The Inspiring Testimony of Bartimaeus | Mark 10:46-52 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

Today I want to speak to you about one of the most inspiring

testimonies in the gospel. I want to speak to you about the

story of a man named Bartimaeus. And this story that is found in

three out of the four gospel accounts is one that is filled

with so much suspense, a roller coaster of emotion, so much

comfort, yet at the same time in that comfort, conviction and

challenge. But more importantly, this story

that's going to be declared is no fable.

It is not a parable. It is a true event that took

place in the life of a real man, and one that has been preserved

for us because it is absolutely loaded with soul saving heart,

sanctifying truth For those who have been in the church long

enough that name Bartimaeus rings a bell, You've probably

even heard about him in Sunday. School.

Like I got to tell you though, I've known the name Bartimaeus

for a long, long time. It wasn't until studying it in

depth where I fell in love with this man.

I do have a personal list of people that I really want to

meet and have lengthy conversations with in heaven,

and after this week, Bartimaeus made the list.

This man is indeed inspiring, as you're about to discover, and I

invite you to turn with me to mark chapter 10, beginning in

Mark 10 · chapter mention

verse 46, to read of this man's testimony and after reading it

to get a complete picture of it. I want us to look at six

observations, 6 specific observations that makes this

story so inspiring. And from here, perhaps the

testimony of Bartimaeus may cause a testimony in your life.

We have some. Visitors here today?

So glad to see visitors here today.

I don't know where you're at with your walk with Christ, but

if you don't know Christ, you come to the right place for the

right Sunday afternoon. And for those who know Christ

and have walked with Christ, Bartimaeus still has something

to offer you in your walk with the Lord.

Let's read together beginning in verse 46.

And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho

with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind

beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to

cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he cried out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stopped and said, call him, and they called the blind

man, saying to him, take heart, get up, he's calling you and

throwing off his cloak. He sprang up and came to Jesus,

and Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you?

And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.

And Jesus said to him, Go your way.

Your faith has made you well, and immediately he recovered his

sight and followed him on the way.

Lord by thine eternal Spirit, dwell in our hearts.

Reign in our hearts. Empower our hearts.

We want to know you, we want to love you more, and we want to be

like you. May this message today help us

achieve that in Jesus name. Amen.

I told you that we're going to look at six things from this

inspiring story and hopefully these things will help you

remember these points very. Simple.

Try my best to have them all start with the same letter.

The first thing that I want you to observe with me in this story

is the place. The place of this miracle, we're

told in verse 46. And they came to Jericho.

They came to Jericho. Different gospel accounts are

more specific about where in Jericho, but the consensus is

there. It was in the area of Jericho.

Now Jericho, like the name Bartimaeus, is very familiar to

most Christians. It is the city that was first

conquered by Joshua and the Israelites upon their entrance

into the Promised Land. It was a type of first fruits of

the reward, and the promise that God gave to that generation of

Israelites and Jericho was achieved by way of a very unique

miracle, one that demanded strange but faith nonetheless.

The strange method, but it was one that would cause them to

trust in the ways of the Lord encircling this place several

times until the walls would come down and they would have the

hearts of these people in fear, causing them to lose this

battle. But what many people who in

understanding the general history of Jericho failed to

remember is that this very same city that is a demonstration of

what faith can do is also a city that has been cursed.

Jericho was a city that had a curse attached to it, and the

reference to that is in Joshua 626, and you don't have to turn

there. But let me read to you what this

leader of this people, Israel, said concerning Jericho.

He had said, cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and

rebuilds this city. Jericho, at the cost of his

first born shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of

his youngest son shall he set up its gates.

Here was the curse, a divine curse.

Anybody who would try to resurrect the city would

experience a curse, and this curse was fulfilled.

This prophecy was made known in the days of King Ahab, where a

man named Hyal of Bethel rebuilt the city Jericho at the cost of

the life of his first son of Byram and at the cost of the

life of his youngest son Segob. And the reason why I'm bringing

this to your attention is because in a place that has been

associated and identified with God's displeasure, you have He,

He who is greater than Joshua, coming through to do what,

reverse some curses? That's what we're going to do

with Bartimaeus, right? Here's this man, Bartimaeus, who

is one who is suffering with one of the outcomes of the fall

sickness and disease, and here he is with a lifelong here,

blindness. It's permanent.

It's real. It's dark.

It's affected his way of life. And now Jesus is going to come

on the scene in this place called Jericho, and he is going

to deliver this man from the ramifications of what our first

parents had done. What about Zacchaeus?

You know Zacchaeus, right? You sang some songs about

Zacchaeus as a younger child. You probably memorized those

songs. Did you forget that Zacchaeus

was a man, a little man who climbed the tree?

Where was that tree? It was in Jericho.

