Here is something that this poor blind man does absolutely correctly. He hears that Jesus is passing, and he thinks to himself, ‘This is the only person who can help me in this world. I must shout out.’ But who does he shout out for? A disciple? No. Some religious leader? No. He goes right to the correct person. When we come to see that we are cut off from the Lord, that our souls are dead, that we need conversion, that we need the forgiveness of our sin; the first thing we have to remember is this: you must ask the right person. If you want a conversion experience and a new life, if you want to find God, if you want to know that your sins are forgiven by God, you must ask the right person. It may seem obvious, but many people don't know to ask the right person. In the confusion that surrounds us about spiritual matters today, they think you just pray generally. You just ask God generally. Surely any religious community, any church, will do. If you want to find God, you can find him anywhere. But you can't. You have got to go to the right person. If you want to find the Lord, you've got to go to Jesus Christ. He alone can help you. You must believe in him, the Son of God, who came from heaven and suffered and died upon a cross to bear the punishment of sin for all who come to him. He is the only one who can help you. You must go to him in prayer personally. You must call out to him. You must ask him to forgive you and to help you. You must trust only in what he has done in dying for sinners. If you don't go to Christ, you cannot be helped.
Also he asked in the right spirit, and he asked for the right things. ‘He cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’ He didn't start by saying, ‘Give me my sight. Oh, that I can see.’ He started with ‘have mercy on me’, and in that one phrase he had got two things right. He was going in the right spirit, and he was asking for the right thing. First do remember this. There is only one way to find Almighty God. I go in the right spirit. ‘Oh Lord I deserve nothing. I have wasted my years; I have sinned away my time. I have offended against thee. I am nothing at all. I have no spiritual life in me. I have no righteousness with which to come. The only ground on which I can come is the mercy of God. I come believing that God is merciful and that he deals with people who come deserving nothing. Never come to God saying, ‘Oh I am quite a good person, and I have got a lot of abilities, and if I could be religious, if I could be accepted, I have a lot to bring to the church, to the kingdom of God.’ Don't ever come to God like that. God doesn't need us. In his kindness he uses us and blesses us in our lives. When we come to him, and we know him, and we serve him, yes, as a kindly father he gives us the tremendous privilege of being useful to him. But he doesn't need us. He has made us; he has made what powers we have, but he has made millions of other people with the same abilities. You have got to come in the right spirit: ‘O Lord, show mercy to me. I have done everything wrong. I am a sinner; I am proud; I am deceitful; I am selfish.’ You know what your chief sin is. ‘This is wrong with me; that is wrong with me. O Lord, just forgive me.’ Mercy is the thing you need first, and forgiveness. You need to come in a humble spirit as one who deserves nothing and who has nothing, and this man got it right: ‘Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’