Faith Turned to Sight

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. It's always a joy to sing about the grace of God and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus.

A blessing to see believers baptism this morning and we will have another that's baptized in our next service. We just encourage you to always be praying.

We are praying for the Lord to do the work of salvation. We know that salvation is the Lord's work. We also know the Lord moves in response to our prayers and as we seek to pray for lost people to be saved, let us also be quick to share the gospel with those we come in contact with.

And may we never take lightly the blessing of seeing believers follow in believers baptism. It is such a joy to be able to witness that. We're going to be in Mark chapter 10.

If you want to find your way to Mark 10. As we do that, just a couple of quick things. If you're going through our church's Read to the Bible plan in 2024, we have completed the first month.

There are 25 readings per month, so we have finished month one. If you are going through that plan with us, you've got a few extra days here either to catch up if you're a little behind, or to go back and reread some sections, or to pray through certain areas that have been meaningful to you.

I encourage you also to think about maybe picking out a verse a month to memorize in that period between finishing the readings and the next month's start, and you can go back and work on that Scripture memory.

As always, as we've mentioned the last month or so, I'm doing a daily teaching video that goes along with our reading. You can find that teaching video in several places. I do it each day live on my Facebook page.

If you want to follow along there, I invite you to do so. We'll start that back up on February the 1st. Actually, I did one this morning that was a recap of Genesis and Mark in the first part of Exodus that we've read.

That's also available through our church podcast, our Read to the Bible podcast. It's also there on our church webpage. And so, I encourage you to follow along with those if that would be an encouragement to you.

If you haven't been reading through the Bible with us this year, and you're not doing something else, you don't have a specific plan of helping you to know what to read each day, let me encourage you to jump in with us February 1st.

Just because you missed the first month would be a bad reason to say that you'll just sit out until next January. So, we've got the read-through plans at the Ministry Connection also available on our church website.

But if you're not doing anything else, print that out. Jump in with us starting February 1st. We're in the middle of Exodus, and you can jump in there with us.

We would love to have you follow the Lord as we learn more about His Word. So, I encourage you to do that. On a personal note, I would love and appreciate your prayers.

This is a busy season, a busy month for me in ministry. I'm here each Lord's Day, Lord willing, for the next number of weeks. But in between, have some things that I'm doing that I would love your prayers for.

The Lord brings that to your mind. I'll be in Tulsa in a couple of weeks preaching there. And then later this month, I'll be in Los Angeles. I'll be preaching at Master's Seminary and then teaching on campus at the Master's University, and then doing some things at Grace Community Church as well.

So, if the Lord brings that to your mind, I would appreciate that. We also have our Ladies' Night of Theology coming up here in just a couple of weeks. So, work is underway getting ready for that. So, lots of exciting things going on.

But as always, if you ever want to know just how to be an encouragement to me, your prayers for me is something I take very, very—we see that very gratefully. A number of you even today have already mentioned to me how you've been praying for me with this extra daily teaching I'm doing this year.

And I just want you to know that's a great encouragement to me. Your prayers for me truly are a gift, and I do not take that lightly. And I also just want to ask you to be praying for me as the Lord brings that to your mind.

I so appreciate your love and support in that. We are in Mark chapter 10 and finishing this chapter next Sunday. We'll be in chapter 11 where we begin the triumphal entry and the events of that last week of the life of Jesus leading up to His crucifixion.

Where we are in Mark 10, Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. You'll recall that Jesus and a large group have been heading toward Jerusalem. Mark records for us a number of encounters and conversations that take place along the way.

And today, we read about a blind beggar that meets Jesus. Now, we know from Matthew that there is a second blind man there also.

Mark and Luke both center their focus on this one specific one. He's named, and His name is Bartimaeus.

And that's interesting because it's the only time in the Gospels where we're given the name of someone that Jesus has healed in this way. One who was blind that He has given sight to.

