So we're there in Matthew chapter 20, and that's obviously if you've been paying attention
to the book of Mark, parallel passage, that we covered there in Mark 10 last week.
And we will be in Mark 10 momentarily, maybe a little bit actually later on this
time.
But we're going to be looking really for covering the last several verses of Mark
10.
We're looking at the story of why Mark made it to something that is obviously one of the
more familiar stories, but there's some interesting details that will jump out at you, at least
they did for me, if you pay attention to the parallel passages here.
And I believe there's some subtle differences there that if we pay attention to and think
about, we'll see that God, even having done that, made these parallel passages and the
way that they're, and the differences between them will actually show us something about
God and about how God considers each one of us and how God knows us intimately as
individuals.
And I'll bring that out here hopefully in the next several moments.
But if you look there in Matthew chapter 20, verse 29, it says, and as they departed
from Jericho, in case the rest of the other details that are there in the chapter aren't enough
to clue you in that this is a parallel passage.
That's also what you would see in Luke 18, which will be to looking at as well later
in the sermon, if you want to get something in Luke 18, where it says, as they were, as he
was come nigh unto Jericho and also in the book of Mark, where we are, where it
says when they were, went out of Jericho.
So that right there tells us that this is a parallel passage.
And I mention that because in the record that Matthew gives us, we see two blind men.
Okay?
But we'll notice if you looked in Matthew 18, verse 35 and onward, and also in our,
the text that we're going through as part of our Bible study, that it's one man that's
mentioned.
And specifically in Mark, we get the name Bartimaeus.
In these other passages, he's just a certain man in Luke.
And in Matthew here, he's not just a certain man, but he's also just a man among men.
There's another man there with him, another blind man who is in the same situation.
But we know that these are all the same instance, again, because of the reference
to Jericho.
Now, if you're in Luke and you want to look there, you don't have to.
This is just kind of a minor detail.
And sometimes I like to explain these things because as I read these things, I try to
think about, you know, how this might be confusing to people.
Okay?
But it says in verse 35 of Luke 18, it says, they came to pass as that, as he was come
nigh unto Jericho.
Okay.
And people might say, well, see, that's a discrepancy.
That's a contradiction because in Matthew 29, it says he was departing from Jericho.
And it says in Mark that he went out of Jericho.
So what does it mean that he was come nigh unto Jericho?
And then this happens.
Well, again, and I'm hopefully I'm not straining in a net here this morning, but I do like
to take the time to explain some of these phrases and the way the Bible uses
you know, words differently throughout the scripture, but it says, as they departed from
Jericho in Matthew, meaning they were departing from it.
You know, they were meeting, they're still in the midst of Jericho.
They're within proximity of Jericho as, as they went out of Jericho.
So it's not, they had left Jericho in the dust in the rear view mirror.
This is a process, right?
You know, sometimes when we leave, we're in the process of leaving.
Right.
And I think that's why Luke 18, it says he was come nigh unto Jericho meeting.
He had come there and he was in Jericho when this happened.
Okay.
So maybe that was pointless to even explain all that.
Maybe everybody here perfectly understood what was meant by that.
Maybe you've never noticed that before, but again, it's just a teachable moment.
But if you're still in Matthew, you look at verse 29.
The first thing I want to point out here again is, is the record of a second blind man.
When it comes to blind Bartimaeus and we look at the parallel passages,
we'll notice that there's actually two men in, in the account given in Matthew.
It says, and as they departed from Jericho, verse 29, a great multitude followed them and behold,
two blind men sitting by the wayside when they heard that Jesus passed by,
cried out saying, have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.
And the multitude rebuked them and that they should hold their peace,
but they cried out the more and so on and so forth.
They go on and ask that their eyes may be opened and he had compassion on them.
So we see very clearly in this story that there's actually more than one man here.
There's actually two men. And what I want us to understand this morning,
the application we can make is that Bartimaeus is just one of many.
You know, Bartimaeus is just one of many people that Jesus healed.
He's just one of many people that he performed a miracle on.
And of course, you know, there's a whole other sermon here.
We could preach about how the blindness is representative of sin,
you know, that we all have and how it just as his eyes were open physically,
our eyes have to be opened spiritually.
