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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
Until we have the eyes to see our own need for Jesus, we will never know the depths of His mercy. In Mark 10, Jesus encountered the blind man Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus, while being physically blind, was able to see clearly his spiritual need for a savior. In crying our to Jesus for mercy, he show the kind of trusting faith of a true disciple. Bartimaeus not only received sight but experienced the grace of God that led him to follow Jesus into Jerusalem. Until we can see the depths of our own sin and need for Jesus, we will never know the heights of His mercy and love for us.
Transcript
So tonight we uh we conclude a little kind of minseries we’ve been on uh for the past uh month of walking through Mark’s gospel uh Mark chapter 10 uh and really this this one chapter kind of uh it it it makes sense to it stand alone in some ways because uh it marks a major kind of moment of a transition of Jesus beginning uh the journey to Jerusalem he’s beginning the the journey with his disciples uh heading towards the place where he will give himself uh willingly on the cross for the sins of the world uh and it’s a major moment and uh if you were with us uh for the for the beginning couple of uh of passages you’ll uh you you’ll hopefully recall an important event of of one of the encounters that Jesus had Jesus encounters two people uh individuals uh along this path along this journey at this portion uh and the first one was the rich young man and if you were with us at the beginning you remember as he encountered that rich young man he loved that rich rich young man or that man who had an abundance he loved him and he called him to follow follow him he called him to a life of sacrifice and to follow him but if you uh were with us or if you remember that that story uh that encounter that that man was uh it says that the text translates it as that he was sorrowful but it’s even worse than that or it’s a little bit more powerful I don’t know worse is the word uh it’s a little bit more uh there’s more meaning to it than that he was offended it was a great offense to him that he was being called uh to to to a deeper level of following Jesus a deeper level of what it took to to to take receive eternal life that’s that’s what he wanted so this man who could fully see but was living in abundance and was loved by Jesus he couldn’t couldn’t see his need he couldn’t see his need for Jesus and what Jesus had to offer him and so he went away he went away he was threatened he he was offended and we have to remember that because it’s impossible to Now read today and uh at the end of Mark 10 and not see the incredible contrast between the two because at the beginning is is the rich young man a man who had physical sight and yet was spiritually blind today Jesus encounters a physically blind man who yet is spiritually can see more than most in a powerful way he can see the depths of his own need and he can see his need for
mercy and the man who sees receives it’s a powerful testimony it’s a powerful testimony for all of us because in many ways uh this encounter this story of blind barus is the model for discipleship it’s the model for what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ there’s a reason why Mark put it here in sharp contrast to the rich young man because this is what we’re called to to follow Jesus along the road to the New Jerusalem that we talked about last week to the the road of Hope the Jesus has us on today and so I want to work through this together as we uh as we gain greater insight into this blind man who saw his profound need for Jesus and the incredible Mercy that he received from the savior in verse 46 we’re told this and they came to Jericho and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd barus a blind beggar the son of tus was sitting by the roadside so again as I said the at the beginning they’re on the road they’ve turned now they’re at Jericho they finished their this isn’t the same Jericho by the way I know you all want a reference to Joshua um you you you’ve you’ve missed the Joshua series and and you’ve longed for those those readings again uh this actually isn’t the same Jericho the Jericho uh was about that Jericho was about a mile away from where the herodian Jericho was was built and that’s the city where where they’re here uh where Jesus encounters bardus uh but they’re now turning from uh from Jericho and heading heading for Jerusalem and here Jesus encounters his second person in Mark 10 the blind beggar barus now barus uh it’s important that we learn his name uh you know Mark doesn’t tell us the names of a lot of the people and the majority of the people that Jesus encounters and who receive some kind of miraculous healing we don’t know who they are they’re nameless uh but we’re told of bame’s name which tells us uh that and we see it at the end of this passage that bmas ends up following Jesus along the way what it means is that bmus was known to the church he he was a follower of Christ he was a disciple he was part of the church that Mark was writing to they would have known who he was and so that’s why uh he goes through the trouble of uh of naming
