Be in Time

General Meetings, Columbus, Kentucky, September 1972, Gospel by Ernie Wakefield. Might we sing together number two. Second hymn on the hymn sheet.

Come, tis Jesus, gently calling, Ye with care and toil oppressed. With your guilt, how e'er appalling, Come, and I will give you rest. Number two.

Come, tis Jesus, gently calling. Youth and beauty pass away. Come, sinner, do not longer roam.

Be in time. Time is gliding swiftly by. Death and judgment both draw nigh.

To the arms of Jesus fly. Be in time. Oh, I pray you'll count the cost.

E'er the fateful line be crossed. And your priceless soul be lost. Be in time.

The first and last verses. Mark's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 46. 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. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and 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 called 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. Now we turn to the 18th Luke. I just want to read a verse there in connection with the same event.

Verse 36 of Luke 18. And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

Now this is a wonderful story, dear friends. We've heard it preached on many, many times. But it's the Word of God.

No matter how many times we hear it, there's always something fresh in connection with the precious Word of God. And I believe tonight, my friends, that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Passing by this very locality tonight.

Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Oh, how wonderful, my friends, it is to think tonight that as you sit in these chairs, Jesus, the same blessed Christ of God, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Now last night our brother preached about a blind man, a man that was born blind.

And the same blessed Lord opened his eyes. We're not told here that this man was born blind. But we're told something else about this man in our 46th verse that tells us they came to Jericho.

Well, Jericho is a picture of this world. It stands for this world in the Bible, a little picture, a little type of this very world. Now, friends, what a world we live in tonight.

What an awful world we live in tonight. Where are the promises of 50 years ago that things were going to get better and better and better, that man would be able to get himself out of the mess he was in? The world's getting worse. And I don't believe there's a man tonight in this room that would dare to contradict this.

The world's getting worse and worse and worse, morally and spiritually, in darkness. And it's going to get worse still, for the worst is yet to come. And the Bible is very pessimistic when it comes to this world because God is going to judge this world.

But here was Jesus. He came to Jericho. And how wonderful, my friends, to be able to say tonight that Jesus came to this world.

Oh, they talk about the other planets and the other stars. But there's one thing we know, that Jesus came to this star. Jesus came to this world.

He didn't come to the other worlds. But thank God He came to this world, where you and I tonight are poor, lost sinners, or sinners saved by the grace of God. Every one of us tonight.

And I would speak especially for those who have Christian homes. Every one of us tonight are either saved or lost. Right now, as you sit in that chair, heaven-bound or hell-bound, and absolutely no neutral stand, no neutral ground, absolutely not.

My friends, I warn you tonight, be not deceived by those who tell you there's lots of time to tell you you can stand on neutral ground. There's no such a thing as neutral ground when it comes to Christ. Either you're for Christ or against Christ tonight.

Either you're on the Lord's side or the world's side. My friends, 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 highwayside begging.

Now I believe this man, tonight is the picture of this world. The men and women of this world who are without Christ. I don't care if it's the richest man in the world.

I don't mind if the man has got a mansion, if he has all kinds of servants and all kinds of automobiles and all kinds of motorboats. He's a beggar. Every unsaved man in the world tonight, and every unsaved girl and man and woman and boy and girl, young or old, is a beggar unless they have Christ.

Everybody's begging. They're begging for happiness and they can't find it. They're begging for something of pleasure and they can't find anything to satisfy their soul.

Why? Because God won't let them. God won't let them. I remember reading about a multimillionaire.

He had all kinds of wealth and all kinds of automobiles, mansions, country residence, everything he had, everything that the heart could desire, everything that a young man would say, give it to me. And what did he do? He went upstairs to his bathroom, he shut the door and he blew his brains out. He blew his brains out.

Why? Because he was a beggar. He was a beggar and he couldn't find what he wanted. And my friend, you can't find what you want either because outside of Christ there's no real happiness in this world.

Absolutely. I'll challenge any man in this room to contradict that statement. There's absolutely no real happiness in this world without Christ.

How can a man be happy or a woman either when they go to bed tonight without Christ and say in the night my heart may stop beating and I'll find myself in eternity damned under the judgment of God for eternity. How can they be happy? How can a man be happy when at any moment he may have a heart attack and find himself on the floor carried to the hospital and then a second attack and death comes in. I ask you, how can you be happy in a world of sin and misery, of death and judgment? How can you be happy? I ask you men tonight and women, boys and girls, how can you be happy? Bartimaeus was a beggar sitting by the wayside begging, just a poor beggar.

