Jesus Is Passing By

I get the privilege of introducing also Reverend Clarence Correll. He’s been with this church now for several months. Not only is he a been a preacher for over 54 years. He’s retired from full-time pastoring, but he still has a heart for evangelical and evangelical preaching. And he’s a fine tenor singer, too. So, he’s a part of our choir. I’m just glad I like him up there. Give him a hand on that, please. Thank you. I love it when he comes and sings. So, I’ll welcome if you will Reverend Clarence Correll to come up and deliver the message today.

[snorts]

Morning.

[snorts]

You know, it’s been a while since I’ve got to stand before the pulpit. Moving to South Carolina’s Charleston County, Charleston, you know, I I’m not known, so I don’t get a lot of opportunities to preach. So, you pray for me cuz it’s been about a year. And I covet your prayers. Amen?

Amen.

This morning I want to begin by reading from 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 and 4. It sets the tone for the sermon this morning. But the word of God says, but even if our gospel is veiled. Now, what that veiled means is is hid.

[clears throat]

Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In other words, it is hid from the lost. Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, least the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. God has men’s minds blinded. In other words, they’re living in darkness. And the light of the gospel has not yet shined in their life.

As we read Luke chapter 18 verses 35 through 43, the prior verses sets the whole idea because Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. And He is telling His disciples everything that is going to happen when they arrive in Jerusalem. This is what He says. Behold, we’re going up to Jerusalem. And all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again. So He explains to them being God-man exactly what’s going to take place.

See, [clears throat] God is outside of time. He knows everything that is taking place from the beginning to the end. He is outside of time. God’s nature is holy. And sin is to go against the nature of God, who is holy. When you go against His authority, His nature, then you’ve sinned. And the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So, that all means everybody. It does not mean this one or that one, it means everybody.

But the Bible says they understood none of these things. His disciples, it’s like it went in one ear and right out the other. They understood none of these things. Why? It’s because they had bought into what was the current idea in Jew- in Judaism that Messiah was coming and He was going to deliver them from the Roman occupation, and He was going to set up an army, and Israel was going to be the great empire of the whole world. And that He was going to be their king. They had bought into that, so their minds were hidden at that moment to the true gospel message that they would receive later after Pentecost. So, here we see these disciples, their minds were still yet not open.

Then we see that He’s on His way to Jerusalem by way of Jericho. And this is where we find the blind man. It says, “Then it happened as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the roadside a begging.” So, I want you to notice the man’s condition. I want you to see his conviction. He was convicted by the fact that he had no hope. He had no hope of ever being any more than a blind individual. There was no braille back then for you to read. There was no schools for the blind. The only occupation he could have was a beggar. Someone had to bring him where he sat. Someone had to lead him back home because back then, if you were blind, that was it. There was no other way for you to live.

See, we have a world today that is blind to God. They’re blind because why? The god of this world, the little G of this world has blinded their minds. They’re living in darkness just as this man here is living in darkness. They know not God. He got concerned about it. Evidently, somebody, somewhere had told him that there was a man that could heal the blind. See, he might be blind, but he could still hear. And he had heard all the stories that there was a man going throughout all of Galilee that was healing people. And he got concerned about his condition because he realized maybe there’s some hope. Maybe there is some way that I’ll be able to see. And the Bible says he got so concerned that hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant, and they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. So, he cried out, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” See, he cried out to the right person. He cried out to the right man. He cried out to the only one that could bring about his healing.

See, the world, the internet, social media, news media. All of this has went away from the gospel message. And it has blinded the minds of our country. There’s supposed to be close to 8 billion people on this country and world today. The mass majority are blind to the gospel message. Millions upon millions do not know Jesus Christ. So, I want you to look at the multitude’s conduct over this man that got concerned about his condition. What did they do? Well, Michael could tell you up in the mountains where we’re from, we tell people to shut up. Amen. This multitude’s conduct was such that they were so indifferent to this man. Their indifference was so much, that means a lack of concern. They told him, “Be quiet.” This man is important. He’s on a mission. He He’s on his way to Jerusalem. He has no time for you. They had a lack of concern for this blind man.

Well, church, many times we have a lack of concern for the lost people. We’re saved. We’re on our way to heaven and we sit on a pew. I call it the pew of do nothing. We do nothing to lead people to Jesus. Did you know that Satan’s intention? That’s what he desires. That’s what he wants. He wants the church to sleep. I read a book one time it said while the church sleeps, the world goes to hell. And that’s about the truth, isn’t it? We sleep too much. The devil has I call it rock-a-bye lullaby to the church. Amen. And the church sleeps on the gospel message. That’s Satan’s intention.