We're told that Zacchaeus and Luke's gospel account met Jesus

around the same time as Bartimaeus meeting Jesus.

It was on that same trip. And so you have Zacchaeus, who

also was delivered, but in a different way from the grip of

greed and pride. And this man would experience

salvation in his home because of he who is greater than Joshua

Jesus as the Great reversal. He's the great deliverer of any

curse. He defeated the curse of death.

He defeated the curse of sin. And Christ has the power not

only then, but even today, to deal with and to heal and to

restore us from the consequences of sin.

The ones that you and I observe and maybe experience every

single day. This is the place where Jesus is

going to perform this remarkable, inspiring act of

grace and mercy. It's the place.

But then we have to go from the place now to the second

observation. And that's the person.

And the person I'm referring to is the person.

Bartimaeus. He's not named by Luke, who's

not named by Matthew. He's named here by Mark.

And it could be that because Mark's readers might have been

familiar with Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus might have been a

disciple to Mark's audience that they would have known and Mark

here And telling us about Bartimaeus goes even further

because Matthew tells us of the same miracle.

But Matthew highlights 2 blind men who call out to Jesus for

mercy. Do we have a contradiction here

between Matthew's account and Mark's?

No. We just have a strategy.

All Mark is doing is highlighting one of the two,

perhaps the leader of the two, perhaps the more vocal 1

Bartimaeus. And so he wants us to keep our

attention on this one particular man.

It doesn't negate the fact that Jesus healed two of them, but

Mark was even beyond giving us the identification of this man.

He tells us of the occupation of this man.

Read again with me in verse 46. And they came to Jericho.

And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great

crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind, not just a blind man, a blind

beggar. And so this man had two

unfortunate realities that he had to endure and manage.

So he was blind, that's one thing.

But he wasn't from an affluent family.

He wasn't being taken care of. His situation brought him to the

point where all he could do to survive another day was succumb

to being on the side of the road and hoping that people would

dispense crumbs of mercy. No security, no safety, no

immediate sense of love, no sight on top of it.

This is a man who ranks high in the category of misery.

This is a man who is suffering in ways that perhaps you and I

cannot even fathom or imagine. And your hearts may pity for

Bartimaeus as you're hearing about him.

And they should. We should feel compassion

towards this man, but let our hearts feel compassion for

another group of people even more than Bartimaeus.

The type of people who are defined by the word of God in

the same way as Bartimaeus, but don't even realize it.

Blind and bankrupt, spiritually blind and poor in the soul.

The Bible describes people as such.

They are plagued by this. In fact, this is anybody who is

outside of Christ Bartimaeus here, although he suffered

physically in this way, although he was destitute.

And his vision was impaired, and his pockets were only filled

with Lent. This man, what he was

physically, he was not spiritually.

You're going to discover that though he was blind, he could

see better than most people. And so if your heart wrenches

for anybody, let it wrench for those who may have their eyes

and who may have a full covered and may have a comfortable bank

account but cannot see and do not know the riches that Christ

provides, They're everywhere. We might have some here today,

and they were there. Even in the days of Jesus there

was a group of them who are known as Pharisees.

These men, though they had so much going on for them, were in

fact blind. Blind in the way that you don't

want to be blind, blind and the most important part of your

existence, bankrupt where it matters the most.

And Jesus actually calls him out on that.

And I want you to turn it with me in John Chapter 9, after

John 9 · chapter mention

Jesus healed another man who was blind born blind on top of it.

He takes that understanding of blindness and he uses it as a

metaphor for spiritual blindness.

And he tells the Pharisees this who are obviously near.

In John 9, verse 39, Jesus said for judgment.

John 9:39

I came into this world that those who do not see may see and

those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him

heard these things and said to him, are we also blind?

I have a feeling they didn't say that with humility.

Are you calling us out again, Jesus?

Are you saying we're blind? And look what the Lord says in

verse 41. Jesus said to them If you were

blind, you would have no guilt. Read slowly, Read your Bible

slowly. If you were blind, you would

have no guilt. But now that.

You say. We see.

Your guilt remains. That's profound, so let's

understand it more carefully. What Jesus is saying here is if

you were blind, you would actually be free from guilt

implying. What?

What he's saying is this. If you were to be among those

who admit to their blindness, to their lack of insight and

understanding of true spirituality, if you were to

come to that place and humbly confess you don't see as you

ought to see, then you would have no guilt.

Because upon that confession I would heal you and I would open

your eyes. And in opening your eyes you

would see who I am and seeing who I am, you would see me as

the great eraser of your sins. But because you're not blind and

confess that blindness, because you actually admit that you see

when you don't really see, your guilt remains so in yourself,

confidence, in your confession that you actually perceive

things to be true, you're actually condemning yourself and

your guilt is still on you. Here's how Jesus, based on this,

defines spiritual blindness. It is anybody who claims to

define Christ outside of how he defines himself and who

possesses A worldview that contradicts that of Christ in

his word. Anybody who redefines Christ, or

changes His word, or disagrees with his word concerning what

has been made known, is a person who's spiritually blind.

