======================================================================== REGAINING OUR SPIRITUAL SIGHT by Sandeep Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the story of blind Bartimaeus in Luke chapter 18, highlighting the contrast between earthly begging and spiritual richness, emphasizing the importance of seeing Jesus for who He truly is and looking up to Him for salvation. It challenges listeners to cry out to Jesus, the Son of David, and regain their spiritual sight to follow Him, glorifying God in their lives. Duration: 27:42 Topics: "Spiritual Sight", "Crying Out to Jesus" Scripture References: Luke 18:35, Mark 10:46, Proverbs 16:32, John 14:1, 1 John 5:18, Colossians 3:2, 2 Corinthians 5:15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the story of blind Bartimaeus in Luke chapter 18, highlighting the contrast between earthly begging and spiritual richness, emphasizing the importance of seeing Jesus for who He truly is and looking up to Him for salvation. It challenges listeners to cry out to Jesus, the Son of David, and regain their spiritual sight to follow Him, glorifying God in their lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I wanted to share from a story of blind Bartimaeus in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, if you have your Bibles, I just want to kind of go through that story slowly and different things that I saw in there that hopefully are a blessing to you as they are to me. Luke chapter 18, verse 35. Jesus healed a lot of people, but there are only, from what I can remember, three people whose names are mentioned, whom Jesus healed. There's Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. You know that. There's Mary Magdalene, who Jesus healed and cast out seven demons from her. And then there's Bartimaeus. This blind person, Luke chapter 18, he's not mentioned in Luke, but in Mark's gospel, it is mentioned. It says his name was Bartimaeus. Interestingly there, it also says that the father's name. Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. And what was interesting to me about it was, you know, in that culture, bar means son of. Peter was Bar-Jonah, which means son of Jonah. So it's almost like it was interesting that Mark said, well, I'm going to tell you about this guy called Bartimaeus, who is son of Timaeus, although that was written in the name. So I looked up the meaning of the word Timaeus. I was like, what is this? Is there a reason why Mark said not only is his name Bartimaeus, but he's the son of Timaeus, almost repeating himself. And Timaeus means highly prized, highly valued. So that's the father. And you've got a highly valued father, a highly valued person, well accomplished, maybe respectable, maybe well accomplished in life. And then you've got Bartimaeus, the son of the highly prized one. And what's his deal? Blind begging. I mean, you can't get a more opposite than Timaeus. You got Timaeus, the highly prized one. You got Bartimaeus, the blind beggar. And that's how Bartimaeus is introduced to us as a blind beggar. So, and you know, I mean, he came from a highly prized family and he's now begging and blind. It's almost like a riches to rags story where he had a lot, came from a great family, maybe squandered everything, squandered his inheritance, his heritage. And here he's now on the side of his road begging. And what I saw that as a picture for me too was, I wonder how much of my life in this earth is just glorified begging. I'm just begging my boss to give me a promotion. I'm just begging my boss to give me a bigger bonus. I'm just begging my boss to, or somebody to give me a better job or more success, or I'm just begging for a better house. I'm just begging for a bigger status in life. I'm begging for a bigger car. I'm no different than Bartimaeus. Just begging. Hoping that my one-on-one with my boss will go well so that I'll get a promotion or get a bonus or get something. Hoping that my bid for a house will go through so that I get a great deal at the low price that I offered. Just begging, sitting around all of life, just begging for a good deal when I go to the grocery store. Begging, begging, begging. And I saw that I'm living a life of begging. It's a good place to start. To say, that's my condition. Just think about your life, dear brothers and sisters. And think about, are we begging for better deals? Better salary? Better situations that'll make your life easier? And I've noticed how my life could be reduced so much to begging. But the good news is, that's where salvation comes from. To realize, not only am I begging for all the wrong things, but I'm also a spiritual beggar. That I may not have the things of eternal value. Bobby was talking about, what are the good things in life, right? And one of my favorite verses in Proverbs, Proverbs 16, 32. He who rules his tongue, he who's slow to anger is better than the mighty. He was talking about that. He who rules his spirit is stronger than a person who captures the city. I remember telling my boys that, they're beginning to becoming strong, I'm strong, I can do this. I can lift seven pounds, not eight pounds. I weigh 50 pounds, not 55 pounds. 