1968 Revival Meeting Where E a Johnston Came to Christ

He who bore the load of sin, as he knocked and asked admission, sinner will you let him in? Number 17, let us rise please. He who bore the load of sin, as he knocked and asked admission, sinner will you let him in? Tenth chapter, Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 10, verse 46. And 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.

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and to say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried, the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

And they called the blind man, saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he cast in a way his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. In the 26th chapter of Acts, the 18th verse.

To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the 3rd verse. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and 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.

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Dear friends, there may be tonight in this audience somebody who has never heard the gospel before.

That's rather a strange thing to say in this country or in a country to the north of us. And yet, my friends, there are many today who have never heard the gospel. Many in the United States, and many in Canada, and many in other places of the world who have never heard the real gospel of the grace of God.

And if you'll pardon us, I'll refer into a personal reference. Making a personal reference, I remember when I was a young man, we brought to our hall in Montreal, and I had never heard the gospel. Hardly ever heard it.

But I remember hearing it once in a certain system. But apart from that, having attended what they call divine service every Lord's Day of the year, twice a day, sad to say, never heard the gospel. I wonder tonight if there's somebody here who's never heard the gospel that God loves you.

And that the Lord Jesus died for sinners. I wonder if there's anybody here tonight who's never heard it. Oh, dear friends, tonight we pray that you will not hear only the speaker's voice.

You may hear the very voice of God speaking to your heart tonight. In all the first steps to heaven, I'm sure every Christian will admit that the first step to heaven is to find out that you're a sinner. Oh, how easy it is to look in the prison tonight.

To look in the penitentiary tonight. To look in the saloons and the gambling dens and say those men and women are sinners. To hear men and women on the street blaspheming and cursing and to say those people are sinners.

But oh, my friends, how hard it is for a man or woman to look into the glass, the mirror, into the looking glass and say there, there's the sinner. Oh, my friends, and I don't know if you've ever discovered yet that you are a sinner. You know, God makes it very clear.

As our dear brother said last night, God makes it very clear in very small words in the third chapter of Romans. Oh, you haven't got to get a degree. You haven't got to have a B.A. after your name or an M.A. But God makes it so clear the very youngest boy and girl in this room tonight can understand when God says there is no difference.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You haven't got to have a degree to understand the little word all. A-L-L means you, means everybody, means me.

There is no difference. What a solemn statement. There is no difference.

God says it. Let God be true and every man a liar. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Is there a young man in this audience tonight or a young lady or an old man or an old lady who's never discovered that truth for themselves that they have sinned against God? And the Bible says, the word of God declares that the point of man wants to die, wants to die. And after this, the judgment. What a solemn thing, my friend, if you have to stand face to face with God.

What a solemn thing tonight, my friend, if you were called by death. If you were called out of this world by death and had to stand in the presence of God in your sins. And the Lord Jesus said in the eighth chapter of the gospel by John, if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

And where I am, there ye may be also. What a solemn statement. And I believe in these few verses we read together in the tenth chapter of Mark, we have the story, an illustration of a man who was blind.

The man who found Jesus. A man who had his eyes opened. A man who was saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And God tells us in these few verses the history of this man whose name was Bartimaeus. And tonight, my friend, if you're not saved, you're blind. You're blind just as blind as Bartimaeus was, though he was blind physically and you are blind spiritually.

In fact, I say your case is worse than the case of Bartimaeus. What a solemn thing. I notice tonight as I read these few verses, it says in the 46th verse, and they came to Jericho.

Now Jericho is a picture of this world. In the Bible, Jericho is a type. It's a picture of this world.

And how wonderful to know that Jesus came to this world. We read a lot these days about the other planets. They tell us, some people try to tell us that men live in the other planets.

We do not know that. We don't pretend to know. But we do know that Jesus came to this planet.

That Jesus came to this world. He came here, my friend. He left the very heavens above, the maker of heaven and earth.

How great he was. How wonderful he was. How marvelous.

The Son of God. The eternal Son of God, the maker of heaven and earth, became a man. And most of us have looked into a cradle and seen a little baby lying there, a little helpless boy in his cradle.

We think of the mighty God, the eternal one who became a man and lay in the manger of Bethlehem. What a wonderful thing that was. That Jesus came to this world.

