We'll begin reading in verse
31. Mark 7, verse 31. We'll look at a statement that
is made at the end of this section. And again, departing from the
coast of Tyre and Sidon, He, that is Christ, came unto the
Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And
they bring unto Him One that was deaf, and had an impotent
in his speech. And they beseeched him to put
his hand upon him. And Christ took him aside from
the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and
touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed, and saith unto him, Epaptha, that is, be opened. And straightway His ears were
opened, and the string of His tongue was loosened, and He spake
plain. And Christ charged them that
they should tell no man. But the more He charged them,
so much the more a great deal they published it. And were beyond measure astonished,
these folks who were standing around and saw what took place.
And they said, He hath done all things well. He maketh both the
deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." I want to look at this
phrase. He, Christ, hath done all things
well. Now, whether this was spoken
simply because the man was made whole, I don't know. I mean, it's probable because
he sighed and took the man and performed the miracle, and it
said a lot of times people followed him because of the miracles that
he did. They didn't believe on him, they just were taken care
of by his miracles. But whether this was the case
or not, I don't know. I'm not sure of the motive behind
the statement, he had done all things well, but this one thing
I do know, The phrase itself is absolute truth. The phrase itself is absolute
truth. Now we remember another phraseology
of the scribes and Pharisees, which we know they were religious,
but they did not believe Christ. And they said, this man received
sinners. Now that statement, that statement is absolute truth. They didn't know what they were
saying, but it was true. So let's look at, He hath done
all things well. Men do one thing well, and others
perhaps another thing well, but the great I Am, the Christ of
Scriptures, does all things well, and entirely well. There's nothing
that He does that is not well and good for His people. as let
us behold as His children, that He does indeed do all things
well." Three areas. Christ, God, does all things
well as Creator, as Governor, and as Savior or Redeemer. He does all things well. This
statement in Mark chapter 7, as Creator. If you study, if you notice or
if you behold with your own eyes and survey the works of nature,
from the littlest things we can behold to the largest things
we can behold, the seas, the winds, the tempest, even the
whirlwind, all obey His every word. You don't have to turn
there, but in Matthew chapter 8, It is said specifically, Matthew
chapter 8 and verse 27, but the men marveled and said, what manner
of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? They do. Well, we could turn
to Job And Job, when he's talking to his friends in Job chapter
38, and then God comes back and speaks to Job and says, answer
me this if you can, where were you when I laid the foundations
of the world? Where were you when I sent the
tempests? Where were you when I made the clouds? It's just this kind of language.
And it's in chapter 38 verses 1 through 11. You can go look
at it when you go home. Everything God is asking Job,
he says, so what, where were you when I did all this? as Creator. And Peter, remember Peter, when
Christ was coming to them, walking on the sea, and it was stormy,
and Peter says, well, can I come out with you? He jumps out, he
saw the winds, he started to sink, Christ caught him, brought
him back in the boat, and the winds ceased. He controls all
these things. And Jonah, Jonah chapter 4, he's
all mad, didn't want to be where he was at. So the Lord Raises
up a gourd. And it says Jonah was exceeding
happy for the gourd. And then the Lord sent the worm. He controls everything. He controls the plant life. He
controls the insect life. He controls the big fish that
swallowed Jonah. You can look at that in Jonah
4 verses 6-11 and see the control. that the Lord has on the creation.
He created it. And what did He say in Genesis
when He was creating the different things? The Lord saw and it was
good. As a matter of fact, that hymn
that we sang, it said that in there. I didn't tell Nathan what
I was going to preach on. I never do. Usually, that first
hymn just fit right in. Yes, indeed. These passages,
and many more, show that God's ways may not necessarily be our
ways. You know, if you're a farmer,
you don't want it to rain now. Or you may want it to rain. You want to have a good winter
wheat harvest. But somebody else doesn't want
rain. He does all things well. And
the believer is thankful. The believer is thankful. So
it may not necessarily suit our ways, but He does all things
well and has purpose in it for His glory. Everything He does,
whether we understand it or not, is for His sovereign glory, for
His honor, His exaltation that men should fear before Him. So,
He does all things well, says our text in Mark chapter 7. He hath done all things well
in creation. He's the Creator. Secondly, as
governor, or that is as controller over all things, again, survey
the wonders of His providence at any time in human history,
and we must declare He has done all things well. We also must
remember that we are the potter and He's the clay. He's the clay. And though we often do this,
We question His sovereign, majestic purpose of grace to souls so
undeserving, so ill-deserving as we are, but we often question
what He's doing. Scripture says He doesn't give
His account to any. He's God. He's on the throne. He's for His people. Look at the life of Joseph. If
you look back at Genesis and you just read, I just love the
story. It ebbs and flows in its totality. Every event,
every cog in the wheel of what we call Joseph's existence, it's
all meshing together. If you remove one event, the
story, the lesson fails. But they don't. And I love this
passage and I go to it frequently. Genesis chapter 50, after Joseph
has almost lived his whole life, he hasn't lived completely. In Genesis chapter 50, you look
at his ups and his downs, his heartaches, his trials, his tribulations,
his loss, extreme difficulties of his life. And even he says,
mimics what is said here in Mark. God hath done all things well,
because this is what He says in Genesis chapter 50 and verse
20. But as for you, He's talking
to His brethren. They sold Him into slavery. You
thought evil against Me, but God meant it unto good to bring
it to pass as it is this day to save much people's lives. Everything God does, He does
for His honor, His glory, and for His redemptive substitutionary
work. of Christ on the cross. History,
we say B.C., A.D. I know they're changing that.