They're impaired in their vision.

So any person outside of Christ, any person who does not have the

testimony, Jesus opened my eyes. Now I know what truth is.

Such a person who even claims to see and have answers.

And have a world view that might be popular in order to share.

Such a person, according to the Bible, is blind, and that is

something to be heartbroken over because physical blindness may

cause some difficulty in this short life.

Spiritual blindness will cause you to be in darkness for

eternity. And so we look at this man, and

we see that he is blind, that he is a beggar.

We come to the third observation concerning his life, Not just

the place, not just the person, but the perception, the

perception that Bartimaeus had. So now we come here again to

verse 47. 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. So now, with no eyes to see, he

begins to sense something that is unusual.

He's been on that roadside every single day.

He lost count of the days that he has been there begging.

And now he hears A multitude. He hears this parade and he

goes, something is going on here.

So he inquires and he asks, and somebody had the grace enough to

actually give him insight into what is taking place.

But I want you to. See how Luke records it.

Go to Luke and you see this parallel account in Chapter 18.

And verse 36 to 37. I think there's an insight here

about how the people identify what's taking place and then how

Barnabeus responds to it. And Luke 18, Verse 36 and

Luke 18:36

hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.

They told them Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, Jesus of Nazareth

is passing by. But how did Bartabeus identify?

Jesus. He didn't say Jesus of Nazareth

have mercy on me. No, he said.

Jesus, what son of David? The crowd identified him as

Jesus of Nazareth. That's where he grew up.

That's where he's from. But Bartimaeus saw something

that most people did not see. He's not just from Nazareth.

He's a descendant of David. He's not just from Nazareth.

He's the promised Messiah. He's not just from Nazareth.

He's the one that we've been. Longing for and waiting for.

Jesus, son of David, you know what's so shocking about that?

Bartimaeus never witnessed a miracle that he couldn't have.

Barnabaeus could not witness the sinless.

Life of Jesus Barnabaeus simply heard reports and that was

enough for him to believe that this was the Messiah, so limited

in so many ways. And again, we might feel pity

for this man. But let me ask you this

question. Who deserves more pity?

The one who could see all the miracles of Jesus, the one who

could attest the fact that he has not transgressed in one

single way. The one who sat underneath his

authoritative teaching and preaching, and felt the power of

God searched through their hearts as he expounded to them

the things of God. The one who has experienced all

of that and yet still not believe.

Or the one who could not even see what was right in front of

his face, who could not even fend for himself and make a

living for himself, and yet could realize that this is the

Son of God. Who do we feel bad for more?

Not Bartimaeus. Definitely not Bartimaeus.

Not only did Bartimaeus rightly identify this man, Christ Jesus,

he also. Perceived.

We're talking about his perception.

He perceived the absolute value of this moment.

What was this man's occupation? He was a beggar.

And if you're going to do well as a beggar, you're going to

need people to beg. And so I want you to imagine

this. Think slowly about this whole

event. Now you have this man who is a

beggar, who's a needy pauper, who is again depended upon those

to extend some kind of grace. And though this man could not

see much living on the side of the road, he developed the

ability to know when people were coming by, to know when somebody

was passing through. And now, in this particular day,

we read that there is what? Look at verse 46 again.

It was not just Jesus with his disciples going through Jericho.

A great crowd, a great crowd passing through Bartimaeus's

neighborhood. You know what that means for a

beggar, Cha Ching? That's what that means.

More people, more people to beg to.

More people to beg to more opportunity for them to give me

a payday that I haven't seen in a while.

That's what you have here for a beggar, A beggar, A beggar who

doesn't know how he's going to make it for tomorrow.

That kind of a beggar. I'm not talking about the

poverty that we see here in the West like a real poor person.

That would weep if you extended a Bologna sandwich to them.

This is the kind of beggar that we're seeing before us.

And now we see this, this great procession.

He hears it. And what do you think would stir

in his heart in that moment? Oh, perhaps as a beggar.

Please help. Extra shackles, please.

For a poor blind beggar. Please please.

Nothing of the sort. This man does not take advantage

of the opportunity at hand. Instead, upon learning that

Jesus was leading this procession, he says, Jesus, son

of David, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me.

You know what Bartimaeus could see?

What most people can't see when they hear the gospel and they're

not saved the opportunity that they have right in front of

them. And you know why?

