This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge,
PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling
903-963-8626.
You are welcome to make additional cassettes of
this message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.
Luke chapter 18, if you'll go there with
me, please, Luke chapter 18.
I'm going to speak to you today about
the cry of the blind man.
Father, I thank you for the anointing of
the Holy Spirit.
I thank you mostly for your presence.
Lord, without your presence, there's no point in
even opening your word.
God, we don't want stories about you, Jesus.
We want your presence.
Lord, I thank you that today you will
give an anointing both to speak and to
hear so that your kingdom can advance with
great power and authority.
My God, set up your throne in our
hearts.
That's the cry of this church and the
cry of my heart for this hour.
Lord, we don't want to play religious games.
We want your throne established the way you
want it to be established in a people
for this hour and for this city.
Jesus, thank you for what you're going to
accomplish throughout this entire day.
We ask God for an overflow anointing to
flow out from this house and begin to
touch the hearts of people who are even
walking down Broadway this very moment.
Lord God, instill in them a desire to
come and to hear the word of God
and the praises of God.
Father, we just thank you for what you're
going to do.
Thank you for the anointing that abides.
We thank you, God, that you will anoint
this house today to dissolve doubts and to
cast down imaginations that the kingdom of God
should advance and the kingdom of darkness should
suffer great violence.
Father, we thank you for it.
Let hell shake today.
Oh, God, in this house and around outside
this house.
Oh, God, Lord, we ask that you just
do the miraculous for that's who you are.
We call out for your presence.
We thank you for responding to our cry
because you're the one who put it in
our heart in the first place.
Thank you for the anointing today, that abiding
anointing of Jesus Christ.
We give you all the praise and the
glory in Jesus' precious name.
Luke chapter 18, verse 35.
And it came to pass that as he
was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind
man sat by the wayside begging and hearing
the multitude pass by, he asked what it
meant.
And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth
passeth by.
And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me.
I want to stop there before we go
on in the story and talk about a
blind man who's sitting beside the road and
he's been this way all his life.
All he knows to do is to beg.
He is among the least of society.
He has no power.
He has no influence.
Nobody's really interested in his life.
And he's quite possibly in his generation considered
a nuisance even to those who have to
lead him and guide him to his spot
of begging every day.
All of a sudden, one day in the
midst of all of his begging, he becomes
aware of a multitude that's passing him by.
And the scripture tells us this multitude was
not approaching, but actually passing by.
And he cried out to somebody perhaps near
to him and say, what does this mean?
What is this?
What is this multitude all about?
Now, is it quite a large crowd and
unusual crowd?
There seemed to be an excitement perhaps among
these people.
Something sparked his curiosity.
What's happening here today?
That's that's unusual.
Now, we know in the multitude, there was
a mixture of different types of people that
were following Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us clearly that one of
them was a thief.
Judas was a thief.
He had his hand, the scripture says, on
the bag or he was the treasurer.
His hand was on the gold.
And that's his reason for following Jesus.
Beloved, there's no shortage of thieves in the
American churches, the Western churches today whose hand
is on the gold.
That's the reason they're following Christ.
There's nothing else in their heart, but they
see Christ as an avenue to become wealthy,
to become rich above and beyond their peers
in society, to satisfy the lustful desire for
wealth in their heart.
The same spirit that was on Judas is
on many of them, and many are in
pulpits today across the nations.
Also, there were people who were following him
for bread.
John 6, 26, 27.
Jesus told them, don't you're not following me
for the miraculous, you're following me because your
belly's got filled on the day that I
multiply the loaves and fishes and and filled
you.
He said, now don't follow for that bread
that perishes.
And you see many people following him just
really for the sake of filling their belly.
It's better here.
And I feel more satisfied than I did
outside of the kingdom of God, or at
least what they understood the kingdom of God
to be.
There was others who were expecting a manifestation
of a physical kingdom, Luke 17, verses 20
and 21, say the Pharisees came to Christ
and they said, are you going to now
restore the kingdom?
And there are still this type of theology
is still with us today.
They're following Jesus because they believe that he's
going to set up immediately as it is
an earthly kingdom.
And this is many who are not there
for the cross.
They wanted nothing to do with the life
of self-denial.
They really couldn't hear what it was that
Jesus was saying.
They had an agenda.
Beloved, I want to tell you something very
clearly today.
If you have an agenda apart from the
agenda of almighty God through Jesus Christ, you're
not you can't hear even what I'm going
to preach today.
You can't hear the words of God.
The human agenda is a very blinding, mystically
blinding factor that leads people not into the
very work of God, but away from the
very heart of Jesus Christ.
There are obviously the curious who saw something
a little unusual in their following.
They're not quite sure they want to follow
this Christ, but certainly it was an exciting
time in a very oppressive era and things
were happening.
They were getting fed.
There were miracles happening and it was exciting
to follow him.
There are others who are looking for position.
Luke chapter nine.
If you go back there with me, Jesus
in Luke chapter nine, verse forty six.
The scripture says there arose a reasoning among
them, which of them should be greatest.
And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart,
that's Luke chapter nine, verse forty six, took
a child and set him by him and
said to them, whosoever shall receive this child
in my name receiveth me and whosoever shall
receive me receiveth him that sent me for
he that is least among you, the same
shall be great.
Now, Christ is answering their question.
They want to know about greatness.
Who who is going to be the greatest
in the kingdom of God?
And Jesus said it's not about how we
see ourselves.
It's not even about how others see us,
but it's about how we view humankind all
around us that determines whether or not we've
become great in the kingdom of God.