This was something Jesus did. This was something that had been prophesied before. And as Jesus does this miracle, it is further evidence that He is indeed the Messiah.

Bartimaeus. Bar, B-A-R, that prefix means son of. So, He's the son of Timaeus, as the text will tell us.

Let me read for you chapter 10, verse 46 to 52. It says, They came to Jericho, and as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples, 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? 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.

As we work through this encounter with Jesus and Bartimaeus, I want to walk you through the events of the story and hopefully point out some things that I think are helpful.

And at the end, we'll consider some of the implications for us as well. Make note first of the desperate condition. The desperate condition.

We see this in verse 46. So it says they're coming to Jericho. So Jesus crossed the Jordan River, coming into Israel. Jericho is about 15 miles northeast from Jerusalem.

It's about five miles west of the Jordan. At this point, it's about a six-hour journey from where they are to Jerusalem. Now the city of Jericho is slightly different in the New Testament from the city of Jericho in the Old Testament.

Not far, about a mile away. The Old Testament of Jericho in Jesus' day is about a mile south of there.

Built by the Hasmoneans. Expanded by Herod the Great. So they've come to this place known as Jericho, and it says Jesus was with his disciples in a great crowd, and Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.

Matthew says there's two beggars there. Mark is going to zero in on this one. He names him, tells us his name is Bartimaeus, probably because by the time that this gospel was written, Bartimaeus was well known as a part of that early church.

We can't be dogmatic on that, but most likely that's why Mark tells us his name, probably because by this point he has become someone who was known in that church.

Now, if you lived in the first century and you were blind, you had a very difficult life.

There were laws to protect people from taking advantage of you, but there were no jobs to be had. Begging would be your vocation.

And remember that for many people in the first century, they still believed that to be blind was a specific, direct punishment from God to you.

Remember in John 9, there's a man born blind, and the question the apostles asked Jesus is, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be blind?

It was the assumption of the day that blindness was the direct result of a very specific punishment from God upon that person. Which means Bartimaeus not only deals with the physical struggles from being blind, he deals with the economic struggles of not having the ability to have a job, he also deals with the social stigma and the religious tradition of the day that is ascribing to him some kind of punishment from God that's put him in this condition.

So each day, Bartimaeus would get up, he would go to his place, he would get everything together he needs to beg.

If he had a cup, he would get his cup in place and begin jiggling his cup. He would hope for kindness as people walked by. He would be a fixture here at this spot, and this was his life day after day.

Now it may be that he had always lived in Jericho, that's possible. Or it may be that Bartimaeus had lived somewhere else and he had moved to Jericho.

We know from history that there was the thought in that day that there were some balsam trees that were native there in Jericho, and the thought was that there was something with these trees that produced a substance that could aid with ailing eyes.

So there would be some who would move specific to that location in hope of getting some kind of relief that would come from the trees that grew there in Jericho.

So maybe Bartimaeus was from there, maybe he had always lived there, maybe he had always lived there, maybe he had moved there hoping that he could find some help. What we do know is that nothing has cured him.

This is his desperate condition. It's not just that he can't see. It's that he's a beggar. It's that he has to rely on other people to be able to have any of his needs met.

It's that the laws were in place, he would still be easy prey for those who wanted to take advantage of him. He is in a desperate condition.

I want you to make notes secondly in verse 47 and 48 of a distinct cry. There's a very distinct cry that he gives. We see in verse 47 that it says he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth.

There's a buzz going on. People know that Jesus and his disciples and the rest of the crowd, they are pressing on toward Jerusalem. Luke 18.37 tells us that they told him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.

So here's Bartimaeus at the spot he normally would be. Here's crowds of people walking through. Here's the conversations. He can't make out faces because he's blind.

He doesn't know who it is. But as he sees or hears the crowd, he can see in his mind perhaps a picture of how many people are passing by. And somebody tells him Jesus of Nazareth is coming.

