Lord, we recognize that people all over this blessed country today are raising up the name of Jesus in praise and worship, opening up your holy word, and depending upon the Holy Spirit of God to minister grace to them. Lord, we are no different here this morning. If your spirit doesn't come and inhabit this place, what we do here is vain and empty. And so we pray, Lord, that you would send your spirit in great ways, that the Holy Spirit of God, that the Spirit of Christ would rest here in this place, that he would look upon our hearts, our minds, and that he would cleanse us from sin and teach us and instruct us in the way. Lord, we need you, and we would be amiss not to cry out for your help this morning. So we ask for it in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 19. This is not the passage we're going to be looking at, but I want to just read together verses 41 to 44. Luke 19, verses 41 to 44. When he, that is Jesus, approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, if you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they've been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you. and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." Jesus is nearing the end of his earthly ministry here. The cross is almost in sight for him. And as he looks down upon the beloved city of Jerusalem, his heart is genuinely grieved, and he weeps. He weeps over Jerusalem. See, since the days of Abraham, Israel had been awaiting their coming Messiah. Jesus came, and for three years was among them. For three years, he was in their midst, proving through his words and his works exactly who he was, the promised one, the chosen one of God, the Messiah. But he was rejected. John's gospel tells us that he came to his own And those who were his own didn't receive him. And now he's mourning. He's mourning over their future because it's too late. They've missed the time of their visitation. They have missed the time of their visitation. Now, if you would, please turn back one chapter to Luke 18 with me. Luke chapter 18, because I'd like to read the account of one man who did not miss his time of visitation. Luke 18, beginning at verse 35. As Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, and he called out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet. But he kept crying out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. And when he came near, he questioned him. What do you want me to do for you? And he said, Lord, I want to regain my sight. And Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. Immediately he regained his sight and began following him, glorifying God. And when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God. Now, before I come to the main subject of this account that Luke gives, I'd like to briefly focus in on something else that's happening here, something else that's going on. You see, as our Lord Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem to fulfill his earthly ministry, to give his life as a ransom, he comes to the ancient city of Jericho. And as was often the case, he is surrounded by a crowd of people. Matthew and Mark, in their gospel accounts, they tell us that this was a very large crowd surrounding Jesus. And this really doesn't surprise us, right? Because Jesus always seemed to draw crowds of people to himself. It always seemed, whether he was traveling from city to city or off in the countryside, even those times when Jesus sought to get alone to pray, There always seemed to be crowds of people pressing in on him, right? Scripture gives us many examples of this. We all remember the example of those men who wanted to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus, right? And the house was so packed with people that these men had to become very innovative. They had to dig a hole through the roof. just to be able to get this man into the room where Jesus was. We can read of those occasions where Jesus is speaking on the shores of Galilee. And the crowds of people are pressing in on him to such a degree that he has to get into a boat and push off from shore so that he could restore order, so that he could be heard by the crowd that was pressing in on him. Jesus often drew large crowds of people around him. Now, what I'd like to do is just take a few moments to look at this crowd surrounding Jesus. I think we can assume safely that this was going to be typical of the crowd that you would often find surrounding Jesus. Typical of the crowd that was usually around him. There was always a variety of people with a variety of reasons for wanting to be around Jesus. Now, obviously, some of them were his true disciples. Some of them were followers of Jesus. These were the ones who truly knew him savingly. And these people, you see, they were not just willing to follow Jesus. They needed to follow Jesus. You may recall there was a crucial point during his earthly ministry where many of his professed followers left off from following Jesus. And it was at that point he turned to his true disciples and said, do you want to go away also? And you remember their answer, right? Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We believe, we've come to know that you are the Holy One of God. See, these were the ones who truly knew beyond a doubt that there was no other. That He was the only one they could go to. The incarnate Son of God. The way, the truth, the life. No man gets to God but through you, they would say. You are the one who came to seek and to save that which was lost. You see, these were people who put their trust in Jesus. All of their trust. These were people who loved Him. They listened very carefully to His words. Their greatest desire was to obey his command and to be subject, to subject their hearts to Christ. These are the true disciples of Jesus, you see, the people that are willing to forsake all in order to follow Christ, willing to forsake houses, willing to forsake brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, and farms, willing to forsake their sin, willing to forsake their uncleanness, because they need to follow Jesus. Well, this is a true disciple of Jesus. And some of these could always be found in the crowd that surrounded Jesus. But there were still others in the crowd. And there is one particular group that I like to call the curious onlookers, the curious onlookers. You see, these were people who heard about this Jesus of Nazareth. And they heard all kinds of things about him. They heard that he was a prophet. They heard that he was Elijah. They heard that he was John the Baptist, come back from the dead. They heard rumors about his claims, the claims that he was making. They heard rumors of miracles being performed by Jesus. They heard that he could heal the sick with the power of his word. They heard that he was straightening the bodies of crippled and lame men and women. He was cleansing lepers of their leprosy. He was restoring sight to the blind. He was casting out demons. They even heard that he could raise the dead. And you see, these folks, they were asking themselves, can these things really be? Is this really possible? Could this really be? Some curious onlookers were there because some of them heard Jesus teach. And they were saying to themselves, this is amazing. He doesn't speak like other teachers. He doesn't speak like our scribes who just drone on and on with the scriptures. Whenever he speaks, such wisdom seems to pour from his lips. He speaks with such authority, right? You see, these people, their curiosity had been piqued. And they simply had to find out more. Is this Jesus the real deal? Could these things really be so? Could this be the Messiah? I have to find out for myself. These were the curious onlookers that could always be found in the crowd. But then there were others in the crowd, and they're what I like to call the benefit seekers. The benefit seekers, these were people, they wanted something from Jesus rather than wanting Jesus himself, you see. These were people who were looking exclusively for some form of temporal gratification. The things which could only satisfy in the here and now. They knew enough about Jesus to know that he could meet their needs, you see. But they never looked beyond meeting their temporal needs, the immediate needs of the body. Some of these people just wanted their bellies filled. Right? Some of them knew that with just a few loaves and fish, Jesus had managed to feed thousands of people. To them, Jesus was no more than a meal ticket of sorts. Someone who possessed the amazing ability to produce something from nothing, right? And they wanted in on more of that. They wanted more miracle food. And so they followed him, hoping to get their bellies filled. Some of these people who were the benefit seekers were really just looking for an earthly ruler. Right? Someone that they could set up to lead a rebellion. Someone they could set up as king. Someone that would get them out from under Roman oppression. You know, get the Jews out from under Caesar's thumb. Someone who could win back Israel's independence as a nation. And Jesus of Nazareth, this man seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I mean, he drew crowds, right? He was obviously a leader type. He spoke with authority and wisdom. He possessed supernatural powers. Who better to lead a rebellion than someone who possessed supernatural powers, right? You see, many in Israel supposed that this is exactly what the Messiah was going to do when he came. They were expecting that the Messiah was going to come and lead Israel against Roman oppression. At one point, they considered taking him by force to make him king. And still yet, of these benefit seekers, there were some, apparently, who were looking to him as an arbiter. Right? Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. Right? And what all these people seemed to have in common was that they were only interested in what Jesus could do to meet their temporal interests. They didn't really seem to care much about what Jesus said. They didn't seem to care much about his message. They merely wanted what Jesus could provide to meet their creature comforts. or their earthly desires. Well, these were the benefit seekers that could often be found in the crowd surrounding Jesus. But then, of course, among the crowd, there always seemed to be a good handful of Jesus' avowed enemies, right? His enemies. And when they were in the crowd, they had but one agenda. And that was to poke holes in his testimony, to discredit Jesus, to publicly and openly put the man to shame. That's what they wanted to do. You see, these people hated Jesus. They hated him because of his popularity with the people. There was envy. They were frustrated by his blamelessness. But most of all, they hated him because he told them the truth about themselves. Unregenerate people don't like to hear the truth about themselves. You know, John tells us men love the darkness rather than the light because the light and truth exposes what men are. And men don't like to hear this. And see, these people, these avowed enemies of Jesus, ironically, these very religious people, They wanted nothing more than to trip Jesus up in his words. They wanted to catch him in sin, catch him in wrongdoing. They wanted to be able to accuse him of sin and prove him to be a liar. Well, these are Christ's enemies, and they also could always be found in the crowd surrounding Jesus. Well, that's the crowd. In the crowd, you always had some of Christ's true disciples. You always had some curious onlookers. You often had the benefit seekers. And there always seemed to be the avowed enemies of Jesus. And as our Lord and this large crowd surrounding him are passing near to Jericho, there sat on the side of the road, now we come to our subject matter, a blind beggar. A blind beggar. Now, Mark's gospel actually gives us his name. His name is Bartimaeus. We only get his name from Mark's gospel. Blind Bartimaeus, we call him. It's one thing to be a beggar. It's a terrible thing when a man or a woman is reduced to having to scavenge and beg for daily sustenance. That's a horrible thing, right? But at least you could say this. Even a beggar has a glimmer of hope. Right? There's always at least a glimmer of hope for a beggar that one day you can pull yourself up out of that hole. You can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, you can find some gainful employment, you can learn to support yourself, become a productive member of society, and you can advance yourself out of that beggarly condition. But it's a whole other thing to be a blind beggar. You see, a blind beggar really has no hope. There's no hope for a blind beggar. And 2,000 years ago, if you suffered from blindness, unless you had someone to support you, unless you had someone who could meet your needs and provide for you, you would literally be relegated to a life of begging. This man Bartimaeus can't work. He can't provide for himself. Perhaps he had no family. There was no welfare. There was no government assistance for the man. He was totally and completely helpless, totally dependent upon the generosity of other people. You see, this shows us Bartimaeus' condition. He is a very helpless man in a very humble condition. And I doubt he ever needed anyone to remind him of his condition, right? I think that he was painfully aware of what he was, poor, needy, and blind. And so there Bartimaeus sits day after day, week after week, year after year, Seeking whatever handouts might come his way, sitting on the side of the road, holding out his hand, hoping for some food, maybe some coins, some money, maybe a scrap of clothing, maybe a night of shelter. This was Bartimaeus' life. And of course, this day probably would have started out just like any other day. He would have woken up. He would have groped his way to the gates of Jericho. He would have taken his seat on the side of the road and he would have held out his hand or perhaps a cup so that he could beg alms from the passers-by going into and leaving Jericho. But then today something happens. Something different happens. Something unexpected and something wonderful. Bartimaeus, as he sits on the side of the road, he hears a commotion. He hears a noise. He hears a crowd coming. He can hear this crowd approaching and he can tell that it's not the usual sound of the street. It's not the usual sound of the vendors coming into the city to set up their wares to sell. He can tell that there's something different going on. You know, it's amazing how God, when he sometimes is pleased to take away one sense, he heightens the other senses. And it could be that Bartimaeus had a very keen sense of hearing. He could hear, he could tell that this was not an ordinary group of travelers coming