The Last Time Jesus Passes By | Terry Osburn

You know, throughout history we can hear about or read about

certain things that have happened and and events that may

have turned out different because of missed opportunities.

I think of things that have happened in my life and wonder

how things may have turned out with certain decisions that I

made in life. Wondering what?

What if I would have got that job?

What if I would have got taken that opportunity but I missed it

and later regretted it? What if I would have left the

building at Stockton, CA, the, the, the congregational building

there at Stockton, CA and left maybe 1/2 hour early and maybe

not have met Vicki. So there are certain things that

we realize in life where we have missed opportunities.

Some of us have made bad decisions, we've missed

opportunities and wish we would have have jumped on those

opportunities. Others have made good choices

and we've made good choices, the right ones from time to time,

and we've benefited greatly as a result of those choices and

opportunities. Well, then, the text of our

lesson this morning, we read of a man who made the best of one

opportunity, just one opportunity in his life.

His name was Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar

who needed a miracle. And one day he was sitting on

the roadside, the curb, if you want to say, I don't know if

they had curbs in those days, but he was sitting there

begging. Jesus was passing his way, and

it changed his life forever. But Mardamanus didn't know how

close he came to missing this miracle.

If he had procrastinated, if he had put it off of coming there

that day, he would have never had another opportunity to be

healed by Jesus. He would have spent the rest of

his life regretting his missed opportunity.

He would have had a lifelong consequences from this.

There are opportunities that we have in life and if we miss

those, sometimes they change our life.

They change our life forever of the decisions that we've made.

You see, Jesus on this day would never pass through Jericho

again. So this was one chance that

Bartimaeus had. Jesus is also passing by us

today. He is here this morning with us

in the capacity of an invitation for you.

And we want to make sure that we make the best of that

opportunity. We have a great opportunity

today, but today may be your last chance.

Now let's go to our text. Let's go to mark the 10th

chapter and verse verse 46 through 52 and we're going to

notice, we're going to study through this little by little

and consider the title of our lesson today, the last time

Jesus passes by. Bartimaeus story shows us three

things. It shows us what happens before

Jesus passes by. It shows what happens when Jesus

passes by, and it also shows us what happens after Jesus passes

by. Notice in verse 46 that there is

devastation before Jesus passes by now as they came to Jericho

as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great

multitude blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus set by the road

begging. Bartimaeus was one who faced all

kinds of difficulties in life and, and certainly there were

these physical difficulties, the difficulties of his blindness,

you know, there I would consider it a huge difficulty.

And if I you talk to Darren, Darren doesn't really consider

his blindness so much of A difficulty.

He just works around it. That's all he's known.

He just does whatever he, he amazes me at what he does.

But there are certain things that that I can do that Darren

isn't able to do. And and so was the case with

Bartimaeus here this morning. Bartimaeus had these physical

difficulties. He wasn't able to to take care

of certain things in his life. So it says that he sat by the

roadside and he was begging. It's very possible that he was

born blind. The scriptures don't tell us

about this. There was a lot of problems from

what I read about this condition being fairly common in the day

and time of Bartimaeus because of the lack of, of doctors, the

the lack of medicines, diseases that were in the country and in

the area. One writer even talked about,

you know, ash that was flying around all over the place and

good getting people's eyes possibly, but it was something

that was common in that time. There were many diseases that

resulted in blind blindness, but Bartimaeus also endured the

financial problems. He said it set by the roadside

and begged. His financial problems were

probably as a result of his physical problems.

He wasn't able to take on a job like other people that had the

site. He couldn't work a job to

provide for himself. Well, there was no Institute for

the Blind to take care for those and and help people with other

opportunities, maybe teach them a trade or something like that.

There was no Social Security in that day and time.

He didn't receive any kind of public assistance or any kind of

governmental programs that were available to you and I today.

There weren't present in that day and time.

He was a man who possibly had no idea where his next meal was

coming from because he didn't have a way to earn a living

other than sitting on the roadside and begging unless

someone came by and gave him food, brought a meal or gave him

some money so that he could go purchase some food or whatever.

