Mark 10:46-52

[0:00] Gospel of Mark, chapter 10. Mark being the shortest of the Gospel accounts. And sometimes it's referred to as the Gospel of Miracles because there's more miracles found within the 16 chapters of Mark than there are in the other longer Gospel accounts.

[0:22] And sometimes it's called the Gospel of Servitude because really from the beginning to the end of it, it kind of highlights the servitude of Jesus Christ and his teaching of the disciples about how it is to...

[0:39] about what servitude is really. In fact, we find the thread that holds all that together in the 10th chapter of Mark where Jesus makes the statement that the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister.

[0:52] And Jesus Christ came for that very reason, was to minister, to minister to us. It was to serve, was it not? It was to serve God. And he served God by performing the will of God perfectly.

[1:07] He served God by performing his will perfectly. And inherently, there was nothing wrong with anything that Jesus Christ ever done.

[1:17] And so again, sometimes the Gospel of Mark is referred to as the Gospel of Servitude. But regardless of what nickname we might have for it, just like Matthew's is the Gospel of the Kingdom and John's is the Gospel of Love, regardless of what nickname we might have for Mark, Mark is a very short Gospel account, but it's chock full of all kinds of things.

[1:41] There's several things in the Gospel of Mark that we don't find within the other Gospel accounts. At the beginning of the 10th chapter of Mark, we see Jesus going into Judea to teach.

[1:56] And we see several things happen, folks. This is the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ is coming to an end here in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Mark.

[2:07] We know that because the 11th chapter of Mark actually begins with him entering into Jerusalem and sending the disciples in to prepare for the last supper, something that we've been going through for the past two or three months, I guess, in the adult Sunday school classes, the last supper and the farewell account of Jesus Christ, the farewell discourse that he gives the disciples.

[2:32] So Mark chapter 10 is leading up to what we've kind of been going through in the adult Sunday school class as far as that farewell discourse goes. But Jesus, he addresses some things in Mark chapter 10.

[2:46] Once again, he enters into Judea. He teaches. He addresses some things. He addresses the disciples. James and John come to him, the sons of Zebedee, wanting to sit.

[2:59] One on his right hand and one on his left. Christ says it's not his to give. And all kinds of things are going on leading up to this. But what I want to concentrate on is a very familiar account of a blind man named Bartimaeus that we find here at the end of Mark in chapter 10.

[3:16] And there's folks out there that will say Bartimaeus was not this man's real name. But folks, it really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if his name was Bartimaeus.

[3:27] It don't matter if his name was Bob or Jim or Joe. The account is still here in the scripture. They will say that because Bartimaeus literally means son of Timaeus. And the scripture tells us that he is the blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus.

[3:41] But it doesn't matter if that was his real name or not. The account is given here in scripture, not that Christians can argue over whether or not that was his real proper name or not. The account is given in scripture for us to see the glory of God, for us to see the works of Jesus Christ that he performs on behalf of those who are in need.

[4:05] So all that being said, we'll begin in Mark. In chapter 10, begin at verse 46. Mark 10 and 46 says, And they came to Jericho.

[4:16] And as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highwayside begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

[4:35] And many charged him that he should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

[4:46] And they called the blind man, saying unto him, be of good cheer, be of good comfort, rise, he calls thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus.

[4:58] And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.

[5:12] And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. So back to verse number 46 in the 10th chapter of Mark, it says, and they came to Jericho.

[5:24] And as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus sat by the highwayside begging.

[5:36] So what we need to see here is this man, the man Jesus Christ, he says that he was leaving Jericho, says that he came into Jericho, and then he was leaving Jericho.

[5:49] Some things went on while he was there in Jericho. We won't get into what those are. In fact, this account of the healing of the blind man as it's given in the other gospel accounts, one account has it that there were two blind men healed, another gives it that there was another healed, one account gives it as they were going into Jericho.

[6:10] Folks who used to say that Jesus Christ didn't heal a couple of blind men on his way into Jericho, I tend to lean that direction myself because this blind man named Bartimaeus here in the scripture, he had obviously heard of the miracles of Jesus Christ.

[6:26] He obviously knew that it was Jesus Christ that could restore sight unto a blind man. But here, this man Bartimaeus, he represents, he is a picture and a wonderful picture of the spiritual state of the entire world.

[6:43] He was blind, but not only was he blind, but he was sitting by the highway side begging. He was completely dependent upon the mercy of others and upon the giving of others.