And all my friends, we sometimes stand in the street corners in Montreal and see those thousands of people crowding the sidewalks, passing by. We wonder how many of them are beggars trying to find happiness, trying to find something to satisfy the human heart and they fail in life and they go on down to eternity. You're a sinner and I'm a sinner.

But thank God, by the grace of God, I'm a saved sinner. My hope is built not on myself, not on my religion, not on anything but Christ himself. Christ and only Christ.

Nothing else, nothing short, but Christ alone. A month ago, or five weeks ago, I conducted the funeral of our dear brother Arne in Montreal. He had served the Lord for many years.

He had been in China for 40 years, I understand. And the neighbors came to call on his wife and she said to me the day of the funeral, the neighbors have come in and they said to me, your husband's in heaven. If ever a man gets to heaven, it's your husband.

Because he was a good man, devout, religious, a missionary. He lived a good life. He was always in church, carried his Bible.

And she said, brother, I want you to tell that audience out there, when you stand on that platform in a few minutes, to tell them that my husband did absolutely nothing to get to heaven. That everything was through what the Lord Jesus had done on the cross of Calvary and only his precious blood was my husband's title unto the glory of God. Oh my friends, what a message to give poor men today.

There's only one way to heaven, only one, not two, only one, and that is through the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. And every man and woman and boy and girl in this world that leaves this world without that Savior, according to this book, is going to spend eternity with the devil and the damned. That's what the book says.

That's what the word of God declares. Jesus said, if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. And where I am there ye cannot come.

You cannot come. Absolutely impossible to go there if you die in your sins. Well, we notice now what happened here.

This poor beggar, verse 47, when he heard. Isn't that wonderful? When he heard, oh, there was a message that reached the ears. A Bartimaeus, a very short gospel message.

For the word gospel means good news. Bartimaeus received the gospel, but good news, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Wasn't that good news for a blind man? Oh, yes.

This beggar found there was somebody passing by. Somebody passing by that wasn't going to fill his hat with money, but was going to fill his heart with joy. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

And when he heard that news, he began to cry out. Oh, my friends, how many times did Jesus pass by your life? Last night, some of you are here in this room, I recognize you. And Jesus passed by your life last night.

24 hours ago as our dear brother stood here, Jesus of Nazareth passed by your life. Did you cry out? Did you play the fool? Did you walk out of that room unsaved in your sins, lost and guilty on the way to eternal damnation under the judgment of God? Did you pass out of this room last night? Did you let Jesus pass by and you heard of Him? You heard of Him, my beloved friends. You heard of Jesus last night.

This man heard of Jesus and he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. That was a wonderful cry, wasn't it? Mercy. Oh, and God hears that cry for mercy.

Somebody has said, I remember reading this years ago, somebody has said when a sinner cries for mercy, God stops making worlds. Oh, I like that expression. God stops making worlds when a poor, lost, guilty sinner looks up in heaven, the heavens says, mercy, mercy.

And this man cried for mercy. He didn't cry for money. He cried for mercy.

Mercy. You think that cry reached the Lord's ears? Immediately. Why the Lord went that way to meet Bartimaeus? For Jesus had an appointment with Bartimaeus that night.

And maybe Jesus has an appointment with you tonight. This very night, Jesus has an appointment with you, young lady, young man, boys and girls, men and women, Jesus has an appointment with you tonight. Are you going to meet him tonight? Are you going to meet him? Bartimaeus cried out.

Now notice what happened in the next verse, verse 48. Here's the world. This is exactly what the world does.

Many charged him that he should hold us peace. Isn't that what the world does? The world is wise in everything but salvation. The world is wise.

They're clever men. Oh, they say, serve. You mean to say you're not insured? Well, you may be dead tomorrow and your poor wife will be left with no money? Oh, they're wise.

They say, you mean to say you haven't got your car heavily insured? Oh, they're so clever. So clever. But when it comes to eternal matters, what fools they are.

Now, why are they like this? Will you turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4 and see what God says about it. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world. Who is the God of this world? The devil.

Satan is the God and Prince of this great world system, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Is there somebody in this room tonight that says, I don't believe the God. I don't believe in Christ.

I don't believe He's the Son of God as we had last night. I don't believe this stuff. I believe I'll get to heaven on my own good works, my own good life.