him you know Jericho as I I said is the you know is a different Jericho than the one from Joshua but in some ways I think it’s incredibly symbolic that as Jesus now is turning to Jerusalem to conquer sin and death and the devil forever that he’s going through Jericho it’s a powerful it’s a powerful picture uh but this blind beggar bmus has a name people know him he was significant he’s he’s a beggar he’s someone who’s uh who relies on other people for his money he can’t see he can’t make a living on his own and so he he relies completely on other people’s charity uh to receive his living and we’re going to talk more about what how he would have been viewed uh by the the rest of the population and Society in just a moment uh but we’re told then in verses 47 and 48 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 you know Jesus was a common name in first century Palestine in fact it was like you know calling someone uh Steve uh it was a common name and so uh it’s significant that uh as barus calls out to Jesus he doesn’t just say hey Jesus I’ve heard about you no he says Jesus Son of David have mercy on me which tells us there’s something more going on in bame’s heart and mind as to who he believes Jesus is he he’s calling him the from the Royal line of David he’s recognizing that this Jesus is the savior he’s the Messiah he’s the Christ he’s the promised one of God who’s come to save us this is an incredible uh confession of Faith akin to the confession that Peter made uh just a a little while before this where he said that you are the Christ but this is the first time a non- disciple is declaring that Jesus is the son of David first Outsider to make such a a confession he Reck recognize that Jesus is the Messiah he’s not just a prophet remember the the Rich Young Man uh the man who had an abundance uh he recognized Jesus as a a good teacher a guru someone that he wanted to come and and learn what he had to do next to be able to check off that list of eternal life uh but here bmus recognized who he really is what he’s capable of what he’s come to do so what are the possibil abilities how could he you know maybe barus was just uh calling out something that would get Jesus’s attention right he’s just just maybe trying to flatter him uh with words that would get him to pay attention to him because he’s just this blind beggar uh and no one’s going to pay him any mind
or or bardus has significant spiritual Insight he can see more he can see more even even though he physically can see nothing and notice that Jesus doesn’t rebuke him Jesus doesn’t rebuke him this is a confession of Faith Of Trust of belief however imper imperfect it might be however he might might not know fully who Jesus is at this point there is a trust and a belief that Jesus is the son of God who has the power to have mercy in his life and that’s exactly what he asks for doesn’t he have mercy on me have mercy on me he didn’t play the victim he didn’t play the the blame game uh he he seemed to own that he is a person who needs help he could see that about himself right he could see that that he was someone who needed uh he accepted that he was someone who needs God’s mercy now what what does mercy mean well Mercy Mery uh only is a thing uh and it requires that Justice exists there is no such thing of as Mercy unless Justice is a real thing meaning the the there is the the just law of God and so by calling for Mercy bmus isn’t just calling for to help me because I can’t see there’s something more there’s something deeper that he recognizes about himself and his own heart that he needs Mercy from the justice that he is under there is an awareness of his own sinful nature and he’s recognizing it in himself he’s got that kind of spiritual insight to see that about himself now many tried to rebuke him we’re told uh they were trying to censure him from then make him be silent why did they want him to be silent well there was a certain level of they just didn’t want Jesus to be bothered right just like when uh the little children they wanted to bring the little children to Jesus and uh the disciples were trying to keep them them away and Jesus said don’t hinder them from coming to me um it’s the same kind of kind of thing but there’s also a reason because Jesus had previously on two different occasions in Mark’s gospel in Mark 3 he had ordered unclean spirits not to make him known don’t make my true identity known he forbid them to speak and he also in Mark 8 ordered his disciples not to tell anyone after Peter’s confession and so they were honoring that and being quiet and so there’s a sense of they’re saying he recognizes who Jesus is be quiet be silent but there’s another reason and the reason is because of the social and religious status of a blind person we we can we learn from John chapter n uh in this encounter with a blind person uh that in the first century there was a certain common perception of why a person was blind in John 9:2 his disciples asked him Rabbi who SED this man or his parents that he was born blind so there there’s this sense that somebody had to do something wrong somebody had to do something wrong for him to have this Affliction of this physical uh this physical disability somebody did something wrong either it was him or it was his parents somebody ascended and bmus seems to be quite aware of that I think that’s part of his his willingness and his ability spiritually to see his desperate need for Jesus so the attitude of the people against barus that he he was a sinner or he was born to Sinners either way he is someone who is unclean he’s someone that should not be associated with he was somebody to be relegated to the side of the road begging for help and then in 49 and 50 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 Jesus stopped everything I mean this is incredibly remarkable Jesus stopped everything for this social outcast for this sinner or this man who’s born to Sinners he stopped everything because he cared about him more than he cared about the even the journey that he was on making good time uh doing keeping everything in line every all that mattered to him was this sinner who was calling out to him to have
