As you're taking your seat, if you would turn in your copy of the Scriptures to Mark chapter... mainly Mark chapter 10 verses 46 through 52, that is our main text, but we are going to briefly look back at Mark chapter 8 verses 22 through 26, and I'll explain why when we get there. But before we dig into our Scripture and see what the Lord has to say to us, let's go before Him once more in prayer. Heavenly Father, Your Word is good, powerful. Lord, it is a double-edged sword on the tongue of Jesus Christ. It pierces us at the division of soul and of spirit, of joint and of marrow. It discerns our thoughts and intentions with complete truth and accuracy. Lord, I pray that as You wound us perhaps with this Word, that You would build us up with it. that we would be made Your people more and more as You have already bought us and redeemed us to Yourself. Sanctify us in Your truth, O Lord. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Amen. So first, Mark chapter 8, verses 22 through 26. This is the word of the Lord. And they came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, Do you see anything? And he looked up and said, I see people, but they look like trees walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes. The sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. He sent him to his home saying, do not even enter the village. Very quickly, everything that you see, even just a little bit before this in Mark chapter 8, but everything from Peter getting rebuked by Jesus, the disciples not understanding the transfiguration, the disciples failing to cast out a demon, the disciples arguing about who's the greatest, the temptations to sin, the failing to understand Jesus' teaching about divorce, keeping children from coming to Jesus, the rich young man, and then last week James and John asking for the right and left hand at Jesus' kingdom. All you're seeing in these disciples and in these people is either a complete blindness or even the case the disciples a partial blindness as if trees are walking. They do not see clearly. We do see one who does see clearly now, Mark 10, verse 46. Again, the word of the Lord. And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 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? And 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. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Back in the very early 60s, there was a researcher named Milton Rokiak. He published all his findings in a full book-length work called The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. But he had heard that there were two women in a psychiatric hospital in the late 40s, that both of them were convinced that they were the Virgin Mary. Now, these two women being together in the same room and being roommates, and it just happened by chance that they were stuck together, one of them was, they were both delusional, but one of them far more so to the point where the other one began to be broken of her delusions that she was the Virgin Mary and she was later discharged from the hospital. Now Milton had the same idea. He said, what if we really tried this with some far stronger delusions? And so he found three men One was Clyde Benson and Joseph Castle and Leon Gaber. These three men were convinced that they were none other than the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself. He decided he was going to force these men to be roommates and live together long term and to try to convince all of them that they were not Jesus or at least some of them. Well, it turned out that these men's delusions were so strong that not only did none of them budge on their belief that they were the Lord Jesus, but each of them became entrenched in their beliefs that they were the Lord Jesus, and they started calling the other ones names, they started fighting each other, and they were convinced that the other people were delusional or were actually dead and being controlled as a robot by unseen forces. Now, at the end of the experiment, Milton Rokiak, he said, the only thing, the only person who was cured was me of my delusions that I can manipulate these people out of their beliefs. Sometimes we are so blind to who we truly are. We're blind to the things around us. and we can't interpret anything rightly. We see this a bit in full form with men like the rich young ruler, like these Pharisees with their questions of divorce. We see it in part with the disciples not understanding the kingdom is a gift that Christ gives as the small children are thinking that can just get their place in it and be glorified with Jesus. But here in our text, We see a blind man, helpless on the side of the road, who sees Jesus perfectly. This blind Bartimaeus saw Jesus perfectly, but the blind can only see through the eyes of faith. The blind can only see through the eyes of faith. If we are in spiritual darkness, or maybe we're in spiritual dimness where we can see some but not completely, we must see Christ through the eyes of faith. We must see what blind Bartimaeus saw. Now blind Bartimaeus saw three things in this. Well, for one, he saw the Messiah, but he saw three things in this Messiah. He saw first the Messiah's identity, We'll see that he saw the Messiah's mercy. And third, he saw the Messiah's power all through the eyes of faith. So just quickly to explain our text, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. The next section is the triumphal entry. So this is kind of like there in Jericho, cutting down palm branches, Jericho, the city of palms. And they're heading, Jesus is going to go get the donkey and ride it into Jerusalem. So this is kind of an entourage. There's expectation, there's excitement. Maybe blind Bartimaeus hears what's going on. He hears it's Jesus of Nazareth. He