God says, you're an unbeliever. On them which believe not, lest the light, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Some time ago or this last March, a brother was preaching on this very chapter in Montreal.

And he said, you know, to be blind must be a terrible thing. But he said to be blind and lost must be far worse. And my unsaved friend, unbeliever in this room tonight, you're not only blind, but you're lost.

You're lost right now. Lost! For the Lord Jesus said, he that believeth not is judged already. Condemned already.

Not when you die. Not when you leave this world. But tonight, if you sit in that chair, you're condemned already.

Who said so? The Christ of God said so. Condemned already. Condemned already.

But at this point, I want to say this. God loves you. God loves you tonight.

You want to see the measure of God's love? Turn back to the cross and see the Son of God hanging there on that cross with his arms uplifted, nailed to the cross, spit upon his face, beaten and bruised, his back bleeding, his head bleeding, his hands nailed to the cross, his feet nailed to the cross. See him suffering and bleeding and dying. See the Son hide his face as the Son of God was made sin.

And when my awful sins were laid upon his blessed head, and God himself brought his judgment down upon the holy head of the Son of God, that I, a poor, miserable sinner, might be in the glory with God. My Savior died for me. He died for you, dear sinner.

You know, people talk about different states of sinners. Some are big sinners, they say, little sinners, many sins, and lots of sins. Well, I'm going to tell you something.

If you only committed one sin in your life, that is more terrible to God than ten million sins are to you and to me. That one sin is more terrible in the eyes of God than all the sins in the world put together would be to you and to me. For God hates sin, and God is going to judge sin.

And this book says that not even one lie, one lie, will ever get into heaven. In the gospel text, down in New Brunswick, we used to say to these girls and boys, if you ever told a lie, up where the hands would go. How many told one lie, their hands would go up? How many told two lies? We used to say, the preachers used to say, boys and girls, you're going to hell.

You're going to hell if you're committing one sin. One sin will bar you from the presence of God for eternity, unless the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, takes that one sin away. You'll perish, my friends.

You will perish. I warn you not to be deceived by the modernist preachers tonight. Be not deceived by those who say there is no hell.

How do they know? They've never seen the hereafter. How do they know? The only man who ever knew drew aside the curtain of eternity, and let us look into eternity and see a man in that place. It says in hell, lift up his eyes, being in torment.

Who said that? The only man who ever lived in this world who never told a lie. Yes, my friends, there is a hell, and there is a heaven. And thank God that God has blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ.

How blessed to know that God loves you tonight, that God proved His love at the cross, and the Lord Jesus said, And He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. And the Roman soldier pierced His side and forth from His pierced side flowed the blood in the water. How blessed that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin so there's none left.

We can say tonight our sins are forgiven. Our sins are forgiven, and God says so. How blessed.

Well, Bartimaeus cried in the end of the, the middle of the 48th verse, but he cried the more a great deal. I like that. He was here with a man who was in earnest.

Now, many of us in this room tonight have had the privilege of preaching the gospel. And I'm sure that every one of us who's ever preached the gospel can say this, there's very little tonight in this world that's earnest. There is very, very few people who are in earnest when it comes to eternal matters.

Oh, they're earnest about temporal things. They're earnest when it comes to things that don't count. But when it comes to the soul, there is very little earnestness.

Now, there's a dear brother, who many of us know, I won't mention his name, who told me this. He said, the reason why men refuse to receive Christ in the United States of America and in Canada is because they're gospel hardened. They've heard the gospel so many times that they're gospel hardened.

Maybe you're here tonight, and you're gospel hardened. Oh, my friend, may God grant tonight you won't dare get into your bed and go to sleep if you're a gospel hardened sinner. May God have mercy on the gospel hardened sinners who harden their hearts against the God of the Bible.

Tonight, my friends, how do you stand with God? Are you right with God tonight? Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters in the world. Your education matters not.

Your job matters not. Nothing matters but this one question. Your soul.

For Jesus said, What shall a prophet of man, if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What a stake! The whole world. Napoleon tried to gain it. Hitler tried to gain it, and they failed.

If you gain the whole world and can say the East and the West and the North and the South, the whole thing is mine. All the money in the world is mine. You went to hell.

Where's the prophet? Where's the prophet? Jesus said, What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? What are you giving tonight in exchange for your soul? Why aren't you saved tonight? What are you giving in exchange for your soul? Your soul's at stake. And bar to me, it was in earnest. We went to God.

