When Jesus of Nazareth Passes By — Brian Long

It's wonderful to see everyone again tonight. It's been a wonderful day. I had a wonderful country breakfast this morning that I'll never forget, and wonderful visits. You people are so kind and generous, and I've just been blessed the whole time I've been here already.

I was thinking that first song that we sang, Blessed Be Your Name, You Give and Take Away. When I was pastoring in Boys City, Oklahoma, there was a couple who helped lead worship, a husband and wife. And they were driving to church one morning.

They came from about, I think, 40, 50 miles away. And that morning, the roads were iced over, and they were headed to church, and they slid on the highway, and had a head-on collision, and the Lord took them both home.

And their children, who were teenagers at the time, one was in college, the other two were in high school, I believe. At that funeral, they stood up and sang that song. And every time we sing that, I can't help but think of that testimony.

And to this day, as far as I know, those children are serving the Lord. The Lord is sovereign. He's in charge, and sometimes He takes us through those times. But His grace is always sufficient, and His name is always worthy of praise.

So, I love that first song. Tonight, we're going to be in Luke chapter 18. So I want to invite you to turn there, Gospel of Luke chapter 18. And my message is, when Jesus of Nazareth passes by, when Jesus of Nazareth passes by, Luke chapter 18.

Jesus of Nazareth Passes by Bartimaeus

We'll begin reading in verse 35. And it came to pass that as He was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside begging. And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passes 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 stood and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight, thy faith has saved thee.

And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. Now, this blind man, we're told in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 10, is blind Bartimaeus.

He's a blind beggar. His life would have consisted of sitting off the side of the road every day, doing the same thing every day, begging. Begging for someone to put a few coins in his cup so that he could live.

In that day, there was no hope for a blind man, unless you had somebody taking care of you, a family to take you in. The only means of survival was to beg on the side of the road. So imagine this blind Bartimaeus, every day, begging on the side of the road.

Day after day. It was a hopeless case. He was not only blind, but he was a poor blind beggar. But one day, something happened. Something was different. He heard something different going on in the crowd.

Something unusual was happening. And so he asked those that are standing by him what it meant. What's going on? Who is it? What is it? And someone standing next to him told him, what I believe the Lord has sent me to tell you tonight.

Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. I don't know what those words do to you, but when I hear that from my heart, my heart leaps. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He's coming near me.

He's coming here. I guarantee you, it brought hope to this blind beggar. When he heard those words, Jesus of Nazareth passes by, hope must have risen in his heart, because he knew that when Jesus came by, he wasn't hopeful because Jesus would just put a few coins in his cup.

But hope arose in his heart, because he knew this was the very One who could make him whole. Jesus was the One who could open his eyes. He gave hope. What I want you to see first tonight, brothers and sisters, is that Jesus Christ always brings hope to the hopeless.

There is no such thing as a hopeless case or a hopeless cause with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the world say what they will. Let man say what they will. I gave you a testimony last night of Leon Alts. There was a man that the world said, he's a hopeless case, he's a hopeless cause, and today he is born again, and he's serving the Lord.

There's no such thing as hopelessness with Christ. Jesus Christ is hope to the hopeless. Well, he brought hope to Bartimaeus. Blind Bartimaeus was hopelessly blind, and he knew it, and he knew that Jesus Christ was his only hope.

No doctor could help him. You could give him a pair of glasses, that's not going to do anything. Surgery couldn't help him. His only hope was Christ. Now I want you to think for a minute what it would be like to be physically blind.

Can you imagine never having ever seen the light of day? Can you imagine what it would be like when you hear somebody describe a sunset or a rainbow, but you yourself, you can't even imagine it because you've never seen anything but black.

Darkness. Can you imagine not ever having the privilege to see the face of your spouse, your wife or your husband? Never ever being able to see the precious faces of your children or your grandchildren?

To be blind must be a horrible thing. But I want to address something tonight that I believe blind Bartimaeus is a type of today, and even in the church today. I want to address something tonight that is far, far worse than physical blindness.

Spiritual Blindness and the Danger of Religious Deception

What could be worse than that? What could be worse than never having seen the light of day? It's something worse than physical blindness. It's spiritual blindness. A person can be physically blind and yet come to know Jesus, and when they die they go into glory, they enter into heaven, and their eyes are open and they'll never be blind again.