[6:55] He was completely dependent upon maybe his family, upon the pastors by which he never knew, those pastors by which he never knew their name. He never met them before, certainly, had never seen them before with this man.

[7:09] He was blind, he folks, he was a picture of the spiritual state of the entire world, not just the nation of Israel in this, it was the spiritual state of the entire world that this man is a picture of.

[7:22] We are all blind before God Almighty opens our eyes by way of the regenerating, that work of the Holy Spirit. We are all blind, the Bible says, Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, that the God of this world has blinded the minds of all of those that believe not.

[7:40] The God of this world has done that, he has blinded the minds of those that believe not this man here. Bartimaeus, he was sitting by the highway side begging depending on others, wasn't able to see, wasn't able to do really anything for himself with a man named Jesus, won't find their way.

[7:58] And Bartimaeus, he had heard of this man Jesus, he had heard of the miracles that he had performed, and he refers to him as the Messiah. He says, Jesus, the Son of David, have mercy on me.

[8:14] This shows the faith that this man, Bartimaeus had. It wasn't just a passing thought that he had that this Jesus might just touch him, might just heal him. This shows the faith that he had, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah that was promised to the Jewish people and by extend to the entire world in the Old Testament.

[8:37] It shows that he had faith. It shows that he had faith in this Jesus. They came to Jericho and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, a great number of people, his disciples were with him, cross disciples, the 12 were with him, but a great number of people was also with him.

[8:56] Folks, Jesus Christ had gone into Jericho and before he even got to Jericho, at this point you'd think the man had been ministering for three plus years. At this point he had performed all kinds of miracles.

[9:08] He had fed thousands with some fish and a couple of loaves of bread. He had opened blinded eyes up before this. He had healed lepers. He had unstopped the deaf ears.

[9:18] He had made the lame go walk. He had healed the withered hands. He had done all sorts of miracles. And when he went into Jericho, he performed even more miracles and he masses this huge crowd of people that's following him out of Jericho.

[9:33] But little did they know, even though Jesus Christ had said it in the verses previous to where we've read here, Jesus Christ said that he must go up to Jerusalem and that he must be handed over into the hands of sinners.

[9:47] He must be crucified. Jesus had made these very statements and this crowd of people was following him out of Jericho. And they won't pass this man Bartimaeus.

[10:00] And all he could do was hear that it was Jesus. That's all he could do. He couldn't see that it was Christ. He couldn't see that it was Christ. You think of the account in numbers.

[10:10] Jesus gives an example of him in John in chapter three when he said, if I be lifted up, I should draw all men unto me as Moses lifted up the serpent and the wilderness, hey folks, this man had he been with those Israelites over in the book of numbers.

[10:26] He couldn't have seen that serpent that was raised up and Bartimaeus here. He could not see the Savior. He could not see the way of salvation that was coming his way.

[10:37] But he had heard of this Jesus. He had heard of the Messiah. Praise God, Romans 10 and 17 says, faith cometh about hearing and hearing by the word of God, Bartimaeus had heard of the Savior and that he was coming his way.

[10:54] And he knew this was his only hope to receive his sight. He knew this was the only one that could possibly heal him. That's why he screamed the way that he did.

[11:06] Praise God. When we read this account, we tend to just glance through it. We tend to breeze through it and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

[11:17] This man, Bartimaeus, had been blind as far as we know his whole life. But he couldn't see. Do you think really and truly that this was his only opportunity and he knew that this was his only opportunity?

[11:33] He would have said it so casually. No, he would have screamed. He would have yelled. He would have said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me and there's folks out there that'll argue back and forth whether this man was a Gentile or a Jew.

[11:50] I can assure you that a Gentile would not have referred to Jesus Christ as the son of David. He would have had no idea about the son of David. He would have had no idea about this. This man had to have been Jewish to have seen the connection between the promised Messiah and this one that was walking out of Jericho.

[12:08] Right now, this one that he had only heard of the miracles that he had performed. This man, Bartimaeus, showed faith in the Messiah.

[12:19] Verse 47, and when he heard it, heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

[12:29] And many charged him that he should hold his peace. My goodness. Don't that sound like the church crowd nowadays? Don't that sound like some folks that say that they follow Jesus?

[12:42] And unfortunately, unfortunately, this also sounds like some people that I truly believe are born again. Somebody received salvation. Somebody comes to the altar and makes their profession.

