Faith As Our Garment - Mark 10:46-52 | Pastor Jason Lockard Sermon

Pastor Jason Lockard discusses the miracle of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus.

He emphasizes the importance of crying out to Jesus for help and mercy.

The sermon highlights the desire of people in today's generation to ignore God and holy things.

It also touches on the need to stand firm in our faith despite opposition and persecution.

Now, you know, probably many of you have read this passage before, and you're probably thinking, how in the world is this going to be this? What does this have to do with this passage of scripture? You're going to be amazed, actually, why it is this. But, you know, this is an exciting time of the year for me. I love this time of the year because we're on the road to Easter Sunday. We're just two Sundays and then Easter Sunday. So for the next two Sundays, this week and next week, we're going to kind of track some of the miracles of Jesus as he was getting ready to bring forth the greatest miracle of all of his time on earth with us. We're talking about the resurrection. But today we're talking about an interesting miracle that happened in Mark chapter 10, starting in verse 46. It says, and they came to Jericho, and as they went out of Jericho. Now, what is significant about Jericho is Jericho is the place where the miracle of the walls fell. Right? That was an amazing miracle. and this was about to be another place of another great miracle. Not in a massive amount, but for one man, it was about to be something spectacular. And it was about to be something miraculous for him. And it was going to be something life-changing for him. That's what was so cool about this. Now, interestingly enough, it says, with him was his disciples and a great number of people. Now, I love that because wherever Jesus went, there was a crowd, right? And I look in this generation and I see churches that are struggling to get a crowd. It's all over the country. Churches are struggling to get people to come to church. Why? Because there is no desire for God. We've lost the desire for God. When we look back to the 50s and the 60s, even 60s to a small degree, there was a time when Sunday mornings came. People went to church. Now Sunday mornings come and people wash the car or mow the grass or go to the store or do this or that. And I sit and I think sometimes and I go, okay, that's all well and fine. You want to wash the car, that's fine. You want to mow the grass, that's fine. You would need to go to the store, that's fine. Whatever. But give God a little bit of the day, right? What's wrong with giving God a little bit of the day? We have lost our desire for holy things in this generation. We have no desire for that. For the majority of our population, there is absolutely no desire for God and holy things. And I think the reason for that is because we have seen a pullback of biblical principles from leadership in our country and typically around the world. We don't see our leaders saying anything about God, so we figure, hey, we don't need to say anything about God, and we don't need God. And I think that's a problem in this generation, it really is. But here, there's a great multitude, a great number of people following with Jesus and his disciples, because they knew if they were with Jesus, maybe, just maybe, they'd see something miraculous. And you know what? They were going to. something miraculous was going to happen today in this time and it was so awesome it says right in this verse it says blind Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus sat by the highway side begging blind Bartimaeus a man that was blind apparently from birth he didn't know what it was like to see a horrible situation You know, that is something we take for granted very, very much in this generation. We just take eyesight for granted. Oh, that's just eyesight, right? But imagine if you lost your eyesight to where you could not see how difficult that would be to function. Because we do. We just take it for granted. We jump in a car. We take off and go. But we don't think about, oh, what if I was blind? Well, I couldn't jump in the car and go. We think about, oh, well, I prepare my supper or my breakfast or whatever. And I just go to the refrigerator and do what I need and whatever. But what if you were blind? You'd be having to try to find your way around to try to get what you needed. See, eyesight is a blessing from God that we don't need to take for granted. Because but for the grace of God, we could lose it just like that. it is very, very, very much a blessing of God. And we need to praise the Lord for eyesight. Blind Bartimaeus sat by the highway side begging. Because that was his only recourse. He couldn't work. He had no way to work because nobody would have let him work. Because he had no eyesight. Now, interestingly enough, Bartimaeus, he heard the commotion going on with the crowd. and he said, something's going on. And he began to ask people what was going on and then somebody apparently told him it was Jesus. And I love this. And he says, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out. I love