Thank you, Robin, for playing
for us so skillfully, cheerfully, willingly. John, thank you for
singing. Thank you for praying for me.
John, the Lord told me to go show John again the things you
hear and see. The blind receive their sight.
The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The
deaf hear. The dead are raised up. The poor
have the gospel preached to them. You want to hear that again,
brother? I need to. Matthew 15. Matthew chapter 15. As you surely know by now, I've
been reading through Matthew. That's why we're looking at it
so much. I ask the Lord, and if you want
to know how to read God's Word, First, pray before you read,
because you'll not get anything out of it. The Lord must speak
to you through His Word. He must bless you through His
Word. This is not just words on paper, not just any book.
This is the voice of God. But it's only a blessing if He
speaks to you. If you just read a story, it
won't bless you. But if He speaks to your heart,
So ask him before you read, Lord, please, I don't want to just
read words. I don't want to just be reading
my Bible. I want you to speak to me. I need you to speak to
me. Lead me, guide me, direct me, instruct me, give me peace,
comfort me, chase me, reprove me, rebuke me. He does all that
through his word. I do. I ask him, Lord, speak
to me, and he's not going to God speaks through men. He uses
men, this earthen vessel. For me to be a blessing to you,
I've got to be blessed. So I'm reading, and things like
this just like spoken out loud to me. I love when that happens.
I love them when that happens. Look at verses 29 through 31
with me. This is our text. Matthew 15, 29, Jesus departed
from Thents, that's Tyre and Sidon, came nigh unto the Sea
of Galilee. Now this was a long way. He walked
a long way. And He went up into a mountain
and sat down there. Great multitudes came unto Him
again, having with them those that were
lame, and blind, and dumb, and maimed, and many others, and
cast them down at Jesus' feet. And He healed them, insomuch
that the multitude wondered, they were amazed, full of wonder,
when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to behold, the lame
to walk, the blind to see. And they glorified the God of
Israel. Now, this is all connected. All of God's Word goes together. Our Lord just went all the way
to Tyre and Sidon, which is the furthermost, northernmost part
of Israel. It's right at the end of Israel. The uttermost parts of Israel. That's where He went to save
to help one desperate woman. One. He walked hundreds of miles. And her daughter, her daughter was possessed of the demon, vexed. And the Lord healed her. The Lord is very merciful. Here
in verse 32, The Lord said, I have compassion on the multitude.
He's very merciful, full of compassion. And one place it says, He healed
all those who had need of healing. You know, if anybody really asks
the Lord, calls on the Lord, He'll hear them every time. Amazing. If you need His help,
because vain is the help of man, Kept quoting that this morning,
Lord, I can't help anybody. I can't help myself. Vain is
a help of man, but God is a very present help. He is our helper,
our healer, our friend. If you need help, you and your
daughter and your son, I urge you to cry. To keep calling,
like this woman, you know the story, she came to our Lord and
he ignored her at first. She thought he's not hearing
me. What'd she do? She kept crying. Don't quit crying. If you have
great need, he helps, he saves. And he does it by this gospel.
You know that? This is the power of God. The
gospel is the power of God. Once I was foolish and sin ruled
my heart. I was blind, dumb, lame, maimed,
a leper. And such were some of you. But
God, how did He heal you? He sent His Word and healed you.
The gospel, the power of God. Thank you, John, for praying
for me. I fully expect the Lord to bless you this morning. Paul kept saying that. Pray for
me, brethren, that the Word of God will have free course. What
do you mean free course? I mean run well, run into the
hearts, run straight to the hearts of the hearers. I shoot an arrow
at a venture, like that young man. And I'm hoping, I'm hoping
and praying that arrow will hit straight in the heart of somebody
that needs it. And our ways are not his ways. You know, I think
Sally needs this man, and I'm aiming at her, and she doesn't
get a thing. I aim at her, I keep an aim at her, and she doesn't
get a thing. Well, over here, Kate, it hits her. That's the way. No flesh is going
to glory in any way. No man's going to get any credit
for this. And the Spirit blows where it's listed. But, but,
God, rich in mercy. He said, you ask, you'll receive.