But a person who is spiritually blind and who dies spiritually blind will not go to heaven. They will go to hell without any hope of ever getting out. There is nothing more serious than being spiritually blind.

Far worse than being physically blind. Now, the Bible refers to us being lost and in sin as being in terrible darkness. Spiritual blindness is a condition that we were all born in. We were all born in sin.

We were all dead in our trespasses and sins. We were spiritually blind. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4,. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

So Satan has blinded the minds of the lost. And the most tragic part of all is that most of them do not know it. The worst part about being spiritually blind and deceived is that you don't know that you're deceived.

The question I have tonight is, could it be that there are spiritual blinders on your eyes? Now, this is a humbling thing to have to recognize. It's been humbling in my own life. Even after having walked with Christ, when I would have an encounter with God or my wife would confront me with something that I did not see, I was blind to.

Could it be that you're not as spiritual as you think you are? Could it be that there could be spiritual blinders on your eyes or my eyes that I'm not aware of and you're not aware of? When you're deceived, you don't know you're deceived.

And it is a deception to think that you couldn't be deceived. How do you know? Bartimaeus knew he was physically blind. How does a person know if they're spiritually blind? I want to give you a few markers tonight, a few marks of spiritual blindness from the Word of God.

And here's the first one. Having religion without a relationship with Christ is to be spiritually blind and in the dark. Having religion without a personal relationship with Christ is to be spiritually blind and in the dark.

Turn to Matthew chapter 23, if you will. Or look at up here. I think our brother put all these scriptures up on the wall here. So, Matthew chapter 23. Jesus is confronting the most religious people on the face of the earth at that time.

They were called the Pharisees. They knew Scripture. They fasted, they tithed, they were moral people. They were very religious people, but they were blind. I think in that day, if you were to ask somebody, show me a spiritual man, lead me to someone in this town who knows God, they would have led you to a Pharisee.

They would say, hey, these guys, they know the Scriptures. These guys are in the synagogue. Every time the doors are open, they tithe, they pray, they fast. They're spiritual men who know God. But could it be that Jesus had a different opinion about them?

Matthew chapter 23 and verse 15. Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees, says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Ye fools and blind! For whether is greater the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold, and whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing, but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

You fools and blind! For whether is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Move on down to verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.

These ought ye have to done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee! Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness.

Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.". Folks, you can be totally religious and absolutely blind. You can be totally religious and yet absolutely lost.

What was the mark of the blindness of these Pharisees? They always focused on the external. They focused on the outward appearance, but Jesus said He looks beyond the outward man and He looks to the heart.

And when He looked to the heart of these Pharisees, He did not see them clean and righteous. He saw them full of sin and iniquity and hypocrisy. To be religious but not have a personal relationship with Christ is to be blind.

And it can happen today, folks. It can happen, someone who sits religiously in a church pew, every time the doors are open, you can give, you can tithe, you can say prayers, you can sing songs, and yet your heart be a million miles away from Christ.

Religious, but lost. Religious, but blind. Isaiah 64, verse 6 says that even our righteous acts are as filthy rags in the sight of a holy God. So many people, especially who grow up in the church, they grow up in the church, they said a sinner's prayer, they were baptized, but they never met the living Christ.

And there's a huge difference between being dead in religion and being alive in the Lord Jesus Christ. Tremendous difference. Some of the most spiritually blind people on earth are religiously sitting in church pews every single Sunday, and the greatest tragedy of all is to be blind and in the dark and not know it.

Now ask yourself, as I have had to ask myself, brothers and sisters, Lord, am I just plain religious? Or do I have a living, vibrant relationship with You? Am I going, you see, no one knows you like your wife or your husband.

No one knows you like your children. And it grieves me to hear the story time and time again, and everywhere I go, you hear the same story of people, children who grew up, and once it came time to leave the home, they left the church.

You know why? Many times this is why. Because daddy was not the same man on Sunday at church as he was at home. He wore a mask. He was clothed in hypocrisy. And there's nothing that Jesus spoke stronger against than hypocrisy and dishonesty.

He hated hypocrisy. A hypocrite is not someone who struggles, and who is honest and confesses their sin and gets up again. A hypocrite is not someone who is imperfect. A hypocrite is someone who is a pretender.

