A Gateway Sermon
Gateway Church's Podcast
Faith When You Can't See a Thing
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning. It is such a happy thing to be here at Gateway. I'd like to speak with you this morning about faith when you can't see a thing. Say those words. Would you please? Faith when you can't see a thing. If you open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke chapter 18. And I want to look at the story of Bartimaeus. He's called Blind Bartimaeus. His name is not used in this passage of scripture. But it is in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark where in the Synoptic Gospels you also find this the record of this event. So we know his name because of Mark's reference to him by name. We're looking in this passage of scripture though and choosing the Luke passage. It's just slightly longer and there's a couple of things here that are the angle. Each of the Synoptists give you a Matthew Mark and Luke give you a triangulation on a number of stories so that you get multiple perspectives on the same event. As we look at this story I want to talk with you about those times we cannot see a thing. Before we read the text I want to tell you the darkest morning of my life. It's easy to remember it wasn't long ago. It was October the 24th 2003. At 2 o'clock that afternoon I had just awakened it was 5 in the morning and I'm going to go back there in a moment. At 2 o'clock that afternoon the plug will be pulled on the only thing that is sustaining any appearance of life in the body of Dr. Scott Bauer and is in my son-alarmary to our oldest daughter and the successor who followed me as pastor of the church on the way. He did not come to that position by reason of his being our son-in-law. He was my associate for 10 years and we never once talked about him taking that position. I have no objection to times when transfer is made within a family but it was done as a result of the action of our elders and partnership with the elders of the Four Square Church movement and in that partnership together the distinctive and distinguished ministry of this man really did make him the most logical successor. It was a joy that he was our son-in-law but that was not what brought it about. About 40 hours before where we were that morning Scott was on the platform of the church, asked one of the pastoral staff to take the service which was just concluding, stepped off the platform, the congregation was standing to be dismissed and most did not see what happened right there by the front row when he collapsed. The benediction for that service, that midweek service, was being announced. There is no way in the world that you would have guessed what had happened. It says though a gun was placed to a person's head and a brain aneurysm and the brain flooded the cranial cavity with a hemorrhage that almost instantly took his life. He was gone. The only reason the machines were still sustaining him is because these parents had not yet arrived from where they lived near San Antonio and they were coming out and they wanted to keep at least the body and some semblance of life till they arrived. It was a dark moment in grief. We didn't question the love of God. We know God didn't do it. People misunderstand sometimes and say it's because God knows certain things. He did those things. It would have been a very broken world that is fouled up in many ways and God can't help himself that he is omniscient and that he is omnipotent however does not exercise that power in every situation. Certainly, he never exercised it to bring about bad things. It's human philosophies and theologies that construct that. It isn't revealed in the Bible and I'm not interested in pursuing that any further because I know there are people who have differences of opinions and seek to justify it on the basis of proof text. But this passage of Scripture takes us to see really what the heart of God is like. In that moment when everything was so bleak and dark and I awakened that morning at five o'clock, it was precisely five o'clock. The alarm had not gone off. I hadn't set the alarm. I'd only been in bed about two and a half hours and I awakened, looking at the clock, five colon zero zero, turned over on my back. I'm going to get up. When I wake up, I will generally get up. I don't go back to sleep or not easily. I do. Lay on my back for a moment doing what I so commonly do, just saying, "Lord, I'll be having my devotions later." But right now saying, "Lord, I commend you this day as I rise. I do so in Jesus' name. I come to walk dependence upon you." It was something out of my heart very similar. It's not a recitation, just simply a declaration of entry into the day. I was doing that and I was interrupted by the most sinister, brutally cruel, hateful voice I have ever heard in my life. I've been encounters with people who are bound by demons who shriek at you. I've heard demons talk. I've, of course, met as you have mean people who have harsh things to say and will lift their voice. But this was another kind of voice and there's no question in my mind. Not only in the way what was said was said, but the words that were spoken were dissecting things that only the adversary who dogs your trail. He cannot dominate your life, but if you are a believer, he will chart where you go and keep track. He will hear things at times that have come to your heart that you testified to of God's dealings with you. He knows what promise you cherish in your heart, not just the promise of eternal salvation ultimately, but the expectation of things that God will do. And in that moment, that voice just began to make the effort of dissecting every precious prospect of the future that I believed God was bringing us to. The church, the college, the seminary, our life, Scott and Rebecca's family, our larger family, all the things. And in just a few phrases has just come to undercut that with the slashes of a hateful sword vicious. There is never a good day on Satan's agenda. He will brutalize everything he can't. I am not a man without faith and I will not be ruled by fear. But that was such a devastating assault that I simply turned all back over on my side, the direction I'd been facing when I awakened, and I just said these words. Jesus, you're going to have to handle this. I want to have you look at these verses with me, and I want to resume that story for a brief moment. But right now, I want to talk with you about faith when you can't see a thing. Look with me, please, in verse 35, Luke 18. Then it happened, as he, Jesus, was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging and hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, and he cried out saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." 