Most people can't feel the urgency about knowing that Jesus

is before them in the truth and that they can experience Jesus

Because you, like Bartimaeus, perhaps, are occupied by

something else, Because you living with this ambition and

this opportunity and this idea of tomorrow and what you're

going to build for yourself and what you want to accomplish.

And so when you hear Jesus in the crowd, you're more concerned

about the opportunity for yourself than the greatest

opportunity that can be given to you in the person of Christ.

You know what's so amazing about Bartimaeus?

Something that you need to hear very carefully, and you're going

to wonder why, perhaps from this pulpit you hear so much urgency.

Bartimaeus, if he did not cry out to Jesus in this way, would

never have been healed from his blindness.

So what do you mean? I'll tell you why, because

where's Jesus headed? To?

Look at Mark 11 in the next chapter.

If you have the ESV, then you'll see 3 words.

This is not divine inspiration. This is just added to our

Bibles, to trying to make sense of context or give us an idea of

what's coming next. The Triumphal entry.

Jesus is now ready to enter into his final week before heading

into the cross to the cross. He's never coming back to

Jericho. He's never going to make his way

back here. This is the final trip before he

goes to Calvary. Bartimaeus.

I'm not sure if he understood the events that were about to

unfold, but he didn't need to. He knew that this time could be

the last time, and so I must respond now.

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me and why that moves me

again. I'll get to it in a moment, but

it is. This is why Bartimaeus is

someone that I. Fallen in love with.

Because of years of preaching the gospel and pleading with

people that Jesus is here and he can be received and he can touch

your life, I have rarely seen the response that Bartimaeus

gives. And for some people, it's

because they're convinced that you can just set a future

appointment, and when it's convenient for you, you will

meet with Jesus and he will do what he really wants you to do,

right? Like as though you're doing

Jesus a favor. But the reality is, whether it's

your first time hearing about Jesus and what he can do in your

life, or the 100th time, you can never determine when the last

time will be. You can never determine that.

And if you are a person who knows that they have not

surrendered to Christ and are comforting yourself by

entertaining the idea that you can postpone this.

And if you choose to ignore this because of other things that are

preoccupying you, then realize. I like Bartimaeus.

This could be your very last time.

That's not manipulation. That's reality.

And what manipulation? What is this in for me?

This is for your soul. So he didn't just understand the

identity of Christ. He understood the value of this

moment. Christ is here that I must call

upon him now, for this could be my last time.

He may never come by this way again.

Do people feel that way when we present the gospel to them?

Look, I can't control how people.

Feel, but I have. The control of how we deliver

that truth, right. So the duty here of a preacher

is to make people feel the urgency of the moment, whether

they're comfortable with it or not.

The reality is this, It could be your last time.

It could be your last time. I know you're young and you have

strength and you have energy and you have plans, and nothing will

interrupt those plans. You'd be shocked to know how,

over the years, young people who had so much looking forward to

could not, because they're six feet under.

As I speak, he perceived not just the person but the moment.

But then we go from the perception to the 4th point, and

that's his persistence. This is where Barnamae is is

recognized for who he is. He calls out in verse 47.

He asked for Jesus, the Son of David, to come, and we read here

in verse 48 the response of the crowd.

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he cried out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me.

If you're a person here today who will make an opportunity out

of this moment and say, you know what, I think I'm going to

actually pause on any other opportunity, any other

appointment, even if it's flashing before my eyes.

What I perceive from this moment is that Jesus is here.

I'm not right with Jesus. I have to get right with Jesus.

You can expect Jesus to do a work in you, but you can also

expect what we see here with Bartimaeus, obstacles,

hindrances and in this case it was a.

Crowd. And not just a crowd.

It was many from that crowd, and many from that crowd were

telling him to shut his mouth. They rebuked him, but who knows

what was going on through their minds for them to rebuke this

beggar? What were they thinking for them

to say that maybe they thought that Jesus had no time for this

beggar? Maybe they realized that Jesus

was on his way somewhere, and so they didn't want this beggar to

stop this. Maybe they had their own desires

and wants, and they saw that this beggar was going to

interrupt that. We're not told explicitly what

it is, but the reality of this opposition is something that you

can apply universally. When a person decides to call

upon Christ, when a person realizes the need for their soul

to be saved, when a person even who is saved but wants to grow

in their zeal and their passion for the Lord, you can expect

some level of opposition. And that's what this man is

experiencing here. His zeal is there, his passion

is there. And you wonder, what is it?

What is it that's going through the minds of these people?

But one thing is for certain. He's a person that's going to

get what he's asking for no matter what.

Whether people agree with him or disagree with him, it does not

matter. And I find it fascinating that

you can be just about as passionate about anything in

this life and you can be deemed as industrious and passionate

and hard working. But when it comes to spiritual

things, we're so quick to say you're a fanatic, you're a

fanatic. You've probably heard that

because you go to more than one service a week.

