Pleading, Seeing, and Believing (Mark 10:46-52)

Mark chapter 10.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

My title this morning is Pleading, Seeing, and Believing.

Pleading, Seeing, and Believing.

It was Thursday, October the 20th, 2011.

A two-year-old girl named Yiwe.

She is struck by a van.

And after several minutes, 18 different people would pass by her and do nothing.

Some people actually went out of their way so as to avoid her.

Next thing you know, another van hits her.

The first van hit and run.

Second van, same thing, hit and run.

Finally, a garbage collector stopped to help her.

But it was too late.

They get her to the hospital where she is declared brain dead, and the next day she died.

So one lady was interviewed afterwards, and the lady said, Well, it wasn't my child, so why should I stop and get involved?

The whole thing that I just described to you was caught on video and actually proved to be an embarrassment to the proud Chinese people, as it would be embarrassing if it happened here.

My question for you is if you had seen that happen, would you have stopped and helped her?

Now, whether you would have not, I know somebody for a fact who would have stopped, and his name is Jesus.

Because in our story this morning, we're going to see him basically do the exact same thing.

We're going to see deity stop in his tracks, not to help somebody who was on the verge of dying, but to help someone who longed for healing, who longed for restoration.

And that man's name is Bartimaeus.

Blind Bartimaeus, as we sometimes refer to him.

So for those of you who might not have been being here on these Sundays, let me catch you up with where we are in Mark's Gospel, chapter 10.

So Jesus, for the third time, has told his disciples explicitly, as a matter of fact, according to verses 33 and following, he told his men, I will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes.

They will condemn me to death and deliver me over to the Gentiles.

They will mock me, spit on me, flog me, and kill me, and after three days I will rise.

It's as though, and I've said this before, it's as though that for the third time has gone in one ear and out the other.

It just doesn't register.

They have no clue that all the servant pat the suffering servant passages in the Old Testament were pointing to this man, Jesus.

They're viewing Jesus as the deliverer, the one who will alleviate all the Roman oppression and set up a kingdom where the Jewish people will reign with him.

And with that in mind, if you were here last week, James and John, Jesus, can we can we ask a favor?

Their mom is alongside.

She's also using her influence as a potential family member.

Can we sit on either side of you when you establish your kingdom?

The other ten disciples get a little ticked because they didn't think about it first.

And then Jesus quickly shut down the petty competitiveness, the selfish, ambitious desires of those men.

And he says, guys, if you have a sincere desire to be well thought of in the kingdom, guess what you got to do?

You got to be a servant.

You got to be a slave.

He uses that language.

You got to be a slave to all people.

For even the Son of God did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

So with that in mind, Jesus and the disciples, according to verse 46, Jesus and his disciples are continuing their march toward Jerusalem.

And here we're going to see Jesus demonstrate a servant's heart.

Verse 46, and they came to Jericho.

Jericho was about 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem.

Now what's interesting is they are arriving at what we could call New Testament Jericho.

And Jericho, when Jesus and the disciples arrived there, it is a thriving city, a metropolis for that day, if you will.

That's not the Old Testament Jericho, which was a few miles north of that.

If you know your Bibles well, you'll know that Jericho, the walls came tumbling down.

It was a part of God's directions to his people to cut to take conquest over Canaan.

So rubble, a new Jericho, is now where Jesus and the disciples are entering.

Verse 46.

And as he was leaving Jericho with the disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.

Most of you probably know why there is a great crowd.

It actually is not all because of Jesus.

Certainly some people are following along because of Jesus, but the masses are going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

That extraordinary celebration of the Israelite people when God delivered them from Egyptian bondage.

That last plague, the death angel.

If I see blood, if I see blood of an innocent, spotless lamb over your doorpost, I will pass over you.

And sure enough, the death angel did.

And now Jesus is going to Jerusalem.

He's going to become the Passover Lamb.

And from God's perspective, all of us who take that blood as it were and paint it over the doorpost of our heart, we indeed will have the death angel pass over us and we'll have eternal life.

So the men are passing through, they're going over with this large crowd.

And out of this large crowd, I have no idea how many hundreds or maybe a few thousand people are in this crowd, the Holy Spirit directs our attention to one man by the name of Bartimaeus.

Now, what's interesting about it, if you've been being here for our series through Mark, we've seen Jesus heal dozens and dozens, hundreds of people.

We don't have a clue who they are.

The woman with the issue of blood, this woman's son, this person, Bartimaeus.