He came here, my friend, because he is the savior of sinners. He came to seek you. He came to find you.

He came to find me. He came to die. He might save our precious souls.

He might cleanse our sins away with his precious, precious blood. And I want to say right here, my friend, that outside of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, outside of his sin-cleansing, precious blood, there is no salvation for any child of Adam's race. Modernism will land you in hell.

The modern preacher with all his doctrines of following in the steps of Christ will lead you into the lake of fire, my friend. There's no salvation in modernism. There's no salvation in the modernist preacher's doctrines tonight.

Only the blood of Christ has power to cleanse from sin. And God tells us in his word that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. And all other religions, all other doctrines lead to hell.

The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Christ alone is the savior of sinners.

He tells us, too, in this 46th verse, that as he went out of Jericho, Jesus left Jericho. And 2,000 years ago, Jesus left this world. Jesus left this world.

How did he leave, my friend? Let me tell you the shocking statement of a modernist preacher who said these blasphemous words. He said, the body of Jesus lies in a Syrian grave while a spirit marches down through the ages. What a shocking shame.

That doctrine comes from hell. Jesus birthed the bonds of death. Death could not hold the Son of God.

He arose. The man Christ Jesus presented himself, showed his hands and his feet and his side. He was alive, a living man.

And he ascended up to the right hand of God in the glory. Lives there a prince and a savior. The savior of sinners by the grace of God, my savior.

Is he your savior tonight? I challenge you, young man, young girl. Is the Lord Jesus your personal savior? Have you yet had personal contact with Christ? Well, Jesus left this world. But, oh, my friends, the Bible testifies that the Jesus that left this world is coming back again.

Coming back again, the very Jesus who hung on the cross at Calvary 2,000 years ago. Nailed there by men like you and me, poor sinners. That Jesus is coming back again.

First, to call away his beloved bride, his saint to glory. And then later, he's coming back to judge this world. And, oh, my friends, though the savior is not wanted, though the savior is not popular, and though this world doesn't want anything to do with Christ, he's coming back again to judge this world.

And they're going to look and they're going to see that man who they nailed to the cross, who they spit upon, who they crowned with thorns. For Jesus is coming back again. My dear young man, you've got a Christian mother and a Christian father.

They've prayed for you. Many of us are parents tonight. We could all stand here one after the other and walk off this platform and tell you of the tears we've shed for our boys and girls.

We could tell you without any shame of how we got down on our knees and wept over our families. We're not ashamed to say that. Oh, my friends, tonight God is real.

God is real and the devil's real. And heaven is real and hell is real, my friends. Do not believe these modernistic preachers who tell you with a smear on their faces that there's no such place as hell.

They lie. They lie, my friends. God says there's a hell.

But, oh, glorious news, the cross of Christ has blocked the road to hell. The cross of Christ has blocked the road to hell. And to get to hell you must leap over the cross.

You must pass the cross, my friends, for God has blocked the road to hell. Praise his name with the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ.

Jesus left Jericho. He went out of Jericho. And it tells us in this 46th verse that there were with him his disciples and a great number of people.

Isn't that like Christendom tonight? Isn't that what this western world is like tonight? His disciples, those who follow Christ, those who belong to Christ, those who know the Savior, and a great number of people. Oh, the world is filled with people who all expect to get to heaven someday. Someday they expect to get there.

And I'm talking now about these so-called Christian lands in which we live. They expect to get to heaven someday because they live a good life, because they keep the Ten Commandments they say, because they go to church every Sunday, because their name's enrolled in some register. They expect to get there.

There's a great number of people who profess to follow Jesus. Maybe there's a young man tonight in this room or a young lady who says, Yes, I profess to follow Jesus too. You've never been born again.

You've never been saved by the grace of God. You've never felt the burden of your sins. You've never been in the presence of God and owned your guilt.

Oh, how solemn. But here we find a man who is in earnest among the crowd. It says that blind Bartimaeus, 46 verse, the son of Timaeus sat by the highway side begging, try to picture the scene as you can, of Bartimaeus sitting there, the blind beggar.

He was sitting there at the mercy of his friends and the neighbors and the crowds that went by, and he was begging for his life, begging for his existence. And oh, tonight we can go down the street to this great city. We can pass up to the other great cities of North America, and we can see young girls and young boys and young men and young women and all people too who are sitting by the highway side begging from this Christ-rejecting world for pleasure and for happiness and for joy.