identifies Jesus. Just the thing he says is so perfect as seeing the eyes of faith. He says, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me. Blind Bartimaeus saw that Jesus had a messianic identity, that he was a son of David. He was the one who was promised, the one who would come from David's own body, 2 Samuel 7 tells us. The one that would, not just Solomon, who would truly build up the house of God, the one who established the kingdom, and that his throne would be forever and ever. We saw kind of an immediate fulfillment in Solomon, but think about what happened to Solomon despite his wisdom, his sin, and we saw that the throne of Israel lasted 400 plus years after David died, but it didn't last. There was still an expectation, a prophetic expectation, that one would come, one from the stump of Jesse. root of David, the bright morning star, the one who would be the wonderful counselor, the prince of peace, the everlasting father, who the government would be in his hands, the one who would bring in redemption of Israel, the one who would bring in the everlasting kingdom. The one, the rock that is formed out of a mountain that falls and hits the fourfold, four-piece alloyed statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and then fill the whole earth. All these things in the mind of a faithful Jewish believer in the Christ to come. This blind man knows enough scripture that by faith, he sees when he hears of Jesus, He sees Jesus is the Son of David. Psalm 110 says, "'The Lord said to my Lord, "'Sit at my right hand "'until I make a footstool for your feet.'" That is, my Adonai said to Yahweh, so basically the New Testament interprets it as the Son to the Father. Actually, sorry, Yahweh's speaking to the son, so they're both Yahweh. The father speaking to the son, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool, this son of David. And a chapter later, a couple chapters later, Jesus will say, you know, if this is David's Lord, how can it be his son? But we see all these things, all the prophetic expectation coming down on Jesus, and it takes a blind man on the side of the road, dressed in rags, begging for scraps to say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. How on earth could this blind man have known who Jesus was except by the eyes of faith? This blind man saw Jesus as God incarnate. The fulfillment of all of God's love and promise to him, freely given to the world. Dressed as a humble man, not riding in, coming into Jerusalem on a stately chariot, but riding in on a donkey. The promised God. We're gonna find that many of these crowds who are waving branches and just extolling Jesus's virtues and his teaching in the last week of Jesus's life throughout the Gospels, you know, where are they when Jesus is delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees? Where are they when he's delivered over to Pilate? Oh, they're out there calling, crucify him with the Pharisees. These crowds are only as good as they come. Easy come, easy go, but this blind man And Mark names him, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, as if he's known to those who he's writing to. It takes this blind man to say, this is the son of David. I cannot see, but I know this with the eyes of my heart, that this is the one who will save me. This is the one who will save us all. This is the one who has the power to make me well. He saw the identity of Christ, though he could not see. Because we can only see through the eyes of faith. We must see with him. So he saw Christ's identity and he also saw that Christ, being the Son of David, had the power to give mercy. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me. Now, if you ask Bartimaeus to tell you about the two natures of Christ, the divine and the human, and the mystery of the incarnation, if you ask Bartimaeus to explain how those things do not mix, they're not divided from each other and so on, technical theology, if you gave Bartimaeus a seminary exam, if you gave Bartimaeus a presbytery exam, could Bartimaeus pass it? Probably not. But it's not passing exams that make us good believers. It's not passing exams that show us that we have faith. It is simply seeing Christ and seeing that he is the one who has the right, who has the prerogative to dispense mercy. Now you're thinking, is this mercy for sight or is it mercy for sin? Well, I would guess that it's both. How many times have we gone through a horrible thing, maybe a breakup, an accident, you name it, and while we're going through those things and suffering through those things, we become convicted of other things. We begin to think maybe sinfully that I deserve this thing that happened to me because of this other thing. Or maybe the instant you get into the accident, you think this is because of this. God's finally getting me back for it. I wouldn't go that so far to say to those things that are necessarily connected, especially for believers as Christ has taken our condemnation and our sin. But how often is it, though, that suffering itself brings to light and brings to our mind conviction for other sins? When we see the effects of sin on our life and our livelihood and our well-being, doesn't that remind us of our own sins that we committed and how we You know, we live in a sinful, fallen world, and these are the consequences. In any case, this man used to be able to see. He said, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. That means at one point he did see, and now he can't, and he's connected his own blindness to a spiritual blindness. He sees that the blindness he experiences is also, is part and parcel with sin in the world and living under its consequences. He sees Jesus' identity and knows that this is the Messiah, He's the only one who has the