Seeking once again the help of the Lord I would like you to turn with me to the second chapter that we read. The Gospel according to Mark chapter 7 and the text you will find in verse 34. And looking up to heaven he sighed and said, Epapha, that is, be opened.

Last Lord's Day we looked at the lady who came to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose daughter had a devil. and she came to the Lord Jesus seeking for his help and the Lord Jesus seemed to ignore her at first and so she moved on to his disciples and they also became frustrated with her and tried to encourage the Lord Jesus to send her away. but she continued, even though the Lord Jesus seemed to speak a harsh word to her, and yet she received those harsh words, acknowledging that she was lower than the Jewish people, she did not deserve the mercy of the Lord, but she cried to him for help, saying, Lord, Lord, help me.

After that encounter, the Lord Jesus moves on and he departs from where he was and he travels again along the Sea of Galilee and comes to a place called Decapolis. And there he meets another crowd. another crowd of people bringing to him somebody who is afflicted, someone who was deaf and has a speech impediment. And often it is with those people who are deaf or unable to hear, they're not able to speak maybe at all, or they're not able to speak as well as they could. And so they have a speech impediment. And this person, this man obviously lived in the community and the community had a concern for him and so they hear of the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ and they bring him to the Lord Jesus naturally knowing that there was nothing that they themselves could do. It was a case that was beyond natural medicine, a case that was beyond their ability to deal with and so their only hope was to bring him to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The same with the with the lady who came to the Lord Jesus. Her only hope was the Lord Jesus Christ. Her only hope. No other was able to deliver her from her distress. The same with the lady with the issue of blood. She spent all that she had on physicians but only became worse. She tried the natural means, yet nothing helped her, so her only hope was to come to the Lord Jesus. And around him was a vast crowd, but even that did not hinder her. She pressed through the crowd and came to the hem of the garment of the Lord Jesus and immediately experienced healing.

And as we continue to look through these miracles of the Lord Jesus, we're constantly faced with the various needs of so many different people. the effect of the fall, the effect that sin has had upon the human race, the effect that sin has had upon this world and the inhabitants of this world, not just people but also the animals and even trees and plants are all affected by the fall. It is us that are condemned as we fall short of the glory of God. It is us that fall under the wrath of God and will experience that eternal punishment outside of Christ. But everything has been contaminated or been affected by the fall.

We look at the plants. They also get sickness. They're also attacked by pests and they're destroyed and they die. Look at the trees. Trees also experience sickness. They die. There are pests and diseases. that attack them. We look at the animal kingdom and the insect kingdom. It's all under attack constantly. There is that disease. They fight against each other. They kill each other. And then there is that natural death. And so everywhere we look, there is the effects of the fall upon the world. The Bible tells us the world groans under the weight of sin, waiting for the adoption. And so as Jesus travelled around, he sees multitudes that are sick. I think in our own country, over 200 billion pounds is spent or given to the NHS to help people who are unwell, such as the extent of sickness in the population. And there are people who try to help. people who help involuntarily.

But there are also massive companies that make their living from providing medication to be able to help people. But they're not like the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, he went about, he wasn't there to profit himself. He wasn't there to gain financial support by his ministry. It was not like these vast pharmaceutical companies that trawl in millions and millions and millions of pounds in profit, although we're so thankful for them, yet behind their their research is the desire to make money.

And as we look around us, how thankful we are for the ability that has been given to man. But we must always remember that it is an ability that has been given to man. It is God's mercy that gives man wisdom and understanding to be able to provide medication and help for the fallen creatures. We take, say for instance, a paracetamol, something that we take every single day. Probably we take it without even considering we've got a headache, we've got a tummy ache, we've got some pain. We take some paracetamol or some Panadol and we forget all about it.

If we look back, if we climb up the ladder as to where did that come from, where has that medication come from? It came from research, it came from scientists and chemists. But then where do we go even higher? Keep going up and up and up. The source is God. It must always draw us back to God. God has given man knowledge and the ability to research. It is him who opens the understanding that new treatments are found. It is him that has made ways possible that before were impossible. And if we look at our own country, the things that are available to us here in this land that are unimaginable in other lands, We trace it all back to the goodness of God.

The effect of the fall brought sickness and death, but through God's mercy and through his grace, there are ways by which this suffering may be alleviated by the means that he has given to us. These means were not available in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ and so they have this death and this man with the impediment in his speech and so they bring him to the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only did the fall affect the soul but it also affected the body. Before Adam fell there was no sickness, there was no suffering but the fall when he sinned against God, when he broke that relationship because of his rebellion, the curse was placed upon him that there would be that, the thorns and the thistles and the sweat of his brow, would he labour to provide food for his family.