We saw people tonight in our meeting rooms who were in earnest about their soul, not to make this world a better place, but to come away from this world. As a servant of God once said, this world is a sinking ship going down under the judgment of God. But yonder is a lifeboat.

And on the side of that lifeboat we read Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner tonight? How wonderful to be a sinner. How good to be a sinner and to be able to say, I'm a saved sinner.

For Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There's not a man in this world that ever lived in this world except the Son of God Himself. He was the sinless one.

And oh, dear young Christians, I want to say this. I want to say this. The Lord Jesus never sinned.

And praise God, the Lord Jesus couldn't sin. He was God Himself manifest in the flesh. And that blessed one could not sin.

He was the holy, eternal Son of God. But the sinner never had a friend like Him. All He loves you.

How wonderful to go to Jesus about your sins, to tell the Lord about your sins. What a friend we have in Jesus. To be able to tell Him, to confess to Him we're sinners, guilty, and lost and undone.

He cried the more a great deal. Jesus, brother Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Notice these next words, beautiful words.

Verse 49, And Jesus stood still. Isn't that wonderful? What wonderful words are these? And Jesus stood still. I love those words.

Oh, beloved friends, I think it's a marvelous thing. We've told this story so many times. Never get sick of telling this.

That Jesus stood still. I ask you, would the Prime Minister of Canada stand still for a beggar? No, sir. He's too busy for beggars.

Would the President of the United States stand still for a poor, blind beggar? No, sir. He's too busy to do that. No matter how much his heart felt for that man, he may have a servant go to him, but he wouldn't stand still.

He's too busy. Would the President of the banks of this country or of Canada or England or any other country in the world stand still for a beggar? No, they would not. But Jesus stood still.

He stood still when a poor beggar said, have mercy on me. Oh, how he loves the sinner. He stood still.

Would you just turn with me to the 10th chapter of Joshua. The 10th chapter of the book of Joshua. And verse 12.

Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajon. And the Son stood still.

Isn't that blessed? The Son stood still. That great Son in the heavens stood still at the command under the power of God of his servant Joshua. The S-U-N.

The Son stood still. But here, beloved, the S-O-N. The Son of God stood still at the cry of a poor blind beggar.

Are you blind tonight? Can you see beauty in Christ? Can you say he's altogether lovely? He's the cheapest among 10,000. Can you say that? Or are you blind tonight? Oh, will you cry for mercy? And the Son will stand still. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Son stood still. And Jesus stood still. And commanded him to be called.

Notice how personal this is. Commanded him. Didn't command them, but he commanded him.

This is a personal matter. Christ is a personal Savior. I was telling some in the last couple of days.

A boy, 11 years of age, who came to the gospel tent. And a year ago, he got saved. And he's a bright little boy.

And he said to me, the other night, Mr. Wakefield, I can't think of anything better in the world than to be able to say, The Lord Jesus Christ is my personal Savior. Isn't that nice? All men, women tonight, 30 years of age, and 40, and 50, and 60, and 70. Can you say that? Is your old heart so hardened under the power of the devil you won't say it? Until you find yourself in a lost world, under the judgment of God, where to meet God you must.

You have to stand before God. Oh, in this careless, ungodly age, of unbelief, and hardness of heart, and sin, and wickedness, and lust, and passion, you've got to meet God someday. The devil's not going to have the last word.

God's going to have the last word. Oh, don't believe what you hear today. Don't believe what you read today, unless it's founded on the Word of God, for it's a lie.

The devil's got lies all over the country, all kinds of false cults, men and women coming around to the doors, denying the very Christ of God with the Bible in their hand. And I say, my friends, tonight, the devil is never more dangerous than he comes to your house with the Bible in his hand. He's never more dangerous.

And when he comes to your front door with the Bible in his hand, then beware of the devil. How solemn, what an awful world we live in, coming under the judgment of God for sure, for God's going to burn this world up. As it was drowned in the day of Noah under the waters, it's going to be burnt under the judgment of Almighty God.

And there's only one place of escape, and that's Christ. In Christ. The sinner's either in Christ tonight or in his sins.

How do you stand? In Christ, before God in Christ, or in your sins, on the way to eternal darkness. Now, I want to speak to the children here, the Christian parents, boys and girls, because you've got a father and mother that love the Lord doesn't save your soul. Because you have a mother and father that pray for your soul doesn't mean you're saved.

