Welcome to the Banner of Truth broadcast. This program is brought to you by the Free Reformed Churches of North America. Your host is Pastor Jack Schumann, pastor of the Emmanuel Free Reformed Church of Abbotsford, British Columbia. And now, here is Pastor Jack Schumann. Let's turn together to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, as we read the verses 46 to 52, and these words also form the text for the sermon. Hear the word of God. Now they came to Jericho. As he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 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. Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, be of good cheer, rise, he is calling you. 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, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. Then Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. This ends the reading of the word of God. May the Lord bless the reading and preaching of his word to our hearts. Dear friends, the verses we have just read together describe one of the most gripping and memorable healings in the gospels. The healing of blind Bartimaeus, But like all of the other healings recorded in scripture, this healing is more than just an interesting story. It reveals to us something of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically, it reveals something of his work as a servant. And that's clear from the surrounding context. In the verses preceding our text passage, in verses 35 to 45, we have the account of James and John asking Jesus if they could sit, the one on his right hand and the other on his left, when he came into his glory. And in response to this request, Jesus gathered the disciples around him. And he said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. Jesus here reminded his disciples that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is not measured in the same way that the world measures greatness. The world measures greatness in terms of power and authority over others. The more power and authority you have over others, the greater you are. But in the kingdom of heaven, those who are great are those who serve. Following this, Jesus pointed to himself as the ultimate illustration of one who serves. He says in verse 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus here makes an astounding statement. He calls himself the Son of Man, which is really another name for the promised Messiah. And as the Son of Man, he deserved to be served. But, he says, that is not why he came to this earth. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. Now our text passage is a good illustration of this very truth. Although our Lord's mind was preoccupied with his impending suffering and death, Jesus took time to serve this poor blind beggar. He was the ultimate servant of the Lord who came to serve others. Well, with this in mind and the Lord's help, let's meditate on the words of our text under the theme, Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus. We'll consider three thoughts. First of all, the cry he heard. Secondly, the power he displayed. And thirdly, the devotion he received. Jesus and the disciples had just left the city of Jericho. They were on their way to Jerusalem. This would be their last journey together. In a few weeks, Jesus would be put to death. Along the way, they encountered a blind man sitting by the roadside begging. Now, there was nothing unusual about that. In Jesus' day, there was no such thing as disability insurance or welfare. The only way a blind person could survive was by begging. And so that's what this man did. Day after day, year after year, he sat by this roadside hoping to collect just enough money to get him through the day. Now, we don't know much about this man. We don't know where he was from, whether he had been blind all his life, whether he was married and had children. We don't know any of these things. All we know is his name. His name was Bartimaeus, which means the son of Timaeus. Now, Matthew and Luke record that there were actually two beggars, but Mark focuses only on Bartimaeus, probably because he was the spokesman for the two. Well, whatever the case, as he sat there, Bartimaeus heard a loud commotion, and he sensed that a large crowd was making its way toward him. Luke records that he asked those who passed by what was going on, and the people answered, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Well, the news that Jesus was coming past him filled Bartimaeus with great hope. No doubt he had heard the stories about Jesus' miracles, how he had made the dumb to speak, and the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk, the leper to be clean, and the dead to rise again. It's also possible he had heard how Jesus had restored sight to the man born blind in Jerusalem, which took place some six months before this. "'Wouldn't it be wonderful,' he must have thought, "'if he would heal me too? "'He did so for others, why not for me?' And so he did what anyone would do. He called out to Jesus, "'Jesus,' he said, "'Son of David, have mercy on me.'" You notice