They're pretending that all is well. The outside of the cup looks good. You can dress right. You can have the external appearance that looks holy and pious. But if your heart is not right with Jesus Christ, and you're putting on an outward show, and you're not real on the inside, Jesus said, blind hypocrites.

That's what He says. There's a big difference in being religious, and having a relationship with Christ. Jesus wants us to be for real. He wants us to remove the mask, and let Him do the deep work of the heart, because this is what the Son of God does.

When He comes in, He changes you from the inside out. It starts on the inside. It starts at the heart. But there's another type of spiritually blind man. He or she thinks that they can be saved, and yet not changed.

In other words, let us continue in sin that grace may abound. Now, I don't know how it is up in Wisconsin, but in the Bible Belt where I am, this is what we face the most. In the church, you have people who say, hey, you ask them, are you saved?

Yes, I'm saved. I did that when I was a kid. You did what? Well, I came to the altar, and I said a prayer, and I've been baptized, and I put my name on the decision card, and I'm a member of a church.

Yes, but are you born again? Have you passed from death to life? Has anything changed since you, quote, got saved? And many of them came to the altar, but they didn't meet Jesus. And if you didn't meet Jesus, you didn't get saved.

And if you didn't get changed, you didn't get saved. Don't be deceived. To think that you can continue in sin and still make heaven because you said a prayer way back yonder is to be blind and be deceived.

Don't be deceived. Those who God saves, He changes. He changes from the inside out. Are you gonna be perfect in one instant? Well, spiritually, we're clothed with His righteousness, but outwardly, no, we're being sanctified day by day.

We're continually being conformed to the likeness of Christ. But I'm talking about the person who is continuing in sin, and I've talked to them before. Yes, I'm saved. There's no fruit in their life. They've not been changed, and yet they have this false sense of security that they're gonna make it to heaven.

It is a lie. It is a lie from the pit of hell. Are you saved? Yeah, saved from what? The Bible says Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins. Has He saved you from lying, and from cheating, and from gossip, and from bitterness, and from unforgiveness?

Has He saved you from lust, and pornography, and anger, and holding a grudge? Has He saved you from sin? Jesus, you shall call His name Jesus, the angel said, for He shall save His people from their sins.

You cannot meet the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet remain the same. What happened to blind Bartimaeus when he met Jesus? His eyes were opened, and he was never the same again.

And when you meet the living Christ, it is impossible not to be changed. Those He saves, He changes. Now, in case you wonder if I'm just making this up, let's see what the Bible says. Go to the word of God.

2 Corinthians 5, 17. What does it say? Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. 1 Corinthians chapter six. 1 Corinthians chapter six and verse nine.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Notice that. Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you, but you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Paul says you were this, you no longer are. And those who continue in that, be not deceived, you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 John chapter two and verse nine. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that darkness has blinded his eyes. Someone who hates his brother, is there hatred in your heart for a brother or a sister?

The Bible says you're blind. But it goes on to say in chapter three verse 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation chapter 20 and verse 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Is your name written in the book of life? He goes on to list who is not written in the book of life. Chapter 21 verse 8. But the fearful, the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do all these wonderful works in your name and he will profess unto them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Those are the scariest words in the Bible to me. Do you think any of them who stood before the Lord Jesus Christ thought they would hear those words from Christ?

They thought they were saved. They thought they would be welcomed into heaven and yet the Lord Jesus Christ says, I never knew you. After all they've done, I never knew you. Don't think that God saves anybody that he doesn't change.

To believe that lie is to be deceived and blind. There's another marker of spiritual blindness. Revelation chapter three, Jesus addresses this group of people. Revelation chapter three, when he's speaking to the church of Laodicea, they are those who think they can have Jesus as Savior but not follow him as Lord.

If you were to ask the members of the church of Laodicea if they were saved and in the light, you know what they would have said? Of course we are, we're blessed. We're rich, we're increased with goods, we're in need of nothing.

But notice what Jesus says to them. Verse 17, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

He says before that, I wish that you were hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I'm about to spew you out of my mouth. You've got to understand, brothers and sisters, and I have to understand, that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord and you cannot separate Savior from Lord.

You trust him as Savior for the cleansing and forgiveness of your sin and you follow him as Lord of all your heart. Why? Because love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, and my all. He is Savior and he is Lord.