And they're begging. Poor blind beggars. They cannot see, my friends, that the end of this life is judgment and the God of this world, God tells us.

Who is the God of this world? Satan himself is the God and the prince of this world. And he's blinded, blinded the mind of them that believe not. And blind, my friends, sitting by the highway side begging.

Young man, are you begging tonight? Are you begging tonight from this poor Christ-rejecting world under the judgment of God? Are you begging for happiness, begging for joy, begging for money, begging for pleasure, begging for amusement? Are you among the beggars tonight? Oh, pardon me, it was. And though he was blind, he wasn't deaf. Are you deaf tonight? I have news for you, my friends, for in the Gospel Luke, in this very account, we read these extra words.

Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. What a message for Bartimaeus' ears. Unstopped, undeaf ears heard the message.

As it rang into his ears, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Oh, what a wonderful message. As Bartimaeus heard the message, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

He had heard of Jesus. Who hadn't heard of Jesus? He was known throughout the land of Palestine. His miracles testify to who he was, the Son of God.

He raised the dead. He opened the eyes of the blind. He went to the grave of Lazarus, a man who had been dead for four days, and called him out of the grave.

Bartimaeus had heard of Jesus, and Bartimaeus realized that here was the man who would give him his sight. Here was the one who would give him his sight. And I want to tell you something.

It was Bartimaeus' last chance. You know, there's something solemn about that. There's something solemn, my friends, a last chance.

You ever have a last chance? I've read in the newspapers of a judge who said to a young man at the bar, this is your last chance. Your last chance. My friends, this might be your last chance.

You say, sir, I'm young. I'm strong. I've got muscles.

I have a good heart. I expect to live for another 50 years. Listen, this might be your last night on earth.

This time tomorrow night, you may be in your casket. This time tomorrow night, you, my friends, any one of us, the speaker included, may be in your casket, cold and still and deaf. I ask you where you're going to.

Where do you expect to spend eternity? You can't afford to be wrong. You may miss your examinations in school. You may lose your job.

You may lose your health. And you may regain each of these things. But if you die without Christ, my friends, I want to warn you solemnly in the presence of God, there is no second chance.

There is no second chance. Jesus said, if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. And where I am there, ye can not come.

No possibility. Those are the words, and not of the modernist preachers, those are the words of the Son of God. Are you going to believe them? Are you going to be deceived by this modern day preacher? Jesus said, ye can not come.

What a solemn thing. Oh, as Bartimaeus heard the message we find in the 46th, 7th verse, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of mercy, thou son of David, have mercy on me. What a wonderful thing.

And many charged him that he should hold his feet, but he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And this is a very solemn thing. And I believe we have pictured in Bartimaeus' two cries exactly what happened with the day.

Young lady, you're going to school tomorrow. The Lord leaves us here. And if you're spared, you're going to school tomorrow.

You go to your school teacher and tell her or tell him, I'm going to become a Christian. And they'll say, hold your feet. Don't worry about those things.

Get on in the world. Get an education first. And then when you get educated, think about these questions of religion.

And it was just the same in the days of Bartimaeus. They told him to hold his feet. Why? Well, men can go down the street and they can be drunk.

I'm thinking of dear Mr. McKay McAdam. The man you may have heard about if you haven't heard what good news it was. A drunkard.

A drunkard is home. The home of a drunkard. His family, their father the drunkard and the whole of McAdam.

About 2,000 souls. They knew David McKay the drunkard. But all my friends, Christ saved David McKay.

And the very people of McAdam now they make fun of David McKay. Why, this world would rather have anything but Christ. And I believe and I speak reverently that this world would gladly receive the devil and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they're going to receive the antichrist. The Lord Jesus said so. I have come in my father's name and you receive me not.

Another shall come in his own name and him ye will receive. The world wants anybody but Christ. I ask you, my dear friend, do you want Christ tonight? Young man, do you want Christ tonight? We sometimes said in preaching the gospel of Christ or hell for every child of Adam's race.

Christ or hell, which will you have? What a solemn thing to be here tonight under the sound of the word of God. To have been here last night and to hear the glorious message of sin forgiven. Oh my friends, do your sins bother you? I remember one night meeting a man on the street and he told me his name was Mr. Wright.