And that is the case for every single one of us.
And there's a great illustration of faith here.
If you notice there in Mark, it says that he left his garment behind.
Meaning, if you got to think about it from the perspective of being a blind man,
you know, if you're a blind guy and you set something down,
it's not going to be as easy to find.
You're going to have to go feeling around for it.
So there's a picture of faith in this story that when Jesus stops and says,
you know, come, that he throws his garment off.
He doesn't take it with him.
He leaves it behind, which is a picture of the faith that he had
when he even began coming to Jesus.
And there's a whole other application and things there.
But the point I'm trying to make this morning,
what I want us to see is that Bartimaeus is just one of many people
that have a condition.
Obviously, not everybody in the story is blind,
but he's representative of sin, and that's a condition that we all have.
You know, we're not physically blind this morning,
but, you know, we are all spiritually blind.
We all, or at least have been blind.
We all had to come to Jesus just as he did by faith
and have our eyes open to be illuminated by the gospel,
by the Holy Spirit, and to have the indwelling given to us
in the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
That's something that had to take place for every single one of us.
And what I want us to understand is that, you know,
our condition is not unique, okay?
Now, Bartimaeus, it's a little bit more unique, right?
These two blind men because it's a rare condition that they have.
But, again, the Bible's telling us here that it was two men, right?
Meaning he's not by himself.
Other people are in the same condition that he is in.
Bartimaeus is one of many.
Now, if you would, go to Luke chapter 18.
I do want to look at the parallel passage.
In Matthew, it makes it very clear there's two,
and everything's in the plural.
Meaning that Bartimaeus is just one of many.
And that means to us, you know, that our condition is not unique.
The Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one, right?
There's none that understand it.
There's none that seek after God.
They are all gone out of the way.
They are together becoming profitable.
There is none that do with good, the Bible says, not one.
And that's our condition, right?
Just as he's been blinded physically, you know, we're blinded by sin.
We're blinded by every single person that comes into this world.
That there's none that do with good.
And yet, what's the most common answer you hear from people when you ask them
how you know you're going to heaven?
Because I'm a good person.
When the Bible point blank says, there's none that do with good.
Now, I understand, you know, humanly speaking, we're good people.
We do good things for other people,
but we've all come short of the glory of God, as it goes on and says.
That's the mark of righteousness that you have to have.
That's the bar that's been set to go to heaven.
Righteousness of which we all fall pitifully short, right?
So, we're all in that same condition.
And what I want to point out this morning,
and the point I want to make is that, you know,
sometimes we can start to take our salvation for granted.
And sometimes we can start to feel, you know, we're just one of many.
You know, it's great that God saved us.
It's great that, you know, we've had our eyes opened spiritually.
It's great.
But, you know, a lot of people have had that happen.
And we can, if we're not careful in our Christian lives,
sometimes start to feel like, you know, God doesn't really take note of us.
That God doesn't really know us intimately.
That God doesn't really know us personally and closely and privately.
That God doesn't know the thoughts and intents of our hearts
when the Bible says that he does.
You know, Barnabas here in the story,
he's just referred to as one of two blind men.
His name's not even given.
He's just another blind guy.
Just another person that needs to be healed.
Just another person who has a condition that needs to be addressed by Jesus.
You know, we might start to feel like we're just kind of the run-of-the-mill sinner.
Just another person who got saved.
And, you know, as exciting as that might be in the beginning,
you know, as the years go on,
we might find ourselves even taking our salvation for granted.
Or just kind of feeling like, yeah, it's great.
We're saved. We're on our way to heaven.
But does God really notice me?
You know, what does God know my name?
You know, we might feel like we're being described as,
you know, just another person.
Just one of two.
One of many.
And it might be.
But the truth is, you know, our condition is not unique.
Right?
We're no different than anybody else.
And we're sinners just like everyone else.
But what I want to point out is that God does take note of the individual.
Right?
Jesus in the story isn't going, oh, just another blind guy.
You know?
Take a number.
Get in line.
Right?
God does take note of the individual.
And what we actually see in the story is that it's the people that are closest to Jesus
that are dismissive of Bartimaeus.
They're the ones that are kind of like, you can't bother him.
