A Blind Beggar

Tom Lowe

2/28/03

A Blind Beggar

"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. 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. 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. 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. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 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. 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."—Mark 10:46-52.

This poor man was weighed down by two great evils-blindness and poverty. It’s sad enough to be blind, but if a blind man is wealthy, there are thousands of things that he could buy to make himself comfortable and to cheer him up. But to be both blind and poor is an awful condition to be in.

The case of Bartimeus, however, is a perfect example of you and me. We are all blind and poor, by nature. We think that we can see, but in some ways we are blind. Our blindness is the kind that makes us believe we can see; but when we receive light from the Holy Spirit, we discover that our previous sight was only blindness. Spiritually, we are blind; we are unable to recognize our lost condition; unable to behold the awfulness of our sin, or to comprehend the terror of the judgment to come.

But besides being blind, we are also naturally poor. Our father Adam lost our inheritance, and our wealth. All of us are blind and poor in a spiritual sense, until we make Jesus our Savior. I hope that today there will be many men and women around the world, who are blind and poor, who are nevertheless begging-wanting to have something more than they have-not content with their position. I hope they will have enough spiritual life to know their misery, and that they will come to the place of begging. And today, when Jesus passes by, they will have the faith to cry aloud to Him for mercy. I know Jesus will be moved by their thrilling cry, “Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.” I know he will turn and give them sight, so that they will follow Him and go on their way rejoicing.

Today, I want to talk to any poor and blind, men and women, who might be here. The poor blind man’s faith, which is described in this passage of scripture, is a fitting picture of the faith which I pray to God for you to use for the saving of your soul.

If you are one who belongs to God, think about how important it is to give the gospel to those who are outside the family of God; and pray that they will come to faith in Christ. I am going to speak about only four things:

• First, the origin of this man’s faith; how his faith perceived its opportunity when Jesus passed by.

• Second, we will listen to his faith, when it cries out and begs.

• Third, we will look at his faith, as he leaps in joyful obedience to the Savior’s call.

• Forth, we will hear his faith as he asks Jesus, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.”

And I hope that we will be able to rejoice with this poor believing man, with his sight restored, as he expresses his thankfulness and gratitude to Christ, and then follows Him down the road.

First, then, let’s look at THE ORIGIN OF THIS MAN’S FAITH.

He had faith, because that is what obtained his sight for him. But where did he get his faith? We are not told in this passage how Bartimeus came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah; but I think we can risk a guess. It is quite certain that Bartimeus did not come to believe in Christ from what he saw. Jesus had worked a lot of miracles and many people had seen them with their own eyes, and many believed, because of what they saw. Bartimeus also believed, but not because of what he saw, because he was stone-blind.

How was it then that he came to believe? It wasn’t because he had traveled around the country, because blind men stay at home. Even if he had someone to help him travel, he didn’t have the money for it. Then how did he get his faith? I think it may have been like this.