And so from that moment, the whole world has always been groaning under the weight of this curse. the world working against the inhabitants of it. Yet God is still in control. God uses these sicknesses to bring about his own purposes. He, he, he, he, he, as he says to Moses, it is him who makes the deaf and the dumb and the seeing and the blind. At his own discretion, the Lord allows sickness and disability to enter into individual lives. This can be quite hard for us to understand, especially if we are outside of Christ. If our hearts are hard by nature, we will never receive the truth of God's holy word. We will never fully grasp the reasons why God permits things to take place in the lives of people.

With this man, one disability may cause another disability. His deafness may have caused his speech impediment. And another person may have a different disability, and that may affect the way that they walk, and that may affect then another part of their body. And so it seems that one disability makes another disability, and that person's life seems to become harder and harder and harder.

And if we forget that God chooses at his discretion those by which he afflicts affliction, then it will be very difficult for us. If we forget that God is in control, If we do not humble ourselves to the sovereignty of God, if we do not climb the ladder of all things and come, as it were, to the top of the ladder and see God as sovereign, and to see that He allows these things to take place. And He says with His own lips that He does so.

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. that he may exalt you in due time.

Moses says, look, I can't speak. There's no point in sending me to the Egyptians. They're not going to listen to me because I can't speak. I'm of a slow tongue. And God says to him, and Moses said unto the Lord, Lord, oh my Lord, I'm neither eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.

We could say, like this man, I've got a speech impediment. I have a disability. There's no point in using me as a spokesperson for I have a disability in my speech. But the Lord says to him, look, Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

For the Lord says, it's me at my discretion. I allow one person to speak, and I stop another from speaking. I allow one person to hear and I close the ears of another. I allow one person to walk this world with a healthy body and another person to walk this world with a disabled body, a body that doesn't function properly as it was created to do so. It is God.

And if we can climb that ladder, this is how I was trying to view it in my mind, if we can climb the ladder, get out of the mindset and get to the top and see God for who he is in control of all things. He allows things to take place. He permits things to take place. He causes things to take place. for his own glory.

Moses was of a slow tongue and yet the Lord used him as his messenger. Although because of his complaining he brings alongside somebody to help him.

Maybe we have a disability. Maybe we, our body, is not functioning as it should be functioning. Maybe there is something that has taken place even in this last week that has made you feel inadequate or less than other people. A disability can often make you feel like you don't fit in. You can't achieve what other people are achieving. Your disability is slowing you down. It is hindering you. It is stopping you. And maybe that disability has made you think that God doesn't like you. That's how the devil can tempt us.

And Moses says, look, I can't speak. I can't do the job that you've given me to do because I've got a speech impediment. And that speech impediment caused him to think, well, I'm disabled. I'm not able to do what God wants me to do because of my disability. And then you can go on from there and you think, well, if God liked me, he wouldn't have allowed me to have this disability. If God was really loving and kind, then he would not have allowed me to have a body like this. That is how Satan whispers in the ear. Satan delights to make people sink into despair and to look away from God as sovereign and loving and merciful and kind and powerful. He might even tell you that this has taken place, that you're disabled because of your own sin.

As I was thinking of that, I remembered what the disciples said. The disciples, when they came with the Lord Jesus, they saw a man who was blind from his birth. blind from his birth. And they said to Jesus, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? That was their immediate thought. Somebody must have committed a specific sin so that this person has been punished with blindness. Was it him? Did he commit a specific sin that he was born blind? Or was it his parents? Maybe his mum and dad in their youth committed a sin, therefore the Lord punished the children because of the sins of the parents. And often we can think like that. something may happen in our life and it may be because of a sin. And we may be able to trace it back and think, yes, that is right, the Lord has punished me because of that specific sin. But not necessarily.

And it's done in an individual basis that if the Lord is dealing with us as an individual, he will make us aware as to why he has brought something into our lives. because he's a loving father. If you discipline your children, you discipline them and you make them aware of what you are disciplining them for. You've stolen a biscuit. You've spoken badly. You've told a lie. You'll make them aware as to what you have done. You don't just whack them or shout at them for no specific reason. And how much more, as Jesus says, you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more your loving Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask of him. He is the pinnacle of love. He is the example of true fatherhood and therefore he will deal with his children in a perfect way. And so if something has happened in your life, the Lord will make it very clear to you as his child as to why it has happened.