right to dispense mercy, and He is my only hope. As a pious Jew, or maybe just perhaps learning the Scriptures as a child or as a teenager, he knows that from the Psalms and the Prophets, it is the Lord who opens the eyes of the blind. It is the Lord who leads the blind in a way that they have not known and leads them onto level ground. Isaiah tells us. And so he knows if this truly is a son of David, what happens with the son of David is that he will lead the blind in a way they have not known. He will give the lame the ability to walk. He will heal. All these miracles will accompany him. He is my only hope of mercy, not just for blindness, but for everything else in between. It's not that this man just believed that Jesus could heal him. Because He was the Messiah, He believed that Jesus could heal him all the way through, from the eyes, down to the tongue, and down into the heart. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. You don't ask for mercy from someone who is your equal. You don't ask for mercy from someone who is even maybe just a little bit better than you, unless it's You know, you've done something to them. You ask for mercy on your knees to someone who is far greater than you, far higher than you could ever imagine. Not all of us see, not all of us see that we need mercy. But if God gives us the eyes of an honest look at ourselves, put aside the eyes of faith for a while, if God just opens our eyes to see us for who we truly are, J.C. Ryle says we will not rest until we find peace and cleansing in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we saw ourselves the way God saw us, we would not stop until we ask God to wipe the record clean. Again, Bartimaeus, what does he know? What does he know? He knows nothing about the cross as of yet. That is coming. But what blind Bartimaeus knows that this is the one, someway, somehow, who can make me clean. And if I do not call upon him, I will not be saved. So we see him calling out, Son of David, have mercy on me. He's making a scene. People are like, dude, you're making this really weird. Be quiet. Like, this is not the etiquette that the coming king wants. He does not want people, blind people, begging people, calling out for him like this. It's just embarrassing. Be quiet. That's not what Jesus says. That's not what Jesus thinks. It says Jesus stopped. Jesus stopped and said, call him. Mind you, Jesus has had His face set like a flint toward Jerusalem. The Samaritans in Luke chapter 9 saw Jesus, had His face set toward Jerusalem, and they rejected Him. He's been heading from Galilee, making a trip down for the last, really, three chapters. He's heading to die. That is His mission. But He stopped. when he hears this man calling upon him, this man who had nothing to offer Jesus, call upon him as his only hope and says, call him. So I told him, take heart, get up. He is calling you. Look what you, you called him. He has stopped. So you might as well get over there. And Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? Mind you, James and John said, teacher, we want you to do whatever you ask for us. And then they asked for literally the moon. Let us sit one in your right hand, one in your left in your coming glory. And Jesus puts the brakes on us. But Jesus takes that same kind of question and asks him, what do you want me to do for you? Sing this man's faith. So this man, Bartimaeus, he saw Jesus as the Messiah, his identity. He saw Jesus as the Messiah and his mercy. And thirdly, he saw Jesus and the Messiah's power. The blind man said to him, knowing that Jesus is who he is, knowing that Jesus has the power to dispense mercy, knowing that Jesus has power at all, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. If you are who I believe you to be, will you give to me the thing that is promised? Will you let me recover my sight? And Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. Go your way. Your faith, in other words, the Greek word is, has saved you. Sozo. Go your way. Your faith has made you well. It has saved you. He recovers his sight at the word of Jesus. And what is his way? What is the way of faith other than to follow right in behind Jesus' train? right behind Jesus. That was his way. Go your way. Well, Lord, I was blind, but now I see my way is to follow you because of who you are, the mercy you give, and the power that you have by your word. My way is with you. What we see in Bartimaeus, in Bartimaeus' belief in Jesus' power, Is this everything that Jesus has been teaching up to this point for the last three chapters? The kingdom is received as a gift by people who are completely helpless. It is given to a people who ask for mercy, who know that they have nothing to offer to Jesus. There's no way that they can make Jesus love them. He simply asks because of who He is and what He has promised to be to those who call upon Him. For everyone who calls upon the Lord will be saved. We need Jesus to help us recover our sight. We may be seeing just fine, but do we see ourselves just as helpless as Bartimaeus is? Sin makes us stupid. Sin makes some of the smartest people on the planet think the most foolish, do the most boneheaded things, unable to help themselves. unless Jesus first helps them. What you see in every helpless person in the gospel, but in Bartimaeus most clearly, is you see utter neediness. But you see neediness reaching out to a strong Savior, able and willing to save and to help. Jesus has the power to open our own eyes, the eyes of our hearts, to see Him rightly. And if He has opened your eyes, church, in faith, if you are a follower of Jesus, we saw just like the blind man in chapter 8, sometimes he, probably as a teaching tool, he puts his hands on the eyes and we see in part. We see, but we see incompletely. We