We turn together this evening
to God's word and we'll turn to the chapter we read, the gospel
according to Mark chapter seven, and we'll read together the final
verse, verse 37. Mark chapter seven, verse 37. and were beyond measure astonished,
that is the people who were there, they were beyond measure astonished,
saying, he hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak. A couple of weeks ago I was on
the train coming down from work and there were a group of people
on the train, I think were heading to Gatwick, they seemed to be
going on holiday, and it became instantly apparent that they
were a group of deaf people. Because they were signing to
each other and conversing through sign language, the strange thing
was the carriage was quite silent, people generally weren't saying
much or talking to each other, but every now and again there
would be a peal of laughter from this group of girls on this train. Clearly there had been something
said between them in sign language and no one had any idea whatsoever
what they had been talking about. What was so impressive is that
this group were having clear, full communication between each
other. It wasn't the way in which I'm
speaking to you this evening. It wasn't how we would normally
talk to each other. It was in sign language, but there was
full communication. No one else knew what they were
saying, but they were able to converse with each other and
enjoy one another's company, and it was impressive to see. That would have been a very different
situation in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can we imagine
in those days being deaf and dumb or mute, unable to hear
and unable to speak? Things may have been able to
be sorted out with friends and family and so forth, but I'm
pretty sure I can say that there was no international sign language.
There was no people who were there to support you particularly
and to teach you. It would have been a very lonely
life. There would have been no real
meaningful communication. You would not really have known
what was going on and would not have been able to express your
thoughts, your desires, your feelings. You are effectively
locked in to your body, to your thoughts, to your mind. You can't
express yourself and you can't hear what others are saying to
you. It must be a horrible situation
even today with all the help you can have. It must be a very
frustrating situation. How much more so in the days
of our Lord Jesus Christ without the medical help, advisements
and support that we may have today. And that's the situation
that this person was in who was brought to Jesus. They were deaf,
they read and had an impediment in his speech, was unable to
hear and was unable to speak. Well, you and I today can all
hear and can all speak, and we're thankful for that. But spiritually,
this does also describe us. By nature, the way we are born,
the way that we live, Before we become a Christian, we are
both deaf and mute or dumb. And that is where we are, and
that is a situation that we cannot get ourselves out of, we cannot
heal ourselves or improve ourselves by our own ability. To be deaf
spiritually is to not really hear God's word. You may hear it with your ears.
And I think I can say all of us here have heard God's word
with our ears. Some of us who have sat under
faithful ministry for many years. heard the Word of God, read many
times, and we can probably recite passages of the Word of God.
We know it so well. We've heard it. But to be spiritually
deaf is to not really hear it. That is, for what we hear to
not have any impact on us at all. No effect on us. We know about God. We know about
his ways. We know there was Jesus Christ.
We know there was a gospel. a way of salvation, but it has
no impact upon us, no effect upon us. We come to a service
like this And as soon as we leave, it's as if we've never been there. We hear the reading of the word
of God, and as soon as we shut the word, it's as if we never
opened it. We do not think about it. We
do not meditate on it. We do not pray about it. It has
no impact on us at all. It's like speaking to a stone. something which is unresponsive. It's as if we were deaf. It's
as if it never entered into our head at all, because what we
receive into our ears does not go into our heart. By nature, not only are we deaf
to hearing the word of God, but we're also mute or dumb. And
that is, we do not really speak the things of God either. Again,
we may be able to say things. We may even be able to fool others
into thinking that we are a Christian. But by nature, until the Lord
blesses us, we do not really praise the Lord. We do not really
worship the Lord. Though we may attend a time of
worship, we may sing the words of the hymns, we may be able
to speak of the Bible, our heart is not in it. Like the word goes
into our ears but not into the heart, so the words come out
of our mouth but do not come from the heart. We do not really
mean what we say, and effectively we fit into the category of the
