SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Mark chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 10 is we're gonna be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at the account of the healing of blind Bartimaeus.
SPEAKER_00: And so Mark chapter 10, starting in verse 46, is where we will be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Once you find it, if you're able and willing, would you stand with me in honor of reading God's word?
SPEAKER_00: We will read this account and then look at it together.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 10, starting in verse 46.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And they came to Jericho, and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples, a great crowd, and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus stopped and said, Call him.
SPEAKER_00: And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart, get up, he is calling you.
SPEAKER_00: And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Go away, your faith has made you well.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
SPEAKER_00: May God add his blessings to the reading of his word.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we come before you this morning, and God, we read stories like this, and we can't help but sing and give you honor, glory, and praise because God, you have shown mercy on those that do not deserve mercy, and you have saved those who do not deserve being saved.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, in your grace and your mercy, God, you have forgiven us our sins and you have cleansed us of all unrighteousness, and you have bought for us on the cross a righteousness to be imputed to us so that we might be called sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_00: But Father, as we read this story, God, I pray for those of us in this room, God, that we would be more like Bartimaeus and less like the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Father, as we go throughout this story, God, I pray that you would give us ears to hear, but God, eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: Areas of our own life where we are blind.
SPEAKER_00: Areas of our own life where we believe we are close to you because of proximity, but as a matter of fact, we are far from you.
SPEAKER_00: Father, would you speak to us through your word now?
SPEAKER_00: We desperately need to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: We desperately desire to be more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, through your the work of your Holy Spirit this morning, would you make us more like Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Would you speak to us now?
SPEAKER_00: And would you help us to see and hear all that you have for us this morning?
SPEAKER_00: God, give me the words to say.
SPEAKER_00: I need you this morning, God speak through me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, may you be glorified and honored in all that we do.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: We're continuing in our study of ordinary people, and as we've talked about, and as we're gonna see here, ordinary people have problems.
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's why you got problems, I got problems, we all got problems.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's no perfect person in this room.
SPEAKER_00: If there is, they're now imperfect because they're around imperfect people.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we all have issues, we all have things that we deal with.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we looked at David and sin, unrepented sin we see there this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at Bartimaeus, who is blind.
SPEAKER_00: He's born blind, he has an ailment to him, he would be considered the outcast of society, and yet God uses him to teach a very true, practical, and sweet teaching to you and I as we read this account this morning about what it means to cry out to the Lord for mercy, for him to work in our life, but also what it means when it says, when Jesus says that that you say that you see, but in fact, in saying that you see, you are blind still, and you will continue to stay blind.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at that in a in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but one of the best things that we see from this story of Bartimaeus is he is a man who understood his condition and he cried out for help to the only one that could help him.
SPEAKER_00: Um my son is is gotten into Legos.
SPEAKER_00: Um maybe you went through that phase in your house.
SPEAKER_00: My feet currently are going through that phase.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but he he loves Legos and He loves putting them together.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's like me, probably has ADD a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but when he gets focused, he is he is focused and he's building those Legos.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that's how he is.
SPEAKER_00: But when it gets to a moment where he cannot figure out how it goes, or he just doesn't have the dexterity yet to be able to put it together, um, there's at least two audible sounds that come from his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: It is either a huff of frustration, and then you kind of hear like a Lego being thrown to the ground, or it is just tears because he just doesn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: And what we try to instill in him is hey, buddy, before we get to the moment of frustration or just sadness, um, what you can do is just ask mommy and daddy for help, and we will come and help you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that seems like a simple teaching for toddlers, but all of us in here hate asking for help, and we will sit back and get to a point of either despair or frustration before we even open our mouth to ask somebody for help, and you're talking to somebody that really hates to do it.
SPEAKER_00: But but that's that's even us to this point.
SPEAKER_00: But but what we see in this story with Bartimaeus is that this is a man who has been blind, he knows his condition, he has not found anything that can remedy it.