that. He began to cry out. And see, that's the point. If we want help, we have to cry out. Cry out to Jesus. Jesus is not going to help us unless we cry out. He's not going to save you unless you cry out He's not going to heal you unless you cry out Cry out to Jesus today Give me a blessing, cry out to Jesus He is there at a moment's notice But we've got to make the effort We've got to cry out to Jesus Jesus, I need help today Jesus, I need this blessing today I need healing, I need a physical touch I need a spiritual touch I need a financial touch I need this, I need that God, help me today. Cry out to Jesus. He began to cry out and say Jesus thou son of David have mercy upon me Those are beautiful words Have mercy upon me Literally saying you are my only hope My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but I wholly lean on Jesus' name. on Christ the solid rock I stand all of the ground is sinking sand. Jesus, you're my only hope. I love those words. Verse 48 says, and many charged him that he should keep his peace. See, that's what's going to happen in this generation. Start trying to say You love Jesus Start trying to say That you're a child of the king Start doing that And you will find people Walking away You will find people Turning their back And not wanting to hear the message Because people don't want to hear The message of holiness They don't want to hear the message Of sins forgiven They don't want to hear the message There is a greater power than us We have the desire to say, oh, it's all me. I do what I need to do for myself. I can't do anything in my own strength. I can't pull myself up by my own bootstraps, as they used to say. I can't do that. My only hope is in Jesus. Jesus is the only answer for me. And I'll go a step further. Jesus is the only answer for this world. Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above him there's no other. Jesus is the way. And that's the point. That's the point. They tried to get him to shut up. Quiet. Don't holler. There are going to be people that are going to tell us to stop. praising the Lord. There are going to be people that are going to try to squash the church of the living God. Satan tried to destroy the church of the living God here recently with COVID. And let's face it, Satan did a good job because he shut down the church for quite a while. But the church kept on keeping on. I love what the church of the living God did when the government shut down everything and said nobody can go and gather together and be in the house of God the members of the house of God said we will find a way to worship together and like we did here we had church in the parking lot people found a way to worship God but then there was other people that decided you know what I'll just stay at home and now we are seeing that what has happened is that the church of the living God has been destroyed by COVID in a lot of ways because a lot of people walked away and they never came back once the pandemic was considered over if you will that was considered Ah, we stay home all along. Now we can continue. And many, many, many, many churches never recovered. So what did Satan do? Satan won a humongous victory. And that's what Satan is doing. And Satan is going to try to squash the church of the living God. But it is up to us, the church of the living God. The followers of Jesus that say, We will not go quietly. We will not be destroyed. We will not shut up. We will continue to praise the Lord. We're going to continue to shout His name. We're going to continue to proclaim His name. Because His name is wonderful. His name is Counselor. His name is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. And we will not be quiet anymore. That's what we need to do. And see, that's exactly what happened here. Blind Bartimaeus is crying out for mercy. And they are saying, shut up. Don't cry out. Be quiet. No one wants to hear your cries. Now, blind Bartimaeus had one of two choices at this point. He could have shut up. Or he could have kept on. And I love what he did. He kept on. And even more so than just keeping on, it says in this word, He cried even louder. He went even louder. Because he was not going to be quieted down. He was not going to be shut up. His words were going to be heard. His praise was going to be heard. His prayers were going to be answered. That was what blind Bartimaeus was saying. I will not quit. I will not stop until I am blessed. Reminds me of another man in the Bible You probably remember him Jacob He wouldn't let go until he got a blessing Right? And that's exactly what blind Bartimaeus was I will not let go unless you bless me I will not shut up until I get my blessing I will not quit until I am blessed And that's what we have to do as a church of the living God You need a blessing? Don't give up Don't quit Don't stop believing. Keep believing until the answer comes. Until the answer comes, got to keep praying. Got to keep praying until the answer comes. Amen. Got to have that faith. Now, there is persistence with blind Bartimaeus here. And I love the term, persistence pays off. Because that's exactly what happened here. He wouldn't stop