So you see, he had these financial problems, you know,

and there are many people here today in this building that may

have physical problems, deal with similar problems and may

have health, health issues that 'cause you a great amount of

pain. I know Denny is dealing with

severe back pain right now. Others may have pain and

headaches in in their in their head or or hip problems or back

problems or or knee problems, whatever.

It may be some kind of physical thing that keeps you from doing

what you want to do and limits your physical abilities in

several different things. It's quite possible that it may

hinder you in in able to earn a living or or financial things

happening differently in your life because of that pain.

So these are some serious problems that some of us may be

facing. Then there's some that don't

have either of these problems. You're physically fit and

financially stable. You may be thinking that all is

well, but that's sometimes those folks have a greater problem

than those that have the physical problems because what

they're doing, what happens when their life is that they have

spiritual problems and their spiritual destitute or bankrupt.

Bartimaeus was physically blind, but there are some who are

spiritually blind, blind to their sinful condition, blind to

the reality that we will stand before God someday in the day of

judgement and we will answer for our our life.

Bartimaeus was financially broke, but some in their sinful

state are spiritually bankrupt. When we think of a person that

is spiritually bankrupt, what comes to mind is that there's

nothing that that person can do to earn salvation.

Now Bartimaeus, if he was able to heal himself, if he was able

to fix or heal his blindness, he would have done it by now.

He would have done it by this time, but he wasn't able to do

that. He didn't have the ability to

heal himself. And we cannot live good enough.

We cannot perform enough good works to earn our salvation.

There's nothing within us, within us that we can do by

ourselves that can help our spiritual condition.

In fact, we can be worse than sick.

The Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

Ephesians 2:00 and 1:00, and also Colossians 2 and verse 13.

So if we're living in sin, if we haven't accepted Jesus as our

Savior and been baptized for the remission of our sins, we are

spiritually bankrupt and we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

But there is a solution. Bartimaeus needed a cure.

We also need a cure this morning.

We need to be born again. And the good news is that there

is someone passing by today who can give you what you need.

And that person's name is Jesus. But I've got to warn you this

morning that this could be the last time Jesus passes by.

Jesus is the only answer and solution to the problem of

spiritual bankruptcy. But the devil is going to do

everything he can to discourage you, to try to turn you away to,

to make things look different than they really are.

The devil is going to make sin look very inviting and very nice

and very comforting and very fun and not warn you about the

dangers of sin. So we have to be careful about

that. We have to be careful about how

the devil will try to stop us from getting to Jesus.

There are distractions as Jesus passes by.

Notice verse 47. And when he had heard that it

was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son

of David, have mercy on me. Bartimaeus was so close at this

point to receiving this blessing, to receiving this

miracle, to receiving that what he had desired for his entire

life. You know, I'm, I don't know,

maybe if I shouldn't speak on behalf of Darren, I don't know

if Darren would want to receive his sight today.

He may say I'm fine with the way I am, but I think that

Bartimaeus in this day and time with having to sit there begging

every day for for the what he needed every day that if he had

the opportunity to receive his sight instantly, he would have

taken that on for sure. So he had been waiting for this.

He hears the that Jesus was passing by and he calls out to

him. Thayer says the cry out means to

cry out loudly, speak with a loud voice.

So this wasn't something that Bartimaeus just said.

Hey Jesus, hey, look over here, over here.

He cried out as loud as he possibly could, knowing that

Jesus was the person that could heal him.

And he cried out loudly. Listen to what Luke's says about

this and Luke 18 and verses 36 and 37.

And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant.

So they told him that it was Jesus of Nazareth passing by.

What was Bartimaeus's motivation for yelling out to a man that he

had never met before? Well, here in verse 47 in our

text, we see that there's some important information.

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.

It seems that news had had reached Bartimaeus concerning

the miracles that Jesus had performed previously to coming

to Jericho. He had heard the healing of

lepers, the curing of the sick, the raising of the dead, the

lame to walk and the deaf to hear.

