Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

The title of my sermon today is Jesus Heals Blind Barmaeus. Let's read this wonderful account of a man who encountered Jesus and his life changed in Mark chapter 10, verse 46 to 52. And I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. 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 it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, saying, 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, 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. We've seen that Bartimaeus, a blind man, encountered Jesus and his life was transformed. From a life of limitations, begging, as we see in verse 46, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. He wasn't able to travel, he was limited to a particular corner of the road. Then we see the end result was healing and freedom in 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 along the way. He went from a life of limitations to a life of purpose. He went from a life of being blind to a life of having sight. He went from on his own begging to following Jesus on the way. In this passage of scripture, we see three red letter phrases. And what I mean by that is in some versions of the Bible, you'll see the words of Jesus written in red. In verse 49, call him. Verse 51, what do you want me to do for you? Verse 52, go your way, your faith has made you well. Or I love the way the Passion Translation puts verse 52. Your faith heals you. Go in peace with your sight restored. Jesus is wonderful, and he can change people's lives completely. If we come to him in faith, he can change everything. Today we're looking at this account, the encounter between Bartimaeus and Jesus, and we will learn five steps to a faith that receives from God. Number one, he heard about Jesus. In verse 47, it says, and when he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth. I wonder what he had heard about Jesus. We read in Acts chapter 10, verse 38, that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went about doing good and healing all who were under the oppression of the devil. What a wonderful testimony that Jesus went about doing good and setting people free and healing people. We also read in Matthew chapter 4 and in Matthew chapter 9 that Jesus went about preaching, teaching, healing, and setting people free. What did this man, blind Bartimaeus, hear about Jesus? As he sat by the roadside begging, he heard about Jesus. And when he heard that it was Jesus coming down the road with the big crowd and all the commotion, he probably said, What's going on? And someone said, It's Jesus of Nazareth who's coming to town. And at that point, he starts to cry out to Jesus. And that brings me to point number two. He called out to Jesus. In verse 47 and 48, 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, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. There's three words that I think describe his calling out to Jesus, his pursuit of Jesus Christ. He was persistent, he was determined, and he was unrelenting. He cried out with the faith saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Friend, Jesus hears the cry of our heart. Jesus hears us as we cry out to him from the depth of our heart. In Psalms, we often read, When I cried out to the Lord, He heard me and delivered me from my distress. You can cry out to people, you can cry out to experts, but they even though they may have a heart to help you, they can't help you. But Jesus can. Let's cry out to him and let's be persistent, determined, and unrelenting in our pursuit for him. That's the kind of faith that gets Jesus' attention. Persistent, determined, and unrelenting faith. Number three, he cast aside the old to take a hold of the new. In verse 50, we read, and throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Or as the Passion Translation puts it, so he threw off his beggar's cloak, jumped up, and made his way to Jesus. Now we know from scholars and commentators on the culture of the day that beggars would wear a cloak as their identity. People could tell that this person was a beggar, and he was a blind beggar. He was identified as a blind beggar. But I want to tell you today, friends, you are not your problem. You are a child of God. You are not what you are struggling with. You may be facing anxiety, but you are not anxiety. You are a child of God, and God wants you to overcome the problem of anxiety. You may be facing fear. You are not fear. Fear is the problem. You are a child of God, and God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and of a sound mind. You may be facing a health challenge. You are not your health challenge. You are a child of God, and the Bible says He wants to give healing to you as children's bread. He wants to give you healing as a gift. He paid for it on the cross 2,000 years ago, and he wants to make it available to you today. Let's recognize that we are not our problem, that we are not the challenge that we face. Let's cast aside the old to take hold of the new. I personally have been through some health challenges in my life. And at one point there was a period of about 18 months where I was really working through having had bowel cancer, receiving treatment for bowel cancer, and uh and working through recovering from that. And I can say thank God that he has healed me, he used uh faith, but he also used medical science and surgery and treatment. And I'm so grateful for all of that because every good and perfect gift comes from the Father in Heavenly Lights, with whom there's no change or variation, he's always a good God. And uh and since I have recovered, and particularly when I came through that huge storm in my life, that health storm, I had people asking me to come and speak in various settings as a cancer survivor, and I declined that because that's not what God has called me to do. God's called me to preach the good news, God's called me to to work in