He said, you seek, you'll find. You call. But verse 29, look at this. It
says he departed from there. He went all the way to save this
woman. The gospel has come a long way. Do you know that? Do you
know how far the gospel came to get to Rocky Mount, Virginia? Are you listening? Do you know
how far it is to that little country in the Middle East over
there called Jerusalem where the gospel began? And here it
is. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
great mercy and grace, you know? But it departed Jerusalem, and
it'll depart here. Don't take it for granted. Don't
take this place for granted, and may I be so bold as to say,
don't take your preacher for granted. Pray for him. Pray, pray without ceasing until
the Lord answers, and it's certain. But these are the last days.
Time is short. This is a day of acceptable time. This is acceptable time. God
is accepting all applications for mercy. Everyone that applies
for mercy gets it. Do you need it? Do your son and
daughter need it? Keep calling. Right now is acceptable
time. But very soon, the door of this
article will shut. The door of this arch is going
to shut. Oh boy. And then everybody's
going to cry out. And he's not going to hear them.
That's something to think about. So don't quit crying. Verse 29
says, He came nigh unto the sea of Galilee, went up into a mountain,
and sat down there. Now, Galilee, the first time
it's mentioned significantly, is Joshua chapter 20. And the
first time Galilee is mentioned, was there a city of refuge in
Mount Naphtali in Galilee? That's the first time Galilee
is mentioned. He went up into a mountain of
Galilee. Why? Because he is the city of refuge. He is our refuge. Oh, my. He
went up into this mount. What mount? Again and again we
keep saying it, don't we? I keep preaching it. Mount Zion. His church. Brothers and sisters,
you've not come to Mount Sinai. You've not come to a place that
preaches the law. You're coming to a place, Mount
Zion, that preaches grace. You've come to Mount Zion, the
city of the living God, to heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company
of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
whose names are written in heaven, to the God, the Judge of all,
the Spirits of just men, justified men, made perfect. Our Lord Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant. And he goes on to say, see that
you refuse him not. And Hebrews began by saying,
harden not your heart in the day of provocation. Listen and
exhort one another so much more as you see the day approaching. So he went up into this mountain
and Genesis 22, Jehovah Jireh, you know what that It says, that
verse, just as 22, 14 says, in the mouth of the Lord it shall
be seen. What shall be seen? The glory
of God. The Son of God. And he sat down there. He sat
down there. Psalm 2, verse 7, the Lord says,
I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. The Lord, Isaiah 8 says, of hosts
dwelleth in Mount Zion. I love to tell this. I love to
preach this. I love to preach on God's Christ
Church as much as I do Him. He loves His people. He loves Mount Zion. He loves
the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Judah.
Do you? Someone was a little bit concerned
about the article that I put in the bulletin, the first one,
and I've had this in many times. It says, if you find yourself
loving any pleasure more than prayer, any book more than Bible,
any house more than the house of God, any table more than the
Lord's table, any person more than Christ, any people more
than God's people, any indulgence, that is self, what you do for
yourself, better than the hope of heaven, be alarmed. Did you
read that? And some of them was troubled
because they thought, I don't pray like I should. No, you don't.
None of us do. But what this is saying is, and our Lord said
it even more piercingly. He said, if any man loved father,
mother, husband, wife, son or daughter, his own life more than
me, and not my disciple. So I ask you, Really, from your
heart, examine yourself. See if you'd be of this faith.
Examine yourself and see. Is there anything that gives
you more joy than what we're doing right now? If so, be alarmed. If not, be
full of joy. Rejoice. It's not that way all
the time. I know that. Is it not most of
the time? that you find great peace and
great joy and great fellowship around the gospel, and there's
no place you'd rather be than right here in the kingdom of
God. Christ went preaching the kingdom of God, the kingdom of
God. That's the people of God. That's the house of God. That's
the worship of God. That's what people are doing.