He had heard about Jesus, so he already knew that there's a man

out there, there's someone that could heal my blindness if I can

just get to it. And all of a sudden, you know,

you know, sometimes I one thing I remember that happened this

last year, we were downtown at that the, the parade, Christmas

parade. And all of a sudden we started

seeing the commotions, just things going on and seeing

people kind of running and moving around quickly and, and

moving away from an area. Of course, many of us realize

what happened was some some guy ran his truck into someone else.

But the thing was, we were we were attentive to what was going

on. Now Bartimaeus is sitting here

doing what he does every day, going out and sitting on the

roadside waiting for someone to put some money, whether at a cup

or a plate or a cloth or whatever it may be.

And all of a sudden he hears commotion going on.

He hears the crowd kind of gathering, the crowd maybe

getting liar louder and louder and, and hearing this commotion

going on. He was what in the world is

happening? But it's clear that he'd heard

about Jesus and he'd heard about the changes that Jesus had made

in other people's lives. Maybe this will be something

that would help him as well. Barmaidas Bartimaeus had

received this important information about Jesus, but now

there was some who someone who tried to stop him from getting

to Jesus. Today is just like back then.

When Jesus passes by, there will be the intentional interruptions

by Satan in your life, by the devil in your life, distractions

and barriers and and walls put in front of you trying to keep

you from getting to Jesus, whatever it may be.

It may be a job, it may be a friendship and maybe a family

member. It may be some of your working

relationships, whatever it may be, but there may be someone or

something that is keeping you from making the decision to

follow Jesus. Now here in verse 48, it says

then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the

more son of David, have mercy on me.

You know this kind of pictures to me just the intensity, the

the the gradual intensity of of Bartimaeus and his excitement to

hear about Jesus. He hears Jesus is coming by and

he's only got so much time. You know, when someone comes by,

you only have so much time to say something to them and then

they get out of years reach. You hear they're coming.

You hear the commotion here, they're coming here, they're

coming. And he says, Jesus, son of

David, have mercy on me. And they say shut up, hush.

And that's exactly what that means.

There is. It means the crowd told him be

quiet. And that's what the world is

telling us today. Sometimes the world is telling

us and Satan is telling us, be quiet.

You don't need Jesus. They're telling us He doesn't

have anything to offer you. It's just a figment of your

imagination. It's just, it's just something

that's a fad. The Bartimaeus knew what Jesus

had to offer. If he can heal the blind, and I

mean if he can heal the leper, if he can make people here, if

he can raise the dead, certainly, certainly he can heal

my blindness. And so Bartimaeus has only got a

certain amount of time as Jesus passes by to say something to

Jesus to try to get him and get his attention as he passes by

before he gets out of reach of hearing.

And so as the crowd tells Bartimaeus be quiet, Bartimaeus

yells out even louder and says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy

on me. He was doing everything that he

could to get Jesus attention. But this this word, it says here

that many warned him and the King James versus has charged

him. And that means that they rebuked

him sharply. And it wasn't just saying, you

know, like we do sometimes with our children to say just quiet

down, just quiet down. It wasn't like that they but

they told him shut up. I don't know why.

Maybe they were embarrassed by him, they knew who Jesus was,

there was excitement going on. Maybe they thought it was just

not out of place. But it's never out of place to

call on the name of Jesus. It's never out of place.

The reason that there will be an interruptions because Satan's

doing everything he can to try to keep you from getting to

Jesus. They will tell you all kinds of

things. They will tell you your life is

too messed up. They will tell you you've have

too many things going on in your life, that your your life is too

sinful, and that Jesus, certainly Jesus won't be able to

fix you. Satan can use people to stop you

from crying out to Jesus, and he will.

But I want to encourage you to be like Bartimaeus.

And when people tell you to stop seeking Jesus, to stop talking

about Jesus, to stop studying and reading your Bible, to stop

praying because you don't think it's doing any good, keep crying

out. Just do it a little bit louder

and don't be ashamed to cry out, for Jesus drowned out that crowd

of naysayers. That's what Bartimaeus did.

