Believing is Seeing!

If you have your Bibles, please take them and find Luke 18:31.  I want to share a message with you entitled, “Believing is Seeing!”

 

Normally, we say, “Seeing is believing.”  That’s because we want to see first before we believe.

 

However, in today’s text, and our study of Luke, a familiar man believes first, and then he sees.  It's the story of Blind Bartimaeus.

 

Last week, we saw the rich, young ruler.  I hope you had a chance to watch that if you didn’t watch it live.

 

Today’s story is also found in Matthew 20 and Mark 10.  Jesus and His disciples are on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover.

 

 

1. A Reminder about the Future, Luke 18:31-34

31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be [a]accomplished. 32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”  34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

 

In verse 18, Jesus was talking to the Twelve on their way to Jerusalem.  Keep in mind that yes, they were going for the Passover, but Jesus knew it wasn’t a pleasure trip.  He was on His way to die.

 

We also see that what Jesus experienced was prophesied about hundreds of years earlier.  Three major things happened: He was delivered, killed, and will be raised.  See Isaiah 53:3-12.

 

3 He is despised and rejected by men,

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

 

4 Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

 

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,

And who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

9 And they made His grave with the wicked—

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

 

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;

He has put Him to grief.

When You make His soul an offering for sin,

He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

For He shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death,

And He was numbered with the transgressors,

And He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors.

 

This is now the third time that Jesus explicitly warned the Twelve about this in Luke.  See 9:22 and 9:44.

 

22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

 

44 “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.”

 

BTW...Notice, in verse 32, He would be delivered to the Gentiles.  We also know that it was the Jews that demanded Pilate crucify Him. 

 

That reminds us that Jesus died for the sins of the world, and all our sin put Him on the cross.  However, the Twelve didn’t get it.  They didn't understand.

 

As for me and you, let me remind you about our future.  We will also die apart from the rapture or the return of Christ.

 

Therefore, let us be prepared spiritually, physically, and emotionally as much as possible.  Are you saved?  Have you written a last will and testament?  Have you planned your funeral service?

 

 

2. A Request from a Far, Luke 18:35-39

35 Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. 36 And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. 37 So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. 38 And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

 

As they neared Jericho, Jesus and the Twelve encountered two blind men.  However, only one of them spoke.  His name was Bartimaeus.

 

These two men were desperate because they were blind.  Not sure if they were born this way, or an event blinded them.

 

They were dependent as they were beggars.  They couldn’t work because they were blind so they depended on what others gave them when they begged. 

 

Bartimaeus heard all of the commotion, and asked what was happening.  He was told that Jesus was coming through town. 

 

Evidently, he had heard about Jesus, and evidently, he was a Jew waiting for the promised Messiah.  Therefore, he called out to Jesus using a messianic title and requested to be healed. 

 

Not only were these two disparate and dependent, but they were also determined.  Even though the crowds told him to be quiet, Bartimaeus called out again.  He wouldn’t be silenced.

 

 

3. The Reason for Faith, Luke 18:40-43

40 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, 41 saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?”  He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” 42 Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

 

After the second time that Bartimaeus cried out, Jesus stopped demonstrating His concern.  However, He didn’t treat the blind men like the others.

 

With conviction, instead of telling them to be quiet or ignoring them, He called them over to Him.  It seems they were some distance away.

 

He then asked what they wanted.  Bartimaeus requested to see.

 

In verse 42, Jesus healed him demonstrating His compassion, and notice why He healed.  It was Bartiemaeus’ faith.

 

Because he believed, he saw.  His faith made him well physically, and the text implies that he was also saved spiritually.

 

As a result, he followed Him.  Furthermore, the crowd also glorified God for what they had witnessed. 

 

 

Conclusion

Do you have faith this morning?  I hope so because Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith.

 

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

 

We need faith to be saved.  See Ephesians 2:8-9.

 

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

 

We need faith to be sanctified and follow Christ every day.  See 2 Corinthians 5:7.

 

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.