how Bartimaeus addresses Jesus. He calls him Jesus. Jesus is his personal name. It means savior. By calling him Jesus, Bartimaeus was appealing to Jesus' ability and willingness to save. But he also calls him Son of David. That was our Lord's messianic name. It hearkens back to 1 Chronicles 17, where God promised David that he would give him a son whose throne would be established forevermore. By calling him son of David, Bartimaeus was acknowledging that Jesus was who he said he was, the promised Messiah of God. You'll notice too the request that Bartimaeus lays before Jesus. He says, have mercy on me. And that word mercy can also be translated as pity or compassion. Now, when asking for mercy, Bartimaeus is acknowledging at least two things. He's acknowledging, first of all, his miserable condition. Bartimaeus was blind, and as a result, he was forced to beg in order to survive. And for that reason, he cries out for mercy, for who would want to live like this for the rest of his life? But he was also acknowledging Christ's great superiority. Bartimaeus knew that there was nothing that he could do to improve his condition. Only Christ could do that. And that's why he cried out to him for mercy. That word cry out here literally means to shout or to scream. What's more, the form of the Greek verb here indicates that he did so repeatedly. Again and again and again, Bartimaeus cried out at the top of his lungs, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. At one point, the crowd around Bartimaeus started to get annoyed. They didn't appreciate Bartimaeus' constant crying out. And so we read in verse 48 that many warned him to be quiet. The word here can also be translated as rebuke or reprove. It was like they were telling him to stop or they would make him stop. But Bartimaeus didn't listen to them. For we read that he cried, the more, a great deal. Son of David, have mercy on me. It seems the more the crowd tried to silence him, the more frantic and frequent Bartimaeus' cries became. Dear friends, do you know what it is to cry out to the Lord? We may have cried out to the Lord for any number of reasons. When we were sick or in trouble, But have you ever cried out to the Lord to be healed of your blindness?" You know, by nature, we're all like Bartimaeus, aren't we? We're all blind. We're blind to God. We're blind to our sin. We're blind to our need for a Savior. Nor can we make ourselves see. Only Christ can do that. And for that reason, we need to learn to cry out to Him. We must beseech Him to make us see. For unless we see, we cannot be saved. Yes, we too must learn to cry out with Bartimaeus, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Well, have you done this? Have you cried this cry? Well, make no mistake, my friend, those who cry out to him will receive an answer. And that brings us to our second point. Yes, over and over and over again, Bartimaeus cried, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now, at first, it appeared as though Jesus did not hear him, which probably explains why Bartimaeus kept on crying out. But eventually, he did. And we read in our text that Jesus stood still. Above all the noise and the commotion of the crowd around him, Jesus gave his full attention to the cry of Bartimaeus. And that should not surprise us. For the Lord always hears those who cry out to him. And that's exactly what we see happening here. The Lord Jesus stood still. Following this, we read that Jesus commanded Bartimaeus to be called. Literally, the original says, standing still, Jesus said, summon him. There's something remarkable about this. Jesus could have gone to Bartimaeus. In fact, given the fact that Bartimaeus was blind, it would have been much easier if Jesus had gone to Bartimaeus. But he didn't do so. Instead, he commanded the crowd to command Bartimaeus to come to him. And when doing so, Jesus is teaching us an important lesson, isn't he? He's teaching us that if we truly want him to have dealings with us, we must go to him. It will not do to sit and wait for Jesus to come to us. We must go to him. We must also cry out to him. My friend, have you done so? You know, there are those who so emphasize the sovereignty of God that they render man almost completely passive. And the effect is that people think that since they can do nothing towards their salvation, all they must do is sit and wait for God to do something. Well, my friends, this is wrong. To be sure, by nature, no man can come to Christ in and of himself. Man, by nature, is both unable and unwilling to come to him. The only way a sinner will come to Christ is if he is drawn by the Father through the Holy Spirit, and yet at the same time, he must come. When it comes to salvation, God is indeed 100% sovereign. but man is also 100% responsible. And Jesus knows this, and so he commands Bartimaeus through the crowd to come to him. And at the urging of the multitude, he did. In fact, he came with haste. We read in verse 50, and throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. Now, we have here a wonderful illustration of how we must