SPEAKER_00: Yet when he hears that there is someone passing by that can help him, he cries out for mercy from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But not only that, when the crowd went to silence him, he cried out all the more, even louder this time, asking for the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is the last healing miracle of Jesus' ministry before the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Where we see this in Jericho that Mark gives us the account is Jesus is gonna leave Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: He is gonna make his way up to Bethany and have this nice triumphal entry.
SPEAKER_00: He is gonna have his week with the disciples, where he's gonna cleanse the temple, where he's gonna curse the fig tree, where he's gonna tell his disciples of all that's about to happen, where he's gonna have his upper room discourse, where he's gonna wash their feet, and then tell them not to be troubled by the things that come and to abide in him, all of these things, and then he's gonna go pray at the garden where he's gonna be arrested, wrongfully tried, and he's gonna be brutally murdered for your sin and my sin.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the last miracle that we see as Jesus is heading to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember what had also taken place in Jericho, he had also uh had an interaction with Zacchaeus, who was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try not to, but but he he Zacchaeus climbed up into a sycamore tree to see, you know, what he could see.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I'm stopping.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Jesus goes to his house, Zacchaeus is a tax collector, lowest of the low.
SPEAKER_00: Then we see right after that this interaction with Bartimaeus.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop and look at the social status for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Tax collectors were lowest of the low in society to the Jews because they were Jews that defected pretty much to the Romans and then inflicted uh harsh say or harsh taxes and extortion of the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: So they betrayed their own people to work for the oppressor who's oppressing them.
SPEAKER_00: They were lowest of the low.
SPEAKER_00: The second group up from them, lowest of the low, were those who would have any kind of physical ailment like being lame or blind.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason for that is because of the teaching of that day with the Pharisees and the Jewish teaching that would be that if you were physically ill, you had an ailment like you were lame or you were blind, it was because of God's divine judgment on you.
SPEAKER_00: So you were seen as lowest of the lows society-wise.
SPEAKER_00: And as the Bible says here, you would not be permitted to the city, and so you would be actually outcast outside of the city and have to beg as people came in and out the city walls, which it was a very happening place.
SPEAKER_00: That's where a lot of trade was done.
SPEAKER_00: And so um uh they would sit out there and beg uh for money that people would give them because they couldn't work, nobody would hire them, uh, they couldn't support themselves, and so they were lowest of the low society-wise.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this story is really interesting because there's two other accounts of this, because this is in Mark's gospel, which we would lump this in with the synoptic gospels.
SPEAKER_00: That's Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
SPEAKER_00: And all of them account this healing, but it's it's mentioned in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew says that it's not just one guy, it's two guys that were sitting outside the city gate that Jesus heals.
SPEAKER_00: Luke says that it wasn't as Jesus was leaving the city, but it was as Jesus was coming into the city.
SPEAKER_00: It was one blind man.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't mention his name, but it's also outside of Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we can say: Jesus caused somebody who was blind to have sight outside of Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty much how we can establish what's happened here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has done a miracle here outside of the city of Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: And what we know about Bartimaeus is that he first, as we've already said, was an unworthy sinner.
SPEAKER_00: But the next thing that we see with Bartimaeus is his cry for mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Look very quickly at verse 47 of chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: And when he, being Bartimaeus, heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, son of David is a significant phrase.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a nickname for Jesus, this is ascribing to Jesus his Messiahship.
SPEAKER_00: It is a term used for the Messiah during uh within the Jewish culture, and so he is saying not only that it's Jesus of Nazareth that come by, but this Jesus is the son of David, he is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: He's recognizing not only the lordship of Jesus, but also recognizes the only person that can help him.
SPEAKER_00: Similar in Mark's gospel is the woman with the discharge of blood.
SPEAKER_00: And what does the Bible tell us about her?
SPEAKER_00: She had a discharge of blood that for multiple years she spent all of her wealth going to doctors to try to get them to fix.
SPEAKER_00: But when Jesus came through, she knew if I just touched the hem of his garment that I would be healed.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the other man blind at the pool of Bethesda?