They've already changed it. But it's B.C. and A.D., after
death, before Christ. Everything points to the cross. Many people today will be talking
about His resurrection and this and that and all these different
things. Yes, we glory in His resurrection because without
the resurrection there is no eternal life. But everything has purpose and
God's purpose. Good, He meant it for good. Or well, He meant it for well. Joseph rightly sees God upon
the throne of universal dominion and give thanks unto God for
what he had. He was instilled in the slavery.
He gave thanks unto God. Everything that God did is good.
Potiphar, Potiphar's wife, going into jail, being forgotten by
the baker, all these things which we call bad, humanly, everything. God meant it for good. Now that's
somebody who understands God's on the throne and does what He
wants to. And again, but He's for us. He's
for His people. He's not against us. He sent
His Son to die on the cross. And I remember reading an article
about an old believer who was giving thanks at the dinner table
and he had water and bread. That's all he had. But he said,
what? Bread and water and Christ too? See, we don't, and especially
in this country, we have surplus. We have more and more and we
want more. What if God takes it away? Can
we still, like Joseph say, He meant it for good. He meant it
for good. God help us to be like Joseph. God help us to be like this old
believer. and please Christ. That's everything we have, we
have from you. Thirdly, He does all things well
indeed in creation as Sovereign or as Governor over all nations.
But thirdly and lastly, He does all things well as our Savior,
as our Redeemer. I ask you to contemplate the
splendor of His grace imputed unto His sheep by the ways and
actions of the God-man, the scheme to rescue fallen sons and daughters
of Adam's race was well planned, was well executed, well timed,
and well ordained in its consummation and fulfillment. So why did Christ
come when He came? I don't know. It wouldn't matter. The redemption story would still
have to be sung. He who cannot err must do right
and must do exceedingly above all we ask or think. In 1 John
it says, Brethren, it does not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is. For He in redemption hath done
all things well. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. Who but the sovereign ruler over
and above all could plot such a stratagem as this? We wouldn't
have made somebody suffer. They would have just died easily,
quickly. No, he must be bruised, spit
upon, mocked, laughed at, ridiculed, crown of thorns, yanked, pressed
on his head, blood. He must go to the garden and
sweat as it were great drops of blood. to honor His Father
and to save His people from their sins. We wouldn't have planned it that
way. That's why it shows time and time again this book is inspired
by God. Man could not think of all the
stories of redemption that all point to Christ in this book. Man would have to get his glory.
Man would have to get his credit. He'd have to do something to
show me, me, me. No. God says, I'll be glorified in
love. He says He doesn't share His
glory. He does not share His glory. Who but the Immaculate
Redeemer, the pure, sinless Son of God could and would, by the
sacrifice of Himself, put away our vile corruptions forever. Who would do that? Who would
die for sinners? It says in Romans, even a good
man, some would dare die. But God commended His love towards
us. Sinners. Sinners. These people are put in jail.
Forget about them. We're out of sight, out of mind
society. Throw it away. Don't think about
it. That's what we do with criminals. I don't want them living next
to me. He sent His Son for the most
vile, the most wicked. And that's what this place is.
It's a place where sinners gather together. This is redemption song, what
we're talking about. He had done all things well.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. It is the most holy of
stanzas. It's the most sweet of songs.
Matter of fact, David said it's sweeter than honey, sweeter than
a honeycomb. It's the most complete of songs. It is finished was the final
cry on Calvary's tree. It is finished. What? Redemption. There's nothing left for you
to do. I've done it all. Come to me. Come unto me, all
you that labor and heavy laden. You don't need to walk an aisle.
You don't need to pray a sinner's prayer. You don't need a priest
to absolve you, which they can't do anyway. You don't need these
things. You don't need to go to Joseph Smith. You just need
to come to Christ. As old brother Scott Richardson
said, believe on Christ and don't move a muscle. If you're walking
out, you're coming to another sinner. I have no redemption.
