Now let's turn back to Mark chapter
10. Mark the 10th chapter. My text is verse 49. And Jesus stood still. And Jesus stood still. I marvel at the feet of Joshua, who stood over the battlefield
of Israel and cried, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou
moon in the valley of Adjalon, stand thou still. And the Scripture says, The sun
stood still, and the moon stood still until the battle was won. And yet in my text today, he
who created the sun, he who created the moon, he in whom the sun
and the moon move and have their being, he who made the light
and he who created the darkness, he the sovereign God of the stood
still at the words of a blind beggar. He stood still. Now, it's something. When Joshua stood out there over
that battlefield and cried, Son, stand still, move, stand still,
and they did it until the battle was won. But here's the one who
created the sun and the moon. Here's the one in whom the sun
moved. and has its being, who created
the light and the darkness. He stood still at the words of
a poor beggar outside the city of Jericho. It says, Jesus stood
still. Now, the Savior is the same today,
isn't he? The Bible says he's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. And if back yonder two thousand
years ago he'll stop and stand still at the word of a poor beggar,
I believe he'll stand still today at the cry of a poor beggar,
if I can find any one. They're hard to find. But if
I can find a blind beggar, poor, bankrupt, helpless, hopeless,
If I can find one who's motivated by the Holy Spirit to cry, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me, I believe the Master will
stand still today. The hymn writer put it this way,
stopped by a sinner's prayer he could no further move. At
the sinner's cry he stood still to manifest his love. He waits now to show his grace,
and he calls this poor blind beggar to seek his faith. My friend, if you knew, now you
think for a moment, if the Holy Spirit is pleased to apply this
message to somebody's heart, you think for a moment, if you
knew that the Master of heaven that the Lord of glory, that
the Savior of sinners, would stand still at your call, would
you call? Would you call? If you knew that
the Lord of heaven, the Master of heaven and earth, the Savior
of sinners, would stand still at your cry, if you knew that,
would you cry? Well, let's look at the text
that Milton read a moment ago, beginning with verse 46. And
let me point out seven brief thing, seven points. Let's see
if we can reconstruct this situation. Let's see if we can recreate
this scene. Let's see if we can take our
places at the roadside as Jesus passes by. And let's see if somebody
here can cry out in his heart, and have the Master stop and
stand still and do a work of grace, a work of mercy for that
sinner. I believe he will. I believe
he will. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And the Master who was stopped
by this blind beggar's cry, I believe he'll stop today if somebody
will cry. It says, Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He said, You come to
me, I'll give you rest. You will not come to me that
you might have life. That's the whole problem. Not
his inability, it's your unwillingness. Now let's see the first thing,
verse 46. And they came to Jericho. Look
at verse 46 with me. They came to Jericho, and as
he went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side, begging. I see three things in this verse
about this man. Number one, I know who his father
was. The Bible tells me his father
was Timaeus. Now there's a reason for that.
I'm not sure I know what it is, but there's a reason for it.
Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, I know who his father
was. Secondly, I know this man was blind. I know he was blind. probably blind from birth. I
don't know that for certain, but I do know he couldn't see.
The third thing I know about him, he was very poor. If he
had not have been very poor, he wouldn't have been sitting
there by the highway side begging, begging bread, begging money. Pitiful sight. Now how does that
relate to me? Well, first of all, I know who
my father is. And I know who your father is.
My father was Adam. Now the reason Bartimaeus' father
Timaeus was mentioned, as I said, I don't know. But it may be that
his father had something to do with his blindness. It may be
that Bartimaeus' blindness is related in some way to his father. I know this. I know my spiritual
blindness is related to my father. I know it's because of him. I
know my spiritual blindness and my poverty, I don't know. Blind
Bartimaeus' father, Timaeus, might have been the town beggar,
he might have been the town bum, he might have been the diseased
man, and this boy was born blind because of his father. I know
I was born spiritually blind because of my father, and what
the Bible tells me, because of Adam. What does the Bible say,
Romans 5, 12? as by one man, Adam, sin entered
this world, and death by sin, so death passed on all men. Here sat a blind man, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus. It may be that blindness was
passed on to him in some way by his father." But I do know
that my blindness and my poverty is the result of my father's
sin. It says that in the Bible. In Adam, all die. By one man,
sin entered this world, and judgment and sin and death and condemnation
and depravity passed on all men. I know the modern gospel denies
original sin. But a man is a fool to deny original
sin. And Adam all died, died. Listen to Romans 5, 12. By one
man's disobedience, by one man's act of rebellion, we were made
sinners by one man. That man was Adam. David said,
In sin my mother conceived me. I was born in sin, conceived
in sin, brought forth speaking lies, estranged from God, from
the womb. The second thing about blind
Bartimaeus, we know who his father was, and we know he was blind.
