I've got a mansion just over the hilltop In that bright land where we'll never grow old And someday yonder we will never more wander But walk the streets that are pure as gold Don't take me for Deserted or lonely I'm not discouraged I'm heaven bound I'm just a pilgrim In search of a city I want a mansion A harp and a crown mansion just over the hilltop in that bright land where we'll never grow old and someday on earth we will never more wander but walk the streets that are pure Amen. Amen, praise the Lord. If you're glad you're here this morning, would you say amen? Amen, praise the Lord. God is good and the Lord is faithful and it is good to be here today. Thank you all so much for coming out and listening once again from a message from the Word of God and some good singing from these folks. We really appreciate you being here today and we just thank you so much for being just as much of a blessing to us as we hope we are to you. We are just very thankful that y'all are here and that y'all enjoy having us come. We sure enjoy being here, spending time with you all. enjoy singing with you, and I'm praying that we have a really good time today, and the Lord looks like we're already having that, and so I've enjoyed the singing, and let's get into the word of God today and see what God has for us today. All right, I'm gonna be in the book of Matthew here this morning, and we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 20, and I'm gonna begin there in verse 29, and I have entitled this message, And Jesus Stood Still. and Jesus stood still. How many of you are glad here today that whenever you pray, that whenever you pray and you lift up your voices to the Lord, that God pays attention and God hears what you have to say? Man, praise God here today, that whenever we cry out to Him, that we have a God that is willing to stop and listen to what we have to say, that God is not... too busy for you. Praise the Lord for that. I'm thankful that God is willing to listen. The Bible tells us in the New Testament, it says, for us to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for you. And I'm thankful here today that that is one of the things that we can do, that we can lift up our voices to God, no matter what care it is that we have, no matter what anybody else thinks about it, whether in somebody else's eyes, whether it's big or small, but whatever it is that our cares are, that we can lift them up to God and that He cares about what we have to say, that our prayers are entering into the throne room of God. Here this morning, I want to talk to you about a couple of men The Bible says that they were blind and they were sitting by the wayside. And as they were sitting by the wayside, they began to cry out to God. And as they began to cry out to the Lord, there were others that were standing around that were trying to get them to hold their peace. But these men, the more people tried to get them to be quiet, the more they kept crying out. And the Lord Jesus heard their voice, and the Bible says that Jesus stood still. And I'm thankful here today that when Christ hears our cries from heaven, that He stands still. That He has the willingness and the love today to hear that which we are bringing before the throne room of God. I'm sure that all of us here this morning that we have prayers that we are lifting up to God. Burdens that are in our heart or just things that we are trying to spend some time with God about in our life. And we're bringing these prayers up before God and we can be blessed and a joyful people this morning knowing that our prayers are coming before an almighty God that desires to hear what we have to say, that we are getting the attention of the Lord. And so here today, I want to share some things with you that I pray will be a blessing to you today. The Bible says here in verse 29, the Bible says, and as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And behold, two blind men were sitting by the wayside, and when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David." The very first thing I want us to see here today is I want us to see their condition. These men, the Bible says that they were blind. They could not see and they were sitting off on the wayside. The wayside in the Bible is depicted as a place that is hard, or depicted as a place that is difficult, a place that has really kind of been trampled on, or a place that is really rocky. And listen, there's a lot of folks, I believe today, that maybe in their life they are sitting in some difficult places, sitting in some hard circumstances, that things do seem kind of rocky, and that things do seem kind of tough. But I'm thankful that God knows where we're sitting, praise the Lord. I'm thankful that we have a God in heaven that knows the circumstance that we're sitting in, the place where we're at. whether it is that we are blind in our sight, or whether we're facing another difficulty that's in our life. We have a God that knows exactly where we sit today. And no matter where we are, whether it's in a rocky place, or in a difficult place, in a hard place, that God knows exactly the place that we're in. The Bible says there in the text, there in verse 30, and behold, two blind men were sitting by the wayside. But not only do we see these men that were sitting, not only do we see these men and the condition that they were in. Yes, they were in a hard place. Yes, things were difficult. Yes, things were tough. We see that. We see the condition they were in. But we also see something else. The Bible says that whenever they cried out, the Bible says when they heard that Jesus passed by, that they cried out. So let me ask you something this today. Regardless of where you're sitting, if it is in a difficult place, if it is in a hard place today, if things do seem like they're