by. He could hear that there was a buzz of excitement in this crowd. He can sense it, he can hear it. This is not an ordinary group of travelers heading toward the city. He says, this is an unusual occurrence. So this prompts Bartimaeus to say, what is that? What am I hearing? What is it? Somebody tell me. And somebody says to him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Well, I don't doubt that these were the sweetest words this man ever heard. Because somehow, Bartimaeus knew who Jesus was. He knew Jesus. Somehow he had maybe heard Jesus or heard of Jesus. But Bartimaeus knew upon hearing those words, this is him. This is the one who's going around preaching that all should repent because the kingdom of God is near. This is the one who is going around performing incredible miracles. And in every one of those miracles, glorifying God and calling God his father, he knew Even though this man was blind as a bat, he made the connection. It clicked with Bartimaeus. When so many people had seen the works of Jesus and didn't believe, this man who could not see his hand before his face believed. Blessed are those who without seeing yet believe, the scriptures say, right? Bartimaeus said, this is the Messiah. This is him, this is the one that Isaiah spoke of. This is the promised one who is gonna spring from the royal line of David. This is the holy one of God passing by. You see, he knew who Jesus was. And he knew what he was, right? Poor and needy and blind. You see, if you know who you really are, and who Jesus really is, There is great hope. A thief on a cross will soon discover this. Bartimaeus knew his condition, and he knew Jesus could change his condition. But Bartimaeus knew something else. Bartimaeus knew this was his opportunity. This was it. This was his chance. This was his time of visitation. Jesus, the Christ of God, the Messiah, drew near. He was passing by. And this man was determined he was not going to miss this moment. Jesus was passing by. So what did he do? He mumbled a couple of words. He cried out. He cried out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. You see, calling him the son of David, that was to recognize him as the Messiah. And any Jew in that crowd would have understood the implication of this. Maybe this is why some in the crowd tried to silence him. Look at verse 39. Verse 39. Some who led the way. Now, some in the crowd, we don't know who they were, but some in the crowd were sternly telling this man to be quiet. Shut up, you fool. You're interrupting him. You're interrupting the teacher. We can't hear what he's saying over your shouting. Quiet down. You're going to annoy the good teacher. You're just a blind beggar. Who are you? Don't you know he's on his way to Jerusalem to rally the people? Shut up, Bartimaeus. You don't matter to him. You're a nobody. You have nothing to offer. Now, did this shut Bartimaeus up? Did this discourage him? Did this quiet him down? No. He cried out all the more, didn't he? He cried out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me. Bartimaeus, you see, he's an excellent example of what it means to persist, to persevere. You see, this man felt his need to get to Jesus. He needed to get to Jesus. And where many of us might have been intimidated by a large crowd, this man was not intimidated. He was not going to be easily discouraged. Barnabas only got louder and he only cried out more fervently. Why? Because he knew Jesus may never pass this close to him again. He might never be this near to Jesus again. You see, this man seized his one opportunity to throw himself at the mercy of Jesus Christ. And we read in verse 40 three incredibly wonderful words. Look at verse 40. And Jesus stopped. And Jesus stopped. Now, we don't know what was going on in the crowd at that particular moment. We have no idea what was happening at that point in time, right? Maybe Jesus had been teaching the crowd as they walked. Maybe the crowd was trying to teach Jesus as they walked. Maybe the crowd was peppering him with questions as they walked along, right? Maybe they were trying to engage him in some religious shop talk. You know what I mean by religious shop talk? Hey, here's a religious man. I'm a religious guy. Hey, Jesus. Good teacher, what's your opinion of the recent increase in the temple tax? Let's talk some religion here. Rabbi, what do you think of the Sadducee's newest argument against resurrection? Just religious shop talk. Honestly, we don't know what's going on amongst that crowd at that particular moment. All we know is this, Jesus stopped. He stood still. He preempted all conversation going on. He ceased all activity. And he wasn't gonna take one step further until this man was brought to him. You wanna know why? Because out of this whole crowd, this whole large crowd, because of, as this crowd is surrounding Jesus and all the chatter is going on, all the talk, There was just one lone voice