I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Mark. Mark chapter
8. I'm going to try to preach both
messages this morning out of the book of Mark chapter 8. I'm
not going to go into Proverbs like I normally do, I just, I
was looking a few days ago at this particular passage of scripture. It's Mark 8. I'd like to deal
in this first message out of verse 22 to 26. It's a record
of the Lord's healing of a blind man. It's not recorded anywhere
else except in this book. It's unique in the sense that
No other healing of the Lord happened exactly like this one
happened, but though it was unique in the Lord's performance of
it, it was done obviously to teach us something of the good
pleasure of our God, to have mercy and compassion on whomsoever
He will, And then secondly, how the Lord causes his people to
grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Mark
chapter 8 verse 22 says, And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they
bring a blind man unto him, and besought him, besought the Lord,
to touch him. Now, divine providence drew our
Lord to this place. Obviously one of his sheep was
there and he must find him because the sheep are not going to find
the master. No man seeks after God on his
own. He had to find him. He was going to heal him. calling to himself and teach
this man something, teach us something. Now this man obviously
was blind, that's what it says. He cometh to Bethsaida, they
bring a blind man. Now here is a fit representation
of all men born in Adam, born into this world, in our natural
state, We're all blind by nature, spiritually blind. We're blind
to our deadness. The Lord told Adam, he said,
you eat of all the fruit, except one. The tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, don't eat of that. In the day you eat, you're
gonna die. And he did, he died spiritually. So here's all men by nature,
dead. As we've said before, what can
a dead man do? Nothing. Nothing. He can't do
anything. He doesn't seek God. He doesn't
see God. He doesn't love God. He doesn't
follow God. He doesn't choose God. He doesn't exercise a free
will. He's dead. He's dead. Here's a blind man, helpless
before God. Why? He cometh to Bethsaida and
they bring a blind man. Why? Because he couldn't see. They brought him to the Lord
and he was blind. He was blind to his state of
his need of rescue, he was blind to his state of deliverance from
sin and bondage, blind to the wages of sin, the justice of
God. Man by nature is blind, dead. He wasn't seeking God. They brought
him. But according to the power and
mercy of God, he who worketh all things." Who do you think
moved on these friends to have a heart to bring him to the Lord?
Who do you think instigated that? Them? The Lord said, without
me, you can do nothing. So here's the Spirit of God moving
upon some friends to bring this blind man unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a blessing to have such
friends. Somebody that would desire to
have somebody come and hear. I want people to come. I want
to come. I want my family to come. I want
you to come. Why? Because we're just looking
for some more members? No? I want them to hear. I want you to hear. I know from
the scriptures. I know from experience. We're
dying creatures. We're going to die. We're going
to die and we're going to leave this world. And we'll stand before
the Lord. I want people to hear. So here
they brought him to the Lord. And they did the only thing they
could. They brought him to the Lord.
And they besought the Lord to touch him. Why? Because they
couldn't do anything. What are they going to do for
a blind man? And they knew that if the Lord
chose to heal him, he could. That's like that leper. Lord,
if you will, you can. I know you can. I think of how
many times I've had some frailty, some, you know, get sick or something,
and how many times that scripture of that leper come to my heart. Lord, if you will, you can. I
know you can. I'm just asking. So that's what
they did. So they brought him to the Lord
because they cared for him. They besought the Lord to touch
him. And when the man was brought
to the Lord, the Lord did an amazing thing. Look at verse
23. He took the blind man by the
hand and led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes,
and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. Now what our Lord did, well number
one it was private. It says he took the blind man
by the hand and led him out of the town. He took this man, took
this man's hand. A hand of a helpless, impotent,
blind, sinner. But it was the Lord that had
him. This man's hand that could do
nothing. He couldn't help himself. You think if he could have exercised
his will to give himself sight, you think he'd have done it?
Well, yeah. Why didn't he do it? Well, he
couldn't do it. He's blind. But the Lord took
him by the hand, and that hand from whom the scripture says
no man can pluck out of the Lord's hand. The Lord took him, led
him out of town. This is how he spiritually separates
his people. There's a separation. I mean,
we're all sitting here together, but I'm telling you, God deals
with people individually. He draws them away privately.