Is this really necessary? You've heard this because what?

You're so committed to Christ, it's not just an Easter

Christmas thing. You live the same people.

People don't usually praise you for that.

They tend to condemn you for that.

I've seen in my own life, I've seen young people come to

Christ, people who are in bars and clubs till who knows how

late into the mornings. And here they are at church and

they stay laid up and the parents are complaining that

they're staying up late at church, but they had no

complaints when they were in the bars and the clubs downtown.

Where was Where were your complaints then?

It's just amazing how twisted this mind is.

It's amazing that this man is calling upon Jesus for mercy and

you have the crowd saying be quiet.

Zip it, Bartimaeus. But look what Bartimaeus does.

You already read it with me. He hears these people.

He doesn't even address them. He just amplifies his voice.

So many rebuked him and what does he do?

He cried out all the more. Jesus, son of David, have mercy

on me. You know what's so interesting

about this? Not only did his enthusiasm

remain, but the way he identified Christ was not

altered either. You know, it could be that some

of the people that rebuke Bartimaeus were bothered by the

fact that he was identifying Jesus as what?

Son of David. Maybe they didn't like that

either. Hey, he's Jesus from Nazareth.

Keep your mouth shut. We don't know if he's the son of

David yet, and Bartabaeus doesn't even see.

Doesn't even consider it at this point.

He just needs a touch from the Lord and that's all he's

concerned about. So who knows what all these

people are saying? Who knows how they're trying to

clam him? Jesus, son of David.

You know what that's a picture of?

When you believe the truth, expect there to be opposition

from the majority. And what Bartimaeus is showing

here is that his theology was not altered by the pressure of

the crowd. Don't call that sin.

Call it something else. You know what the spirit of

Bartimaeus would teach us? You stay your ground and you say

it as it is. You can't say that about Jesus

being the only way. Jesus is the only way.

You can't say that about the culture.

You can't say that about this particular group of people.

You can't say that about this. You can't say it about.

And here's Bartimaeus saying it the way he said it before, when

there was an opposition, when there was opposition, he didn't

falter, He didn't bend one bit. I love Bartimaeus.

We can use a few Bartimaeus on the pulpit.

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Don't say that. Jesus, son of David, have mercy

on me. I'm not changing for anybody.

This is true. And that's all I care about.

And look what the persistence rewarded.

Bartimaeus. Look at verse 49.

Very slowly the 1st 3 words and Jesus stopped.

Through all the hustle and bustle, right through all the

people crowding around him and all the overwhelming.

Noise. Something pierced through the

atmosphere and stirred the compassion of the Savior Jesus,

who was on his way with his face like Flint towards Jerusalem,

stopped walking. Imagine the sight people have

gathered their pace and their rhythm, and through all the

muffling all you hear in the distance is Jesus, son of David,

Jesus son of David. Be quiet, Bartimaeus.

Enough, Bart. Jesus son of David, have mercy

on me. And Jesus stops.

And when he stops it shows us the reward of what persistence

and determination does. It can get Christ's attention.

And the Lord here is willing to do something about Bartimaeus's

situation. He honors his plea, and we see

here that it wasn't just his determination, but it was the

substance of his supplication, right?

He? Yes, says Son of David.

He honors him with the accurate understanding of his character,

the messianic characteristics. But he also pleads for mercy,

Mercy. When a man realizes he needs

mercy. How many miracles do you read of

in the Bible where somebody asked for Jesus to have mercy

and he never denies it? So Bartimaeus did not just have

this perception about the identity of Christ.

He didn't just have the discernment for the value of the

moment. He had perception about himself.

I'm not worthy of this. I need this.

This needs to be given to me by grace.

I need mercy. When you come to the Lord like

that, and when you understand that you are undeserving of what

he can give you, that's when you attract the heart of Christ.

Not based on demand, not raising your fist to heaven, not trying

to shackle God to do what you want to do.

When you just come on the basis of mercy, you move the master.

So persistence with revelation about your need of mercy is the

recipe for Jesus, the one who rules and reigns even today, to,

metaphorically speaking, stopping and giving his

attention to a creature and to giving him what he needs.

So Bartimaeus, pleased for mercy his perception was right on.

A man who had no sight but could see Christ rightly the value of

the moment, and even himself. But it's not just his

perception. Here's the fifth point.

Now it's his passion. His passion can already be

translated, but it's amplified here in verse 50.

We can read from verse 49. And Jesus stopped and said call

him and they called the blind man saying to him take heart,

get up. And he is calling you.

What a different attitude from the crowd, huh?

They went from shut up to soothing.

They went from rebuking to reassuring man.

People can change so easily, but what's the reason for their

change? I'll tell you it's Jesus.

When Jesus said call him, they change themselves.

Jesus can change people's attitudes.