Our brethren that have left this place, what are they doing? What
we're doing. Without ceasing. No distractions. It's their joy and rejoice in
their heart. They don't want to be doing anything else. Can
you say that? To some degree? Vanity of vanities. Everything
in this world is vanity. It doesn't satisfy it, does it?
Can you say that? Do you find satisfaction in this gospel?
Hallelujah. Well, you need to say hallelujah
if you do. Oh, my. Great multitudes came
to Him. Verse 30. Great multitudes came
to Him. He healed them all. All who had
need of healing. I have need of healing. You have
need of healing if you don't know it. Even if you don't know
it, you have need of healing. Spiritual healing. We all get
sick. We all have physical infirmities. And the Lord heals. If anybody
is healed, and I was talking to many this morning about how
amazed I am that the Lord keeps some of you old people. Some
of us older people still alive after all these... We're going
to see my mother today, 101 years old. And some of you have been
sickly ever since I've known you. You're still here. Is that not
confirmation that the Lord says, I kill, I make alive, I keep
alive. Why? To the praise of the glory
of His grace. And when your life is over, It's
over. And when he says so. And I'm
just amazed. Some of you people, we've got
six or seven people in their 80s. You're still here. You've
got lots of ailments, but you still look at you. Why are all
the 80s people on this side? I don't know. But, you know,
Roberta and Nancy and the Cheesleys and the Berries and the sickly
one, Richard, Bonnie, still here. Is that not confirmation
that you, that the Lord is in absolute control of your life? Sickness, wellness, whatever
it is. And if He heals us, and what
I'm trying to say is some of you have been through some real
sicknesses, haven't you sister? Some real sicknesses. All of
us have been through physical infirmities, serious ones. Why
are you still here? Yes, you do. Don't say, I don't
know. You do know. You know Him who is keeping you
here. And He's healed some of us temporarily. Temporarily. This healing won't
last. Something, we're going to die,
not by something, but with it. And that's all right, won't it?
My sister was 42 years old, the Lord gave her cancer. And boy,
we prayed and prayed and prayed. The Lord healed her, prayed and
prayed. She was such a vital member of the church, just a
servant of the church. You think of somebody we can't
do without her, and she was one of them. And the Lord took her.
We prayed and prayed that the Lord would heal her. And He did. He did! Our greatest need is spiritual healing.
You hear me? Revelation 5, go over to Revelation
5. Great multitudes came. There's
a great cloud of witnesses that speak of His glory, His grace,
His mercy, His compassion, His mercy to sinners, His healing
power over the blind, lame, halts, lames, the dumb. Great multitudes
came to Him and He healed them. You know, everyone that comes
to Christ, He heals them. You see, they saved them, every
one of them. Isn't it amazing? Amazing grace, amazing. Revelation 5, a great multitude,
it says in verse 6, I'll be held low in the midst
of the throne. It's chapter 7, a multitude no
man can number. But verse 6 says low, a multitude. low in the midst of the throne
of the beast, and that stood a lamb as it had been slain.
And down in verse 12, they're saying, all of them, verse 9. Here it is, verse 9. They sung
a new song. Thou art worthy to take the book,
to open the seals thereof. Thou was slain as redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, language,
and people, and nation, made us unto our God kings, that is,
sons of the king, priests. We shall reign on earth, new
earth. I beheld, heard the voice of
many angels round about the throne, beasts, elders, the number of
them ten thousand times, ten thousand, thousand and thousand.
That's a lot of people. In chapter seven, a number no
man can number. Why not me? Why not you? But I'm too simple. Oh, hold on now. There's no such thing. There's
no such thing as somebody too simple. He saves the chief of
sinners to show the great exceeding riches of His grace. Verse 12,
saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power. and His glory for His power and
riches of His mercy and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing in every creature in heaven, on earth, under the
earth, and in the sea. I heard them all saying, Blessing
and honor and glory and power unto Him that sits upon the throne
of the Lamb forever and ever. And they all fell down. Amen. Amen. Let the Amen sound from
His people again. Back in our text. Verse 30. So, great multitudes came to
him. They came to him then, and have
come to him from the beginning, and he received them all. Everybody
that came to him. Everybody that asked to receive.
