Cheer Up! On Your Feet! He Is Calling You!

Mark 10:46-52
Gregory Broderick | Sunday, January 31, 2021
Copyright © 2021, Gregory Broderick

In Mark 10, we see Jesus perform yet another incredible miracle:  He gives sight to a blind man.  Now, by this time, ten chapters into the book of Mark, Jesus has performed so many miracles that they almost start to seem commonplace as we read them.  They are no longer extraordinary.  Look at all the miracles that are recorded in the first ten chapters of Mark.  Jesus has cured lepers.  He has made a paralytic able to walk.  He has driven out evil spirits, calmed the storm, walked on water, and multiplied loaves and fishes.  Twice.  He has even raised the dead.  In fact, he has already performed this particular miracle.  He already restored the sight of a blind man in Mark 8.

So what is the point of our scripture reading this morning?  What are we supposed to learn from this account of a second man, blind yet having his sight restored?  Is this repetitive or merely redundant?   Of course, we know that is not the case.  “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).  So this scripture must be useful for those things.

There are many, many important lessons we can learn from this scripture, in fact, more than I have time to preach this morning.

1. The Universality of Jesus’ Ministry

Jesus went all over the world and healed all kinds of people.  When we look at the book of Mark, we see that He performed miracles in Capernaum, Cana, Bethsaida, and in the north of Israel near the Sea of Galilee.  He even went into the Gentile regions, in Tyre along the Mediterranean Sea.  That is where He healed the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman.  And He continued into Lebanon towards modern-day Syria and Turkey.

Then He went down to Jerusalem, the great capital, ministering and performing many great miracles there.  He passed through Samaria, saving many Samaritans.  Now we find Him in Jericho, along the eastern border of Judea.  So you can see that He went all over.  He went to all parts.

Recall that Jericho itself is a cursed city, totally destroyed by the Israelites and General Joshua when they entered the Promised Land some fourteen hundred years earlier.  In fact, that city of Jericho was not supposed to be rebuilt at all.  It was not to be rebuilt except by curse of the person who rebuilt it (Josh.  6:26).  Yet despite the fact that this city is out of the way, despite the fact that it is a cursed city, that did not stop Jesus from going there and saving a wretched, blind beggar.

Jesus offered His ministry to all.  He offered His salvation to all, and He still does so today.  He is no mere cultural or regional god.  His ministry is not limited by geography or by race.  He is the God of all.  He is the Savior of all—all who believe and obey Him (Heb. 5:9).  He is the Savior of the world—Jew or Greek or Syro-Phoenician or Samaritan.  Slave or free, rich or poor.  North or south, city or country.  Leper, paralytic, synagogue ruler, lowly Galilean fishermen, or highborn Pharisee, or even Roman governor.  Scholars and ordinary unschooled men, rich young rulers and blind, deaf, or mute beggars on the roadside.  Every kind of person in every kind of place.  Jesus testifies to all.  Jesus offers salvation to all.  Jesus is the Lord of all.  Whatever your race, your creed, your color, your background, your circumstances.  Even your religious upbringing is not a disqualifier.  You can come to Jesus.  He will save you.

Jesus Himself went all over the world of His time—Jerusalem, Jericho, Tyre, Sidon, Samaria, and so on.  But even after He ascended into heaven, even after He was no longer with us in physical form, He sent His people all over the world to share His gospel, this good news for all people.  He sent St.  Paul, the great evangelist, all over the known world of that time—to Syria, to Turkey, to Greece and Macedonia, to Italy, and perhaps even as far as Spain.  Centuries later, He sent His missionaries from the west to preach the gospel in Africa, India, China, and South America.  And He still does so today.  He still calls and equips His chosen evangelists to preach His gospel and sends them to the uttermost parts of the earth.  Wherever His elect people are, whatever their wretched condition, He sends someone to them and He calls them.

That is our experience in this church, isn’t it?  God called a man from the other side of the world and sent him to an undeserving and mixed-up people in this cursed city and gathered us together and brought the gospel to us so that we could be saved.  A wandering Israelite cast out of Egypt in 1500 BC, a tax collector or a blind Bartimaeus in first-century Israel, an aimless hippie in 1970s-Davis, a person suffering lockdown fatigue and isolation in 2021—whomever you are, God loves you.  God sees you.  God sent someone to you to preach the gospel.  He sent them to preach the gospel to you personally.  It is not an accident that you heard the word preached.  God sent that person to you to preach the word to you so that you could hear it, so that you could confess Him as Lord and Savior, so that you could leave your weary life of sin, get off the road of destruction, and follow Him, so that you could live a life of joyful obedience to Him, so that you could go to heaven for all eternity with Him.