see, but we see things, we don't see things quite for what we should see them. Christ has the power by His Spirit to lay His hands on us again so that we might see in full. What we see from this is we see a Jesus who stops, who still stops to save. Jesus has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Sinflayer Ferguson says that Jesus, because of that, still stops to save poor sinners. We might think Jesus is reigning in God's right hand as the high priest in the heavens, the prophet still speaking to his people through his spirit. Jesus does not have time for my small things. He does not have time for my problems. I will just try to give him big problems But He still stops to hear us. He still stops to hear poor sinners call upon Him in truth and save them. And even when poor sinners do not see themselves like so, I point you to Revelation chapter 3, the Latticean church. The Latticean church said, I have everything I need. I am not needy. Look at all of my, look at all of our, look how good we're all doing and we're good. But Jesus says, you do not see that you are poor, pitiable, blind, and naked. And among many things he offers to them, he says, salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. This lad is seeing church, very wealthy, perhaps, being where they were in Asia Minor, having no needs, but not seeing themselves as completely in trapped peril without the mercy of Jesus Christ. Bartimaeus is blind. Bartimaeus should, in one sense, be our example. We should be, in one sense, his disciples, as he is a follower of Jesus Christ. See, Bartimaeus knew he had no illusions. He had no illusions about who he was and what his problems were. But he took them all to Jesus, calling upon him, Son of David, have mercy upon me, knowing you have the power to make him well. And still today, when we call upon Jesus, He still stops and calls us. So church, I leave you with this. Take heart. Get up, take heart, follow Him. He is calling you. So if you feel like you're problems, No one's heard you out. No one understands them. There's nowhere I can take them. I don't want to go to counseling and spend hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars, being told nice platitudes, or maybe no one can help you. Who knows what your problems are? Jesus, through His Word, tells you as He calls you to Him, as you cry out to Him in helpless faith, take heart. The King is coming. part of His kingdom work is to make you whole. And if He can't make you whole and heal you on this earth, for physical scars can run very deep, boy will He fix you up in the end. All things leading up to this point, all our problems, solved either at the foot of the cross or solved in the rising from the dead. He has the power to make us fully well. So take heart, church. Second, this is not something, even though it's a helpless, a faith born out of helplessness, it's not a faith that does not move. Take heart, get up. Faith is not just simply passively sit there, even though faith is the hand, the open hand that does receive. Faith gets up. Faith sees Jesus. Faith moves towards Jesus as its only hope. Get up. Take heart, get up. And it says, Bartimaeus, I love this, he threw off his cloak, his beggar's cloak. He sprang up. The man was so excited to see Jesus, he could barely contain himself. He could probably, as he's being led along, he could probably sense his gingerness as he went, his excitement. Faith receives Christ, but faith moves towards Christ. It is drawn to Christ. It is like a metal towards a magnet. Maybe it's like a moth toward a flame, though that's not a perfect analogy. It can't not help but go to Jesus. Take heart, get up, and receive Jesus. For He is calling you. If you have heard the gospel, if you have heard and seen the mercy of Jesus Christ in the scriptures, from the mouth of the church, and from encouraging each other, He is calling you to believe once more, to receive His power, His goodness, the fulfillment of all of His promises toward you. No matter where you've been, or what you've done, or what people have done to you, He calls. He calls you to take heart, to get up, move towards Him, to love Him, and to receive the life through His power that only He can give. Only faith can make us well. Only faith can save us and only faith can make us. When Jesus says, go your way, what is my way, Lord, but to follow you. There is no hope apart from you. I am going to get in behind all these other disciples. I'm going to follow you into Jerusalem and declare Hosanna to the son of David, to the highest King of all. That is what faith will do for us. The eyes of faith. It brings us to Jesus and to full contact with Him and by believing in Jesus and receiving Him, being cleansed of all of our sins and belonging to Him forever. Let us be as blind Bartimaeus was, though blind, yet seeing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, We are, at times, like the Latticeans. It's a hard section to read, Lord, but we do think that in our subconscious, perhaps, that we don't need much, just a little bit to get by. But Lord, we do not see our true need. We do not see our need for what it is. So Lord, cleanse us, give a salve for our eyes to see us. Let us see us for who we truly are, Lord, even if it's ugly. But Lord, let us see the beauties of Jesus Christ. And Lord, draw us to you, that we might get up and cling to you in faith, knowing that by the blood of Jesus, the eternal blood of the covenant, we are made well. Let us see that You have always loved us. You have always been drawing us. You've led us to this point where we may reach out to You with the empty hand and have You grab onto us and pull us out of our sin and our destruction. Give us life according to Your Word, we do pray. In Jesus' name, amen.