Jesus of Nazareth is close by. And so in verse 47, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Mark says he was crying out. He's not whispering. He's not talking timidly. This is a loud cry.

Jesus of Nazareth, he doesn't know where he is. He can't see him. He's blind. He just knows that he's somewhere amongst the crowd. He would hear the steps of many people passing by.

He can tell there's a big crowd there. He can hear it. He can't see who's there. So he has to cry out there and have his voice louder than the commotion of the crowd.

And so he cries out loudly, Jesus, son of David. Have mercy on me. Son of David's an interesting word for him to use.

It's a messianic title. We looked last week at Jesus' usage of son of man. Let me just give you just one example here of how son of David is used.

Matthew tells us about an encounter with Jesus. It helps us to see how the title was understood. In Matthew 12, it says, A demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him.

So the man spoke and saw. And the people were amazed and said, can this be the son of David? Because they understood that for someone to be the son of David, to be the Messiah, was to do what only God could do.

Here is Jesus, the son of David. And as Scripture says, he is David's greater son, yet he is David's Lord.

And here is this blind man hearing Jesus is nearby, and he says, Jesus, son of David.

Jesus, Messiah. Jesus, God's anointed. Jesus, the one sent from the Father, have mercy on me.

It's so interesting that here is this blind man who can see the truth that the religious leaders themselves cannot see.

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, is the distinct cry that he voices.

Verse 48, many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. We see this often in the Gospels, don't we? Children are coming to Jesus, and the disciples say, leave him alone.

Other people crowding around Jesus, and the disciples say, leave him alone. Here is Bartimaeus saying, son of David, have mercy on me.

And the crowd passing through says, would you be quiet? This is embarrassing. Why are you yelling so loud? Why are you making such a commotion?

Just be quiet. But Bartimaeus understands this is his one chance.

This is it. This is his one chance for Jesus to pass by, and Bartimaeus will not miss it.

Now, he easily could have been intimidated. After all, he is the blind man. He is the beggar. He is the one without anything, and everyone else is telling him, stop talking.

Stop crying out. But he will not be deterred, and he will not be silenced. Verse 48, he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me.

So here's the scene. Bartimaeus takes his place, begging for money. The crowds pass by.

Somebody tells Bartimaeus, Jesus of Nazareth is approaching. And so he says, son of David, Messiah, the one that I've heard of, the one that I trust in, have mercy on me.

And the people say, stop talking. You're embarrassing yourself. Just be quiet. And he cries out even louder, Jesus, have mercy on me. Which leads thirdly to a definite call.

It's a definite call that comes from Jesus to Bartimaeus. Verse 49, Jesus stopped and said, call him.

This is actually just a really, really tender moment in the story. Because understand, Jesus is traveling.

Mark's told us he's leading out in front. Behind him are his disciples and a large group of other people who are on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The crowd is swelling as they are making their way to Jerusalem. And here among the crowds of all the conversation and all the people, the people that are lining the streets there in Jericho.

And amongst all of the conversation is the sound of the voice of Bartimaeus rising out above the crowd saying, have mercy on me.

And Jesus hears it. Among a crowd, Jesus hears the cry of the one.

Now, I want you to understand, my friends, this morning, that you are in this sanctuary surrounded by hundreds of people. And Jesus hears the cry of the one.

Of you. You may think to yourself, of all the people in the church here, maybe Jesus overlooks me.

No, he doesn't. You may think to yourself, of all the prayers that are prayed among the congregation today, surely yours can't get to him. Yes, it can. You may think to yourself that God is so busy controlling and ruling and reigning and sovereignly orchestrating all the events of the world.

Surely, he doesn't have time for you. Yes, he does. Here's Bartimaeus, Jesus, surrounded by a large crowd, being told to be quiet, to keep it down, to stop.

And yet, in the midst of all the commotion, Jesus hears the one. And he says, call him.

Bring him to me. Now, I want to remind you, church, that this is something for us to emulate as well.