And I know this. I know that you and I are spiritually
blind by nature. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
2. Now listen to this. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. This speaks of the spiritual
blindness of natural men. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9, says
this, it is written, written in the Old Testament, and it's
duplicated in the New, it is written, I have not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him, with spiritually,
but the eye hath never seen. Christ said to the disciples,
Blessed are your eyes, they see. I speak to the multitude in parable,
because they having eyes cannot see, and they having ears cannot
hear. And the natural man, the carnal
man, the son of Adam, apart from the life-giving, light-giving,
sight-giving power of the Holy Spirit, cannot see the mysteries
of the gospel. He cannot see his sin, and he
cannot see his Savior. He cannot see his guilt, and
he cannot see the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4, beginning with
verse 3. Listen to this. If our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. 2 Corinthians 4, 3.
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." They're blinded.
Bartimaeus sat by the wayside blind. He could not see. And
we sit by the wayside, by a highwayside of blind, dead in our trespasses
and sin. Cannot hear, cannot see. And then the third thing about
him, he was poor. He was in poverty. All the treasures
that I have will pass away except those treasures which I have
in glory. The rich fool lay upon his bed
one night, and he said, Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. The Lord came to him and said,
Thou fool, this night shalt thou soul be required of thee, and
then whose shall these things be that you have accumulated?
You are wealthy to the flesh and in the flesh, but you are
not rich toward God." I heard a little story one time. There
was a very wealthy man who owned a just a tremendous amount of
land, and he was talking to a neighbor one day. He was bragging about
what he had, what he owned. He and the neighbor were standing
out in the middle of the field, and this man said to the neighbor,
he said, Look over that way. As far as you can see, everything
you can see, I own it. Look over that way. As far as
you can see, everything, I own it. Look in that direction, as
far as you can see, everything you see, I own it. Look in that
direction, as far as you can see, everything you can see,
I own it. And the neighbor standing beside
him said, That's wonderful. You own everything in all four
directions. But let me ask you a question.
How much do you own in that direction? and the neighbor bowed his head,
because he was not rich toward God." My friends, all these things
shall pass away. You don't own anything. I like
what the black lady said to the preacher one day. She said, My
heavenly Father owns everything, you white folks just paying the
tax on Him. Not rich toward God. spiritually
blind, spiritually bankrupt, spiritually poverty stricken,
have nothing, know nothing, see nothing, hear nothing. That's
the condition of Adam's sons. That's the condition of every
human beggar by the wayside of life, if you could just see it.
The second thing. Look at verse 47. Turn back to
Mark chapter 10. Verse 47. I love this verse.
I could stay here the rest of the message. This is it right
here, listen. And when he heard, and when he
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, when he heard. Now, I don't know,
it doesn't say. This is pure speculation. But I believe that Barnabas had
heard of Christ before. I'm not sure of that, but now
see if it doesn't indicate that His cry indicates that he knew
who Jesus Christ was. It certainly does. He didn't
call him Miracle Worker. He didn't call him Glorified
Reformer. He didn't call him Jesus Christ
Superstar. He said, Jesus Messiah, thou
Son of David. That's exactly what he said.
I kind of think that perhaps someone had told him about Christ.
Someone there in Jericho had told him that a man down yonder
in Capernaum who was blind had been healed. I believe one of
his friends must have come by one day and said, Bartimaeus,
I know you're blind and I know you appreciate this. There was
an old boy down there in Capernaum that was as blind as you are.
He was blind from birth. And there was a man called Jesus,
and some say he's the Messiah, some say he's the Christ. He
was born in Bethlehem, and doesn't the prophets say that the Messiah
will be born in Bethlehem? And he's got Herod on the run,
and he's got Pilate talking to himself, and he's got the chief
priests gnashing their teeth, and sending false witnesses out
against him. He's upset the whole world, Bartimaeus. And Bartimaeus, believe me, all
he did was just touch the eyes of that man down there in Capernaum,
and he could see that man. I was there. I saw it myself.
