That is a prayer in the form
of a hymn to the Holy God and to grant the Holy Spirit. The Lord promised to those who
asked for his spirit. Yes, he said. I would give the
spirit to them that asked for him without him. We can't do
this thing. God is worshiped in spirit. We're
playing that which is flesh is flesh. Flesh lust against spirit. I'm a voice, same old voice. I recognize that more than anybody.
Nobody in here realizes. Who is sufficient that he's staying
more than me. I'm the same old voice that you've been hearing
nearly 18 years. I get tired of hearing my voice.
I really do. I wish I wish God would send
us a preacher, another preacher. So I could sit where you are.
Every now and then. I get tired of hearing my voice.
And I know you do I see you actually and literally. It's not funny. Sad. But I'm saying this is my
job necessity is laid upon me. I love this I prepare for it. And I recognize more than anybody
that it's not by my not my power it's not my persuasible word
it's not my ability to preach it's not what I yell or don't
yell or preach long preach short or cry or whatever I know that
from experience. It's this book this word the
word of his power. And unless God Almighty uses
and there's a certain amount of preparation involved especially
for me certainly I don't prepare you it'll show. If you don't
prepare to hear the word of God told the Israelites prepare yourself
sanctify yourself for tomorrow get ready to meet the Lord. So
I won't come down. Our Lord said where two or three
are gathered that's where I've been. And we heard the same thing
this morning we heard the story of David and Goliath, which most
of the world doesn't have a clue what it's about. Most of the
world think it's a story of the underdog against the giant and
how you don't quit, don't give up, but you can defeat insurmountable
odds. That's not what it's about. And
that's one of the greatest stories in Scripture, one of the most
Christ-honoring, Christ-glorifying stories in Scripture. Same old,
same old in it. I don't know how many times we've looked at
that. This morning we're going to look
at two blind men sitting by the wayside. How many times have
we heard this? And I'm pretty darn certain there
are two blind men in this room right now sitting by the wayside. And it's the same old same old.
And I'm going to say the same thing, but it's not grievous
to me. And for you, it's safe. If God, the Holy Spirit will
come and actually, as Isaiah 35 says, open blind eyes. This wilderness, this solitary
place is going to become an oasis. This place of dragons is going
to be a grassy field. That made me. Patrick want to
preach for. Two blind men Matthew twenty. And most everyone's heard the
story about Bartimaeus and this is a step similar story it's
about the same time but they're not the same man and something. Brother John Gill believes that
there were actually three blind men. Bartimaeus was one, either
on one side of the city of Jericho or another, and these other two
men were the Lord's saved. In other words, blind men coming
and going. And they said the same thing
that Bartimaeus said, because that's our greatest need. Every blind man needs one thing,
and there's only one that can heal him. Well the need of these two blind
man is what is our name. Our I didn't say yours I said
our, our name. The final thing that they asked
for and what this is all about is that our eyes may receive
sight. We just sang that song, you know,
how many times have we sung that song? Open my eyes that I may
see. Lord, what do you want? What
do you want? What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? And the Lord said, Lord, I want to see clearly. So many
things blind me. Let me see. Let me see. Well, behold, verse thirty, two
blind men Matthew twenty verse thirty behold two blind men sitting
by the wayside two blind men how many there were there were
two of the whole stop think about it with two blind men not just
one just part of my life but to. As I said probably three. You know there are a lot more
than that there were many the Lord healed many. That Isaiah
thirty five is a prophecy of when Christ will come the eyes
of the blind shall be open many blind The Lord healed many. He
cast out many devils, and he healed many blind, because there
were many blind people. And this world is full of blind
people. There's probably more than two
in this room this morning. Blind. Blind men. Not just one,
but two. Now, I love the story of old
Bartimaeus. It's a single story in God's Word about a man, a
certain man who was blind. I'm glad it's in the Scripture.