If you are God’s chosen, the undeserving object of His grace and affection, nothing will stop Him from saving you.  Nothing can stop Him from saving you.  Not geography or national borders.  Not distance or time or culture.  Not even our own previous sin.  God still sends His gospel to His people by His divine appointment.  He still works in His people to regenerate them by the Holy Spirit.  He gives them a new heart and a new mind so they can live a new life of obedience to Him.  Wherever we are, whatever we have done, God will find His people and save them.  Hallelujah!  How great the Father’s love for us, that we might be called the children of God!

2. We Must Cry Out to Jesus

The second lesson we learn is that we must cry out to Jesus.  Although the gospel call goes out to all people, tragically few will respond in faith.  The Bible tells us many are called but few are chosen (Matt. 22:14).  The sad truth is that most people will reject the offer of free grace; the offer of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Don’t be confused by the manner in which they reject it.  Some may do so very politely.  Some may do so very vehemently.  They may do so by indecision.  They may do so by choosing some other god, some false god.  All of these are simply different ways of rejecting the gospel.  Our post-modern, post-truth society tells us that all paths lead to God.  But we know this is a lie.  There is one path.  Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Jesus also said, “I am the resurrection and the life. . . . Do you believe it?” (John 11:25–26).  If the answer is “Yes,” then it is “Yes.”  If the answer is something other than “Yes,” it is just a “No.”  Unless you receive the free offer of eternal life in Christ by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, unless you confess Him as Lord and receive eternal life in Him, then you are rejecting Him.  You are saying “No.”  There is no other way to be saved except by faith in Christ.

He is the only way, so we must cry out to Him.  Notice that blind Bartimaeus cries out, and cries out loudly.  He cries out as soon as he hears that it is Jesus of Nazareth who is passing by.  There is no room for delay, no room for timidity, no room for uncertainty or half-measures.  This Jesus is the Savior of the world, the only Savior.  He does not cry out to Buddha.  He does not cry out to Allah.  He does not cry out to the disciples who are with Jesus on the road.  He cries out to Jesus, the only way.  There is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved, and salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12).

So we must cry out.  And we must cry out loudly and immediately.  Whatever our circumstances, wherever we are, whatever else is going on, we must cry out.  Don’t let anyone else shut you up.  Don’t let anyone get in your way.  Don’t let anyone shut you up.  Cry out loudly.  Cry out immediately.  Cry out now.  Now is the time of salvation (2 Cor.  6:2).

We are like blind Bartimaeus, sitting by the roadside in a desperate condition, totally unable to help ourselves.  We might not be as poor as he is in terms of the things of this world.  We might not smell as bad as he does.  But we are each in the same wretched condition.  Every person, no matter how relatively bad or how relatively good, has committed terrible sin against God.  Each and every person is deserving of the same terrible punishment.

God gave us everything:  life, health, reasonable minds, revelation about Himself in creation, in our consciences, and in the holy Scripture.  He gave us families, He gave us bread to eat and water to drink.  He sustained our lives.  He gave us everything we need, everything we could ask for.  He did all of this for us, but we responded in rebellion.  Not in love, not in gratitude, but in rebellion.  We rejected God’s authority.  We sided with His enemies.  We refused to obey His holy law instituted for His glory and for our good.

And we all did it, every one of us.  Whether you are a Hitler or a Mother Theresa, we are all sinners, born in sin and practicing sin daily.  Some sin to a greater degree.  Some sin to a lesser degree.  But we all sinned.  We try to pretend there is a difference.  Romans 3:22–23 reminds us there is no difference:   “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Sinful man pretends there is a difference:  “I am better off, or at least I am less sinful than so-and-so.”  And that may be.  But at the fundamental level, there is no difference.  We are all sinners, deserving God’s wrath.  And as sinners, we all deserve that same punishment, that same penalty.  As Romans 6:23 tells us, the wages of sin is death.  As Ephesians 2 puts it, we were dead in our transgressions and sins.  We were by nature objects of wrath, prepared for destruction.  That is the penalty due to everyone.  That is the condition of every person.

Not only are we due death, but it is an eternal death, an eternal damnation.  God is infinite, and so our sin against him is infinite.  And the just and proportionate penalty is infinite as well.  So it is not just death—that we die and disappear.  It is an eternal death.  It is a continual death—a conscious torment and agony for eternity in hell forever with no way out and no end.