You must decide for Christ. You must have to have personal contact with Jesus. You must touch Christ.

You must come to Him as a sinner guilty. For to as many as received Him, to them gave the power to become the children of God, even to them that believe in His name. You have to have Christ, my friends, not know about Him, not be able to get up and quote verses, but to have Him, to have Christ.

And if Christ is your Savior and lives in here, you're His. But if Christ doesn't live in here, you may be a good boy or a good man or a good woman, but you're going to hell. You're lost.

You're guilty. Does Christ live in here? If Christ lives in here, your life will be changed. If Christ lives in here, your life will be changed.

You know the old story we're often told about the gospel preacher who met the man who was drunk on the street and he said to this old gospel preacher, Don't you know who I am? And he said, No, I don't. Never saw you in my life before. He said, Sir, I'm one of your converts.

And he said, I thought so. If you're one of God's converts, you wouldn't be like that. How many people are saved by the preacher? You know what it means to be saved by the preacher? It means you're lost.

For the preacher can't save you, but Christ can. There's only one man that's the savior and his name is Jesus. Jesus.

A lady said at the tent she was offended because somebody had said that only Christ could save, that Mary couldn't save. I was offended by that. Well, why was she offended when we told the truth? For the angel Gabriel can't save you and the angel Michael can't save you and the saints can't save you and the virgin can't save you, but Christ can save you.

For Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And the apostle Paul added, of whom I am the chief. Thank God tonight the chief of sinners is in the glory of God.

God has saved the sinner's chief. What a blow to the devil when the sinner's chief was picked up by the grace of God and saved for glory. Oh, the devil always gets defeated.

And young men tonight and young girls and Christian young men, listen, take courage. Maybe we read and see the world going from bad to worse, but take courage for God's going to have the last word and His people are going to be more than conquerors for Him that loved us. God doesn't say I want you to be a conqueror.

He says, I want you to be more than a conqueror through Him that loved us. Oh, we're on the winning side, dear Christian. Don't be discouraged.

Look up. Jesus lives. We have a living Savior.

He lives. The man in the glory lives for us. He's coming again for us.

He loves us. He's the same Jesus that Bartimaeus met. How blessed.

This same Jesus. To thrill the hearts of His disciples who won their hearts' affections. He's coming again, beloved.

Jesus, the same blessed Jesus. He's coming back again and maybe tonight. Well, we've got the message here in the 49th verse and they call the blind man saying unto him, be of good comfort.

Rise, he calleth thee. What a direct message. What a direct message, I say, friend, tonight.

Rise, he calleth thee. Rise. The Son of God calls you tonight.

Rise, he calleth thee. What happens in the next verse? I want you to notice this next verse. It's very important.

Verse 50. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. Didn't come to Peter.

Didn't come to John. He came to Jesus. And he was a blind man.

He couldn't see the Lord. What brought him there? Faith. He had faith.

Just like you and me. We can't see Jesus. Dear sinner, friend, you've got to come to somebody you can't see.

Bartimaeus came to Jesus. He couldn't see him. He was blind.

There he stood in the company of Jesus. What did he do? He cast away his garment. What garment was this? Well, I understand in Palestine the beggars were provided by the cities or towns with a garment that belonged to the beggars.

And I believe Bartimaeus said, I don't need this garment any longer. I'm not going to be a beggar anymore. I'm going to be with Jesus.

Oh, he was no longer going to be a beggar. Oh, dear friend tonight, if you're under the power of the devil tonight, let me tell you God loves you. He doesn't want you to be a beggar any longer.

He wants you to come to Jesus. He wants to save you. Take your sins away.

Give you eternal life. And you'll have peace with God. And you'll be ready for heaven.

The very minute you're saved, you'll be dropped dead. A minute after, you'll be in the glory of God for eternity. How blessed.

What a glorious gospel. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So he cast his garment away.

Secondly, this garment would hinder him. Maybe it's a hurry to Jesus. Being blind, this long garment would trip him up and he'd fall down.

He wasn't going to take any chances. Anything that was going to hinder him from coming to Jesus, he cast it aside. What's holding you from being a Christian? Is it drink? Is it some sin in your life? Is it your love for money? Let me tell you a solemn, solemn story.

One year ago, one year ago last week in Sackville, New Brunswick, we went into a store. There was a man who ran a bakery store. We tried to get him to come to the gospel in the tent.