We know him by name.

I wonder why.

We do not know for sure, but people with a whole lot more Bible knowledge than I have think that it's possible that Bartimaeus would later on become a leader and a key player in the church in Jerusalem.

He's going to become perhaps a key player in the very beginnings of Christianity and the founding of the church as we know it today.

Now, let's think about this.

Bartimaeus is blind.

Let's just pause for a moment, try as best we can.

I don't, I'm not, I'm not meaning to put anybody on the spot.

Is anybody in this room blind?

I know, I know we have a couple of ladies in our church that are struggling with their sight.

Seeing is very, very difficult.

But I don't know of anybody that calls unity home that's completely blind.

But let's just try to imagine what it would be like to be blind.

Blindness meant profound dependence.

I mean, think about it.

No eyeglasses in that day, no corrective surgery possibilities, no guide dogs, no accessibility technology, braille hadn't been invented yet.

Can you imagine how dependent you are on other people?

I mean, ordinary tasks that we take for granted.

Just being able to walk from one room to another without bumping into the walls or the doors, finding food and water, navigating crowded streets, avoiding obstacles, just recognizing people.

You have to recognize them by their voices, by other things, protecting yourself from danger.

He could not, he couldn't just simply pull out his cell phone and say, hey, by the way, can you come help me?

No.

He had to beg.

He's a blind beggar.

His blindness also meant social marginalization.

Now, what why do where do I draw that from?

In Jesus' day, even though it was theologically inaccurate, in Jesus' day, the prevailing Jewish thought was if somebody is blind or has some other type of major physiological problem, guess what?

That's an indication of divine judgment.

Remember John chapter 9, the man who's born blind?

John 9 · chapter mention

And the disciples themselves said, Well, Lord, now somebody sinned, was it him or his parents?

And Jesus said, It is neither.

It is so that I and my father might be even more glorified.

But that was still the prevailing thing.

So if that's the case, it is probable that Bartimaeus was a loner.

Man, you don't want to hang around with somebody that divine judgment's already been poured out.

There might be more coming.

You don't want to get any of the shrapnel.

So it's very possible that he experienced marginalization.

Um, again, he was a beggar.

Getting a job was impossible.

I can only imagine how hard it is for people who are blind to get a job today, let alone in that day.

Nobody is hiring, nobody's putting a sign in their storefront saying, hiring blind people.

We have special things that you can only you can do.

So he's he's he's he's begging, he's probably therefore clothed in rags, probably unkempt.

And maybe, this is just my sanctified imagination, maybe the more um unappealing you look, the more unkempt you are, maybe the more sympathy you can generate.

I mean, after all, even here in Little Old Greenville, when you see people at various intersections begging, they're not in suits.

And so maybe Bartimaeus, if we if we were if we were able to capture him with our own mind's eye, he's probably a very rough looking dude.

And he goes to the same spot and begs day after day after day.

I don't know anything about that.

I've never truly begged anybody for food or money.

Now I beg mom and dad for a whole lot of stuff, but that that's not the same kind of begging.

But this man, he's begging, asking, can you help me?

Can you help me?

And keep in mind, he's blind.

So he, I mean, as as he hears people approaching, he can't he can't look to see if if maybe this person has compassion in their heart.

Hey man, can you help me?

Ma'am, sir, I don't know.

I I I can't your your your footsteps sounded kind of heavy, sir.

Can you help me?

Can you help me?

That's his life every day.

I don't know how old he is.

I don't know for sure.

We'll talk about this more in a moment.

I don't know for sure if he's been born uh blind from birth, but for however many years he's a beggar, depending on people for something and anything else he can get.

So notice that Barnamaeus was sitting by the roadside.

Everybody else is moving forward somewhere, and he's just sitting there.

The crowd is moving, Bartimaeus is stuck, but then he hears something that will change everything.

He hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.

Five ways to plead when you're in need.

First, plead humbly.

Plead humbly.

Look at 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.

Now, Luke in his gospel account tells us that when Bartimaeus heard the crowd, he asked somebody, What's going on?

And amongst all the other pastors by who were going to Passover, somebody tells them that Jesus of Nazareth is going by.

And Nicodemus couldn't see Jesus, but he sure knew a whole lot about Jesus.

And based on that prior knowledge, he immediately cries out, notice, Jesus, son of David.

Now, he was told that Jesus from Nazareth is there.

He cries out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Folks, that title, son of David, that's got messianic overtones all over it.