SPEAKER_00: What did he say that nobody was willing to do for him to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: They were not willing to come and take him down into the water because they believe the angel would come down and stir up the water, and so nobody would take him down there to be healed, and so he's just sitting there, doesn't know who Jesus is coming up to him.
SPEAKER_00: He just goes, Yeah, nobody's willing to take me down and do that.
SPEAKER_00: But when this man hears that it is Jesus, he goes, I got a shot here.
SPEAKER_00: What has also happened before this that we would see in Bethany is they would have heard about Jesus' work all throughout the area.
SPEAKER_00: They would have heard about what Jesus had done to Lazarus, all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so he hears that Jesus is coming by and he cries out for mercy.
SPEAKER_00: The cry of every child of God and every person that follows after Jesus first starts with a cry for mercy, because Bartimaeus knew what was wrong with him.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that he was blind and he couldn't see.
SPEAKER_00: And like the phrase of amazing grace says, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I'm found, finish it.
SPEAKER_00: Was blind and now I see.
SPEAKER_00: When you recognized in the moment of salvation that you were a sinner in need of a savior, your cry to the Lord was not like, Lord, be okay with this, Lord, just accept me for who I am.
SPEAKER_00: God have mercy on me, a sinner, and save me from my sin.
SPEAKER_00: What does Peter do when he recognized that it's Jesus after he comes into the boat?
SPEAKER_00: He falls down and says, What?
SPEAKER_00: Have mercy on me, Lord, a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus knew what he needed.
SPEAKER_00: He knew he was the one that was blind, and so he needed a miraculous work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He needed the Lord to heal him.
SPEAKER_00: He recognizes that Jesus is the Lord, and so when the Lord passes you by, don't let him go any farther without you crying out for help.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Bartimaeus teaches us here.
SPEAKER_00: All of us need that mercy from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Richard Baxter once said, if God had said that there was mercy for Richard Baxter, I am so vile a sinner that I would have thought he meant some other Richard Baxter.
SPEAKER_00: But when he says, whoever or whosoever believes in him, I know that includes me, the worst of all, Richard Baxters.
SPEAKER_00: When the Lord tells us, when we read in Scripture that we are sinners in need of a savior, and we come face to face with who the Lord is, it should lead to a cry for mercy because that is exactly what we need.
SPEAKER_00: This man knows his need, he knows his status, both physical and social, and yet he petitions the Lord not for anything other than his mercy.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to see the the real the second blind person in this story.
SPEAKER_00: There's two blind people here, sure.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is actually Barnamaeus, and the second one, I say people, it really should be people's, and that's the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: The blind crowd is what's what else is in this story.
SPEAKER_00: We have Jesus, we have Bartimaeus, and we have the crowd that is totally blind, just like the man in John 9.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd was greatly annoyed to hear this blind man begging for mercy, but also greatly annoyed at how he was doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember why the Pharisees were annoyed with the man who was healed that had been blind from birth in John 9?
SPEAKER_00: It was because that Jesus healed him on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't like that part.
SPEAKER_00: They thought it was sacrilege.
SPEAKER_00: And it was because that, well, he was this sinner born into sin.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he have anything good to tell us at all?
SPEAKER_00: The irony in both of these stories is the one who had been blind, his sight gets clearer and clearer.
SPEAKER_00: And the one who would say that they were not blind, they get more blind as the story goes on.
SPEAKER_00: So Bartimaeus cries out for mercy, and the crowd told him to be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: These people are better at being associated with Jesus than following him, and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER_00: There's a big difference at being associated with Jesus and actually following after Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this all throughout scripture, where when there's a hard teaching that Jesus gives, the Bible tells us that there's a crowd that stays, and then there's another crowd that just stops following, because at that point their association isn't worth what they're actually confessing.
SPEAKER_00: And so they just they just go the other direction.
SPEAKER_00: That there would be people like the Pharisees that says that they are following after the Lord and they desire the Lord to be honored in their life, that maybe are proximity close to the Lord, but they are not spiritually close to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There is a big difference, and I need you to hear that this morning because we have a lot of that going on today.