We finite and limited creatures could never repay the infinite debt that we owe.  We would just keep paying and paying and paying forever, with no way out.  And God, who is perfect in justice, cannot simply wave it off.  That debt has to be paid.  Justice must be satisfied.

So that was our condition.  We were in a desperate, truly hopeless, condition.  I said we were just like that beggar.  The truth is, we were worse off than that beggar.  His life was certainly miserable—one step from starvation at all times, no social safety net, no welfare state.  He was blind, filthy, unable to work, unable to improve his condition.  But as bad as his condition was, our condition was even worse.  We were totally destitute before God, totally unable to repay or even reduce the amount of the penalty we owed.  And we did not even have death as an escape.  At least the beggar could die and his suffering in this life would end.  But before God we would owe that penalty eternally.

And then, in this awful and hopeless condition, God made a way.  A just way.  A merciful way.  He sent us Jesus Christ, his only Son, very God, to be born of a woman, to live a perfect life, to suffer God’s full and infinite wrath in our behalf, and then to die the infinite death that we deserved.  He was both fully God and fully man so He could take care of the problem.  As a man, He could stand in our place.  He could be our representative.  And as infinite God, He could make that full, infinite payment that we could never make.  He could satisfy a hundred percent of the debt, pay it in our behalf.

God the Father planned it, and God the Son accomplished it and made it available to all who would believe in Him and trust in Him alone (John 1:12).  He made it available to all who would live for Him and live through Him and obey him in joyful thanksgiving (Heb. 5:9).  We are in this bad condition.  The solution is coming along.  We must cry out to Him.  We must shout, as the blind beggar did in verse 47.  We must overcome any obstacle in our path and not let anyone shut us up.  It is too important.

Like him, we had no hope, no way to be saved, and no way out.  Like him, we were unable to help ourselves; we were unequipped.  We could not even think of or look for such help.  We were blind like him.  We were destitute like him.  We were hopeless like him.  We were doomed like him.  And then in that low hour, Jesus comes.  He comes to us.  Outside of Jericho, on the dirty and hopeless road, He comes.

Cry out!  You are crazy if you do not cry out.  He is passing by right now.  The One, the only One who can help you, is passing by.  He is passing by now.  He may not pass by again tomorrow.  He may not pass by again next year.  This is your opportunity.  Don’t hesitate.  Don’t dither with indecision.  Don’t mumble something.  Cry out.  Cry out loudly and shout at the top of your lungs, like this man did.

3. We Must Cry Out for Mercy

Notice the plea of blind Bartimaeus in verse 47:   “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The first thing that stands out about this cry is the title:  Son of David.  This, of course, is no mere name, no mere identifier.  It has special significance.  To be the Son of David is to be the promised Messiah.  We see that in 2 Samuel 7:12, where God promises this future Savior, this eternal King, will come from David’s family line.  So “Son of David” is more than a name, it is more than a title.  It is proclamation that this Jesus is the Messiah.

Everyone who heard it understood it as this messianic title.  Look at Matthew 21:15, for example.  There the Pharisees become indignant when they hear the children shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”  They did not have a problem with “Hosanna.”  They had a problem with “Son of David.”  They knew what it meant.  Everyone knew what it meant.

So blind Bartimaeus is not addressing Jesus as a mere man, not even as a great prophet, not even as a miracle worker.  He is addressing Jesus as God, as the Messiah, the promised One, the eternal Son, indeed, the third Person of the Trinity.  And this is the only way to come to Jesus, the only way to cry out to Him, as Lord and Savior and Messiah, as both God and man.  Any other cry is ineffective and hopeless.

After all, if Jesus is not the Son of God, if He is not very God, if He is not the Messiah and the Savior, He cannot help you.  If He is merely Jesus son of Joseph and not the Messiah, what can He really do?  Maybe He could give that blind beggar some bread or a little bit of money to temporarily stave off the starvation that was always threatening him.  But He could not do much more for blind Bartimaeus than that.  The son of Joseph certainly cannot restore your sight.  The son of Joseph certainly cannot save you from your sins.  As a mere man, Jesus could not possibly have paid the infinite penalty of sin in our place.  Any help that He would give us would be temporary and fleeting at best.

But the Son of David, the Messiah, the God-man, the eternal Son, the second Person of the Trinity?  He can help you.  He can save you.  He can take away your sin and restore you to right relationship with God.

