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Ironton, Ohio 45638

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BLIND BARTIMAEUS

Sunday Morning, March 18, 2007

Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

Mk 10:46  And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

Mk 10:47  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, [thou] Son of David, have mercy on me.

Mk 10:48  And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, [Thou] Son of David, have mercy on me.

Mk 10:49  And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

Mk 10:50  And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

Mk 10:51  And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

Mk 10:52  And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

 _________________________

This is a familiar story.  Jesus is on His way to Calvary.  He is making His Journey; on His way to the cross.  It is not going to be long that He is going to die for us and for the sins of the world.  On this particular day, He came to Jericho and as He was going out of Jericho there was a fellow by the name of blind Bartimaeus.  There was a great bunch of people with Jesus.

 

Many times, we think that He had only a few that followed Him.  However, there were hundreds, even thousands of people following Jesus. 

 

I thought about Bartimaeus.  The Bible tells us that he was blind.  He sat by this highway, a main route in and out of Jericho.  He sat here and begged.  I thought about him and how that he must have felt. 

 

I do not have any idea how long that he had been blind.  I do not know how long that he had been here.  I do not know that many years that he had been here, but I thought about him and how that he sat here everyday.  He probably thought that he would never be able to see green trees or play with the children, or see his parents.  He probably thought that he would not get to see the beauty that is on earth. 

 

I thought about how that many folks think today.  Many folks as they are on their journey in life, we think that things will never get any better.  Sometimes we think that we will never see a good day.  Sometime we think that we will never be able to get to the place in life where that we can just be happy living on planet earth.  Sometimes we think that we will never get to a place in life that we can just get up in the morning and be happy; go to work and be happy; come home and be happy.  Sometimes we think that we can never get there in life.  For many folks that is true because they do not want to come the way that they need to come where they can enjoy life and love living.  ...to be able to see great things, to be able to participate with their families, to be able to enjoy their kids and grandkids...they don't want to come the way that they need to come to be able to do that.

 

I thought about this fellow.  So many folks are just like this person.  Everything seemed hopeless.  However, somewhere along the line, Bartimaeus had heard about a man Jesus that lived up the road a few miles and brought up in Nazareth.  He had heard about Him healing people.  I do not think that Bartimaeus had ever been to any of Jesus' preaching’s or healings.  However, as people walked in and out of Jericho, they probably talked.  They may have never saw Bartimaeus.  As they went in and out, they probably talked, "Did you hear what the healer done yesterday?  Did you hear what this man called Jesus of Nazareth done yesterday?  Did you know what He did in Samaria?  Do you know what He has been doing in Capernaum?"  There is no doubt in my mind that Bartimaeus heard great things about what Jesus Christ had been doing. 

 

The Bible tells us that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  There is something about what Jesus was doing, as it is repeated, as it is talked about, as people discussed what Jesus was doing.  Something here caught Bartimaeus' attention. 

 

If you are satisfied the way you are living, if you are happy with life today then what I am going to say is not going to mean anything to you.  The reason that I am saying that is this, because so many folk are satisfied with the way that they are living.  They are satisfied with the way life is going, even though it may be falling apart, even though that there may be all kinds of crisis in their life; there are so many folks do not and will not and they don't want a change in their life. 

 

I was thinking about an individual a few days ago, that we had talked about before about making things right with the Lord.  One of the big problems was that he did not want to give up his friends.  He did not want to give up the clubs, the drinking, and the running around with influential people.  He did not want to give those folks up.  What he did not understand was that when we come to Jesus Christ, we believe Him, follow Him, we are saved and born again, it is not about what we are giving up, but rather it is about what we are gaining.  We do not see sometimes what we are gaining is eternal life.  We are gaining Him and His help while we are living on planet earth.

 

I thought about that myself when I got saved.  When I got saved, I loafed with a gang of rough guys.  We did all kinds of things.  I thought Lord, if I get saved and they don't get saved then I am not going to have any friends.  That was the furthest thing from the truth.  When I got saved, I found a whole bunch of people that really did love me and I found a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  I found a bunch of people in churches all across the country that loves me and that are my friends.  That is what a true friend is.

 

Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus.  He had heard about the healer and what He was doing and how that He was changing lives.  There is no doubt in my mind that Bartimaeus knew that the man that had been doing all the healing could not only help him, but He could change His life. 

 

I do not care what kind of shape you are in today.  It does not matter what kind of shape you are in today.  If you will trust Jesus Christ, I promise you that your life will change today.  It will change for the better. 

 

The Bible says here that Bartimaeus has heard that Jesus is coming down the road.  He begins:

 

Mk 10:47  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, [thou] Son of David, have mercy on me.

 

Do you think that was a great request?  Bartimaeus did a great thing here.  First, he recognized who Jesus was.  The Bible says:

 

Mk 10:47  "...Jesus, [thou] Son of David, have mercy on me." 

 

No doubt, Bartimaeus was taught that when the Messiah was going to come, He was going to come and do great miracles.  Bartimaeus may have been taught that.  He knew who Jesus was.  He knew that He was the Savior.  He knew that He could change his life. 

