Title: CAST IT OFF BY FAITH
Theme:
Text: Mark 10:46-52
Note: The bulk of this body came from a message by Bishop Wayne Dority. I wanted to share it in the series of sermons on The Miracles of Jesus. I thought it was too good not to share.
Mark 10:46-52 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. (47) 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!" (48) Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" (49) So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." (50) And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. (51) So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." (52) Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
Introduction
You will recall that the Lord Jesus is on His way to the city of Jerusalem.
For the last time He will go there, for they will take Him and crucify Him upon a cross.
So, on this final journey to Jerusalem He goes down through the city of Jericho.
Most of us are familiar with Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus is a picture of the condition of people outside the Lord Jesus, a reminder of what it means to be lost.
Bartimaeus lived in a very narrow world, a world of darkness.
He was blind, he could not see.
They say that there is no-one so blind as he who will not see.
I suppose that is true, for there are many people who’s eyes work fine, yet they cannot seem to see.
Bartimaeus could see nothing with the physical eyes with which he had been born,
Yet he could see things one a spiritual level that others were blind to.
Here is a man who had been begging for money, now he is begging for mercy
Jesus Son of David
When he called Jesus the son of David, it shows that he had insight which some who had eyes did not have.
Jesus indeed, was the son of David and Bartimaeus had come to see more than others that day.
He had come to understand that Jesus was the Messiah.
So, he addresses Jesus by his royal name. He recognizes
Jesus as the Son of God, the Son of David, the Messiah who would come.
One of the things the Bible had prophesied about the Messiah is that he would give sight to blinded eyes.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. (Luke 4:18-20) (Isaiah 61)
This man was blind physically, but he had 20/20 spiritual vision.
Some things that stand out to me about Blind Bartimaeus
Notice he was:
I. BEGGING BY THE WAYSIDE
A. Notice the story begins with a blind man sitting by the wayside begging.
1. Sitting implies that his is a life out of motion;
He's not going anywhere;
He has no vision;
People are passing him by on the main highway.
2. The scripture says he was by the wayside,
That implies that this man has somehow gotten off track.
Somewhere along the road of life, he veered off from the straight and narrow and he ended up in the ditch;
His life is out of motion.
3. Other people are on their way to their destiny; on their way to blessings and good things.
Something has gotten this man off track and now he's sitting without motion watching life pass him by.
B. The Bible said that he was in the wayside, but Jesus notices people who are by the wayside.
This gave me a different perspective of Mark 4. This is the famous story of the sower and the seed. Some fell on stony ground, some fell among the thorns, some fell on good ground but then there were those that fell by the wayside.
Some would say that this was a frivolous waste of seed. But notice that Jesus says the seed went to the wayside.
1. The reason he let some of it fall by the wayside is because
Somebody's life is off track;
Somebody has been devastated,
Some¬body's hit the ditch of life
And now the only thing that can get them out is the seed of God's Word.
2. He's got seed coming by the wayside and all it takes is one word from God
To lift you up
To get you back on track
To restore your life completely
And bring healing to your home; your family and your life!
Notice the:
II. THE BEGGAR'S GARMENT
A. In this day of Roman authority, they would issue a beggar's garment (mantle – label)
According to scholars and historians, it was a long, white robe with huge, red stripes.
1. This garment, given by the government, gave the wearer a license to beg, legal right to be where he was.
When people would walk by and see the beggar by the wayside, it said to them,
He has a right to be here;
We don't expect anything out of him but to be here.
That's where he should be because of what has happened to him in life.
2. Many times when I counsel with people, they will begin to convince me
They have a right to be depressed;
They have a right to be hopeless;
They have a right to be suicidal.
3. Society says if you were raised in a home where there were alcoholics, beatings, fighting, and abuse;
If your father was an alcoholic,
You have a right to be by the wayside.
Now that's what men tell you and that's even what the government will tell you.
4. But, when Jesus comes along, he messes up your pity party.
When he is near, suddenly, you have to forfeit your right and license to be where you are.