I'm so glad it's one of my favorite stories. I look forward to dealing
with that. But now here's two. Behold, two. Two men. Now this could be, you could
put our names there. Brother Henry, it could be me
and you sitting there. This is our story. Me and my
old blind buddy, Henry. One time. We're sitting by the
wayside. We're going to. Say. The Lord usually saves one
of the time. In fact he does deal with people
individually. But sometimes. Two or more together. I could never think about this
a few years ago when. I believe the spirit of God was
moving on this congregation, and there's several people confessing
Christ, and they were confessing Christ in baptism, and I was
up in the pool, and I thought it was over. And I started to walk out, and
lo and behold, a husband and his wife were standing there
at the door. And so we want to confess Him
too. Two blind men. Can you imagine that? Two? A
husband and a wife. What the greatest blessing of
all? Two blind men. The Lord heals
both of them. We're all a bunch of blind beggars.
That's all we are. Everyone of us. May God have
mercy on us all. May God have mercy on us all. Not just my children, not just
me. It's still my greatest need,
and yours too. Those were still greatly blind,
blinded by a lot of things. Lord, please continue to open
my eyes. Well, what they were was blind. how many they were to what they
were was my. You know salvation is for the
lost. In. The way the religious world tells
it it's God's the one that's lost and men are looking for
and trying to find it. Salvation is for the law salvation
for those who can't find their way don't even know there is
a way. What's clearer in Scripture? Salvation for the lost, mercies
for the guilty. You don't hear anybody talking
about mercy today, do you? You hear your friends and neighbors
and co-workers talking about mercy? You hear anybody on the
radio or TV, preachers, talking about how we need God's mercy?
No, because nobody's a sinner. Nobody's guilty. This is man's
greatest need. It's our greatest need, my greatest
need, as I speak. I'm a man of unclean lips and
dwell in the midst of a people. These are the finest people on
Earth right here, the salt of the Earth, yet we're unclean.
We need mercy. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we are not concerned. Because His compassions, they
fail not. They're new every morning. What's
new every morning? God's mercy is new every morning. Thank God. And it endures forever. Mercy is for the guilty. You
guilty? If God is merciful, he'll show you how guilty you are.
He'll make you to feel your guilt daily if he's merciful. If God's merciful to you and
is going to have you hear the gospel, you'll come in this place
guilty. You'll go away relieved. If not,
another sermon. Life is for the dead. Life is
for the dead. Boy, I don't know about you,
but I walk out in this world and I just get dead. Dead as
a hammer, dead as a doornail. And I say like David of old,
quicken thou me according to thy word. Would you quicken me?
Send that life-giving sound one more time and quicken this old
dead, dry heart of mine. Would you please make it be for
you? Spiritual eyesight is for the
blind. Eyesight is for the blind. Spiritual
eyesight. Do you know what this means?
Our Lord said this, he says, if you were blind, you'd have
no sin. Do you know what that means?
He said, but now because you say you see, your sin remains. I remember talking to a fellow
on the railroad years ago, talking to him about the Gospel about
God's word and he was the most notorious fellow on the railroad
he was known for his crowding around he was the wildest man
on on the. Wild and proud of it. And I'm
laughing and laughing. In dismay at what he said to
me and I was talking to him about. The truth God's word you know
with him and again I had a Bible in my pocket, pulled it out and
began reading things to him. And I said, after talking to
him a little bit, he was listening. I said, do you see? He said,
oh, I see. Yeah, I see. He didn't have a clue. Yeah,
I see. Yeah, I see. And I think if I
remember correctly, you know, he pleaded the fact that he had
none of this or had none of that. He'd done a lot of things, but
he sure had none. blind, just blind as he can be. Yet he said
he saw. Now, I believe I do see some
things. I believe God has given me some, some eyesight. But I see through a glass darkly. There's so much I don't see,
so much I don't see about myself, so much I don't see in the future. I let the world and the temporal
things blind me to the fact that they're just temporal things.
I'm blind to my own folly. I got to go on. Blind. That's
what they were. Blind. Salvation. Eyesights for
the blind. What is it to be blind? What does it mean to be blind?
Well, if you're blind, it means you can't see anything. Have you ever been in a dark
room? If there's a slightest bit of
light, you're not blind. Right? What darkness is and being
blind is the absence of light. Whenever there's just a little
bit of light, you're not blind. You know that. Out in, we'd go down to Mexico. You go out in those villages
where they have no street lights, no electric lights, some of them
years ago. They do now, most of them. But
you go out there, and we'd just pull off the side of the road,
you know, traveling for hours, and make a pit stop and turn
out the lights of the truck. And, buddy, it's total dark,
blind. Couldn't see your hand plain-faced.