He continued to call out to Jesus because he needed a

miracle and he knew that Jesus was his only hope.

If you're lost, you must realize that Jesus is your only hope,

nothing else. You can't fix yourself.

You need Jesus. As Bartimaeus stood crying out

to Jesus, Jesus heard him and had compassion on him.

Notice there is compassion when Jesus passes by.

This meeting was no accident. It's not just a coincidence.

There was a divine appointment here today and it and, and let

me say this, that no accident that you are here today at this

place at this time and Jesus is calling your name here today.

That is what happened here in Jericho.

Notice that there was a personal call or a personal invitation.

And verse 49. So Jesus stood still and

commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,

saying to him, be of good cheer, rise, He is calling you and

throwing aside his garment. He arose and came to Jesus.

So Jesus answered and said to him, What do you want me to do

for you? Jesus heard.

He hadn't got far enough away. Bartimaeus had not waited long

enough for Jesus to get out of earshot.

He didn't put it off. He didn't procrastinate when he

heard Jesus was coming. And when Jesus was in the area,

when Jesus was within air shot, he yelled out for Jesus.

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus hears it and he stops and he says go get him.

The man who called out for me, go get him, bring him to me.

So Bartimaeus arose and went to where Jesus was.

Remember, the crowd was trying to shut him up at that time, but

perhaps they thought that Jesus was too busy for someone like

Bartimaeus. You may think that you're too

busy in life for Jesus. You may think that you've got

all the time in the world. You may think that you'll have

tomorrow. You may think that Jesus too

busy for Someone Like You as well.

But I'm telling you that Jesus came to this earth for people

just like you. In fact, it came specifically

and especially for you. Jesus himself said that he came

to seek and save that which is lost.

Luke 19 and verse 10. Also, Jesus came to die so that

we might live. Romans 5 and verse 8.

But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and while we

were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You know, there are times when we've done favors for other

people and you know, maybe they want 5 bucks, maybe they want a

little bit of something so they can get a meal, whatever it may

be, and you see it and just take off.

They don't go into the restaurant to get food, they

take off doing something else. You'll really

But while we were yet sinners, even while we were sinners,

Christ died for us. God's desire is not is that no

one should be lost. Second Peter 3 and verse 9.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promises.

Some count slackness, but His long-suffering toward us, not

willing that any should perish, but that all should come to

repentance. Notice so in verse 50.

And throwing aside His garments, He rose and came to Jesus.

Jesus has given the call for you to come to Him today.

It is your responsibility to accept that invitation.

You will not receive the blessing unless you accept the

invitation. Bartimaeus would not have

received his sight had he not accepted the invitation to go

towards Jesus. But we have to throw off all the

old garments of sin. We have to get rid of those old

things, and we have to put on Christ.

It says He arose. This word means to leap up, to

spring up. And as soon as he heard the

invitation, he leaped up without hesitation to accept this

invitation. It doesn't say that.

He said, well, and you know, my, my legs are hurting.

My back's hurting from sitting here.

OK, OK, I'm going to get up. The Bible indicates that he

leaped up. He got with it.

Here was the opportunity, and he jumped on it.

He took advantage of the opportunity to be healed.

We sometimes in our life just wait around.

We say well, you know God just let me get some things cleaned

up in my life 1st and then and then I'll serve you.

Let me take care of this. Let me take care of that and

then I'll live a life dedicated to you.

But it here Bartimaeus jumped up.

So Jesus answered and said to him, what do you want me to do

for you? Well, you know, people want all

what Jesus do all kinds of things for them.

But you know, Lord, I want salvation.

Lord, I want a home in heaven. Lord, I want the healing, Lord,

I want the sickness taken care of.

Lord, I want this Lord, I want Lord, I want Lord, I want, I

want all these things. But when it comes to serving

God, that's a different story. No, I don't really want to do

that. I don't want to dedicate my life

that much. I've got other things to do.

Bartimaeus jumped at this opportunity.

And Jesus said, what do you want me to do?