I know what I'm talking about. That man who was stone blind,
Just as blind as you are, all Jesus of Nazareth said was, You
can see, and that man could see. And Bartimaeus, I know, said,
Oh, tell it again, tell it again. Tell me how this man who was
blind could see at the words of this man of Nazareth. Is not
this the Messiah? Did not hear someone say the
Messiah is sent to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the
brokenhearted, and recover sight to the blind? Isn't that what
it says in Isaiah the prophet? And his friend says, that's what
it says. Oh, Bartimaeus clapped his hands and said, then there's
hope for me. I hope Jesus crosses my path. And hear that one day, that one
day, all that commotion, And he said, What is it? What is
it? And somebody said, It's Jesus of Nazareth. He's here. And Bartimaeus
cried out. This man meant business. This
was no half-hearted effort. He was blind, and only Christ
could make him whole. And Christ was right there, right
in front of him. Their paths had crossed. And
he cried out, Jesus! That's Savior. That's Joshua.
Thou son of David, that's king, Messiah, the promised prophet,
priest, and king. Have mercy, that sovereign mercy
to the undeserving, not justice, not what I deserve, not what
we Jews ought to have. Have mercy, I don't merit it
or deserve it. Thou son of David, thou sovereign
Lord, thou Messiah, have mercy on me. Have you heard the gospel of
Christ? Have I heard it? Does it relate to my need? When
that man came to Bartimaeus and told him about Jesus healing
the blind man, it related to his need. I'm a blind man. I
need healing. He healed that man, he can heal
me. A man couldn't make himself whole. I can't make myself whole.
But oh, if he ever crosses my path, if he ever crosses my path,
I'm going to cry out. I'm going to cry out. And that
glorious day came, just like the publican in the temple who
stood there and said, Lord! And you'll never be saved until
he becomes your Lord. You'll never be saved until he
becomes your Lord. You don't play around at this
thing. This man, you look at his cry. It's Jesus, thou Son
of David. Capital S-O-N. Thou Son of David. Thou promised Messiah. You are
the Christ. You are the Messiah. I know it.
I wish you'd have mercy on me. You don't owe it to me now. Mercy. Mercy. There's several key things.
As I said, you can stay there all night. Jesus, Savior, Son
of David, Messiah, mercy! Sovereign mercy! Have mercy on
me!" On who? On me. On me. My sins are ever before me. I'm the one that needs hell.
I'm the one. Have you ever isolated yourself
in the cesspool of sin? Are you busy talking about everybody
else's shortcomings, and everybody else's infirmities, and everybody
else's sin? Lord, have mercy on my family! That won't do. Lord, have mercy
on America! God's not going to have mercy
on America or any other nation. No nation's ever as a whole turned
to God. Name one illustration. God's
going to have mercy on me. He saves people one by one on
me. It's a personal conviction, it's
a personal repentance, it's a personal contrition, and it's a personal
faith. And it's a personal relationship,
a vital union with the living Lord on me. Now look at the next
verse. This will break your heart. This
will break the heart of the devil. Ralph, you said they had one.
Look at the next verse. "...and many charged him." that
he'd hold his peace. You know what that means? That
means folks around him said, hush, Bartimaeus, don't make
so much noise. Don't get so excited, Bartimaeus. The people about him would have
kept him from Christ if they could. That's right. They discouraged him. They didn't
say, Hey Lord, hey Lord, hear it, Bartimaeus is crying. They
said, Bartimaeus, shut your mouth. Get back in your place, Bartimaeus. Do you know why they did that? First of all, they didn't know
what it was to be blind. They didn't know. Second place,
they didn't believe in the power of Christ to heal. In the third
place, they didn't want him disturbing their customs. In the fourth
place, they were not interested in the glory of the Redeemer.