And Jesus took a child because a child
perhaps at that moment, with all these people
clamoring for position, clamoring for greatness, a child
represented insignificance.
A child could add nothing to their personal
agenda, at least those who had an agenda.
And Christ takes a child and says, in
effect, it's determined your greatness is determined by
how you view the least of those who
are among you in society today.
This will determine your greatness, not how people
see you, but how you see people.
Oh, folks, I'm telling you, in some cases
we've got it totally backwards.
People feel that greatness is achieved in the
kingdom of God by by oration, by standing
and perhaps being able to gather an audience
or having some new revelation about God or
being able to do certain exploits in his
name.
But that's not how Jesus defined it.
Jesus defined greatness by the very fact that
if we are looking to the insignificant around
us in society and value them in our
hearts the way God values them, we are
surely becoming great in the sight of God,
because ultimately, beloved, it doesn't matter when we
stand before the throne of God what anybody
says about you or me.
There could be a billion voices rise up
and say, oh, Pastor Carter, there's a wonderful
man of God.
But beloved, if my your sense of wonderfulness
doesn't line up with God's, it's of no
avail whatsoever.
Only one voice matters on that day, the
voice of Christ, who says, well done, thou
good and faithful servant.
I would rather be great in the sight
of God and despised in the sight of
man.
There were others, Matthew, chapter 20, if you'll
go there with me, just go back to
Matthew, chapter 20.
There were others who were jockeying for position
as it is in the kingdom of God.
James and John sent their mother.
They didn't have the courage to do it
themselves, so they send their mother to ask
Jesus.
Perhaps she's a woman of great persuasion.
I really don't know.
But she wants her sons to sit at
the right hand and on the left hand
of Christ.
And Jesus says, are you able to drink
the cup that I'm going to drink?
John, James, are you able to yield your
will to the will of God?
Are you willing and able to go to
Calvary?
Are you willing and able to lay your
life down as a living sacrifice for the
purposes of God, which is your reasonable service?
Now he's asking them some very pertinent issues
in this one question, but they don't really
fully comprehend it yet.
I don't know if anybody really actually comprehended
what he was trying to convey to the
church that was following him.
And then he tells him, he said, yes,
indeed, you're going to be drinking the cup
that I'm going to drink.
But he said, it's not mine to give
to sit at my right hand and on
my left hand.
It's for those whom for whom it's prepared
of my father.
And then he goes on to explain, I
believe, who it's prepared for.
He said, you know that the princes in
verse 25 in Matthew 20 of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them and they that are
great exercise authority upon them.
But it shall not be so among you,
but whosoever will be great among you, let
him be your minister.
Now, it's incredible when you look at the
word minister in the Greek New Testament, one
of the included definitions of this word means
one who labors in the dust.
Minister, those who will be great among you,
let them join the laboring in the dust.
Really, what was Jesus doing?
The Bible tells us in Genesis that he
formed Adam out of the dust to the
ground.
He breathed the breath of life into Adam
and Adam became a living soul.
Adam, because of his sin, fell from relationship
and out of the life of God.
And Christ had come to restore all the
descendants of Adam into the fullness of that
relationship.
He had come to labor in the dust.
He had come to labor among those that
were powerless.
You and me powerless in our sins.
Beloved, you understand today there's not an ounce
of chance that you could have inherited heaven
in any of your own goodness.
Any amount of church attendance, Bible reading, good
deeds, none of these things would have ever
gained you or I access into heaven.
We are here today with hope because God
became a man and walked this earth and
labored among the dust, came to my powerlessness
and with his mercy and grace died on
the cross for my sins and by his
abundant grace made a provision for me to
be strong by coming to live within my
life and giving me the power to live
this resurrected life that God gave each one
of us through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
When he raised Christ from the dead, he
said, whoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant, even as the son
of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many.
In other words, Christ is saying, do you
want to sit at my right hand?
Do you want to sit at my left
hand in eternity?
The father prepared it for those who will
follow me, those who are willing to labor
among those that are nothing and nobody in
the world, those that have no power, they
have no voice.
There is no chance of bettering their situation.
They are beside the road.
They're blind.
They're spiritually impoverished.
They have no hope.
They have no help.
There is nobody there for them.
And Christ said, if you're willing to be
my church and go to them, the father
has prepared a place of authority for you,
not just for time, but for all of
eternity.
God, help us to hear what the spirit
is speaking to the churches in our generation.
God, help us to turn away from all
of the human agendas and their spiritual blindness
that have so inundated the house of God
and have gripped the hearts of so many
of God's people and left not only the
poor powerless, but left the church powerless in
our generation.
God, help us to hear his voice again.
God, help us to move once more under
the unction of the Holy Ghost.
Beloved, we can make a difference in our
generation.
We can make a difference in our city
before the judgment of God comes.
This city could be aflame with the glory
of Jesus Christ if we can hear what
the spirit is speaking to the church.
Obviously, there's others who were sincere.
And many, even among those that I've listed,
were sincere in their pursuit of Christ, although
they were as of yet not complete in
their understanding.
In Matthew, chapter 13, verse 10, the disciples
said to Jesus, Master, why do you speak
to the people in parables?
Why don't you just talk to them straight
out?
Why parables?
In verse 13, he gives the answer.
He said, I speak to them in parables
because they see and see not and hearing
they hear not, neither do they understand.
John 9, 39.
Jesus further expounds on this by saying, for
judgment, I'm come into this world that they
would see not might see and they would
see might be made blind.