Pharisees that Jesus called hypocrites. By nature, we can be hypocrites. We can say one thing and mean
another. So we do not praise the Lord,
we do not have a testimony to speak of, that is, we cannot
say what God has done for us. Perhaps we've all been in those
situations, perhaps you feel like it. The time of your life
at the moment, there's a company of Christians and they're talking
about the things of God and you want to get out the conversation
as quickly as possible. You want to remove yourself because
you feel you haven't really got anything to say. You feel dumb. or mute, or it may be that you
have heard something, that God has blessed you in some
way, and yet you feel dumb, you feel mute, you feel that you're
being kept silent, and you're unable to speak. The fears that
you have, the looks of other people, the temptation to the
devil, whatever it may be, it keeps your mouth shut. You feel
you have a dumb spirit. So by nature we are deaf and
we are dumb. We do not praise God, we do not
pray to God, truly. We need a miracle. We need someone
to open our ears, that we may hear truly hear the gospel of
Jesus Christ, we need someone to loosen our tongues that we
may speak, to truly praise, to truly pray, and to truly testify
of his grace, to open our ears and to loose our tongue. Well, this account of this person
that was brought to Jesus is very instructive, full of lessons
and teaching for us. The first thing to notice in
this account is the desperate state of this person who was
brought. I mentioned a moment ago, deaf
and dumb would have been a very difficult life, a very hard life
in that time and in that society. It would be today, but it would
particularly be then. So there is a desperate state
here. There were no hearing aids, there was no people who could
help or to do any particular medical diagnosis and aid you
in any form of recovery. It was a situation that you were
stuck with for life. You would never come out of this
a desperate state. And that's the
same for us. Our deafness, our muteness is
a desperate state. It's something that we cannot
change, something that we cannot change for each other. It's something
which, by nature, we are with. It's our state for life, for
eternity. We are desperate. We are in a
poor condition like this person was. And yet, someone brought
him to Jesus. They bring unto him one that
was deaf and had an impediment to speech, and they beseech him
to put his hand upon him. They brought him to Jesus. There
was one way of hope. There was one who may be able
to help him, and that was Jesus. So they brought him to Jesus
and beseeched him. They pleaded with him that he
would heal this man, to put his hand on him. And Jesus heard
their beseeching and responded to their beseeching. So there
is hope for this man. No one else can help him, but
there's one man who can. And like that man, for us, it
is the same. There is hope. There is one who
can change our condition. There is one who can heal us. And now isn't that a wonderful
blessing? You notice that these men, they brought him to Jesus. And we can bring others to the
Lord also, to pray for them, to beseech the Lord that he would
touch their ears and their tongues, that he would bless them as well. Jesus heard their beseeching
and he hears ours when we pray to him. So they brought him to
Jesus. There was one who could help
and there is only one who can spiritually open our ears and
loosen our tongues. And Jesus heard them and he took
him aside from the multitude. He took him aside. He didn't
just deal with him quickly, I can put it that way, in a crowd of
people and move on. He singled him out and took him
to one side to have personal interaction with him. To one
side of the crowd. He had a personal concern for
this man. For that space of time, there
was just him and Jesus. He was alone with the Lord, as
he took him to one side from the multitude. There was a connection
there, a personal blessing. And that's what the Lord does
for his people. He takes them aside. they're his. Yes, they are one of a great
company of believers, but also they are individually his. And he takes them to one side
and there is made that connection between the Lord and his people
and his people and him. And he blesses them because he
has a personal interest in that individual soul. He will He desires
to open their ears and loosen their tongues and he will take
them out of the world and out of the multitude and he will
separate them to himself because he cares for them as an individual
soul. He took him to one side from
the multitude and put his fingers into his ears. He spit and touched
his tongue. He touched him. He touched him. It's a wonderful element of the
Lord Jesus' ministry. He touched people. Even the lepers
that no one would go near, no one would touch for fear of infection.
The Lord touched them. He had a connection with them. He had compassion upon them in
their state. He puts his fingers in his ears.