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." So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him, and when he had come near, he asked him saying, "What do you want me to do for you?" And he said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God. I turned over, "Jesus, you're going to have to handle this." And I instantly was back to sleep. I don't remember falling to sleep, it's as though a hand passed across my face and just, when I wake up in the morning, that does not happen. I was asleep. And even more remarkably, as I had awakened exactly at five with no alarm, I awakened exactly an hour later, precisely at six, looking at a digital clock, awake, and loved ones, hear me please. In that hour, that there had come an infusion into my system that I cannot explain. When the Bible speaks a piece that passes understanding, something had happened in that time that when I awakened, that I felt when I stepped out of bed, onto the floor of our bedroom, that I felt as though I were stepping onto a block of granite, a mile wide, each direction, a mile deep, and I stood on the rock hallelujah. And there was a solidity and a confidence, a peace that flooded my being, that had no human explanation. It was not as though you were pretending that the dark reality had changed, but somehow it had been infused with the presence of the peace of Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace. And as my heart was filled in that moment of confidence, that sustained, that was the way I walked on that block, that rock, for the next three months as we went through the demands of the transition of family, the transitions at the church, the God intervened in profound and mighty ways. And all the faith I exercised was this, Jesus, you're going to have to handle this. That was all. This passage of Scripture signals two or three things. Things all of us face, and all of us have times, we can't see a thing. As a matter of fact, I would dare say that most people in this room have this week because of our vernacular in our language, colloquialisms we use, we don't mean exactly blind like Bartimaeus, but this week, how many times do you think these words have been spoken in total by people in this room right now? Maybe not everyone has said them this week, but we all say them quite commonly, and sometimes many times in a week or the words, I don't see. I don't see. You know, I don't see how we're going to get through this. I don't see what we can do about it. I don't see why they did what they did to me. We can watch something that angers us. I don't see what they think they're doing. We can in fact lose a heart for people that we need to love notwithstanding their objectionable ways that sometimes may be very offensive more to God than even to us, and we'll get a spiritual, supposedly spiritual, belligerentcy toward the broken people in our culture who live out their sin in ways that in fact are offensive, but we lose the heart of God for them by saying, I don't see how people can be like that, as though our righteousness were something to impress those hearing us or to impress God when in fact it's a distressing thing that we've lost heart for the broken and the blinded, because whatever we may say we can't see, they fall the way they do because they can't see at all. When we can't see, we need the touch of the Lord upon us, the touch to see you through dark hours, the touch to give us a tender heart, whatever may be, but it's identifying when we can't see and then turning to the Lord. I was in a moment of, I don't know I'd call it desperation, but it was certainly as dark as an hour could be. You couldn't see a thing. It was an October morning, and it was dark in the room, but darker than that was the realities that surrounded us. This passage of Scripture begins with a man who can't see a thing. You see to be side the road into Jericho. He's begging. It's a trade route. People will come by and have money. There will be some with sympathy and concern for people so he'll make his living this and other days. And as Bartimaeus sits there, he senses the sensitivities of people who have lost one part of their sensory capacities, usually are heightened in others. You can imagine him feeling a trembling in the ground and recognizing this is a larger than usual entourage of people coming into the city. And as he feels as he asks, "What's this?" The sensitivities probably were, "Maybe I need to back up. If there's a crowd seated here beside the road, I could be trampled by the crowd. What is this?" And he hears these words. And I want to ask you to let them settle in your soul this morning because they are so laden with hope as they were that day. Listen, here's the answer he received. What's happening? Jesus of Nazareth is passing this way. I love those words. Does this touch you? Jesus of Nazareth is passing this way. Say it with me. Jesus of Nazareth is passing this way. And it's always true. Wherever there are people that can't see a thing. He's always, he's always there. He's here this morning. And there are some who need so much his touch today. And if not today, the truth of today, that it will be a time that you will need to remember what takes place with Bartimaeus. Jesus, when