kind of rocky in your life, understand that you can cry out to God. The Bible says when they heard that Jesus passed by, that they cried out to Him. So let me ask you this. Are you crying out to Christ today because He hears you? Are you giving your request over to Him because He hears you? And listen, are you letting your request be made known unto God? The Bible says, you ask and you shall receive. And so what we want to do this morning is we want to let our request be made known to God. Yes, God, I'm in a rocky place. Yes, God, I'm in a hard place. Yes, God, things are difficult right now. But the Bible says when Jesus passed by, they cried out to Him. So regardless of the rocky condition or regardless of the difficult place that we may be in, whether it's hard or anything else, that we use the opportunity that we have as Jesus is passing by, even this very moment, this very second right here, that we all sit here this morning and we lift our prayers up to the Lord and we sing out to God and the preaching of His Word. When Jesus passes by, are we going to cry out to Him? when you're there in your rooms and you're calling out to the Lord. When Jesus is passing by, we cry out to Him. Aren't you glad that you can cry out to God at any place that you are? Listen, whether it's in here, or whether it's out there in the hallway, or there in your room, or out there outside, you can call out to God at any time when you feel like, when the Lord Jesus is near to you, and you just lift up your voice to Him, because God knows exactly where you are. The Bible shows us right here, not only do we see their condition, but we also see the Bible says they cried out to Him. What is your cry this morning? What is it that you are lifting up to God? What is it that in the very depths of your soul that you are trying to get? to the throne room of heaven. The Bible says they cried out to the Lord. I encourage you today not to have a silent voice with God, but that you lift up your voice to Him and let God know what you need. Listen, does not the Bible say Jesus said Himself that He knoweth what we have need of before we ever even ask? And so we lift up our voice to a God that already knows that which we need. I encourage you today, don't be silent with God, but let your petitions be made known from the rocky places and from the difficult places and from the hard places, from the wayside places in your life. Let your requests be made known unto God because God cares about where you're at. The Bible shows us here in our text, not only do we see their condition, that they were by the wayside in a rocky place, in a difficult place, in a hard place, but we also see their cry. They were crying out to the Lord from this very difficult position that they were in their life. They were not going to be silent. They heard that Jesus was passing by, and they had a desire to take advantage of the opportunity that they had. When Jesus was coming into town, They wanted to make sure that their voice was made known to the Lord. And I'm just encouraging you here today to do the very same. We see their condition. We see their cry. But the Bible also says when Jesus passed by, they cried out saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord. I'm thankful that my Bible tells me that His mercies are renewed every morning. Listen, I need God's mercy every single day. You need God's mercy every single day. We need His grace. We need His love. Listen, we need His long-suffering. All of us need all these things. But my Bible tells me that His mercy is renewed every single day. When we lift up our eyes in the morning, we know that we have a renewed mercy from God. And the Bible says they cried out to the Lord for mercy. And I'm glad that I have a merciful God today. A merciful God. a caring God, a loving God, a close God that knows exactly where I am, just as He knows where you're at today. The Bible says that not only do we can see their condition and we can see their cry, but the Bible says, they said, have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son of David. And the Bible says in verse 31, And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. But they cried to more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son of David. There in verse 31, we kind of see the critical crowd. What they want to do is they want those people, listen, you just need to be quiet. Don't you be crying out to God. Listen, let your voice be made known. Cry out to the Lord. And let God hear what you have to say. Listen, God cares what's coming out of your heart today. God desires for you to be in fellowship with Him. Did not the God of Heaven say, come now and let us reason together? Thus saith the Lord. The Bible says right here that as these people cried out, that there was a critical crowd that called out to them and told them to hold their peace. But I sure do like the idea that whenever the critics said, hold your peace, be quiet, don't say nothing, keep your mouth shut, that the people over here, they cried out the more and cried out the more because they wanted Christ to hear what they had to say. Just like God desires to hear from you here this morning, you lift up a holy voice, you lift up a holy hand. Just like I saw back there, praise God, there's a God in heaven. that desires to hear from you today. Let your voice be made known. Cry out to God, because He cares about your condition. He cares about your cry. And He understands that maybe you're in a certain place that may be very difficult. The Bible says, He says, O Lord, thou Son of David, have mercy on us. But the multitude rebuke them. because they should hold their peace. But they cried to Moher, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. Verse 31, even despite this critical crowd, we see the people were calling on to the