So we must come to Him by faith as Lord and Savior, as the Son of David, as blind Bartimaeus did.  Calling out to Him as the Son of David means that you are putting your faith in Him.  You are trusting in Him.  You are believing in Him.  You believe that He is who He says that He is.  You believe that He can do what He said He would do:  to save His people from their sins.

When you cry out to Him as Son of David, you are saying, “I believe not only that He can do it, but that He will do what He said.  And that He will do it for me.”  To cry out to Jesus, Son of David, is not merely to use his correct title like “Rev.” Buddingh’ or “Dr.” Spencer.  It is not merely to catch His attention.  He is omniscient, after all, so He does not need you to catch His attention.  No, crying out to Him as Son of David is saying, “I believe.  I trust in You alone.  You are the Messiah, and I put my faith in You to save me.”

This idea is further underscored by the content of the beggar’s plea.  He cries out for mercy.  Blind Bartimaeus does not cry out, “Have justice on me!” After all, justice is that everyone has sinned and everyone goes to hell.  So you do not want to ask for justice.  He does not cry out, “Treat me as I deserve!” He does not cry out, “You owe me something.”  He does not say, “I should receive favorable treatment based on my race as an Israelite, based on my disability, or based on my status as the son of Timaeus.”  He asks for the only thing he can ask for, the only thing that will help him.  He asks for mercy.

As sinners who are justly damned, mercy is what we need.  Mercy is our only hope.  Anyone who comes to God asking for justice or demanding something or thinking that they have earned or can earn something—such a person has no understanding of his condition.  (GTB)  Such a person has not seen his sin.  It reminds us of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking for something else, asking what he could do to earn this life.  He had no understanding of his sin.

A person who thinks he can earn or contribute to his salvation simply does not understand the state of affairs.  He does not understand that he is totally depraved.  He does not understand that everything he does is tainted by sin.  It is like trying to wash a pure white garment with your mud-covered hands, thinking, “If I can only work a little bit harder, I can make it clean.”  All you are doing is making it dirtier.  That is the condition of every person before he or she comes to faith in Christ.

But with the proper understanding of ourselves as sinners who cannot save or help ourselves in any way, what else can we do but cry out for mercy, as this man did?  “Have mercy on me, a sinner!”  Mercy, mercy, mercy!  It is the only thing we can ask for.

The amazing thing is not that we can ask for it; the amazing thing is that He is a God of mercy.  He will always show mercy to those who cry out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He will never turn such a person away (John 6:37).  He is merciful.  Luke 6:36 says He is merciful.  It is part of His character.  He is rich in mercy, it says in Ephesians 2:4.  And 2 Samuel 24 says His mercy is great.  And those who approach His throne in faith will always receive mercy and find grace, without exception (Heb. 4:16).

Just look at the mercy he showed here to blind Bartimaeus.  He did not look down on that beggar.  He did not look down on that filthy, dirty nobody.  He did not ignore the man, just continuing to pass by and disregarding his cry, even though this man was a blind zero and there was nothing he could do for Jesus.  Instead, what does it say?  It says first Jesus stopped (v. 49).  He is paying attention.  It said he asked the man, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He is inquiring.  It says he helped the man.  He gave blind Bartimaeus his sight immediately.  It was an incredible miracle.  It was a life-changing event for this man, if you think about it.  This man could now go work and get a job and not be starving all the time.  He could have bread to eat.  Perhaps he could clean himself up and get married.  He could become a part of society.  He could worship and go to the temple, no longer unclean and excluded.  He could have fellowship with other people.  So this is a big life-changing event for this man.  It meant no more shame, no more disgrace, no more begging.  As important as that was, it is not the biggest thing that happened here.  Jesus showed even more mercy than giving him his sight back, even though that itself is a great miracle and a great mercy.  No, Jesus gave exceedingly abundantly more than blind Bartimaeus could ask or imagine.  Yes, Jesus healed his eyesight.  But he also saved blind Bartimaeus eternally.

Shortly after performing this miracle in Jericho, Jesus went back to Jerusalem.  He suffered an unjust and excruciating death there.  He experienced the full wrath of God on the cross and then died.  He died and suffered for blind Bartimaeus:  a nobody, a lowly beggar, a blind man.  He died and He suffered for blind Bartimaeus.  But he also died and He suffered for you and for me and for all who put their faith in Him.