SPEAKER_00: Tradition, sin blinds.
SPEAKER_00: Sin with tradition on top of it still blinds.
SPEAKER_00: Sin with preference on top of it still blinds.
SPEAKER_00: Anything in your vision that blocks you from seeing Jesus as clearly as possible, that is either man-made or preference-oriented, blinds you from what Jesus is trying to do.
SPEAKER_00: And nothing kills a church faster than blind people.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: This crowd is blinded to who uh Jesus is, and so if they weren't, they would see this as a great opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: You have a sinner that is asking for the help of the Lord, and they would want to usher him in.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, almost like a like a celebration, a Jewish celebration, put him up on a chair, like take him to Jesus, like they're excited about what's going on, but they hushed him.
SPEAKER_00: Like someone who would come in here maybe with a hat on would get hushed.
SPEAKER_00: Like someone who would come in here and maybe they don't look like you would get hushed.
SPEAKER_00: But this man cries out for Jesus, and the Bible says that even though the crowd was blind, Jesus wasn't deaf.
SPEAKER_00: And he hears it.
SPEAKER_00: And what does what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stopped and said, Call him.
SPEAKER_00: Bartimaeus yells out, the crowd hushes him, Bartimaeus yells out again, this time louder, all the more, cries out, an enthusiastic exclamation, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that Jesus hears this, he stopped and said, Call him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the irony of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd knows how to follow the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Because in verse 48, it says, And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart, get up, he's calling you.
SPEAKER_00: You've ever had someone shame you and then just a second later encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of an awkward thing that happens because they're sitting there going, Listen, you're unworthy to be with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: Shh, be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, No, bring him here.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Well, hey, man, this is your lucky day.
SPEAKER_00: You get to go see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And and and and so, but the the crowd just kind of is doing whatever whatever they feel like is good in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: And if Jesus tells them that they should do that, then that should be good enough for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so they bring this man to him.
SPEAKER_00: There's three things that I want you to see from this point.
SPEAKER_00: Very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: First one I want you to see is this the the the invitation of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look really quick at the invitation of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 49 and 50.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus stopped and said, Call him.
SPEAKER_00: And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart, get up, he is calling you.
SPEAKER_00: And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, more than likely he'd have to be helped.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I mean, I don't know how he got there.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if there's a huge crowd not knowing where Jesus is, but the Bible says he sprang up, he threw off his cloak, which most of the time, like when Peter was being freed from prison in Acts 12, the the angel said to gird himself up, you know, to get his cloak out of the way.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to trip and fall.
SPEAKER_00: This man goes, I'm not even wearing the cloak.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't want to trip.
SPEAKER_00: So he throws the cloak and and he is brought, he comes to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The beauty of this story is that even those that the crowd would say, society would say, and we might even dare to say, that is unworthy to come to Jesus, are not cast out by Jesus, but rather are welcome to come to him.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, they are welcome to come to him and he will keep them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells us in John chapter 6, verse 37 All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never come.
SPEAKER_00: Cast out.
SPEAKER_00: That is good news for you and I.
SPEAKER_00: It is good news for you and I, the worst of all people that's named us, that is the chief of sinners, as Paul would say, that we not only have an invitation to come to the Lord, but our invitation will never be revoked, and our attendants will never be uh exempt, or not exempt, uh be excluded.
SPEAKER_00: Our attendants will never be asked to leave.
SPEAKER_00: This is the invitation of Jesus, that those who cry out to the Lord will be saved and can come to him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Romans chapter 10, verse 13 tells us, for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be what?
SPEAKER_00: Saved.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't say they'll be interviewed, doesn't say they'll be considered, and it doesn't say they'll be given a trial basis.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here is the big key.
SPEAKER_00: If Bartimaeus didn't think something was wrong, then the invitation of Jesus wouldn't have been his special to him.
SPEAKER_00: That's another issue that we have today.
SPEAKER_00: We think the calling of Jesus doesn't first start with a personal understanding of where we sit, but it absolutely does.
