So I'm beginning in verse 46 of Mark 10, and we'll just read it to the end of the chapter. Now they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 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. Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. 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. And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 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. 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. So I'm going to get to the heart of the story in a minute. I'm going to kind of take us down a little bit of a trail. And I want to talk about what this man's vocation was a little bit, dig into that a little bit, which was he was a beggar. And I want to see what the Bible says about that, because it might help us to appreciate his lot in life when he cries out to Jesus. The story comes to us as Jesus is making his final journey to Jerusalem to go to the cross. And he, last time we looked at him, Jesus in his ministry, he was in Perea, which is on the eastern side, I guess to you, the eastern side of the Jordan River. And the Jews would make that pilgrimage on that path line, because that way they avoided Samaria, as the pilgrims would go to Jerusalem for the appointed feasts. And now he's on the western side of the Jordan, where it says he's at Jericho. Jericho in that day would have been about five miles from the Jordan, away from the Jordan to the west. And he's only about 15 miles from Jerusalem. So we're getting very close to Jesus arriving in Jerusalem for that final week of his life before the cross. There's a couple textual issues with the passage, and I'll bring it up just so if anybody ever brings it up to you, you can say, oh yeah, my pastor talked about that. There's a couple of differences when you look at the synoptics and the reading of them. In our reading in Mark, and I'm going to base what I'm going to talk about out of Mark. So I'm going to talk about Bartimaeus. And I'm just going to read you Matthew's giving of this story in Matthew 20. where it says in verse 29, Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us. O Lord, Son of David. And the multitude warned them that they should be quiet, but they cried out all the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David. So Jesus stood still, called them, and said, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Lord, that our eyes might be opened. So Jesus had compassion, touched their eyes. So we get that little bit of additional truth here of what went on. He had compassion. He touched their eyes, plural. And immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him. So the question is, is there one blind man or two? There's two blind men, but obviously Bartimaeus is the main spokesperson here. And that's why the focus on Mark is Bartimaeus. He's the one doing the talking and Jesus is interacting verbally primarily with Bartimaeus. You say, well, why do they omit that? Well, you see that other places in the scripture, where one of the gospel writers... Because the main thrust of what's being taught here isn't how many people are there. It's that Jesus has compassion, heals the blind, and they follow him. That's the main thrust. The other little bit of a textual issue is this, and this is just so minute that I don't even know why I mentioned it to you, but was he coming or was he going? Was he coming into Jericho or was he going out of Jericho when this happened? Because Mark says, as he went out of Jericho. Matthew also says, as he went out of Jericho. But then Luke says it happened as he was coming near Jericho. So is that a contradiction in the Scriptures? Well, all contradictions are seeming contradictions in the Scripture. I did a study years ago, and it was a long study of every seeming contradiction in the entire Bible, and they all can be resolved. You could say, well, you know, it could have been. Now in this case, the ancient Jericho that was destroyed actually was a couple miles away from the rebuilt Jericho. So some of the commentators say, well, he was coming out of the ancient Jericho and he was heading towards the rebuilt Jericho. But there's a lot of ways you could possibly resolve that. But I only mention that to you. So if anybody ever tries to destroy your faith, by telling you there's all these contradictions in the Bible. If it starts to really freak you out, call me and I can go over that with you because they're only seeming contradictions. They can all be resolved. So a little bit of a side trail here to talk about this man. I'm just going to talk about Bartimaeus and his vocation as a beggar. In the Mosaic times, under the ministry of Moses, you really didn't hear of anybody begging. I'm not saying they didn't, but you just don't see it pop up. God had made abundant provision for people in the law. So I'm not going to read you all the places, but there's a lot of places we could go to that God, for national Israel, had given them instruction of how to take care of people that were either down on their luck or were disabled in some way. And I'll just read you Leviticus 25 verse 35. And six, it says, if one of your brethren becomes poor and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest. Now, usury was a ridiculous amount of interest. Take no usury or