It's like going into your closet to pray. You're there privately. You might be in the presence
of somebody at times and just praying to yourself, but they
don't know what you're doing. It's that intimate relationship
with the Lord. He separated this man just like
He separates His people and has from all eternity in electing
In particular, redeeming grace. And what mercy was shown this
man? This man, now it's an amazing
thing, he cometh to Bethsaida. You know, the Lord had revealed
in the book of Matthew, I want you to turn over with me to the
book of Matthew chapter 11. Something about this town, Bethsaida. Matthew 11. Verse 21, 22. Matthew 11, 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Now
this is where they are. They're in Bethsaida. The Lord
said, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago. in sackcloth and ashes. But I
say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
at the day of judgment than for you." Now here they are, they're
in a city that the Lord has already told them, reprimanded them.
Told them, he said, if the works done in Tyre and Sidon were done
here, had been done there, they would have repented. That verse
I've told you before, it always amazed me, because Lord, not
only does He know what will and won't happen, He knows what could
have happened if He'd have permitted it. But here's a man, and they're
in Bethsaida, a town reprimanded by God. But out of that town,
God's gonna show mercy. Now this town, Bethsaida, was
the hometown of three of the Lord's apostles. Peter, Andrew,
and Philip, every place. You know, Jericho, that was a
city that was cursed of God, but there was a Rahab there too. You look at how the mercy of
God in the midst of deserved condemnation, deserved, I mean,
we deserve. If the Lord gives us what we
deserve, we deserved it. But in wrath, he remembers mercy.
So here's a man, he brings him out of town, he's separate from
the eyes of men, and the Lord, mercifully, the scripture says
in verse 23, when he had spit on his eyes. Now, to the natural
man, that would appear to be foolishness, contempt. That would be something that
was vulgar, something that was considered a reproach to spit,
spit on somebody. And I think about Isaiah's prophecy
of our Lord before his accusers talking about a reproach. The
scripture says in Isaiah 50 verse 6, he hid not his face from shame
and spitting. As a general rule, when you see
somebody spitting on somebody else, it's not out of love or,
you know, it's out of reproach, anger. But not here. Not here. What
our Lord did for this man was not reproach, disrespectful,
but rather a glorious exhibition of mercy and compassion. He chose to demonstrate what
man by nature considers despicable and repulsive and totally foolish
in the spiritual healing of dead, spiritually dead, blind, helpless
sinners. I want you to take your Bible.
Just hold your place right there. Turn to Revelation 3. Revelation 3.18. I think these
next couple of scriptures are going to give us some light on
what the Lord set forth. Revelation 3.18. Here's the Lord speaking to the
church at Laodicea. He told John, he said, write
these letters. This was part of the letter to the church at
Laodicea. He said, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried
in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. Now, what is the gold
tried in the fire but the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Gold that was tried, proven. under the judgment of Almighty
God on behalf of his people. He is the gold tried in the fire
and shown to be pure, holy, just, good. He said, buy of me, I counsel,
buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich, rich
in faith. And white raiment, what is this
white raiment? But the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. charged or imputed to his people. Our righteousnesses are what? Filthy rags. We're not going
to stand before God. Oh, but His righteousness, charged
to us, robed in His righteousness. He said, you buy me. Gold tried
in the fire, white raiment that thou mayest be clothed. that
the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. Now, this ought to
give us some indication. Now, wait a minute. This eyesalve
that is bought of the Lord by faith, we don't have anything
but it gives us faith. Eyesalve, what? That we may see.
Now, this eyesalve, Let's turn over to 1st John 2. 1st John
chapter 2 verse 20. 1st John 2 20. This ISAF. How do we see? How do we spiritually
see? Well 1st John chapter 2 verse
20 says, and ye have an unction, an anointing from the Holy One.
You know all things. Look at verse 27 of 1 John 2.
Verse 27. But the anointing which you have
received of Him abideth in you, and you need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing, teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you
shall abide in him." So now, the Lord said over in Revelation,
He said, you've got, by me, by gold tried in the fire, and righteousness,
by His, by faith, and that I saith, Again, that you might see. And
John tells us, now you've got an unction from the Holy One.
You've got this unction that you have on anointing, verse
27. You've received it and He abides
with you. Alright, but now here's where we're going to come to
the conclusion of this. Look at John, the Gospel of John,
chapter 14. John 14, verse 26. What is this unction? What is
this eye salve? What is it? What is it? The Lord
spit on him, spit on his eyes, put his hands on him. He said,
buy of me the eye salve that you might see. Look at verse
26, John 14, 26. But the comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you. He said over in 1 John, He said, you have an unction.