SPEAKER_00: The calling of Jesus for mercy on sinners first begins with a person recognizing that I am a sinner in need of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Not I'm a bad person, I do bad things that needs a little bit of some some leeway, not that that I'm trying my best, but I just need a little pick-me-up to kind of get me to the end.
SPEAKER_00: And it's no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a sinner in need of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: I have the effects of sin in my life that separates me from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I need the work of the Lord in my life.
SPEAKER_00: When you come to that moment, the invitation of Jesus then seems sincere and appetizing.
SPEAKER_00: It's one that you want to receive, you want to accept, you want to take in all of.
SPEAKER_00: But when it doesn't start with a cry for mercy because of the recognition of sin, but it's just something to add on to kind of this lifestyle that you've made, don't be surprised when it doesn't really feel like there was ever really an invitation that was given or an invitation worth receiving.
SPEAKER_00: But the reason why Jesus says that blessed are the poor in spirit is because when a person becomes so poor in spirit, and poor in spirit means recognizing spiritual bankruptcy.
SPEAKER_00: I don't bring any righteousness of my own.
SPEAKER_00: The moment that someone comes to that realization, the quick next question is, What can I do then?
SPEAKER_00: What must I do to be saved?
SPEAKER_00: And what does Peter tell the crowd that comes to him after Pentecost and says, What must we do to be saved then?
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: Believe in the Lord Jesus and be baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Repent, trust in the Lord, and follow in obedience to him.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation that Jesus offers to Bartimaeus has not changed for today.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to receive mercy from God over sin?
SPEAKER_00: Come to him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be forgiven of your sin?
SPEAKER_00: Come to him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you desire to know him more?
SPEAKER_00: Come to him.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation of Jesus is to come, die to yourself, find mercy, make him the Lord of your life, and follow after him.
SPEAKER_00: And then he does a great work in you.
SPEAKER_00: That's the next thing I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 51.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: What do you desire?
SPEAKER_00: What do you want from me?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just Jesus of Nazareth walking down the road.
SPEAKER_00: Another confession of what this man desires to do.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.
SPEAKER_00: Rabbi, help me to see.
SPEAKER_00: Let me recover my sight.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the work of Jesus here.
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, what Jesus does through physical miracles is a foreshadow of what he does spiritually and our lives.
SPEAKER_00: He takes what is broken and he makes it new.
SPEAKER_00: He takes what is dead and gives it life.
SPEAKER_00: You and I cry for mercy from the Lord when we find ourselves in a situation like this, blind man, but the the biggest need that you and I have in our lives is not physical, it is spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that when we first, when we if we seek first that spiritual need, that that he will take care of the rest of the of the physical needs that we have.
SPEAKER_00: Remember if it when Jesus gives the teaching of, or when he gives us the Sermon on the Mount, he says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you, whether what you'll eat, what you'll drink, being anxious for nothing.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest work that Jesus does in the lives of an individual is spiritual, not simply physical.
SPEAKER_00: Mark 10, 45 says that the Son of Man came not to serve or came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: This is the work that ultimately Jesus came to do, to give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: And his miracles that he performed not only attested to his deity, but attested to his power and his work, so that if he can raise the dead, if he can heal, give sight to the blind, if he can uh give help the lame walk, if he himself can raise himself from the dead, then he can take your little broken life and everything that's wrong with it, and he can restore it and make it new.
SPEAKER_00: That's the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And while physical ailments still affect us because of the curse of sin, what we need more work of in our life is not a physical work, but a spiritual work.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, ironically, the Lord does some of his greatest work and the hardest of struggles.
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes those hardest of struggles are when physical ailments hurt us.
SPEAKER_00: Paul prayed how many times for the Lord to take away this thorn in the flesh?
SPEAKER_00: But he says, My grace is sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_00: He does his work in those moments, but there are some times where he shows grace upon grace and he does both a physical and spiritual work.
SPEAKER_00: We see that in the life of Bartimaeus.