crying out to him for mercy. One voice. And this stopped the Lord Jesus in his tracks. One voice. You see, this reveals something of the heart of Christ, doesn't it? Don't you see his heart in this? The heart of Christ. It didn't matter to him that this was a blind beggar. It didn't matter to Him that to everyone else this was a nobody. Jesus heard a lost sheep of Israel crying out to Him for mercy. And this was enough to stop Him in His tracks. You see, Jesus is always true to His Word. He said, whoever comes to Me, I will not cast out. And He's always true to His Word. Bartimaeus was coming to Him. And Jesus commands that Bartimaeus be brought to him. Now Mark's gospel I think adds something very significant at this point. Turn with me to Mark's gospel chapter 10. Mark tells us something that none of the other gospel writers inform us of here. Look at Mark 10 in verse 50. Verse 50, now when Barnabas is told in verse 49, someone says to him, take courage, stand up, he's calling for you. He throws aside his cloak and jumps up and goes to Jesus. Now, his cloak was his outer garment. His cloak was the very article of clothing that would have kept this man warm and alive on those cold nights on the streets of Jericho. The outer garment, the coat, you see, that was a precious commodity for a beggar to have. He had a coat, and yet he throws his aside as if it's worthless. You see, Jesus has summoned him. Jesus has called him to himself, and he's not gonna be hindered by anything. It doesn't matter how precious it may be to him. It doesn't matter how valuable it might be to him. He's not going to let anything hinder him from getting to Jesus. Maybe this is an indication of the fact that Bartimaeus knew he'd be able to go back and find his coat with his own eyes. I don't know. But Jesus looks at him and asks the question, what do you want me to do for you? And Bartimaeus says, Lord, I want to regain my sight. Pretty tall order, right? Pretty tall order unless you really know the one you're asking. The Lord replies, receive your sight, your faith has made you well. Literally, your faith has saved you. And immediately, upon Jesus speaking these words, blind Bartimaeus is no longer blind. And he was added that day, that very moment, to the true disciples that were following Jesus in the crowd. You see, Bartimaeus didn't miss his time of visitation. He refused to miss his time of visitation. I think if there were ever a rags to riches story, it's got to be the account of Bartimaeus. Now, obviously there's an application for us right on the surface here because Bartimaeus kind of paints a picture of every man, woman, boy and girl who have yet to throw themselves upon the mercy of Jesus. All of us, we all come into this world spiritually blind and spiritually poor and spiritually needy. Every one of us. We come into this world without any resources. We come into this world unable to spiritually pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We can't do anything to change our condition. But we can't appeal to the only one who can change our condition. But you see, here's the trick. First, one has to come to the knowledge of the condition that they're in. One has to first know what kind of condition they're in. So let me ask you, how is it with you? How is it with you? Are you Spiritually poor. What does it mean to be spiritually poor? Well, spiritual poverty is when you can only treasure the things of this world. Spiritual poverty is when you can find value only in the things that you can see and taste and touch and hear. Are you spiritually poor? Are you spiritually blind? What does it mean to be spiritually blind? It means that you don't see the glory of Christ. You don't see who Jesus really is, and yet He is the only one that can change your condition. The only one. He can make you into something brand new. You want to be something new? Only Jesus can do that. If any man is in Christ, He is a new creation, a new creature. Listen, do you think He'll disappoint you? The scriptures say, he who believes in him will not be disappointed. Let me ask you, do you think Bartimaeus from this point on, do you think he ever looked back with a sentimental tear in his eye thinking, oh man, I miss my old life? Oh boy, if I could go back to that state of darkness, if only I could go back to being a blind beggar again. How I miss sitting on the side of the road in my smelly, tattered clothes, waiting for handouts from people, scavenging for food. How I miss the good old days. No way. Bartimaeus was desperate and Bartimaeus was determined, but Bartimaeus was not disappointed. Now let me ask you, how desperate, how determined are you to get to Jesus? How determined are you to get to Jesus? Are you willing, really willing to throw aside anything that you might be holding dear right now in order to get to Jesus? Are you willing to climb over anything that's hindering you from coming to Christ? Are