Now the Lord can heal in any way. Sometimes he healed by simply
speaking. You think of the occasion that
he made clay and anointed the man's eyes and sent him to the
pool of Siloam to wash. There are many ways, and here
was the chosen way at this time. I think it shows particularly
that the Lord is not bound in any particular way. He is not
bound by any form of nature. He can heal in any way that he
chooses fit. But here is a very personal way. This man who was deaf and dumb,
he knew who healed him. It was when Jesus touched his
ears and touched his tongue, it was then that he was healed. It was clear it was the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord takes us aside
and touches us. He's involved in our life, involved
in our walk, involved in bringing us to that time and touches our
heart. And that touch, makes all the
difference. That touch opens the ears and
loosens the tongue. That touch made all the difference.
He touched his tongue and then, looking up to heaven, sighed.
Looking up to heaven, he sighed. He looked up to heaven, where
God dwells, the power to come from hell and high, and he sighed. So striking, this word, he sighed. This word, in other parts of
the New Testament, is also translated, he groaned. He sighed or he groaned. There was a depth of feeling
here in the Lord. A depth of concern for the state
and condition of this man. We're reminded, aren't we, in
the New Testament, we're told that he is touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He feels the infirmities of man,
and he sighs, he groans over the state of this man, over what
sin has done. Man, as he was created in his
sinless perfect state, would not be deaf and would not be
dumb. It is the curse of fallen mankind,
the curse it brings in, brings this trouble and sickness and
illness. And he groans over the state
that the world has come into and the state that his creation
has been brought into. But how much more as he sees
the soul of his child, whom he has separated to himself, and
he sees the state therein by nature. He sighs and he groans
because he sees what sin has done to that soul. He sees what
the fall has done to his creation. And he sighs over our poor, helpless
state. He sighs and groans over what
sin has brought in. He sighs and groans over what
the devil, through his temptations, has brought into the heart and
soul of man. How far man has fallen, how desperate
his conditioning, how helpless his conditioning. And with a
heart of yearning compassion, he looks on his child and he
sighs and groans. Do you see how the Lord is not
distant and absent, but his very heart and soul itself is involved
in the yearning for the salvation of his church? He looked up to
heaven and he sighed, and he does the same over the souls
of his church today. And he spoke, Ephrathah, that
is, be open, the power of his voice. The same voice that spoke
the world into being, the light, the creatures, the vegetation,
the sun and the moon, that spoke all these things into being,
so he speaks and undoes all that this man is suffering and undoes
all of the effect, the curse, be opened and straightway his
ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed and
he spoke plain. The power of his voice brought
about this miracle immediately, straight way. He had power and
authority to radically change this man's life forever. Imagine
if we were this man, you have never heard, you don't know what
it's like to hear anything, the voices of people, the sounds
around you, the bustle of the multitude and then suddenly in
a moment you can hear. Imagine you've never been able
to express yourself. You've never been able to explain
yourself. You've never been able to ask
for things. You've never been able to express your desires.
And suddenly the string of his tongue was loosed. Not so that
he could just make noises, but he spoke plain and clearly. He made himself clearly understood. And this is a work that God does
till today. Does in the hearts and souls
of his people. He is able to radically transform them. To
open their ears and to loosen their tongues. What a difference this work makes. What a difference it makes when
he opens the ears and loosens the tongues. When he opens our
ears, and we can hear. The gospel of Jesus Christ which
once we heard with our ears but never entered into our hearts,
there's a change now, we hear it and we grasp it. Do we know that tonight? Has
there been that change in our lives? When something has happened
and suddenly the Message of Jesus Christ, which you've heard for
perhaps years, but never really understood, it suddenly clicked
into place. You grasp it. You see it. You understand it. And you didn't
used to. And what do you now? What is
your attitude towards this message that once you didn't even understand? Do you love it? Do you love the
message of the gospel? Do you love the good news of
salvation through Jesus Christ? Do you love to hear about it
now that you understand it? Why? Why is it that now you grasp
it? Why is it that now you love it?
Is it because now it has an application to you? Now it means something
for you? Why is it that a soul would suddenly
Maybe not suddenly in time, but now that there's a change come
about that I see a difference in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Is it not because they see a need for the gospel of Jesus Christ?
If we've come to a point that we need a saviour, to then find
that there is a saviour, surely that's the best news we can hear.