That's blind. Can't see anything. I mean, you're
blind. You can't see anything. And this
is man. This is all people. I might say
with me, OK, this is all people by nature. This is someone in here this
morning, if God has not given you the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. Which is where? If you don't
know the rest of that verse, You're black. The light only
comes from one source. What? Where does all light come
from? Everybody knows this, don't they? Child? Where does all light
come from? Where, Laura? Go ahead and say
it, so everybody can hear you. S-O-N. It's no coincidence that he said,
talked about the sun of righteousness arising. The day star is only
one star that shines during the day. All the rest of the stars are
still out there, but they're not very clear, aren't the same.
You can't see one of them when that big day star is shining.
That's the way it will be with you and me when we see Christ's
glory. The day star, all these stars,
they don't even shine at all. That's what our Lord meant there
in, I think, Hosea, where he said, Behold, the moon it shineth
not. The stars, they don't. Nah. Not
when you see Christ's glory. There's no stars on earth. Fallen. Chunks of rock. He's the son
of righteousness. Blind means you can't see anything.
If people can't see Christ, They can't see anything. I don't care
what they know. Honestly, if Christ is all, would
you listen to me? If Christ is all, and that's
what God says, that he's all and in all, that's what God says.
If Christ is all, I don't care what somebody knows. If they
don't know Christ, they know nothing at all. And Hathmat Scripture
says, God made foolish the wisdom of this world, and He continues
to do so. Man goes on and on in his purported wisdom, professing
themselves to be wise. They become what? Utter fools. Why? The fool has said, No God. The fool has said, I believe
in Jesus, but He ain't God. The fool has said, I don't care
that He came and died. I don't care about all that stuff.
That's a fool who's in the hands of that God with whom he has
to do. An utter fool, not professing
themselves to be wise. They don't know God. Don't know
God's Son. No fear of God before their eyes.
Don't care about God. Don't care about the Son around
whom the whole universe spins. Aren't we wise? You're utter
fools, and God's going to destroy the lot of you. But God Take some of these blind fools. Gives them eyes. Opens their
eyes. Men, you know, to be blind means
you can't see what creation looks like. A blind man can't see. My aunt, my aunt was born blind. My grandfather's sister was born
blind. Never did see. Couldn't see at
all. She's a piano teacher for years. She lived until she was about
88 years old. But she was blind. She never
did see. She did not have a clue what
the sun looked like, did not have a clue what the sky was.
You could tell her blue was blue, red was red, especially red was
red. What's the most vivid color of
all? Red. That's no coincidence, is
it? They couldn't say that blind
people can't see what creation looks like blind people can't
see themselves. A blind person can't see themselves. Blind person may think they look
all right, may think they're beautiful and all that, but if
they can't see themselves in a mirror. What does this book
say that this is? A mirror. Behold he beholding
himself as in a glass. What is this book? It's a mirror.
And what does it do? It shows us ourselves. And what
does it show us? None. Good. Not one. It shows all our filth
and sin. And the closer you look, the
worse it gets, doesn't it? But it's a two-way mirror. You see
your face you see enough. Looking out from behind your
look to the two way mirror if you look close to a mirror somebody
behind it. The immediate picture you see
is your own face. If you keep looking. And you
look closer somebody back there. This is that faith. Christ is
there. Deborah, he's there. You see
yourself in all your ugliness and sinfulness, but if you keep
looking closer, you'll see a beautiful thing. The glory of God and the
person of Christ. Men are blind to their own self,
blind to what's beautiful, ugly, what's blind to danger. A blind
man can be walking toward a cliff and not know it. And he's not
afraid of a thing. A blind man, it could be a That's just a little pitfall
in it. Scripture says man is headed
toward destruction. Can't see it. Can't see it. Alright, let me give you some
facts, okay? Let me just go on by my notes here. I'll tell you
how blind people are to all things. Blind to God. God said heavens
declared glory the firmament show up his handiwork all thing
is wrapped in power is known from him clearly say the wrath
of God God can destroy whole towns by a giant tidal wave of
men. Mother nature sure is mad. Blind as a bat. Oh no they're
not bats. See better than we do. Dumb as an ox. Oxes aren't that
dumb. Man's the only dumb creature
on this planet. God's blind to the God who made.