They actually rebuke him and tell him to shut up.
Quit crying out.
Jesus has more important things to do.
Just sit there and beg some more.
Right?
But what we notice in the story is that Jesus actually does take time to pay attention to the individual.
Okay?
Look in Luke chapter 18 verse 35.
It says, and it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man.
So you can see in these parallel passages how we're going from it's two blind men to now it's a certain blind man.
As we're moving through these different passages, we see that God kind of narrows that focus in a little bit more.
And you say, well, is this a contradiction?
Because in Matthew it's two people.
Well, think about it this way.
If we were all to get together, and this never happens.
If we were all to get together and all go to lunch, right?
After service today.
Let's say, you know, several of us got together and went out to lunch.
And then let's say I go to work tomorrow and someone says, hey, what'd you do after church Sunday?
And I say, well, I went to lunch.
Would that not be a true statement?
It would be.
And that person who's hearing it might think, you went and ate by yourself?
Right?
Because I didn't say I went to lunch with a bunch of other people from church.
I just said, well, I went and got lunch.
And someone could hear me say that and think, oh, he went and went through a drive-thru or whatever and ate by himself in his car or something.
Right?
You don't know exactly what that means.
So this is still a true statement.
That there was a certain blind man.
And it's the details of one of these two blind men that is given here.
Okay?
So it's not a contradiction.
The Bible doesn't get anything wrong here.
It's just, you know, it's giving us these details a little bit differently.
Okay?
It's just not including the fact that there were two.
But it's still the same.
It's true nonetheless.
And it came to pass as he was coming nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man.
And again, I think the Bible makes these distinctions.
And there's these, what people might consider or be confused and get wrong and think is a contradiction.
God's actually giving us these details and changes these things this way for us to understand something.
That yes, our condition is not unique.
But that we are not just another face in the crowd to God.
That God pays attention to certain people.
That God knows each and every one of us.
That's why it's saying, hey, it's a certain blind man.
He's starting to focus in here on the details of this blind man.
And hearing a multitude pass by, he asks what it meant.
And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passed by.
And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace.
But he cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus commanded him to be brought unto him.
When he was come near, he asked him, saying, what wilt that I should do unto thee?
And I'm sorry, I can't help it every time I read that.
I kind of smile to myself a little bit.
You kind of think, like, duh.
I'll give you a guess. What is it you want from me?
Hello? I'm blind.
But again, the picture is that it's not that Jesus is ignorant of what this guy wants.
Clearly, he understands what it is that he wants.
But again, it's a great picture of salvation because you have somebody who's blind and helpless
leaving their garment behind and coming to Jesus by faith,
but then having to vocalize that faith.
Actually having to call and ask for what it is that they want.
It's a great picture of salvation.
And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him.
And he came near, and he's saying, what wilt thou do unto thee?
And he said that I may receive my sight.
And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight. Thy faith hath saved thee.
But notice he said that after he vocalized his need.
So that's kind of a sub point here.
But what I really want to show us here again is that God, although we are not unique,
necessarily that we are all in the same condition,
that God does take note of the individual and that we each have value.
In the story, they're rebuking him that he should hold his peace.
But he cries out so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus commands that he be brought to him.
And really, and I don't mean to be disparaging of people that have any kind of a disability
that are blind or crippled in some way,
but in a society that isn't as mindful of these things as we are in our society,
people might look at someone like a Bartimaeus and say, you're of no use.
There was no American Disability Act by then.
The Department of Justice wasn't going to stand up for blind Bartimaeus
and make sure that the crosswalks were beeping and everything like that.
Well, back then, if you had an ailment like this, you were basically an outcast in society.
You were somebody who had to basically beg and just relied upon the charity of others.
And today, praise God, we live in a society where people who even despite great physical ailments
can still be productive members of society and can contribute things.
That's a wonderful thing.
And we should never discount people that might have some kind of a physical handicap,
deformity, whatever it might be.
Those people can still be used mightily of God.
And what it just shows us in the story is that every person has value in the sight of God.
And we don't want to look at it, we don't want to get this idea
as if we're the kind of the Bartimaeus, nobody loves me kind of an idea.
That's obviously one application.