respond to the invitation of the gospel. My friends, when Christ summons us in the gospel, we must respond, and we must do so immediately, casting aside anything that would hinder us from coming to Him. Have you done that? How many times has Christ not summoned you in the preaching of the Word of God? Have you also responded to that summons? Have you, like Bartimaeus, cast aside all that which would hinder you, and have you come to him believing that he is able and also willing to save? Most of the time, we don't do that, do we? We hear the invitation to come to Christ, but we think that we must do something or be something or experience something before we can come to him. Some think they must have some special prompting by the Holy Spirit, some kind of inner voice or special providence that assures them that they may embrace Christ without fear of stealing him. Others feel they must have a certain measure of conviction of sin. Still others insist that they must make certain changes in their life. They must fix themselves up a bit. They must become more holy, more serious. They must read the Bible more and pray more. All such people believe that they cannot, yes, even must not come to Christ as they are. They must do something or bring something with them. Oh, how we need to take instruction from blind Bartimaeus. He heard the summons of Christ, and he responded to that summons immediately. He did not try to fix himself up a bit first. He came as He was, a poor, blind beggar, without even an outer garment to cover Him. In fact, He cast away that garment, lest it should hinder Him from coming to Christ. Well, this is how Bartimaeus comes to the Savior, and he stands before Him as a poor, blind beggar. And as he did so, Jesus looked at him and he said something very strange. He asked Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you? Now, why did our Lord ask Bartimaeus this question? Did he not know what Bartimaeus wanted? Was it not obvious? Of course, the Lord knew what Bartimaeus wanted. He knows all things. So why did he ask him? He did so for the simple reason that it is in the way of us asking. that the Lord also grants the things that we ask of him. The Lord does not give us what we ask for automatically. He does this in the way of us asking in faith and pleading and crying out to him. And that's exactly what we see happening here. The Lord asks Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you? It's interesting, this is the second time that Jesus asked this question. The first time was in verse 36. And there we read how James and John approached Jesus and asked him to do for them whatever they asked. And we see the same thing here. Bartimaeus asks Jesus to have mercy on him. Only his answer was quite different. When Jesus asked James and John what he wanted him to do for them, they said, grant that we may sit the one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory. So they asked for positions of power and prestige, but not Bartimaeus. In response to our Lord's question, Bartimaeus simply replies, Rabboni, that I might receive my sight. The word Rabboni literally means my Lord, my master. It's a heightened form of the word rabbi. It's the same title that Mary Magdalene used when she saw the Lord in the garden after His resurrection. By using this particular term, Bartimaeus was again acknowledging that our Lord was vastly superior to him. What's especially significant about Bartimaeus' answer is what he asked Jesus to do. He didn't ask Jesus for another handout. He asked Jesus to restore his sight. And we learn from this a very important lesson about faith. Faith expects great things from God, yes, even the impossible. Just consider Bartimaeus for a moment. Bartimaeus could have asked for anything in the world. He could have asked for another handout. He could have asked for a bit more money to get him through the day, but he didn't. He asked for the impossible. He asked Jesus to restore his sight. Well, my friends, what about us? Do we expect great things from the Lord? How sad it is that so often when we ask the Lord for things, we do so only half-heartedly, as though we didn't really expect anything to come of it. Why is that? Is it not because we lack the kind of faith that expects great things from God? Someone once said, if we are spiritually impoverished, it is not because the hand of grace is tight-fisted. It is because the hand of faith is too weak. And Bartimaeus is a case in point, isn't he? He asked for something great. He asked that the Lord would restore his sight Who ever heard of such a thing? Who had the ability to do such a thing? No one, but Bartimaeus believed that the Lord did. Well, how did our Lord respond? Well, he granted his request. We read in verse 52, Jesus said to him, go your way, your faith has made you well. And then we read, and immediately he received his sight. You'd notice that Jesus here commands Bartimaeus to go his way. Significant here that Jesus doesn't demand anything from him. In fact, he doesn't demand anything from any of us. Following Jesus is not a matter