[12:55] Somebody gets gloriously redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and they stand up shouting and they stand up crying and raising their hands and causing a little bit of a ruckus in one of the elders of the church too.

[13:09] They sit back and they say, he'll calm down after a while. I say, don't let him calm down. Let him keep that fire. Let him keep that joy.

[13:20] Don't expect him to calm down. I still ain't got over the fact that God saved my unworthy soul 15 and a half years ago. I would not have saved me.

[13:31] And it still excites me sometimes. It still excites me to know that God looked down on me and showed mercy. This man, Bartimaeus here, he was yelling for mercy, but notice what he said.

[13:45] Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He didn't say heal me of my blindness. And he certainly didn't say heal me because I've done this or I've done that.

[13:58] Like that one that runs to Jesus in the gospel accounts. And he says, master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus tells him, keep the commandments. He says, all these I've kept from my youth up.

[14:11] What else do you want from me, Jesus? Bartimaeus had nothing like that to say. He was seeking pure, undefiled and unadulterated grace. That's all he was depending on in this account here.

[14:26] He said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Knowing that he who is the source of mercy was passing through and passing by this man, Bartimaeus.

[14:42] And what did he ask for? He asked for mercy. He asked for mercy and praise God. According to this account, he received mercy. Now the hands of Jesus Christ, when he heard that it was Jesus in Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

[14:58] And many charged him that he should hold his peace. But he cried the more, a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Regardless of what that crowd was telling him that was around.

[15:10] I don't know if it was the 12th, if they were part of it, or if it was completely different people other than the 12th that was telling him to hold his peace, but regardless, he did not listen to them.

[15:23] He did not let them quench him. He did not let them stop on him. He did not let them quiet him. He continued in persistence to seek mercy from he who is mercy.

[15:36] He knew this was his only opportunity, folks. He knew this was his only opportunity. I was the same way when God was dealing with me. When he saved my soul, I knew it was God.

[15:47] I denied God. I denied his word. I denied the gospel. I denied all these things for years. All through my adult life, through my teenage years. I denied all these things.

[15:59] But when he came, when he came, praise God, I knew who it was. I knew who was knocking on my heart's door. I knew who had convicted me and who was showing me.

[16:11] I was a law center on my way to hell, and he was the only one that could do anything about it. Hallelujah. I knew it. Hallelujah. He revealed himself to me.

[16:23] Just as Christ here, Christ had been revealed to a blind man. No doubt by the word of others, by the word of the miracles he performed, by the word that he was in town at this point.

[16:39] But Christ walks by. This man refers to him as the son of David. Verse 49, he says, and Jesus stood still. Hallelujah.

[16:50] Again, think of the account that we've read about. Think of what's going on here. Jesus has gone into Jericho. But actually on his way into Jericho, he was performing miracles.

[17:00] While in Jericho, he was performing miracles. He was exiting Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, performing miracles. And even with the cross on his mind, even though he knew while he was going to Jerusalem, even though he knew that he would be cursed, and he would be spit on, and he would be flogged, and he would be scourged, and eventually crucified.

[17:23] Jesus knew all of these things, and yet he stopped for this one poor, needy soul. He done the same thing for me.

[17:34] And he done the same thing for you if you're sitting here born again. He stopped for you. He stood still for you regardless of everything that's going on in heaven right now, regardless of the majesty, regardless of the glory, regardless of the beauty, and the splendor, and whatever songs may be going on, regardless of what the angels may be doing, regardless of any of that.

[17:58] Jesus Christ, still by way of the Spirit, comes to individuals on an individual basis, and saves individual souls according to their need.

[18:13] What is their need? Their need is the gospel. Their need is the gospel because we are all sinners, and the Bible now say for all of sin, and come short of the glory of God.

[18:24] But the Bible also says he commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for the ungodly. He died for the drunk.

[18:34] He died for the killer. He died for the liar. He died for all. Hallelujah. And he comes to each of those people, on an individual basis by way of the Spirit, and shows them, shows them that he is the Savior.

[18:54] Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. I know I've used it as an example here before, but I'll use it again.

[19:05] The man at the pool Bethesda in John chapter five. All these people were laying around that pool, halting, maimed and lame, couldn't move, couldn't budge.

[19:17] Others were there, they could kind of move, kind of budge. Others could roll their way to the pool. This man had laid there for 38 years, and was unable to reach that pool when the water was stirred.

[19:33] But a man named Jesus came, and that man named Jesus walked directly to where that man was. He walked by everybody else to get to that one man, just like he walked by everybody else with me one day to get to me.