Because in 2 Samuel chapter 7, we're told that the Messiah would be David, King David, his greater son, the eternal heir to the throne.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

So, folks, Nicodemus, he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is here, and he recognizes, guess what?

He's more than just from Nazareth.

He's more than just the carpenter's son.

This is the Messiah.

That's what we see Bartimaeus believing.

And even with blinded eyes, Bartimaeus saw what many people could not see.

Jesus, as the son of David, he believes is actually the Son of God, the promised Messiah.

Now, someone once bluntly asked blind and deaf, Helen Keller, isn't it terrible to be blind?

To which she replied, Better to be blind and see with the heart than to have two good eyes and see nothing.

Oh Bartimaeus, he didn't have two good eyes.

But man, could he see who was in front of him or who was passing by Jesus?

Now, when Jesus walks, when he walks by old Bartimaeus, he already had a heart overflowing with faith.

It was full with full awareness of whom he was addressing.

Bartimaeus began to cry out, have mercy on me.

Have mercy on me.

He's not making any appeal to any kind of heritage.

He's not taking any claims.

He's not seeking any kind of entitlement.

Look, I'm needy.

I'm needy.

I have mercy.

I'm not calling a favor.

Just have mercy on me.

And he had this strong awareness of his unworthiness, of his helplessness, and he had a strong desire for Jesus to intervene.

And so, folks, can I just pause for a moment and urge you, whenever, whenever you pray about anything, don't ever pray from a sense of entitlement.

If you get what you're entitled to, guess where you're going?

You're going to hell.

So don't ever think, man, I'm entitled to this.

True prayer about anything always comes from a humble heart.

Anne Graham Lotts.

She tells of a time when she spoke at a Christian gathering that was multi-generational, multiracial, and multi-denominational.

Before she spoke, a young pastor walked up to the platform to lead in prayer.

With eyes wide open, walking back and forth, gesturing to the congregation, he did not miss a beat as he prayed.

She writes, he was smooth, dynamic, polished, articulate, and proud.

I hesitate, she says, I hesitate to say that because only God could see his heart, but he came across as being almost spiritually arrogant, haughty.

In his words, body language, and gestures.

He seemed to be performing to impress instead of praying.

And he certainly didn't lead me into God's presence.

In fact, the spirit within me recoiled.

His prayer, she writes, reminded me of a story Jesus told to those who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.

In that story, some of you will recall in Luke 18.

There are two people in the story, in the parable.

One, an arrogant, proud Pharisee, decked out, and he stands there.

Oh God, I'm so thankful that I'm not like other men.

And like that publican, that tax collector, who were abased in that culture.

And so he's praying like that.

Meanwhile, the tax collector back in the back, and again in the story, and he's beating his chest.

God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Guess who went home right with God that day?

Not that guy.

This guy back here.

Be merciful, be merciful.

And so Jesus tells us that the humble tax collector, he went home justified rather than the proud Pharisee.

Folks, just listen.

Listen to the first part of Proverbs 16, verse 5.

Proverbs 16:5

Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to God.

It don't matter what you may be arrogant about.

If you are, man, I'm telling you, you nauseate the Lord.

Isaiah 66, 2.

These are the ones God says that I look on with favor.

Don't you want God's favor?

Man, that whole concept of God's favor has been so prominent in my life for the past, I don't know, 12 to 18 months.

But these are the ones that I look on with favor.

Those who were humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word.

And then listen to James 4, 6.

It teaches us that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Now, folks, it's a little interesting to me how sometimes we can actually have pride creep into our prayers.

You know how?

Now you might not say it like this, but if we're not real careful, we'll think like this.

Now, Lord, now you know I've been a good little Christian.

And you know I have standards and I have convictions, and I don't do, I don't do some of the things I hear other.

And so, Lord, because of that, I'm stop it.

You cannot impress the Lord, nor should you try.

Just stay humble.

It's me, old Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

It's me, a humble sinner, saved by grace.

And yes, we are new people in Christ, but it doesn't change the fact that we are to be humble and contrite.

And so while the Lord does encourage us to pray boldly, we'll touch on that in a minute, that never negates the need to pray and plead humbly.

Number two, a second way to plead when you're in need.

Plead persistently.

Plead persistently.

Verse 48.

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me.

So many rebuked him, telling him to be quiet.

Hey man, just hush, hush, you're an embarrassment.

Oh, son of David, have mercy on me.

Shut up.