Jesus was saying it's clear, it's evident.
I've come to share something of my heart
with those who would be my disciples.
But those who have an agenda are not
going to see it.
Those who are coming for gold or coming
for bread or coming for a physical now
kingdom, those who are looking for position, those
who desire greatness as they see it on
this side of eternity are not going to
see it.
And the light that is in them is
going to become darkness.
And Jesus said, if you have received light
and that light in you is darkness, how
great is that darkness?
He warned in the scriptures to the apostle
Paul that in the last days there's going
to be a generation to rise that are
forever learning, but not coming to the knowledge
of the truth, forever studying, forever pretending as
it is to be in the pursuit of
God, but never coming to the knowledge of
what that really means.
Never themselves being enabled by the power of
God, never themselves being the true church of
Jesus Christ in their generation, outside of the
kingdom, outside of the very resurrection light that
Christ promises to those that are his powerless,
an absolute joke in their society.
Jesus gave a parable to a man who
had right theology, but a wrong heart and
the wrong heart with his right theology had
produced in him a blindness.
He walked up to Jesus and said, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus looked at the man and said,
well, how do you see it?
What does it say to you?
You've got the Bible.
They have the Old Testament, of course, in
their generation.
He says, well, how do you read it?
And the man said to him, you shall
love the Lord, your God with all your
heart, your soul, your mind and your strength.
And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
And Jesus said, this is right.
Do this and you shall live.
Now, this man really in his heart didn't
want to obey what he saw.
And the only way you can see around
it is to ask what appears to be
a foolish question.
And he asks now the son of God,
who is my neighbor?
You see, as long as we're studying, we
can justify our inaction as long as we
can say, well, I'm in pursuit of the
truth.
And when I find it one day, boy,
am I ever going to obey it?
My ship is going to come in one
day doctrinally and I'm going to I'm going
to have this explosion of grace in my
heart and become another William Carey or Hudson
Taylor.
I'm going to become another one of those.
And it's really just a smokescreen for a
divided heart.
That's all it is.
Sitting in the house of God, playing with
words.
I see a lot of that in the
churches that I've been to recently, sitting in
the house of God, just inventing new phrases,
just playing with words.
As long as we are supposedly pursuing God,
it justifies disobeying him.
It justifies our inaction.
He said, who is my neighbor?
See, I'm studying.
So obviously, Lord, you can't be displeased with
me because I'm not quite sure who my
neighbor is.
This man is supposed to be a lawyer.
He's supposed to understand the scriptures, but he
doesn't know who his neighbor is.
It seems like a ludicrous question.
Oh, I'm sure he had many cultural and
perhaps some even theological argument behind his question.
But on the surface, it is a foolish
question.
So Jesus answers it directly.
He said a man was on a road.
The road was called Jericho and it was
on the road to Jericho.
And this man fell among thieves who robbed
him and they took away his clothing and
they left him for dead.
He said a certain priest passed by.
Now, this this priest is a man who's
on his way to teach the people about
God.
He's maybe he's excited.
He's got some new revelation about God and
he's on his way to teach the people
about God.
He sees this man on the side of
the road, all beaten up and dying and
left destitute.
But he's busy.
He's got his revelation.
He's got to get to the house and
expound it.
And he passes by and goes to the
house.
And Jesus really is using this as an
illustration of an absolute bankrupt religion.
It's worthless.
Any religion that has no compassion for fallen
humanity is absolutely bereft of the heart of
God.
He said to Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 58,
he said, you seek me daily.
You delight to know my ways.
You seek the ordinances of justice.
You are you have a devotional life.
You're in the temple.
And he says, but there's there's an issue
that I have against you.
He said, you're hiding yourself from your own
flesh.
All of the seeking is not even bringing
you to the place yet where you understand
the heart of God for fallen humanity around
you.
He said another man, a Levite, came by
and Levi is a type of a worshipper.
Oh, it's a type of a man who
says, I love Times Square Church, man.
The worship is just awesome in that place.
I can lift my hands and I can
sing and I can glorify God in there.
And he's off on Sunday morning.
He's off on Tuesday night.
He's off on Friday.
And he's pushing and passing by the wounded
and maimed and blind all around him.
Sees it, but really so busy.
I've got to go worship God.
I really don't have time to help you,
poor fellow.
I'm sorry.
You understand, I got to get to church
and heads off to worship.
Jesus said his religion is also bankrupt of
the knowledge of God.
But he said it's just an ordinary man,
a Samaritan just happened to pass by.
And the Samaritan saw this man in his
pitiful condition.
Now, the Samaritans were not esteemed by the
religious people of Christ's day.
And he said this certain Samaritan, he saw
this man and he knelt down.
You can picture this man kneeling down beside
him and he pours oil in.
You see, Christ has given us the Holy
Spirit and the Holy Spirit, his touch, his
compassion is the oil of God.
Mark 16 says one of the signs that
will follow believers is that they will lay
hands on the sick and they shall recover.
And I don't believe we have the fullness
of that verse of scripture, because I believe
the fullness of that verse is revealed in
this passage.
They lay hands means that their hands are
not selfish.
Their hands are not lusting for power.
Their hands are not pushing people away.
Their hands are are not grasping for gold.
Their hands are reaching to the sick.
Their hands are meeting the need.
Their hands are God's hands.
Their hands are reaching down and touching that
which nobody else wants to touch.
They will lay hands.
I don't believe it's just talking about a
one time be healed situation.
I believe it's it's moving with the compassion
of God.
They will lay hands on the sin sick.