shouting and crying out to Jesus. And in verse 49 it says, And Jesus stood still. He stopped because he heard the cries of someone in need. He stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he called thee. these are amazing words because here are the people that have been saying be quiet be quiet be quiet be quiet be quiet and they finally say well you don have to cry no more Jesus has heard you. Wow. What a blessing. What a blessing to hear those words. You don't have to cry anymore. Jesus has heard your tears. He's seen your tears. He's heard your cries. Don't cry anymore The master's calling you The master's about to help you Don't cry out anymore Jesus is about to touch people Jesus is about to bring healing Jesus is about to bring a touch Jesus is about to bring a blessing Maybe it's not in our time Maybe it's not when we want it We want it immediately But it's not about us It's about him It's about his time And in his time the blessing will come But it's all about Him. It's not about us. Be of good cheer. Can you imagine the joy that came over blind Bartimaeus' heart when he heard those words? Be of good cheer. The Master heard your cries. Can you imagine how much joy was in his heart that he finally had been answered that the Master heard his cries? What a joy was to come over his heart. Now look what happens here in verse 59 here. Or 50 here I should say. It says these words. And he casteth away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. Nobody does here. This is very, very symbolic. This is more than just I'm hot. No. No. There's much more deeper of a symbolic nature to this simple thing that Blybar Medus does here. He takes the garment off and throws it aside. He takes the garment of burden And throws it aside To put on the garment of faith And walk to Jesus See so often what we do is we don't throw away our garment of burden What am I talking about in a garment of burden? I'm not talking about a physical garment. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying what we do more often than not is we bring our burden to the Lord. And we say, Lord, this is what I need. I have need of this physical problem, physical, financial, spiritual, whatever the case may be. I need this help here. And what do we do? We say, Lord, please help me. and then we get up and we take our garment of burden with us we take it back with us instead of saying I threw it aside, I trust in you that's what Bartimaeus was doing there he took his garment of burden he threw it aside to put on the garment of faith there's an old song it says take your burdens to the Lord and what? Leave them there. But we as the church of the living God more often than not bring our burdens to the Lord and then take them back with us. We gotta take our burdens to the Lord and leave them because He will take care of them. But He can't take... He can't take care of your burden if you take it back with you. Think about what I'm saying. Am I telling a lie today? Let's be honest. Can God take your burden if you take your burden back? No, God can't take care of your burden if you take your burden back with you. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it. Put on the garment of faith and realize that God will take care of you. That's what blind Bartimaeus did. He threw off the garment of burden and he went to Jesus. I love it. And Jesus, verse 51, answered and said unto him, What wilt thou do that I should do for thee? What do you have need of? Now, Jesus knew this. But why did Jesus ask? Because he wanted Bartimaeus to step out in faith. He wanted to hear Bartimaeus say the words. Lord I need my sight he wanted to hear the words and that's exactly what Bartimaeus said why Bartimaeus said unto him Lord that I might receive my sight love these words here we're going to stop at verse 52 it says these words and Jesus said unto him go thy way thy faith as make thee whole I love that There was no need for laying on a hand. There was no need for special prayer. There was no need for anointing of oils. There was no need for nothing. Because blind Bartimaeus had done it all when he cast off the garment of burning and had sent them to the garment of faith. Oh, hallelujah. Thy faith has made thee whole. Complete. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I love what happens here. And immediately he received his sight. I love those words, immediately. He didn't have to wait for it. God immediately did it. It happened just when God wanted it. And at this point it was an immediate healing. Now, here is the interesting part of this whole situation here. Blind Bartimaeus could have ran home to family and friends and said, Look what the Lord has done. But what did blind Bartimaeus do? It says here, he followed Jesus in the way. That is the problem with most people that get a blessing. They get a blessing and they run away. And they go back to doing what they always did before. Alright? Oh, I've got to go back and be doing what I did all along. Bartimaeus knew what you had to do You had to follow Jesus to keep the blessing His way is the best way And blind Bartimaeus knew that He knew his way was the best way for him