Son of David, have mercy on me.

If you don't shut up, you're gonna need somebody to have mercy on you.

Son of David, have mercy on me.

They couldn't shut him up.

Man, kudos to Bartimaeus.

Imagine a presidential press conference.

There are maybe, you know, a couple of dozen reporters there.

The president speaking now, open for questions.

Have y'all got blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah?

And there's several of them speaking, they're raising their hands and trying to be the loudest.

Oh Bartamaeus would have been a good uh person in that setting.

Son of David, have mercy on me.

I don't know how many times he said it.

I don't know how often he repeated it, maybe two times, three times.

All I know is he cried for mercy long enough, it gets Jesus' attention.

Now, don't be mistaken by me saying that.

That didn't mean that Jesus heard him and thought, nah, I ain't got time for that.

There's a crowd of people.

And Bartimaeus speaks and speaks and cries and cries, and Jesus hears.

Now, um, I wonder, I wonder if Bartimaeus got discouraged.

Even even in the heat of the moment, I wonder if he got discouraged.

People telling him to be quiet and shut up.

Maybe, maybe you're dealing with some discouragement.

It might not be from people telling you to be quiet and to stop, but so you've got this prayer list.

And maybe it's handwritten or maybe it's typed out and you add to it occasionally.

It really doesn't matter, but there's somebody's name on there.

And you've been praying for them maybe five years.

Maybe it's somebody you've been praying for for 15 years, 20 years.

And maybe, maybe you have found yourself thinking recently, why do I bother?

I've prayed for this person, I've prayed about this need hundreds, hundreds of times.

Why bother?

Maybe it's a son who walked away from God.

Maybe it's a spouse who isn't a Christian, a friend battling an addiction, a marriage that's falling apart, a child who's rejected the faith.

What's the point?

Are you tempted to think that?

If so, I urge you to remember what Luke 18, verse 1 says.

Luke 18:1

Keep on praying, pray persistently.

Then, in the parable that he told to teach that truth, he talked about this woman.

And she had been done wrong.

Somebody had mistreated her, broken the law against her.

She goes to the judge.

Guess what?

That judge couldn't give a squat thought about God, didn't really care about people.

That's what the story tells us.

Didn't know about God, didn't care about people.

And yet she kept asking.

And finally, it's as though this unjust judge said, You know what?

I am tired of this woman.

And so he passed judgment in her favor.

Then the teaching is guess what?

And he does care about people.

How much more encouraging should we be to keep on praying to our just judge, our just gracious God.

Be persistent, keep praying.

Now, a number of you, you know the story, but the Lord keeps bringing new people our way, and so maybe you've not heard this story.

I'll give you an abbreviated version.

Um, my dad, he grew up under a Jehovah's Witness influence.

He never bought into it fully, but his mom was sold out.

My dad had two or three sisters sold out to all Jehovah's Witness theology.

My dad used to have watch tower books.

My mom, my grandmother, his mom would give to him, I can still see us now.

We'd get in and he'd put that book under the car seat.

And um, and so consequently, my mom, um, she had me and my brother Rex and Susan, my sister, in church.

I mean, every Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, vacation Bible school, revival meetings, missionary conferences, you name it, we were there.

If the doors were open, we were there.

And every time we would be involved in church, youth group, children's church, mom with adult stuff, she'd be saying, pray for dentist, pray for dentist, pray for dentists.

And Rex and Susan and I pray for dad, pray for dad, pray for dad.

We did that for years.

I I can I can't remember when we didn't do that.

As early as I can remember, we're asking for the Lord to save our dad, my dad.

And then it was my senior year in Bible college.

And that's when my dad put his faith and trust in Jesus.

I got to baptize my own dad.

Now, how cool is that?

Now, I would have preferred, actually, I would have preferred one of my other pastors like Stephanie's dad, Brother Bobby Parker, I would have preferred him baptizing because that means he would have been saved earlier.

But I'm just telling you, we didn't give up.

We didn't give up.

And so for any of you that might be thinking, man, learn from Barnamas.

Keep on asking, keep on praying.

Don't let any voices in your head say, hey, just be quiet.

Don't know, don't.

But now, having said that, I need to give you a very important clarifying principle.

Okay?

Persistent praying is not praying until you get what you want.

No, it is praying and trusting God for Him to give you what you need.

And so sometimes, um, and I think sometimes we we I don't think we mean it this way, but we sometimes act as though we believe that God doesn't answer our prayers unless He does what we've asked Him to do.