of compulsion, but it's a matter of gratitude. And that was the case here as well. Jesus told Bartimaeus that he was free to go. And notice too that Jesus commends Bartimaeus for his faith. He says, your faith has made you well. Now Jesus did not mean by this that Bartimaeus' healing was attributable to his faith. No, Bartimaeus was healed by the power of God. Faith was only the instrument. By saying that his faith had made him well, Jesus was simply emphasizing that it was by means of his faith that he was made well, although the power came from him. And isn't that still true today? My friends, if we're saved, or if we receive any blessing from the Lord, it's not because of our faith, but because of Him, because of His power. Faith is just the instrument, the means by which we appropriate all that is offered to us in the gospel. But Jesus is saying more than just He is well. The verb to make well here can also be translated as to save. And so Jesus could be interpreted to say your faith has saved you. And by using a word with this double meaning, Jesus was declaring to Bartimaeus not only that he was healed physically from his blindness, but also spiritually. The change in his body was merely the outward manifestation of a much greater change in his soul. From this point forward, Bartimaeus was able to see with his physical eyes, yes, but he was also able to see spiritually. Bartimaeus was a saved man. We see here something of the great power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is he able to heal physically, he is also able to heal spiritually. He can open the eyes of those who are physically blind, but he is also able to open the eyes of those who are spiritually blind, which is far greater Well, my friend, since that is so, what an encouragement we have here to come to him. Are you still blind? Oh, then cry out to the Lord. Bartimaeus cried and the Lord answered. And if you cry, the Lord will answer you too. For he is willing and he is able to open your eyes and to make you perfectly whole. And so Bartimaeus received his sight. How did he respond to this? That brings us to our third and final point. No sooner did Bartimaeus receive his sight that he devoted his life to the service of the Lord. We read at the end of verse 52 that Bartimaeus followed Jesus in the way, or we could say on the road. And notice here that Bartimaeus did not return to his friends and family in Jericho. He did not immediately go about trying to find a job and money and enjoy life to make up for all the lost time that was already spent, even though our Lord permitted him to do exactly that. No, he chose a different path. He chose to follow Jesus. He followed Jesus on the road. And isn't that the response of all those whose eyes the Lord has opened? They don't desire to live for themselves. They desire to live only for Christ, to serve him. They don't desire to go their own way and to do their own pleasure, but they desire to go in the Lord's way. They desire to follow him, to go where he goes and to do what he does. And where was Jesus going? Well, as we've seen, he was going to Jerusalem. And there he would suffer and die for his people. And by adding this little phrase, Mark is reminding his readers and us that following Jesus involves hardship, suffering, and possibly even death. But those who, like Bartimaeus, have had their eyesight restored, desire to follow him no matter what the cost. My friend, does that include you today? Are you also following Jesus on the road? This is the ultimate test to determine whether we are truly saved. It's not whether we go to church or read our Bible or pray or even whether we love Jesus. It is whether we are following him on the road, going where he leads, doing what he does, even if that results in suffering and death. And so Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus. Oh, how much we have to learn from this blind beggar. But dear friends, let's not focus on him. Rather, let us focus on the one who healed him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to heal blind sinners still today. That's the message that Mark is communicating to us in this portion of God's Word. Since that is so, will you not come to him? Oh, blessed are all those who have, for they see and they follow him in the way, first to Jerusalem, the place of suffering and death, but eventually to the new Jerusalem, the place of joy and life. And then their eyes shall be opened fully and they shall behold him as he is, the one who died and rose and lives forever. And they shall stand before his presence and shall praise and glorify him to an everlasting eternity. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. Amen. We always appreciate hearing from our listeners. If you were blessed by or have a comment on the message you've heard today, won't you please take a moment and let us know? Our mailing address is Banner of Truth, 3386 Mount Lehman Road, Abbotsford, British Columbia, V4X2M9. And Lehman is spelled L-E-H-M-A-N, or give me a call at 778-982-9102. 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