Now, my friend, when you start seeking the Lord, when you get
under what we call holy ghost conviction, and don't get too
high and mighty that you can't use Bible terms, Don't get so
liberal and modern that you can't go back to the old Bible language. That's what it is. It's Holy
Ghost conviction. It's sovereign mercy. It's divine
grace. It's blood atonement. It's seeking
the Lord. It's crying for mercy. That's what it is. And I'm telling
you this, when you get under Holy Spirit conviction, now you
listen to me. If you don't hear anything else
I say, I want to warn you right here. This is important. You'll
be discouraged by your family, by your parents, by your friends,
and by the people you work with. They don't mind you getting religion,
but they don't want you to come to know the Lord. They don't
mind you joining some denomination or being nice and going to church
on Sunday, but they don't want you sold out for Christ. You
know why? There are four reasons. They've never been aware of their
own blindness. They've never been lost, so they
don't know what it means to be lost. Oh, blind Bartimaeus, you
just shut your eyes for a moment and realize what it means to
be blind, huh? And here you are sitting in your
darkness, and you've been there all your life, and you're totally
blind. You've never seen. and hear that
the good news has come to you, that there's a man who can make
you whole, who can give you eyes, and he's right there in front
of you, somewhere out there in front of you, you hear his footstep,
and you cry, Lord, that I might see! And some jackleg standing
beside you that don't know A from Zizzard or Hell from Hall River
is at our shelf and used to say, says, hush, don't get excited,
he's never been lost, he don't know what it means. I get real
mad sometimes when somebody gets interested in the gospel and
some person comes along who doesn't know Genesis and Revelations
or John from nearer my heart and says, Now, don't go down
there to church. Go somewhere else. They've never
been blind. They don't know what it means
to be lost. They don't know what it means
to be on your road to hell. They are, but they don't know
it. That's right. Excuse me for feeling that way,
but it antagonizes me to no end. They don't believe in the power
of Christ to heal. They think salvation's in some
altar, or salvation's in some water somewhere, or salvation's
in some preacher, or salvation's in some denomination, or salvation's
in some law. They don't know it's in Christ. That's where it is. And when
you start talking about your denominations and your preachers
and your Holy Ghost revivals and all that stuff, they can
understand that kind of language. But when you talk about Christ
and his power to save, they don't know what you're talking about.
And they're going to keep you out of heaven if they can. Now,
they don't know what they're doing. They're blind too, but
they don't know it. And they don't want their man-made
religion to be disturbed. They don't want their customs
disturbed. But thank God this man didn't
listen to them. What if he had, huh? What if
he had? You come to church and God starts
showing you some things you've never seen. God opens your heart
to some things you've never seen. You come to realize the depths
of sin, the depravity of the human heart, the power of Christ
to save, the inability of the churches and preachers of this
generation to help you, to give you peace, and you get disturbed.
And you meet some idiot and he says, don't you go back down
there. They ought to declare a bounty on him. and pay $50
for their scouts. That's exactly what they ought
to do. They don't know what they're talking about. And that's what
these people, Bartimaeus, hush! But thank God, look at that next
verse. He had some sense. I hope you have. He cried out
the Lord a great deal. I'm not going to hush. I'm not
going to let him go till he blesses me. Like Lester said the other
night, the only way you keep me out of here is lock the door.
Only way, lock the door. And my friend, I'm going to where
somebody's preaching Christ. I'm going down there, I'm going
to cry out out of my hungry heart, out of my weary spirit, tired
of darkness. I dare you, let me tell you something.
You who are seeking the Lord in truth, the next time that
person comes to you and says, don't you go down here and don't
you listen to this, don't you do that, you turn to them and
say, now in kindness, you don't have anything to give me. You
don't know the Lord. God's never done anything for
you. How can you lead me? Huh? How can you lead me? What you
ought to do is go with me. Like Moses said to his father-in-law,
come and go with me, and we'll do you good. There's nothing
in the cesspools of this world, there's nothing in these compromising,
modernistic, liberal churches, there's nothing in this flesh-seeking
religion. Let's get out of it. Let's go
to Christ. Let's get out of it. Ichabod's
written on the door, let's get out of it. People come to me
all the time, they say, We're not preaching anything down at
our church, where I go to church. They're not preaching a thing.
Pastor don't preach the gospel. They're just playing church down
there. I said, why don't you get out then? Well, Mama always went
there, and Daddy always went there. You know, I've been there
all these years, and we helped build the building, and I'm not
going to eat garbage just because I built the table. I'll tell
you that. I'm not going to stay in a house
that's burning down just because I bought and paid for it. That's
how much sense it makes. And I'll tell you this, the person
who supports the man who's not preaching the gospel is just
as guilty as that man in the sight of God. If you drive an
automobile and you park in front of the bank while your buddy
runs in and robs it, they'll put you in jail. If you furnish
an automobile for a man to ride around in and preach heresy,
you're just as responsible as he is. I'll tell you what I'd
do, and I'm being honest with you. If my pastor didn't preach
the gospel, I'd leave there so quick it'd make your head swim.