Folks, God is God.

And He may say no.

He may say not yet.

Or He may say, you know what, I'm gonna say yes, but in a little bit different way than maybe you had envisioned.

So we're not we're not praying until we get what you now, even in the case of praying for my dad's salvation, I'm not being contradictory.

I'm just I'm taking the Bible and I'm taking reality and trying to help us understand.

My dad still had to make his own decision to put his faith in Jesus.

So our prayers for for God's spirit to work and to influence and to break and to clarify and to draw.

And God was kind and gracious enough to do that to the point where Dad did say yes.

So pray persistently.

Third way to pray, to plead when you're in need, pray confidently.

Pray confidently.

Um, verse 49.

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.

Um think about all that's on Jesus' mind.

He is days away from going up the Via de la Rosa, the way of suffering.

He is days away from the spit and the buffeting and the betrayal and the abandonment and the agonizing pain, and yet he's got time.

He's got time for this man.

Folks, humility and sincerity will stop deity in his tracks.

Um when when you and I hear something that maybe is super encouraging or something that maybe we had been longing to hear, we sometimes say, Well, man, that is music to my ears.

And guess what?

When somebody, anybody, including little old you, when you sincerely, humbly cry out to the Lord for mercy, that is music to the Lord's ears.

Yes, that's good stuff, if you will.

That's music to the Lord's ears.

Um, the heart's cry of one in need is far sweeter to Christ than the shallow hallelujah of the crowd.

That's that those are days away.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, Hosanna, Hosanna.

Right.

Some of those same people are gonna be saying, crucify him, crucify him.

But boy, when you sincerely, not trying to make an impression, you just sincerely cry out, man, music to his ears.

It's good stuff to him.

Now, I say all that to say this God's throne is a throne of grace.

And if you as a believer are humbly pleading and persistently crying out for mercy, then you can at the same time plead confidently that Jesus will hear your pleading just as he did, Bartimaeus.

Proof.

Psalm 116, verses 1 and 2.

Psalms 116:1

The psalmist says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy, because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

May we be like the psalmist.

Hebrews 4.16.

Let us then, because we have a faithful high priest who's passed on into the heavens, let us then with confidence, with boldness, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Psalm 86, 15, but you, O God, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Lamentations 3.22.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

His mercy, his mercies never come to an end.

And all God's people said, You're thinking, Amen.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Verse 49.

And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart.

Get up, he is calling you.

There's any number of things that can cause a take heart response.

Um, maybe it's a couple, they've been trying and trying, and they hear, you're pregnant.

Take heart, you're pregnant.

Or maybe it's somebody, hey, take heart.

You're in remission.

Take heart.

The biopsies were benign.

Take heart.

Your way's been paid.

Take heart.

You've been accepted.

You you made the team.

But boy, can you imagine blind Bartimaeus, man, all however long, can you help me?

Can you help me?

Can you spare?

Can you spare a denarii?

Can you spare denarius?

Hey, Bartimaeus, man, take heart.

Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of David, has requested your presence.

And I love me.

The Bible says, Me, here, here we go.

And man, I can just, man, where, where, where, where is he?

Maybe you, maybe you need to take heart.

Because maybe through God's Spirit, He's calling you to Himself this morning.

More about that at the end.

A fourth way to plead when you're in need.

Plead specifically.

Plead specifically.

Verse 51.

And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you?

Hello.

Didn't we hear that last week?

It's the exact same phrase that Jesus is recorded as saying in verse 36.

James and John, what would you like for me to do to you?

They, with selfish ambition, well, you know, know what you ask.

Verse 51, and the blind man said to him, Rabbi, and that is a term of affection there, Rabbi, oh sweet teacher of Israel, let me recover my sight.

His driving passion was to get out of the impenetrable darkness that defined his life, where he groped in danger, always depending on someone else to take him by the hand and lead him.

Lord, I would love to have my sight again.

Verse 52.

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.

Now, imagine how it was for Bartimaeus.

Blind at the beginning of Christ's sentence, he was seeing at the end of it.

No surgery, no bandages, no glasses, no contact, boom, fight.

Ha diggity dog.

Um, so to just maybe give us a glimpse of the joy that might have been experienced, watch this real short clip?

That's what happened to him.

Think about this.

We're told that Bartimaeus followed Jesus on the way.

What did Jesus say?

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I think that's a pregnant statement that I'm gonna be rushed to prove in a minute.