SPEAKER_00: The work for us, the work the Lord does in our lives first starts at the cross and it continues all the way throughout our life as we are continue to be made more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But just like the man born blind in John 9, when we see Jesus for who he is, when he opens our eyes to the reality of salvation and grace, the response should be to fall on our face, to worship him, and to follow after him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the third thing I want you to see very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the response to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The response to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 52.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to him, Go on your way.
SPEAKER_00: Your faith has made you well.
SPEAKER_00: Not that he had to have enough faith to be healed, but his recognition of who Jesus is and his trust that Jesus is the one that could heal him is what led him to cry out.
SPEAKER_00: And so through that, it has it has asked the Lord to work in his life, it has made him well, and immediately notice that about most miracles that happen with scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately he recovered his sight.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a trick.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a well, he did something, and then a few years later the guy can see now.
SPEAKER_00: So I guess that was the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: No, the Bible says that immediately he recovers his sight, but look what happened.
SPEAKER_00: And followed him on the way.
SPEAKER_00: This journey from Jericho to Jerusalem is an increase in elevation, I think like 4,000 feet.
SPEAKER_00: It's a long road.
SPEAKER_00: Uh part of it's very sketchy.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you take uh a secondary road that's with it, um you get to where the valley of the shadow of death is death is as you're making your way up to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: If you go today, there's a nice little paved road you can take that takes you all the way from Jericho to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Um but this road is treacherous.
SPEAKER_00: It it climbs in elevation.
SPEAKER_00: They would be going for the Passover, and so here's what would be happening: they would be singing psalms of ascent and everything as they're worshiping the Lord, making their way to the Passover.
SPEAKER_00: This man who was born, who was blind, who has recovered his sight, is now walking with Jesus as he, the Passover lamb, is headed to be the Passover lamb in a city that is going to have the same type of crowd that followed him out of Jericho be the ones that would cry to crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: But this man quickly recognizes the work that the Lord has done in his life, and he doesn't go, Thank you, Lord, I get to now go into the city.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord, I get to have now my own life.
SPEAKER_00: And what I can do, thank you for this forgiveness and this mercy you show me.
SPEAKER_00: Now I can kind of do all the things that I thought about as I sat there at the gate.
SPEAKER_00: Man, if I had sight, what would I do?
SPEAKER_00: Like, how would I live?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that he recovered this sight, and this man goes, I'm not staying here, I'm following him wherever he goes.
SPEAKER_00: The result and the response to Jesus is obedience to him.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, John MacArthur said, it is ludicrous for people to say that you can take Jesus as savior, but not as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because in this moment, Jesus has done this work in this man.
SPEAKER_00: He has restored his sight, but but it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: He has also become the one that the man is going to follow after this.
SPEAKER_00: Following Jesus is making him Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You are following his direction, his governing, his commands, and his authority while staying close to him.
SPEAKER_00: This man has received mercy, he has been healed by Jesus, had his eyes open to see Jesus as Lord, and his response was following him.
SPEAKER_00: That is that is the work that the Lord does within those that he calls his children through salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He invites them to come and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: We see the response is for those that come to him is a work that he does within them to save them by their trust in him.
SPEAKER_00: And the response is where our work picks up, which is responding in faith to walk in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Bartimaeus shows us.
SPEAKER_00: Has Jesus done a massive work in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Has he taken you from dead in trespass and sin to alive together in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Then the question is: are you following him like he's done a great work in you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you following him just waiting for him to do an even better one?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's no better work that Jesus can do in your life outside of taking you from spiritual death to spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: Health is not as important as following after Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Wealth is not as important as following after Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Peace of mind, it will never come outside of following after Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the response of Barmaeus.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is then, what is our response?
SPEAKER_00: What is your response to the work that Jesus has done in your life?
SPEAKER_00: There's really quick, three quick things of application I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is this the calling of the gospel is for sinners to come to Jesus and receive mercy.