Isn't that something? A great cloud of witnesses. And
you know, if anybody comes to him, he brought them. They wouldn't
come if he didn't say come. Have you come to Christ? Do you
keep coming to Christ? Do you? Simple though you be,
Huh? Are you better now? Cleaned up?
No, no. But you still keep coming? Why?
You still keep coming to hear this gospel? Why? Because he keeps saying, come
unto me. Come unto me. Go tell my disciples
and Peter. He's gone. No, no, he's not.
No, he's not. I told you to tell him to come.
And he came running. He not came running, Kelly. He
dove out of the boat to get there. Do you keep coming? Well, verse
30, it says, "...He had with them the lame, blind, dumb, maimed,
and many others, and they cast them down at His feet." You know, everybody that comes
to Christ is all of these things. Lame, blind, dumb, maimed, And
only at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, like Mary Magdalene
who cast out seven devils, was at His feet. That's where she
found healing. All who are brought to Christ
by His Spirit, and hopefully we'll look at Psalm 122, Wednesday. No promises. But it says, I was
glad when they said unto me. Let's go. You're coming with
me. I wouldn't have come. They were brought. So was I. Such were some of you. Such are
all of us by nature. You know that? Now, you've heard
this before. You've heard all this before.
I'm going to look at the lame and the blind and the dumb. You've
heard all this before, haven't you? But brothers and sisters,
I'm telling you, if you were blind and now you see, this is
your favorite story. Do you hear me? Is it not? Let's
ask Martin Mayles, what's your favorite story? Talk about him
healing the blind. That's what he did for me. You
never get over it. You never get over it. And you
know something? The older I get, don't say anything,
the older I get, The more I see, I need this same healing now
more than ever. Like in Laodicea, he said, you
don't know you're rich and increased with good, but you don't realize
you're poor, blind, naked, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
I counsel you to by eyesalve, to open your eyes up. You've
still got a lot of this in you. And there's one thing that heals
it. It's in His Word. I ain't blind. I do not walk by faith like I
want to. Blind? I'm still very blind to
Satan's traps and temptations and to myself. Dumb? My tongue just does not do what
it ought to do. Mamed? That is, all of my faculties
don't work like they should. Anybody? Everybody. All mankind is all of this by
nature. We're born that way. Ironically,
we're going to die that way. You know that? Physically. We
come out of the womb, you know, we can't walk. The older we get,
we're not going to be able to walk. Come out of the womb, we
can't see. You know that? Ladies can't really
see very clearly. The older we get, we're going
to lose our eyesight again. Isn't that ironic? If you don't
get better, you're going to revert right back. So what's your hope? That He sees you. That He knows
you. Your hearing goes. I say it. He even made the ear, didn't
he? Well, he's not here. So look at it, verse 30. They
brought unto him those that were lame. That's someone who cannot
walk. And we're talking about spiritual
lameness. Someone who cannot walk by faith.
Well, they walk by sight really very well. Someone who cannot walk by faith.
Someone who cannot walk with God. Some who cannot, and all
of these afflictions, not only cannot, but will not. We're all born this way. We cannot
walk with God. We cannot walk by faith. We will
not walk with God. We will not walk according to
His Word, according to His truth. Unable and unwilling. Ephesians
2. Go to Ephesians 2 with me. Again. Yes, again. Ephesians 2. Because
this is all of God's Word is connected in it. Ephesians 2. All of us were born this way.
Sons of Adam. Sinners. Brothers and sisters, this is
not just doctrine, this is a sad fact. It's a sad state of mankind. And such were some of you. But
God. We all were conceived in sin.
That is, our mothers and our fathers were sinners. We were
all born in sin. We came forth from the womb speaking
lies, full of self, full of love of self. No love for God. None. No thoughts of God. None. We come forth from the womb.