He is merciful indeed.  So I ask you:  What are you waiting for?  Cry out to Him for mercy.  You see, just as He passed blind Bartimaeus on that dusty road in Jericho, He is passing by you this morning.  So cry out and shout aloud, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus is inviting you to call out today.  Don’t hesitate.  And you will notice that Jesus never went to Jericho again.  As I said, shortly after this, He went up to Jerusalem, He was crucified, and He died there.  So this may have been blind Bartimaeus’ only chance.  What if Bartimaeus had presumed that this Jesus would return?  “He came once; he will be back again.”  What if this blind Bartimaeus said, “I just need a little more time to think it over.”  He may have missed his only opportunity.  Maybe, maybe not.  God is merciful.  God may have given him another opportunity.  But let us not presume upon that mercy.  I don’t know whether He will offer you another chance to cry out to Him for mercy, to put your faith in Him and be saved.  I do not know if He will do that.  I do know that He is offering that chance right now, today.

So I say, don’t wait.  Seize it!  Seize the opportunity now.  Seize the opportunity today.  Do not do anything else until you have cried out to Him for mercy, until you have secured your eternal life by faith in Christ.

And don’t presume that you have already done so.  Perhaps you were born in the church.  Most of these people sitting along the road were born in Israel.  They were God’s chosen people.  They considered themselves highly favored people.  “After all, we are Israelites.  We are a cut above those Gentile dogs.”  Perhaps even the beggars thought themselves higher than those Gentile dogs.

But notice, most of the people along the road did not cry out.  Most of those watching the commotion did not cry out.  They just sat there.  They missed their opportunity for mercy.  So don’t do it.  Don’t assume.  Cry out and make your calling and election sure today.  And make sure that you are following Him along the road as blind Bartimaeus did.

4. Cheer Up! On Your Feet!  He’s Calling You

Verse 49 tells us that Jesus called Bartimaeus and he came.  “Cheer up!” the disciples said.  “Cheer up!  On your feet!  He’s calling you.”  And what did Bartimaeus do?  He jumps up, he throws off his cloak, and he runs to Jesus.  It doesn’t say he ran, but I think he ran.

This must be our response:  joyful, zealous, and immediate.  We should be overjoyed, just as blind Bartimaeus was.  We had this eternal, unsolvable problem.  Jesus made a way for us to be saved.  So what other response could we have when this Jesus, who makes a way, comes and offers the only way to us?  There is only one response.  Joy, because I was doomed, but now I am saved.  Elation, because I was lost, but now I am found.  And ecstasy, because I was blind, but now I see.

We must not dither.  We must not be dragged to Jesus by someone else.  We must not trudge over to Jesus.  No, we must do what blind Bartimaeus did.  Throw off that cloak.  Get rid of anything that would hinder or entangle us.  Leap to our feet, eager and zealous to come to our Lord, not wanting to risk missing the chance.  Run to see Jesus and tell him what we want.

This man wanted to see, and so Jesus gave him his sight, and much, much more.  He saved blind Bartimaeus.  He was eternally saved.  So as the disciples said to blind Bartimaeus, I say to you this morning:  Cheer up!  On your feet!  He’s calling you.  Cry out to him in faith.  Leap to your feet.  Throw off your old life of sin.  Gain your sight, your spiritual sight, by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.  And then follow Him along the road as blind Bartimaeus did, as His joyful and obedient disciple.  Don’t just sit there.  Don’t just ponder it.  Don’t just think about it.  Cheer up!  On your feet!  He’s calling you.

Praise God, He still calls sinners to Himself.  Praise God, He still has compassion on the blind, on the desperate, on the zeroes.  As He came to the cursed city of Jericho to call that doomed, blind beggar into eternal life, He has come to this cursed city to call you.  So respond in faith, as blind Bartimaeus did.  Embrace the call with joy, as blind Bartimaeus did.  Call on the Son of David, as blind Bartimaeus did.  Cry out, “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” as blind Bartimaeus did.  And follow Him for the rest of your life, as blind Bartimaeus did.

Follow Him, it says.  Follow Him where?  Where is He leading you?  I will ask you, where is He now?  He is in heaven.  So follow Him there.  Follow Him to heaven.  Follow Him to glory.  Follow Him to the very presence of God for all eternity.  Joy unspeakable and full of glory.

That is the reason to cheer up.  That is the reason to be happy in Jesus.  So I say, do it today.  He is still calling out.  He is still saving sinners.  And what should be your response?  Cheer up!  On your feet!  He’s calling you.  Amen.