He told me this in a joking way. He said, even when I'm wrong, I'm still right. And we asked that old man, are you right with God? And he wasn't right with God.

He wasn't right with God, my friend. Are you right with God tonight? Are you right with God? Are your sins forgiven? Can you say if I had died last night, if my loved ones had found me cold and dead in my bed this morning, I know on the authority of the word of God, I'd be in the glory with Christ. Can you say that? Can you say it, young man, from your heart? Oh, how solemn.

Bartimaeus cried out. He was in earnest. He was in earnest.

And I've read and you've read, too, probably of the last century, the 19th century, when men and women fell out of their chairs and cried to God for mercy. When men and women wept over their sins. But I've never, I don't think, in all my experiences, I was saved 30 years ago, seeing a man in our halls weeping over his sins.

Oh, my friends, the devil has blinded. As the end of this age draws near, the devil has succeeded in blinding with a deep, dark blindness men's hearts and men's souls and men's eyes. Bartimaeus was in earnest.

I wonder tonight if you're in earnest. I wonder tonight if you're real, if you're sitting there in those seats and the devil's whispering into your ear. Don't believe that.

Don't believe that stuff. Are you listening to the devil's hiss? The serpent's hiss? The devil's sneer tonight? Oh, young man, are you in earnest? Bartimaeus was in earnest. Notice the next verse.

These lovely words. The 49th verse. And Jesus stood still.

Oh, what a wonderful thing. You know, in the book of Josh, where the Son stood still. And here the Son of God stands still.

Wonderful news, isn't it? Marvelous news. Are you here tonight? You know, again, we refer to ourselves, we sat in the little, in the hall on City Council Street with the burden of our sins, knowing we were going to be damned in hell. Knowing, my friends, the sins were mounting up like mountains to the very heavens.

Our sins were getting higher and higher and higher. And knowing there was absolutely no hope of ever getting to heaven. Knowing we could do nothing.

We were powerless under the power of the devil. Is it any wonder we loved the gospel when we heard the melting story of the Savior's love that Jesus took our place, that Jesus bore our sins on the cross of Calvary, that God judged His Son in my womb instead, and that by receiving that blessed Savior, my sins would be gone for eternal ages under the cover and the shelter of the blood of Christ? Is it any wonder I say we loved the gospel of the glorious gospel of Christ? Tonight, my friends, your sins may be troubling you. Maybe there's a man tonight in this audience who says, yes, I'm a sinner.

I know I'm lost. I know I can't get to heaven. I know I must turn over a new leaf.

I must do something to appease God. I tell you, my friends, you can do nothing. For all has been done by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary when He said it is finished.

The finished work of Christ. Finished. There's nothing more to do.

It's finished. He's finished the work of redemption. Blessed be His name.

Is that Savior yours? He can take your sins away. The burden rolled away. The burden that the dear young man said to us, oh, he said, as I got off my knees, the burden was rolled away.

The burden of my sins, the burden of my guilt was rolled away. Jesus stood still. What made Jesus stand still? It was the cry of a poor blind beggar.

The cry of a poor blind beggar. There he was, crying for mercy. And those words of mercy, oh, my friends who sit in that chair tonight, you haven't got to do anything.

Just bow your head. Just close your eyes and say, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. And immediately, immediately, the pierced hand of the Son of God will reach down and lift you up.

Oh, how wonderful. Jesus stood still at the cry of a blind beggar and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, be of good comfort.

He said, rise and call us thee. What a personal message this was. Here was a personal message from Jesus to Bartimaeus.

Jesus sent a personal message from his own heart of love through his mouth, his own words. That message went to Bartimaeus. Rise, be of good comfort.

He called us thee. Was that good news to Bartimaeus? Oh, my friends, the same Jesus tonight called you. You say, sir, if only you knew what kind of a sinner I was.

If you knew, if my mother knew, if my father knew what kind of a sinner I was, they'd hang their heads in shame. Friends, you may be the worst sinner in this world. You may be black.

You may be unfit for society. But you can be fit for heaven tonight if you'll come to the same Jesus who will stand still. Somebody has said that Christ will stop making world at the cry of a poor sinner who cries for mercy.