We cannot, will not walk. We crawl. We cannot walk by faith. We grovel. We cannot walk with
God and the ways of God. And the thing is, as soon as
a young human being, boy or girl, is old enough to walk, they start
walking and running into mischief. And you've got to do everything
you can to keep them from destroying themselves, don't you? You leave them alone? Does God
just leave them alone? Do you? If your parents don't keep an
eye on your babies, they don't. They'll destroy themselves. Curiosity, you heard the saying,
you know, Ruth and Grace are around every car, and I keep
telling you, you're going to get hit by a car, you're going to
get hit by a car. Curiosity killed a cat. It kills human beings,
too. Yeah, it does. Don't run out
there. That's what we do. Run to mischief. Lame. Look at Ephesians 2, verse
2. In time past, you walked according
to the course of this world. Just like the world. Where is
the course of this world? Where is the world headed? Where
is it headed? Destruction. Who are you walking with? There's only one that will take
you out of the city of destruction to the celestial city. It will
turn you from self-destruction. Only one. That's Christ. You
need to walk with Him, not the world. You need to quit listening
to Him. And we're going to get to this, death. You walked according to the course
of this world, the prince of the power of the air. holds people
in bondage. Spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation,
that's your life, your walk, your talk, everything, in times
past, the lust of our flesh, fulfilling desires of the flesh
and the mind, whereby nature, children of wrath, even as others,
but God. When this is over, they're all
going to glorify God for what He did to these lame people,
making them walk. Would you look at that? Would
you look at that? That fellow who would never come
to God's house, who ran away from it, is running to it. Look
at him. Look at her. Look, who is that
coming through this door? Mary Magdalene? Huh? How can this be? Grace. Sovereign
power. Not only one thing. Oh my. We walk living in sin,
for sin. Walk in the way of all flesh,
headed for destruction. Walking with the world away from
God, opposite direction. Walking in darkness, even as
others, but God. Even as others, but God. That's
sovereign election. Rich in mercy. Fetches you. You
know how you're going to come? How do these lame people get
to Christ? Somebody carried them. Somebody fetched them. Do you
ever remember, there's a story in the Bible about a fellow laying
on both his feet? He can't come. He was an enemy
too, wasn't he? He wouldn't come. He didn't want
to come. But David, according to his covenants, with the one
he loved, said, fetch him. Fetch him. Bring old Patrick
Holland to me. Who? He's an enemy by wicked
works. Bring him to me. Where is he?
He ain't coming. I didn't tell you to ask him. I said, fetch him. Fetch him
great. You want to hear that? He just
did. That's my favorite story. This
is my story. This is my song. Praising my
Savior all the day long. I once was lame. I didn't want
to come here. Any place I'd rather be than
here. Now, by God's graces, No place
I'd rather be than here. They said that about me. Paul's coming through that door. The prodigal son. God does
answer prayers in it. The blind. They brought the blind
to the Lord. Blind to the truth. Blind to
God. How could a human being be so
blind to God? When the heavens declare His
glory, the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day others
speak, night unto night showeth knowledge. The whole earth is
filled with His glory. How could scientists and doctors
and all these people be so blind to the fact that there is an
almighty, all-wise, all-amazing, wonderful Creator of all things?
How can they be so blind? Because they are. Because man's
blind. He's blind to God. He's blind
to man. You know, most people think there's
some good in mankind and we've got to get that good out of it.
That's not true. It's the opposite. You understand? There's none that doeth good.
Not one. Isn't that what it says? Every man in his best state.
Vanity. He's out for himself. That's the way we're born. Self.
No, there's not any good in everybody. If there's any good whatsoever,
it's the restraining grace of God. You understand? But people mistake people's kindness
and niceness and mercy and compassion and all that, as if that person's
a good person. No, they're not. God looks on
the heart. What about you? What do you find
in your heart? Huh? Goodness? Paul was about
the best man that ever lived, wasn't he? What did he say? In
my flesh. Well, no, he didn't. Wretched man that I am. Why do
you say that? He's opened your eyes. He's opened your eyes to see.