It's amazing. Well, this is just my

personality. Well, Jesus can save your

personality too. Jesus can sanctify your your

mouth. So these people rebuking

Bartimaeus Jesus, you know what call?

Him. Oh, yes, Jesus.

OK, and they go, hey, this is OK.

He's just calling you. That's how much?

Authority Christ has over the heart.

It's amazing what the Lord can do.

He saves the whole man. And so we see here that these

people call the blind man saying take hard, get up, he is calling

you. Now look at this verse 50 and.

Throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

Don't you love Barda Mays? I love Barda Mays.

The more I'm talking about him, the more I really want to meet

him in heaven, saying, What's so significant about this?

Well, again, we see here that he's throwing off his cloak.

That cloak is something that would be heavy enough for you to

sleep with and sleep on. And even that when he learned

that Jesus was calling him, he did not want that to be a

hindrance to him to get to Jesus as quickly as he could.

He threw that off, he sprang up and he ran to Jesus.

What's this response from the knowledge that what the people

saying to him, Jesus is calling you again?

Let me go back to what I said earlier.

I've lost count. Let's just even think about the

past two years in this very building.

How many times have we heard the gospel call?

How many times have we heard the gospel preached?

Now let me ask you this. How many times have you seen a

response like Bartimaeus to the invitation Jesus is calling you?

Isn't it staggering? Isn't it humbling?

Isn't it convicting? That you see, this man who not

only dismissed the crowd, who not only ignore this opportunity

that could have helped him temporarily, but he realized

there's somebody who can help him permanently.

And he says, forget this opportunity, forget this

appointment, forget the surprise invitation.

I want Jesus. And now, on top of that, what

does he do when he learns that Jesus calm, He's like this

thing's got to go and he throws off this cloak to run to.

Where is that desperation? I don't know where.

It is. But God help us, we need

revival. This man throws off his cloak.

It's a picture of you identifying anything in your

life that might be limiting you from coming to Jesus and saying

I'm getting rid of this thing. If you're in here and you don't

know Christ, can I ask you a question?

What's the one thing that's holding you back from giving

your life to Christ? And then once you identify it,

ask yourself, is it worth losing my soul over?

Ask that. Is it worth?

Denying the invitation to walk with my maker, who paid a price

for me to have fellowship with him, not just one day in heaven,

but on this side of heaven. What is the one thing holding

you back from surrendering everything to Christ?

And then ask this question? Is it worth losing my soul over

this man? The moment he knew what was

holding him back, he relinquished it, he removed it,

and he fled to Christ. Jesus is calling you.

I take the words of these people and I present it to you on this

Sunday afternoon. Jesus is calling you.

I've heard this from a couple people throughout my Christian

journey. I've heard some people say, you

know, I know what it means to be Christian.

I've heard this idea of the gospel, but I'm just waiting for

Jesus to convict me. If Jesus really wants me to be

saved, then he'll he'll reveal himself to me and and he'll tell

me that I need to be saved and he'll give me the faith.

And once I have the faith, then I'll believe in him.

If you've experienced that, if you've had that conversation,

you have another text to point that poor soul to.

I'm just waiting for Jesus to directly.

Well, look, even when Jesus was on earth, how did he call

Bartimaeus? Did Jesus come up to Bartimaeus?

No. He told the people to go and

call him. If Jesus, while on earth, used

people to tell others that he was calling them, how much more

now that he's ascended on high, sitting at the right hand of

God. Here's how we make sense of all

this when a person who knows Jesus is telling you by the word

of God that Jesus calling you it's Jesus calling you.

That's the point that I'm getting across.

Well, Jesus is just going to have to appear himself to me.

Well look, Bartimaeus here was called by Jesus, and he didn't

have that line of argumentation. I'm not going to come up unless

Jesus comes up. He leaves that parade and he

comes right to me. No, no, no, no.

Messengers of Jesus said Jesus is beckoning you and that was

enough for him to spring up and run to Jesus.

So this man's passion is so. Obvious.

And what you and I have to understand here is that whenever

Jesus calls, you know these phones these days tells you who

calls and when you miss the call.

Sometimes I'm so busy I miss a lot of calls.

And every time I look at that rut red with a number on, I

realize, oh, there's all these calls I missed and it's logged

there to remind me. You have calls to respond to.

You know that God has the same thing.

Do you know God? Keeps in mind every single time

he calls you and you don't answer.

Every single time saying prove it to me gladly.

Isaiah 65, verse 12. Isaiah 65, verse 12.

Isaiah 65:12 Isaiah 65:12

Here's what God says to His people who are ignoring His

calls. I will destine you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter.

Because when I called, you did not answer.

When I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was

evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.