interest from him, but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. So they were to take care of each other in national Israel in that way. You could even look like I was thinking of the book of Ruth. when they don't have food. And Naomi tells Ruth to go down and she ends up in Boaz's field. And there was a law that they weren't to take every little bit of the harvest. It was a barley harvest. And Boaz took a liking to Ruth and told his harvesters to drop piles of barley for her. It was kind of cute in the story, but another day. But there was provision in God's law to take care of people. Now Ruth had to work hard. But she came back with enough to make barley loaves that they could eat and be OK. But that's all part of God's provision for his people. There are a set of psalms called imprecatory psalms, which if you read them, they're tough to stomach sometimes, where the psalmist has been wronged by somebody, and he calls down curses upon them. And there's like 14 imprecatory psalms in the Bible. And one of them in particular, Psalm 109, The psalmist has been wronged by somebody who's unrighteous, who's made a false accusation against them. And in that psalm, in verse 10, one of the curses that he calls down upon this individual was, and let his children continually be vagabonds and beg, to be beggars. with the idea that maybe some harm would come to this individual and his kids couldn't fend for themselves and they'd have to go out in the streets and beg for bread. I know it's tough to read, but that's what the Bible says. It's somebody calling out to God to bring justice to the situation. Jesus taught the parable of the unjust steward. And in that parable, the steward who's going to get fired, In that parable, he says to himself, the steward does, he says, what shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig. Maybe it's an older gentleman says, I can't do hard labor anymore. And he says, and I am ashamed to beg. It's a shameful thing. Now, just to give you a picture of how society looked at being in a position where you would be the one that had to sit by the side of the road and beg for alms, beg for money. In that parable, Jesus says that individual would have been too ashamed to beg. In Psalm 37.25, It says, I have been young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread. Now, Jesus never looks despairingly on people that are beggars, ever. As a matter of fact, one of the parables or the teachings that Jesus gives about the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus was the beggar at the gate of the rich man. And in that story, he's a godly man, and when he dies, he's carried to the bosom of Abram. In that whole story, you don't see Jesus putting down the guy because he was a beggar. Not once. It was the attitude of the rich man that he's dealing with there. So I'm going to go on this little bit of a trail, just since we're in this mode here, in this box, to say this, that the Bible teaches very clearly that those who can work should work. It's very clear here. In this story that we're looking at, this person is blind. And in that setting, that culture, where so much of it was farming and whatnot, he couldn't really work. So it's a different situation, but if somebody can work, they are called to work. God calls us to industriousness. That we would have something to do, that we would be active, that we would be working. A couple verses for you, 2 Thessalonians 3.10, Paul says, for even when we were there with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. In Ephesians, I alluded to this, but I didn't quote it word for word a week or two ago. But in Ephesians 4.28, you get a church where somebody got saved that was a thief. And it says, let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. It may be a blind person. You're not stealing anymore. You're working. You've got an abundance. And you can help people that are down and out, or somebody who's got a physical problem and can't work. So in the New Testament times, we see the individual of a vocation of beggar much more frequently than we do in the Old Testament. Although you don't see a ton of it, because I was doing a study on this yesterday. So you have like in John 9 verse 8, there's the man who was born blind. He was blind his whole life. And when he's healed and they're trying to figure out, is this the guy that we used to see? It says, therefore the neighbors of those who previously had seen that he was blind said, is not this he who sat and begged? Isn't that who this guy is? And then in Acts chapter 3, as the church is going forth after the resurrection of Jesus, it says there's a man who was born lame. It says in Acts 3.1, Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. And I won't go down that story any further than that. But he had friends that were nice enough to carry him over and lay him where people were going to the temple that he could ask for alms and people would give him money. So I said, you know, somebody can work there to work. It's as simple as that. And if you've got somebody that's basically begging money from you that can work, they need to be employed somewhere. Now, I can't judge individuals because I see them with the cardboard signs. I look at them and I think, you look like you're physically able to