 

Jesus can change your life today.  It does not matter what kind of shape you are in, Jesus can change your life today. 

 

He said:

 

Mk 10:47  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, [thou] Son of David, have mercy on me.

 

I have heard people say just give me what is coming to me.  You do not want what is coming to you.  If you got justice, you would be in a lake of fire today.  We do not need justice; we need the mercy of Almighty God.  That is what Bartimaeus was pleading for.  He was pleading for mercy.  "Lord, please show pity upon me.  Lord, please have mercy on me."  The Bible says:

 

Mk 10:48  And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, [Thou] Son of David, have mercy on me.

 

The crowd that was there and as this beggar continued to cry out "Jesus have mercy on me," many of them said, "Why don't you just be quiet and leave Him alone."  Do you know what happens in your life and in my life when I recognize that I am in need?  A voice that comes in our ears and it says that you do not Jesus Christ.   You do not need that stuff.  That is your enemy.  That is the devil speaking to you.  The people that were telling him to be quiet didn't know what they were doing.  They may have thought that Jesus was tired.  They may have thought that Jesus needs to get to Jerusalem.  I do not what they were thinking.  They just wanted this beggar to be quiet. 

 

When you know who Jesus Christ is, when you know that you have a need, do not be quiet.  It does not matter what the enemy may tell you.  We do not need to be quiet because Jesus loves us and we need to continue to call on Him. 

 

The Bible says:

 

Mk 10:49  And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

 

As Bartimaeus continues to cry, "...thou Son of David have mercy on me."  The Bible says that Jesus simply stood still. 

 

Do you know what is going to happen to you when you honestly and sincerely begin to call upon the Lord and say, "Lord, I need your help.  I need your mercy."  That gets attention in heaven.  That gets attention of Almighty God because He loves you.  He loves you and He wants to save you from the life that you are living in.  You might think that He is not listening, but when you get honest and sincere as Bartimaeus was here, it touches the heart of Almighty God.  You have His undivided attention when you are honestly and sincerely asking for help, asking for mercy; I promise you that He is very attentive and He is listening to your need. 

 

The Bible says that He stood still and,  "...commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee."  He is asking you to come.  Could you imagine Bartimaeus now?  He had been calling.  He had been asking.  He had been crying.  He had been screaming.  "...Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me."  The crowd says be quiet.  He continues to call.  Jesus hears his voice.  He says bring him to me.

 

As we look at our lives sometimes, we get in a mess.  We may be drunks, we may be dope addicts, we may be thieves, robbers and murderers, but you are not any different from the beggar lying beside of the road.  You are not any different than I was or anybody was.  We need to get saved today.  People need to get saved.

 

The Bible says, "...Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee."  I could imagine that joy that must flooded Bartimaeus heart when he knew that he was going to get to go to where Jesus was.  He knew that he was about to receive the help that he needed here. 

 

Mk 10:50  And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

 

He came to Jesus.  When Jesus gives the call that we need to come to Jesus, we need to come.  That is a very simple command.  He is calling for you.  The Bible says that he put off his outer garment and he came to where Jesus was.

 

Mk 10:51  And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

 

Do you know what Bartimaeus needed the most?  He needed to be able to see more than anything. 

 

You need your spiritual sight more than anything today.  You need to be able to see spiritually more than you need anything else in this earth.  You need to be born again, that is what you need.  It is great to know that Jesus Christ already knew what he needed.  He wanted Bartimaeus to tell Him what his need was.

 

The greatest need that you have today is not a new home.  The greatest need that you have today is not a new job or a new car, the greatest need that you have today is Jesus Christ.  The greatest need that you have today is by being born again and allowing Him to be in your life.  That is your greatest need.

 

All these the other things that we think are important they may play a part in things, but the greatest thing that you have need of today is Jesus Christ and being born again. 

 

He ask a question, "...What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight."  Bartimaeus was not asking for help with cars, money or things; he was asking for the thing that he could not do for himself.  He absolutely could not do this for himself.  He could not heal himself.  He might be able to get a job, make money and buy things, but he could not receive his sight. 

 

You cannot save yourself.

 

People need to be born again.

 

Mk 10:51  And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

 

Mk 10:52  And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

 

Jesus did not tell him to go through a class.  He did not tell him to go to the back and sign a card.  He did not tell him to come back and we will baptize you.  He said, "...Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole."  Do you know why he was going to receive his sight?  He simply believed that Jesus Christ could give him his sight.

 

The Bible says, "...And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."  He believed Him and followed him.  His life changed that day because he believed that Jesus Christ could change his life. 

 

Your life may be in a mess.  You may feel hopeless.  You may feel like there is no help for you.  You may feel like you have been too bad, too mean, too ugly, whatever.

 

If you will believe today and understand today that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came to planet earth to save lost humanity, to prepare a way for men to be saved, then you can be saved today.  If you believe that He will save you, that takes faith; you can leave here a brand new creature.  You can leave here today being able to see just as he could see physically and spiritually, your spiritual eyes can open today.  If you will come to Him today, you will be a brand new creature in Christ Jesus. 

 

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