You will never get deliverance until you make up your mind that you don't have to waller in defeat the rest of your life.
Even though nobody expects anything of you,
Even though you may have a license to be where you are,
YOU CAN CAST OFF THAT BEGGAR'S GARMENT BY FAITH!
Notice:
III. “WHEN HE HEARD IT WAS JESUS” – HEARING OF FAITH
A. Faith always begins at the point of hearing.
The beggar had a right to be by the wayside of life, BUT, he heard about Jesus.
And when he heard about Jesus, he began to cry out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!"
And the very next verse said that as soon as he cried out, "Jesus have mercy on me", a great crowd of people told him to hold his peace.
See, there will always be somebody
Who doesn't want you to do any more than what you've done;
Who never wants you to be any more than you are right now.
1. Here's the point.
If the enemy can get you to hold your peace;
HE CAN KEEP YOU IN YOUR PLACE!
2. Now some of you right now are wrapped up in garments of things that have happened to you,
And the last thing the devil wants you to do is to open your mouth and start praising the Lord;
And to start calling on the name of Jesus!!!
3. But, look at what happened when they told the beggar to hold his peace — the Word says, HE CRIED THE LOUDER!
When the pressure is on to just get radical!
This is called FAITH!!
B. Doubt, depression, and unbelief don't move in this realm!
Notice:
Jesus Passes BY
Jesus has a way of passing by in people's experiences.
It takes much faith to cry out to Jesus in the middle of our circumstances. As we noted last week it took faith for the leper to worship before his healing, it takes faith to cry out the louder while in our condition.
IV. “Arise” THE MOVEMENT OF FAITH
A. Now this beggar still could not see when he began to cry out to Jesus.
1. But, the Word says, he started MOVING toward Jesus and crying out louder.
When he cried out, the Bible says that Jesus stood still and three things happened when He stood still:
(1) Jesus said to him, "Be of good cheer",
Which means there is no fear in God. Don't fear your circumstances.
(2) Then he said, "Arise".
The call of Jesus is never a downward call.
The call of Jesus is never a pushing you away, and you deserve what you get, It's always an upward call.
(3) And then they said to the beggar, "He calls you".
Notice Jesus waits on you to call Him, and when you call Him, then He calls you
2. When He calls your name, you can cast off your beggar's garment
3. I don't know what the devil has draped you in and clothed you in,
But when He calls your name, you can cast it off in His Name!!!
You can cast out devils from your life! Hallelujah!!!
When you say Lord, I've done all I can do, you can cast it off in the Name of Jesus!!! That old garment has no right to be on you any more because Jesus is here!!! CAST IT OFF!
B. So many times we try to deal with our problem before we come to Jesus and the devil keeps us in that place.
We don't have the power to conquer our problems! We have to come to Jesus IN FAITH!!!
Notice
V. THE PROGRESSION OF FAITH
Faith heard Jesus.
Faith got up and cast off the begging garment.
Faith spoke, called out to Jesus.
Faith would not shut up, but cried the louder when the beggar was told to hold his peace.
Faith moved out to Jesus.
Faith walked; not by sight because the beggar still could not see
Faith responded in detail when Jesus asked the beggar what he wanted.
Faith followed. The scripture says the beggar followed Jesus by the WAY.
In other words, he got out of the wayside of life and got back on track, down the straight and narrow.
THE LORD PUT HIS LIFE BACK TOGETHER AND HE LEFT THE BEGGAR'S GARMENT AT THE PLACE WHERE HE HEARD JESUS CALL HIS NAME!!!
Conclusion
JESUS IS CALLING TODAY, SAYING, "ARISE, I'M READY TO DO SOMETHING GREAT IN YOUR LIFE! "
CAST OFF THAT OLD BEGGAR'S GARMENT BY FAITH!!!
IMPORTANT TRUTH: Jesus was passing through Jericho for the "LAST TIME."