you willing to leave what you hold dear in order to find Christ? You see, it's important to see that Jesus worked this miracle, not just for the sake of Bartimaeus. Jesus also worked this miracle for the sake of the crowd. You see, this crowd, they heard Jesus speak. This crowd, they saw with their own eyes Jesus gives sight to a blind man. And this would have left, never in the history of man, first of all, had this ever been done. No one had ever given sight to the blind, right? And yet, some 600 years earlier, Isaiah the prophet said this was gonna be one of the very signs that the Messiah was among you. You remember, many of you, when John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus, asking, are you the one, are you the expected one? His answer? included Isaiah's words. He said, go and report to John what you've seen and heard. The blind received sight. Jesus, you see, he was proving to this crowd who he was. And this would have left the sin of unbelief all the more inexcusable among the people in that crowd. You see, this was not just Bartimaeus' day of visitation. This was the crowd's day of visitation as well. The incarnate Son of God was right there in their midst, showing them who He was, just as He has been among us here this morning. Are you aware that whenever the Bible is opened, whenever the Scriptures are read in your hearing, whenever Christ is preached, whenever the Gospel is freely offered to you, are you aware that this is Jesus passing by? This is Jesus in our midst this morning. Whenever you're told or reminded that He is willing to receive guilty sinners who come to Him by faith, who cry out to Him, every time you're told or reminded that Jesus will not cast out those who come to Him, this is an opportunity. This is a time of visitation for you. You're a crowd here this morning. Maybe not a large crowd, but they say two's company, three's a crowd, right? So we are a crowd here this morning. You are in this crowd this morning and you have been hearing about what the Lord does for the needy, poor, and blind. You've been listening to how he gives new sight and new life by his grace. You've been near Jesus this morning. He has been passing by. So let me ask each and every one of you, who are you in this crowd this morning? Why are you in this crowd this morning? Why? I know that there are some true disciples of Jesus here this morning, right? What a glorious thing to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, a true saved disciple of Christ. How glorious is that? If you're a true disciple of Christ, He has died for you personally. And what have you done? You've turned away from your sin and you have turned to God. That's repentance. That's what the Bible calls repentance. You have come to Jesus with empty hands, like a blind beggar. You've come with nothing to offer. and everything to gain. You've looked to Christ by faith as the only way to God. You love Him. Do you love Him? You obey Him. You are abiding in His Word. You belong to Him and you are serving Him right now with a willing heart. And you know something of the joy of being near to Jesus because He's opened up your eyes. Are you a disciple of Jesus this morning here in this crowd? Has your sin been put to His account and His righteousness put to your account? If so, rejoice, Christian, rejoice. You've done nothing to deserve it, nothing to earn it, and yet you sit here this morning as rich as any rich man can be. But maybe you're not a true disciple of Jesus. So who are you then in this crowd? Are you a curious onlooker? It's possible that there could be curious onlookers in the crowd, right? You may not be a follower of Jesus, but maybe you're a curious onlooker. You're saying to yourself, what is all this about Jesus anyway? I mean, you know, is this stuff really true? Can I really take this stuff to the bank? I admit, I'm kind of drawn to hear these things. They kind of stir me up a little bit, but can I really trust that these things are true? Can I really believe this stuff? I think I would like to hear more, maybe, perhaps. And if you are a curious onlooker here this morning, this is what I would say to you. You have to go beyond mere curiosity. You have to go beyond being curious. And you certainly have to go beyond religious shop talk. You've got to go further than just engaging in religious shop talk, and you must not look or wait for a sign. There have been many curious onlookers who have never gone beyond being curious, and they still went their way being poor and needy and blind. No, you've got to lay hold of Christ by faith. You've got to cry out to Him. Go beyond being curious. Listen, there are no curious onlookers in heaven. Not one. Only those who have come to know Jesus. Not those who have come to know about Jesus, but those who have come to know Jesus. You've got to go beyond mere curiosity. But maybe you're not a curious onlooker. Maybe someone is here and