They will lay hands on the powerless.
They will go to those that are without
God and they will lay hands on them.
They shall recover.
This shall be a sign of those who
are following Jesus.
And he pours that oil that God has
poured into his life.
All the knowledge, the grace that he has
received, the goodness of God, he's come to
know.
He pours it in.
He begins to speak into this man's life
and tell him, you don't have to live
this way any longer.
You don't have to be beaten up and
bruised and dead.
There is somebody that cares for you.
His name is Jesus Christ.
He is the son of God.
And he begins to pour that oil into
his life and pick him up out of
his situation and begin to give him hope.
Not only that, but he puts him on
his own beast and at his own expense
takes him to an end.
And you see, this man was given resources
by God.
But the resources that he was given, he
had it in right perspective.
It was not just to lay up treasure
for himself.
He was given these resources to meet this
need.
He was given the resources to reach out
and make a difference in this man's life.
And he knew why he had been blessed.
There's so many today running around talking about
how blessed they are, but are so blind.
They're worse off, in a sense, than the
blind men on the Jericho Road.
Luke 15, Jesus continues to teach the people
and convey his heart.
And he talks about a man who had
a lost sheep and he left the ninety
and nine and went to that one who
was lost.
And when he found it, he laid it
on his shoulders, rejoicing and brought it home
and called together his friends and said, rejoice
with me, for I found my sheep that
was lost.
Now, Christ is conveying something always about his
heart.
This is why I'm here.
This is the ministry the father has entrusted
to me.
I've left heaven and I've come for that
which was lost.
And when I find it, there's great rejoicing,
even if it's only one.
And I lay it on my shoulders.
I don't I don't make it march behind
me.
I don't make it march in front of
me and beat it with my staff.
No, Christ said I pick it up and
lay it on my shoulders.
I carry it.
I give that which was up without strength.
I give it strength and I carry it
home and I call together my friends and
there's great rejoicing.
He says he talks about the woman who
lost a coin and swept all through the
house and finally found this lost coin and
calls together all her neighbors and says, come
and rejoice with me, for I found the
coin that I had lost.
He said, I found the sheep, I found
the coin, but then he caps it all
by the parable of the prodigal son.
He's conveying something of his heart.
He said there was a son that was
given a great inheritance, but he took that
inheritance and went out and squandered it in
a faraway place.
Beloved, you and I were given a great
inheritance.
Every person alive was given a great inheritance
in the fact that we breathe the virtual
breath of God.
We're alive because God breathed into Adam.
We are given the ability to seek God.
There's not another creature in all of God's
creation that has the ability to seek him.
We're given sound intelligence and minds that can
make a rational decision.
We're given the ability to worship God and
to turn to God.
We're given the ability to give our lives
to him and to let him be glorified
through those lives.
He talks about this man, this boy that
had wasted his inheritance and gone into a
faraway place and in that place had come
into great famine, great want.
If you can hear me today, there are
people all over New York City.
There are people even in the sound of
my voice today that you've taken what God's
given to you and you squandered it.
You've gone into a faraway place.
Your heart's not been engaged with the heart
of God.
You've even taken perhaps some the salvation that
God's given you, the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, which is for the work of Christ.
You've taken that wonderful treasure and squandered it
in a faraway place.
You've gone far away from where God would
have you.
And now you're in the house of the
Lord and you're saying, is there not more
to Christianity than this?
Why am I in such want?
How come if the father's inheritance is in
me and with me, why am I so
hungry all the time?
Why am I never satisfied?
Why am I running from place to place
and church to church and program to program
and tape to tape?
And why is this ache within me never
satisfied?
You see, oftentimes it's because you're very, very
far away from the heart of God.
You've never fully understood what it means to
walk with Christ.
And finally, this boy just got so tired
that he got up and started heading home
and the father had been waiting for him.
This one parable in scripture touches my heart
more than anything else I read in all
of the Bible.
This shows me the heart of God so
completely, not waiting as an angry father, not
waiting as a one with a list of
sins.
But he's conveying now the heart of God
for those that have been far away from
him, far away, even those that are called
by his name and those who simply have
life because he breathed into Adam, but because
of their sin have been outside of his
kingdom.
But he stands and he sees this son
coming home and runs down the lane to
meet him and falls on his neck and
kisses him and immediately commands the best robe
to be brought out, the covering for all
of his sin, all of the smell of
the world that's on him.
He says, Tom, bring the best robe and
cover my son.
Or it could be a daughter.
I mean, this is generic in a sense,
but it could be my daughter.
Cover the smell of sin that is on
them.
Let it no more be seen.
Let it no more be smelt.
Let it no more be spoken about.
Let the full covering, the best robe in
the father's house.
There's no better robe than the blood of
Jesus Christ.
Let the blood cover the smell of sin
and the stench of it.
He calls for a ring and gives him
back full authority, not as a slave, but
as a son.
He calls for shoes for his feet because
now he says, Son, you know something about
my heart.
Now you understand me.
You have something your older brother knows nothing
about.
He's he's just worked in the field.
He doesn't understand this.
But now I'm putting shoes on your feet
because you understand my mercy.
You understand my heart.
I'm putting shoes on your feet, a ring
of authority.
I'm covering you and I'm sending you now.
You're going to be an emissary for my
kingdom.
You're going to be able to talk about
the goodness of your father.
You're going to go out not in your
success, but in your failure.
You're going to go out and you're going
to know the goodness of your father.
You're going to be able to go to
every beggar by the roadside and tell them
what your father would do for them if
they will get up and just go home.