If we find that we are dead in our hearts and we cannot change
our hearts, to find there is a saviour who gives a new heart,
then that's the best news we can hear. It makes sense. It
clicks into place. Have we known that change? that
the message which we used to hear and not grasp because we
never saw its relevance has now become the best news to our ears
because our ears have been opened to see its beauty and its application
and its suitability for your soul. That's why you want to
hear it. That's why you love it. Has there been a change in
your attitude to services like this? I imagine we can all look back
on a day when we would not want to be here. We would not want
to hear the word of God. And perhaps we planned that one
day we would stop being in a place of worship. We would stop hearing
the gospel. Maybe we can all think of days
like that. Maybe we can think of days not so long ago. Maybe
you're thinking like that this evening. But has there been a
change so that now something draws you? You want to hear. You want to know more about this
Jesus. You want to know more about his
words, his truth. You want to know more about his
love, his grace. You want to know more about the
price he paid at Calvary. You want to hear the gospel. Why? Your ears have been opened. And our ears are opened, we love
to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sum, the substance.
He is the center of the gospel. He is what the soul needs and
loves. And when our ears are opened,
we love to hear of him. We love to hear his word. the
words he spoke. We read that, of course, primarily,
words he literally spoke on earth in the Gospels. But remember,
the whole word is the word of God. We love to hear his word. Why? Why do we want to hear the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because now, when the Lord has
blessed us, it's a word to you. It's not just words. It's not just words that other
people listen to. It's a word to me. And that word that he
speaks has an application to me, to my situation, to my spiritual
state, to my life, to my future, to my relationship with God.
The words that he speaks now brings hope to my heart and to
my life. So we want to hear his words. Our ears have been opened to
hear his words. We want to hear not only of his words, but of
his work. We want to hear his work. Why? Because the things that
he does are now done by your friend, the friend who has blessed
you, the friend who has heard your prayers. That friend, he
works on your behalf. So when you read now of his works
in the word of God, when you read of how he healed people
and how he helped people and how he guided people, you realize
that that's the work of your friend. And therefore he's able
to heal you and help you and guide you to heal and to comfort
and to bless. We want to hear of his work.
We want to hear of his love. We want to hear that this glorious
man loves souls, loves sinners. This man, they said, he eateth
with sinners." Now, instead of a word of condemnation, derogatory
word, that's a word you want to hear. You say, but I want
to hear of his love, because not only does he eat with sinners
and bless sinners, he blesses me. And that soul has reached
to me, and that soul is for me. It brings me hope, it brings
me joy, and my heart responds in love. Now when I come to his
word, now when I come to hear the preaching, I want to hear
of his love, because my ears have been opened. It's a wonderful
message to hear. You want to hear that Jesus is
alive. You want to hear that this Saviour
is alive today. Your friend is in glory to hear
your prayers. You want to hear that this Jesus
is in heaven to welcome you when you plead in his name and to
pour out his blessings upon you. You want to hear of the risen
Saviour, the victorious Saviour. You want to hear of Jesus' wisdom,
that he knows your way. that your life is in his hands,
that he is in control of all you do. And yes, he does all
things well. Do you want to hear of Jesus,
of his work, of his word, of his love, of his ongoing work,
of his wisdom and of his ways? Do you love to hear of Jesus? You know those people in Samaria,
the Lord Jesus in John chapter 4, we read he came to that woman
at the well. And he spoke to her of himself as living water
and having heard the conversation and so forth, she goes back into
the city and she speaks to the men in the city. And she speaks
of the man by the well who told her all that she did, who revealed
her sin to her and so forth. And the men at the city went
out to see him. And they said at the end, now
we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him
ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior
of the world. Can we join those men as they
went out into the city? You say, well, I've known others
who've been blessed by the Lord, others in my family, others of
my friends. They say they've become a Christian,
they say they know the Lord Jesus, they say they love the Lord Jesus.
Can you join with these men and say, now I will go out. I will
go out, and that I may hear, that I may be able to say, I
believe, not because of thy saying, not because someone persuaded
me, although they may have encouraged me to go, but I've heard him
myself. and know that this is the Christ,
the Savior of the world. Have we been out with this crowd?