I speak about redemption. This song is the most well thought
out among any transactions between heaven and earth. And that's
why David said, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within
me, bless his holy name. Because he had done all things
well in creation, as a governor, as a redeemer and savior. But
also, I got to thinking about this, and Bruce mentioned it
in Bible class, we do what we do because the love of Christ
constrains us to service and obedience. So too with Christ. The love of His Father constrained
Him. It's in a higher sense and it's
a higher degree. The Son of God laid down His
life, a ransom for many. We could look at Luke 12 and
verse 50 where it said He had a baptism He'd be baptized with,
and He was straightened until it was accomplished. Constrained. Hmm. Compelled. Yes, Christ was compelled. And
yet no man took His life. He laid it down. He's hanging
on a cross. And He says it's finished. This is a Savior, a Sovereign
we're looking at. But He's presented as weak, effeminate. He can't do what, you know, unless
you help Him. No. He did it all. and has done it all. He was mocked and ridiculed to
come down from the cross by His enemies, and yet He must need
suffer, bleed and die, and then raise again on the third day.
Because the Scriptures tells us in Revelation 13 that He was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It was all ordained
of God to be so. It is well, he had done all things
well as creator, as governor, as redeemer. Now I ask, this
is the last point. Why do we have such difficulty
believing this? We know this every day and yet
we get aggravated. We read the news, we listen,
we get aggravated. Now, let's look at some difficulties
in seeing and acknowledging these truths to us. He had done all
things well. First, because we judge in unbelief. We judge by sight and not by
faith. We judge by sight, not by faith.
We say or we blame secondary causes or, I hate this word,
luck. It's not biblical. Believers
don't use that word. We blame luck. I got a little
parenthesis, ouch. We blame a cruel enemy. We blame
the weather. We blame anything. No, is not
the Lord, over all the weather, blessed forever? Is He not blessed
over all forever? Scripture says. But we judge
the things by what we see, not by faith. Secondly, we judge
things in time and sense selfishly. There's many examples of this.
Ezekiel chapter 24, the Lord blinded Ezekiel through a stroke. That's not a good thing. It was
good for him and it was profitable for him and his ministry. Ezekiel
24 verse 16, I've never seen that before. The Lord brought
a stroke by. But we judge things in time and
sense and selfishly. How is this affecting me? He
hath done all things well. Romans 8.28. Thirdly, we judge
carnally. It is well when all is well. Right? When I'm doing good at
work, when the money's coming in, the bills are paid, I've
got plenty of food, I've got plenty of clothes, The elections
are going like I want them to. All these different things. When
everything is well, it's well. That's carnal. Should not the
vine be pruned? Who lets a grapevine just grow
and do its own thing? Sprouse. No, you trim that. That's what the Lord does with
us. Shouldn't the ground be plowed? Turned over? Are the gold refined? Yes. Yes, it should be. But we are often fleshly. We want things of ease and comfort. Fourthly, we judge things, situations,
circumstances prematurely. And that's our big problem. Prematurely. When we're walking down the sidewalk,
and we see a home being built, and there's a footer, and that's
all that's there, and there's lumber scattered about everywhere,
do we say, well, that house isn't going to be any good? We don't
know. We don't know. But that's how
we judge. We only see the foundation laid.
Let us, as one person said many years ago, let us stay till God
is done. Let us hold our judgments until
God is done. But we look at things prematurely. Deuteronomy chapter 32, let me
read you this one. 32 verse 4, speaking about God,
He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all His ways are judgment,
a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right as He." And Christ
said Himself in John 13, He says, you don't know what I'm doing
now, but you will later. And a lot of times, we don't
know what He's doing right now. But as He brings hope, Patience. Experience. That's what Bruce
was talking about. Let us not judge things prematurely. Does it look like God is on the
throne? Does it look like God is in charge of everything? It
doesn't look like it, but we know He is because the Word is.
And the Word is without error. The Word does not lie. If it
does, we'll just shut everything down and just go eat and drink
and be merry. No. He's on His throne. So I close,
let us wait on our God. He does all things well. Whether
it's what we can see or can't see, whether He's created different
things, He has for us. In providence, you look back
over your life and perhaps you can look over it like Joseph
and, you know what, I'd have made that decision, I'd have
done this, I'd have done that. It's all for our good. and in
grace and salvation. He saves through the foolishness
of preaching. How can you believe on Him whom you have not heard?
You're going to hear the truth and Christ will call. And when
He calls, you'll come. That's our desire for our children.
That's the desire for our friends, our neighbors, our family. Let
us therefore look only to Him Let us seek Him, adore Him, and
honor Him. May He give us grace to do this.
Because He hath done all things well. Bruce, would you close
this?