He said, No, sir. I don't want to go to the gospel. Well, we went back and we bought a birthday cake for one of the sisters in the trailer.

We went back and we told him what a wonderful cake it was, what a lovely cake it was, and we said, Now, how about coming to the gospel? He said, No, sir. I don't want to go there. A Christian told me that just about three weeks ago he and his wife, his wife, a professing Christian, got in their car and they were going to Toronto.

And he said, this Christian man told me, he said, he sure loved money. He wanted to get all the money he could get his hands on. And he said to his wife, Let's go to the racetrack.

Make a few dollars on the way to Toronto. We lost the time. Two weeks' holidays.

And he said, They went to the racetrack. They stayed there an hour or so out on the highway they went. A drunk driver in a truck smashed into the car.

Instantly killed. Instantly killed. One year ago.

One year ago he could have been saved. One year ago he could have been on the side of Jesus and the mighty being the glory with God. But he sold his soul for the racetrack.

That was his garment. He wouldn't cast it aside. He wanted money.

Money. Power. Money.

And he sold his soul to the devil for the racetrack and for the money he tried to get his hands on. Your money perished with you, my friend. Your money perished with you.

Are you selling your soul for money? Are you selling your soul for something in this Christ-rejecting world that will never satisfy you? Are you going to cast it aside tonight like Bartimaeus? He came to Jesus. He came to the right person. And the Lord spoke to him.

Isn't this beautiful, my friends? Isn't this lovely? He spoke to him. You know, if you write a letter to the Queen of England you'll get a reply from one of her many secretaries. Not from her.

Too busy. But the Son of God is not too busy. He spoke to this man.

He said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? He gave him a blank check. Just imagine. What shall What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? What an opportunity Bartimaeus.

He could have said, Lord, give me a million dollars. Give me all the money and get my hands on it. He didn't want money.

He wanted his eyesight. He wanted to see. He wanted to be able to see, beloved friends.

Do you want to be able to see tonight? You're blind. Spiritually blind. Spiritually blind.

Going down the broad road to destruction with your eyes covered up and you're blind. Christ wants to take away that blindness tonight. What will you do? You say, Sir, what will I do? Come, just as you are a poor, guilty sinner.

Don't compare yourself with your neighbor. Don't say, Well, there's a man in the jail worse than I am. There's a man in the penitentiary worse than I am.

Don't say that. Don't say that. Say, I'm a sinner.

I'm guilty. I sat beside a young man in the penitentiary in Washington, in the state of Washington and I said, My man, my young man, just as bad as you are, absolutely a poor, hell-deserving, guilty sinner saved by the grace of God. Take your place before God as a guilty sinner.

Whether you're a big sinner or a little sinner, you're going down to judgment. You need Christ tonight. He died for sinners.

He died for the guilty. He died for the lost. He's a Savior of sinners and He rose from the dead in the very glory of God's might with the nail prints in His hands and feet and the spear mark in His side.

It's Jesus. The very Jesus that Bartimaeus met is in the glory of God. Oh, beloved friend, let me say it again and again.

The glory has been invaded by a man. There's a man in heaven tonight, not an angel, not a spirit, but a man. There's a man in heaven tonight.

He's the man, Christ Jesus. He sat down on the right hand of the majesty of the heavens. Four times, repeated in the Hebrews, epistle to the Hebrews, four times the Son of God sat down.

He's finished the work, beloved. There's nothing more you can do. People say, What will I do to get saved? Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.

The Apostle Paul and Silas were asked, What must I do to be saved? Notice, they didn't say, Do this and do that. They said, Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Do nothing. You can't do anything, my friends, but to come as a guilty sinner, fall down on your knees and say, Lord, I'm guilty. I'm a sinner.

I believe you died for me. You'll get saved right on the spot. For Jesus said, If him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.

Maybe the biggest sinner in the United States of America. He won't cast you out, my friends. He loves you.

He died for you on the cross. He's the sinner's friend, the sinner's savior. Notice what the blind man said at the end of verse 51.

The blind man said unto him, If Jesus spoke to the blind man, the blind man spoke to him. Lord. Notice he called him his Lord.

Have you ever called him Lord? Have you ever said, He's my Lord. Jesus is the Lord. Are you just one of those people who have received Christ and you're told, Nobody, you're a secret disciple for fear of the Jews.

You're afraid you'll be laughed at. Have you ever confessed Christ? Did you ever tell your wife, I belong to the Lord Jesus? Did you ever tell your mother, your father, I belong to the Lord Jesus? For God said, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, he shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. What a wonderful verse.