Have we been out with these men to hear the Lord Jesus Christ? And when the Lord opens our ears,
we have a longing to hear more. He put his fingers into his ears
and he spit and touched his tongue. So what difference it makes to
hear? What a difference it makes to be able to speak Has our tongue
been loosed? Firstly, has it been loosed so
that we can pray, really pray, truly pray? Or just say a few
words and not really know what we're saying, but to pray from
the heart, to pour out our hearts to God, to have times of communion,
to fellowship with him. when it's only you and God. Jesus
speaks, doesn't he, not to go on the corners of the streets
to impress men so that men think that we're very good at praying.
Go into your closet. Now you may think that you can
speak a good prayer when you're in front of men, and they're
impressed with the things that you say. What's your prayer life
like if you went into a room with the door shut and no one
knew you were there? What is our prayer life like
if it's just us and God? Do we find we have nothing to
say? Do we find there's no communion, there's no fellowship, there's
no desire to come, there's no real prayer when we're on our
own with the Lord? To have the tongue loose is to
be loose to pray. and to love to pray. I know there's
often times when our heart is hard. I know there's often times
that we struggle in prayer. But have we ever known a time
that we love to pray, we long to pray, and it's such joy when
we find access to the Lord in prayer. We find ourselves alone
with God, and in faith we can come and believe that he has
heard our prayer. That's what the loosing of this
tongue It brings us to prayer. It also brings us to praise.
Do we praise the Lord, worship the Lord, thank the Lord, marvel
at His love and His work and what He has done, that He's so
changed us that we rejoice and would worship Him and we'd loose
the tongue to testify, to speak. Now we have something to say.
Didn't used to have something to say, but now we have something
to say. May not be very much to say, but we have something
to say. We've heard what we didn't hear
before. We've seen what we never noticed
before. We've been blessed in a way that
we've never experienced before. And now we have something to
say. To declare of what God has done. Not us. This man, when his tongue
was loose, he couldn't say to all the crowd, look what I've
done. Look how I've healed myself. Look how I can now hear. Look
how good I am that now I can speak. He could only say, look
what Jesus has done. Surely that's what he did. So
us, it's not what I've done. But look what the Lord's done
for me. Look how he's changed me. Look how he's renewed me. So he loosens our tongues to
pray and praise and testify of his goodness. Hearing and speaking in our society,
or in every society, brings about communication. Particularly in
this age when they were, as I say, without the hearing aids and
support that we may have today, it was essential really for good
communication to be able to hear and to speak. When we are spiritually
deaf and spiritually dumb, we have no communication with God.
We do not hear him and we do not speak with him. When our
tongues are loose and our ears are open, now there is communion. It was shut off before, now there
is communion. We hear him and we speak to him. Is that a test? That's a test
for us this evening, isn't it? to evaluate our spiritual life.
Do we hear him and do we speak to him? If we have any form of
communication, if we commune with him, we love to pray and
we love to hear his word, then surely our ears have been opened
and our tongues have been loosed. Well, if this is the difference
that it makes, what is our reaction to that difference? What was
the reaction of these people? They were beyond measure astonished,
saying, he has done all things well. They were astonished. They were amazed at what they
had just witnessed. Amazed at what he has done. Such a dramatic change. Are we
amazed? beyond measure, astonished, beyond
what we can work out, beyond what we can explain, we're astonished
that God would do this for us, for me, who was helpless and
hopeless, for my soul. I am astonished that God would
reach to my sinful soul and would make me alive when I was dead. I am astonished that God would
think of me And perhaps you're at a state today where you think,
I'm astonished at what God has enabled me to do. That God has
blessed me with prayer. That God has blessed me to hear
his word. That God has blessed me with
a spirit of thankfulness. And that now, when there's that
group of Christians conversing about the things of God that
I once wanted to distance myself from, I am able to wholeheartedly
join with them. I'm able to add something. I'm
able to say something. I'm astonished that this change
has come about. They were beyond measure astonished
and maybe we just have to stand back in amazement of what the
change God has brought into our lives and into our hearts. That
God could do such a thing. That God could make us a new
creature. All things have passed away and
behold all things have become new. They were astonished. The psalmist says, doesn't he,
when the Lord brought again the captivity of Zion, we became
like unto them that dream. And maybe we can remember a time,
if not today, when we felt like those who were dreaming. Couldn't
believe that what we had longed for for so long, God had finally
brought to pass. They were beyond measure astonished,
saying, he hath done all things well. As the Lord looks upon
his people, he sees that he has done all things well. When God looked upon his finished
creation, and he saw all of it in its beauty and completeness,
without sin, and he declares it is very good. And then sin
brings the curse. Sin brings the spoiling of his
creation. And it cannot be said that it
is very good, And yet when he looks on the work of his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, when he looks on that finished work in
the heart and soul of his child, the Christian, he can look at
the cleansing of the sin, he can look at the imputed righteousness,
the given righteousness of Jesus, and he can say again, it is very
good. He has done all things well. The new creation that God works
in the hearts and soul of his people, he's done it all well.