But I want you to notice the master’s inter- struction here. His instruction to the people, the very people that told this man to shut up is the very people he said, “Bring him to me.” In other words, you who are telling him that you are not concerned about him, I want you to go get him. And I want you to bring him to me. See, that’s what Jesus tells us when He says, “Go into all the world baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” In other words, He is saying, “Bring the lost to me.”

So, we see then the master’s compassion because we see Jesus’ response to this man. Jesus did not pass by. Jesus stopped. You know, when a man cries out to Jesus, Jesus responds to that individual. We sing a song a lot of times, “Pass me not, oh gentle Savior.” Amen. Jesus will not pass you by when you cry out to Him. There may be some here today that are spiritually blind to the gospel message. You’re still living in darkness. You’re still living, as the Bible says, man chooses to go his own way. Man has made their own god. A god of their own choosing. Not the God of the Bible. Not the Lord God Jehovah. They’ve made up a a god. See, Jesus said this, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. None shall come before the Father except it be by me.” People said, “Christianity is an exclusive religion.” It is. Why? Because there is no other way than Jesus Christ. Well, preacher, what about all these other religions? I got news for you. If Christianity is true, they’re false.

Now, we who are saved have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We have a fellowship with Jesus Christ. We know the truth. And we try to share the truth. So, Jesus’ response is is He stops and He listens and He respects this blind man. He respects that someone cried out to Him. Jesus says, “What would you have me do for you?” And the blind man says, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” What takes place here is what I want you to understand is this blind man is confessing that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. When he said, “Thou son of David,” when he said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” He is admitting that Jesus is the Messiah. He comes to that point in his life where He realizes who Jesus is and what Jesus could accomplish in His life. Redemption. And that’s what takes place in this blind man’s life. Redemption. In other words, his faith. Jesus says, “It’s your faith that heals you.” Do I believe this blind man got saved? Yes, I do. Because why? He became a follower. That’s what the scripture says. He followed Jesus. What happened? The man’s consecration. There was an immediate grace. What does grace mean? Undeserved. The man did not deserve to be healed. It was God’s gift. It was God’s grace. Undeserved. The man couldn’t buy. The man couldn’t pay for it. It was a gift. God’s gift to this man. It says immediately he received his sight. I like to say it was by the twinkling of an eye. When Jesus the man said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight immediately.” He was seeing. I want you picture this. The first person he ever saw in his life is Jesus Christ. Immediately he received his sight. You know that means it was intense joy. I don’t know how a person could not have joy in knowing that his sins were forgiven forever. It’s as if he had never sinned before. And that’s the same with us. When you receive Jesus Christ, it is if you had never ever sinned. God forgives you. That’s joy. A person can sleep at night. Amen. Why? Because He knows His sins are forgiven. That’s joy. You know, you could have a happy fit over that. I could. But I want you to notice the immense glory that takes place. Because all this multitude that was there started glorifying God, too. You know, the Bible says that all the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner is found. You know, there’s a party going on in heaven this morning if there’s one individual here today that has been blinded by Satan, but yet is ready to receive the glorious light of the gospel message, the good news that Jesus Christ can save you, and that your sins can be forgiven forever. And that you can have fellowship with God. You can know God personally and have a relationship with Him. So, the invitation this morning is to come and receive Christ. See, Jesus is passing by your life today. This may be your moment. This may be the time for you to accept Christ. I encourage you this morning as we each one bow our heads and close our eyes. Nobody’s peeping. I’m not going to embarrass anybody. But if you don’t know Jesus Christ and you’ve never asked Him into your heart, I’m going to ask that you just look up here at me and let me acknowledge you. I beg you to come today. Receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior. I’m going to ask the counselors from the church if you would come forward.

[clears throat]

I’m not the pastor. But we have the chairman of the deacons and others here that are willing to be here. They’ll speak with you. And they’ll counsel with you. So, I encourage you if you don’t know Jesus Christ to come this morning. Just slip out of wherever you’re sitting as we stand for Michael giving the invitation song. Please, just slip out and come forward. Ask Christ to come into your heart. Ask Him to open your mind to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray that you will this morning.