of judgment. Faith expresses itself, as we heard earlier in James, working through love. It works. It endures trials and afflictions. It hopes in the midst of tragedy and grief. It obeys in the face of temptation. This faith runs to Jesus, no matter what the obstacles are. whether they be the scorn and mocking of an unbelieving world, the deceitfulness of the pleasures of this world, or even the rebukes of God's own people. Faith won't rest until it rests in Jesus and beholds Him with the eyes of their heart. So with the eyes of faith, friends, look to Jesus and trust Him for His grace. Know that He's merciful, Know that he's willing to stop for the sake of weak, sinful beggars like us. Take heart, get up, he's calling you. The third thing we see in this passage is the aftermath of what happens once Bartimaeus' eyes are opened. And what we see here is Bartimaeus exemplifying for us what a true disciple is. As soon as he can see, he follows Jesus. He calls Jesus my teacher, my Lord. Now that his eyes are open, he will not leave his merciful healer. He uses his sight to see Jesus. He's gonna see his sufferings and subsequent glories. He'll become a witness of the grace and glory of God in Christ Jesus. Why didn't he run to feast his eyes on the things of this world? Why didn't he go and enjoy all the glories of creation, the beauties of human art? Well, he has his eyes on one thing, doesn't he? He's seen the beauties of Christ. He's experienced him. He had tasted that the Lord is good. Now he's seen that the Lord is good and he can't take his eyes off of Jesus. For Bartimaeus, the son of honor, seeing was only a means unto following after Jesus. So we see here that it's not enough simply to come to Jesus. We must follow him as well. He won't be our savior if he can't be our Lord. And Bartimaeus is a concrete illustration of what a true disciple, a true follower of Christ looks like. A true disciple of Jesus is a willing servant. He's a follower. He's happier to be a slave in the company of Jesus than to be a king on the earth. And so friends, if Jesus has opened the eyes of your heart, he has done so that you might follow him. he saved you so that you might serve him so give him yourself freely holy don't hold back just as Bartimaeus cried out for mercy with all his heart soul mind and strength so to love the Lord with all your heart soul mind and strength follow him When he was blind, he would have people lead him by the hand, Bartimaeus. And now that he could see, it's gonna be the same. He's gonna be a follower. He's gonna let Jesus lead him. He would follow him even to Jerusalem, where Jesus would be obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. We need to know that following Jesus is difficult. Following Jesus is not safe, presently. can be dangerous, there's the promise of persecution, the promise of mocking, the promise of tribulations, but the true disciple knows that not following Jesus is more dangerous, most dangerous, and a sure way to hell. When Jesus tells Bartimaeus, go your way, for Bartimaeus, Jesus is the way, the way, the truth, and the life, the only way, and so his way is Jesus, What about us? What is our way? Who are we following? Will you follow the way of the world, the way of the flesh, or will you follow your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Do you follow his teachings, his commandments? Do you submit to his government in your family, in the church, in the nation? Do you follow His examples of mercy and kindness and tenderness and love? Do you have His mind not to do anything from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility, counting others more significant than yourselves? Do you follow in His footsteps of service and sacrifice and selflessness, knowing that it's better to give than to receive, knowing that If you would be first, you must be slave of all. Friends, if the Lord has mercifully opened your eyes and given you spiritual sight so that you see him by faith, then we are encouraged today to follow him as our Lord. Hold nothing back from him. Just like Bartimaeus tossing aside his livelihood, hold nothing back. Let nothing get in your way. For what do you have that has not been given to you? He gives you eyes to see and ears to hear. He gives you justifying faith. He gives you repentance unto life. He gives you a spirit of grace and supplication. He gives you life eternal. And therefore we can give him our undivided devotion and service even now. Set the eyes of your heart, those eyes that have been opened by grace, set the eyes of your heart upon him and follow him as a true disciple. Let's pray. Oh merciful Jesus, Son of David, we bless you, we thank you, Lord, for opening the eyes of the blind, for opening the eyes of our darkened hearts, And we pray that if anyone is still spiritually blind and held in the darkness of their sins, that Lord, you would shine the light of your word into their hearts. And by your spirit, would you say, let there be light. And then Lord, for all of us, we pray that you would separate the light from the darkness. Lord, that you would give us greater understanding, greater faith, greater obedience as your followers. Keep us on the right way. Keep us following after you, despite the cost. We pray this for the praise and glory of your triune name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.