What do you want from Jesus this morning?

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

This invitation is not only personal, but it's also to all

mankind. Notice in Matthew the 11th

chapter, verses 28 through 30. Come to me, all you who labor

and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly

in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

From my yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

Jesus is waiting for us to accept the invitation.

Revelation 3 and verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and

knock. If anyone hears my voice and

opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and He

with me. When Jesus invites a person or

any individual, all mankind to salvation, it is a personal

invitation. You know, sometimes we get

invaded and a family may get invited to a wedding or whatever

it may be, or a shower or what. When someone sends you a

personal invitation, it's a little bit more, it's a little

nicer. Well, the invitation to Jesus is

something that is personal to you.

This morning we have a large crowd here.

This morning there was a large crowd in Jericho.

That day there were many others who were following Christ.

There was a great multitude. There were all those that were

following Jesus, the disciples that were walking with him.

So there was a lot going on. But Jesus picked out this one

man and said have him come here to me.

One man received this personal invitation.

The same is true today for you. We hear that there's a

passionate cry hearing this man. The blind man said to him,

Rabboni or Lord and Master or Master, that I might receive my

sight. Jesus asked him, what do you

want? He didn't say, well, I want, you

know a better house, I want better clothes.

I want this. I want that.

This was the one thing that Bartimaeus had on the top of his

list was to have his sight back. Jesus asked him, What do you

want? He says that I might receive my

sight. I might be able to see that.

I might be able to do the things that I want to do that others

do. I want to receive that blessing.

You may be here today and you think that you know what you

need. You may desire for a physical

problem to be healed or prayers of the church.

You may be looking for someone, some help and, and, and, and

dealing with some kind or some form of addiction.

You may be desiring comfort from certain worries or concerns or

problems that you have in life. Physical, financial, whatever it

may be, you may be wanting someone in your family to be

restored to Christ. Maybe you want to get your life

back together and get on the right path.

Maybe you're struggling with a problem with dedication in your

life. Maybe your prayer life isn't

what it ought to be. Whatever it is, Jesus can do all

of those things. But it's possible that you're

seeking one thing and Jesus sees that you need something greater.

You're seeking other things. Instead of turning to Jesus, you

may be hoping for an earthly solution, and what you need is a

spiritual solution. Well, the good news is that

Jesus can take care of that. He's passing by here today,

right now. But this may be the last time

Jesus passes by. If you decide to make those

changes and you decide to accept that invitation, there will be

big changes in your life. Notice there's a transformation

after Jesus passes by in verse 52.

Then Jesus said to him, go your way, your faith has made you

well or healed you, the NIV says and immediately he received, he

received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

Now he had, he had got up this cloaker or garments that he had

wrapped around him, sitting there begging for things.

He says he let go of those things and he leaped up and he

went towards Jesus, doesn't say anything about him going back to

that anybody. He went now and followed Jesus,

left all that stuff behind, left everything that he knew behind

and followed Jesus. You know, we have to leave

things behind in life. We may not want to give certain

things up in our life. We may not want to give up

certain sins we want to, we may not want to give up certain

habits in our life, but we got to give that up and we have to

follow Jesus. We have to follow Him,

especially after we've been healed, after we've had our sins

washed away, after we've been been baptized for the remission

of our sins. We can't go back to that old way

of life anymore. Bartimaeus realized that he can

do anything without Jesus. He couldn't heal himself.

He realized that Jesus was the only answer.

And because of his faith, Jesus made him whole.

Jesus made him whole, not Bartimaeus.

Jesus. He was healed of his blindness.

The key to your healing today is your faith in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11 and verse 6. But without faith, it's

impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe

that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently

seek Him. There may be some here today

that are in great need. Only Jesus can provide a

solution for that problem. But you need to accept the

invitation from Him while there's time.

Don't delay. Don't regret it.

Don't be that one person that says, well, I missed an

opportunity to see we've all sinned and come short of the

glory of God. Romans 3 and verse 23.

We all need Jesus, but we have to accept the invitation.