work. They're standing right next to a store that has a help wanted sign on it. And I'm thinking, I don't know where they are mentally though. I just don't know. I could try to interact. I don't know if they have anxiety problems. I have no idea what they've gone through. I grew up in the time when the guys were coming home from Vietnam. They were shell-shocked. I used to see them down the park when I was a kid. They couldn't mentally handle those kind of things. I don't judge people for it, but if I know they can work, they need to work. But if somebody needs a hand up, the Christian is told, we're to be generous people. I mean, it should be the Christian who's the most generous person in the neighborhood. If somebody's really down and out, and they really need a hand up, not a hand out, but a hand up, you know, to help them along, the Christian should step in if you have the means to help and say, you know what, I can't do everything for you, but would this help? And just try to help them in some way. And I'll give you a couple passages. Matthew, Jesus teaching in Matthew 5 says, give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, don't turn them away. Now, that's not universal. I mean, the Bible tells us to use discernment. There's times where I've had people I've helped, and there's times where I've had somebody I've thought, you know, I could help you and give you money, but maybe they're a drug addict or something. I'm thinking, I don't think I should do that. I mean, I can get you some groceries maybe, but I don't think I should put a $20 bill in your hand. You know, I just don't think that's the right thing to do. So we need to use discernment with all of that. 1 John 3.17 talks about Christian to Christian here, because it uses the language of a brother. It says, but whoever has this world's goods, sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in that guy? That's me adding my own verbiage there. How does the love of God abide in him? You have a brother or sister who's in need, a real need, and you've got the ability to help them? You need to help them, right? In Romans 12, and I'll wrap up our little study here, when Paul is giving this admonition to the church of what they're to be doing, he says in verse 12 that the Christian is to be rejoicing in hope. patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality." So it's just part of our new creatureness, is that God, who provides so abundantly to us, would have us to also be generous to those that are legitimately in need, right? And we get this beautiful example here in the ministry of Jesus, our Lord. That he's on his way to his cruel death on the cross. He's not very many days before that occurs. And he's going to stop to minister to somebody who's really legitimately in need. And that's a good example for us. So back to the story. The best news for the hopeless. In Luke's rendering of this story, in Luke 18.36, it says, and hearing the multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So here's Bartimaeus, who's blind, he's begging, and he hears what's going on. He knows there's a commotion, he can hear a crowd, and he doesn't know why. What's going on? What's going on here? And so he asks those that are around him, and verse 37 says, They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Now that triggers something in Bartimaeus, and I want to get into that in a minute. But before I do, I've got to say that verse has been preached by a lot of preachers down through the centuries, just that single verse. And I looked it up just because I knew that, that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And there's a lady by the name of Emma Campbell. who wrote a hymn under that title back in 1864. And I just want to read you three, there's many, many stanzas to this hymn, but I think she really got it. What was being conveyed with, hey, you want to know what's going on? Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. But she penned, Jesus, tis he who once below man's pathway trod mid pain and woe, and burdened ones, wherever he came, brought out their sick and the deaf and the lame, blind men rejoiced to hear the cry of Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. You who are buried in the grave of sin, his power alone can save. His voice can bid your dead souls live, true spirit life and freedom give. Awake, arise, for strength apply. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. But if you still this call refuse, And dare such wondrous love abuse, Soon will he sadly from you turn, Your bitter prayer for mercy spurn. Too late, too late will be the cry, Jesus of Nazareth has passed by." And I thought about that. I actually read a story of a man back in that era who was on his way to gamble away his week's pay and to get drunk, as he always did, and stopped into a church to hear the singing, and they were singing that song. And he left, and he didn't like it, and he left. And the Holy Spirit haunted that man with the last stanza, it's too late. Jesus passed by. And he eventually, not to go into the whole story, he yielded his life to Christ and became a solid Christian because that haunted him. As the Spirit of God tugs on our hearts, we need to respond. We need to respond. And I'll tell you, I'm somebody who resisted a long time. I was