His way is the best way His way leads to victory To life. To blessing. To hope. To healing. His way is best. Hallelujah. Call out his name. His name is wonderful. at his name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that his Lord see his way that garment of blessing that garment of faith is what we have to put on we got to do what blind Bartimaeus did we got to cast off the burden of that garment of burden and put on the garment of faith I say this in conclusion today this today are you blind to the hope that you have in him? Are you blind to the healing that he has for you? Are you blind to the blessing that he has in store for you? Cast off the old garment of burden and put on that garment of faith today and say Father I walk with you I'm walking with you because I know you have for me a blessing. Are you blind to the blessings? Are you still wearing the garment of burden? I say today, cast it off. Throw it aside. Put on the garment of faith and follow Jesus to the blessing. Hallelujah. Let's bow our heads before this Father this morning. heads bowed, eyes closed just as we focus on God for a moment I'm not going to ask you to come up front I'm not going to ask any of that but I'm just asking you to examine your heart today as you look deep down inside today and as you look at your life do you have the blessing of the garment of faith on or are you still holding on to that garment of burden do you still have that garment of burden in your hand are you still saying I can't let it go. Would someone be honest to God today and say, Lord, I still hold on to the garment of burden. I want you to help me to let go of it and put on the garment of faith this morning. Help me to put on the garment of faith. Will you brace up the hand this morning? Hands going up. Oh, that's beautiful. All over this house. That's beautiful. That's beautiful this morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Maybe you're watching the message today and you're saying, you know what? I hold on to the garment of burden and I want to let it go. So I ask you right now, wherever you are, raise up your hand and say, Lord, help me to let go of the garment of burden today and put on the garment of faith. Father God, you saw these hands in this house. You saw the hands of people that are maybe watching the video, listening to the podcast today and saying, And you know what? I need to let go of the burden of that garment and put on the garment of faith. Father, help me today. I pray for those ones, Father God, as they take their hands today. I want you to do this today. Take your hand as a fist and just open it up. Just open it up. And as a symbolic way of releasing that garment right now, just open up a fist and release that garment and say, Father I want to put on the garment of faith Father as they've done that right now as they've opened up their hand releasing that garment of burden Father God help them to put on the garment of faith right now Father God may they be like Bartimaeus may they see the blessing of God may they feel the blessing of God may that come upon them right now may they feel the touch of the master's hand and Father God whatever their need is right now spiritual, financial, whatever the case may be, Father God, a physical healing, whatever. Father God, touch them right now. Give them that blessing that, Father God, right now in Jesus' name, they will feel the touch of the Master's hands, that they will know beyond a shadow of doubt right now, Father God, that the hands, those nail-scarred hands of Jesus are touching their lives right now and bringing them the blessing. Father God, I pray it right now in Jesus' name for each and every one that is saying, Father, help me today. Touch them. Heal them. Help them. Give them that blessing right now in Jesus' name. Father God, I thank you for the touch. I thank you for the blessing. And I thank you, Father God, that you do hear and hear from our prayers. When we cry out to you, Father, you stand still to hear our needs. we thank you for it Father God I thank you for the blessings that are coming right now today I thank you for the healing touch for the spiritual touch for the physical touch whatever touch that needs to be financial whatever Father God today I pray I thank you for the touch of the Master's hand upon these ones lives we thank you for it we praise you for it for you're worthy Father God now as we dismiss I just want to thank you for being in your house today, being here with us, touching us. We feel your presence, and we just want to thank you. Father God, as we dismiss, Father, we ask that you will not dismiss us, but Father God, that you will go with us. Father God, keep us safe, and then, Father, bring us back safe next time into your house that we might be able to worship you again together. Now, Father, as we said, as we dismiss, don't dismiss us, but go with us until we meet again. And Father, for all that you are, for all that you do, We give you all the praise, honor, and glory for it all. For you worthy of our praise, we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. you

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