Um but he starts following Jesus.

Think about this.

Here's blind Bartimaeus.

He is on the verge of being one of the eyewitnesses of all that happened to Jesus.

He's gonna go into Jerusalem.

He, with these fresh, vivid, fully functioning eyes, are gonna see all of the horrors of the cross.

And then he's gonna see the crucifixion.

I mean, and then the resurrection.

Um a fifth way to plead when you're in need, to plead thankfully.

Plead thankfully.

This is captured in Luke's gospel, uh, chapter 18.

And keep in mind, if someone pleads humbly, the natural result is also to be thankful.

Verse 43 of Luke 18, and immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God.

And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Now, real quick, I would like for us to take this incredible story, and I believe we can, with exegetical integrity, see an illustration of salvation.

So keep in mind, there um Bartimaeus says, Hey, have mercy on me.

He's acknowledged his need, his spiritual bankruptcy, he's not asking for anything.

He deserved, he wants mercy.

And that's what maybe someone in this room needs to do.

God, would you be merciful to me as sinner?

Would you be merciful to me?

Someone told Barnamaeus in the crowd, take heart, get up, he's calling you, and maybe in God's sovereignty, I've got that privilege right now to tell you, hey, Jesus is calling.

Jesus is calling.

Take heart, take heart.

The forgiver of your sins, the healer of your soul is here, if you will.

Um, maybe he's calling you not to deliver you from literal blindness, but from spiritual blindness, because 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says, the God of this age has blinded the mind of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel.

Maybe you need to ask the Lord, maybe someone watching online, you need to ask the Lord to open your spiritual eyes, to alleviate, to stop the spiritual blindness.

To be safe from your sins, you've got to acknowledge your need.

You've got to recognize Jesus is the only one able to forgive you of your sin.

Plead for mercy, ask for forgiveness, all of that.

Now, notice with me this when Jesus told Bartimaeus, go your way, your faith has made you well.

The word well there, that's not the normal word that you would have expected if you know the Greek language and know the word for healed.

It's a word that is used in other places for salvation.

Just one example.

This is what the angel said to Joseph.

Joseph, your wife, great with child, guess what?

God's behind it all.

And Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

He will heal his people of their sinfulness.

So, folks, I'm fully convinced that when blind Bartimaeus is crying out, Oh God, be merciful to me, be merciful to me.

Jesus knows that behind that is more than just a plea for his eyes to be open.

God also knew this man wants to know me and have his spiritual eyes open.

And so, man, he goes to Jerusalem knowing the one who will actually pay the price to make forgiveness of sin possible.

And maybe that's what you need today.

Just to cry out, oh Lord, have mercy on me.

Save my soul.

Would you bow your head with me?

Um, a story is told of a medical missionary who performed surgery on a poor blind man, restored his sight, and for a period of time that man went missing.

Nobody could find him.

After several days, the man knocks on the doctor's door.

He's holding a rope.

And behind him are ten other blind people who are also holding the rope.

He had brought them to the doctor.

And maybe those of us with spiritual eyes to see.

Let's don't walk past the blind barnamuses of our life.

Let's pay attention to those who are needy.

And maybe the Lord might use us to help bring them to a glorious vision, a salvific experience with Jesus.

Right now, um, right before we're dismissed, is there someone here in this service?

It might be the first time you've ever been here, it might be the third, the seventh, or whatever.

But you would say, Jeff, I'm telling you, I know I need Jesus.

I know I need forgiveness, I know I need mercy.

And I am calling out to Jesus.

I want him to forgive me of my sins.

I'm calling out to him right now, Lord, be my Savior, forgive me.

Is there anyone who your heart is echoing those kind of faults?

Anyone?

Would you just maybe raise your hand and let me know?

I'm not going to embarrass you, I'm not going to come up to you.

Yes, thank you, thank you.

I see I see at least three.

Anybody else?

Yes, thank you.

Yes.

Okay, if if again, Jesus says that all of sin and come short.

Jesus says the wages of sin is death, eternal death.

And you've got to believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins, that he was buried, and that he rose again.

And the Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So as you may be or in the process of doing that, if you are sincerely calling out, then just say, Oh Lord, I admit I'm a sinner and I want salvation.

I want my sins forgiven.

Be merciful, oh Lord, and save my soul.

On the authority of God's word, not this preacher.

No, on the authority of the Bible.

If you've done that and you did it sincerely, then the Bible says you are one of his.

You're a child of a king.