You need to understand that you have value in the sight of God.
That you're important to God, that God can use you, that God cherishes you, that God loves you.
That although you're not unique, yeah, you're a sinner just like everybody else.
God still died for you, personally.
You had to apply that atonement that he made to your account.
But we also want to be like the people in the crowd.
Who look at other people and think, this person can't do anything for God.
This person's just a burden, this person's just a trouble, this person's just a pain,
this is just dead weight, this is just somebody we have to kind of put up with because Jesus loves them.
We should never have that kind of attitude towards, you know, really anybody.
But especially within the household of God, you know, we don't want to look at other church members
and say, well, you know, I have no need of thee, right, because you're just the foot.
You know, the eye can't say to the hand, I have no need of thee, and vice versa.
We're all members of the body of Christ, we all play a crucial part.
There's some things that only certain people are going to be able to do, but that doesn't make anybody else of any less value.
Jesus stops the crowd, stops what he's doing, and again, this is Jesus, the son of God.
He's just gotten done explaining how he's going to go up to Jerusalem and be crucified.
And now here he is just passing through Jericho, he's got a mission, he's got a goal, he has somewhere he has to be,
and yet he takes the time and stops and rebukes those that would say you're bothering him
and beckons what society would deem somebody of no value and says, comes and heals him.
And this is very significant. It's a great story, it's a beautiful story.
If you would go over to Luke chapter number 15, since you're right there in Luke 18,
I think you are anyway, Luke chapter number 15, we each have value.
The Bible says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, each and every one of them.
God takes note of the people that are his, his children.
We are the children of God, behold what manner of love God hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God, the children of God.
And sometimes as a father, I have five kids and as children always do,
they want to know which one's dad's favorite and mom's favorite.
And I'm going to tell everybody who it is right now. Truth is I don't have a favorite.
And that's honest. I'm not going to do to my kids what my dad did to me and my sisters,
which was told each one of us individually that were his favorite.
Right. Cause I'm not going to sow discord. Right.
I remember thinking my dad told me that I went right to my big sister. Dad said, I'm his favorite.
He said, she said, he told me the same thing. Right.
So anyway, but you know, God doesn't, doesn't have favorites when it comes to his children.
We should never feel like, Oh, you know, I know I'm saved and I'm God's child and that's great.
But you know, God loves this person more than me.
God thinks, you know, this person's more important than more than me.
You shouldn't have that attitude. Yeah. Your condition is not unique, but you are unique.
And God cares about you as an individual. God cares about your situation, what you're going through,
what the place you find yourself.
God stops everything. The story, the Lord stops everything and he's doing
and pays attention to this, these blind beggars by the side of the road.
And even within the word of God itself, it focuses in on one individual, even in greater details.
We'll see here in a moment. Look at Luke chapter 15, verse number three, it says,
and he spake this parable unto them saying, what man of you having an hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that,
which is lost until he find it. He doesn't say, well, you know, I lost one big deal.
I've got 99. What's one sheep?
He says, even you in just this carnal exercise of being a shepherd,
even you understand the value of one sheep. And that's an animal.
And we've all seen what Jesus thinks, how much he esteems animals.
I mean, he's sacrificing them in the old Testament by the thousands.
He's sending herds of swine to, you know, he's possessing them with devils
and sending them off to be choked in the sea.
And he's saying, look, you value an animal that, that, that importantly, you, you know,
you, you think that even just one sheep is so important that you would go trekking off in the wilderness
just to find it, even though you have 99 sheep back home.
It's a hypothetical question. He's saying, you know, what man of you,
if you lost a sheep, you'd go look for it. And when he hath found it,
he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he cometh home,
he called together his friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me,
for I found my sheep, which was lost.
You know, on this, this morning on the drive over, we were at a stoplight,
and there on the pole is someone's big colored poster, lost dog, right?
Everyone, everyone goes looking for some lost animal.
How much more do you think God cares about the lost of the world, this world,
the people of this world, his own children?
He says, when he cometh, he called together his friends and neighbors
and saying, rejoice with me, for I found my sheep, which was lost.
I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons
which needeth no repentance.
I mean, Jesus is passing through Jericho. There he is.