mercy you know that’s a pretty convicting moment at least for me and for us is that what matters most to
us is that what’s up the utmost important to us reaching
Sinners something that we I think we all are need to be convicted about but Jesus stopped everything for this beggar the crowd then actually had a change of heart you see this major transformation in them they were like don’t bother with this sinner but then Jesus Jesus says no no no call him to me and they had this total change of heart okay this whole change of attitude and that’s the power that Jesus has in our own Hearts towards other people when we encounter Jesus and we hear him hear him call it changes our hearts towards other people their attitude changed and so they said three things to him they said take heart meaning be of good courage be of good cheer have joy and Get Up Stand Up arise why because Jesus the Messiah of the world is calling you he’s calling you and then in verse 50 they say he said and throwing off his cloak he sprang up and came to Jesus throwing off his cloak casting it aside this this immediate response this Urgent Response think about this for a minute the man the rich young man of abundance wasn’t willing to give up anything this blind beggar who all he has in this world of Great Value is the cloak around his body to keep him warm when Jesus called him he cast it off and ran to Jesus he got up that’s a precious possession and barus eagerly cast off everything he had to get to
Jesus it’s harder to give up abundance than it is to give up even the little bit of things we have in our poverty if we can see it if we can see it he sprang up he jumped up meaning he leapt up Do You Remember remember the uh the the account with of uh of Elizabeth and Mary when they were both pregnant and uh and Elizabeth uh says to to Mary my the baby John the Baptist leapt for joy in my womb when Jesus came it’s the same picture here this blind beggar knows that Jesus is the Messiah and he leaps up for Joy Isaiah 35 says he will come and save you then shall the lame man leap like a deer and sing for Joy being called by Jesus is is the cause of all hope and all joy and this man was filled with it and then in verse 51 Jesus said to him what do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to him Rabbi let me receive my sight let me recover my sight is what it means that we can’t discern from this whether this man at this point at least in Mark’s gospel whether he was born blind or whether something had happened that had caused him to go blind we we don’t know for sure uh but after this request Jesus said go your way your faith has made you
well go your way your faith has made you
well notice the freedom and the grace that Jesus gave him he was saved by Faith by by faith or he by grace through faith but Jesus didn’t call him to anything more Jesus didn’t require anything more of him and we’re told immediately he recovered his sight and he followed Jesus on the way he responded to the freedom of Grace that he had received knowing his desperate need for the mercy of God in his own life and when he received that Grace and he was given that freedom he chose to follow Jesus and to become obviously a meaningful enough member of the community of the church that his name is is is is accounted for
friends who are we are we the Rich Young Man we’ve got our sight but we just can’t see the depth of our spiritual need for Christ the depths of our own
sin that rich young man he experienced the love of Jesus Jesus Jesus looked at him and he loved
them but he was spiritually blind and he went away offended by this grace and this call to follow Jesus the blind be beggar though he experienced the great mercy of God in Jesus and he rose to New Life and followed
him do we know our need for Jesus if we don’t then we’ll never know the fullness of his Mercy we’ll never know the depths of his love for us Billy Graham said God’s mercy and Grace give me hope for myself and for our
world you know it can be especially Charles Spurgeon talked about it can be especially difficult for people who didn’t you know know who maybe have always walked with with the Lord I mean I pray that that’s the the case for for my children that uh that they walk with the Lord their entire lives and they don’t know a time when when they when they happen but the challenge for that is that you can risk not being able to see your own sin and your own Brokenness until you’ve known what it is to be a blind beggar in desperate need of Christ you may never see it Charles Spurgeon said I believe that some of us who were kept by God a long while before we found him love him better perhaps than we should have done if we had received him directly and we can preach better to others we can speak more to his loving kindness and tender Mercy until we know our Brokenness until we know know the depths of our own sin we’ll never know the tender mercy of our savior see as leis said the hardness of God is Kinder than the softness of man and his compulsion is our Liberation friends Jesus he’s calling to you he’s calling to
you he’s saying take
Heart Take Heart come to me
arise cuz I’m calling for you you George Whitfield The Great Anglican preacher said and now let me address all of you in one of his great Evangelical sermons high and low rich and poor one with
another accept the mercy and grace of God it is offered to you now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation now it is offered to you amen