you can't see a thing, you can still listen. And you'll hear people talk about the fact that Jesus is passing this way. You'll hear people testify to things of his passing their way. You hear people give a report of God helping them in a circumstance. When you can't see a thing, listen, because Jesus is passing through your community, passing through the people of this church, passing and active in this world today. You'll hear people talk about it. And I want you to tell somebody right now that he's passing by you too. Go ahead. Tell him right now. And he's passing by you too. He will not leave you unattended or unheard. Jesus of Nazareth is passing this way. Listen to the words that were spoken to him and the words he says. What's happening? He said, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." Now, that phrase, "Jesus of Nazareth", by this time in Jesus' ministry, and we are into the last months of Jesus' ministry. Now, for three years, he has been having ministry, dramatic, supernatural, crowds, or so many that have been touched. He has known throughout the land, irrespective of what people feel about him, he is well known. So, this is the name that was used for Jesus in the culture. Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet from Nazareth. But Bartimaeus then cries out. And please notice the difference between what he heard and what he says. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And he says, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Please see the difference in these terms because they probably are the pivot point in what takes place in this text. Because he is not calling for the Jesus that is the generic term of people that just did hurt about Jesus. But this term, Son of David, on the lips of a Jew in that day, meant that this person has made an identification of the person they believe to be the Messiah of God from heaven, that he is acknowledging the King who has come from glory. The one that is the long-hoped for Messiah who will bring deliverance, bring deliverance from afflictions and bondage, the one who will dominate the powers of darkness and evil. But he cries out, Son of David, Bartimaeus is identifying Jesus for who he really is, not just who people say things about. He is the one who personally comes to answer where you are, the one who brings the kingdom, that entry of the will and the rule and the power of God in the human circumstance. It is not just a guy who occasionally works miracles who is kind of a well-known miracle worker, spokesperson for the righteous, but that Jesus is the one who is God's Son given to us. And as Bartimaeus cries out, Jesus, Son of David, that he is identifying Jesus for who he is, is a part of this lesson of recognizing, acknowledging Jesus for his personal and powerful, personal and powerful readiness to meet us where we are. He is the King and with him comes the presence of the kingdom, that glorious entry of the power that overrules the things of the power of sin and death, hell and darkness. When he cried out, there were some people who were moving on ahead of the entourage with Jesus, I want you to see a scene with me for a moment. Imagine if you will, and I want to say that I am not in concocting this just out of imagination. When I have a historic narrative in the Scripture to preach on, I will just start carefully in the light of the text, think through as well as I can. How did this really look? And try and stay true to the text. I have been the Jericho, I have a feeling of the texture of the environment. And of course it is the Jericho of today, but so much of it is so much like then. And as Jesus was coming down the road, there is a group of people around him, we do not know exactly how many, but there were some who were out in front. And that is significant, that phrase. Imagine if you will, Bartimaeus is seated over here beside the road and now they are drawing closer, knees out in front. Bartimaeus, they hear this guy cry out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." They are right over there saying, "Hey, Mr. The Jesus parade is in motion and you are making more noise than we would like right now." And so they said, "Yes, you just be quiet. Don't care about the guy who has need, don't care." And beside we are sort of the keepers of the order here. They are out ahead of Jesus. There is a message there folks, both. They are out in front of Jesus instead of walking with or better yet following him. And so this doesn't work very well. They try and get him quiet and all the more, he cries, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." And he calls out all the more, "You can imagine they are protest, almost as though, wow, we are going to have to just, you know, protect Jesus from this nut here." And it is at that moment that Jesus stops and perhaps the tenderest words in the text are these. Jesus stood still. I am depending on you to help me preach this sermon. Would you tell somebody, "Jesus has got time for people like you and me." Go ahead right now. Jesus has time for people like you and me. And Jesus stops, "Bring him to me." Now this part I don't know happened this way. He says, "Bring him to me, but I have got a picture of this and you are going to have to forgive me for this indulgence." As they are saying, "Be quiet." And now you are still, "Look, we told you to be quiet and they hear the words, "Bring him to me." We were just getting ready to do that. In just a position there are two verbs and I want to come to the conclusion of this message by noting this. And I am going to ask you to do something with me as we conclude in a moment. The verbs are in verse 40, "Look at it, please." Jesus commanded him to be brought to him and when he had come there. Please notice, I don't want to be labored, especially for those of us who really got tired of having tenses thrown in our face by English teachers while we were being working our way through school. But brought is passive. There were