That while we are pursuing a knowledge of the Lord as we should, and while we are studying and reading the Bible as we should, while we are striving to make disciples and train people to share the gospel as we should, let me also take a moment to remind each of us that part of what we should also be doing is, in grace, in compassion, caring for the one.

Caring for people as individuals. Loving them, serving them, making time for them. Even the one that the world has overlooked.

Even the one that everybody else pushes aside. This is the one that we should love. This is the one that we should care for.

Our church should be known for having a high view of God. Our church should be known for having a high view of Scripture. Our church should be known for a serious, rigorous pursuit to know the things of God.

But we must also be known for people who have compassion on the one who is hurting. These two pursuits are not at odds with each other.

We can seek to know Christ more. And as we do that, we seek to emulate His life, which inevitably would lead us to compassion on those who are hurting.

Jesus says, call Him. Bring Him. Bring Him to me. I want to know. I want to talk to Him. Verse 49, Can you imagine the scene?

The crowd's been saying, Bartimaeus, keep it down. You're embarrassing yourself. Quit yelling. Quit begging. Just stop. But He won't stop.

This is His one chance, His one moment with Jesus passing by. And so, He cries out all the more, and Jesus hears him, and now, Jesus gives him this definite call, and He says, bring Him to me.

Somebody goes to Bartimaeus, and says, you're not going to believe this, but Jesus is here. He heard you, and He wants you to get up, and go, and see Him. Bartimaeus has called out to Jesus, but now, Jesus has called out.

to Him. Verse 50, And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up, and he came to Jesus. Now, understand, what probably happens, is Bartimaeus is there, begging as people come by, and he probably would have his cloak out, and that cloak would be around him, as a way, if people wanted to throw coins at him, or drop money off as they passed by, as he was begging.

It was a way for him to collect their coins. He could have some kind of a jar, they could put money in a jar, or he could just have his cloak spread out, and people would drop their money on that cloak, and at the end of the day, he could take that cloak, wrap it together, and that was essentially his wallet.

So, Mark tells us that he got up, and he threw off his cloak. The money he's collected, the coins he has collected during the day, he just cast it aside.

Money is no longer what he's after. He cast it aside, because Jesus has called to him. Verse 51, Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you?

I love that Jesus asked this question. Because by asking this question, he is allowing Bartimaeus the opportunity, to go public with his faith in Jesus.

Now, this isn't the first time we've seen this question. If you've been with us the last couple of weeks, this question is a repeat. If you go back to verse 36 of chapter 10, where Jesus is talking to James and John, it says, he said to them, what do you want me to do for you?

In verse 51, the question is, what do you want me to do for you? We've heard this before. But we're going to get very different answers.

James and John, when they are meeting with Jesus, it's James and John, and then another gospel says that their mother is there with them. And those three, James, John, and their mother, their request of Jesus is, can you give us recognition?

When you come in your kingdom, can we sit on your right and your left? Will you elevate us? It's a very different request he gets from Bartimaeus.

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.

That's his request. Let me recover my sight. The wording here may suggest that he used to have vision and then he lost it.

We can't be sure on that. But this does tell us what Bartimaeus believes about Jesus.

Because with everybody else who passes by, what does Bartimaeus ask for?

Well, just think about if you've ever seen a beggar on a street corner. What do they ask you for? Money. Bartimaeus is a beggar because he's blind, so he can't work, so he can't earn income, so he can't eat.

So everyone he meets, he asks for money. But when Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you?

He doesn't say, could you give me some money? He doesn't say, it sounds to me like you've got a large group of people with you. I can tell by the noise and the commotion.

Seems like a big crowd. Could you maybe take up a collection for me because I'm not getting a lot of money given to me? He doesn't say, do you happen to have food that your people could leave for me?

When Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you? He says, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. I have often in my life, as you have, I'm sure, I have had many people in my life ask me directly or indirectly for money.