you're a benefit seeker. a benefit seeker. You're really not interested in becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ. You really, in the honesty of your heart, the integrity of your heart, you really don't want Jesus. But you would like some of the temporal benefits he could provide for you. Right? You would like to be healed from a sickness or a disease or an ailment that you're suffering with. You would like Him to deliver you from what's a very difficult time in your life right now. You would like Him to help you because you're in a crisis experience. You want more things to make you happy. You know He can give you the things that make you happy. He can give you a better job. He can give you a bigger house. He can give you a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a spouse. He can give you a happier home life. You know, there are things that you would like to have. And Jesus is able to give you those things. He can grant you those things. But my friend, you are misunderstanding why Jesus came. You see, He didn't come to grant your wishes like a genie in a bottle. He came to die. so that he could secure heaven, so that he could secure eternal life for people who are on their way to hell. If you're a benefit seeker here this morning, let me say this to you. Stop seeking the trinkets of life when the treasure stands before you. Stop looking for the little trinkets. The greatest treasure, the greatest riches that you could ever have in this life is Christ Himself. It is Jesus. He is the treasure. And He's willing and He's able to save you. He can save you to the uttermost. He stands willing and able. If you will but cry out to Him for mercy, cry out to Him in faith, He can save you, benefit seeker. But you've got to seek first His kingdom. Jesus said, don't work for the food that perishes, work for the food that endures to eternal life. And then he went on and said, I am the bread of life, it's me. He who comes to me will never hunger or thirst, he said. Benefit seeker, stop seeking the trinkets when the treasure stands before you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Now, if you haven't yet found yourself in the crowd here, could it be that there are some avowed enemies of Jesus here? Could it be that there's really an avowed enemy of Christ? Are you an enemy of Jesus? Young people, young people, give me your attention for a minute. Do you want to know if you're an enemy of Jesus? Answer this question with Judgment Day honesty. If you were given a choice, would you still be here in God's house today? If you didn't have a parent or somebody dragging you to church this morning, would you still want to be in the house of God on your own accord? Answer that question honestly. You see, if your honest answer is no, then you would probably just as soon do away with Jesus. You would discredit Him. In your heart of hearts, you would call Him a liar. And I need to warn you. That if this is the case, not only will your unbelief be all the more inexcusable on the day of judgment, but you're going to be all the more accountable to God. Why? Because you've been near to Jesus again. Jesus has passed your way again. One more time. You've been given the light and the truth of the gospel. Are you an enemy of Jesus? Are you a benefit seeker? Are you a curious onlooker? Listen, whoever you are in this crowd this morning, whoever you are, there's just one thing that Jesus wants to know. One thing. Who in this crowd this morning will cry out to me for mercy? Because this will stop the Lord Jesus in his tracks. Is there but one lone voice who in your heart of hearts would cry out to Him, Son of God, have mercy on me. Save me. I'm lost. Because Jesus is listening for that one voice. He's listening. Don't miss this opportunity. Don't miss this time of visitation. My friends, you don't know if you're going to have another. You don't know if you're going to have another day of visitation. You don't know if you're going to have one more opportunity. Jesus has passed by this morning. Don't miss your time of visitation. You want to know something? The devil's calendar always says tomorrow. Always tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll worry about that stuff. God's calendar says today. Today, if you hear my voice, he says, don't harden your heart. My friend, don't miss this time of visitation. Don't miss it. Let's pray. Our Lord, we thank you for the account of a poor, helpless, needy, blind man who persisted in calling out to you. Oh Lord, we see your heart. We see your open arms to this man. It didn't matter to you that this was a smelly, blind, poor beggar. You loved him. And Lord, may it be that you would set your love upon many in this room this morning. We pray that there would be even one lone voice who would cry out to you for mercy, Lord. See to it that it would be so by your grace and by your compassion, for we pray in your name. Amen.