people that helped get probably holding his arms and guiding him toward where Jesus was. But then it says when he had come and that indicates something of his own movement on his own. And the picture that comes out of those two verbs is, "People know Jesus, the miracle worker is here and he has stopped and he is called for." Now everybody can see as a blind man coming and believe me, everybody is anticipating something now because they know what this Jesus guy does. And here comes this man being escorted and you can hear people in the group saying quiet, quiet, make way. Just watch, bring these being escorted. And I imagine, and I think it's not an indulgence of the imagination, that there is a bit of a circle, eight or ten feet, maybe in diameter, that's been cleared a little bit. Jesus on the other side of it. And at this point, as they come to that point, that's cleared open. Those arms that have brought him this way and escorted him, let go. And from that point, Bartimaeus is eye-staring blankly ahead, reaches out, Jesus, Jesus. And Bartimaeus reaches and takes the last few steps until he hears a voice say, what would you that I do for you? Those words, what would you that I do for you are not Jesus playing with a person's emotions. He's obviously blind. Why does Jesus say, what would you that I do for you? And I think it's a statement in which Jesus is saying that the inability to see is not the only problem that people have. It's not the only human need. He's asking him to say what he needs, not because he can't see the obvious. Jesus can see that. But he's saying it to let us know that whatever it is, there's not anything that he cannot address. Bartimaeus speaks of his need. He is healed. He begins to glorify God. He will follow Jesus from that time. The crowd will magnify the Lord and high praise will go on. And the story and the text of Scripture comes to an end. I want to conclude this message just as the text ends, but I'm going to ask you to do something with me that you would bring into focus with me this morning. Anything that you'd say, you know, I'm having a hard time seeing how this is going to be. And maybe it's impossible there would be this many people in this gathering this morning and they're not be precious people who have moments that may be even darker than the one our family and our congregation faced on that day in October 2003. But irrespective, there are people that say, you know, I need the Lord to touch my eyes, to see not necessarily the answer right now, but to see his presence and to know he will take us all the way through. That's exactly what happened. When I got up, I was infused with peace and it processed things for a period of time. You could see a way ahead, though you hadn't seen everything that will work out. I'm going to ask you to do something as we finish today. I like to ask you that whether you wear glasses or not, just position your hands so that in conscious of glasses since Anna wears them, asking you to push your hands against them so they kind of need to be cleaned now, but we all just would you put your hands over your eyes so you can't see and leave your mouth uncovered by your hands and lift your head. I'm going to ask you to three times say with me, but with this focus, that Jesus, you know what it is that I'm asking you to help me see. If there's not anything that comes to focus this morning, nonetheless, take this stance and remember to apply it in principle when you can't see the next time and you hear yourself say, "I can't see," or when it's so dark, you can't see a thing. I'd like for you to say the words with me, if you will, three times, but increasing the crescendo of volume each time until the third time. You fill this room with a shout, "Jesus, Son of David," that's the Messiah. "Have mercy on me. It's come and work, come and work in me what I can never achieve of myself. Come do it. I am incapable of it. Only your mercies can bring it about." I'm going to ask you to do that. I want to give you one instruction before we do the third one. First say with me, "Would you, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me," saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Lift your voice a little more loudly. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." I'd love to want to ask you to fill this room with a shout saying about what we have finished. I'm going to ask you to remove your hands from your eyes and lift them and at the same tonal level, you shouted, "Have mercy on me." Lift your voice and praise the glory of Jesus Messiah King and fill this house with praise. Let's shout it, shall we? Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Let's praise Him together. Charge, lift your voice, magnify the Son of God. Oh Lord, be glorified. We magnify You, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, be glorified, oh Jesus. Hallelujah. Lord, we do not make that shout out of mere exuberance or a moment's excitement in the light of the revelation of Your Word. We make that shout as an announcement, knowing that just as surely as some in this moment face a dark hour, others of us know what those moments have been like, many have experienced Your guidance through them and Your peace transcending it, and so there will be such hours and occasions will all face. I pray that from the slightest moments, when we hear ourselves saying, "I can't see," to the darkest moments, when we can't see a thing, that You would let this Word fix itself in our hearts, though we would turn to You rather than to our own reason, our own efforts and above all, refuse either the ferocity of hell's doubts being assailing us or the voices that doubt that would silence us as those people in front of Jesus tried to silence Bartimaeus. Lord, seal Your Word to our hearts. Let us abide in the wisdom of how faith functions when we can't see on our own, and we will exalt You ungoingly, and thank You for the promises of Your presence and Your power under Your glory. Amen.