What would have happened if Bartimaeus had waited until the

next opportunity? What if he would have stayed

home that day? What if he would have

procrastinated and waited? So Jesus is coming.

Well, I'll get him next time. I'm just not feeling up to it

today. What if he had listened to the

crowd and told him that? Told him to be quiet?

If you continued reading through the book of Mark, you'll find

that Jesus never came through Jericho again because he was on

his way to Jerusalem to be crucified.

I'm not saying that you'll never have another opportunity to

accept Jesus as your Savior. I'm not saying that, but we're

never guaranteed tomorrow on March 21st of 2016, that's been,

that's been eight years ago. Eight years ago, Bob Smith

walked out the front door of Charlotte's house, never to

return, never to come back inside.

Bob didn't know that was going to happen to him that day.

I didn't know. Bob didn't know.

Charlotte didn't know. There are people that you may

think of, if you may be wrong, reminded of in your, in your

life, in your memories. Some was brought to our

attention this morning and didn't plan on falling and

hurting themselves, that didn't plan on passing out, that didn't

plan on getting in a car accident.

And you may not have the opportunity to live a life for

Jesus anymore because you let Jesus pass by.

Don't let it be the last time Jesus passes by, even if you

live for another 50 years. We are not promised that we'll

have the opportunity again. Some of us may intend to fully

surrender to Christ one day. Some others may just say that,

well, I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready to do that, Plan

on getting things right eventually.

Perhaps intend to change some things in their life before they

repent and turn to Jesus. But it doesn't work that way.

It does not work that way. You can't clean up yourself

enough to be worthy of salvation.

It won't happen. So what you need to do is you

need to repent and turn to Jesus and clean up.

Let Jesus clean you up because it's only the blood of Christ

that can cleanse you from your sins.

It was Colossians one of verse 14 and whom we have redemption

through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Also, first, John one of verse 7 and the blood of Jesus Christ

his Son cleanses us from all sin.

It's only the blood of Christ that can cleanse your sins.

You can't fix your life. You can't take away your sins.

You can't you can't straighten your life up by yourself.

You need Jesus to do that. You need his help.

You need his blood. You need his cleansing blood to

do that today. And don't wait for other things

to happen. 2nd Corinthians 6 and verse 2 says behold, now was

this accepted time. Behold, now was the day of

salvation, and we need to confess the name of Christ.

Matthew 10 What did I do? I've got it out of repent.

I'm sorry, I've got a little ahead of myself.

We must repent. I'll tell you now.

But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

There's others that will say, well, you know, I need to go sow

some wild oats before I calm down my life a little bit.

Need to go out and have some fun.

That's why I worry about kids that go off to college on their

own by themselves, go out and have a little bit of fun

sometimes without someone watching over them.

But as Lynwood Smith would say and other preachers would say,

you can't sow wild oats and then pray for a crop failure.

That's not the way it works. So Jesus is calling you.

So we also need, we also need to realize it.

We need to confess the name of Christ.

Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, him I will also

confess before my Father who is in heaven.

And then we need to be baptized into Jesus Christ for the

remission of our sins. Acts 2 and verse 38.

Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let everyone of you be

baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of

sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is passing by. Once you accept that that

invitation this morning and follow the example of Bartimaeus

and throw off the filthy garments of sin and rise up,

jump up and accept Jesus as your Savior.

Galatians 3 and verse 27 For as many of you as we're baptized

into Christ have put on Christ, rise up, throw those old things

off, but put on Christ because this may be the last time that

Jesus passes by. The lesson is yours this

morning. I hope that we've said something

that will benefit you in some way.

We never know those the minds of those that are present this

morning. There may be someone here that

is subject to that gospel call, subject to that invitation and

hearing the word. Won't you believe it?

Won't you repent of your life? Won't you confess the name of

Christ and be baptized into Christ for the remission of your

sins? But if you take in those steps

and for some reason you've turned away and you've, you've

lost your commitment to God. Once you come with a repenting

heart, confessing your faults, and we'll pray with you and for

you come while we stand and while we see.