You're not going to go because you've done
it all right.
You're going to go because you've done most
of it wrong.
But you're going to get up and you're
going to go and have a message of
God's power beyond anything your generation has ever
seen.
The lost son.
And now, after all of this, in Luke,
chapter 18, they pass by a blind man
near Jericho.
The way I see this, it's like it's
exam time.
They've been taught.
So much has been imparted to them.
But how much have they really heard?
And Jesus makes as if he was going
to pass the man by.
The Bible says clearly he heard the multitude
pass by.
Now, the multitude would not be before Jesus.
They generally would be behind him.
They're following him.
They're waiting on every word.
So that means he's already perhaps gone by.
How many times in the scripture does Jesus
make at least give the impression he's passing
by?
I think of the disciples in the storm
when they were trying to battle the elements
in their own strength.
And he made as if walking on the
water, he was going to pass them by.
I think of the men on the road
to Emmaus were locked in their confusion about
who they thought the Messiah to be.
And Christ, again, after speaking to them, makes
as if he was going to continue on
until they compelled him to come in and
sit down with them.
And now in this situation again, he appears
to be passing by and the blind man
says, well, what does this mean?
And they told him Jesus of Nazareth is
passing by.
And he began to cry out for help.
Oh, Jesus, son of God, son of David,
have mercy on me.
Now, after all, after all that these people
had been taught.
I would have supposed that there would be
dozens of people go running to this man.
You don't have to be afraid anymore.
You don't have to be this way anymore.
We understand the heart of God.
We now know why he's come.
We've come to minister to you the love
of God.
I would have thought after all this time,
and I do believe that Jesus made as
if he was passing by because it was
a test for the whole crowd that was
following him.
And it would it would seem logical after
all of this discussion and all this teaching.
That they would have finally gripped what Christ
was all about and what the call was
on those who are going to follow him.
But instead, the scripture says they rebuked the
blind man.
They told him, be quiet, shut up.
Be quiet.
We don't want to hear your voice.
I tell you, any church that doesn't want
to hear the voice of the poor is
in deep spiritual trouble.
Any Christian who can block away the cry
of those who are impoverished, the cry of
those who are in bondage is in trouble,
is in deep spiritual trouble.
They rebuked him.
They said, be quiet, hold your peace.
You see, because what does a blind man
have to add to our agenda?
How can a blind man give us gold?
How can a blind man put bread in
our bellies?
How can a blind man bring in a
physical kingdom?
How can a blind man give us a
position in the church?
How can a blind man give us power
or authority?
You see, the church couldn't hear the cry
of this man because there was an agenda.
I'm talking about not necessarily the church, but
the people who were following Christ at that
time.
Their hearts were not yet perfected in the
love of God.
And so they couldn't hear the cry.
They couldn't hear the voice of Christ.
I can't help but think of the tragedy
of the millions, perhaps, that call themselves Christians
today in the world who are totally outside
of hearing the voice of God.
They're totally outside of the compassion of Christ.
They don't want to hear the cry of
the poor.
If they have a television and they're flipping
through the channels and they see another ad
for Oxfam or someplace like that, they just
flip it quickly away.
Don't put that voice in front of me.
That's perhaps a bad illustration, but I don't
want the cry of the poor.
I don't want to hear the cry of
the widow.
I don't want to hear the cry of
the fatherless.
I don't want to hear the cry of
those that have no hope.
I don't want to hear the cry of
those that are going to commit suicide next
week unless somebody helps them.
I don't want to hear their cry.
See, I've got an agenda.
Christ is going to give me provision and
a destiny.
Of course, the destiny never involves jail like
it did the Apostle Paul.
Destiny is always something great as far as
men are concerned.
I have an agenda.
You see, the poor can't help my agenda.
And so they despise the poor, like the
New Testament says.
James warned the church he was writing to
of his time.
He said, you have despised the poor.
An incredible indictment of God to be brought
against my life or your life or any
church.
They told him to be quiet.
Hold your peace.
But he cried out.
The Bible says even more.
Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And finally, the Bible says that Jesus stood.
Another one of the Gospels just says he
stood still and commanded him to be brought
to him.
He stood.
The people had failed the test, but Christ
one more time was proving why he came.
He was not interested in the agenda of
the multitude.
There was a purpose.
He had a mission.
It was to reach every soul that was
crying out for truth.
And quite often it's the poor who are
rich in faith.
It's those who have nothing who cry out
to God like nobody else can cry out
to God.
And finally, he stopped still.
And beloved, we would do well to to
take heed of this.
We do well at this juncture in history
that we're at now.
New York City is in charge.
We do well to stop.
We do well to stand still.
Every one of us and say, God, help
me to hear the voices that you're hearing.
There are people crying out to God.
If I can't hear them, help me, Holy
Spirit, to hear it.
Help me, God.
Make me sensitive.
Make me sensitive to those all around that
are desperate and crying out for God.
Help me, God, to move beyond my own
agenda, beyond my own comfort, beyond, oh, God,
myself.
Help me, God.
Help me, Jesus.
Not to just see the teenagers in New
York City as some kind of a vulgar
nuisance and get in my way on the
way home.
God, help me to hear the cry.
In their hearts.
Help me.
I feel like a blind man myself today.
Oh, Jesus, Son of David, help me.
Help me to hear it, God.
Help me, God, to put away these other
voices, the other loves, all the other things
that want to come in and crowd out
your work and your heart.
God, help me.
