[0:00] As we come to God's Word this morning, we will be in the book of Mark, chapter 10, verse 46.
[0:14] Mark, chapter 10, verse 46. We've just finished a series on the Psalms through the summer, looking at individual ones, different ones each Sunday. And starting next Sunday, Lord willing, we'll be beginning our journey through the pastoral epistles, looking at 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, and learning what they have, what God has to say through those letters to us.
[0:39] But this morning, we're looking at a small moment, seemingly, in the story of Jesus. So Mark, chapter 10, verse 46.
[0:54] I'm going to read it, and then we'll pray, and then we'll jump in. Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus, which means son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging.
[1:17] When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.
[1:39] Jesus stopped and said, Call him. So they called to the blind man, Cheer up, on your feet, he's calling you. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
[1:55] What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see.
[2:08] Go, said Jesus. Your faith has healed you. Immediately, he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
[2:19] Father in heaven, as we look now into your word, we pray that your spirit would open our hearts to what you have said.
[2:30] Help us to see what you did, to understand it. And we pray that our hearts would be changed and touched by it. We know that you have not just spoken to the people who originally received this back then, but that your word is for us today.
[2:46] And so may we see that connection to our own lives and our own story. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now to many of us, this may sound like a cute little story we hear in Sunday school.
[3:03] We may struggle to grasp the significance of it, the point. We've grown up hearing many of these little miracles of Jesus, these things that he did.
[3:16] To really grasp this, what it's all about, we need to go back. We need to understand the full story of Jesus leading up to this point. It was about three years prior to this that Jesus of Nazareth appeared, seemingly out of nowhere to the nation, on the bank of the Jordan River.
[3:37] And John, the baptizing prophet, he began to point his followers to this man, Jesus. John said that this was the one that they'd all been waiting for, the one that God had chosen and sent.
[3:53] And very quickly, the attention of the whole nation all of a sudden shifted from John, the baptizing prophet, to now Jesus, this man from Nazareth.
[4:04] And people came from all over the nation to see Jesus, to hear Jesus. Some for miracles of healing, others just to hear his teaching.
[4:18] His teachings resonated deeply with many as having divine authority, God's authority in them, God's wisdom in them. Not only that, but of course, Jesus began to do miracles.
[4:33] All kinds of things. Great signs. Countless people were healed of all kinds of sicknesses, illnesses, diseases.
[4:45] Evil spirits were being cast out of people. On one occasion, the feeding of thousands with a boy's lunch out in the middle of nowhere.
[4:56] And other spectacular things. Walking on water. Even on one occasion, raising a little girl from the dead. Jesus took the spotlight of the nation.
[5:09] And the question that was rolling around in people's minds, who is this man? Is he a prophet sent by God?
[5:22] Is he the Messiah, the long-awaited Messiah? Or is he just a yokel, local, from the north, that's hoodwinking, gullible people?
[5:34] These are the discussions that they were having at dinner tables all over the country. And as time went on, many of you know the story. Jesus began to be loved by some, but hated by others.
[5:50] His followers who believed in him loved him. But the religious leaders and those who followed them, the religious leaders of the Jews, they didn't believe in him.
[6:01] And they got madder and madder at Jesus. And the tensions just kept rising between Jesus and his opponents. Until this moment, Jesus was on his way for the last time south to Jerusalem.
[6:17] Where he would be crucified. And on his way, Mark tells us that they came to the city of Jericho.
[6:33] Something special happened at the city gate of Jericho that Mark never forgot. Jesus and his disciples, they were just leaving the city. And there was a large crowd together with them.
[6:45] And there by the roadside, sitting on the ground, begging, was a blind man. A guy named Bartimaeus.
[6:57] Now we don't know, but somehow, Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus. He'd heard how Jesus had been curing people of all kinds of sicknesses and illnesses, even disabilities.
[7:08] And there he sat, Mark tells us, on the roadside, begging. I want to invite you right now just to close your eyes and imagine for a moment what it would be like to be blind.