[19:50] And he walked by everybody else to get to you one day. Maybe you were in a service where 50 people got saved. I'd say praise God, amen, and hallelujah, if that was the case.

[20:02] But it wasn't the case for me. But I know there were other people around, but Christ came to me. And he saved my soul, and he saved it for his own glory.

[20:13] And he saved it that I could go and tell them, those others that he passed by about him. This man here says, Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called.

[20:26] They called the blind man, saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calls to you. Jesus stood still and he called for him.

[20:36] Folks, I'll tell you right now, if you're here lost right now, unless the call is there, you cannot be saved. And you will not be saved if the call of God is not there. If you are not drawn, Jesus Christ said it himself in the gospel of John, that the only ones that can be saved are those that are drawn unto the Father by him.

[20:56] That's the only way it's ever gonna happen. Jesus calls for this man. And those around him say, be of good comfort. The master calls, he's calling for him.

[21:08] Can you imagine the relief on this blind man? The weight that was lifted off of his shoulders, the weight that was lifted off of his heart, the weight that was lifted off of him.

[21:19] In general, can you imagine the relief that he felt when they said, be of good comfort, he calls for you. He's calling this one, the son of David, the Messiah that you yelled for, he's calling for you now.

[21:35] And the account goes on to say, and he casting away his garment rose and came to Jesus. There's all kinds of things that we can say about this casting away of the garment and about him rising and going to Jesus.

[21:48] There's all kinds of ways that we can go in that direction. But folks, my thought is that when he rose and he cast his garment away, he didn't have anything between him and Jesus Christ.

[22:01] This was, remember, he was a blind man. He was sitting by the roadside. He was a beggar. This would have been beggar's garment that he was wearing. He rose up up with that pavement or up on something dirt or whatever the case was.

[22:16] He rose from there, cast his beggar's garment to the side and said, I'm about to be healed. I'm about to receive something that I never had.

[22:27] And he got it out of the way. No longer, no longer was he a beggar. No longer was he blind. Once Christ said so. That's all it took.

[22:39] It didn't take a touch from Jesus Christ. He didn't take this man going and touching the very hem of his garment. It didn't take Jesus making spit or mud out of spittle and dirt and rubbing it in his eyes.

[22:54] It took nothing of the search. Jesus told him to go your way. Go your way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.

[23:05] And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? It's not because Jesus didn't know. Jesus was just his own mission here as he has been for all eternity.

[23:19] What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. That's all he asked.

[23:29] That's all he asked. And again, when he was asking for mercy, he didn't say because I'm this good. He didn't say because I memorized the Torah.

[23:40] Bless him, Lord. He didn't say it's because I go to all the synagogue services. It's because I memorized all of the Psalms and I can sing them all with the correct melody.

[23:50] Nothing like that came from this man's mouth when he was asking for mercy. And here Jesus Christ says, what is it that you would have me do for you or do to you?

[24:01] He says, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And folks, when we go to God, when we go to when God has convicted our soul, lost person, if God convicts your soul, convicts your heart and shows you your need for salvation, and you come to God and you confess the name of Jesus Christ because you believed in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you confess Christ as Lord and you receive salvation when you're doing these things.

[24:32] All you're doing is asking for your sight. And God grants it. God grants it. Again, this beggar, this blind man that the scripture calls Bartimaeus, he was a picture of all of humanity.

[24:47] A picture of all of humanity. We were all blind and we were all helpless. We were all in the dark and we were all dependent on someone else to help us. And we were incapable of seeking the one person that could truly help us.

[25:03] For the Bible says there's none that seek us after God. There's none that seek us. The blind man said on him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. Verse 52, and Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.

[25:20] And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. His man heard that Jesus was coming out of town.

[25:30] He screams for mercy. The disciples and or the crowd that was with them coming out of the city tried to stop all the man, tried to quiet the man. The man cried that much louder, showing persistence, showing his desperation that he needed healing and that he believed in his heart.

[25:48] This was the only one that could do so. And when he calls for it, the man casts away his garment and he comes to Jesus or he's brought to Jesus. And Jesus says, what would you have me do?

[26:01] The man says, you'd restore my sight, that I might have my sight. That's all I want. And again, verse 52, and Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.

[26:13] I don't read where Christ reached out and touched him. But Christ tells him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Not your doings, not your works, not your thoughts.

