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Um we are in this series called Servant King, and we've been working through the book of Mark, and uh a lot has been happening, and so I want to kind of hit the highlights of some of the weeks that we've talked about. Specifically every week, we're focusing on the hero of the entire Bible, Jesus himself. So every sermon has been focused on one of the different capacities that Jesus has lived out while he was here on earth. The first week uh we just discussed Jesus being the Son of God and being what the whole book of Mark was to be laying the table for. Next, after that, we discussed Jesus being a friend of sinners. We talked about how some of the people that Jesus hung out with would have been maybe people we wouldn't necessarily think of. He hung out with some of the outcasts in society, some of those that were considered at the time to be lower on the social ladder. But that's who Jesus found himself surrounded with. We talked also about Jesus being a storyteller and how he told these parables, and he just revealed great truth about who God is through the way he told these stories. The next after that we witnessed this miraculous event where Jesus fed over 5,000 people with some simple bread and fish. And that week we discussed how Jesus was a compassionate leader, and despite the demands of a crowd that were following him continuously, he still looked on them and he had compassion on them. After that, we discussed Jesus being the Messiah, who was the promised one or the anointed king. And then last week, Nick talked about Jesus being the Son of Man or being a servant. And the key verse from last week, which I love, and I encourage you if if you aren't seeing these verses every week in the guide, we've got ones that we're memorizing as a church. And uh last week's memory verse said this for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So we talked about how Jesus was a servant, and as followers of Jesus, we also display a desire to be servants. So today we're gonna dig into a role that Jesus carried out that's more of his supernatural, his divinity, or being divine, being fully God, and that is the role of Jesus as a healer. And we're gonna look at a story of a man who was healed, and and my hope for you today is that you'll walk away with some observations and then some things that that you might can connect to here. Um if you don't have a Bible, we've got some in the seats that are either where you're sitting or right in front of you. And feel free to uh to keep one of those if you don't own a Bible at your at your home. That's our gift to you. So let me give you a little bit of background on what's going to happen in the story here. We're in Mark chapter 10, and uh you can turn there now if you would like. The book of Mark goes really quickly. He uses the word immediately 47 times in the book, and he just he's constantly flying through the material. It's the shortest of all the gospels. And Mark spends 47% of the verses in chapters 1 through 10 talking directly or indirectly about some kind of miraculous event. So Jesus healing people, Jesus raising people from the dead, uh, Jesus casting out demons, Jesus performing natural miracles such as when he calmed the sea, and the disciples were in the boat and he spoke and the waters and the winds died down, or when he fed the 5,000, and then shortly after that he fed another crowd of over 4,000. And so the first ten chapters of Mark are filled with these miraculous events that Jesus was at the center of. As a matter of fact, every chapter in the book of Mark from 1 through 10 has some significant miracle taking place. Now, what's interesting today is that what we're about to read is the final healing that occurs in the book of Mark. And uh the next six chapters after this are gonna slow way down. And we're gonna focus on the last few days of Jesus' life as we approach Easter in a couple of weeks. And so I'm excited as we get to that, but for now we're gonna finish up kind of this last section of the first ten chapters. So Jesus has healed many people, he's healed large crowds of people. Uh Mark chapter 6, verse 56, you don't have to turn there, but it says this wherever he would go, into villages, into towns, or the country, they laid sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might just touch the tassel of his robe, and everyone who touched it was made well. So there are times where we see Jesus healing lots of people at once, and then times where we see the healing happen more personally, which is what we're gonna look at today. So, if you have a Bible, turn to chapter 10 of the book of Mark, and we're gonna be in verse 46, and we're gonna read to the end of the chapter through verse 52. And it says this they came to Jericho. It's talking about Jesus and his disciples. They came to Jericho, and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me. Many people told him to keep quiet, but he was crying out all the more. And Jesus stopped and said, Call him. So they called the blind man and said to him, Have courage, get up, he's calling for you. He threw off his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. Then Jesus answered him, What do you want me to do for you? Rabbini, the blind man, told him, I want to see. Go your way, Jesus told him, Your faith has healed you. Immediately he could see and began to follow him on the road. I'd like to pray for us real quick before we jump into this a little bit more. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your miraculous power. Thank you that you demonstrate healing, that you demonstrate all of these miracles in the book of Mark, and that we can see that you are more than just another man who walked the earth, Jesus, that you are you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and you are who you say you are. And so today, this morning, we want to see you, and we want to respond to what you have done for us ultimately through your death on the cross. And so we ask that you would just open our hearts this morning to hear from you, and that you would help us to be humble before you and to listen to what you have to say and and uh and respond accordingly. And so thank you again for those that are here this morning, and and uh just thank you for the opportunity we have to gather this morning and to worship you together. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we've got a blind man, Bartimaeus, which just means son of Timaeus, and he's in need of Jesus, and he hears that Jesus is passing by. He begins to call out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now, this title, son of David, is worth noting. It doesn't happen very often. Jesus isn't referred to son of David a lot in Scripture, but in order to understand what it means, we need to go back to the Old Testament. There was a great king in the Old Testament named David. He's considered by most to be the greatest king in the Old Testament, and God made a promise to him. He said, David, one day there's going to be someone who is born from your family who's going to live and reign on the throne of God forever, on my throne. That's what God told him. And so you fast forward through the Old Testament and you get to this period between the Old Testament and the New Testament where God hasn't spoken in 400 years. And then Jesus shows up, and he is that promised king that was going to come from the line of David. So immediately you have Bartimaeus, this blind man, acknowledging that. Before he's ever done anything else, he's he has identified Jesus as the promised king. So we're going to build a picture of the heart of Bartimaeus through how he responds in this story. And I just think it's really cool that in the very beginning, the first thing he says is, Jesus, you are who everybody says you are. You are what Scripture says about you. You are the promised king, and I'm going to acknowledge that before he's ever said anything else. Very respectful and very significant way to address Jesus. Now, Jesus walks by and he cries out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He doesn't just kind of mumble, okay? He's a blind man. He doesn't just say, okay, Jesus, I heard that you were coming by. You know, if you've got time, you know, I could use some help over here. No, he he cries out. He decides that it's not worth just staying blind anymore, that he's not going to play the victim. And he's got full confidence that whatever he asks of the Son of David, of Jesus himself, that he could do. So I want to look at a passage in Matthew chapter 7, and we're going to read a few verses now and then some more of the verses later in the same passage. It just says this keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. So here's your first observation. If you're taking notes, we're going to make about five observations this morning. And so here's the first one. Faith begins with a believing heart that is willing to cry out to God. And so Bartimaeus demonstrates that through the way he addresses Jesus and through the fact that he is crying out, Have mercy on me. If Bartimaeus decides on this day to keep silent, he would have continued in his blindness. He could have let Jesus just pass on by and missed out on what it was that he had for him. However, when faced with the opportunity to meet Jesus, he humbly and desperately calls out to him. And I think sometimes the biggest obstacle to receiving God's healing in our own lives is the simple act of refusing to engage in the conversation. So I don't know where you are this morning. If you're just, you know, maybe you've been a Christian for a long time, or maybe this is your first time in church and you're just kind of exploring God. I don't know what the condition of your heart is, but I do know this. We can't afford this morning to let Jesus just pass by. Okay? If you are in desperate need, which I would argue that we all are at some level, then the proper response is to cry out to Jesus. Cry out to the one who can bring healing. And so that's our first observation that faith starts there. It starts with a believing heart that is willing to cry out to God. So, what happens after Bartimaeus cries out? He's sitting there and immediately he's