There it is. Because when I called, it went

straight to voicemail. God remembers every single time

He's called. Well, God hasn't called me

newsflash. He's calling you now when this

word is open and when it's faithfully declared and when the

gospel invitation is laid out, that is God and His Providence,

calling you personally to give your life to His Son.

And when you ignore that call, he remembers, and in His mercy

he can call you again. But let's learn from Barnabas

and realize that that one call may be the last call.

I may never get a call again. So we see the passion of this

man, and the passion is exemplified even further after

the miracle takes place. Let's just Fast forward to verse

52. Look what the Lord does and

Jesus said to him Go your way. Your faith has made you well,

and immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the

way. If the physical blindness here

is a consistent picture of our spiritual blindness and a

picture of what God does at salvation, then Jesus command in

the response of Bartimaeus can equally be an illustration of

what should happen after Christ opens your eyes.

Does that make sense? So Jesus is ready to heal this

man's eyes and he gives him instructions.

He says go your way, right? Why is that important?

Because with these new eyes, there would be no.

Need for Bartimaeus to sit on the roadside again and start

begging. These new eyes demanded a new

way of life. These new eyes called for

Bartimaeus to have a New Hope, a new strength, a new grace, to

walk through life in a different way.

It would be strange for Bartimaeus to have his eyes open

and then for him to return to the sidewalk and to begin where

he left off. And I make the same case today

that every person who's truly had his eyes open, by Christ,

they cannot go back to the way that they were.

They must go a different way. Now here's what moves me,

because we're still under the category, the fifth point, the

5th observation of Bartimaeus's passion.

Here's this man who threw off his cloak, who runs to Jesus and

Jesus heals him and Jesus tells him go your way.

That's a very general exhortation.

Go your way. Now let me ask you something.

Imagine being blind for years. Imagine not being able to see

anything, not even to make out any silhouette.

Nothing. Just pitch black and your eyes

were open for the first time. What would you want to do first?

What site would you want to see? What family member would you

visit? Whose door will you knock on to

surprise that you can now make out who they Who's the person

that you have imagined to look like something by the sound of

the voice, but now you can't wait to actually see them for

who they are. Who?

What place would you go? Who would you?

Imagine this. Imagine put yourself in the

situation Where would you run? Jesus says go your way.

You know what's the first thing that Bartimaeus does?

The last part of verse 52? And immediately he recovered his

sight and followed him, followed him on the way.

Bartimaeus, with his fresh new eyes, wanted to keep them on

Jesus and follow him. He wanted to look at the one who

just healed him. He wanted to behold the one who

just saved him. He wanted to relish the one who

just delivered him. That's where Bartimaeus wanted

to go. He could have gone to 100

different places. He could have sat with 100

different people. But instead, his instinct, the

moment that his eyes were open, is I want to follow this man.

I want to go where the son of David goes.

What a passion this man had. But we have our final point

here. With all our peace.

We have the paradigm. The word paradigm simply means

example or model. This is the story of Bartimaeus,

right? But it's a story that's

connected to Christ. And how can we study or read a

story about Christ and not learn something directly from Christ?

So we come back here to our text and notice again verse 51.

Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you?

In about a week, Jesus is about to be nailed on the cross.

In a few days, Jesus is going to be brutally betrayed, tortured,

mocked, scorned. You can imagine what would

occupy a heart, knowing that their fate is just around the

corner. And with all that he is

preparing for with the mission that is before him, this man was

willing to pause and to help a beggar.

This is our example, you're saying?

What does this mean? Remember what Jesus finished

teaching his disciples before Bartimaeus's miracle.

Look back here again with me and Mark in chapter 10, verse 43.

But it shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and

whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and

to give his life as a ransom for many.

Yes, he would ultimately give his life as a ransom for many on

the cross, but throughout his life he spilled himself to serve

other people, and now he shows it with Bartimaeus.

Do you see that he just finished teaching his disciples?

Serve others? You want to be the greatest?

Be a slave? Consider everyone more

significant than yourself, And here's Christ.

Imagine this on his way to the appointment that would save

humanity from their sins. And when this beggar interrupts

him on the way, Jesus, as the servant of servants, stops and

helps him. That's your Christ.

That is your savior. That is the Lord that you love,

this Jesus, who had every right and excuse to ignore.

Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus, I have to die for everybody's sins,

including yours. But because he is the perfect

servant, when he hears a need, he stops, no matter how much it

might have been an interference, no matter how much it might have

caused, whatever it may be. He stopped and he looked up

Bartimaeus. And he says this.

What can I do for you? Don't you melt at the humility

of Christ. I do.

Maybe you're like me and don't handle interruptions too well at

sometimes. But here's Christ willing to be

interrupted. You know why?

Because a servant doesn't object to interruptions.

A servant serves when the opportunity arises.