right person. They were calling on to the Son of God to do something for them that nobody else could do. They were called on the Son of God to stop and to hear their voice and to hear their cries and to stop where He was to do something in their life that nobody else could possibly do. How many of you know today that Jesus can do a work in your life that nobody else can possibly do? The Word of God can do a work in your life that nobody else can possibly do. We can read all kinds of books in this world. We can seek all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But there is nothing that can transform a person no greater, no better than the Word of God Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus can cleanse a man. He can transform a man. He can change a man. And the Bible shows us right here that these men, their desire was to be cleansed. Their desire was to have Jesus stop and hear what they had to say. And the Bible says there in verse 31 that even though as they cried out their voice and cried the more to the Lord, that even though there was a critical crowd that wanted them to hold their peace, they cried out even the more. and they cried out to the right person. The Bible says they cried out and they said, have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. Crying out to the right person is definitely what's going to help you in your life. Listen, the world itself, the greatest physicians and all those people, even today, they are limited in the things that they can do. But listen, we have a God in heaven that we call the Great Physician. And the Great Physician can do all things. And my Bible tells me that there is nothing impossible with Him. And so we trust and put our faith in a God that is omniscient, that knows all things. That is omnipresent, that is everywhere at the same time. That is omnipotent, that is all powerful. And here today, that's the God that we put our faith and trust in. So call out to Him this morning, regardless of the wayside place, regardless of the difficulty, regardless of the rocky areas. You call out to God and let God know this morning how you feel and where you're at. Cry out to Him, the Bible says in verse 31. They cried the more. saying, have mercy on us, thou son of David. They were already in a rocky place and the last thing they needed was this critical crowd putting them off to the wayside and trying to keep them from reaching the Lord. Listen, what we want to do today is make sure that as people of God, that we are doing everything we can to bring people to the Lord. Doing everything we can to help people to see that they can cry out to God. And here in this text, these people were facing some difficult situations, but there in verse 32, not only do we see their condition, not only do we see their cry, not only do we see their critics, but there in verse 32, the Bible says, and Jesus stood still. Now as they began to cry out to God, the Bible says, even though everybody else was saying, listen, y'all need to be quiet, y'all need to say nothing, y'all need to sit on over there. Even though they heard all that, they began to cry out to God even more and call out to the Son of God and call out to the Son of David. And the Bible says when all that happened, that Jesus stood still. Jesus heard their voice. Jesus heard them cry out to Him. Out of all the multitudes, of the people. Things was crazy. People frowning and pressing on the Lord and there's people all over the place and you'd hear people talking and maybe perhaps people shouting and it's a busy area, busy street, people everywhere and they're telling these guys over here they need to hold their peace and they don't need to say anything. But yet everybody else, imagine, is probably talking and there's a lot of commotion that's going on. And out of all of the masses of people, Jesus heard them. Sometimes in life, we may wonder, God, do you hear what I'm saying? God, do you hear the cry that I'm making? Lord, do you hear the plea that is coming from my heart? Listen, I want you to understand today that God does know, God does hear, and God does care. Even from those rocky, difficult places, and even in those places where you may be suffering greatly, God hears our voice. And the Bible says there in the text, And Jesus stood still. I want us to see the next thing, not just the condition, not just the cry, and not just the critic, but I want us to see the call. And Jesus stood still and called them. Praise God. Jesus stood still and called them. The Lord had a desire for them to be brought to Him. God stopped, the Lord Jesus stopped there in the midst of the whole crowd. As He heard the voices that were crying out to Him, Jesus stopped there in the masses of all the people, and the Bible says that He called out to them for them to be brought to Him. What a blessing. Let me ask you, as you're crying out to God today, maybe the Lord Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart and He's trying to call you to Him. Listen, if it's a matter of salvation and you've never gotten saved and you don't know without a shadow of a doubt that if you die today that you'd go to heaven, listen, I want you to know that there's a God in heaven that loves you. He sees where you are. and He knows what you're going through, and in this difficult situation that we can get ourselves sometimes in in life, that there's a God that knows about the wayside place. He knows that we may be perhaps, listen, if you're lost, that you're sitting in darkness, and His desire is for you to call out to Him, because He wants to save you here today. The Bible says He called out to them. Jesus stood still and called them and said, what will you that I should do unto you? God cared about their voice. God cared about where they were. And God had a desire to change something