[7:27] Unable to see the light of the sun. Unable to see the colors of things all around you. Unable to see the expressions on people's faces.
[7:43] Unable to judge just how far things are away from you. Everything's dark. You're totally dependent on sound and touch.
[7:56] Can you imagine having to go through your entire life like this? You can open your eyes now. We don't know the details of Bartimaeus' life.
[8:11] What put him to the streets to beg. But we do know that it was common for people in these days who had disabilities to be in poverty and to end up on the side of the road as beggars.
[8:27] Can you imagine that this is the way that you've found to put food in your stomach? Every day to get up and go to the gate of the city and call out to people for their spare change.
[8:43] Imagine that you are Bart, sitting there in the darkness of your condition and all of a sudden you hear this commotion.
[8:55] You hear the sounds. You hear the voices. You hear the footsteps. The murmur of a huge crowd approaching and it's getting louder and louder. And you wonder, what is this?
[9:08] What's happening? Well, somebody made it known to Bart that it was Jesus of Nazareth going by. And immediately a spark is lit in Bartimaeus that probably caught everybody around him off guard.
[9:25] Bartimaeus begins to shout. He begins to cry out with a loud voice. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
[9:38] This is a good time to notice Mark's precise language. He began to shout. Not just that he shouted once, but he started to shout it and he continued to shout it repeatedly in this moment.
[9:59] And Bartimaeus must have been shouting it loudly and causing quite a commotion because as Mark tells us in verse 48, many rebuked him and told him to be quiet.
[10:11] Apparently, Bartimaeus was getting on people's nerves. He was dominating the moment. He was distracting people from what they wanted to be focused on.
[10:22] They wanted to be focused on Jesus now moving through the streets, walking through their city gates. But then this guy here, he's making too much noise. And notice who is rebuking Bartimaeus.
[10:36] It says many were rebuking him and telling him to be quiet. So just imagine for a moment that you are Bartimaeus. You're sitting there on the side of the road, calling out to Jesus.
[10:47] And everybody around you, it seems, is turning on you. They're saying things like, man, would you shut up?
[10:58] Be quiet. I'm trying to hear. I'm trying to see. You're making too much noise. And yet none of this dissuaded Bartimaeus from continuing on.
[11:11] It says he shouted all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. I love the persistence and the courage of Bartimaeus.
[11:26] There's probably also some desperation there as well. All of a sudden, Jesus stops. Jesus stopped and said, call him.
[11:39] So they called to the blind man, cheer up on your feet. He's calling you. Suddenly the attitude of the people near Bartimaeus just changes completely.
[11:50] Cheer up on your feet. He's calling you. Can you imagine how Bartimaeus must have felt in this moment? Think of how many times there on the side of the road people had passed him by.
[12:05] And now here is the one person he wants to see most in the whole world. And yes, with all the people here, with the whole crowd here, he's stopping for me. He's calling me.
[12:21] Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. We don't have cloaks like they did back in their day and place, but usually in the Bible, it's that piece of clothing that hinders your movement.
[12:34] And so you either tuck it in or you throw it off. And that's what Bart does. He throws it to the side, he jumps to his feet and he goes to Jesus. We see his eagerness.
[12:47] He's not going to miss this opportunity. He gets to Jesus. Jesus asks what he wants. And he says, Rabbi, I want to see.
[13:05] Beggars usually only ask for one thing. I don't know what your experience has been.
[13:16] Occasionally, something else maybe. But usually, it's one thing. Money. Bartimaeus asks for something far greater.
[13:31] Something way bigger than money. He asks for something that no amount of money could ever buy. I want to see, says Bartimaeus.
[13:45] That's what I want you to do for me, Jesus. And amazingly, Jesus gives Bartimaeus exactly what he asks for.
[13:58] Go, said Jesus. Your faith has healed you. Immediately, he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Now, I hope that our first response to this story is awe and wonder.