I've had people ask me for food. I've had people ask me if I could pay to fill up their car with gas. I've had people ask me if I would cover the expense for them to stay in a hotel for a night.

I have never had somebody ask me to restore their sight. Because that's impossible.

Money? I could do that. A meal? We could do that. But have you ever had somebody ask you if you could heal their blindness?

This man spends day after day after day after day asking for money. as a means of survival.

But now, he has in front of him the son of David. The Messiah. The one who is God in flesh.

And so, he will ask of him what would be impossible for a mere mortal. And he will say, you are the son of David.

You can do for me what nobody else can do for me. Forget the coins. I am face to face with God.

God. So, he says, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. Which leads us to a fourth and final movement in the storm.

That is a divine command. A divine command. verse 52, Jesus said to him, go your way.

Your faith has made you well. Matthew adds in chapter 20 verse 34 that Jesus had compassion on them, on the two blind beggars, Bartimaeus and the other and he touched their eyes and immediately their sight was received and they followed him.

Jesus touched them. He identified with them. He had compassion on them. Luke tells us that he told them to receive their sight.

Mark tells us that their faith has made them well. well. When Mark says this here in verse 52, your faith has made you well, he does not use the typical word for physical healing.

He uses a different word. A word that is often used in the Gospels to denote salvation. All throughout the New Testament that word is used to denote salvation.

This tells us that Jesus says to Bartimaeus, that your faith has healed you. Not merely restored your sight, but saved you.

Now, how can Jesus be so sure that he could save them? How could Jesus be so sure that these men would have their sins forgiven?

It's not that they're blind as a punishment from God, but they are sinners. Well, the reason is because, think of where Jesus is going.

Jesus is, at this point, a week, six days, away from the cross.

Jesus has his eyes set directly on giving his life as a ransom. Jesus can tell Bartimaeus, your sins are forgiven and you have been made well because Jesus is days away from paying the price for that very forgiveness.

forgiveness. And look at the end of the story in verse 52. And immediately he recovered his sight, so Jesus did what he said he was doing.

And of Bartimaeus, he followed him on the way. Now just think for a moment. We don't know if Bartimaeus had been blind all his life.

Maybe he lost his sight due to illness. Maybe he lost his sight in an accident. We don't know. But here he is in Jericho. Maybe he's always lived there.

Maybe he moved there because of thinking that the substance from the balsam tree could heal his ailing eyes. We don't know. It hasn't worked if he's tried that. We know that. And now his sight has been granted to him.

And what will Bartimaeus do? Does he get up and run around and go look at his home that he's never seen? No. Does he get up and go talk to all of his friends, what other friends he has that he's never seen?

No. Does he get up and run around and look at the sun and the sky and the trees and the grass? No. Does he get up and say, I wonder where I can go explore now that I've got my vision.

I can walk freely. I don't have to have somebody guide me. I can get up and run and run freely. No. What does he do? He follows Jesus.

This is a physical picture of exactly what happens when somebody comes to faith. They turn their eyes away from the treasures of the world and they simply follow Jesus.

He asked Jesus to give him what only God could give him and now he will give to Jesus what only Jesus deserves, namely that we would forsake everything and follow Jesus.

It says he followed him on the way because he knew Jesus was the way and the truth and the life.

So just a few implications for us this morning. Number one, we have to recognize our spiritual blindness and our need.

We have to recognize our spiritual blindness and our need. Should you be here this morning and you don't know Christ as your Savior, you're spiritually blind.

It's actually worse than that. Ephesians 2 says you're spiritually dead. And as a spiritually blind person, as a spiritually dead person, you've got to understand your desperate need that just like Bartimaeus, he could not heal himself.

neither could the world. He was at a place of desperate need and so is everyone spiritually speaking in their sin.

Second, we have to cling to Jesus and Jesus alone. We have to cling to Jesus and Jesus alone.

Bartimaeus had been told Jesus was passing by and so he cries out, Lord have mercy and the crowd said stop, stop, be quiet and he cried out even louder because Jesus was his only hope.