He is Lord of all. There's one more I want to address. Those who have no compassion for their neighbor are spiritually blind. Those who have no compassion for their neighbor are spiritually blind. Mark chapter eight, let's look at this one together.

Compassion for the Multitude and Spiritual Sight

Gospel of Mark chapter eight. Jesus says in verse two, this is when the multitude was gathered around him. They had nothing to eat. This wasn't the feeding of the 5 ,000. This was the feeding of the 4 ,000.

Mark chapter eight, but he says in verse two, I have compassion on the multitude because they have now been with me three days and have nothing to eat. Jesus had compassion on the multitude. Move on down to verse 15.

He charged them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves saying, it is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, why reason ye because ye have no bread?

Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke those five loaves among the 5 ,000, how many basketfuls of fragments took ye up?

They said, 12. And when the 7 ,000, seven among the 4 ,000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They said, seven. And he said unto them, how is it that you do not understand? How is it that you don't see?

And he comes to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and he besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught.

And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that, he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up, and he was restored and saw every man clearly. What is it to be blind? It is to have no compassion for your neighbor, no compassion for the lost.

It's to come and worship on Sunday morning, but never have a broken heart for those who don't know Jesus. And Jesus gives an example here. He could have healed this blind man by one spoken word, but He heals him in such a way that the first time He touches him, the blind man's eyes are opened, but he says, I see men, but they're like trees walking.

How many of us see men, but only like trees? A tree doesn't have a soul. A tree is not destined for heaven or hell. A tree has no feelings. I don't look at a tree and weep over that tree, even when it's cut down.

But a man, a woman, a child has a soul, brothers and sisters. When you see the lost and you see your neighbor and you see those that are in the bars tonight, does your heart break? Does your heart break?

Do tears well up in your eyes? If not, it's because we see men only as trees, and we see them only as trees because we have blinders on our eyes. I know it's a heavy word. I know it can be a hard word.

Let it pierce. Let it pierce your heart. Say, God, I don't weep over the lost. My heart is not broken like it should be. What do you need? You need Jesus, just like Bartimaeus needed Jesus to touch his eyes.

And when Jesus touches your eyes, He will give you eyes of compassion. He will give you eyes to see people unlike you've ever seen them before. Now, not everyone wants to come out of darkness, of sin, into the light of God's holy presence.

Coming Into the Light and Confessing Blindness

And that's why Jesus asked the blind man. I want to go back to Luke 18. Having seen all these marks of spiritual blindness, be honest with yourself and ask yourself, am I religious? Am I religious? Or do I have a living relationship with God?

Have I been changed since I've been saved? I say Jesus is my Savior. Am I following Him as Lord? Do I see the lost as Christ sees the lost? Is my heart broken for them? Or do I see them as men, as trees walking?

And if you say there's blinders on my eyes, I know tonight I have blinders on my eyes. I've had deception. Then you're the one Jesus will meet with tonight. Those who say, Lord, I want to see. You see, Jesus came to the blind man in verse 41 and He asked him this question that I find interesting.

Verse 41, Jesus said to blind Bartimaeus, what will thou that I shall do unto thee? In other words, what do you want me to do for you? That seems obvious, does it not? Lord, I want to see. I'm blind. I want to have my sight.

Why does Jesus ask that question? Because not everybody wants to see. Not everybody wants to come into the light. Not everybody wants Jesus to open their eyes. You know why? Because it can be painful.

It can be painful to have to admit, Lord, I've been religious. I've been singing all the songs and honoring You with my lips, but my heart has been far from You. Lord, I've been talking about the lost, but I don't weep for them.

It's painful to admit. It's especially painful for a proud man or a proud woman to say, Lord, I've been blind. I've been a fake. I've been a phony. I've had pretension, and I want You to strip it away tonight.

It's painful to come to the light. Not everybody wants to. John 3, verse 19. Here's an example of those who don't want to. John 3, verse 19. Jesus said, This is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world.

And men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Have you ever noticed when you pick up an old piece of tin or kick over a rock how all those creepy crawling creatures scurry for cover?

They hate the light. They want nothing to do with the light. I remember as a young boy, my dad would come in there and oftentimes wake us up four o 'clock in the morning. Wake up, boys, he'd say. It's time to go to work.