It's perfect, it's complete. So as he looks on the finished
work in the hearts and soul of his people, it's done well, but
truly can we not also look at his work in our hearts and say
he's done all things well. Everything that I needed, he
has done. I was deaf, he opened my ears.
I was blind, he opened my eyes. I was dumb, he loosened my tongue.
I was lame, he helped me to walk in his ways in joy and obedience. I was dead, he raised me to life. He has done all things well. Nothing that we are as a Christian
is anything other than his work. He has done all things well. And maybe today we can look back.
You can look back at the time when you were convicted of sin.
And that was, I'm sure, a hard time, a time of sorrow, a time
of a weight of guilt, a time when we wondered if we would
ever have any hope at all. That was a hard, painful time. We can look back at the time,
perhaps, when we felt that there was no hope for us. And yet now
we can say, He's done all things well. That was a good time. It
wasn't an enjoyable time, but it was a good time because it
brought me to my knees and it drove me to the Saviour. Perhaps
you can look back in your life and say, there was a time when
I was guided, a time when I was taken a particular place, a time
when I was blessed in a particular way. When He guided me, I didn't
understand it at the time. Why is my life taking this turn?
Why am I being led in this way? And we complained about it. And
now, He's done all things well. I needed to be there. It was
for my good. You can look at those times when
the Lord brought you to your knees at the foot of the cross.
And you saw the Savior as you'd never seen Him before dying for
you. He said, He's done all things
well. even that suffering Saviour,
it's all done well. He has done all things well. The Lord has fulfilled His promise
for His people. The Lord has done, completed
that work of salvation. It is done, it is finished. As
He promised His people, in the prophecy of Isaiah, promised
the blessing in chapter 35. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as an heart, and the tongue of the
dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water,
and the habitation of dragons where each lay shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there,
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be
there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up on. It shall not
be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. and the ransom
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads. They shall attain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Has God done that
for us all? Has God opened our eyes and ears,
made the lame man leap and the tomb to speak? Has the Lord brought
the wilderness the waters to break forth and the streams in
the desert. Has God led us in this way of the righteous? And
have we obtained joy and gladness in the Lord Jesus Christ? Has
he fulfilled the promise in our hearts? Has he blessed us? Surely we must fall to our knees
and join with this multitude who were beyond measure astonished. saying he hath done all things
well. May we all seek the Lord for
this blessing. Remember we can pray. Remember
we can plead with him that we may know these things. Bartimaeus
was blind at the side of the road, it didn't stop him praying.
Bartimaeus couldn't see the Lord, but it didn't stop him crying
out to Him, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. You
may feel blind. You may feel you don't know anything. It doesn't stop you praying.
Cry out to Him that you may know this blessing also, for yourself. a personal taking aside from
the multitude, that He may touch your heart, that He may touch
your soul, that you may know Him, have your ears open, that
you may be able to speak of Him, have your tongue loosed, and
be able to rejoice beyond measure, and say, He has done all things
well. Praise Him for what He has done. Praise Him for what
He can do. Amen.