Black can see as clear as a bell. You don't see it at all. These
doctors and so forth that open up this body that's fearfully
and wonderfully made. It's unbelievable how ignorant
and blind somebody could open this body up and see this organ
in there just keep pumping for 70, 80 years with no outside
source to keep it doing that. And it sustains your life in
this intricate system of blood flowing and oxygen and all the
things. I'm a fool, a fool, an utter
fool. Doctors are fools. Utter fools. But they think they're gods,
don't they? Blind to creation, blind to the
Creator. The creature can't even see his
Creator. Blind to themselves, blind to
our own folly, our own sin, blind to our own, what we're capable
of. Everybody in this room is capable
of being the next mass murderer. Honestly. Every woman in here
is capable of going out on the street and selling your body
tonight if God takes his hand off. That's right. Why do these,
every young, all of our young people are capable of turning
into drug addicts and some of these scarred up. If God leaves
you alone, you'll pierce your body through and through and
mark it up and look like a monster. God leaves you alone. God leaves
you to yourself, doesn't save you from this untoward generation.
You'll follow all these blind people headlong right over the
cliff. That's what people do. They just
follow people, don't they? Blindly. And you get some fella
standing up, some good-looking fella that can talk real good
and play an instrument or whatever, and he just leads people and
they just follow him, blindly follow him. Like a pied piper,
the rats, and then he just destroys them all. There's only one person
that can save you from following blindly some wicked man. God opened your eyes. And your captain will lead you.
He sends you a faithful leader. The Lord Jesus Christ said, well, there's a way that seems right
to man, but man doesn't know that it ends in destruction.
These blind men were sitting by the wayside. They weren't
in it. They're blind. There's a way that seems right
to man. The end is death and destruction. And all people are
blind. All human beings die. Either like a beast, all human
beings die. Either like a dog Or dying faith. That's right. Some die real young. Some die middle aged. Everyone
dies. Are people thinking about it?
We're blind to it. Scripture says their secret thought
is that they will live forever. Ten billion dollars was spent
last year on plastic surgery. Ten million people had it done.
trying to look young, don't want to die. Dying and there's nothing they
can do about it. They don't want to look that
way. Cows, I'll tell you how dumb
human beings are. It's like a bunch of cows in
a field. Cattle farmer raises beef cattle. Got a hundred cows out there
in the field. Every one of them are going to die. according to
the time that the farmer comes and gets them. Well, he comes
out and gets two or three and loads them up on a truck. And
the other cows, they may look up for about five seconds. Right? They may look up. What's going
on here? Huh. Well, old Bessie's gone. Well, I'm going to miss old Bessie.
They go right back down to eat. Not considering that they may
be there and it comes and gets it until you know, you can take
away the whole field of cows and leave one. Every one of them
are gone, but one Henry. And he may look up someday and
say, where is everybody? Oh, right back to you. 6,500 people die every
day in this country alone. When 9-11 hit a few years ago,
3,000 people died and everybody was all upset. 6,500 people every day, five
people every minute die. Every minute. Eighty-some people
kill themselves every day. Think about it. Well, it won't happen to me.
Six thousand five hundred people every day. That's just the United States. What's the percentage of our
population of the world. It's a small part. Hundreds of thousands of human
beings die go out into eternity face God every day. And the rest
of them don't give it a thought. Christ said, when Christ came,
he said, I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man comes unto
the Father but by me. Well, you don't say. OK. Sitting
by the wayside. They're traveling by here. Traveling
by here. Nothing to them. Sitting by the
wayside. Well, I had so much to say about
this, but I was sitting. What good is a fellow just sitting
around? Huh, Kelly? What good were these fellows
to anybody? They weren't even good for themselves. Worthless,
sitting there, doing nothing. Who needs them? Preachers are
telling people all over the land that are worthless. Wesley's
scripture said, God said, in Psalm 14, look down to see if
there were any. He said, they're altogether unprofitable.
Isn't that what God's Word said? That's what God said. The preachers
are telling them all over the place how much God loves them
and needs them. God doesn't need anybody. Doesn't need anybody. Worthless. The inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as grasshoppers. Now God needs you. Why? Worthless. Sitting there. Worthless.