met with adversity. This crowd that has been following Jesus and has no doubt probably gotten larger and larger the more places he's gone, they start to try to silence Bartimaeus. I'm sure they said things like, Jesus doesn't have time for you. We're the crowd, we're the ones who've been following him. You're just sitting there on the side of the road. Be quiet. You're just a beggar. You're nothing. You're blind. You can't even see what's going on here. Okay? So he's met with this resistance, but he continues to cry out all the more. And again, this is a reflection of what's going on in Bartimaeus' heart. He's persistent, he perseveres. Despite the initial challenge to his faith, Bartimaeus continues crying out. So here's your second observation. Opportunities to exercise faith are often met with challenge. If you're a Christian in the room this morning and you say, you know, I put my faith in Jesus, chances are you've faced some challenges. And I know that a lot of times I hear stories of people who have come to faith in Christ, and not long after that, there's an immediate test. Okay, it happens. And if you remember a few weeks ago when Nick was talking about the parable of the sower and the seeds and the soil, there were four different types of plants. And I'm not going to go into all of them, but one of them was a seed that was scattered on rocky ground. And the text tells us that the seed sprang up quickly, but then when the sun came, because it had no firm root, it withered away. And faith is often met with challenge in an instant. And so we have a decision to either root ourselves in what Jesus has said he can do and believe in the promises of God, or we can let adversity just wither us away. And so Bartamaeus demonstrates great faith by choosing not to listen to the crowd, but rather crying out all the more despite the initial challenge to him. Jeremiah 29, 13 says, And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. So that's what Bartimaeus is doing. He's got nowhere else to turn. I mean, he's been blind his whole life, so he's heard about Jesus. He calls him son of David. No doubt he's probably heard that Jesus can heal people. And so this is kind of his last shot. I mean, if if this doesn't work, then what's he gonna do next? So if he chooses to give up here, the plant withers. But if he chooses to persevere, we see that this root will take, it'll take hold, and and Bartimaeus will see Jesus act in a miraculous way. So so the crowd's trying to tell Bartimaeus, oh hush, be quiet, we don't have time for you. Jesus doesn't have time for you. But right in the midst of that, Jesus stops and it says that he calls. He says, call him. Okay, so here's your third observation. Jesus is never too busy to hear our requests. Thinking that God is too busy for us is a lie from Satan. I've heard people say, Oh, God doesn't have time for me. I'm just an old such and such. You know, he God God doesn't want to spend any time for me. He's got other things he needs to take care of, bigger prayers to answer, maybe. The truth is, though, that we serve a massive and infinite God who, in the midst of our busyness, along with everyone else's, can know and intimately connect with us personally. There's another story of a woman who was healed in the middle of a crowd who had the same type of faith as Bartimaeus. She said, if I can just touch Jesus' robe, I'll be healed. And she works her way through the crowd to find him, and she touches him and she's instantly healed. And so, you this morning, wherever you are, you need to believe that just because you're in a crowd of people here at Point Community Church, you need to know that Jesus hears you and that he can respond to you and that he will respond to you. Don't believe for one minute that everyone else's problems are more important than maybe what you have to bring before him. He's not too busy for you. God's Spirit can speak to us individually, despite the crowd. So, as a school teacher by trade, I believe in the power of visual teaching and trying to give you something that maybe you'll remember. It usually works its way into the opportunities that I get to teach. And so I'm gonna do the very best I can to demonstrate for you what I think this might have been like for Bartimaeus as he sat on the side of the road. It says that he had a cloak or a coat of some kind. And uh I've got a quilt here, it's probably similar to what he had, except not as colorful and nice. My mother-in-law happened to make this quilt, and uh they're actually here today, and and so she didn't know I was going to use this in the sermon, but thank you for making such a good prop for me. Um so you've got Bartimaeus, and he's he's sitting here on the side of the road, and a blind man would have had to have been directed to his place. Okay, and he would have had something like this to wrap himself in, and he would have sat down, and this cloak would have would have covered him at some level. And I think there's some symbolism here in the cloak. So a blind man would have sat on the side of the road, and and as he begged for things, people would have set them