Take away from me the selfishness of this
self-consumed generation, lust-laden, full of self,
just like Paul said it was going to
be.
A generation who loves self, despise the things
of God deep in the heart.
God, help me.
God, help me is my cry.
I've got maybe 20 years left if I'm
fortunate.
God, help me is the cry of my
heart.
I want to hear it.
I want to hear it the way you
hear it.
I don't want to be isolated from the
cry of the poor and the widow and
the orphan and the despondent.
God, help me.
And Jesus stood and commanded him to be
brought to him.
And he said, what what do you want
me to do for you?
And the man said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight.
I want to see.
And you see, this is the cry of
New York City now.
This is the cry of millions in New
York City.
I want to see.
I saw last night, my wife and I
went out for a walk together and we
saw people leaving the theaters, angry, despondent, going
to these shows, looking for happiness of some
sort and coming out angry.
There was such anger on the street last
night.
It was startling at one point.
Anger on their cell phones and anger in
their discussions, one with another.
Anger with the parking garage attendants.
They want to see.
They're just looking in the wrong places.
And this man was crying out, Jesus, I
want to see.
I want to know why I was created.
I want to see it.
I want to see the purpose for my
life.
I want to know how I can escape
from the powerlessness of my situation.
How?
I want to see it, God.
And beloved, I tell you that cry is
in our society now.
It's in this generation.
They're sick and they're tired.
They're tired of the vulgar television.
They're tired of the insolent and insane radio
talk show host.
They're tired of it, folks.
And there's a cry.
I want to see.
I want to know, God, you're the only
one that can help me.
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, Jesus, son of David, I'd venture a
guess that there are probably three to five
million cries a night in apartments that nobody,
God knows about, when people get alone in
their beds.
And they say, oh, God, if you're out
there, show me.
Show me.
I want to see.
I want to know the reason I live.
That's why this sanctuary is getting filled with
high school students now and junior high and
college students on Friday at the end of
every month.
It's getting filled because of the generation finally
saying, God, I want to see.
If there is no God, then what is
the point of living?
Am I destined to beg beside the road
for the rest of my life?
Paul said that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of him.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that
you may know the hope of his calling,
the eyes, Paul said, of your understanding being
open, that you may the word for hope
means that the foundation or the grounding of
that hope, that you may see and know
the hope of his calling and the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints.
Oh, Paul said that you could see it,
church of the living God, that you could
understand he has called you for a purpose,
that you could see that he has won
an inheritance on Calvary.
And when the father raised him from the
dead by the power of the Holy Ghost
and this inheritance is now in those that
are called by his name, he has given
us an inheritance of himself.
There's no greater inheritance than to have the
presence of God in your life.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us were to believe according to
the working of his mighty power, which he
wrought?
And that word means proves which he proved
in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and set him at his own right
hand in heavenly places.
He's far above all principality and power and
might and dominion and every name that is
named not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come.
He's put all things under his feet and
gave him to be the head over all
things to the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that fills all in
all.
In other words, it means that Christ has
filled this church.
He keeps on filling this church and there
are all kinds of gifts of the spirit
in this church.
And he dwells in her and walks in
this church.
Paul said, oh, that you could see it,
that you could understand this calling and this
glorious inheritance.
The blind man said, Lord, I want to
receive my sight.
But as the healing truly began in verse
40, when the scripture says he stood and
he came to Christ in the gospel of
Mark, chapter 10, the Bible tells us that
this man before approaching Christ threw off his
garment.
That's very significant.
He was a blind man.
And one of the things that blind people
need are familiarity.
I need to know that it's my coat.
I know it by the smell.
I know it by the feel of it.
And they become very familiar with their surroundings.
A blind person needs to know every piece
of furniture is in the house, for example,
if they're going to walk around without stumbling
and becoming injured.
Familiarity is very important to somebody who has
no eyesight.
But this man, when he heard the voice
of Christ calling him, took off his jacket,
the scripture says, and threw it away, took
off his outer garment.
Now, if you put it on the side
of the road, there's a good chance you're
never going to be able to find it
again or somebody else is going to steal
it.
You're going to be without a garment.
But he took it off and put it
away.
And beloved, there's a signal to us in
that.
And the teaching is just simply this.
You can't have it both ways.
You can't have the old and the new
at the same time.
If you want the new life that Christ
is calling you to, you have to be
willing to put off the old.
Old sins, old habits, old relationships, old ways
of living, old ways of doing things.
The familiarity that everyone so wants, but that
familiarity can leave you beside the road begging
for life, begging for hope.
And God said, if you're going to come
to me, you've got to take it off
and throw it away.
And he did, and he threw it away.
And he said, Lord, I want to receive
my sight.
And then the scripture says, Jesus said to
him, receive thy sight.
Thy faith has saved thee.
Your trust in me has saved you.
Beloved, listen to me very closely today.
If you will trust that Jesus Christ died
on the cross for your sins.
If you will trust that his payment on
that cross was sufficient to satisfy the entire
wrath of God that you and I both
deserve for the wrong things that we have
done.
If you will open your heart to him
and receive him as your Lord and Savior.
He will save you.
He will give you a new life.
He will open your eyes.
He will lead you into a work that
is so glorious.
It may not be glorious in the sight
of man, but it's glorious in the sight
of God.
The glory is something inside.
It's not seen on the outside.
It's inside of you.
There's a glory.
There's a rejoicing.
Every sheep that God puts in your hands
and you lay on your shoulders and by
the grace of God, help to carry them
home until they find Christ as their Savior.
There's a rejoicing.