Other people may look on and they may think, well, it's happened because of that, or it's happened because of this. And they will begin to speculate as to the reasons why God has maybe made you disabled or brought some difficult thing into your life, just like the apostles did. But Jesus says, no. Neither has this man done any specific sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. And this is how it is with the Lord's people. The people of the world, yes, they suffer disabilities and as we see that there are those who are born with severe disabilities and they're unable to comprehend, they have brain damage and they are extremely disabled. And we can say that God is a just judge and he knows exactly what he is doing in the lives of those types of people and we can be sure if their brain does not have the ability to comprehend the truth that he will bring them to himself to be with him forever and ever because Christ died for them. They have no ability to comprehend the truth because such is their disability. then we know that God is a just God and he will never cast somebody into hell who does not even fully grasp the sense that they've even been born. We know then that he will bring them to himself.

But in the life of a Christian, the life of a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever takes place, however difficult, however hard, however debilitating that disability may be, God has worked it for a purpose. Those who look on should not seek to interpret the dealings of God with others, because he himself will make it very clear to them as an individual.

And when we see those whom are afflicted, those who are disabled, those who are struggling. What should it do to us? Instead of thinking, well, that's happened because of that. That puts us there in the judgment seat. That puts us there in the place where God sits. What should be drawn out of us? is a concern, it is a compassion. For if the Lord has afflicted one part of the body of Christ, then that should cause the other parts of the body of Christ to express concern and compassion for that one.

Just like these Gentiles, Their friend was deaf. Their friend had a speech impediment. They couldn't help him, so they bring him to the Lord Jesus Christ. They showed compassion, just as the Lord Jesus Christ showed compassion to the multitude, so they show compassion. Look at the world, as I've said, how much money is spent on dealing with sickness, Sickness has a tendency to draw compassion out of people and we want people to have a comfy and a nice life but more than that, more than that, we see people as believers, we see people who are sick in sin, separated from God,

And as these people brought the man who was deafened and with the impediment to Christ, so we seek to bring those who are spiritually deaf, spiritually blind, spiritually mute to the Lord Jesus. It draws out from us a compassion. See, everywhere Jesus went, Everywhere we go, there's always a need. There's always somebody who's unwell, somebody who's suffering. We always see some disability. And it was with the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever he went, there were those who were sick and they came to the Lord Jesus.

What is interesting with this place especially, this place of Decapolis. It is the same place where Jesus went and he met the man who lived in the tombs of Gadara. The people of Gadara, they told Jesus to go away. We don't want you here anymore. He cast their pigs and the pigs ran down into the sea and the people chased Jesus away. He left them. But the man was told man was told to go and tell his friends how great things the Lord had done for him and had compassion on him.

What did he do? He went and published abroad and he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. And so here we see the fruit of this man's preaching. Decapolis was like 10 towns, an area of Gentiles. This man who had had his dwelling place in the tombs, Christ had restored him, cast out the demons. He sat at the feet of Christ in his right mind, and he wanted to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but Jesus said to him, no, go and tell. Go and tell all that I have done for you.

And he went and published throughout the whole region how great things Christ had done for him so that when Jesus came back, when Jesus came back, they brought to him others who were unwell and who needed the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, again, dealing with the Gentiles. Look how personally Jesus deals with this Gentile man. Remember the Jews would not have anything to do with the Gentiles, but not the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the light that came to those that sat in darkness, a light to the Gentiles.

They brought this man to the Lord Jesus Christ and they said to Jesus, lay hands on him. Sometimes we might perceive the way that we think Jesus is going to work. They say to Jesus, here's this blind and mute person, lay your hands on him. They were imagining this is how Jesus is going to work in this specific situation. But Jesus did something completely different. You see, Jesus does not always work in the way that we think he will work. His ways are past finding out. His ways are mysterious. He plants his footsteps in the sea. And here's a mysterious way that the Lord is going to work. He doesn't lay his hands on him. He takes his fingers and he puts them into his ears. But then he does something which, in our culture, would be totally shocking. He spits. and he touches with the spit, he touches the tongue of the man.

If you look at the historical background, you see that this was something that was not out of the ordinary. In the Roman culture and the Greek culture, they believed that spit, saliva, had medicinal purposes, and it was something that they used for part of their healing. This is very interesting, for we think spit is disgusting. And if you saw someone spitting, you think it was gross, you tear your children off. And we shouldn't spit children. But Jesus takes something that they know. He doesn't say to them, your culture is rubbish. You shouldn't be spitting. He doesn't say you shouldn't be farming in such a way. You should build a tractor and you should farm with bigger fields and industrialize everything. He doesn't say you should be fishing with a motorboat or telling them about other things. He leaves them in their culture. in their simplicity and he does something that they will know that was relevant to them at that time. And so he spits on his finger and puts the finger onto the tip of the tongue and the man immediately is able to hear and is able to speak.