in their life. Here we see, here in this text, Jesus stood still and called them and said, what will you that I should do unto you? So when God's speaking to your heart today, the Lord Jesus is speaking to your heart today, maybe God is perhaps sitting here asking, that you want? What is it that I can do for you? What is it that you are searching for? And when you let your cries be made known unto God and you let your requests come before the gateway of heaven and the throne room of God, what is your request here today? What is it that you are trying to lift up? What is it that you are caring about if God's knocking on the door of your heart and He's saying, what will I that I should do unto you? What is it that God is knocking on the door of your heart about? The Bible, we can see that God cares. We see His call. We can see His care. What will you that I should do unto you? And they said in verse 33, they say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes be opened. That our eyes be opened. They were looking. to come out of a place of darkness in their life. They were looking for the Lord to bring them from a place of darkness to a place of light. And listen, if you're here today and you don't know Christ as your Savior, I just want you to understand that the Bible says we sit in a place of darkness. But God is here today knocking on the door of our heart to bring us out of a place of darkness. As the Bible says, that they kept us free. Listen, we want to be a people that is no longer sitting in a place of darkness. We want to be a people that is no longer sitting in a place that even though we can't be reached by the world, we don't want to be in a place like that. We want to be thankful that there's a God on heaven that can reach down to where we are. The Bible says that here in the text, they said, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. And I don't know where everybody's sitting at today in their life. I don't know who here today is saved or not, but I do know this. I do know that my Bible tells me that he's not willed and he should perish. but that all should come to repentance. And no matter who you are here today, no matter what you've done in your life, there's a God in heaven that's willing to save you if you'll just call out to Him. There's a God in heaven today that's willing to do tremendous things in your life if you just call out to Him. We have not because we ask not, and it don't matter where we are. Listen, if we're here or we're outside or if we're at the house or wherever it is that we are, we can call out to God and ask God to do great and mighty things and show us wonderful things out of His Word, and God will do just that. We have a faithful God. We have a trustworthy God. We have a loving God today that knows where we are. He hears our cries despite what we're surrounded by. And the Bible says there in verse 33, they said, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. They wanted to come out from a place of darkness. And so here today, I ask you, where are you at today in your life? Do you feel like that you may be in a place of darkness, that maybe that you haven't never trusted Christ as your Savior? Maybe you're just going through some difficult, rocky, hard times in your life, and you're crying out to God, and you're wondering if God hears you, but we see here in this text that God hears our voices, that God hears us when we cry out to Him, and He's willing to stop and be still and to hear what you have to say. Listen, our God says, cast all your care upon Him. That wasn't just for me, and that wasn't just for certain people that are sitting here today. That was for every single person. That is for every single person that is in here, for every single person that's out there, for everybody across the whole world, that if they have a desire to call upon the God of heaven, that God will hear them from heaven. The Bible says there in the text, they said unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So we can see the call. The next thing we see is, and the Bible says, so Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. So there in verse 34, I want us to see His compassion. The compassion. The Bible says that Jesus had compassion on them. You know what compassion is? Compassion is, I see that there is a need and I'm not willing to turn away from it, but I see there's something there. And I'm willing to do something about it, if at all possible, right here, right now. And so Jesus had compassion on them. He saw what their need was. He saw what they were going through. And he had compassion on them and had a desire to do something about the situation that they were in. The Bible says here in the text, the Bible says, He had compassion on them and He touched their eyes. I was preaching this morning on Conduct, same thing, about how God can handle our problems that are handling us. And I'm thankful here today that no matter what it is, whether it is a physical blindness, or whether it is a spiritual darkness, or whatever it is that could be in our life that is a burden, we have a God in heaven that can touch. We have a God in heaven that can handle what is handling us. We have a God in heaven that can touch us in a way that nobody else can. And so the Bible shows us right here that he had compassion and he touched their eyes. Aren't you glad that Jesus knows exactly where to touch? He knows exactly how to touch. And I'm thankful the Bible says that he had compassion and he touched them exactly where they needed. He touched their eyes, and the Bible says, and immediately their eyes received sight. And what I like about this is the Bible says, and they followed him. They followed him. After Jesus had done this tremendous miracle in their life, the Bible says that when they received their