partnership with Him to build the kingdom and to plant churches and do different things that God's got as a call on my life, and I need to pursue that. I am not going to take on a identity from my problem. Now, there's nothing wrong with sharing testimonies, and they are oftentimes, as I'm doing right now, sharing a testimony based on what I have been through or what I've come through, and uh and I pray that that would encourage others that what God has done for me, he can do for you. Remember, God doesn't have any favorites, he doesn't show favoritism, but he wants to show favor to us, he wants to he wants his kingdom to come, his will to be done in our lives. Number four, he asked for the solution and he didn't dwell on the problem. When he comes to Jesus, Jesus says to him, What do you want me to do for you? Now it must have been obvious that this man was blind. You can tell when someone is blind. And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. Listen to how the voice translation puts this verse. In the voice translation, Jesus says, What do you want from me? And Bartimaeus says, Teacher, I want to see. When we come to Jesus, we don't need to come to him and tell him about our problem. We need to come and ask him for the solution. That's what faith is. He already knows the challenges we face. He's looking for us to come to him in faith. Now we need to remember that needs do not move God's hand. Faith moves God's hand. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 tells us without faith it's impossible to please God. Because whoever comes to him must believe that he is or he exists and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. When we come to Jesus, let's come to him in faith with expectation that he is able to do what he has promised. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus is asking today. Let's not now say, but Jesus, I'm blind, or Jesus, I've got this challenge, or Jesus, my marriage is a mess, or I'm struggling with issues at work. No, come and give him your solution. What do you want from him? In Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 and 7, the Bible says we shouldn't worry or be anxious, but in everything, we should come to him in prayer. We should come to him with thanksgiving and petition. I think that's important. Our prayer should be marked by an attitude of gratitude in our thanksgiving, but also by petitions which are specific requests. If uh if there's an area in your town where it's unsafe to cross the road, often what will happen is people within the town gather together and they start a petition to the authorities to put a zebra crossing or a traffic light there or something or those speed bumps to slow the traffic down. They petition, they don't just bring the problem, they ask for the solution. They say this is what we want. We want this to change. And when we come to Jesus in prayer, let's come to him with faith, with our petitions, with thanksgiving, remembering all that he has done for us, not taking it for granted, but recognizing that he who has begun a good work in us will bring it to completion. And number five, my final point, he received and he followed. It says in verse 52, Jesus said to him, Go your way, your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and he followed him along the way. I love this. I love the fact that there are times when we receive immediately, and there's other times as we go in obedience, we receive. When Jesus ministered to the uh the the lepers, he said, Go and show yourself to the priests. And it says, As they went, they were healed. Now there are times when there's an instant healing, and there's other times when there's a progressive healing. Either way, Jesus is the source of healing. I also love the fact that when he encountered Jesus and he was healed, it led to an ongoing relationship. He followed Jesus along the way. When we encounter him, it should lead to relationship with him as our Lord and our Savior. So as we pray today, friends, I want to encourage you that Jesus can hear the cry of your heart. Come, he's calling you. Let me bring you to him in prayer. And as we pray, imagine that you are standing in front of Jesus with his full attention. And he asks, What do you want me to do for you? And as we pray, bring your solution. For Bartimaeus, it was teacher, I want to see. What's the solution for you? Let's pray together. Father God, thank you for your goodness and grace displayed in so many ways in each of our lives. We thank you that you are faithful, that your love is steadfast, and your mercy is on you every morning. We come to you today, recognizing that you are the healer, you are the provider, you are the guide, you are the protector. We come to you, Jesus. Because we've heard about you, we've read about you in the scriptures. We know that when we've read about what you've done for others, that that's a testimony of what you can do for us. And we come today with expectant hearts. Today, friend, see yourself standing before Jesus and he says, What do you want me to do for you? Come to him with a persistent, expectant faith. Come to him and ask him for the solution. Pray in your own words, Jesus, I want to see. What do you want to see? Jesus, I want to see change in this area. Ask him for the solution. Jesus, I need employment. Jesus, I need housing. Jesus, I need healing. Jesus, I need direction. Ask him and expect to receive from him. For some it may be instant. Listen to that still small voice. For others it may be progressive. But whatever it is, let it lead us into an ongoing, ever closer relationship with him. And Lord, I pray for each of those who are watching today and listening today, I pray, Lord, that you would meet them at their point of need and that we would see a change as a result of this prayer in faith. That you could say to us, Go your way. Your faith has made you well. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.