No good to anybody. No good for nothing. But when
they heard. Blind. Worthless. No good. Two dirty fellows, I guarantee
you they were dirty, sitting by the highway. They were sitting
by the highway, all that dirt and dust, they were filthy and
didn't know it. Sitting by the highway. They
weren't walking, they weren't in the way, they were by the
way, they were just out of the way, worthless, blind. But they heard something. Somebody told them. that Jesus of Nazareth is passing
by. You know, faith cometh by hearing. It really does. Hearing the Word
of God. Some of you, like me, sat for
years by the wayside. Sat and sat in your sin and your
unbelief. But one day, you heard. You see, before sight comes hearing,
they heard. Somebody told them, Jesus of
Nazareth is passing by. Now, the fact that they called
on him tells me that they heard a lot more than that. Vicki,
they heard, long before this, who he was, because of what they The Jesus of Nazareth of the
day speaking. Oh, and they began to rehearse
some of the things that he said in the sermon. Someone told them
of his power, his majesty. Oh, no man spake like this man.
Of his glory, of his wisdom, of his might. Someone told them
of his person. He's without fault. He's blameless. He's spotless. He's altogether
loved. Someone told him that he heals,
he heals the lepers. He healed lepers. I mean, people
were just rotting away. He healed them, made their fleshes
new. Someone told him about lame people. A fellow was lame, never
had walked in his life, jumped up, stood up, leaped, praising
God. He just healed him with a word. Someone told him about
the deaf people. They were deaf people, never
heard a thing. And all of a sudden heard his
voice, heard his voice. Someone told him about blind
men. Someone was, yes, fell right
outside of town here named Bart, son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus. The
Lord gave him eyes, what? Boy, now their ears, they can't
see, but their ears burnt up. He heals lepers. He takes worthless
people. There's pardon for the guilty. A sin payment for sinners. There's
hope for the hopeless, righteousness for the unrighteous. Huh? Is
that what you tell me? Yes. Where is it? The only one. His name is Jesus. He's the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He's coming by. He's coming through. We used to sing that old song. He's passing by this moment. Reach out and touch the Lord.
Child song. Sentimental song. Just sounds good. Just a good
Bible school song. Our Lord said, where two or three
are gathered, that's where I am. Every time God's people meet,
yes, we can't see. We're blind. We're blind. That's
why. But where two or three are gathered,
Kelly, he said, I'm right there. Reach out. Better yet, cry out. Cry out. Well, what did they
do? What can a blind fella do? What
can a blind fella do? He can't get up and start walking,
can he? He doesn't know the direction.
He can't get up and start doing anything. What can they do? What can a
blind person do? What did these fellas do? The
only thing they knew to do was cry out. I passed to preach the
message like that years ago entitled What can a center do? The salvation
is of the Lord, 100 percent. And the purpose and its application,
its calling, everything is of the Lord. Centers are passive.
Yes, they are. These fellows sitting by the
wayside, the Lord comes to them. Why did they just happen to be
sitting in this place for a crisis? Huh? Were they lucky? Well, they're
just lucky. They're in the one place where
he's passing by. Oh, no, these are two of his
elect. He know he must needs go through this very place. Why?
Two of his blind men are there waiting on him. They don't know
he's coming. He does. He passes by, coming by. What can a senator do? He can
cry out. That's what he can do. What can a senator do? She can
cry out. Call on the name of the Lord.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, Scripture says,
shall be saved. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. I don't care that this Armenian
world has abused that to no end. The Scripture says, Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord. What does it mean to call?
Have you ever called for anything? Help! Have you? Help! What do you think? These are
blind men. They can't see. It's helpless. It's hopeless. Walking over a cliff. Help! Peter's going down. Lord! What's
it mean to call? Cry! Has anybody, when the Lord,
that's why the Lord said, when the Son of Man comes, will he
find faith on the earth? Will he find some woman like
that woman calling on the name of the Lord? Oh, people do it
in a fit of, you know, emotion, while every head's bowed, while
the music's playing softly, while some preacher brings them down
the aisle. But it stops when that's over
with. Hey, God can't cause somebody
to really call like that importunate way. Will He find faith on the
earth? Yeah, but it'll be like a scattering of grain on the
tops of the mountain. Here a little, there a little.
There'll be there. And when they'll be calling on
Sunday morning, they'll be calling on Monday morning and Tuesday
morning, crying out. Will you hear them? Why does anybody call anyway?