down on the cloak. And the the cloak represented the safety net for a beggar, for a blind man, because this was the the comfort zone, so to speak. If someone wanted to hand him a piece of food, they would they would put it on the cloak, and you know, he could reach around and he could find it, and once he he got it, he could then eat it. Or maybe he would have a cup and people might might give him money if that's what he was asking for. But outside of the outside of the coat, there's insecurity and there's unknown. And so for a blind man, this cloak was a way of life. It it stood for everything that he needed and that he depended on. Without this cloak, he he can't he can't get the things that he needs. And so, what happens next after he's crying out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, and then Jesus says, Call him. What Bartamaeus does next is incredibly significant. The text says that he jumped up and he threw off his coat. Now, what you need to know about what just happened here is that Bartimaeus is still blind. So he's just thrown away everything he's ever depended on. He's just casted aside, his safety net, his comfort zone, and Jesus hasn't done anything for him yet. And so I said earlier we were going to build this picture of faith that would demonstrate what's going on in Bartimaeus' heart. This is step one, or step two, maybe after he's cried out, but this is the initial action of his faith that says, I'm willing to give this up. I'm willing to throw away my old life because I think, Jesus, that you can do something to fix this, even though it hasn't been fixed yet. So the text says that Bartimaeus is, he approaches Jesus, and Jesus looks at him and simply says, What do you want me to do for you? And Bartimaeus with a simple faith simply says, I want to see. And Jesus turns and says, Go your way. Your faith has healed you. Now faith is typically what I call dual action. It's a turning away from the old and it's an accepting of the new. And when Bartimaeus jumps up and throws that cloak off, that's a really big deal. Because he has to turn away and then turn to, all in one thing, one action here. And sometimes for us, we hear about Jesus, and we've we've got this cloak on that we think is our, you know, it provides for us and it does everything that we need and it's comfortable. And we hear that Jesus can do something, and so we throw it away, and then we we just go and we pick it back up again. Like, ah no, maybe not. Or we go and we find another cloak. Whatever it may be. We we move from thing to thing to thing instead of saying no and fully embracing what it is that Jesus has to offer. So again, I invite you this morning, as you think about the condition of your own heart and what it is that that maybe you've been clinging on to, are you willing to let that go for the sake of meeting and seeing and receiving what it is that Christ can do for you? Here's your fourth observation. Responding to Jesus requires us to be willing to cast aside our previous dependencies. There's a great text in the book of Ephesians that says, We put off the old self and we put on the new. It's an all or none thing. You can't halfway do it. You can't have the cloak and have Jesus together at the same time. That's not full healing for the blind man. That's not full faith. Just think how much of an insult that would have been if Bartimaeus is dragging the cloak over to Jesus saying, just in case you don't do this for me, I've still got this to hold on to. And we do that all the time. We second guess and kind of say, Well, maybe I don't know if he's gonna do this or not. So I'll fall back on my plan B just in case it doesn't work out. Do we really believe this morning that Jesus is a miracle maker? Can he do these things that we can't do? The answer is yes. Are we willing to throw everything to the side, jump up and run to him? Are we eager to see Jesus work and what he has to offer? Bartimaeus was. And he didn't let the crowd stop him, and he didn't let the cloak stop him either. So another cool thing about this interaction that happens between Bartimaeus and Jesus is the way Bartimaeus addresses Jesus after this question. Jesus looks at him and says, What do you want me to do for you? And Bartamaeus says, Rabbonai. I want to see. Now, this is the only occurrence of the word rabbonai in the book of Mark. And it happens one other time in all of the Gospels. It happens around Easter time, and perhaps we'll talk about it then. But Rabbonai is a more intense form of the word rabbi. So rabbi was just a Jewish teacher of the day, and people call Jesus Rabbi and they called other teachers rabbi. It's just kind of a generic name. But Rabbinai means my Lord and my master. And again, to put you back in the context here, he's there with Jesus. He's not been healed yet, and he still says Rabbini. He still says, You're my Lord and my master, even though this is still here right now. Again, a great picture of such convincing faith. Bartimaeus is willing to lay it all on the line that Jesus is who he says he is. Rabbinai would have been synonymous with, you're the highest of all the