[14:17] Awe and wonder that Jesus can do this. He restored sight to a blind person. I mean, this is no easy thing to really appreciate this.
[14:29] Some of us might have to take another visit to the optometrist. You know, nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, those kinds of things can be corrected with a device that they give you to put over top of your nose or in your eyeballs.
[14:50] Worst problems, glaucoma, cataracts, and certain types of retinal detachment can sometimes be cleared up or mended with surgery. But here's a man who had no sight.
[15:01] He was blind. And Jesus restores his sight to him in a moment with a word. This is the power of God at work in this moment.
[15:16] So I hope that our first response is awe and wonder. Next, we've got to ask the question, what's the meaning of this miracle? What is this all about?
[15:27] If God is at work here in this moment, what's he doing? What does it mean? And we're not going to look at all the passages this afternoon.
[15:37] We've done that over the last couple years as we work through the Gospel of John. But the clear teaching of the New Testament is that Jesus' miracles served as signs.
[15:49] They were confirmation from God that he really was who he said he was, that he really was the one God had chosen. And so the miracles authenticated him to the people.
[16:02] Of course, yes, they were also acts of mercy for the benefit of the people who received those healings. No doubt about that. But God wasn't going to just call them to believe without giving them evidence that yes, he is the one I'm speaking through.
[16:18] His words are my words. And so that's the general meaning of the miracles of Jesus that the Bible steers us towards. And if we're meant to look at this miracle in that framework, through that lens, as a sign that points to something about Jesus, what are we meant to see or conclude about Jesus through this?
[16:45] I think the significance of this entire passage, this entire moment, is found in the title that Bartimaeus gives to Jesus.
[16:56] Let's look again at verse 47. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. So Bartimaeus calls Jesus the son of David.
[17:14] And we don't have time this morning to fully unpack that. We could go back into the Old Testament and look through all those passages. Hopefully you're noticing this, those of you who are reading through the Bible.
[17:27] There's a whole backstory here. There's a covenant that God made with David almost a thousand years before all this. God sent his prophet Samuel to anoint David, to pour oil over David's head, which signified that he is my chosen king for my people, Israel.
[17:47] And God would go on to make that special covenant with David and promise that his kingdom would endure forever, from generation to generation, forever.
[17:58] And then from that time on, as we keep working our way through history, God sent prophets and he added promises to that covenant and that promise. Prophecies, many of them expanding upon all of that, that one day God is going to restore the kingdom of Israel.
[18:19] Even after it had been conquered by foreign empires, one day he's going to restore the kingdom to Israel and through Israel establish the greatest kingdom that this world has ever known and it will be the last kingdom on earth.
[18:35] So great, so big, that it will fill up the whole world. And on the throne of this kingdom, ruling over all of the nations of the world, will be the king of God's choosing, the anointed one, a descendant of David, a son of David.
[18:55] That was the promise. That's what the word Messiah means. It means anointed one. Same with the word Christ. And so there was great expectation and great hope when John, the baptizing prophet, appeared and he started announcing that the Messiah was coming.
[19:17] The people were eager to see, is this the time that God will send his chosen king and establish and renew this great kingdom that he has promised for all these generations?
[19:28] So this title, Son of David, it carries with it the meaning of Messiah. that is king chosen by God for Israel.
[19:43] And this is what Bartimaeus calls Jesus. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He believed Jesus was the Messiah.
[19:57] And in case there's any doubt, we can just look quickly to a couple other places. In Matthew's gospel, chapter 12, verse 23, on another occasion, all the people were astonished when they saw something of Jesus and said, could this be the son of David?
[20:15] So that title, it was loaded. In their minds, it meant, could it be the promised one, the Messiah? That was the big question. Bartimaeus' answer to this question was yes.
[20:27] He is the son of David. That's what he called him. If we look ahead to Matthew, chapter 21, verse 15, we see that the children were there shouting in the temple courts, Hosanna to the son of David.