My friends, that's true for you today, spiritually speaking. He is your only hope. hope. He is your only hope for salvation. He is your only hope for lasting joy.

He is your only hope for true peace. He is the hope for your family. He is the hope for your marriage.

He is the hope for your children. He is the hope for a broken world. Jesus is our hope.

We cling to him. So when you rise each morning and you think to yourself, I need to meet with God.

I need to be in his word. I need to read my Bible. I need to spend time in prayer. The world is going to metaphorically scream out to you, just stop. Like the crowd did at Bartimaeus.

just stop. And the world is going to throw all kinds of things in front of you. You've got laundry to do. You've got bills to pay. You've got homework to do.

You've got emails to check. You've got things to buy. You've got things to cook. You've got things to clean. You've got to-do lists that are undone.

the world is going to try to silence your desire to meet with the Lord. And what you have to do is what Bartimaeus did, and that is to say, I need Jesus.

More than anything else. Let the cry from your heart rise above all other cries and say, I need Jesus.

If you've got children at home, mom and dad, let the cry from your lips louder than anything else be the cry to get your children to Jesus. They need to know Christ more than any skill they can develop.

They need to know Christ more than any achievement they could earn. Let the cry of your heart, mom and dad, be, I've got to get my children to Jesus.

He's our only hope. And let me just say one last thing about that, that following Jesus is the evidence that our blind eyes now see.

Verse 52, he immediately recovered a sight and he followed him on the way. He was blind and now he can see and his response is I'm going to follow Jesus.

Spiritually speaking, the evidence that we truly have spiritual sight is that we obey him. And if your concern today is that your cry may be drowned out by all the noise and the commotion and the chaos of this world, be reminded Jesus hears the cry of the one.

Some of you in this room will know the name Fanny Crosby. Fanny Crosby was an American mission worker, a poet, a composer.

She was a member of the Sixth Avenue Bible Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, where she was known to write many, many hymns. Some 8,000 hymns attributed to her.

Despite being blind from shortly after her birth. Others of you may not know the name Fanny Crosby, but if you've been raised in church, you likely have sung her songs.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of glory divine. That's Fanny Crosby. All the way my Savior leads me.

Fanny Crosby. I am thine, oh Lord, I have heard thy voice. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious bleeding side. That's Fanny Crosby. Praise him, praise him, Jesus, my blessed redeemer.

For my sins, he suffered and bled and died. It's Fanny Crosby. To God be the glory, great things he has done, so loved he the world that he gave us a son.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. So come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give him the glory, great things he has done.

It's Fanny Crosby. One of my favorite hymns, tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word. It's Fanny Crosby. There's another hymn, some of you will remember it, not one that is sung as much as the others, but taken from a meditation on this very text.

Pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry, while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.

Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry, while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.

written by a lady without sight, about a man who received sight, all because of a Savior who hears the cry of the one.

God will Lord, this morning would you right from your very seat call upon the Lord Jesus and ask him to save your soul, to bring you from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight, from spiritual death to spiritual life.

to say, Jesus, you're my only hope. To ask of Jesus what you would ask of anybody else because nobody else can forgive your sin, only God can do that.

But here's the good news, God does that. if today you do not know Christ as your Savior, ask him to save you.

Say what Bartimaeus said, have mercy on me. Calling out from your heart, Jesus, I believe in you, I trust in you, I know you can do what no one else can do for me.

would you even this day say, pass me not, O gentle Savior.

Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.

He hears the cry of the one. And he is the only one who can save. Make your prayer, God, have mercy on me today.

Amen. God be right.

God be good. God be said, God be good. God be good. God be good. God be good. God be good. God be God be good. God be good.

God be God be God be good. God be good. God be good. God be good. God be good. God be wonderful. God be good. God be good. God be good. God be yap.

fathers heaven God be good. God be rigt