Jewish teachers. You're the president, so to speak, of what was called the Sanhedrin, which was a group of Jewish teachers and philosophers who would have been very well respected in those days. So here's this blind beggar who's saying, Jesus, you are, you're it. There's no one higher than you. And he addresses him that way. So for him to do this, like I said earlier, Bartimaeus has got to be willing to give up the comforts of victimhood to embrace this new life that Jesus offers. Think about it. Bartimaeus didn't have to have a job. And you may be thinking, yeah, but he was a beggar. He probably wasn't getting much. Well, he was still there, he was still alive, he was sustaining on something. So he didn't have to have a job. No one had any expectations for him. Right? He depended on everybody else. And when he throws that cloak away, he's saying, All of that I'm willing to cast aside to embrace what Jesus has. He had to believe that sight was better than blindness. So Jesus' response to him is very simple. Go your way, your faith has healed you. He confirms his faith. What we've been seeing in the heart of Bartimaeus throughout this text, and Jesus says, Your faith has healed you. You believe and trust in me. And he responds accordingly. So here's your last observation. When we realize all that Jesus has healed us from, the proper response is to follow him. Bartamaeus says in verse 52, immediately he could see and began to follow him on the road. Now, we haven't discussed all of the other healings in detail, and we don't have time for that today, but what's interesting is Bartimaeus is one of the very few people who are healed by Jesus and choose to follow him. And I think it's the right response. Not to say that all of those other people didn't thank Jesus and weren't grateful for what he had done, but Bartamaeus takes it one step further and says, Not only have you done this for me and I'm hugely thankful, but I'm willing to give my life now and walk and follow you. Jesus was headed to Jerusalem like we talked about last week. He was headed towards a city that was full of people that hated him. And Bartamaus is like, Man I'm with you. I'm ready to follow you. It's a pretty significant step for him to acknowledge the gift he's received, but to also follow him in faith. Now, like he said earlier, I don't know where you are, I don't know what your background is, but I do know this. We approach Jesus with requests all the time. We approach God. You know, I hear students not very often, but they're praying right before a test. Lord, help me pass this test. You know? I know you can do this. I haven't studied at all. Help me with this. Right? Or maybe what we ask from God is more significant. You know, we ask for healing for a family member or healing in a relationship. What's interesting to me is that Bartimaeus shows us this amazing picture of faith, and yet just a few verses earlier, which we're going to take a look at, we see a different response to the question, What do you want me to do for you? It's not going to be on the screen up here, but I do want you to look at verse 35 in chapter 10. So go up just a few verses. Last week, Nick talked about Jesus being a servant and how he came to serve. And we see this story where Jesus is headed to Jerusalem and his disciples are getting all geared up, like, hey, the kingdom is about to be put in motion. Alright? They had this vision that Jesus was going to wipe out Rome and he was going to just make everything right, and man, here comes the king, and the kingdom is going to be established, and guess who's going to be right there behind him? All of the disciples, ready to just soak it in. Man, Jesus is the man, he's our king, and we're with him. And so you see James and John here, who were two of Jesus' closest disciples. And they it says this in verse 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus and said, Teacher, we want you to do something for us if we ask you. Here's the question What do you want me to do for you? He asked them. They answered him, Allow us to sit at your right hand and at your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? We are able, they told him. And Jesus said, You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or my left is not mine to give. Instead, it is for those it has been prepared for. And then it says the disciples got angry at James and John. So why would we bring that passage up after talking about Bartimaeus? Well, anytime Scripture repeats something, it's very significant. It's worth noting. So you notice that Jesus asked the same question to James and John, and the same question to Bartimaeus. He says, What do you want me to do for you? And I believe we have kind of a case study of the right way and the wrong way that we approach Jesus. So think about James and John, two guys who were in the inner inner circle. They were comfortable with Jesus. They had spent a lot of time with him, and somehow they've worked up the nerve to ask Jesus for this special favor. And I'm just going to confess to you that I'm like James and John a lot. And if you're a Christian in the room