[20:45] And when the chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this, they were indignant. They hated that the children would call Jesus that because they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah. though this is the bigger story, the context of this miracle with Bartimaeus, it's not just a lesson of faith, though it is that, but it's about who is this Jesus and is the faith of this man who calls out to him well-placed.
[21:19] And the answer of God through the miracle that's performed is yes, he is the king of my choosing.
[21:30] He is the son of David. He is the one I've selected for my people. And when we see this, we realize that Bartimaeus, even though he was an outcast, even though he was blind, he had something truly remarkable about him.
[21:49] His faith was much deeper, much bigger than we maybe thought at first as we read this. Not only did he believe that Jesus could do something truly wonderful, giving him sight, but he believed that Jesus was God's Messiah, the son of David.
[22:11] Which means, for Bartimaeus, it wasn't just about getting his sight back. He wanted that. Notice how the passage ends in verse 52.
[22:24] Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Think about that. I mean, he could have got his sight and then he could have just gone off and done whatever he wanted to do.
[22:38] But it was about more than just his sight. He saw that Jesus was more than just a miracle man. He saw that Jesus was God's Messiah.
[22:50] And now what should I do? Now that God's king has come, I will follow him. There's so much more that we could look at and talk about here.
[23:04] But I want to just bring this home and keep it simple this morning. Do you, sitting here today, believe that Jesus is God's chosen king?
[23:20] that one who will rule over this coming kingdom when he returns as God has told us through his word.
[23:31] Do you believe that? It's much more than an ancient Israel thing. The clear message of the Bible is that Jesus is coming back and he will rule.
[23:43] He will reign over all the nations of the earth. Sometimes we think about this around Christmas time with Isaiah chapter 9. His kingdom, his governing will be characterized by righteousness, goodness, peace, justice, and love.
[24:05] But the clear message of the scriptures is that only those who believe that he is the Messiah, that he is the son of David will enter into this kingdom and enjoy it as a citizen while the rest will get what we all deserve for our sins against God.
[24:28] Do you see what happened here with Bartimaeus? God confirmed with his divine power to heal that Bartimaeus' faith was well placed.
[24:41] He confirmed that yes, Jesus really was that king, the son of David. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
[24:57] Will you acknowledge that as Bartimaeus did? Now, most of you already know that and believe that.
[25:08] and once we've settled that, then we can go on to learn from Bartimaeus as an example of faith. What did Jesus say to him?
[25:22] He said, your faith has healed you. Now, we shouldn't take that as a guarantee that if you believe in Jesus, you're going to get, no matter what kind of sickness it is, you'll get it healed instantly.
[25:35] we can chat about that afterwards. You can come talk to me afterwards about why not if that's a question that you have. But Bartimaeus' faith is commended by Jesus.
[25:50] Your faith has healed you. Which means that he's an example to us of what any one of us can do with the troubles that we face in our lives.
[26:09] Bartimaeus' trouble was his blindness. What's yours? Is there something in your life that's got you desperate?
[26:25] something maybe that you've been struggling with, maybe even for years. Maybe it's something that you've tried to fix, but that you've realized money can't fix it.
[26:45] Or this thing that I tried to do, it didn't work. I've tried. It seems like it just can't be fixed. Let me ask you, have you cried out to Jesus in faith for help with this trouble?
[27:14] Some of you have, and I don't want to say that if it hasn't changed yet that it's because you haven't, but some of us maybe we just realize, I haven't even asked God for help with this.
[27:27] Have you cried out to Jesus in faith for help with whatever you're going through? For mercy? For grace? For wisdom?
[27:41] For strength? Whatever it is that you need. Have you asked him? Maybe you have asked him? Maybe you have asked him, but you simply quit asking.
[27:58] But Bartimaeus is an example, isn't he? Of how persistent real faith is. When we are in trouble and in need of what only God can provide, Bartimaeus shows us how to do it.