Why do you see God so clearly everywhere? He's opened your
eyes. Why do you see what's inside your heart? He's opened your
eyes. Why do you see the truth? You read it. The truth. You say,
there it is. Why do you see it? He's opened
your eyes. Entrance of thy word, give us light. Why do you see
man? Why do you see man for what he
really is? Where he's headed? What he's
doing? Why do you see? Because he opened your eyes. Why do you see Satan's wiles
and tricks and traps and gimmicks? Some of them. Why do you see?
He's opened your eyes. Vain is the net spread in the
sight of any bird. We've matted on wings of eagle.
I'm going to fall for that trap if you watch. Why do you see that Christ is
all and in all? Why do you see that? That there's
no hope of salvation anywhere in anybody or anything but Jesus
Christ. Why do you see that so clearly?
Just open your eyes. Just open your eyes. Christ is
the one that came and opened all these minds. You know, we're
blinded by flattery. We're still blinded. Man is really
blinded by flattery. And that's what Satan uses. Flattery. You can get anybody to do anything
you want them to do if you flatter them. You know that? Bribe them.
Bribe them. Promise them somebody else. The
most crooked, corrupt politicians. Everybody knows they're corrupt,
but if they start promising people, I'll vote for you. Flattery blinds us. Temptations
blind us. Lust of the flesh. Lust of the
eye. That's all that's in this Word. Covetousness, pride, prejudice
blinds us. Prejudice of self, family, blinds
us. My family's got it right. They
don't, oh, you're a son of Adam like everybody else. Isaiah 42, and I'll go over there
real quickly. Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Look at this. We are blinded
by so many things. And we're still blind at times
to these things, aren't we? Aren't we? Be honest. And the
scripture says there's none so blind as those that will not
see. And our Lord said just go blind their minds because they've
shut their eyes. Go stop their ears because he
said they have turned away their ears from the truth. Therefore,
I'm going to send strong delusions and they're going to believe
a lie. I'm going to show them a thing and they're going to see it.
It's an imagination. It's a mirage. It's a delusion
from God. When the truth is so plain and
men won't have it. Isaiah 42, but some do. Verse
1, Behold My servant, whom I behold, Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. You know you're elect in Him.
I put My Spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment, understanding,
to the Gentile. Verse 4, He shall not fail or
be discouraged till he hath set judgment, understanding, in the
earth. He's come and given us an understanding,
hasn't He? Hasn't He, Joseph? He's given
us an understanding. Verse 7, To open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from prison, them that sit in darkness
out of the prison. Oh, I'm free, preacher. I'm not
bound. I'm not in prison. We're sons
of Abraham, they say. You're blind. Look at verse 16. It says, I'll
bring the blind by a way they knew not. I'll lead them in paths
they have not known. I'll make darkness light before
them. We used to think like with darkness and darkness light.
We used to think bitter was sweet and sweet was bitter. Good was
evil and evil was good. Didn't we? Satan is saying, look,
isn't this good? Scripture says that's not good.
Don't go there. What do we do? Blindly go toward
that which is not good. He's opening our eyes. These
things will I do unto them? He says, I will not forsake them.
Don't let me lose you. Okay, some of you are getting
a little sleepy. Don't do it now. Come on. Come
on now. Open your eyes. Let us not sleep
as do others. Dumb. He came to heal the dumb. What's that mean? Can't talk.
They got a tongue, but it doesn't work right. They got lips, but
they don't work. Oh, they work a lot. They're
busy. That tongue's wagging all the
time, but not for what it was meant to be used for. If that tongue is used, if that
mouth is open, it's for cursing and bitterness. It's for bragging
and boasting. Isn't it? These tongues were
used, these lips were made for the glory of God, to give praise
and honor. Thank you. Thank you. That doesn't
come naturally, does it? It just does not come. Unto thee. Not unto us. Unto thee. That
doesn't come naturally. What comes naturally is me. Me. My. These children come out of
the womb. Me. My. What can you do for me? But God takes some of these selfish,
vainglorious, proud... If God's name is used by men
by nature, it's to curse Him! To blaspheme Him! God's name
is on the lips of most everybody today, isn't it? In praise, in
honor, in glory? No! In mockery! In blasphemy! Is it any wonder God's going
to destroy this place? Is it any wonder at all to you?