[26:30] Nothing along those lines, thy faith hath made thee whole. Folks, it's the same way with others throughout the scriptures. The woman with the issue of blood, we all familiar with that account.

[26:41] She went through the crowd. She went crawling through the crowd, looking for the only one that she knew could heal her. And she touched the hem of his garment and Jesus said, they felt virtue go out of themselves.

[26:51] And when he turned around, the woman was there. She was asked, what have you done? But he told her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.

[27:03] Thy faith hath made thee whole now. You listen to me, there's people out there, got all kinds of faith. Does that make them whole? I'm not talking about physically, I'm talking spiritually now.

[27:15] Does that make them whole? No, it's the object of our faith is what matters, is it not? I can have my faith in this building. I can have my faith in any person sitting in this congregation right now.

[27:27] I can have my faith in this town, in this state. I can have my faith in the government. I can have my faith anywhere else. And it's not gonna work salvation for me. The faith, Jesus here said, thy faith hath made thee whole.

[27:43] He not only told it to the woman with the issue of blood, he also told it to a woman from Canaan that came out and said that her daughter was grievously vexed with the devil. And she had been begged twice.

[27:54] Of course there's context in all that, I ain't gonna get into that. They told her, go thy way. Her daughter was made whole, from that very hour according to the scripture.

[28:06] Because of the woman's faith. Folks, Christ could have told this man, here he could have told Bartimaeus, he said, go thy way, I have made thee whole. And it would not have been a lie.

[28:18] Because Christ did make him whole. The faith was the instrument that was used. Christ is the source of healing.

[28:28] Christ is the source, not only a physical healing, but a spiritual healing. He is the source of all healing. So had he said, I have made you whole, he wouldn't have been lying. But he didn't, he said, thy faith hath made thee whole.

[28:40] It's where we put our faith. That's what matters. That's what matters. Again in the book of Romans, it talks about the measure of faith that's given. The measure, every one of us is given the measure of faith.

[28:54] What are you doing with that faith that God gives? This man, Bartimaeus, he put every ounce of faith that he had in this one man called Jesus Christ, that he referred to as the son of David, as he was walking out of Jericho, and the man received healing.

[29:10] It says, Jesus said, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. This word here for whole, it's a Greek word called soso. It's also translated as salvation and saved in the New Testament, several times over.

[29:24] This man not only received physical healing, I believe he received the spiritual healing, as well I believe that Jesus Christ saved his soul right here in this account.

[29:35] It says, and immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way Jesus had told him. Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. But it says at the end of this very verse, that the man rose up and followed Jesus in the way.

[29:50] Hey, when you receive salvation, the way of Christ will become your way. Regardless of who tells you to go your own way, do your own thing.

[30:00] Do it how you want to. No, folks, a child of God, the way we want things done is the way God wants them done. And we want them done the way God wants, the way God wants them done is how we should want them done.

[30:14] Y'all know what I'm trying to say. I'll spin it out here in a second. God's way becomes our way when we receive salvation in layman's terms.

[30:26] His way becomes ours. This man here, Jesus told him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. He said he received, and immediately, he didn't have to wait around, he didn't have to go home, he didn't have to go show the priest, he didn't have to, he didn't have to show some magical incantation of any kind.

[30:47] Jesus Christ healed him immediately. And folks, spiritually, that's exactly how it happens. You and I are saved a little bit today and a little bit more tomorrow. When I was saved, I was saved, just as the Bible describes, Jesus Christ, it says that he was able to save to the uttermost.

[31:02] When Jesus Christ saved my soul, he saved me to the uttermost, I can't be saved any more than what I am. Out now! But I can't be sanctified more.

[31:13] I can be sanctified and God's created from the service of God more, but I cannot be saved any more than what I am. Right now, immediately, he received the sign. And follow Jesus in the way.

[31:23] Folks, if you ain't following Jesus, and this way, it's gonna be insane. It's because you have not received salvation. You haven't been healed like this man bought a mass treatment was healed.

[31:35] You haven't received the same thing he got. Listen, hold. If we come to an altar, we go to an event. We're at home in our car, wherever.

[31:46] And we make our profession in Christ. We make a profession of salvation. But our lives don't reflect that we truly believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that we don't truly believe that God has raised him from the dead.

[32:03] If our lives don't reflect that, folks, it can only be for one reason. It's because we didn't get it. Because we didn't receive salvation. But then, when we truly receive salvation, our God's way will become our way.

[32:19] God bless y'all. I appreciate your attention.