I wouldn't even take time to say goodbye. I'd shake the dust
off my feet and walk away as fast as I could. And people need
some courage to do those things. I know, but this man, he cried
out for mercy, and those people around him said, Hush! He said,
I'm not going to hush. I'm seeking the Lord. All right,
look at the next verse. A blind man's Lord. Oh, this
is beautiful. Listen. And as he cried out,
here's a hungry-hearted sinner. Here's a broken-hearted sinner.
Here's a blind beggar who needs mercy. And he cries out and he
says, And Jesus stood still. What made the Lord stop? Herod
couldn't have stopped him. Pilate couldn't have stopped
him. The chief priests and Sadducees couldn't have stopped him. Even
his beloved apostle Peter couldn't stop him. Peter said, Lord, don't
go to the cross. He said, you get behind me, Satan.
You savors not the things of God. Who stopped him? I'll tell you who stopped him.
It was the sincere, heartfelt cry of a sinner in need. That's what it was. Is there
a sinner here? Is there a fallen woman here?
I bet you a dollar and a half and a county cash ain't one here.
But my Lord saved every one of them he met. Now if I can find
one, if I can find a woman who is nothing, knows nothing, and
has nothing, She's a daughter of Eve. She's a daughter of Adam. She's a fallen woman by original
sin, by actual sin, by nature, by thoughts, by imagination,
by deed. She's a fallen daughter of Adam. Is there a sinner here? I mean
an undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-deserving, lost sinner in
need, desperate need, lost by nature. if I can find the one. And that sinner knows his need
and believes that Christ is who God says He is, believes the
record that God has given concerning His Son. He's the Redeemer, He's
the Messiah, He's the Savior. By His death on the cross, He
atoned for our sins. As our great high priest, He
went into the presence of God in the holy of holies and glory
and laid down His blood as an atonement on the mercy seat for
our sins. And he pleads with the Father
as our intercessor, pleads the wounds in his hands and feet
inside. If I can find me a sinner who
is at the highway side of life, begging, clothed in rags, flying,
and he cries, Christ will stand still right now. I know that. I don't know your heart. Maybe
you do. It's deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? But
I do know this. Any person who's made aware of his guilt, like
David, who said, My sins are ever before me. Any person who
can't help himself, like blind Bartimaeus, he's blind and can't
do anything about it, who needs the mercy of God. Any person
who's—Bartimaeus couldn't see physically, but, boy, he could
see spiritually. He knew who that was. I know
who he is. He's Jesus Christ, the Son of
David. You know who he is? You know
why he came to this earth? You know what he did on that
cross? You know why he didn't? That God might be just and justifier. Do you believe on him? Huh? Do you believe on him? And Jesus
stood still. What made him stop? The brokenhearted
cry, the desperate sincere cry of a sinner in need. That's what
did him. Now Barnabas wasn't playing games.
Don't you play games with God, he'll send you to hell. He wasn't
playing games. He was blind, and he knew that.
He was poverty-stricken. He was hungry. He was weary.
He was thirsty. He was miserable. He needed help. And he didn't
go to the preacher, and he didn't go to the Pharisee, he didn't
go to the doctor, the Reverend Most High Doctor. He went to
the Lord. And he said, Jesus, thou Son of David, O God, have
mercy, have mercy. And the Lord Jesus stopped and
commanded the blind man to come to be called. And they turned
to Bartimaeus and they said, He's calling you. Oh boy, he stopped and he stood
still. Good night. I'll bet Bartimaeus'
heart beat a hundred miles an hour. He stopped. And he's calling you. Now, look
at that blind man's response. Watch it now, verse 50. And he
cast away his garment. All right, now, I'm going to
make you mad, but stay with me, will you? Anybody here who's
seeking the Lord, listen to me now. If you can't apply the Word
of God, quit reading it. Quit preaching it. He cast away
his garment. I don't know what his garment was. Let me speculate
a little. It might have been a blanket
to keep him warm while he begged, but he wasn't going to need that
blanket no more. He wasn't coming back blind. He threw it away. Maybe it was
a special covering. You know, the blind people care
white kings. Maybe he had a special covering,
tent-like thing to keep folks from stumbling over him as he
sat by the wayside in his dirt and squalor and filth and begged
while he was blind, but he wasn't going to need that anymore. He
threw it away. He'd gone to the Lord. He didn't
want anything to him to him. Now listen to me. If you want salvation, if you
want Christ, if he at your cry has stopped and stood still,
and this morning he's speaking to you through me as an ambassador
of Christ, that you've got his attention, and he commands you
to be called. I'm saying that you cast away
everything that hinders you. It may be your friends. It may
be your family. It may be your false religion.
It may be that empty, heretical church you're going to. It may
be some hypocritical cover. Huh? Are you serious about this
thing? The Lord, He's commanding you
to come. But I may as well get all the
stuff together here now so I can take it with me. Boy, He threw
it off. And he ran to Jesus. He ran. Oh, well, he's not going
to need that junk anymore. He's not going to belong to the
blind society no more. He's going to belong to those
that see. You know, I just don't imagine he hung around with the
blind folks anymore after that. You? You reckon he did? He hung around with folks that
could see. It always worries me to see folks
hanging around with blind people. They say, I can see! All my buddies
are blind, but I can see. What y'all got in common? Huh? What y'all got in common? He
arose. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come to me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, thou
head on my breast. And I came to Jesus, weary, and
worn and sad, and I found in him a resting place, and he hath
made me glad. I'll go to Jesus, though my sins
like mountains round me rose, I know his courts I'll enter
in, whatever may oppose. If any man love father, mother,
husband, wife, brother, sister, yea, his own life more than me,
he's not worthy of me. He's not worthy of me. he casting away his garment,
he came to Jesus. I don't mind telling you that
a believer is going to burn his bridges behind him because he
don't have any plans to go back. You know, they tell me a great
general landed his army, took them by boats, amphibious force,
to a foreign shore on an invasion attempt. And when he landed all
of his supplies and all of his troops on the sands of that little
They looked back, and he had set fire to all the ships. He
said, We're not leaving. We're not retreating. We came
here to conquer, and we're going to stay right here. And I believe
a man, I hear preachers say, Well, try Jesus for a while.
You can't do it that way. No way. You don't try Jesus. He's too big for that. You might
try on a pair of britches, but you don't try on the Lord. You
see, the King comes in and conquers. We don't have any plans on going
back. People who do go back are like
dogs that return to the vomit, and there were nothing but dogs,
and hogs that returned to their wallow, and there were nothing
but hogs. Look at this sixth thing, two more things. Verse
51, And Jesus answered and said to him, Bartimaeus, what wilt
thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I might
see. The Lord Jesus took him by the
hand and said, What do you want? What do you want? Now, let's
be serious. What do you want? Right now,
what do you want? Bartimaeus, there wasn't any
stammering, stuttering, or hypocrisy, Lord, that I might see! And I ask you this morning, what
do you want? You want wealth? Well, you came to the wrong place.
You want popularity? You want an easy life, you can't
go to the wrong place, you want a life free from sorrow and free
from sickness and free from unhappiness and free from disappointment,
I can't give you that. I can't offer you. Well, I ask you this, do you
want to see? You want spiritual light, you
want spiritual life, you want to see the Lord, Christ will
give you that, that I might see. that I might see. I want to see
my Lord. I want to see his grace. I want to see his power. I want
to see his face. That's what I want. Take the
world, but give me Jesus. Look at the last thing of Brian
Beggar's blessings, verse 52. And the Lord Jesus said, Go thy
way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received
his sight and he followed the Lord. I know what a man's going
to do when he meets the Lord. He's going to follow the Lord.
I know what a man's going to do when he receives his sight.
He's going to follow the one that made him see. No way he'll
do otherwise. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. They follow me. Here's one Unashamed before men, ashamed
before God I am, but unashamed before people because you're
dug out of the same pit and hewed out of the same rock and dug
out of the same old dunghill. Unashamed before men, I say I'm
a blind, poverty-stricken, hungry, ill-deserving beggar sitting
in my filth by the wayside. And one day Christ came by and
I said, By King of kings and Lord of lords, you don't have
to do it, but I wish you'd have mercy on me." He said, What do
you want, you old guilty, filthy sinner? I said, I want to see.
I want to see. If God ever brings you to that
place, I believe he'll stand still, and he'll reach out and
make you whole. Let's sing that little chorus.
Reach out and touch the Lord as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your hearts cry. He's passing by this moment Your
needs to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as He goes by. Our dear Father, make us to see
our blindness. Make us to understand our poverty.
Make us to see vividly our filth and guilt and sin. Help us, Lord,
to quit professing to be what we're not. Make us to see human
nature, our nature, in all of its vileness and corruption and
inability. And then, Lord, if it be pleasing
in Thy sight, let us see the Savior, all that we need in Him. wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. The cleansing, powerful, redeeming
grace of our Lord. Bring us to His feet in submission,
repentance, and faith. In His name we pray. Amen.