and maybe you might be considered like a veteran, okay, you've been doing this Christianity thing for a long time, you can probably relate to this idea that sometimes we ask things from Jesus and we don't really know what it is that we're asking. My challenge to us this morning, which by the way is really cool the way Jesus responds to them, because he doesn't get angry. Alright? He was very compassionate, he was very gracious. He tells them truthfully, you don't know what your request really is, and then says, Look, I can't do that for you, that's not mine to give. And so some of us this morning need to hear that our hearts are significant in the way that we come to Jesus, in the way that we ask things of him. Because look at Bartimaeus. There's a whole different approach here. You see the difference between Bartimaeus and James and John? You see how Bartimaeus has nothing at all, and he's crying out in desperation, son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me. As opposed to James and John, who are like, hey Jesus, you know, you're our buddy, our pal, you're the man. Like when this kingdom thing happens, like can we be, you know, can we be your number number two guy? Like, there's a significant difference between where these guys are at and what drives their motivation to ask this request of Jesus. And so I feel like it's important for us to at least take note of that because sometimes we're that way. And like I said earlier, I know I've done this. I confess my pride gets in the way. I'm like, Jesus, you know, I've been walking with you for a long time. And, you know, can you just can you do this for me? And the request itself may not be bad, but we need to stop and look. Do we really know what we're asking? Or are we just wanting something for ourselves? God's not a genie in a bottle. Okay, we don't get to just kind of plug some things in here and then stand back and say, okay, God, I did my part. Now it's your turn. That's not how it works. We just spent the last month in February really talking about prayer as a church. And while he is the God of the universe who can do above and beyond all that we ask or think, the position of our hearts is important when we come to him. 1 Peter 5 and James 4 say that this God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So you look at James and John, who I believe are very proud in this instant, and God says, No, it's not yours, and you don't know what you're asking. And you look at Bartimaeus, a picture of humility, and Jesus' answer to him is very simple. Go your way, your faith has healed you. Now, I want to be sure that you don't hear me say, all you gotta do is have a broken heart, and then God will give you anything that you ask. Because that's not always true either. But I do know this. We can continue to cry out to God the same way that Bartimaeus did. Okay? If I'm Bartamaeus and I'm brokenhearted, I'm probably not asking to sit at the right hand of Jesus at that moment, am I? I've got a greater need of sight, and ultimately, whatever happens physically in a healing in Scripture is pointing to a greater spiritual need as well. So today, more than physical healing, we need spiritual healing. What are the areas in our lives that need healing? Maybe some of this morning are struggling with broken marriages that need healing. Maybe it's broken relationships with family members or co-workers. Maybe it's broken parenting. Maybe you need to change some things there and you need God to help you. Or maybe you're in the room here today and you've never acknowledged who Jesus is, and you've never said that he's Lord and Master, and your heart is still broken in sin. And maybe for you today, if that's you, your request to Jesus is rescue me from this sinful life that I've lived. Today, Jesus still asks the question, What do you want me to do for you? Our response should not be one of selfishness, as if we have free reign to indulge our selfish desires, but rather we should look at our heart and what it needs and be bold in believing that Jesus can do above and beyond all that we ask or think. Now, I'm not saying that you ask him and it happens right away because that wasn't the case for Bartimaeus either. There's gonna be some challenges along the way, like we talked about, and people are gonna try to tell you no, and they're gonna try to silence you. The question is, do we have a heart that says, Jesus, you are who you say you are? And that no matter what happens, I'm gonna continue to cry out to you and persevere in faith. More than physical healing, we as broken people need spiritual healing. And Jesus has already met our greatest spiritual need in his work on the cross. Salvation is a free gift to those who would receive it by faith. So here in a minute, we're gonna have a time of prayer. And the elders and some members of our prayer team are gonna be up front. And it's a time for you to reflect and just think about what it is that you need from Jesus. Not necessarily want, but need. You can be bold, you can ask him anything. He's big enough to hear in the midst of the crowd whatever it is that you have to say.