SPEAKER_00: That's the calling of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's the calling of the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Why Jesus came, lived, died, and rose, so that sinners could come to him and receive mercy and forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_00: That is what we confess, that is what we cling to.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about this in our um Hispanic ministry, uh Discover First this morning, is that the confession of the church is that Jesus is who he said he is, he did what he said he was going to do, and he can do all that he promised to do for his children.
SPEAKER_00: And his word is a is proof positive of that.
SPEAKER_00: That he has the authority to save sinners from their sin and provide forgiveness of sin by the mercy and grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: The calling of the gospel is for sinners to come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If your understanding of the gospel was just that it was three books or four books in the first part of the New Testament, or that it was just this thing about what Jesus did, but it's not been personal to you, then the ironic part is that you're still blind thinking that just being close enough to Jesus has helped you to see.
SPEAKER_00: And it hasn't.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, your proximity has lulled you into a complacency where you think that all of this is for somebody else, but it's not for you.
SPEAKER_00: Man, this person in my life is blind.
SPEAKER_00: I know this person in my life is blind.
SPEAKER_00: I know this person in my life, they're really blind.
SPEAKER_00: All the while, you're you're the blind leading the blind.
SPEAKER_00: The call of the gospel is to for sinners to come to Jesus and receive mercy.
SPEAKER_00: This is what you and I need more than anything: a pardon and atonement for sin and the forgiveness and mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing this then informs what we share with others.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes when you talk about people going, would people you encourage people to go share their faith, they always say, Well, I don't know what to say.
SPEAKER_00: Say what saved you because more than likely it's going to be the same thing for them.
SPEAKER_00: If understanding that I'm a sinner in need of a savior and there's forgiveness and mercy when you repent of sin and turn to Jesus is enough for you to recognize that you're a sinner in need of a savior, it'll be enough for someone else to recognize that they're a sinner in need of a savior.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we we muddle this stuff up.
SPEAKER_00: Like I gotta tell, you know, I just gotta tell my story, and then from a story I gotta do all the listen, if you just start telling your story, but it never gets to how you're that person's a sinner in need of a savior, then we don't get to Jesus at all.
SPEAKER_00: What we've just taught them is how to go from a person that used to be bad and now we kind of aren't as bad anymore as a person as a person who used to be dead and now is alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The good news of the gospel, the call of the gospel is for sinners to come to Jesus for forgiveness of sin and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: It's not to come to Jesus to feel better, and it's not to come to Jesus to be culturally acceptable, it is to come and receive spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: The second point of application, the question that I have for you is this Are you aiding or impeding others to come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you aiding or impeding others to come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what impedes others to come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Um, probably your preferences.
SPEAKER_00: Because at that point, then it's about you.
SPEAKER_00: And if people can only come to Jesus on your terms, then that that means that your terms supersede the Lord's terms.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord says that all who come to me and and all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Would you be a part of the same crowd if we were walking down the street and there's a panhandler and on the side of the road?
SPEAKER_00: Because this is what this man was like.
SPEAKER_00: He was a panhandler on the side of the road at busy intersections that people would give money to.
SPEAKER_00: If that person cried out for mercy from the Lord, would you look at him and say, Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or would you say, Well, let me tell you about him.
SPEAKER_00: Now see, it's quiet.
SPEAKER_00: Because all of us, I think, understand that there are some areas that we're actually part of the blind crowd.
SPEAKER_00: If we read this story like a Pharisee, man, we're we would be standing beside Jesus, like, yeah, Jesus, tell him, tell this crowd to be quiet and did that guy come.
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of us would be in the crowd going, hey man, like stop.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we all know that you're not really, you're we know you're just saying this because you want money, you want money, other things.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has better time or has better things to do with his time than to stop for you.
SPEAKER_00: Are you aiding or impeding others to come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Another impeding rather than aiding is have you already made up, and oh man, I'm so guilty of this, especially within just family and and and other people like that.
SPEAKER_00: Are you playing the role of the Holy Spirit for somebody and already saying that they're too far gone and that the Lord can't do anything?