We lived on a ranch. He'd turn on that bright light and the first thing we'd do is pull those covers over our head. We didn't want the light. We wanted to stay in darkness because we wanted to stay asleep.

And much of the church is asleep today. Let's get honest. And the Lord says, the Holy Spirit says, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. You say, Lord, I know I have blinders. Are you willing to come to the light?

It's going to be painful. It's going to be painful to have to admit that I've been asleep. But are you willing to come to the light? Or will we be like the old desert nomad that I read about who was lying in his tent one night and he woke up hungry in the middle of the night.

He lit a candle and he began to eat some dates that he had in a bowl next to his bed. And he bit into one date and there was a worm. So he threw it out the tent door. He picked up another date and bit into it and there was another worm.

So he threw it out. You know what he did? He said, if I'm going to continue this, I won't have anything to eat. So he blows out the candle, gets back in the dark, and eats all the dates. That's what some would rather do.

Let's eat worms rather than come to the light. Rather than let this Word pierce my heart and strip me of pretense and pride and let Your holy light shine on me. Would you rather stay in darkness? Or do you want Jesus to do His deeper work tonight?

Jesus asked Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, I want to see. Even though it be painful. Even though it cause me to cry like Isaiah the prophet. Woe is me, for I am undone. I want to look at some more Scripture.

Isaiah chapter 5. Look at this. Another example of someone who came to the light. Isaiah chapter 5. And notice these verses with me in the fifth chapter of Isaiah. I'm just going to read the first part of each verse.

Verse 8. Woe unto them, Isaiah the prophet says. Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, that there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. Verse 11.

Woe unto them. Verse 18. Woe unto them. Verse 20. Woe unto them. Verse 21. Woe unto them. Verse 22. Woe unto them. He's pointing. Woe unto them. And then he has this vision of the Lord Jesus Christ high and lifted up in the train of His robe, fills the temple.

And what does Isaiah say? Woe unto them? Chapter 6, verse 5. Isaiah says,. Then said I, Woe is me. Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

It shook him to the core, because the holiness of God, the light of God, illuminates the sinfulness of man. It strips those blinders off our eyes. We become like Job who said, I've heard of you God by the hearing of my ear, but now my eyes have seen you, and I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Peter was in the same boat with Jesus, and when he realized he was in the boat with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Scripture says he fell on his knees and said, Lord, get away from me, for I am a sinful man.

It can be painful to come to the light, when God opens our eyes and we finally see that we've grieved His heart, that we've sinned against Him. But brothers and sisters, if you're here tonight and you say, Lord, I don't care what the cost is, I don't care how bad it hurts for me to have to confess, to come to the light, I want you to do whatever it takes to remove the blinders from my eyes.

God will meet with you tonight. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. But Jesus of Nazareth waits for something. What does He wait for? He waits to hear your humble cry. Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, but if Bartimaeus would have stayed quiet and silent and never cried out to Jesus, He would have passed right by Bartimaeus.

Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Jesus of Nazareth waits. Your humble cry. What did Bartimaeus do? The Scripture says in Luke 18, notice what he does. When Jesus passes by, He says in verse 38, He cried, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

And when they which went before rebuked Him that He should hold His peace, He cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Notice something about this man's prayer. First of all, it was short.

You don't have to have a long, eloquent prayer if it's coming from the heart and you're desperate for God. The second thing I love about it, it was undignified. He didn't care what other people were thinking about him.

He was desperate. He was blind. Jesus, have mercy on me! And the religious crowd say, Shh, don't act that way. Is that necessary? Hush. You don't have to cry out. You don't have to scream. Bartimaeus would have said, Don't you see?

I can't see. I'm blind. He's my only hope. Jesus! There's a time, brothers and sisters, when you've got to cry out from your gut because you're desperate. And you say, Lord, I've been asleep and my only hope is for You to strip me of this religious pride and pretense and do something real in my heart.

Open my eyes. He cried out. Oh, that an undignified sinner would even cry out tonight and say, Jesus, have mercy on me! Oh, that a religious man would say, Jesus, have mercy on me! When I've had no compassion for people, I stand with my rules and my traditions and my regulations, but I do not care about a person's soul?

Have mercy on me, Jesus! Remove these blinders from my eyes. Break my hardened heart. Those who cry out like that, watch what happens. The Scripture says in verse 40, having heard this cry, verse 40, Jesus stood.