sight, the Bible says that after that, followed him. What I love so much about that is the fact that we see that these men, they weren't just there just to try to get what they could get out of the Lord. They were men that were ready to follow Christ. They were men that were ready to follow the Lord. Does not the Bible even teach us and even say that even in the midst of their blindness, that they were calling Him Lord. Even when they could not see, they were still calling Him Lord. And when they received their sight, they were still, in essence, calling Him Lord. They were following Christ. And so I ask you today, who are you following? Who are you following? Are you following the Lord? Is God speaking to the door of your heart and you're crying out to Him and He's willing here today to have compassion on you and on your life and as He is speaking to you, are you willing to follow Him? The Bible shows us here in the text, so Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight. and they followed Him. This was something that Jesus did and it was something that was instantaneous. This miracle, the Bible says, was something that happened right there on the spot. I'm thankful when I got saved, as we talked about this morning, when I got saved, what happened is when I asked Jesus to forgive me and save me, it was something that took place right then. I didn't have to wait till tomorrow to experience the joys of salvation. I didn't have to wait till next week. I don't have to wait till I die just to experience the joys of salvation. When I got saved, I got saved right there at that moment. I got saved right there instantaneously. All of my sins was washed away. Everything I had done had been forgiven. My name was written down in the Lamb's book of life. And God today was ready to forgive me and save me and bring me out of a place of darkness And after that, I followed him. And so I just ask you today, who are you following? Praise the Lord. Who are you following today? Who are you following? What are you crying out to God about? What is it that is burdening your heart? Are you sitting in a rough place? Are you sitting in a hard place? Are you sitting in a difficult, maybe perhaps, place in your life? Understand that your voice, your voice, God hears from heaven. These men cried out in the midst of the masses of all of the people in all the confusion, and Christ still heard what they had to say. Praise God for that here this morning. Let's pray here for just a moment. Father, we come to you today, we do thank you, Lord, for your blessings. And God, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you that we can turn to it to give us strength, God, in our life. Lord, I'm thankful that no matter where we are at in our life, that we can call out to you and we have a God that hears, a God that understands, a God that listens, a God that has compassion and cares about our circumstance. Lord, I pray here today that if there's anybody here that's not saved, that if there's someone here that's never called upon the Lord Jesus to save them here this morning, that what I want you to do is listen, if you've never called out to Christ, if you've never asked Jesus to save you, nobody's looking but me and God, but if you've never asked the Lord Jesus to save you, Would you just slip your hand up so I can see you? I've never asked the Lord Jesus to save me. Is there anybody like that here this morning? Because I want to take the word of God and show you how you can be saved without a shadow of a doubt that you know that you're on your way to heaven. Is there anybody here this morning that would say, I preacher, I have never asked Christ to save me. I've never asked him to be my Lord. Is there anybody like that here today? Can you slip your hand up so I can see you? Anybody anywhere? It may be that you're sitting here this morning, you're saying, preacher, yes, sometimes I feel like I am sitting in some hard places in life. Sometimes I do feel like things are kind of rocky. And Lord, yes, and yes, sometimes I do wonder, and as I'm sitting in these places, does the Lord hear me? I just want you to know, I guarantee you, without a shadow of a doubt, God knows where you sit. He knows exactly where you are, and He knows exactly what to do. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for all these people that are here today. Lord, in a crowd this size, there is a lot of needs. Lord, in a crowd this size, there is a lot of people, all of us here today, that have things that we are lifting up our voices to you about. Lord, I pray that if it's folks that are just sick and need some healing, God, we pray for healing this morning. Lord, that you would just touch bodies, and Lord, that you would give people strength. Lord, we're praying for those if they're broken hearted or have a contrite spirit within them today. God, that you would send comfort and encouragement to their life. God, that you would just surround these people with your presence from heaven. You did say, God, that you would never leave nor forsake us. And so, we are praying here today, you just surround your people here this morning with your presence from heaven. God, that you would give comfort and God, that you would give peace. Lord, we're praying today for your abundance of love to continue to be shed. Your great mercy, Lord, we pray that it would continue to flow from the throne room of God. Lord, today we're so thankful that we can gather together as your people and sing and praise and give thanksgiving to you. Lord, I pray that as we end this prayer here today that you'd help us to end in another song together where we can just give you all the praise and glory from heaven and we love you and we thank you for all that you've done today. And this we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.