Welcome And Study Setup

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You're listening to Heat the Word with our pastor and teacher Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study the Gospel of Luke verse by verse.

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There is a beautiful example that we see in this story of what we sometimes are like. You see, we as the church are walking with Jesus. And there is a great multitude that's walking with him today. Some are truly following after him, and others are just hanging around. Same as this crowd. In this crowd, in this multitude that followed along with Jesus, there were some that were truly disciples of his. There were others who were enemies of his.

Opening Luke 18 And Context

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The Gospel of Luke is the third account in the Gospels of the life and teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As believers, there are a few studies that will benefit us more spiritually. Studying the life and teachings of the Master. As believers, we all understand that we're saved by grace through faith. Not of ourselves, but of a gift from God. This truth can be found in the book of Ephesians. But Christian, where does this faith in God come from? The scriptures teach us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Holy Word of God. Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Heather Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verse 35, as we join Pastor Ken.

Jericho, The Crowd, And A Beggar

The Church’s Noise Versus Need

Bartimaeus Cries For Mercy

Son Of David: The Messianic Claim

Scripture Proofs For David’s Heir

Jesus Stops And Heals

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Anytime you see something in Scripture that seems to be a contradiction, if you have more information, the contradictions simply disappear. Because the word of God is true. Amen. Now, all of that having been said, it doesn't make one bit of difference regarding our interpretation of the text today. It's just an interesting point that I wanted you to be aware of, should you happen to notice those discrepancies. And so, let's move on in Luke 18, verse 35. Then it happened, as he was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man, we know this to be Bartimaeus from Mark, sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. Imagine yourself blind. In the city of Jericho, which was a very busy city. Jericho was the gateway between Europe in the north and Africa in the south. And all the troops that would be going down from one into the other would pass usually through Jericho. So there was a great deal of traffic going through that way, but there was also a great deal of traffic heading to Jerusalem, which was just a short journey from here, for the time of the Passover had come. And at various times there would be crowds passing through, and so Bartimaeus, this blind man who has no manner or method of earning a living aside from begging, sits there by the roadside. And he hears a great multitude approaching. Now he can't see who's coming, can he? So he begins to ask, hey, what's going on? What's all this noise? What's all this racket? Who's here? What's happening? Because there's an excitement in the air, a buzz, if you will. And so Bartimaeus asks what this meant, this multitude that was passing by. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. There is a beautiful example that we see in this story of what we sometimes are like. You see, we as the church are walking with Jesus. And there is a great multitude that's walking with him today. Now, some are truly following after him, and others are just hanging around. Same as this crowd. In this crowd, in this multitude that followed along with Jesus, there were some that were truly disciples of his. There were others who were enemies of his. There were some that were just hanging around to see miracles and wonder what was going to happen. There were some that were just looking for a free lunch. There were all kinds of people in that crowd following Jesus down to Jerusalem. And in the same way, there are all kinds of people in the church today. And as we go through this world, as we walk through this world together, we make a lot of noise sometimes, don't we? Wouldn't it be great if we made a lot of difference instead of just making a lot of noise? But these guys were making a lot of noise, and sometimes the world has a tendency to look at the church and hear all the noise that we're making and say, hey, what's all that about? Right? They're blind to the spiritual truth in terms of serving God and walking with him, but they see all the activity, they see all the things that are going on, and they say, Hey, what's all this about? And so the crowd tells him, hey, it's Jesus of Nazareth that's passing by. As soon as he heard this, as soon as Bartimaeus heard that the one who was the cause of all this commotion, the one that was walking through Jericho that day was Jesus of Nazareth, he did a remarkable thing. 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 the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. Now, isn't that just like the church today? People begin to cry out for a move of God in their heart, oh Lord, help me, oh Lord, save me, oh Lord, I need your mercy. And what do we as the church so often say, I'll be quiet? Shh, not so loud. Don't get so excited about Jesus. Come on. Don't you know how it is when someone becomes a new believer and they're all excited because, man, Jesus is here. I know Jesus. I've met Jesus. And they just, they're going for the Lord and they want to do everything they can to serve him and to know him and to love him. And some old worn believer will come up and say, Yeah, you know, it's pretty exciting when you first become a believer, but don't worry, soon enough you'll be just like me. Just calm on down, have a seat, it'll be okay. No. We should be consumed with the zeal of the Lord and the love of God. And yet, so often the church says to Barnamaeus, Oh, be quiet. Don't talk about what you need from Jesus. Just read this self-help book, or just give your offering, or just do this or that, or whatever. But don't cry out to him. Don't lift your hands in worship. Sit calmly. Behave yourself. Such a picture of the church sometimes. May that never be us. Now, Bartimaeus did something here in verse 38. Something that I said a moment ago was a remarkable thing. For he cried out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He is doing something here that the rich young ruler did not do. He is recognizing Jesus not simply as a good teacher, but as the Messiah of God. He approaches the Lord Jesus humbly, crying out, not for affirmation, not for, what must I do, Lord, to inherit eternal life? But saying, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. Like the tax collector in the story that Jesus had told not long ago, where the Pharisee went and in his prayer said, Thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other men. I don't, you know, I tithe of everything I own, I fast, I pray, I do all the things I'm supposed to do. You know, not like that tax collector over there. But that tax collector, what did he say? He said he beat his breast and wouldn't even look up to heaven. And he said, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. The cry of Bartimaeus is like unto the cry of that tax collector. And he cries out, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. He says, Jesus, son of David, that is, have mercy on me. Now that title, son of David, is a messianic title. What does Messiah mean? Well, the Greek translation of it is Christ. So what he is saying is, Jesus, the Christ, have mercy on me. He's calling out to Jesus Christ for mercy. How sweet and how wonderful that is. Isaiah 9, 6 and 7 says this. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 11:1 says, There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Well, who was Jesse? Jesse was the father of David. There shall come forth a branch out of the stem of Jesse, out of the son of Jesse, a branch out of David. And it says that that would spring forth from his roots. Well, what does that mean? It means that the line of kings would be cut off in the exile, and that the kingship would be taken away from Israel. And yet it had been prophesied that there would always be a man to sit on the throne, right? From David's line. And so the roots were still there, and out of those roots springs up Jesus of Nazareth, the heir of David, the rightful king of Israel. Jeremiah 23, 5 says this, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In Matthew 12, 23, the crowds had asked, Could this be the son of David? Bartimaeus didn't have to ask. He recognized this. He recognized it well when he cried out to Jesus, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. That was the cry of the Phoenician woman in Matthew 15, 22. Do you remember? Her daughter was demon-possessed. She was a woman who was not of Israel, had no right to ask anything of Jesus. And yet this Gentile comes to Jesus and says, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely demon-possessed. You remember what Jesus said to her? He says, It's not right to give the children's food to the little puppies. And she said, But Lord, even the little puppies eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And Jesus commended that woman for her faith and healed her daughter. Jesus himself had called the fact that he was the son of David to the forefront of the conversation when he spoke in Matthew 22. Let's turn there for a moment. Matthew 22, verse 41 is where we'll pick up the story. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What do you think about the Christ? That is the Messiah. Whose son is he? They said to him, The Son of David. He said to them, How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord? saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare ask him any more questions. You see, they had tried time and time again to trap him in questions, and yet he turns this around on them and he says, Hey, you know, if David said this, then how is it that the Messiah is his son? Now he, of course, knew that the Messiah was the offspring or the root of David. And yet he posed the question to them in such a way that they had no answer. They couldn't understand it, nor could they recognize who Jesus was. Paul recognized this fact in Romans, where in the first verses of the first chapter he wrote this Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets and the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness. So Paul answers the question there that the Pharisees couldn't answer. How is it that he could be David's son or David's seed when David referred to him as my Lord? It was because he was David's son in the flesh only. But he was the Son of God in the Spirit. He promised before through his prophets and the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through him we all have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are called of Jesus Christ. Grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, in Revelation 22, 16, we see Jesus claiming the title as Son of David for himself and acknowledging it when he says to John, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. So blind Bartimaeus, the one who couldn't see a thing, had better sight and better vision in this moment than the disciples had had up to this point, as he recognizes Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David. So Bartimaeus calls out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He's making a statement of faith. He's saying, You are the Messiah. You can help me. Have mercy on me. Now in verse 39 of Luke 18, we had read that the people who went before warned him that he should be quiet. They were a discouragement to him, and yet he cried all the louder. He cried with even more intensity for mercy to God. And in Luke 18, 40, Jesus stood still. Let's read on. 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 immediately he answers. He doesn't have to think about it, doesn't have to wonder. He doesn't sit there and say to Jesus, You know, of all the people in Jericho, why was I the one who had to be blind? Doesn't come with self-pity or anything of that nature. He just says simply what he wants. Lord, that I may receive my sight. Then Jesus said to him, Receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. Psalm 33, 8 and 9 says, Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him, for he spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. When Jesus says something, it happens. Jesus said, Receive your sight, and that man received his sight. Jesus said, Your faith has made you well. Now, I want to address that. Because sometimes I think we get really confused about those types of statements. Your faith has made you well. As though if you didn't have enough faith, you wouldn't have been made well. The word faith doesn't imply some mystical force or power in and of itself. To have faith simply means to believe. Now, if we're going to believe something, then there has to be something for us to believe, right? Well, here's the thing, guys. The power of our faith is not in the belief itself, but it is in that which we believe. So what is the faith that made this man well? It was the belief in Jesus Christ. It was his belief in the word which Jesus had spoken to him. It was in his belief in the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, was the Son of David, was the one of all that were there that could have mercy upon him. Receive your sight, your faith, your belief in me, Jesus says, 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. This man who had nothing received that which he asked for. Mercy. The man who had had everything did not receive what he asked for. Because he valued what he had more than what he sought. Bartimaeus was blessed in his blindness. He was blessed in his poverty. He was blessed in the fact that he was a beggar, more so than this rich young ruler, because this rich young ruler was blinded by his wealth and his possessions. Bartimaeus had no such distraction to get in his way. See, sometimes we get down on ourselves and we get down on our circumstances and we get down on our life and we get down on God because we get angry at him because he put us in this situation. Never mind the fact that very often the situation is the result of our own actions. And we spend so much time being angry at God and at everybody around us because their situation is so much better than ours that we forget to be thankful for the fact that we are in such a bad spot that we have no direction to look but up. And that in looking up, we see Jesus standing there extending to us the hand of mercy. Whereas if we had been blessed as we wanted with better circumstances or better health or better relationships or better opportunities, then we very easily might have been distracted by those very things and never seen the grace of God because we would never recognize our need for it.