We will not call. We won't call. That's how blind
and dumb and ignorant and dead we are. We won't call unless
God calls us. That's where that comes from,
Joel 2.32, doesn't it? Huh? Whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved, for in Israel and Jerusalem
shall be salvation, on whomever the Lord shall call. That's why
we call on God, Juame. That's why we call on God. Lord,
would you speak to my son? Lord, would you speak to my husband?
Lord, would you speak to my father? Huh? He's an old man. He's dying. Would you call him
by your grace like you did me? Huh? Is this message urgent? This may be it. At a time when you think not.
Is this urgent? There are blind people in this
room and don't know it. If you go out here and you miss
Christ, you go out into eternity to face a God you don't know. Oh, Lord," they said. Here's
what they cried. Have mercy. Now, you've got people all over
the world, when they mash your blooming thumb, they say, Lord,
have mercy. You've got these ignoramuses
all over the earth, their very mouths condemning. And the words
out of their mouth that they don't mean with a heart is blaspheming
God. The only words that they can
cry are, have God save them. Now, if that isn't irony, are
you listening to me? If that isn't irony, people are,
well, Lord have mercy. Blaspheme in his name. When that's
the only thing, Catherine, is somebody says, Lord, from the
heart, have mercy. God stops. God, who's operating
the universe, stops. Only one thing will stop God.
Make him stand still. A heartfelt cry of a sinner.
Lord, have mercy. And Scripture even says when
that happens, heaven has a party. Yes, the angels rejoice. Heaven
rejoices over. Think about it. This ain't no
fable, folks. I ain't making this up. Scripture
says that the angels rejoice over one sinner. What do they
rejoice over? Glory to God in the highest for
making that blind fool open his eyes. The angels look down, which
things the angels desire to look into, which things the angels
are taken up with. Angels look at human beings with
utter dismay and say, what do these idiots do? What are they
doing? Shaking their fists in the face
of God when they're in His hands. What are they doing? Do they
ever look up? What blind fools. Then all of a sudden, one of
them Just all of a sudden, one of them, God! That was me, Kelly. That's me.
Running headlong as fast as I could over a cliff. I literally fell
off a cliff. Jumping off of cliffs to find
God. But, here's, I never go tired
of these words. But, God! says, Stop him! Stop his wild career! Open his
ears! Yeah, you're the man! Who? Me? Yeah, you. You're guilty. You're God. Be merciful to me, the sinner,
the worst one on earth. Oh, let thy blood be propitiation
on the mercy seat I never gave him a thought. How could I have
been so fine? Now I see my need of Christ.
Why not? Why not? Please the Father. Christ says, Christ stood still.
They call on the Son of David. That's the Christ. And the multitude
rebuked them. I remember my old friends, you
know, when the Lord began to speak to me, my old friends,
you know, saying it'll pass. It'll pass. Making fun of me. And we began to part our ways
and so forth. But I cried all the more. They
said, hold your peace. Stop that. Give that up. They
cried the more. And they weren't blind. They
were. And they said it all the louder,
and Jesus stood still. He stood still. The Lord of glory,
the Lord of purpose, the Lord so much better to do, so much
more important to do. He's headed to Calvary, but he
stops. Just like that woman he stooped
down. He stooped down for one guilty adulteress. He stopped under one sycamore
tree, didn't he? He didn't have to, shouldn't
have, but he did. Stopped under one sycamore tree. Who's up there?
About the most worthless feller you'd ever meet. You wouldn't
stop for him, but the Lord did. Well, he didn't say a thing,
John. Yes, he did. The Lord had already been working
on that feller, and it says he looked at him. And he stops,
and these blind men cry out, Lord have mercy, thou son of
David. And he stood still, and here
he asked him, verse 32, What will ye that I shall do unto
you? You know, the Lord gives everyone
what they want. Yeah, he does. Yeah, whatever you want. Young
people, whatever you want, if you go after it hard enough,
you'll get it. I'm telling you the truth. Whatever
you want to give your life to, you can get it. Go after. You better stop and consider
what it is. You can gain the whole world.