52 pounds now, I'm moving stronger. Well, if you rule your spirit, you're stronger than capturing a whole city. Better than verses. And to make that evaluation, that if I can control my spirit, if I can control my tongue, I'm better than a person who captures the whole city. That's what the Bible is telling me, but I don't evaluate my life. I'm begging, I'm sitting here begging for better things in life. More comforts, more validation from the world, and so on. Also interesting, in all the times that this story is mentioned, Luke 18, Mark 10, it's always, it's written almost right after, or soon after, the rich young ruler. So you see two contrasting people. The rich young ruler and blind Bartimaeus. You see the man of full accomplishment, rich, young, he's got youth on his side. He's got money on his side. He's got power on his side. Coming to Jesus, and you've got a navel-bodied rich young ruler, and you've got blind Bartimaeus begging. Two big contrasts. And you know those two stories, how they end up. Who would you put your money on to be a successful Christian? Who would you have wanted to be friends with? If you didn't know the end of the story, would you have aligned with the rich young ruler or with Bartimaeus? God sees how we don't see. And remember, the rich young ruler also was obeying a lot of the commandments. He was extremely righteous on the outside. He got this man begging, but God sees something in Bartimaeus that he didn't see in rich young ruler. But that's where we may also need to start by saying, Lord, my love for God is not red hot like it used to be, as we heard. I need a spiritual revival. Maybe my marriage or my family life has been affected by shelter in place taking longer than it should have. Then that kind of starts the story where Bartimaeus then tells him that Jesus is passing by. And he starts calling out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And I want to, that's the part where Jesus is passing by. He's around. You know he's around. So the Jesus stands at the door or not. What happens when you open the door? He's not poor little Jesus wanting a warm place to live. He asks you, what do you want from me? When you open, he knocks and you open, he says, what do you want from me? But he comes to you. And what I want to show you, the big thing I want to show you is what made Bartimaeus so special. It's in verse 37 and 38. What they told him, what they told Bartimaeus was that Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth is coming by. But look how Bartimaeus responds. Bartimaeus doesn't say, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me. He says, Jesus, son of David. Big difference, big difference. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, son of David. Why is that a big difference? The Pharisees even questioned who Jesus' father was. They criticized Jesus saying, you're illegitimate, illegitimate. They're not even a true child. You didn't come from a respectable family. The crowd, a little bit better than the hateful Pharisees, they say, Jesus, you're from Nazareth. Or like, who is it? Nathaniel said, what good can come from Nazareth or Galilee or whatever it is? All good can come from there. That's where you came from, Jesus, son of Nazareth. Just an ordinary town. That's what Bartimaeus hears. But what did Bartimaeus see Jesus as? Son of David. David, the strongest king that ever lived in Israel's history. David, from whose seed was going to come the Messiah. That's who Bartimaeus, blind, couldn't see anything, beggar, has nothing. He saw something about Jesus that nobody else saw. The rich young ruler never saw it. When the rich young ruler comes to Jesus, he says, good teacher. The people tell Bartimaeus, Jesus of Nazareth is coming by. Bartimaeus says, no, I'm not going to call him son of Nazareth or Jesus of Nazareth. I'm going to call him what I know him to be. Jesus, son of a princely tribe from the greatest king that ever lived. That's who Jesus is coming by. He had no doubt who Jesus is. And dear brothers and sisters, that's where real strength is, as we heard about. What is real strength in the Lord? Real strength is when our circumstances, our feelings are telling us, Jesus is just of Nazareth. You need to do all these other things in addition to solve your spiritual problems. We'd have to have faith like Bartimaeus to say, no, I know who Jesus is. He's not Jesus of Nazareth. He's Jesus, son of David. You look at the thief on the cross. What saved him? Because he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Who was he talking to? A man who had five minutes left to live. And this thief on the cross says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knew that this man was a king, your kingdom, and you're going to be death. It was incredible faith that the thief on the cross had. It was incredible faith that Bartimaeus had when he saw Jesus. He said, that man is the son of David. He's the son of a king. Here again, we see the difference between the rich young ruler and Bartimaeus. I want to show you this verse that I shared with the brothers yesterday during prayer. 