[28:17] Again and again and again he shouted, Jesus, son of David, have mercy. And the good news is that we see from this passage, Jesus is merciful.
[28:30] He does hear. He is a God of compassion. Are you calling out to Jesus about the trouble in your life unashamedly and repeatedly and with all the faith in your heart.
[28:48] Let me remind you of something Jesus said on another occasion. He said, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
[29:01] For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks the door will be opened. God is not stingy. He wants to answer.
[29:16] He wants to meet your need. Are you calling out to him? Now we can't manipulate God.
[29:27] We can't twist his arm. We can't force his hand. But we can do like this poor beggar did. We can be persistent and we can humbly beg and ask for mercy in whatever trial, whatever trouble we are faced with.
[29:49] We can call out to him again and again and again. And he hears us. And so I want to urge you to do that. With whatever troubles you're going through, big or small, bring them to Jesus.
[30:05] Ask for his help. if Jesus cares for the blind Bart on the roadside, we better be sure he cares for every one of us.
[30:20] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we do this now.
[30:32] We ask for your grace. We ask for your help. for your strength, for your wisdom, for your love, for your touch, for your healing.
[30:45] You know the trouble in each one of our lives. We bring those things to you. We ask for your help. And we trust that in your time, you will answer, you will stop, you will look upon us, and you will give love.
[31:06] Your word is promised that you are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, rich in love, abounding in love.
[31:21] Help us to look to you, to wait on you. And we pray for your power to be at work in us and in our lives.
[31:31] we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We are going to now move into the Lord's table.
[31:51] And we're going to do it a little bit differently today. we're going to do it through song. Sometimes we have a quiet time of reflection, but we're going to sing.
[32:05] Before we do that, I just want to kind of explain how it will go. This is something that we do once a month. We break out bread and grape juice, and those things are symbols.
[32:20] We do this to remember Jesus and his love for us. That he went from Jericho to Jerusalem and was crucified and died in order that we might be forgiven of our sins.
[32:35] The bread represents his body, which was broken, and the cup represents his blood, which was shed, so that our sins would be atoned for.
[32:47] Jesus said it represents a new covenant, a new deal, a new arrangement with God, better than the old one back in the days of Old Testament Israel. This is a new one, and the deal is this.
[33:01] We come to God, we come to Jesus, and we acknowledge what we have done, our sins. We acknowledge, we confess those things, we ask for his forgiveness, and we believe that he will take care of it and forgive us completely by what Jesus did for us, and that's it.
[33:22] We believe that, and we receive that as a gift of grace. And that's the good news of the gospel, that's what Jesus has done, that's what we celebrate every time we come to the Lord's table.
[33:36] And so if you're here and you believe that, and that's something that you are trusting in, what Jesus did for you, then please partake with us when we come to the table.
[33:48] After we sing this next song, the elders are going to come up, and they'll pass out the bread and the cup, and if you're a believer, born again, belong to Jesus, and have surrendered your heart to him, then please join with us in this.
[34:03] And I'll ask that you just hold on to the bread and the cup until everybody's been served, and then once that's happened, we'll give thanks, and we'll eat and we'll drink together in remembrance of Christ.
[34:14] Christ. So I'll invite the worship team to come back, and we'll sing one more song in preparation for that. Thank you. God bless you.
[35:14] God bless you.
[35:44] God bless you.
[36:14] God bless you.
[36:44] God bless you. God bless you.
[37:14] God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.
[37:37] Thank you.
[38:07] Thank you.
[38:37] Thank you.
[39:07] Thank you.
[39:37] Thank you for citizenship, which was purchased for us at the cross. We love you. We praise your holy name.
[39:48] Amen. Thank you.
[40:25] You can put your cups in the little holders that are just in the seats in front of you. If you're looking for a place to set it, I'll invite the worship team to come up and we'll close our service with one final song.
[40:36] Please stand. Thank you. Thank you. Please stand.