He's got this crowd following. He's got his disciples.
He could have just gone on his merry way and said,
I've got more important things to do. But he stopped, and he said,
this one man, these two blind guys, these guys are important to me.
I'm going to stop what I'm doing. I'm going to listen to what they have to say.
Because the individual, although their condition is not unique, they are unique.
As a person, their situation might be unique. Your situation is unique.
Don't think that God doesn't pay attention to you, because he does.
We each have value, just like that one sheep.
He doesn't go trekking off because it's his favorite sheep.
I mean, sheep are sheep, as far as I know.
He goes trekking off because he knows that one sheep is important.
And without that one sheep, you know, it's not a full flock.
We each have value because we each have potential.
I think this is the reason why some people might write themselves off
when it comes to serving God.
All they see are their limitations. All they see are their past failures.
All they see are the things that they haven't done.
What we need to learn to do is to look at the potential that we have.
You can't do anything about the past.
You know, but we all have our lives in front of us.
And that we can still be used by God, despite our circumstances,
despite our situation, no matter what hardship we're going through,
no matter what setbacks we've suffered, no matter what difficulties we have,
you know, we have potential.
I love it in the story here. I don't know if you're still there in Luke 18.
I probably had you move away, but it says that after he healed him,
he said, received thy sight, thy faith hath made thee whole.
It says, and immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God.
I mean, why does Jesus stop and take care of this one guy
when he's got so many, what the world would say, more important things to do, seemingly?
Because of the potential.
Because that's one more guy that's going to be following him.
And I think that's why we have some of the details that we have over in Mark 10,
if you've probably already got something there.
I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, but it shows us that, you know,
why does God do this? Because we all have potential.
This guy gets his sight back and says, well, you're the one that gave it to me.
I might as well follow you.
And he goes and he's glorifying God, and he goes on and says in verse 43,
and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
God is glorified because Jesus stopped for one individual, for one person.
So again, the application this morning is, you have value, right?
Because you have potential.
You have potential that maybe only God sees.
Other people would look at you because this is what people do all the time.
They just look on the surface. They just look on the outside.
They just look at the circumstances, and they just make judgments,
and they just pass judgment on people.
And they say, oh, this person's that, and that person will never achieve this,
and this person will never be any good at that, and so on and so forth.
And people do this all the time.
And people probably looked at these blind guys.
They looked at this certain blind man in Luke and just said,
who are you to bother God? What use could you be to God?
And yet Jesus stopped and says, you have value.
You are unique, although your circumstances are not unique.
I have a purpose for you. He heals the guy,
and now this guy is walking with Christ and serving him.
And I believe that's why we know his name and his father's name in Mark 10.
If you have something, you look at it very quickly in verse 46.
It says, and when they came to Jericho,
and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people,
blind Bartimaeus.
So again, now we've gone from two blind men to a certain blind man
to a man who has a name.
Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
How do they know his name?
How do they know who his father was?
Because somebody stopped, that guy's name was Jesus,
and saw the potential where nobody else saw it,
and said, I'm going to take the time and I'm going to bring this guy,
I'm going to give him what he needs, I'm going to heal him,
I'm going to set him on his feet, and he's going to follow me.
I have no doubt that Bartimaeus went on and served God with his life.
I mean, what relevant detail is it to us what his name is?
You know, in Mark's day, the contemporaries that read this,
you know, in the early church, they're probably reading,
oh, Bartimaeus, oh, that's how Bartimaeus, this is his testimony.
A lot of people probably knew who Bartimaeus was.
And, you know, they probably knew who his father was, Timaeus.
I mean, God's just putting, this is the only places you see these names.
Timaeus doesn't show up anywhere else.
I mean, as far as, I haven't seen anywhere else, as far as I know.
It's like, who's that guy?
Well, you know, it was a real, probably people that were reading it back then,
Mark knew exactly probably who it was.
So this is Bartimaeus' story.
You know, Bartimaeus, I don't know if he was around to read the book of Mark or not,
but he was probably like, hey, that's me.
Maybe Timaeus ran and said, that's my boy.
Right? That's my boy.
And it just goes to show us, you know, that if, that people who think that they have no value do.
And if we look at other people and think, oh, there's no value there, there is.
And not necessarily because of what they're bringing to the table,
but what they can bring to the table, because they have potential.
They have value.
I believe that's why we have these details here,
because he went on following God, bringing glory to God,
praising God, and being a testimony from that day forward for Christ.
You know, we all have potential.
And really the potential comes from, because of the fact there's such a great need today.
There is such a need today for gospel preaching, for Bible preaching,
that the need is insurmountable.
We can't even begin to fathom how desperately we need people to preach the gospel,
to get up behind pulpits and preach the word of God,
and for God's people to know the Bible.
It's a desperate need.
And that's something that's, you know, I believe been the case probably throughout all of time.
That's why often, even in the Old Testament,
you see God speaking in Ezekiel and Isaiah and elsewhere,
where, you know, for example, Ezekiel says,
I sought for a man among them that should take up the hedge and stand in the gap for the land,
that I should destroy it not, but I found none.
Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them,
I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath.
Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.
You know, God looks down, and he has to judge,
and he says, you know, rather than judging and destroying a place,
I would rather just find a man, just one person,
to stand in the gap and make up the hedge so that I would not have to do it.
And he doesn't say in Ezekiel, and I know I'm just reading to you,
he didn't say, I sought for the right man, the perfect man,
the guy who just had it all together.
You know, God wants us just to be willing more than anything.
If you're willing and able, God will, you know, he will make up what lacks.
Trust me, I know.
You know, God's looking for a man among them to take up the hedge.
That's what gives us potential.
You know, and maybe the reason why some Christians
go through life not feeling like they are of any use
is because they're not doing anything for God.
They're not, they're not filling the need that's there.
He said in Isaiah, I heard a voice of the Lord saying,
whom shall I send, who will go for us?
Then said I, here am I, send me.
Well, I'm glad you said something, Isaiah,
because that's who I was referring to.
Because you were the only guy that would have done.
There's probably some other people that might have been able to pipe up,
I don't know.
But you know, we should never think that we don't have value
because the fact is that every single one of us
has the potential to do great works for God.
You know, we all have the potential to go out and preach the gospel.
You know, this church and the people in this church
has the potential, and it's already proven this
because we've already led thousands of people to Christ
over the six years we've been here.
But this church could be responsible for
literally tens of thousands of people being in heaven.
And they go, oh, you know, what's the big deal about that?
That's a pretty big deal.
Like, I can't think of a bigger deal.
I can't think of anything more important
than getting people out of hell.
Well, it's just not how I want to serve God.
Well, you know, it's not like we get to pick and choose.
You know, God has this big work called soul winning,
and it's incredibly important.
And, you know, if we jump in and say, here am I, send me,
God would use us.
And say, here am I, send me, God would use us
to do great things.
I mean, I think about, you know,
the potential we could have in Mexico eventually.
I mean, talk about a place that desperately needs the gospel.
I mean, so many places are, but it's right there.
And, you know, that's kind of getting off in the weeds
a little bit when I was trying to direct a sermon.
But that's my point is, you know, we all have potential.
We all have the ability to serve God,
and we should never look at ourselves or anybody else
for any reason and think, well, you know,
all they can hope to ever achieve is the bare minimum
because of their circumstance, because of whatever.
The other thing I want us to know and understand is that,
you know, God knows us.
God knows each and every one of us,
and God knows us, and hopefully this is an okay word to use
in this day and age, intimately.
And by that, I mean very personally,
of a very private nature,
meaning He knows us very closely,
God is very familiar with us,
more so than anybody else you know.
God knows us better than we know our own selves.
I mean, think about that.
And sometimes I think we kind of get,
we feel like we just get lost in the shuffle spiritually
because God's so big and there's so many other Christians
and, you know, it's such a, humanity is so large
that we just kind of feel like, well, does God really know me?
Yes, He does. Yes, He does.
God who is outside of time,
God who is outside of space,
God who has the infinite, all of eternity
to spend time getting to knowing and knowing each one of us,
I mean, how can He not know us?
God who knows all things, we'd all say,
oh yeah, God's all knowing.
Well then that means He knows everything about you.
Everything.
God knows things about us that nobody else knows.