1 John 5, verse 18. 1 John 5, verse 18. It's a very simple verse. It's a very powerful verse if you meditate on it. 1 John 5, verse 18 says, we know, we know. What do you know? Don't you know that the earth goes around the sun? Don't you know that if you throw a ball up, it'll come down? Well, this is what John says. You know what we know? We know that no one who is born of God, no one who's born against sins. That's just not the behavior of born again people. They have a fundamental hatred and enmity with sin. And the one who is born of God, Jesus, who was born of God, keeps him. That's who they know Jesus to be. They're not trying to crawl their way and scratch their way to victory. They're constantly seeing Jesus as the one who can keep them. That's their pathway to victory. They see Jesus, not as Jesus of Nazareth. They see Jesus as son of God. So they go to him and say, you're a completely different power than all other earthly powers. I'm not going to call you Jesus of Nazareth. I'm going to call you Jesus, son of God. They come to Jesus who is able to keep them from sin. They see Jesus as having such a fundamental difference when it comes to sin. And they realize, Lord, I'm a beggar. I'm begging for stuff that's going to perish. I'm begging for a better body. I'm begging for better clothes. I'm begging for more status. I'm begging for life, for better things in life. I'm just a beggar. And there's Jesus, son of David, son of God, who's offering me eternal riches. And the crowd, everybody's, look at that, back to Luke chapter 18. The crowd, in verse 39, is rebuking him and saying, sternly telling him to be quiet. And there are a lot of people who lead the way. That's what it says there in Luke 18. Those who are leading the way. You could look at it as Christendom. You look at the musicians and the artists who are leading the way in Christendom. And they can sell you on a Christianity that doesn't work. Because they've just not seen the true nature of Calvary. Their lives are not holy. They're insecure. That's why they're looking for approval in the way they sing and the way they speak. Those are the ones a lot of times leading the way. And they're sternly telling you, be quiet. Victory over every sin is not possible. Be quiet. They tell you it's not possible to forgive that person who really deeply hurt you. They tell you that no one's facing temptation quite like you are. No one ever did. They'll tell you that your marriage is destined to be mediocre. They'll tell you that your children are going to end up without a love for God. The crowd will tell you to shut up compared to the promises of God. What did Bartimaeus respond? He cried out all the more. He shouted back at them. I've got to shout back to my feelings. More than the crowd of the Christendom out there. Okay, we can... I don't... I scare much to criticize anybody out there. I'll tell you what the greatest crowd is that rings in my ears. It's my feelings. It's my moods. It's my mindset that tells me that I can settle for a mediocre life. To shut up. When I start to see that Jesus is the son of God, they say shut up. He's too busy for you. He's got bigger things to work on. And that's when we need to cry out all the more. Jesus, you're the son of David. You're the king of kings. In you I'll put my trust. My marriage is not where it should be, but it's not my husband's fault. It's my fault. My marriage is not where it should be, but it's not my wife's fault. It's my fault. My children are not like they should be, but it's not my children's fault. It's not the public school's fault. It's not COVID's fault. It's my fault. Cry out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me. I'm begging for stuff. Meanwhile, Jesus can offer me riches. Crying out all the more. Shouting back against the feelings that are coming against us. Then we see that Jesus brings him and asks, what do you want me to do? Jesus knocks on the door of our heart. When we open up, he doesn't want anything from us. He asks, what do you want me to do for you? I don't need anything. What do you want me to do for you? And the man says, Luke 18, 41, I want to regain my sight. I used to have it. I used to have a love for the Lord. I used to have something that I don't have anymore. I want to regain my sight. I want to get it back again. And he comes knocking on our door, doesn't he? Just maybe I've not paid enough attention to him because we're so distracted by things of this earth. But he knocks on our door over and