So we have our example here, whether we have our own

problems, whether we have our own burdens.

A servant looks at others and says, what can I do for you?

And that's Christ. Are you with me?

And seeing the joy that the story of Bartimaeus brings, we

have his passion, his persistence.

We have his person. We have his perception, we have

all these things, but we end here on Christ, Christ, Christ.

For the Christians example, you and I again are being reminded

by way of illustration of what it means to serve.

But I can't help There's something in my heart that wants

to end in this way. Once again making a plea for a

person who doesn't know Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross

for you. Have you surrendered to him?

Have you had your sins forgiven? You have been entertaining the

peripheral. You have been exploring from a

distance. Perhaps you have been admiring

and your admiration is growing, but none of that equates to him

touching your eyes and opening them.

I'm inviting you today that the same Jesus that we just read and

heard about is the same Jesus who can cure this blindness.

And all you need to do is do what the Pharisees refuse to do.

And that's to admit I do not see as I should.

My standard of truth is not in alignment with this word.

I've actually resisted the claims of Jesus, but now I ask

that he would heal me. I want to believe as he calls me

to believe. I want to see as he calls me to

see. I no longer want this guilt.

If this Christ that you proclaim can heal me of my blindness,

then may He heal me. Even as I'm preaching now.

Perhaps the noise of the crowd is muffling my voice.

Who cares about the crowd and what they can offer you in this

moment? Who cares what this life throws

at you? It's all temporal.

There is a touch from Christ that will change you forever.

And I plea with I beg you that you today would not ignore this

message Jesus is calling you. Throw off the cloak.

Run to him and surrender to him, and he will answer.

If you do today with that faith, no matter what your sin is, no

matter what you've done, no matter the hardness of heart, if

you respond to him, I assure you This is why the story is here.

Jesus Christ, the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.

He who lives today, He will return at any moment will stop.

Pay attention to you. And regenerate your soul, and

you can walk out of those wooden doors with a new heart.

Lord, we ask you this afternoon that you would do just that.

Son of David, have mercy on us. We pray for the one who doesn't

know you, that they would know you for the one who knows you,

that they would be transformed further by the very mercy you

display. Thank you, Lord, that not just

in salvation, but when we call upon you for mercy in any

situation, you're willing to answer, and all you require from

us is persistence and a revelation of our neediness and

miracles can take place there. For any person here who needs a

touch from you, a fresh touch from you, Lord, may we not get

caught up in distractions. May we not get caught up, Lord,

in the fear of what others may say or do.

May we just get consumed like this man was with what Christ

can do and how he's available to me and Lord, to take advantage

of this very opportunity. Now with the faith that has been

inspired by this text to now call upon you for a need.

Thank you that you said my house shall be called the House of

prayer. We can pray to you if you want

us to commune with you, to fellowship with you, even in

this place. And so we asked Lord that this

would be the case. Oh Lord, may we, like this man,

realize our great need and trust that you are a great God who can

provide every need in Jesus name.

Amen. My heart is so stirred by

Barnabas. The story really is has been

since I've been studying about him.

It's so hard to preach a message like this and to just resume.

I'm not sure how to resume from here.

I really am not sure I'm going to trust in the work of the Holy

Spirit in the hearts that he wants to move in and is moving

in. But I would just, I would just

really encourage you in this place if you have a need.

I'm talking to even believe it. Or if you have a need, just like

forget about everything else around you, not in a disruptive

way, but just between you and the Lord.

Just ask him to do something. I believe with all my heart that

Jesus can answer prayer. I believe that even in this

moment God can do something spectacular.

I believe it. I'm just giving you the

opportunity, even as the songs are saying, not just mindlessly

parrot words, even if you need to stay.

I'm giving you permission if you need it, even stay seated if you

need to, just to commune with the Lord and saying, oh God,

please, I do need mercy in this area of my life.

I need you to intervene. Lord, please.

And if you don't know Christ, I'm going to be sitting on that

Pew and I will stay there until midnight if I need to.

If you do not know Christ, and even if you just have questions

about your salvation about who Jesus is, I will sit here with

you as long as possible to help you know greater things about

him and to answer any questions that you may have.

And so, as the music is playing, even if during the music you

want to plot beside me, I'll sit with you and I will answer and I

will pray with you. Pastor Mark is there too.

He's there, sitting there in the 4th row.

He's willing to do that as well. If you came with a believer, I'm

sure they're willing to do that as well.

I want anybody here who doesn't know Christ to at least know

that there was a church that I visited one day that loved me

too much to let me go so easily. That's why we're here.

You can come up, Praise team. If you wanna stay seated, you

can do that. If you wanna stand and sing, you

can do that. Nobody's forced to do anything.

But I wanna give you the chance that if you need to have

questions answered, I'm here for you and I wanna pray with you.