the guy, we went to a church down in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Lord was working on me, and I was just beginning to learn the basics, and I didn't understand the gospel. But I remember, because they used to give altar calls, and I was clinging onto the chair in front of me because I didn't want to go, because I thought I was going to look stupid. Because I was such a proud young guy. And I, but God was working on me and finally God overcame my resistance. I attribute all that to God, but I resisted and I hem and hauled and doubted and I didn't want to, I came kicking and screaming as God pulled me into the kingdom. But I resisted for quite some time, but praise God it wasn't too late, right? Some people they hem and haul, they resist and then they pass away. So let's look at the actual story here. His sad condition. It says, 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 on the road begging. 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. So here we find this individual who really can't work, begging. That's all he can do. He gets on with somebody, leads him probably to get to where the people would pass by, and he sits there probably all day begging for alms, begging for money. R.C. Sproul, in his commentary, says, Bartimaeus stands in stark contrast with the behavior of the disciples as they squabbled among themselves for status and for rank. This man was a beggar by the road. In Hebrew categories, he was the lowest of the low in terms of his station in life, in terms of public exaltation and status. Presumably, he was clothed in nothing but rags as he sat there, hoping against hope that someone would drop a coin into his cup so that he might have his next meal or a place to rest for the evening. By taking time to serve this lowly man, Jesus set a powerful example for his disciples and for us, quite honestly, as well. When I read that story, and Luke tells us that he asks what's going on, he's told Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and he immediately begins to cry out for mercy. He had heard about Jesus of Nazareth. He knew who this was. As a matter of fact, very intimately he knows who this is. Now, it's not in Mark's gospel, but And I think it's John that mentions that Jesus, when he performed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, that news spread. And that is the thing that infuriated the Jewish leadership. And they said, after they heard about that, this guy's got to die. And they had a death warrant for this guy, for Jesus, at that point. My thought is probably this man, Bartimaeus, had heard that Jesus could raise the dead. And maybe even his thinking, my eyes are dead. Could he raise my dead eyes back to life? But he knows who Jesus is. He uses the messianic title that Mark doesn't really use too much here. His audience was wrong. So he doesn't use that messianic title that the Jews would have understood. But he knows. And he doesn't say, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me. He began to cry out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. That's a messianic title. I think Bartimaeus knew who Jesus was. I think he knew he was the Messiah. And he's crying out to him with that messianic title. Jesus, son of David. You can read about the Davidic Covenant back in 2 Samuel chapter 7, where God promised David that somebody from his body, one of his seed, would be enthroned forever. And that's reiterated in Psalm 89 verses 3 and 4. And this man understood enough to know that the Messiah was the greater son of David, and he recognized that Jesus of Nazareth, this blind man, has spiritual sight to see what the crowd can't see, and he cries out to him for mercy. He begs not for coins, he begs for mercy. Now this man, Bartimaeus, is also undaunted by discouragement. And you read in verse 48, it says, Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out, All the more, son of David, have mercy on me. He wouldn't be silenced by those that would bring him down. And why is it that every time somebody's trying to get a leg up and reach out in some good way towards God, there's always some discourager there to say, Oh, quiet down, quiet down. But I'll tell you, when I hear this story, and I see that as soon as he knew it was Jesus of Nazareth, he begins to cry out, you know, emboldened, because that was his only hope. And I thought to myself, Jesus was never passing back by that way again. He was leaving Jericho to go to Jerusalem to die. He wasn't coming back to Jericho. That was his only chance. And I thought of some of the movies like, Like Tom Hanks was in that movie where he's shipwrecked on an island. And you hear an airplane come up by and you're running out and you're starting a fire and you're putting the rocks out to try to spell help or whatever and you're flagging the thing down or maybe a boat. And Bartimaeus is at that desperation point. This is his only chance. Jesus is passing by, which means he's heading out of here. And Bartimaeus cries out to him. But the people tell him, be quiet. The commentator Hendrickson says, well, there's possibly maybe four reasons why they would try to quiet him down. Maybe they're in a hurry on their journey to Jerusalem. These are pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. They don't want Jesus to