over again, through the meetings, through the midweek groups, through while we're washing the dishes. Our conscience pricking us. And he's knocking on the door. And he's telling you, open up. And when you open up, he's like, I don't need anything. What do you want from me? He told the woman in the well, in the Samaritan woman at the well, I am asking you for water. But if you knew who I was, you'll ask me for water. I'll ask you to come in. But if you knew who I was, you'd be like, what do you want from me? I can give you so much. And he asked everyone, what do you want me to do? And Jesus and Bartimaeus said, I want to regain my sight. You know, literally that word, I want to regain my sight. It's literally that it's translated. I want to look up. Jesus, I want to look up. And that really struck me because Bartimaeus was not interested in getting his eyesight restored to look around. To look around at the things of this earth. To lust once again, like he used to. He wanted to regain his sight, but he wanted to look up. I want to look up. I'm sick of tired of looking around. I want to look up. I want to have eyesight, not to live for myself, but to look up. And dear brothers and sisters, that's where a lot of us may be. Lord, I've lost my love for you. I lost what I had for you. But I want, I want to look up. I'm a beggar begging for things that are going to perish. And I want to look up. I want that looking up. Paul said in Colossians, set your minds on things above. Keep looking up. And I look at that verse and say, Lord, I'm not looking up like often, as often as I should. I keep getting looking around. And God says, I didn't come here to heal the eyesight of people who want to just going to look around to lust more and more. I'll heal the eyesight of people who are going to look up to see me. The upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Very simple. Jesus says, receive your sight. Your faith has saved you. Dear brothers, Luke 18, 42, and sisters, Luke 18, 42. In some translations, it says your faith has made you well. But Jesus didn't heal Bartimaeus. Jesus saved Bartimaeus. A big difference between healing and save salvation. 10 lepers got healed in Luke 17. Only one got salvation. Bartimaeus didn't just get healing. He got salvation. Why did Bartimaeus get salvation more than healing? Two reasons, as I've said before. One, he saw Jesus for who he was. He didn't see Jesus as Jesus of Nazareth. He saw Jesus as son of David. And number two, he wanted to look up. He didn't want his lifestyle restored to look around. He was done with everything that this earth has to offer. This is the difference. Between what, again, Bartimaeus and the rich young ruler. Rich young ruler just wanted more commands. Just tell me what I got to do. Bartimaeus wanted to look up. And he knew who Jesus really was. Immediately, Luke 18, 43, he regained his sight and began following him. Glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God. What a beautiful end to the story. This, what if this was the true ending to all the healings that ever happened in our lives? That we began following him. Could this be a life verse for us? He regained his sight. Regained. He started looking up. Immediately after he met with Jesus, he started looking up and began following Jesus. Glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave glory to God. Didn't say, wow, let's have you on the circuit tour of speaking. To tell how you got healed and let's make you get a lot of money. No. He began a life of looking up. Glorifying God. Following God. Glorifying God. And the people saw it and gave glory to God. So what a difference. Imagine if that was the end of the story, the rich young ruler. Rich young ruler had everything going for him. He didn't see who Jesus really was. He just saw him as a good teacher. And he didn't want to look up. He just wanted a little bit more rules. He missed the whole thing. Blind beggar Bartimaeus had nothing going for him, but he saw who Jesus really was. And he wanted to look up. He was sick of the addictions of this world that judge you by how you look and how much money you have and how many things you have. And it's a rat race that never ends and just destroy you. They'll take you in, chew you up and spit you out. That's the world system. And blind Bartimaeus saw that the rich young ruler never figured out. And he said, Lord, I'm sick of looking around. I want to look up. This is another reason why I believe Bartimaeus saw it. And he lived in such a life glorifying God that the people also started to glorify God. But let's not be too fooled by people glorifying God. The same people were telling Bartimaeus to shut up and are glorifying God. The same people who are waving palm branches are one week later saying crucify him. So I'm not going to be worried that the people are always glorifying God. God will take care of that. But what a beautiful life verse, dear