There's a party in your heart because you
know you're involved in the divine work of
almighty God.
And Jesus said, your faith has saved you.
And immediately, the Bible says he received his
sight and followed him, glorifying God.
And all the people, when they saw it,
gave praise unto God.
Immediately, he received his sight and he followed
him.
And the word glorifying means manifesting the goodness
of God.
Immediately, he got up.
He was a new man.
And he manifested the goodness of God in
his physical body.
He was a changed person.
He had thrown off the old and taken
on the new.
And he could see.
He could see.
I always find it so ironic that in
the day when Lazarus was raised, it was
only a dead man could hear the voice
of God on the hill that day.
And it seems that it was only a
blind man who could see in the whole
multitude.
Who saw, perhaps, as nobody else did, the
purpose of God.
Beloved, we're moving into a very perilous time
in history.
I predict that every gospel that is not
the gospel of Jesus Christ is about to
fail.
Multitudes are going to be left on the
mountainside, wandering and wandering.
Angry, feeling violated by false shepherds with agendas
who have misled them in their pursuit of
God.
Multitudes.
Multitudes are going to be left in the
valley of decision.
I believe that there's going to be a
glory of God come on the true church
of Jesus Christ that is unspeakable.
A glory.
On those who finally say, Lord, I want
to hear it the way you're trying to
say it.
I want to hear what it is you're
trying to tell me.
I want your work your way.
God, forgive me for living my life in
mixture.
Living my life half for God and half
for myself.
Jesus, help me to yield my life to
your purposes.
I want to see.
I want to see the way you do.
I want to feel the way you do.
I want to love the way you do.
I want to touch the way you do.
I want to be used as a catalyst
for your glory to be manifested in the
earth.
And your glory comes when the poorest of
the poor are touched by the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Now, if you can hear this today, I
want to tell you that all around you,
there are people crying out.
Oh, they're not on the outside, but they
are on the inside.
And only the Holy Spirit can make you
and I sensitive to them.
Only the Holy Spirit can tell us what
they are saying.
And if we want to hear it, he
will.
But you see, the response of the church
is not just a quick prayer.
Not just a God bless you.
The response is a giving of ourselves as
the Holy Spirit leads us to meet the
need.
A giving of ourselves to bring those that
are outside the kingdom of God to a
place where they can understand and begin to
appropriate the provision of God for themselves.
This is the cry of God's heart for
his church.
It's for you and it's for me.
How is it not popular today?
Everyone is using Christ for themselves now.
Christ is just an add-on now to
riches and a good life and a fancy
home and reputation.
That's all he is to so many places.
And it's absolutely tragic what's being done to
his name.
The only way that can be changed is
by you or me.
By somebody somewhere saying, Jesus, I want to
walk it your way now.
I want to do it the way that
you have prescribed it to be done.
We hit the streets from this service this
morning.
We take CDs that are free and flyers
and pamphlets.
Now, not everybody can be here this afternoon.
I understand that.
But you can go home and you have
a neighborhood.
You have people crying out for God.
The cry of our heart has got to
be, God, take us out of ourselves.
Jesus, help us to see.
Help us to see.
The son of David, have mercy on me.
Give me your eyes, mighty God.
Give me your eyes.
Now, this is not some emotional thing.
I mean, I could preach it in a
way that perhaps brings you to tears and
draws everyone to an altar.
But it's worth nothing.
If it's not a decision.
It has to be a personal decision in
the heart.
I made a choice to be available for
the poor for the rest of my life.
In whatever capacity God calls me.
It's a choice that I've made.
It's not Brother Davis made a choice in
taking the resources God has entrusted to him
and making way for widows and orphans here
in the city.
It's a choice.
It's not a, it's a, yes, feeling will
become part of it.
But it doesn't have to be, it doesn't
have to start that way.
It's a choice that we make.
Lord, I make myself available to come out
of all of these other pursuits.
And I want to hear the voice of
people crying out to you in my generation.
That's the choice.
Let's pray together.
Father, I pray and I ask, oh God,
that you do, Holy Spirit, what only you
can do.
You are the God of the miraculous.
You are the one who calls us and
leads us.
You take us into places, oh God, where
we can't go in our own strength.
Lord, there are things that we don't want
to do.
They're not tasteful to the flesh.
But God, we will never know you.
We will never fully grasp truth until the
simplicity of the call is embraced in our
hearts.
Lord, I do commit my life, whatever remains
of it, to be available to the poorest
of the poor throughout the world.
I pray, God, that we may preach the
gospel to them free of charge for the
rest of our lives.
I pray that you make us a people
that are open-handed, open-hearted, to those
all around us that are crying out for
life and for truth.
I pray that you break every secondary agenda
off of our hearts.
Begin in mine, oh God.
And I'm asking that you do it for
all of us here at Times Square Church.
That all the secondary agendas be broken.
That our hearts and ears are open to
the cry of the poor and the destitute
and the afflicted.
Truly, this is the pathway to greatness.
Lord, you've made it very clear.
It's very, very plain.
We need no other sermon on it.
We understand it.
God, give us the grace to obey it.
Father, I thank you from the depths of
my heart.
I thank you, God.
Because you're going to advance your kingdom in
our hearts this day.
I believe it, Lord, with all my heart,
or I wouldn't preach it.
I believe it, God.
And I thank you for it.
In Jesus' mighty name.
We're going to stand in just a moment.
And as we do, if the Holy Spirit
has been drawing you, if you're unsaved and
you need to come to Christ, you can
come to this altar.