SPEAKER_00: Because in that point, you are impeding the work of the Holy Spirit through you to share the gospel with that person because you're saying, as someone who is not the Holy Spirit, can't get in there.
SPEAKER_00: Too callous of a heart, too far gone, ain't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: That's a question that I want you to think about for the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Am I aiding or impeding others to come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And when I hear or see people who really are crying out for mercy because they're just in a state of brokenness, do I see that as an opportunity to share with them the call that Jesus has for sinners to come and receive forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: Or I just see it as an inconvenience or something that's not worth my time.
SPEAKER_00: But we got to keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Last question.
SPEAKER_00: Has God's mercy led you to follow after Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: If you are in here this morning and you would say, Yeah, I uh when I was a kid, when I was at VBS, or when I was at you know, sports camp or when I went to student camp, yeah, I received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Man, that is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, are you are you following after him?
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm pretty sure that there was there's probably very little point in your life when you found anything that is actually better than Jesus, but just something that's distracted you.
SPEAKER_00: But I would also say for Bartimaeus, there's probably not much that could distract him from actually following after or listening to the teachings of Jesus after what he did in his life?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if someone if someone helped you not be blind when you have been blind for a really long time, I don't think there's a moment that you would go, I just don't know if it's not worth just continuing to follow after him.
SPEAKER_00: Would it be hard?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Would there be days where you're just struggling?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: But there there still would be a following after.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the question.
SPEAKER_00: Has God's mercy led you to follow after Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeking to be more like Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you growing in the knowledge of the Lord just like Jesus did as we read whenever he was a young boy?
SPEAKER_00: Like, like, are you continuing to follow after the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Are you continuing to seek to make the Lord uh to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself is that what you're seeking to do?
SPEAKER_00: If not, two questions arise.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, have you ever received ask God for mercy because you knew you were a sinner lost in sin?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, number, number two, if you have today, would you come back?
SPEAKER_00: Would you allow the Lord this morning to to to bring you back into himself?
SPEAKER_00: We talked last week.
SPEAKER_00: There's a man that's after God's own heart that that had done so many heinous things, and until Nathan had gotten there, he was still running the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: And then Nathan gets there and he calls him out in his sin, and David falls on his face in repentance and turns from his sin.
SPEAKER_00: The question this morning is that if you are like David walking in sin, and the Lord would say right now in this moment, I know what you're doing, and and other people know what you're doing too.
SPEAKER_00: You're this isn't secret.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and turn to me.
SPEAKER_00: Would you actually do it?
SPEAKER_00: Has the work of the Lord been so great in your life that you can't imagine following after anything else, seeking anything else, worshiping anything else?
SPEAKER_00: What is your response to countering to your to an encounter with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you still blind to the truth?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a time of reflection.
SPEAKER_00: We've read the word of the Lord, we've seen how the Lord has worked, and we're gonna have a song of response to it.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to actually sit at your seat and go, have I cried out to the Lord for mercy and truly accepted the invitation to come to him and receive that mercy and forgiveness of sin through repentance?
SPEAKER_00: If not, there are pat by myself, other pastors would love to talk with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'd say, No, I I heard that, you know, I've repented of sins, I've trusted in the Lord, but but maybe that there's just some days, some times where we just, all of us, we just struggle to follow after him.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just cry out to the Lord like the first time asking for mercy, but just cry out and go, God, I need your help.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to work in my life, I need you to to give me faith, I need you to help me in following after you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this morning you come to realize as we gave example after example, man, I'm like the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a crowd member that would say that I've had the work of Jesus in my life, but I'm keeping others from it because I don't like how it's done in this way, and I don't like this preference, and we don't keep this tradition, all of these other things.
SPEAKER_00: Would you allow the Lord this morning to work in your heart to bring you to a point of repentance to go?
SPEAKER_00: I I just want people to see Jesus however he calls and however he moves and whoever he desires to come to him.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to aid in that process.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to dam up the river, I want to allow it to flow wherever God wants it to go.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: There's a time of response to the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray as we go into that time of response.