By Gipsy Smith
Mark 10:46-52 -- "And as he went out of Jericho... blind Bartimaeus sat by the highway side begging... 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."
My dear, old father once said to me in our garden at home, "My son, there are sinners in Zion, and there are sinners out of Zion, and the sinners in Zion are keeping the sinners out of Zion from coming in. And they won't come in until they get converted or get out."
And for the last two weeks I have been after the sinners in Zion. It is no use to preach to the unconverted outside of the Church, while unconverted people remain in the Church.
One of your ministers wrote me the other day, "What my Church needs is conversion." And he went on to tell me the things that members of his church were doing. If I did what those people are doing I would think I needed conversion too. There are lots of you who are contented with church membership and who know nothing about spiritual life. You have never been born again. You will never succeed with God until you honestly confess the truth that you need conversion. And the people who are around you will be hindered until you, yourselves, get right with Christ.
The people who fought Jesus and opposed Him every day were the very people who professed religion but had no spiritual life. I wonder what you are doing with Jesus -- if you are wearing a cloak that is hindering you. It may be ever so beautiful, but it is not according to the will of God, to the purpose of Jesus before the foundation of the world. For you and me, it won't do.
I ask you this morning, Are you as conscious of your need of Christ as was this blind man, because if you are, why don't you pelt Heaven with your cries? Why aren't you crying: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Jesus said, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" The blind man said, "Lord, that I might receive my sight."
That was what he needed and Christ gave it to him. Do you know what you need? Why don't you get on your knees and say, "Lord, I need conversion, I have lived an evil life. I have lost touch with the Infinite. Lord, save me." Why don't you talk like that to your God? Why don't you take off the garments of impurity and sin and tell God to make you clean?
"He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin, shall find mercy."
You know I had a church for four years and I know some of the burdens that preachers have to bear. I know some of the worries they have to carry to bed with them at night. I know something of the things that embarrass people and break their hearts and take the vitality out of their message. I know. I know the things that clip a preacher's wings.
I was invited one day, when I was preaching in my church, by one of my lady members for lunch, and we sat there in the sunshine in her drawing room before the meal, looking out upon the lawn. Presently we saw another lady and her daughter coming toward the house.
"Oh, dear," said my hostess, "there's Mrs. So, and-So coming; I hope she doesn't come here."
But the lady and her daughter did come to that house and my hostess rushed to the door and greeted them with open arms.
"Come in," she thrilled, "I am delighted to see you. You'll stay for lunch, of course."
Yes, you saw yourselves, didn't you, that moment?. Do you think you will grow spiritually while you act like that?
And that hostess pressed her friend to stay, and when the friend protested and finally left, she breathed a sigh and said, "I am glad she didn't stay."
So I said to her: "Now I know why you make such little progress in the Christian life. You have got to stop lying." And she knew I was right.
And the reason some of you make no spiritual progress is because you are not honest with yourselves, with God and with other people. And you will never win anybody to Jesus Christ until they believe in you. Friend do you know what is your need this morning? Are you willing to back squarely down and say, "Oh, Lord, my sin is lying, selfishness, love of the world, love of dress, love of money, love of getting on in the world. Oh, Lord, help me!"
Some of you spend all your time climbing, and the farther you climb the farther you will have to all some day.
Are you honest with Christ? This blind man was. Do you know how to be? "And when he saw his need he stated it." Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if your need and God's fullness met this morning?
If you will cast away every subterfuge and never mind the sneering of the vulgar crowd, your need would be filled. The crowd will always sneer at people trying to get to Jesus. They said to that blind man, "Hold your peace" but he cried out the more. And the more in earnest you are the more you will succeed ,with Christ. If I had been influenced by the currents that flowed around me when I started out to preach, I wouldn't have been here. What right had a little uneducated Gipsy boy to preach?
I broke every rule of the King's grammar. What did I know about grammar? I broke the rules of correct speech! But I broke hearts also.
The old gray-heads said to me, "You are going too fast, my boy," and I answered them and said, "You are going too slow, and I have to go faster to make up for you."
You know I receive letters every day saying, "Why don't you preach all the gospel? Why don't you preach this and that?" Those letter writers are angry because I do not emphasize their own denominational differences. We have been divided long enough and it is time some one or something brought us together. The men who talk about the things which divide, when there are so many essential things which unite us, are fools for their pains.
I would burn all your creeds this morning if I could and bring you to the foot of the cross. My brethren, it is Christ that matters.
You know it is astonishing how much the Devil likes to keep Christians apart, and if he can do it, he is going to claim the victory. If he can get Christian people to quarreling, he holds a Jubilee in the bottom of the pit. Every man that loves Jesus Christ is my brother.
I went to the boys on the battlefields of France and saw them in the mud and the blood dying and crying for love. I kissed them for their mothers. Do you think I said, "Are you a Protestant, or a Roman Catholic, or a Jew? I looked at the dying boy and said, "Christ died for you," and that is the message I have for the world, and if you have sense enough to receive it, it will save you.
The world needs this message, "Christ died for the ungodly."
Once more I ask, "Do you know your need this morning?" The only cure is Jesus Christ and if you have the will and the heart to bow at His feet this morning with your burden of sin and cry for mercy, it will be given you. God help you to believe. Amen!