It was an unexpected response to what they had asked Jesus to do. But it had a remarkable, instant miracle that took place. The man was healed. It was a personal touch, we could say. It was something that could be felt. We say, there's a hymn, isn't it, that says, real religion is more than notion, more than feeling. Something should be known and felt. And this man, he felt the closeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He felt the love of the Lord Jesus Christ as Christ took him aside from the crowd and dealt with him as an individual. And that's how Christ deals with all of his people. He deals with them all as individuals, as though they are part of the body of Christ. Yet he deals with them as individuals. He takes them aside. As we saw the other day, he took them aside for a little while to rest. And so he brings a sinner aside. He takes them out of the multitude. He takes them from the broad road that leads to destruction. And he brings them to himself. He tells us to come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, to separate yourself from the multitude of the world and to come and to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

He still uses remarkable and extraordinary means to save his people. As he puts his finger into the ears of this man, He gave his body as a ransom for sinners. As he takes the saliva and touches the tongue of the man, he takes his own blood, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he applies it to the heart of the sinner, the spiritual side of the sinner, and they're dealt with and their sin is washed away. And immediately, there is that response. Jesus says, be opened immediately. And even today, he speaks words to his people. He tells them to be open, to speak. of all that the Lord has done.

Just like Moses, who has made man's mouth, have not I the Lord? Be open and speak. It's like the Gadarene, go and testify and declare all that the Lord has done for you. But also he speaks to Lazarus, those that are dead in their sin, Lazarus, come forth. And he who is dead came forth, bound hand and foot in his grave clothes. But also he speaks. and says, your sins are forgiven. Son, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven. Daughter, thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace.

And these are all the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that he speaks personally to his people in that close encounter that they have with him as he calls them aside from the multitude and he blesses them as an individual and applies his word to their lives. And if he speaks, If Jesus speaks, who can hinder his words? Who can hinder that word from taking place? Nobody. No one can stand in the way of almighty God for he is all powerful.

He takes a Moses and he uses him as his spokesman. He takes the apostle Paul who said of him that he's weak in body and he uses him for his glory. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ. In his weakness was when he gained the victory. As he put on flesh, as he died upon the cross at Calvary, crucified in weakness, yet he gained a victory for his people.

So maybe you think that your disability hinders you from the work of God. Maybe you think that your disability is making you useless. But God, the Bible tells us, takes the foolish things of this world, the small things of this world, the things that the world thinks are not, and he makes them into something so that he will be glorified. That his strength will be perfected in your weakness.

Paul, a man, as it said, in his bodily weakness, yet how far did he travel proclaiming the truth? How much did he suffer for the cause of Christ? The thorn of flesh the Lord gave him to humble him and so that Christ himself would be magnified. What did they say when he had dealt with this man? He said he has done all things well. He always does all things well.

Whether the end of the matter is how we would like it, yet in the life of the Lord's people, whether we continue in our affliction, continue in our disability, the Lord has done all things well. He's done all things well for our soul. And our soul is of far more importance than our bodies, for our bodies will one day be restored and be made anew as we pass from this world into the next.

And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, be opened. Amen.

Let's sing our final hymn this morning. Hymn number 576.

576. Saved and saved alone by grace.
Saved to see my savior's face.
Saved from Satan's iron yoke and the law that I had broke.

Hymn 576, tune 490.

♪ And saved alone by grace ♪
♪ Saved to see my Savior's face ♪
♪ Saved from Satan's iron yoke ♪
♪ And the law that I had broken ♪

Safe from sin, that hateful foe,
That has millions plunged in woe,
Safe from all its reigning pow'r,
Safe to Zion's support.

How can I be condemned?
Jesus Christ, thou sinner's friend,
Took my place at angels' door,
Me to save forevermore.

♪ How the world goes in ♪
♪ That's where the comforts were there ♪
♪ Never can my soul destroy ♪
♪ I have saved eternally ♪

Dear Lord and almighty God, we do thank thee Lord for thy word and for the encouragement that it gives to us and we pray Lord that thou help us to walk under whatever cross has laid upon us and do grant us that patience and that endurance to continue to the end and Lord do use us, use the gifts that have been given to us for thy honour and glory. that we ask that we may be dismissed with thy blessing and to return us here this evening in peace and in safety.

And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit to be with you each now and for evermore. Amen.