Lose your soul. You haven't gained anything. You know, whoever wants Jesus
Christ can have him. You know, whosoever will. Yeah. But Noah stood there with
that ark door wide open. He said, Come on. You know, whoever
wanted to go into that ark could. Is that right? He said, How are
you getting our men in? No, I'm not. No, I'm not. I've already said who would,
who will, who can. No man can. But he said, No man
will. He will not. He will not. You will not. Well, what will
you that I should do on you? Lord, I want a new job. Well,
here you go. Lord, I want to make. We're going to have a singles
club here for all the singles that want to get together. We're
going to find you, you know, make dot com. We're going to
find you can get you one and get you one. Woods are full of
them. Ain't no good. Toss her out and
get you another. Whatever you want and what will
you that I need a new car well here you are. Well how do I go
back. What did they want. Well. They said Lord that our eyes
might be open. They stand there sitting there
standing there still sitting there. He comes to them you say
that. He comes to them, they're sitting
there blind, dirty, filthy, no good. Nobody has anything to
do with them. Worthless, two worthless fellas sitting by the
wayside. Who needs them? Christ came for
them. What will you that I should do
with them? What do they need? New car? That's funny isn't it? New clothes?
How about new clothes? One thing they need from Or would
you open you know the just to live by faith faith faith not
eyesight faith. Listen to me now listen to me
now OK Lord open my eyes and I might see a far off. I don't want to be like a dumb
animal just see right now here and now. What a dumb person. You know, somebody may ask the
question, how do you know there's a God? That's the most stupid
question I could think of. A person reveals their absolute
stupidity to ask a question like that. It's just like a blind man said,
how do you know that there's blue and red? I don't believe
it. He's blind. Everything declares
God. You just look at your thumb.
Just look at your blooming thumb. Tells you God is and never been
another one like it. Evolution is the multiplication
of the same cell. How do you know there's a God? Lord, would you open my eyes
that I might see reality? Have these shows on reality shows
on TV. What we're dealing with is with
reality. We're dealing with reality here now. The temporal, the things
that are seen, young boys and girls, the things that are seen
are temporal. How dumb can people get? Every
single thing on this earth is just rotting and decaying and
dying. You can't keep anything no matter
how you try. It's dying. Why, God says so. Nothing lasts, nothing. Diamond
is forever. No, it's not. Lord, open my eyes that I might
see. Our dear young daughter headed
off to college and so, you know, liable to whatever. I have prayer
for her, Jenny, is that Lord, open her eyes. Let her see clearly, see through
all those, well, see through all that stuff that young people
can't see through. See afar off that we're not going
to stay young. Are we not? Would you let me see afar off?
Lord, would you let me see myself as I really am? Would you let
me see myself as I really am? Don't let me fool myself. You
know that the person will fool the most is ourselves. The heart, unless we're given
a new one, is deceitful above all things. We deceive ourselves. Lord, let me see myself. Lord,
let me see myself. I ain't something special. I
ain't going to tear the world up. I'm not going to be something
special. I'm going to be like the rest of them. Unless you
make a difference. And Lord above all. Let me see
your your goal let me see that you Christ is you're all you're
all there is. You're what this life is about.
You're what the next one's about. You know what eternity's about.
You're the reason the sun hangs in the space. You're the reason
that this ball keeps spinning. Open in that our greatest need
Lord. What do you want? What do you
want? I want to see. And that's my
prayer for me. There are two of them, and they
say that's our. Pray for one another, Ron. Our
children, our parents, our spouse, our spouses, our friends. Lord, help us all. Lord, Help
us all. Have mercy on us all. This church,
it's not going to be here long. It's just not. It may fold up next week. Usually
it's from the inside. Lord, open our eyes. Open our eyes. Don't let us blindly
fool ourselves and be fooled by anybody. Open our eyes. Open your preacher's eyes. See
a wolf. Open the children's eyes. So long, so be glory. Isn't that
our greatest need? We need to have our eyes
open, Lord. Okay, I took too long, but this
might be my last. This is it. This is it. Shot both barrels. May God have
mercy on us all. All right, what's the closing
hymn? 336? 236. Amazing grace. What
better hymn to sing? And we've got to sing the verse,
I once was blind, but now I see. 236. Let's stand and sing the first,
third, and fourth verses. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. Third verse. Through many dangers,
toils, and snares, I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there
ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days
to sing God's praise Than when we first begun you