stop. The yelling is undignified, both for Bartimaeus and also for the one he's yelling to, to Jesus himself. And they didn't like Jesus being called the son of David. They picked up on that. Don't call him the son of David. Be quiet. Stop yelling out like that. And maybe they thought the religious leaders were displeased that this man was crying out and giving Jesus that messianic title. I don't know if it's any of those reasons. All I know is they were discouragers. And there's always discouragers, guys, as you step forward to do anything, especially when you try to do something for God. There's always somebody to discourage you. You've got to mount up with the wings of faith, like this man did, and say, you know what? I'm not going to be quieted. God's called me to do this. I'm going to do this. And I like the way he puts it. He cried out all the more. as they're trying to quiet him down. It's the knowledge of one's hopelessness that causes him to cry out, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. I think he knows the hopelessness of a situation. And it's the one who understands their own wretched condition, that in their conversion, at some point, and in my own experience, as I resisted and pushed back and fought against it, I finally realized what a wretched man I was, and what a holy God God is. And Paul models that for us in Romans 7, where he says, O wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me from this body of death? And then he goes on to say, but thanks God, Jesus Christ. So it's when we get to that point of desperation, understanding who we really are, we don't have a shot at glory. But there's one who died for sinners. Paul also wrote that Jesus died for sinners of which I'm chief. That's how Paul saw himself. So there's a sense of desperation, refusing to be silenced. Had he not cried out, Jesus was never going to return. Alexander McLaren, when he preached on this, pointed out that Bartimaeus said, have mercy on me. not have mercy on our culture, not, oh Lord, please bless America. It was down to a personal thing. He knew he was helpless and he knew that that was Messiah and he could actually intervene and help. McLaren says, turn all the generalities of his grace into the particularity of your own possession of it. We have to go one by one to His cross, and one by one to pass through the wicked gate. We have not cried to Him as we ought, if our cry is only, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us. We must be alone with him, that into our own hearts we may receive all the fullness of his blessing. And our petition must be, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. And then he says to his congregation, Have you cried that? Have you ever had that day where you cried out and you realized your wretched condition and said, oh Lord, I don't deserve this. I'm not asking for justice here. I'm just asking for mercy and turn to Christ in faith. Then the call of Jesus to Bartimaeus. It says in verse 49, so Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And then they called the blind man saying to him, be of good cheer, rise, he's calling you. So, stops at the cry of this desperate man in need, Jesus just stops. I'm, in my mind, envisioning the crowd continuing to make their journey, but all of a sudden Jesus just stops in his tracks. And the disciples are like, well, Jesus stopped. And they all stop. And Jesus says, and I wonder at first, you know how it is when you hear somebody shouting in a crowd and you kind of don't hear it at all? But maybe when he was emboldened because people told him to be quiet and he cried out all the more, Jesus finally hears him. And when he hears him cry for mercy, he stops to really give him mercy, and he calls him to himself. Jesus had said in Matthew 7, everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Jesus taught a parable, and I want to read it to you, where I love that Luke tells us, before we even hear the parable, what we're supposed to get out of the parable. Because the parables aren't always like that. But Luke 18 says, He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. So when we read the parable, it's like, well, what are we supposed to get out of this? Well, that we're to always pray and we're never to lose heart. So it says, there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Doesn't care about anybody. Doesn't care about God, doesn't give a hoot about the law, doesn't care about people. And he's a judge. So it says, now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." Now what Jesus is doing in this parable is he's giving us an example of a very ungodly individual who cares not for anybody. And yet he's a judge. He doesn't care about the widow. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anybody. He doesn't even care about God. And now in comparison to that, he's telling us as Christians, your heavenly Father is not like this judge. How much more should you cry out to him? And this is what he says. The Lord said, hear what that unjust judge said. And shall God, who's holy and righteous and love, shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? And I think he links faith to his people who are crying out to God day and night. And God will respond to our prayers. And Bartimaeus is an example of one who did not cease to seek Jesus. He continues to cry out. Bartimaeus' immediate response. They go and say, hey, the master's calling for you. It says, "...throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, What do you want me to do for you? But I said to him, Rabboni, that I might receive my sight. Jesus said to him, Go your way, your faith has made you well. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road." Again, McLaren says, and what did the man do? He sprang to his feet, as the word rightly rendered would be, and flung away the frowzy rags that he had wrapped around him for warmth and softness of seat as he waited at the gate. And he came to Jesus, immediately came to Jesus. And then Jesus gives him this investigative question. And what you see in other miracles of healing, where Jesus says, well, what do you want? You asked me to have mercy. What exactly is it that you want me to do for you? Now before he answers that, and you probably picked up on this, he calls Jesus by a title. He calls him Rabboni. The only other place in the Bible that you'll see that word is when Mary Magdalene recognizes it's the risen Jesus, and she turns to Jesus and says, Rabboni. It's a strong word. It's a stronger word than teacher or rabbi. It literally would be saying, my master and my Lord. I believe that Bartimaeus had saving faith. that he had saving faith that Jesus was Messiah, you're my master, you are my Lord. I'm asking that you'd restore my sight to me, is what I'm asking. And even that itself is a messianic sign. In Isaiah 29.18, In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see. Isaiah 35.5, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. It was the signs that would accompany the Messiah. So the very fact that he's saying, I know you're Messiah. I know I'm not deserving it. So I'm asking at a level of just crying out for mercy. And you're my Rabboni. You're my Lord. I'm asking for my sight. It's a beautiful picture here. Now, Jesus, when He heals them, links the healing to the man's faith. Did you notice that? Go your way, your faith has made you well. In other words, He acknowledges that He has faith in Himself, Jesus does, as Rabboni, as my Lord, as my Master, and also as Messiah. And He heals them and says, it was your faith that was exercised, go in peace. Hendrickson says, in view of the fact that faith itself is God's gift, it is nothing less than astounding that Jesus, in several instances, praises the recipient of the gift for exercising it. Because the Bible does say it, Ephesians 2, that even faith is a gift that comes from God. And when we exercise it, God says, well done. Well done in exercising your faith. And the beautiful conclusion of the story is that now he can see. And you think that maybe us, we think all these places I've been to in the city and I think I know what they look like. I'd really like to go back and see these places, the home I grew up in. He doesn't do that at all. He immediately follows Jesus on the road. On the road to where? On the road to the cross, right? JD Jones says, one of the greatest sorrows of our Lord's life was that so many took his benefits without giving them their hearts. That's not the case with Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus knew him, I believe, as Lord and Savior, and followed Jesus as Jesus headed on to the cross. And Luke 18, in the same telling of the story, Luke says, immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. God gets all the glory for all of this. If you remember in the Old Testament, and I'll wrap it up, in the Old Testament, when Hannah petitioned God for a son, for a child, and she said, I'll dedicate this child to you forever. And when she finally weaned that child, who was Samuel, she dedicated him to the temple and to God. And then she prayed a prayer. And in that prayer, Hannah says, He raises the poor, talking about God. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. He lifts the beggar out of the ash heap and sets him on a throne of glory. And beloved, that's not just true of Bartimaeus. We're all beggars, begging for mercy. And if you found Christ, then you know that he turns and responds to us when we cry out to him and we embrace him by faith. I was reading Stephen Lawson's book, The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther. And he speaks of the final moments in Luther's life. And he writes, in his last moments, Luther was asked by his friend Justice Jonas, do you want to die standing firm on Christ and the doctrine you have taught? He answered emphatically, yes. And then Luther's last words were, we're all beggars. This is true. That was Luther's last words and it is true. I'll end with that. Our father and our God, what a tremendous story in the gospel. Lord, and I really love the story of Bartimaeus, but Lord, we can all see ourselves in that same disheveled condition, begging for mercy, and Lord, for you to stop and turn to us and extend your hand of favor and grace. Lord, we are forever grateful for that. In Jesus' name, amen. We'll have a great Labor Day. I get tomorrow off, so I'm looking forward to that. And receive the benediction, the blessing of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in the peace of Christ Jesus to a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen.