What Do You Want?

Father, we thank you that you with the great God of the universe, created us in your image and you gave us desires, the ultimate of which is only satisfied with your presence. And Lord, we do take time now to confess that we have loved things, creature, creation more than we have loved you, and that misordered desire is the root cause of sin, of our fallenness, of our depravity. And we pray, Lord Jesus, that you focus our attention on the cross today, the work of Christ. And Christ, through the gospel, I pray that you turn our hearts to you, deepen our affection for you. Before calling us to allegiance to you, you give us new hearts and you deepen our affection for you. And we pray that you deepen our affection and love for you. We pray by the power of the spirit that you minister to us from your holy scriptures.

Help us understand the scriptures, help our souls be satiated of the scriptures, and help us live in a manner worthy of the gospel. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. We're continuing our sermon series through the gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come. And the idea is that Jesus has come, the king of the universe, to inaugurate his kingdom, to establish it. And he says that we are to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we are to pray, Lord. We want more of your will in our life. And as we pray and as we seek his will, he establishes his kingdom in our lives. The title of the servant today is What Do You Want? Your life story is a history of your competing desires. Each one of us is a creature of desires.

We want, we long, we dream, we desire, and we act on those desires for good or ill. And then we must live with the consequences of those desires. And there are, of course, different orders of desire, all competing for our attention, our resources, our energy. And which one wins out? Well, the greatest desire, of course, wins out. And so we are to rank our desires. And how should we do that? By the value of the objects of those desires. The longer I'm a believer, the longer I am a pastor, I'm more convinced that the battle for faith is the battle for desire. We've all heard the imperative fight the good fight of faith. Well, how do we do that? How does one battle in the arena of faith? Well, you battle for desire. You strive to desire the greatest and the most noble object of desire.

And that, of course, is the Lord, is God. He alone is glorious enough to satisfy your greatest desire. His very presence is greater in value than anything in all of creation, which makes sense because he's the creator. He created you, and he created you with desire, a desire that cannot be satisfied with anything in creation. It's a desire that he alone can satisfy. And you might know this theoretically, but do you know this experientially? And the only way to really understand this experientially is to come to the realization of just how, really, how little you want God. When you're absolutely honest with yourself and you look at your life, you look at the scriptures, and you say, "Lord, why is it that I don't love you with all my heart, soul, strength? And my why is it that that's not natural?" What's impeding this desire for the Lord? It's sin. Sin suffocates your desire for God.

And then what's the antidote for sin? It's repentance. Lord, I repent that I've desired creation more than creator. I repent that I've acted on desires that have transgressed your will. Lord, I want to desire you. I want to desire your presence. Lord, I pray that you give me a grace to do that. Lord, thy will be done. May your desire be done in my life. I desire what you desire. And that's what our text is about today, where Mark chapter 10 verses 32 through 52, would you look at the text with me? And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "See, we are going to Jerusalem. And the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, and spit on him, and flog him, and kill him. And after three days he will rise."

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink." And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus the blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.

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." And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man saying to him, "Take heart. Get up. He's calling you." And throwing off his cloak, he's spraying up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.

Three points to frame up our time. First, Jesus set his face like Flint upon suffering. Second, James and John set their sights on glory. And third, Bartimaeus set his sight upon Jesus. First, Jesus set his face like Flint upon suffering. And I get that phrase from Isaiah. And Isaiah promises that the king will come, the Messiah will come, the son of David will come, and he's going to come like a suffering servant. And it speaks of his steeled resolve to fulfill his mission and obey the father's will until the very last drop. Isaiah 50, verse 7, "But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame." Flint is a very hard dark rock and it's used figuratively to express hardness. And here, this phrase is used to describe Jesus' unwavering determination to persevere in the face of his excruciating mission given to him by the Father.

In the beginning of our text it says they were on the road, verse 32a, "Going up to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid." Jesus going up to Jerusalem to fulfill his ministry. And the phrase to go up to Jerusalem, it's not just a phrase of geography, no. Jesus is here depicted as fulfilling his destiny. He's set his face like flint. He's walking ahead of his disciples in a crowd. And the disciples were afraid, it says. They were amazed, and most likely because they remembered Jesus' two previous prophecies about his suffering and death. They foresaw the consequences of an irrevocable decision to go to Jerusalem and face the inevitable hostility. Pain is on the horizon.

Verse 32b, "And taking the 12, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, 'See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. After three days, he will rise.'" Notice that Jesus says we. We are going to Jerusalem. He's including the disciples and the prospect of the terrible days ahead. Following Jesus means having a share in his suffering in life, and here in particular with the disciples. Jesus foretells at least four details here about his death. First, he predicts that he will be delivered. Delivered how? Well, he will be betrayed, and he will be betrayed by one of his disciples, the treasure, Judas. And this probably includes the fact that Jesus will be deserted by the other disciples. Jesus also tells the 12 that he will end up at the mercy of the Sanhedrin, which in part may explain the solemn nature of the procession to Jerusalem.

Second, Jesus makes it clear in this prophecy that he will be sentenced to death, that they will kill him. And this is the plan of the Sanhedrin was to charge Jesus with the capital offense. But it wasn't just the religious Jews, it was also the Gentiles. He'll be handed over to the Gentiles, including the Romans. And this is new information hasn't been mentioned in the previous prophecies. And this, of course, is tough for the disciples to accept the Romans. Jesus, you could calm a storm. Jesus, you could bring people back from the dead. Why can't you protect yourself from the Roman oppressors? And fourth, Jesus tells them that after he will be put to death, he will be raised on the third day. The bad news has so overshadowed the mood that this doesn't even register the fact that he will be raised. The resurrection is the ultimate and determined of reality, but they can't grasp how significant it is, and it seems to be dwarfed by the massiveness of the suffering that precedes it.

Jesus knew all too well what he was walking into, the excruciating pain and suffering that would be ahead, and even the fact of the resurrection wasn't enough for the disciples to really understand what's happening. How does Jesus feel in this moment? Well, he doesn't reveal here in the text, but he's struggling. There's weight in every single step. He knows exactly what he's doing. The garden of Gethsemane scene in Matthew 26 reveals what was happening on the inside. Matthew 26, "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. He said to him, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch with me.' And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.'.

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, 'So could you not watch with me one hour? Watch him pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing and the flesh is weak.'. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.' And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, 'Sleep and take your rest later on. See the hours at hand. And the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.'"

What did Jesus want? What did the Son of God want? What did Jesus desire? Did Jesus desire betrayal? Did he desire being condemned to death? Did he desire to be mocked and spat at? Did Jesus desire to be flogged? Did he desire to be scorched, crucified? Did he desire to drink this cup of God's wrath down to the dregs? No, he did not. It was not his will. In Gethsemane, he's wrestling with the father's will. "Lord, I know this is my mission, I know this is my destiny, but if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me." It was not the father's will for the cup to pass. It was the father's will for the son to die. And why was it the father's will? Well, it was the only way to save us from our sins. It was the only way to save us from desiring our will more than the father's will. The son puts down his will and takes up the father's to save us from desiring our own will more than the fathers.

This brings us to point two. After his solemn conversation, James and John set their sights on glory in verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." Now, contextually, this is hard to understand what's going on because it's like, weren't you guys listening? He just told us he's going to be crucified. And then all of a sudden, you come up and you start asking for positions of power. And the gall, the audacity is kind of striking. They attempt to manipulate Jesus. "Jesus, please give us whatever we..." It's like a little kid coming up to my mom and dad. "Just say yes. Just promise to say yes, whatever I ask." And then Matthew 20, it's even more ironical. They send their mom. It's not even them asking.

They're like, "Mom, you're really nice. Jesus likes you. Can you go ask for thrones, please?" It's ridiculous because it's like they don't understand what the kingdom is all about. They don't understand that the king has come to serve, and he's come to serve by suffering. And when he calls us to follow him, he does call us to follow the path of the cross. And what scripture here is doing is showing is that after every single one of the predictions of his suffering and of his resurrection, there's an idea of glory. And the disciples have caught onto that idea, and they want to capitalize upon it. In here, you do see that they are themselves battling for faith, and Jesus is helping them battle in their faith in the Lord, but it's a faith that needs to be clarified with spiritual vision. In verse 36, he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

Jesus wisely doesn't say yes. He says, "Ask. What do you want?" And this is a tremendous question. Imagine if Jesus came up to you and he said, "Ask whatever you want." It's like when God comes to Solomon in a dream, and he's like, "Ask whatever you want and you'll receive it from me." And Solomon asked for a heart of wisdom and a heart of understanding so he can discern what is right and wrong. So what do these gentlemen ask for in verse 37? They said to him, "Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left and your glory." Now, on the face of it, this isn't a bad request. They love Christ, clearly, and they want to be as close to him as possible. They do believe that he's the king of kings. They have seen his glory in the mountain of transfiguration was Peter, James and John, and they got a taste of that glory, the glory that satisfied their souls, and they want to be as close to Jesus as possible in the resurrection, they say in your glory.

And then in the text, they have heard that Jesus says in the kingdom of God, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And they have heard that Jesus said that there are those who are greater in the kingdom of God, and then there are those who are least in the kingdom of God. So they understand that there's a hierarchy, and they understand that there's a reward system. And Jesus did say clearly, there are thrones. In Matthew 19:27, the parallel passage. "Then Peter said in reply, 'See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?' Jesus said to them, 'Truly, I say to you in the new world when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also stay on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.'"

So they heard about the thrones, and they decided, you know what? Jesus did say ask and you shall receive, and they waited until Peter was out of the conversation. They understood with Peter, they're the big three, but there's only two thrones, Peter. Sorry. The brotherly relationship takes precedence. And they come to the Lord and they say, "We want the thrones." And this is talking about prominence. It is talking about the presence of the Lord, but it is talking about authority. A throne is a place of authority. From the throne, you exercise authority. And in their mind they say, "Jesus, we followed you so we should get some kind of authority to represent our sacrifice." And verse 38, Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you were asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized?"

So what's the connection here between thrones and suffering? Jesus here by talking about the cup, the cup that I have to drink, what's he talking about? He's talking about the poison chalice of the Lord's wrath. In the Old Testament, there are occasions where the Lord says, "The cup of my wrath is full. Now, it's time to meet out justice." It's a cup of suffering. It's a cup of disgrace. And what's the connection between authority and suffering? Well, they want authority, and they think that the way to get authority and position of authority is to claim it. Jesus, we're going to ask for it, or they think this is where we jostle for it. I have to go around the other disciples to get this, or you demand it. And Jesus says, "No, no, no, authority in the kingdom of God is completely different than authority in the world." So he talks about the cup of bitter suffering. In the book of Isaiah, the book of Jeremiah, the cup of God's holy wrath and condemnation is mentioned.

Often, it's God's indignation at our sin in the cup that Jesus will drink, and he will drink it to the bitter end. And he'll take our place and he'll become our substitute in the sin bearer. And as he takes our sin upon himself on the cross, God the father's holy righteous reflex is poured down upon his son and we see a separation between the father and the son upon the cross. The eternal son is separated from the eternal father. In Gethsemane, he's praying three times. How does he address God? "My father, my father, my father." And then we see Christ on the cross, and he doesn't say my father, he says, "My God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

It's as though the consciousness of his native sonship has been obliterated from him, and all that he was conscious of now was his frail condition as a servant of the Lord. So he tells James and John, "Can you take that cup? Can you take the cup which is your own sin and your own guilt? Can you bear that cup? No, of course not. You can't even bear it for yourself. Can you bear that cup for hundreds of people? How about thousands? How about millions of people?" And Jesus bore that sin, that collective sin and shame and guilt upon the cross as he stood before a holy God. He says, "Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized." And baptism in the Old Testament is a picture of undergoing the wrath of God. It's often seen in terms of getting caught in a storm.

And we've seen that acceptance by Jesus of John's baptism may have been the symbolic acceptance of his judgment, but what Jesus here is referring to is to the negative side of baptism, the sign of the curse of the covenant. For a covenant to be made, there was the blessing of the covenant, and there was the curse of the covenant, and Jesus' baptism was baptism into death, is talking about the fact that he will die. And for him to offer baptism to us, baptism as a symbol of the fact that we have died with Christ been raised with him, it's a sign that our sins have been washed away, for that to happen, Jesus had to die. He had to drink the cup. He had to be baptized and to death. In verse 39, "They said to him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit in my right hand or my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.'"

We are able. The two men were not named Sons of Thunder for nothing. And they did suffer. James lost his life in Jerusalem later on after the resurrection. He won't make it past the 12th chapter of the book of Acts. Roman soldiers will come to him, church history tells us. And if he died according to tradition, three soldiers come to him. Two would hold up his hands, and the other would thrust a sword into his abdomen and pierce his solar plexus. James died first, and then John, after losing his brother, continued to serve the Lord. He did suffer himself, was whipped by the Sanhedrin and the acts of the apostles.

And then ultimately, he was banished to the island of Patmos dying somewhere around AD 95. It will cost them something to follow the Lord, just like it costs each of us. And Jesus does say that the Father does prepare the thrones. There are thrones, there is authority, there is a hierarchy. But the way to work your way up isn't just to claim it or just to ask. No, it's service. Mark 10:41, The 10 heard it, and they began to be indignant at James and John." I think Peter was probably the most mad, like we're the big three. We're supposed to be together. We were on the mountain. And the fact that they're angry shows that they themselves didn't really understand. It reveals that the 10 are very much concerned with their status, as were James and John. So Jesus has to do a little more spiritual eye surgery. Verse 42. "And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them.'"

Those who are considered, he says, 'so-called rulers, they think authority is given, it's demanded, it's claimed. And then it's exercise. It's top down. But in Mark 10:43 he says, "But it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all." So there clearly is a hierarchy. There's a way to progress in the hierarchy. There's a way to grow in authority and power, but the path isn't seeking personal gain. No, it's service. It's service to the king in God's economy of redemption, those who wish to be great must renounce all claims of greatness.

They must seek to serve others, not claim authority and seek control. He's saying if anyone wants to be great, you're going to be a servant. But if you even want to be greater than that, if you want to be first, you got to be everyone's slave. And really, what he's getting at is, you guys asked for the wrong thing. You guys want the thrones. I promise the thrones. You want proximity to me. If you want that, then you need to come and say, "Lord Jesus, how can we serve you? Lord Jesus, give us opportunities to serve. Wherever we are, we want to bring glory to your name." And he says... Look at the example of Christ verse 45, "For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." He's the son of man. He's the one with all authority. And what does he do with his authority?

He uses his authority in service. He's the servant king. Therefore, service doesn't nullify authority. Authority assumes just a greater level of service with more implications. The more people that you serve, the more authority the Lord and trusts to do what? To serve more. And the fact that Jesus calls each of us to serve doesn't mean that we all serve with the same authority. He says the son of man came. He doesn't say the son of man was born. He says the son of man came, and the emphasis on the fact that it was his choice. He chose to come. He chose the life, he chose the death, and he came to serve. This is his kingly service. Jesus the Son came as the servant of the father, serving the father's will and serving the elect and to give his life. This is a phrase that's used to describe a soldier giving their life for fellow soldiers or for those that they protect.

So Jesus came to serve. How? By giving his life. Why? That's the only way to provide ransom. And the word for ransom here is to release. It's used for sums being paid to secure the freedom of prisoners of war or return of captives or slaves. One of the most famous erroneous interpretations regarding the death of Jesus Christ is some look at this ransom language and they think, well, Jesus is paying ransom to Satan in order to get souls, and it's erroneous because God owes Satan absolutely nothing. No, the language of ransom is illusioned to the Old Testament where ransom, the price was paid to free slaves. And this has to do with our spiritual economy in the sense that in order for us to be freed, someone needs to atone for our sins. A guilt offering needs to be brought. And that's what Jesus is. Jesus is the great Passover lamb, lamb of God that had no blemish, and he alone can represent us on the cross.

And he pays the price, he pays the ransom for whom? And he says, as a ransom for many, a ransom for many. The Bible says that He died for many. Jesus died for many, not all. The Bible says he died for his elect because our God is a God who accomplishes his purposes. He is nonfrustratable, He does not try and fail in any of his atoning work. He accomplished precisely what he intends to accomplish. One theologian writes, "For whom it, the ransom, for whom it is intended, to them, it is applied. For whom it is intended, for them, it is applied, but not to all is it applied, therefore not to all is it intended. And you say, well, how do I know I'm elect? How do I know that Jesus died on the cross for me, that he paid the ransom for me. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, then Jesus Christ died for you.

If you believe in him, Christ died for you, that's the easiest way to confirm your election. And there is no other way. This is the way scripture presents it, that Christ died for you. You know Christ died for you because you believe that he died for you. And we do have a responsibility to believe. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Christ gave himself for believers. That's it. If you are a believer, you're one of the elect. And this puts us right in the place where we ought to be, that we do have a responsibility to believe.

And if you're here today and you hear my voice and you feel desires in your heart, desires for God, desires for salvation, desire for election, desire to know the truth, well, I'm here to tell you that those desires are not natural. Those desires are from the Lord. It's a sign that the Holy Spirit already working in your life. And if you've recognized that you're lost, if you're recognized that you're a sinner, if you recognize the guilt and the shame, well, trust in Jesus Christ today, believe in Christ today and know that he has died for you. And when you come and when you receive his grace and you receive him as your savior, well, that settles the question. Point three is Bartimaeus set his sight upon Jesus in verse 46, and they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside.

Jericho is important biblically. If you remember, this was the first city that Israel, as they entered the promised land, this is the first city that they captured. And then from this city, they took conquest of the rest of Canaan. And who was their leader at the time? It was Joshua. Joshua was the leader of the people of God. Joshua was the one that brings the freed captives into the promised land. Joshua's name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which is the same name as Jesus Christ. Jesus is Yeshua. Jesus is the new Joshua. Likewise, he begins his climactic invasion evasion of Jerusalem, so to speak. Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son of man, the Son of David marches through Jericho like the new Joshua on his way to free people from sin. And on the margin of this battle, as he's going down the road, sits a blind man who has lived in the realm of darkness.

But now he is heard a rumor of a liberator, a liberator that's come to free him. And he thinks, who might this be? This might be the son of David. This might be the Messiah. And Isaiah 35, it's promised that when the Messiah comes, he's going to open the eyes of the blinds. So Bartimaeus realizes he has an opportunity. He has one weapon, one weapon, and he's been honing this weapon. It's his voice. And he realizes, "You know what? I can't see him. I hear there's a commotion, and I am going to make the biggest scene ever. I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs, and no one's going to stop me." And that's what he does. Verse 47, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David have mercy on me."

He isn't claiming his rights. He isn't claiming his status. He isn't claiming any privileges. He doesn't have any. He doesn't come to Jesus and say, "Jesus, you owe me something. You're the son of David, meaning you've been sent by God. Why have you allowed me to suffer as much as I've been suffering? Why this life that you've given me?" He doesn't come with a list of complaints. He doesn't bring him a list of how hard life is, how unfair things have been. No, he just recognizes, I need mercy, and he can give it to me. Verse 48, "And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.'" He sees this one shot, and he'll do absolutely anything and everything to prevent his chance for delivering slipping away. The blind man's unwavering persistence is exemplary.

How does he confirm his election? He cries out to the Lord. He knows that his cause is hopeless apart from the Lord. One commentator says what Bartimaeus lacks in eyesight, he makes up for in insight. He understands Jesus is the Son of David, the promised one, the Messiah figure who will come to deliver his people. In Mark 10:49, "Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take heart. Get up. He's calling you.' And throwing off his cloak, he's sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, 'Rabbi, let me recover my sight.'" I find it fascinating that Jesus asked him, "What do you want?" It's like it's obvious. Jesus, I want to see. I want what they have. Lord, isn't this clear?

Why does Jesus ask him the question? I think it's partially because he wants Bartimaeus to articulate it, say it, because it takes faith to say something as crazy as this out loud. Lord, this is what I'm praying for. I pray that you heal me. I pray that you give me eyesight. And to speak to articulate is to express the faith. And Jesus said to him, verse 52, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well.' And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way." He says, "Your faith, your faith in me is what made all the difference and made you well." It's the Greek "σοζο". It means not just healing, it means salvation. You have been saved. It's the same phrase that Jesus uses when he heals the woman with the issue of blood. He says, Your faith has healed you or saved you.

And the Lord Jesus Christ here gave the gentleman a physical eyesight, but he also gave him spiritual eyesight. He enlightened him. And the placement of this miracle right after Jesus' teaching section of the disciples is important. The disciples, they know about Christ. They've walked with him for three years, but they still haven't seen clearly. They still haven't comprehended the truth. Their eyesight spiritually needs to be healed. And healing of spiritual blindness happens when your eyes are open and you see things as they are. When you see God as he is, you desire him as you ought to desire. You desire to do his will because doing so delights him and clears your vision to see him purely what made the difference in Bartimaeus life? It was faith in Christ. Faith is the beginning, the middle, and the end of salvation and the Christian life. It's the beginning because it is by faith that we receive forgiveness of our sins and peace with God.

Faith is the middle of our walk with the Lord, because as Paul says, we live by faith, and in the son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. And faith is the end of everything we do, as Hebrews 10:35 says. "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." The Christian walk begins with faith, continues with faith, ends with faith. One saved always persevering.

As one writer said, faith is the hand of the soul by which we take hold of Christ. It is the mouth of the soul by which we feed on Christ and are nourished by him. It is the foot of the soul, which as we read, the righteous runs to the Lord and find safety. And faith is the eye of the soul by which we look to him and live. Faith is what makes you a disciple of Christ and what keeps you a disciple of Christ, and what sustains you as a disciple of Christ to the end. Faith is the knowledge that certain things are true. The man knows things about himself. He knows things about Jesus, but he doesn't know much. But he does know the most important things. What does he know? Well, first, he knows that he's blind. He knows that others have something that he does not have, and he wants that eyesight.

And I think the reason the majority of people do not come to Christ, hold on to Christ, ask for forgiveness from Christ is because they don't see themselves as they really are. Th ey don't see themselves as disabled, blind, needing to be healed. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodecia, a group of people who consider themselves believers. And he says to them, "You think you are rich, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." They weren't physically blind, but they were spiritually blind. And here, Bartimaeus, he knows exactly his situation. "Lord, I need healing." And he also knows something about Jesus. He calls Jesus rabbi. In the original, it's the emphasis on these Lord, that you are in a position of authority over me. Lord, you have power to heal me. I've heard it. Lord, I know that you are the son of David. You're the Messiah. Lord, I want you to be my messiah. And I want you to notice that Jesus does put the emphasis on the personal pronouns. Your faith has made you well.

Your faith has saved you. And Martin Luther commenting on this text, he says, "But who is this me?" Your faith has saved you. "Who is this me?" Martin Luther writes, "It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter or write this little word, me shall be a good advocate and a disputer against all the accusations of the law and of his own conscience, for Christ delivered up for me. Neither sheep nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but himself, and that entirely in holy for me. Yes, even for me who am such a rich and miserable sinner, say me with all your might and print this pronoun me indelibly in your heart." There's a difference between saying the Lord is a shepherd and saying, the Lord is my shepherd. There's a difference between saying Father God and saying, you're my Father, heavenly Father, you're my father. It's an extraordinary statement of personal commitment that Bartimaeus makes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus heals him, gives him what he wants, and says, "Go your way."

And Bartimaeus, at this point, it's expected, he's, okay. Thank you. I'm going to go home. God bless you. And he follows Jesus. He follows Jesus on Jesus' way. What's he doing? He's committing his life to Jesus Christ. It's an extraordinary statement of personal commitment when he calls Jesus, rabbi, my master. And what we see here is that Bartimaeus above all else, didn't just want physical vision. Above all else, he wanted Christ. He wanted to be with Christ. He wanted to follow Christ. And Bartimaeus, with his life, what is he doing? "Jesus, you gave me eyesight." And twice in this text and our text, Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you?" He says, James and John. He says it to Bartimaeus. And now Bartimaeus with his life, what does he do? He's saying, "Lord Jesus, what do you want me to do for you? Lord Jesus? How can I serve you?" Freely pardoned, he gives himself to Christ's service. But at so mighty of Christ as the blood of Christ, he devotes himself, heartily and thoroughly to the one who redeemed him.

And this isn't what grace does. When you get a glimpse of grace, a taste of grace, you want to say to Lord Jesus, "Lord Jesus, what would you have me do?" And this is the love of Christ. The love of Christ is what changes your desires to want to obey Christ. Second Corinthians 5:14, "For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised."Bartimaeus, the first days of his life where he sees are days where he follows Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The very next text is Jesus Christ going to Jerusalem and the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. And Bartimaeus went with him. So with his eyes, he's beginning to see for the first time. What does he see? What is he an eyewitness too? He's an eyewitness. To the last week of Christ's earthly ministry. As he was mocked, spat at, scorched crucified, he got to witness that with his eyes.

But above all else, he received the salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ offered him. At this time, we're going to transition to celebrating holy communion. And holy communion is for whom? Holy communion is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. So if you're not a Christian or you're not sure if you're a Christian, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service. Or if you are living in unrepentant sin as a follower of Christ, we ask that you refrain. Instead, take time to repent. But if you do repent as a believer in Christ, you're welcome to partake. If you have not received the elements and you would like to participate, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you the elements. And as they're dispersed, I'm going to pray over Holy communion.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the incredible text today that reminds us of the battle within the heart of the Son of God. We thank you, Jesus, that you saw exactly what you were going into and you set your face like Flint. And even, Lord, when you wrestled with the father's will in the garden of Gethsemane, ultimately, you said, "It's not my will, but yours be done." Lord Jesus, today we are reminded of your sufferings. We remember your suffering in our behalf. This is the price that you paid to ransom us from our sins and to atone for our forgiveness. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you offer us salvation by grace through faith. It's free to us because you paid for it with your suffering. And Lord, we take some time now to repent of sin, repent of transgression, repent of pride, repent of lackluster desire for you. And we pray that as we partake in communion, that you use this as means of grace to stoke our hearts to love you ever more. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.