And I will pray a prayer with you
that will help you to understand what that
salvation is about.
If you're a Christian that says, God, please
help me, I want to see.
I want to see.
I'm tired of looking in the wrong places.
I want to see the way you see.
I want this, oh God.
What I'm hearing today, I want it to
be part of my life.
As we stand, I'm going to ask you
to make your way to this altar.
And I'm going to believe with you for
a miraculous transformation in your heart.
As I'm believing God for one in mine,
too, as well.
Let's stand.
If the Holy Spirit is drawing you, make
your way to this altar.
And we're going to pray together.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Move in close.
Make room, please, for those that are coming.
I want to see.
Son of David, I want to see.
God, give me your heart.
Give me your hands.
Give me compassion for this generation.
If you're here today and you haven't won
a soul to Christ in a year, you
should be at this altar.
I believe it's a shame.
It's a shame to be a spirit-filled,
tongue-talking Christian and you're not winning anybody
to God.
Something's wrong, folks.
Something's wrong.
I say it very lovingly.
But I have to give a loving challenge
to you today.
You should be out of your seat.
And I'm not saying it to condemn you,
but there should be a cry in your
heart.
God, how come I'm going through life with
an empty basket?
How come?
What am I not hearing?
What is in my heart that is blinding
me to the true work of God, the
true call of Christ that's on my life?
God, please help me.
Please help me to understand what you're speaking
to me.
Thank you, Jesus.
If you are unsaved here today, you say,
Pastor, I'm just so tired of sitting on
the side of the road begging.
But today I see Jesus passing by.
And, beloved, let me tell you clearly, he
will keep on going unless you cry out
to him.
There has to be something in your heart.
He will never impose himself on anybody.
But today you've come to this house and
you're confronted with the reality of God.
You know now that Jesus Christ is real.
He is the son of God.
He did come to earth.
He did pay the price for your sins.
He invites you to turn from your sin
and to open your heart and to receive
his offer to you of forgiveness.
You see, you couldn't even form the intent
to receive this if he didn't give it
to you.
He's being very gracious to everybody in this
house today.
Education annex, balcony here in the main sanctuary.
If you are without Christ today and you
say, Pastor, I want to give my life
to Jesus Christ.
I want to see the reason that I'm
born.
I want to understand the plan that God
has for my life.
I'm so tired of looking in the wrong
direction.
I'm so tired of dead-end streets and
entertainment that never satisfies.
I'm coming to Christ.
I've had it.
I'm tired.
I don't care what anybody says around me.
I don't care if my family tell me
to be quiet or anybody around me.
I'm coming to Christ.
I'm done.
I'm done with living for myself.
I'm done with living on outside the kingdom
of God.
I want Jesus today to be my Lord
and my Savior.
If that's you today, raise your hand wherever
you are unashamedly.
Raise your hand on the balcony.
Go ahead.
Way up in the balcony.
I see hands are in the main sanctuary
at the altar.
Just raise your hand.
Raise it high.
You don't have to be ashamed of Christ.
He's not ashamed of you today.
Raise your hand.
We're going to pray together.
Let's pray a prayer.
Those that raise your hands all together.
And this is going to be the beginning
of eternity for you with God.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, thank you for
loving me so much that you came to
earth, died on a cross, and paid the
price for my sins.
I'm sorry for my sin.
It's my sin.
That nailed you to a cross.
You suffered because of what I've done.
I don't want to live in sin anymore.
I open my heart to you this very
moment.
And I say, Jesus, come into my heart
and be my Lord and be my Savior.
I thank you that you will give me
the power to live a new life.
I thank you that because I've trusted you,
and I believe in my heart, at this
very moment, I am saved.
I am saved.
Hallelujah.
Be sincere in that prayer.
We have New Believers classes.
If you're from out of town, find a
Bible-believing church and get there as quickly
as you can.
Get into New Believers class.
If you're sincere and you attend this church
or would like to, we have a New
Believers class every Friday night.
We'll give you a Bible to start in
your walk with God.
You're not ever asked to join anything at
any time here at Times Square Church.
We'll help you get started in your walk
with God.
Now, for the rest, let's pray a prayer
together.
Lord Jesus, open my eyes.
Let me see the calling that you've placed
on me.
Help me to understand the gifting that you've
given to me.
Help me to know the purpose for which
I live and I move and I have
my being in you.
Open my ears to the cry of the
poor and the afflicted and the destitute all
around me.
Open my heart to them.
Open my hands to bless them.
I ask you, God, to bless them through
my life.
I ask you and thank you that you
will give me the means to be a
disciple of Jesus Christ and to make a
difference in my generation beginning today as I
leave this house.
I believe you will use my life to
make a difference in somebody's life today before
the sunset.
You will use my life to make a
difference for a hungry soul somewhere today.
And Father, I thank you for this.
I thank you for touching my heart, for
giving me the ability to make this decision.
And I ask that it be part of
my life for the rest of my life.
May I never again use Jesus Christ for
anything else but the purposes of God.
God, forgive me for all the times that
I have used your name and it's been
a wrong reason.
I've been looking for the wrong thing.
I want to look now and see what
you see.
I want to see people the way you
see them.
I want my heart to beat for fallen
humanity all around me the way yours does.
I want to be your hands, your voice,
your eyes, your ears, your church in my
generation.
And God, I believe you're going to do
that for me.
And today, before this day is out, my
heart will rejoice with you.
My heart will rejoice with you.
I will rejoice with you.
Thank you, Jesus.
This is the conclusion of the message.