He said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. He had faith in this blessed person. He knew he could open his eyes.

He couldn't, remember now, he couldn't see him. He stood there in the presence of the Lord and he couldn't see him. He was talking to somebody, he couldn't see.

And my friend, tonight you can talk to somebody tonight, you can't see him either, except with the eye of faith. You can't see Jesus. He's there in the glory.

But I believe tonight you can see him with the eye of faith that we who are Christians can see him with the eye of faith. But this man couldn't see him. He addressed him as Lord, that I might receive my sight.

What a short prayer that was. Not a big, long prayer. You haven't got to pray a big, long prayer.

The publican said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And he went down to his house justified. And notice what it says in our last verse, 52.

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. And I want you to notice that when this man's eyes were opened, what did he see? Who did he see? Well, I believe he saw the Lord.

The minute his eyes were opened, his physical eyes were opened, he saw the Lord. And you, my dear sinner friend, blinded by the devil, blinded by the devil, spiritually blind and spiritually dead. When you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, your spiritual eyes will be opened and what will you see? You'll see beauty in Christ.

And I want you to notice, not only did Bartimaeus get his eyesight, he got something else too. But then it says, the Lord gave him the right to go away. Go thy way, he said.

But he followed Jesus in the way. Notice, not only did the Lord open his eyes, but he opened his heart. And that's exactly what Christ does.

He opens the heart. Oh, beloved, he opens the heart. Not only does he open the eyes to see his beauty, but he opens the heart.

And he followed Jesus in the way. Now, dear friends, our time is almost up. Listen, this country here, the country to the north, is absolute and I fill with profession.

All kinds of people crowding around Jesus. All kinds of people say, well, of course I believe in Jesus. Of course I believe in him.

Of course I've heard about Jesus. But that doesn't save you, my friends. You may know all about him.

You may know everything about Jesus. You may know all about him, but if you haven't received him personally, as your personal Savior, if you haven't had personal contact with Christ, you're lost tonight. You're lost.

It's a historical fact in the world that a man named Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary and rose again from the dead the third day. But it will never save your soul. Never.

Never. Unless you really receive him. You've got to receive him.

Receive him, my friend. Your life will be changed. Your home will be changed.

Your heart will be changed. Your life will be changed. Your eternal destiny will be changed if you receive Christ.

But if you only have a head knowledge, it's never got down to your heart. Oh, girls and boys tonight, how wonderful to have a Christian home. But if this has only got as far as here, it means nothing.

Won't you receive Christ into your heart tonight and stand up and say after this meeting, I'm a Christian. I've received Christ tonight. He's my Savior and my Lord.

Are you afraid to do it? Oh, the devil will say don't do it. The devil will say your friends will laugh at you. Yes, indeed, they can laugh you into hell, but they can't laugh you out of hell.

Be wise tonight. God waits. The Spirit of God waits.

The Spirit of God lingers over this room tonight saying come. Come to Christ. Men and women, don't sell your soul.

I plead with you before I pray, no longer stay under the colors of the devil, but come to Christ. Jesus says come unto me and I will give you rest. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. There's a Savior tonight. You are going to see that Savior someday.

For every eye shall see him. You're either going to see him as your Savior or you're going to see him as your judge. Every man who ever lived in this world from Adam's day down to the end, they're going to see Jesus either as a Savior or as a judge.

How will it be with you? Is there a girl tonight in this room who will say, Lord Jesus, tonight I come? Is there a boy or a man or a lady or an old man or an old lady who will say, Lord, I come tonight. I'm blind and I'm dead and I'm lost and I'm guilty and I believe on the cross of Calvary that you died for me, a sinner. And I come tonight.

I come tonight. Don't wait till tomorrow. Tomorrow the sun may never rise.

The Lord is coming. Tomorrow morning the newspapers might have that headline across the top, thousands and millions have disappeared. The world in an uproar.

As the news goes from coast to coast, east to west and north to south, the world, something has happened in this world. Thousands have gone and they've disappeared. Boys and girls and men and women, mothers and fathers have vanished.

And unrest all over the world. Christ has come. I understand that a Chicago editor has the type standing in the city of Chicago.

Christ has come. Christ has come. It may be in tomorrow morning's paper.

Are you ready to go? Are you saved or lost? Come to Christ tonight. Receive him and you'll be saved.