Jesus, they say, will stop making world at the very feeblest cry of a poor sinner of Adam's race. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Notice the 50th verse.

You see, when this message reached the ears of Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus had to make a decision. Bartimaeus had to make a decision. My friends, you have to make a decision.

Bartimaeus said, I won't go. I don't want to go. I want to stay right here.

I don't want to go to Jesus. I want to stay right where I am. But notice what he did.

And he cast in the way his garments, rose and came to Jesus. What a wonderful thing. You know, they tell me that this garment was the beggar's garment.

When a beggar was given a place on the road to beg, he was supplied with a special garment that he had to wear. Bartimaeus knew he didn't need the garment anymore. He was no longer going to be a beggar.

He was going to Jesus. He had faith in Christ. He believed that Christ could open his eyes.

And he was finished being a beggar. Oh, you want to stop begging tonight? You want to stop begging tonight? You know, people look at us and they say, you fellows, what do you do in life? What do you live for? You might as well be dead and live the way you do. But you know, they're blind.

They're blind. You may have heard the story of the preacher who one time became very discouraged. He had tried to preach the gospel faithfully and he decided to give up.

He decided to stop preaching. He never saw any blessing. And that night as he slept, God spoke to him.

He had a dream. And he dreamt he saw men and women with blindfolded, with their eyes blindfolded, walking down the street. At the end of the street there was a great gulf, a great precipice, and they were stepping off and falling down the precipice to death.

And as he dreamt, he heard a voice say, wake them up. Stop them. Stop them.

And he awoke and said, by the grace of God, I'll keep preaching the gospel. By the grace of God, I won't stop. I'll keep preaching.

Are you blindfolded? Young lady, are you blindfolded tonight by the devil? Blindfolded by the devil, the God and Prince of this world. He's blindfolded you. You're marching to hell.

I say, stop. Stop. Jesus calls you.

Isn't that wonderful? Young lady, Jesus calls you. Rise. Be of good comfort.

He calleth thee. Who was callin' him to save him? Who was callin' him a sinner? He calleth thee, O dear sinner. He loves you.

He loves you. God loves you. Isn't that wonderful? The devil whispers in our ears.

No, he doesn't. And God, and I speak this reverently, has been pictured, and I say this very reverently, God has been pictured by the devil and by men as a person who's just waiting and longing to catch men and to throw them into hell. That's not true, my friends.

God loves you. Oh, he loves you. The Lord Jesus and the third of John, I say this reverently too, in the 16th verse, the Savior says, and with all his heart and with all his soul, for God so loved the world, for God so loved the world, as much as to say, and I say it reverently, I can't tell you it.

I can't tell you it. God so loved the world that he gave, that only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, Jesus called you tonight.

Be of good comfort. Come in all your sins, just as you are. Come just as you are.

Jesus is a sinner's friend. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? You may say, oh, sir, I'd be ashamed to tell my mother. I'd be ashamed to tell my father what I've done in my life.

But I'll tell you something, you can come into the presence of Jesus. You can tell him everything you've done. Everything.

If it was possible for your memory to retain your sins, you could lift them down and keep the paper and say, Lord, here they are. And he loves you just the same. The sinner's friend.

Are you a sinner tonight? Oh, there's a lovely verse in the fifth chapter of Romans that says that God commandeth his love toward us. Why were we yet sinners? Christ died for us. And then it says that Christ died for the ungodly.

What a wonderful verse that is, that Christ died for the ungodly. Are you ungodly? Oh, I tell you, that's a wonderful verse. Some of us were ungodly.

The speaker here tonight was ungodly. But oh, Christ died for the ungodly. Isn't that a lovely verse? Wonderful, blessed verse.

Christ died for the ungodly. He loves you, my friend. Sinner's friend, God loves you.

Christ loves you. He died for you. He proved his love on the cross.

And then again we find that Bartimaeus cast away his garment. That garment, I believe, would hinder his progress from coming to Christ. That garment would stand in Bartimaeus' way.

He might fall over. He might trip over. It might hinder his progress.

I ask you tonight, my friend, what is hindering you from coming to Christ? You know the truth. A young man in Montreal just the other day said these words. He said, I know you have the truth.