You're taught. He abideth with you. He's going
to instruct you. What is the Spirit? What does it represent in the
healing of this blind man? The spiritual, the physical,
yes, He did heal him. He did heal him. We'll look at
it in a minute. But how is every sinner, every vessel of God's
mercy, how do they see? How do I understand? The Spirit
of God's got to teach us. The comforter, back in 1426,
but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I said unto you. What is it gonna
take for me to see? It's going to take the Spirit
of God, that's what the Lord just said, John 14.26. The Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, He shall teach you all things. Now back in our passage, back
in Mark chapter 8, here's the Lord, He comes to this man and
He's going to teach him something. What is normally, naturally speaking,
a reproach to men by nature. You spit on somebody. The Lord
did something mercifully. I was thinking to myself, what
believer would say, I consider it a reproach that the Lord would
come and show me how he teaches his people by the anointing of
the Holy Spirit. You think that spit was a reproach
to that man when he saw? The world by nature, I understand
the world by nature. They hear the gospel of God's
free grace. Sovereign grace. That God saves
sinners on purpose. According to His will and His
good pleasure. Chosen before the foundation
of the world. Man by nature hates that message.
But it's the Scripture. This is the revelation of God.
That which is a reproach to men is precious to you that believe.
He's precious. It comes to this man. And the
Lord spit in his eyes, anointed the eye salve by which you see
the Spirit of God Himself. The spit from the mouth of the
Savior. is anointed this man. And God
put his hands on him. That's what he said back in Mark
chapter 8. He said he spit on his eyes,
put his hands upon him, and he asked him if he saw aught. Our Lord didn't need any information
from this man. You think the Lord who made him
who allowed him, by grace, to be blind? This man was blind
for the glory of God, for His good and for the glory of God.
He was a blind man. This man, if he's like me, he
would say, why was I born blind? Why was I so cursed? This was
for God's glory and His good. And the Lord, He spit in his
eyes and put His hands on him, hands of power. And he asked
him, what do you see? What do you see? The Lord asked
this man, not for the Lord's information, but for the man's
benefit and understanding and the glory of Almighty God. What do you see ought? He asked
him if he saw ought. And listen to what the man said,
verse 24. He looked up. and said, I see men as trees
walking. That man expressed two things. Number one, he expressed the
power of God to give him sight. He saw, but then he also admitted
his infirmity. I see, but I see men, but I don't
see them clearly. I see men as trees walking. Let me ask you this. Is this not the way we are? Is this not the way we see the
truth of the gospel? But do we not see through a glass
darkly? Is not our sight imperfect even
in regeneration. Because of the frailty of our
flesh, the light of God's grace often comes gradually. We see the Lord by faith and
we know Him to be our all and in all, but don't we long to
see Him more? Know Him more? Here's the Apostle
Paul declaring in the book of Philippians chapter 3, that I
might know Him. and the power of His resurrection,
the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death. We're translated from spiritual
darkness into the marvelous light of God's kingdom. But I'm going
to tell you something. All of us that are going to be
honest, we don't see the fullness of His kingdom. Let me ask you this. If I'd ask
you to give me right now, give me an explanation right now. I want a scriptural explanation
of sanctification versus justification. Tell me exactly what that means.
Well, I don't know if I'd tell you exactly what it means, but
I can tell you this. I know I'm a sinner in need of
a savior. I know that. Explain to me the
difference in imputation and impartation concerning God's
work of grace. Well, I don't know exactly, but
I can tell you this. I know that Christ died for sinners,
and I'm a sinner. I know that. What do you see,
Marvin? Well, I see men as trees walking.
That's what I see. I know that salvation's of the
Lord. I can't explain. Everything, but I know this,
Philippians 1 6, he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. I know that. Why do we
come back and come back? You know, I remember years and
years ago growing up in just free will Just religion, just false religion. And I actually remember thinking
of this. Well, if I've already walked
down the aisle and gave my heart to Jesus like the man told me
to do, and I repeated what he said, and then I did all that. He told me I was saved. OK, well,
why do I need to come back? I mean, once saved, always saved,
right? I mean, what's? Why do you show up every week
here? Why do you keep coming back? You know why? Because we see men as trees walking. And I want to learn. I need to hear. I need to eat.
I ate supper last night. But you know what? I plan to
eat again tonight, too. I need to hear. I need to, you
know. But the scripture says, After he, verse 24, he looked
up and he said, I see men as trees walking. The scripture
says, after that, he put his hands again upon his eyes and
made him look up and he was restored and he saw every man clearly. He saw every man clearly. You know, we learn, we learn
concerning men, don't we? Think of the first Adam. What
do we see of every man? Well, we see Adam, we know that
here was mankind. That was all mankind right there.