There's things about ourselves we've never spoken out loud,
we've never told our closest intimates,
we've never shared with anybody else, God knows it.
And that might make us squeamish,
but really it should be a comforting thought.
If you would, if you're in Mark 10,
again, I know I already read this,
but go to verse 46, I'll point it out again.
Cause I believe that's what we're seeing in these parallel passages.
At first it's just two blind guys,
then it's a certain blind man.
And now here in Mark, and I know it's not in that order,
we have his name.
And when they came to Jericho and as he went out of Jericho
and his disciples and a great number of people,
there was a lot of people there,
but blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the highway side begging.
So we get this last detail about this guy.
The scripture just focuses in,
and I believe what we can,
at least the application that can be made,
is that we're not just another face in the crowd, folks.
We're not just somebody that's just gonna be passed by spiritually.
God knows us.
And he knows a whole lot more than just our name.
And if we would understand that,
and we would see the potential that we all have to serve God,
and we would just be serious about the things of God,
serious about our prayer life,
serious about our Bible reading,
serious about our soul winning,
serious about our church attendance,
and just shore these things up.
If we would just take that seriously,
who knows what God could do through us?
Who knows what God,
the things that God could accomplish through us as individuals
in this body as a church?
That's what I see with blind Bartimaeus.
Just somebody that got written off,
just some, another outcast in society,
someone who couldn't contribute anything.
And yet Jesus, the Lord of Lords,
stopped and had him come,
commanded that he be brought
by the same people that only a moment before
were saying, shut up, quit bothering him.
I said, no, you bring him here.
And he asked that question,
what shall I, what would you have me to do?
And it wasn't because he didn't know.
It's because he wanted to hear him say it.
If we want to be used by God,
I don't think any one of us doubts,
hopefully, doubts that we can be used by God.
Probably most people believe that.
Probably most people in the room this morning would say,
yeah, I know that.
But knowing it's not enough,
if you really want to be used to God,
you'd ask God to use you.
I mean, it was pretty obvious what Bartimaeus needed.
Yet God wanted to hear him say it.
Well, God isn't using me.
But when was that last time
you asked God to use you?
When was the last time
that you, you know, separated yourself
as a vessel unto honor
that God could use?
As it says in 2 Timothy,
I'll just read to you,
in a great house,
there are not only vessels of silver and gold,
but also of wood and earth,
some to honor and some to dishonor,
if a man therefore purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified and meet for the master's use
and prepared unto every good work.
You know, God's not just going to take over
and start using you.
You know, if you want to be a vessel
that's, you know, that's meet
and to be used by the master,
well, you have to be sanctified,
set apart.
A lot of times,
before God will use us,
he'll start saying,
I'll use you,
but you need to take care of this,
and you need to fix this,
and you need to get this right,
and if we'll do our part,
God will show up and do his.
I believe that.
You know, God knows every one of us.
The Bible says that God
looketh down from heaven
and beholdeth all the sons of men,
all the inhabitants of the works.
He fashioneth their hearts alike,
and he considerth all their works.
The Bible says that the Lord
is nigh unto them
that are of a broken heart.
And savest such as be
of a contrite spirit.
If you would go to Psalm 139,
maybe a shorter sermon this morning,
I think,
but we'll wrap up there.
If you look there in Psalm 139,
the Bible says in verse 13,
For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me
in my mother's womb.
I will praise thee,
for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee
when I was made in secret
and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect,
meaning not complete,
and in thy book
all my members were written.
Look, God knows you so well.
God knows you
before you even showed up here.
On earth.
Before you were even born,
God saw you coming.
Think about that.
God knew we were coming afar off.
They were written,
and as yet there was none of them.
He's saying God foresaw us,
God foreknew us,
you didn't catch God off guard.
Jesus didn't pass through Jericho that day
and get distracted by Bartimaeus.
He goes through there and it's like,
he had to have seen this guy coming.
He heard him.
But notice in the story
he doesn't go straight over to him.
Bartimaeus was somebody that had to cry out
to get God's attention.
He was somebody that had to go
and express what it is
that he wanted from God.
And because he did that,
in his own life,
he goes on and walks with Jesus,
which is amazing,
and glorifies God.