And should have done that to me. You know what I'm going to say
next, don't you? But God. Mercy. It says the Lord's mercies
were not concerned. The next person that takes His
name in vain, they ought to be giving Him thanks. Right there.
Shouldn't they? And we're still guilty. What
are we talking about? What do we talk about most of
the time? What do we talk to our children about? What do we
talk to one another about? Huh? What's in our mouth? What's on our tongue? What do
we talk about? People, things, politics, the
world, tomorrow, this and that, me and my. This tongue was used
to praise God, to glorify God, to thank God, to call on the
Lord, to sing His praises. So we've still got a lot of this
dumbness. Dumb! When we think of dumb, we think
of somebody that's stupid. Well, that applies to you. Doesn't
it? Yes, it does. Dumb. You ever do anything? You ever still do anything? That
was dumb? What's wrong with you? You're stupid? Are you still
dumb? And this inability to talk, comes
from not hearing. Everyone that's dumb can't hear. I was going to take you to Mark
7, where he healed the man that was deaf and dumb. And he had
an impediment in his speech, it says. If you can't hear correctly,
you'll have an impediment. Have you heard people try to
talk that can't hear? And I'm not making fun at all,
no, no, no, no. But this is a good illustration
because if you can't hear what God is saying, if you can't hear
the truth of you and what you are and who God is, you'll say,
I, I, I, me, my, my, my, I did this, I did that, I have, I,
I, I, it'll be I, I. That's the impediment in man's
speech, the personal pronoun, I, I, me, my, my. When he opens
your ears to hear that what have you had that you have not received?
And why would you glory if you hadn't received it? You know
what you'll be saved? No more I, me, and my. He, him,
and his. You'll take that impediment out
of your speed. And Katie took both that deaf and dumb out of
the city. He grabbed them by the hand and
said, you've got to come outside the camp to hear this. And the
first thing he did, Sally, was he put his fingers in his ears.
He put his fingers, he touched his mouth. What came from the
mouth of Christ stopped the ears of this devil. You can't open
a man's ears by stopping his ears. Oh yes, you can. The Lord's
got to stop you from hearing everything man is saying and
hear only His voice. Then you'll speak plainly like
that man. You'll speak plainly. What do
you say? Salvation's of the Lord. Unto Him be all the glory and
honor. The maimed. Lastly, the maimed. That's the disfigured. They brought all kinds of maimed
people. They were disfigured. One had this, the hands, the
feet, the head. Their bodies were disfigured,
crooked, broken, not working. Their faculties were not working
like they should. Brothers and sisters, by nature,
from the sole of our feet to the top of our head, our feet
don't work like they ought to. They don't walk with God. They
walk with the world. They don't walk in paths of righteousness.
They run to mischief. Our hands don't serve God and
others, they serve sin. Our heads are sick. Sick. Sick. Aren't they? But God. Oh, the power of God to fix a
mind that's broken. A heart that needs breaking.
A proud heart. Blind eyes, deaf ears, lame feet,
a broken tongue. Loosen that tongue and look down
at verse 31. It says, when the multitude saw
this, what Christ had done, was dumb to speak. Look at him. He wanted to be a rock star.
Now all he can sing is Rock of Ages. Would you listen to that? I never thought I'd hear him
singing the songs of Zion. It was mostly the songs of the
drunkards. Look at him. Would you look at this? He's
walking into the house of God. I've never seen him set foot
in that place. Now there he is. His feet, like
Mephibosheth, are under the table. That's where you find them every
Lord's Day, every Wednesday. That's where you find them. That's
where he wants to be. Why? Because God fixed him. Would you look at that? They said of that blind man in
John 9, it looks like that's not Him. That can't be Him. He's
changed. That's Him. That's Him. Who did this? The Lord Jesus
Christ. Really, it had to be God. There
was no hope for Him otherwise. And they glorified the God of
Israel. Who is the God of Israel? Jesus Christ.