There he was in the garden. He couldn't maintain his innocence
before God. You know what I see? I can't
either. I don't have the ability to maintain
or sustain my standing before God. If God doesn't keep me,
if I'm not kept by the power of God through faith, what would
I do? I'd quit. I'd leave. I'd forsake
Him. I see the natural man. Here's
another man I see something of. I still see men as trees walking. I'm going to admit that. This
is an encouraging passage of scripture to me. There was a
guy back there that told the Lord. He admitted to the Lord.
He said, I just don't see clearly. I see men but they look like
trees to me. Trees that are walking. Does
that make sense? No. But he was honest. I see an old man in me. That's
what Paul said, I see in me, that is in my flesh. There dwelleth
no good thing. You that know him, do you see
that? You see that. You see men. You see a little
bit more clearly now. The longer we sit, the Spirit
of God teaches us by His Spirit, by that I salve of His Spirit.
We learn. We're taught. Here's a man, an
old man that's in me, and he wars against the new man. Scripture
declares that I see a new man by faith. I see him. I've told
you before. I just, I believe God. But I believe there's a new man
there. I can see by faith. I don't see him in me. Like I
said, I dare say you'd ever find a believer that would say, yeah,
I see that new man in me. Boy, I see the consistency of
walking by faith. You know what I see? I see helpless
sinners that need a savior. That's the evidence of a new
man that loves God, longs after Him. I see that by faith, that
new man created in righteousness. true holiness, but I'll tell
you who I see by faith. I see the man, Christ Jesus. I see us in our need. I see that old man in me, but
I see something according to these scriptures of the God-man
mediator, the savior, the surety of his people. I see Him who
the Scripture declares is the righteousness of the saints before
God, and by faith alone we see Him who is the express image
of the Father, He who is the way, the truth, the light. And
the Scripture says in verse 26, and we'll stop for this morning,
He said, and He sent Him away to His house, saying, Neither
go into the town, nor tell it to any. in the town. Now, the
Lord told this man to do something that apparently would seem strange
to us. He told him, he said, this is
what I want you to do. You go home. You go to your house. And
he said, I don't want you to tell anybody in this town what
happened to you. The Lord had revealed that he
had chosen to leave some to themselves that had shunned Him. Turn with
me, this will be the last scripture, next to the last, I'm sorry.
Proverbs chapter 1, I want to show you something. Proverbs
chapter 1. Remember when I read a while
ago that where the Lord had told Bethsaida, He said, woe unto
you. Mighty work done here. Look over
in Proverbs chapter 1. Look at verses 22 to 33. Proverbs 1. How long, you simple
ones, will you love simplicity and the scorners delight in their
scorning and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words
unto you. Because I've called and you refused,
I've stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But you've said
it not, all my counsel, and would none of my reproof. I also will
laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but
I will not answer. They will seek me early, but
they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge,
and did not choose the fear of the Lord, that they would none
of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whosoever hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall
be quiet from fear of evil. Let me ask you something. Does
God have the right to send his word where he will or withhold
it from where he will? Does he have that right? He doeth as he will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He told this man,
he said, you go to your house, but don't go to the town. Don't
go there. Don't go there. Go to your house. Oh, how thankful that God wouldn't
leave me to myself to do what was just set forth in Proverbs
chapter 1. Now here's the last verse. How
thankful I am for this conversation. Luke chapter 23. Luke 23. Oh, I think about how merciful I'm talking about myself,
I'm talking about me personally. How thankful that God wouldn't
leave me to myself. Here's that account of that old
thief on the cross. Came down to the last, how long? I don't know. He didn't have
long left, I can tell you that. He was already hanging on the
cross. And the scripture says in Luke 23.39, one of the malefactors
which were hanged railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ, save
thyself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
Remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. Jesus said unto
him, verily, truly, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with
me in paradise. I'm so thankful that God is pleased
to show mercy to undeserving sinners. You think that thief
was guilty? He said he was. He said, we're
getting exactly what we deserve. We deserve this. There's not
a believer here today that wouldn't say, if God left me to myself
and allowed me to do exactly what I want by nature, born in
Adam, if he left me to myself, I deserve the judgment of God.
I deserve that. But if God's pleased to show
mercy to me, and come and by His sweet, blessed Spirit, the
eye salve of His mercy, by His Holy Spirit, teach me something
of myself. Teach me. Teach me that I'm born
blind. And then show me. He opens my
eyes, but He's pleased to show me what He will, when He will.
We don't know everything. We do grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's why we come. We want to hear of Him that I
might know Him, be found in Him, His glory and our good. Amen.