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Your Faith Has Made You Well

Poor In Spirit Versus Rich Distraction

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So I propose in this Bartimaeus, the blind bear was more blessed than the rich young ruler. And that very often we, when we find ourselves in dire straits, are more blessed than those who have a sufficiency of their own. Because that sufficiency that they trust in is not sufficient. Nor is our want sufficient. The difference is, in want, we find it easier to reach a need. And we find it easier to call out to God. You think it's tough to serve God when you're poor? Try serving him when you're rich. It's harder. Some people would say, I'd like to try. Would you really? God has placed each of us in the circumstances in which we need to be in order to recognize our need for him. The question is whether or not we will respond to him in those circumstances and cry out to him for the mercy that he freely offers. Now, I want to call your attention to something. Bartamaeus is healed. He is given his sight. He receives the mercy that he asks for and he says, Hallelujah, I can go get a job now. Or hallelujah, I can go do this, or hallelujah, I can go do that, right? Or I'm gonna go off and I'm gonna go see the world now that I can see. No. What does Bartimaeus do? He follows Jesus. He says, wherever that man's going, that's where I'm going to. And not only does he follow Jesus, but he follows Jesus, glorifying God. Can I tell you, when we receive mercy, what is mercy? Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Well, the Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So that means me, you, and all of us, and it tells us also that the wages of sin is death. So what does that mean? That means that each and every one of us deserves to die. We deserve death. But God extends his mercy to us in that he says, you know what? Jesus died in your place. So you don't have to die. But you do have to receive that gift of God through Jesus Christ that you might have the forgiveness of your sins. You need to call out, just like Barnabaius called out, Lord, Messiah, Son of David, have mercy on me. And he will. And then when you have obtained and received that mercy, give glory to God for what he has done in your life. Give praise to God for what he is doing in you. Glorify him and give him thanks for the circumstances even that led you to the point where you sought his mercy. Let the love that flows from the awareness of all that you've been forgiven be expressed in praise to God throughout your life. And if you do, an amazing thing will happen. Same thing that happened with Bartimaeus. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. When we are in want, when we are in need, we have that desire for that mercy that God offers, and we call out to him, and he answers us and forgives us for our sins and sets our feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. May our lives so glorify him that people see us and say, wow, what an awesome thing.

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Truly, these are some of the most difficult times that many of us have ever seen. The economy is bad, work is sparse, and there's no shortage of spray throughout the world. But as believers in Jesus, we've been given many great and pre-prade and precious promises. For instance, listen to this verse, taken from our current study. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. You see, it doesn't matter how bad things get, God has promised to take care of us. Full-length methmethmeth message taught by Pastor Ken Sunday morning at Calvary Chapel, Southwest Metro, Burleson, Texas. To hear this message in its entirety, log on to heed theword.org. That's heedtheword.org. Once you're there, select the listen online page. Or if computers aren't your thing, that's okay, you can always call us. That number to call is 817-447-5675. That's 817-447-5675. Even if you're not ordering a copy of today's study, we'd love to hear from you. Knowing that God is using Heed, the Word for His glory, and to encourage His saints is one of our greatest joys. So call us today. This study through the Gospel of Luke has been a real eye-opener. Maybe you've been challenged in Samaritans in your walk with Jesus. Well, we want to exhort you not to just hear God's word, but to do it. Begin to walk in obedience to the things you're learning. From all of us here at Heather Word, we want to say thank you for tuning in and may God richly bless you to seek his faith.