I know you have the truth. I know it's the truth. My friend, what is hindering you from becoming a Christian? What's blocking your progress? What is your garment tonight that's keeping you from Christ? What is your garment that's stopping you from becoming a Christian? There's a garment that's in the way, something that's in the way that's blocking you from the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I give you these questions that the Savior asks in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. What shall a prophet, a man, he could gain the whole world and lose his soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? What are you giving in exchange for your soul, that precious soul of yours? Oh, friend, let me say it again. Let me say this in all due reverence and love to your precious soul.

This might be your last night on earth. This might be the very last night. The Lord Jesus may come tonight and you'll be left behind, dear boys and girls.

I once took the time to sit down in my living room and try to picture myself as an unsaved man. And I picture myself coming home from work and coming into my house and seeing the house empty. And as I walked up the hall, looking in the room and calling my wife, I couldn't find her.

And calling my family, and I couldn't find them. And I phoned Mr. So-and-so's house. There was no answer.

And I phoned another house and there was no answer. And finally, I remembered a home where I knew the boy wasn't saved. And so I imagined all this.

And I phoned the house and he said, Mr. Wakefield, something funny has happened this afternoon, but all of a sudden my mother vanished, vanished. And I said, my wife and my family have gone to glory. And I'm lost.

And I tried to picture it, my friends, and I trembled as I sat in the chair. Trembled, I sat there and felt myself as I fell upon my knees in my imagination and said, oh, God saved me. But the answer came back, it's too late.

I never knew you. All friends at home. Young man of a Christian father, mother, how can you leave this hall tonight without Christ? Young lady, dare you leave this room tonight without the Lord Jesus, your Savior? This might be your last chance.

God speaks once, yea, twice, a man perceiveth it not. Oh, tonight, we wish we had the power to go down and unlock your heart. We wish we had the power to speak to your soul.

We have nothing to do, we can't do anything but tell you and point you to Christ. Christ alone can save. Christ alone can break the power of sin.

Oh, my friends, tonight, won't you cast aside that garment? Well, we find to proceed with our chapter, the tenth mark, and the fifty-first verse, I want you to notice the godly courage in this book. As Bartimaeus came to Jesus, oh, how wonderful are the records of God how wonderful are the records of God. Has God recorded after your name that you came to Jesus? Bartimaeus came to Jesus.

Verse fifty, the end of the verse. The fifty-first verse, and Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou, notice how personal this is, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Oh, what a moment this was as Bartimaeus with his blind eyes said he couldn't see Jesus. You can't see him tonight.

You can't see Jesus. But Bartimaeus couldn't see Jesus. He just stood there in his blindness and he heard the Savior's words.

You've heard the Savior's words. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? A personal question, a personal Savior. Bartimaeus knows what he says.

The blind man, God marked him out as a blind man. The fifty-first verse. Said unto him, notice now, not son of David, no, Bartimaeus had had his spiritual eyes open here and he said, Lord.

Who did he call Lord? The despised Nazarene. The man this world was going to soon spit in his face. The man this world was going to crown with thorns.

The man this world didn't want. Bartimaeus dared to call him Lord. Oh, what a wonderful.

I believe, my friends, with joy I believe it. That the angels in heaven looked down upon this sight as God looked down upon this sight. As the devil looked upon this sight as Jesus and Bartimaeus stood.

Face to face, face to face. Lord, that I might receive my sight. What does God say now to you tonight? If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

What does he mean by that verse? I believe this, this world, my friends, has insulted the Son of God. This world gave the Son of God a criminal cross. And this world, I believe, my friends, this world we know is stained with the blood of Christ.

God said that if you will call that man Lord, if you will call that man Lord, and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And so he says, Lord, that I might receive my sight. There may be another blind man around the district, but Bartimaeus was concerned with this personal question.

And my dear friends, Christ is a personal Savior. Christ was Peter's personal Savior. And Christ was Paul's personal Savior.

The Apostle Paul could say, The Son of God who loved me, gave himself for me. The Apostle Peter could say, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Oh, the Lord Jesus was their personal Savior.

Is he your personal Savior? Can you say Jesus is a Savior? Jesus is the Savior? But oh, thank God I can say that Jesus is my Lord and my Savior. He loved me, and he died for my sins. I stake my soul on the precious blood of Christ, on the death and resurrection of the Son of God.