He's a testimony
to the power of God,
to those around him.
And then, you know,
he's obviously
become such an integral part
of Christianity back then
that Mark's mentioning him
and his father by name
that obviously had relevance
to those people back then.
There were people going,
I recognize who Mark's talking about here.
Why?
One day,
that guy decided
he was going to get something from God.
And he wasn't going to shut up about it.
And he wasn't going to just
let other people, you know,
shuffle him off into the corner.
And just say, well, you know,
I'm just a blind beggar
and I'm not that important.
I can't really do anything.
I can't expect to get anything from God.
After all, I'm blind.
You know, he cried out.
He went after it.
Because he understood that, you know,
we are
valuable to the sight of God
because we have potential.
He believed that Jesus
was able to do this thing.
That's why he left his garment behind
and went unto him.
And what I want us to understand
this morning is that
God knows us.
God sees the value in us.
And not because of necessarily
what we are doing.
Although there is value in that
if we're doing something.
But because no matter
where we've been
or where we are
we have the potential
to do great things for God.
And God takes note.
You know, God knows us.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
God knows it all.
And the Bible goes on and says there
in verse 17 of Psalms where you are,
How precious also
are thy thoughts unto me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
You know, normally you think
of something precious
as being rare, right?
But he's saying here
God's thoughts are precious
and yet there's many of them.
Meaning that the psalmist here
he's saying, I count them valuable.
I know God's thoughts
are great towards me.
I can't even count back to some.
Verse 18, If I should count them,
they are more than the number
of the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee.
I know God's thoughts towards me
can't even be counted back to him.
They're like the sand of the sea.
And yet, despite the fact
that there's so many,
they're precious unto me.
You know, and sometimes
we take for granted
the fact that God
doesn't take us for granted.
That God's thoughts
are great towards us.
Yeah, I know God cares about me.
Yeah, I know God loves me.
Yeah, I know if I got serious
about the things of God
He'd use me.
Then why aren't we?
If we know we can be used of God,
then why don't we?
And that's really the question
I'm always trying to solve.
So, you know, it's a great story.
It's a beautiful story.
I know a lot of people
can preach it different ways,
but you know what I want us
to get out of this morning
is that Bartimaeus was somebody
that wasn't just counted off by God.
He just got wrote off.
He was somebody that had value.
Somebody that went on
to do great things for God.
And yet, you know,
the only reason he was able to do that
was because of the fact
that he wanted it.
Look, if you want to be used of God,
you got to want to be used of God.
You know, what makes one Christian
you know, more successful
in the Christian life
than another one?
Desire.
That's it.
Passion.
Drive.
Because they want to be used of God.
It's not like some Christians
have some kind of, like,
secret formula, right?
Like, I've got a corner
on God's market over here.
Right?
No, you know, God,
it's no secret.
I mean, my Bible says
the same thing as yours,
if you're using a King James, right?
It's the one you should be using.
It all says the same thing.
You know, his promises to me
are the same one
that he's made to you.
So, you know,
we can all get in on
God's program any time we want.
But again, emphasis on want.
Want.
The Bible says,
through desire,
a man having separated himself
seeketh an intermedalith
with all wisdom.
You could read your Bible
as much as you want.
I mean, I know we all
have time constraints,
some more than others.
But you could read your Bible
more if you wanted to.
You could memorize
more scripts if you wanted to.
You could do more soul-witting
if you wanted to.
You could be more faithful at church.
You could be more involved
in the program,
if you wanted to.
You know, Bartimaeus,
we know his name.
We know his father's name
because one day,
he said,
I want what he's got.
I want Jesus,
the son of David,
to heal me.
And I'll follow him.
And I'll serve him.
That's why we know
Bartimaeus' name.
That's why we know
his father's name.
Because he was somebody
that wanted it.
And God's not
holding out, folks.
God's not holding out.
God wants to bless us.
God wants to fill us
with the Holy Spirit.
God wants to use us.
It's just that, you know,
we want to have to
draw an eye to him.
That's the promise, you know.
If we draw an eye to God,
he will draw an eye to us.
Let's go ahead and close
the word of prayer.
Do a prayer.