brothers and sisters. Immediately he met with Jesus. He started looking up and he began following Jesus and he glorifying God. What a simple life verse to carry our lives. If we see Jesus for who he is, completely different from anybody else. I want to end with I was sitting next to Isaac, Bobby's son. And I saw one of his notes from what Bobby was saying just now. I want to repeat it in case you missed it because I missed it. I read it from Bobby Isaac's notes. Here's what was in his notes. God's promises don't expire. Bobby said it. I missed it. Isaac helped me remember it. God's promises don't expire. Has God given you a promise? Did Jesus tell you that he can help regain sight? Does he tell you that he can revive you? Does he tell you that he's going to finish the work that he started? Does he tell you that he can be in the business of giving you another chance? They don't expire. He has called you to live not for yourself, but for him who died for you. Let me end with that. 2 Corinthians 5. Why did Jesus die for me? Jesus died 2,000 years ago, but he has a promise that continues. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 15. He died for all. Are you part of all? You can be part of all. He died for all so that those who live. Are you living right now? Those who regain their sight. Those who want to regain their sight will no longer have a sight just to look around. But look at him who died for him and was raised again. That's why Jesus died for you. That's why Jesus died. He died for every single one from the youngest child to the oldest. He died for you and his promises don't expire. They haven't expired as yet. And he's promised you that he died for you so that you stop looking around and start looking up. And they never expire every day. Today is the day of salvation. He can help us. So dear brothers and sisters, I hope some of us may be sons of highly prized ones. You look at your family history. You look at your heritage and say, man, I was a son or daughter of a highly prized one. But look at my life, though. I'm busy begging. I'm blind and I'm begging. That's all I've got. That's my name, Bartimaeus. Well, Jesus is passing by. Jesus is knocking at the door. He's passing by and he's asking you, what do you want me to do for you? Say, call him by his name. Not Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, son of David, Jesus, king of kings, Jesus, the Messiah. You are the son of God. Ask God to give you that revelation of who Jesus is. And God wants to keep bringing me back to Calvary to fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit, where he shows me what makes Jesus so unique, so different from every real and mythological person. Batman, Superman. I don't care what kind of superpower they have. Jesus is so different. Us children are so excited by superpowers. Jesus is so different. Not only the religious people, but so much more powerful for the spiritual things of life. Jesus, son of God. Let's take that word and look at the cross. Look at him being raised from the dead. Conquering death and say, Jesus, I need a fresh revelation of who you are. The secret to my problems in my personal life lies with you solving it. The secret to my marriage lies with you. I'm the problem, not my spouse. I'm the problem and you're the solution because you're Jesus, son of David. The problem with my children as they're growing older is not my children or anything else. It's me. I have failed. The problem with my inability to be a witness at work is not anybody else around. It's me. I'm blind. I'm begging for the things of this earth. The world, my co- workers see me. My family, my relatives see me. Having all verses on my Facebook, verses in my hall. But they see me. I'm begging too, just like they are. Begging for things on this earth. They say, you're no different. Let me start by saying, Lord, I'm blind and I'm begging. But you are the son of David. You're the son of God. You're the king of kings. I need you to help me. I want to regain my sight. I want to start looking up. Stop looking around. Stop listening to your feelings that have so dominated you and continue to dominate us. End with that. Let's be people of real strength, not Samson's who fights lions but falls for pretty women. Let's not be Samson's who fight all kinds of things successful on this earth, but given into our bad moods. Let's have true strength. Better than the people who conquer a city. God can help us. Jesus alone can help us. And he's knocking at the door saying, I will help you. I'll help you regain your sight. And as he does that, let's follow him. End with looking around, looking up, and let's glorify God through our lives. May God be glorified. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Crs_Ju6KWbU.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/regaining-our-spiritual-sight/ ========================================================================