Can you do that tonight, my friends? You can do it. Christ, receive us, sinful men. And so it says here in the last verse, the 52nd verse, And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.

And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. Oh, what a wonderful moment this was, as the blind man stood face to face with Christ. And as he heard the Lord Jesus say, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace, and immediately, notice, immediately, no waiting, and I say this reverently, no going to the doctor, no buying pills or medicine, no, my friends, Christ saves immediately.

You can see us, maybe came in this room at 725, on the way to eternal darkness and hell. You can leave this room now at 830, a child of God, fit for glory, your sins forever gone, eternal life, heaven is your home, and Christ is your Savior, and God is your Father, immediately, Christ will save you immediately. And so it says, he received his sight.

And I ask you, what was the first thing that Bartimaeus saw? What was the first thing that Bartimaeus saw as his eyes were opened? Why, he saw Jesus. He never saw him before, but he saw Jesus. And oh, we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor.

We were Christians, we were under the shelter of the precious blood with the eye of faith. We behold the Son of God in yonder glory, crowned with glory and honor at the right hand of the Father. We behold, and we see Jesus.

Bartimaeus saw Jesus. And young man, if you get your eyes open tonight and come to Christ, young lady, you will see Jesus. This book will become to you a new book, the old Bible, the old neglected Bible hid away in the library with the dust on it.

As I went into a certain library in a certain town, I said to the lady at the counter, have you got a Bible here? And she said, I think there's one someplace. She went all through the library and all of a sudden she found the old Bible hid away in the top shelf. The Bible will become a new book.

Your eyes will be opened and you'll see Jesus, Jesus. And you'll say, by the grace of God, He is altogether lovely. He's the cheapest amongst 10,000.

Why didn't I not come? You maybe were at the Detroit Conference last year. Maybe you sat in the Ottawa Conference last October. You heard the gospel time and time again.

What responsibility is yours? What will you say? What will you say when God looks at you, looks straight into your very soul and reminds you of this date, November the 24th, 1962, when you said, if not with your voice, with your actions, I don't want Christ. What will you say? Oh, it's a solemn thing, my friend. The Bible says, prepare to meet thy God.

You've got to meet God. Before I became a Christian, you came to my house, rang the doorbell, and said to me, young man, prepare to meet God. I tremble, I tremble, my friend, to meet God.

But I'd like tonight to bring you, before I pray, into the very presence of God to see yourself as a ruined, guilty, hell-deserving sinner and to find out that Christ died for you. If you believe it, my friend, if you only believe it that He died on the cross of Calvary for sinners, therefore for you, why not receive Him tonight? Why not say, Lord Jesus, tonight I receive you as my Savior. And then, as you go out of the room, confess Him as your Lord.

Bartimaeus says, go thy way. No, Bartimaeus says, I won't go my way. I'm going your way.

He followed Jesus in the way. Why, Christ had opened His eyes and Christ had opened His heart. Isn't that wonderful? Christ had opened His eyes and Christ had won His heart.

And so, Bartimaeus said, Lord, your way is my way. And Bartimaeus became a follower of Jesus from that very day. Will you tonight, my friends, receive this Jesus as your Savior? We can't tell you anything else.

The good old gospel. The good old gospel of the love of God, the precious Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you. Will you receive my Savior? I recommend to you, young man, young lady, old man, old lady, I recommend to you my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner's Savior, will you take Him tonight? Will you receive Christ tonight? Bartimaeus received Christ.

Bartimaeus' eyes were opened. And again, I say, Bartimaeus' heart was opened and Bartimaeus became a follower of Jesus. Will you tonight receive Jesus? As you leave this room, you're going to make a decision.

You're going to make a decision tonight, my friends. You can't be neutral. There's no neutrality when it comes to Christ.

Either you're His or you're not. Tonight as you leave this room, you leave either on the way to Heaven or on the way to Hell. There's no middle road.

There's no third class. There's no third place. Heaven without Christ or Hell without Christ.

The Lord Jesus said, a man cannot serve two masters. There's only two, Christ and the devil. Which will it be with you, my friends? May God grant you will choose tonight the Lord Jesus as your Savior.

Let us sing number 21, Decide for Christ today. The first and the last verses of number 21. Will you stand, please?