May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, and read in the last verse
in that chapter, verse 37. Chapter 7 in the Gospel of Mark,
verse 37. And were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well, He maketh both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak." We've read together this account
in the 7th of Mark, which includes those occasions when the Lord
Jesus worked wonderful miracles of healing. And this verse 37
really refers to the last miracle which occurred when he departed
from Tyre and Sidon and came into the sea of Galilee. And they brought to him someone
who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they besought
him to put his hand upon him. And they'd seen the Lord do miracles
previously, and they'd observed that he had just touched the
person and had healed them. But in this instance, it was
to be different. And he took him aside from the
multitude and put his fingers into his ears, And he spit and
touched his tongue. He looked up to heaven, he sighed
and said unto him, Ephrathah, that is, be opened. And straightway
his ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed.
And he spake plain. And he charged them that they
should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the
more a great deal, they published it. Well, that was the account
that we have and therefore the comments were and where they
were beyond measure astonished saying he hath done all things
well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak
well there were many miracles that the Lord Jesus did when
he was on the earth and there were very many different ways
that the Lord adopted to perform those miracles, and sometimes
he just spoke, and sometimes he took somebody by the hand,
and sometimes he put clay upon the eyes, and sometimes he spat
upon them. Various ways there were, but
in all those developments, all those situations, what the Lord
did brought wonderful deliverance and wonderful healing. And so
how True it was, this statement, he hath done all things well. And I believe we have these various
illustrations to indicate to us that in our spiritual life,
the Lord deals in various ways. He doesn't deal in exactly the
same way with any two people. They are all different, but they
all are brought to that position where spiritually their souls
are healed. And so it would seem that the
Lord gives us the evidences in the Word of God in a physical
way to encourage us in a natural way, because we could therefore
be tempted to think, well, I haven't received a blessing in that particular
way. And we may, as it were, have
concluded that because we haven't been blessed in a particular
way, that the blessing has passed us by. We have seen other people
perhaps blessed in a situation and perhaps by a certain word,
and we may have thought, well, that person and that person were
blessed in that way, and therefore surely I will be blessed in that
way. And we may have been disappointed. We may be very disappointed,
perhaps when it appears that we've been passed by. But we
should not be too sad about a situation like that, because the Lord has
his way of bringing about his purposes. And what we know is
this, he hath done all things well. In our individual lives,
We can believe the Lord will bring those things to pass which
shall be good for our blessing and for his honour and glory. You know David, that man of God
who had had many ups and downs in his life, hadn't he? He had
many battles, many skirmishes, much opposition. And yet he records
for us in the 18th Psalm and also in the Chronicles, I think
it is always at the Kings, where he said, as for God, his way
is perfect. As for God, his way is perfect. Now that may take a bit of saying,
that may take a bit of understanding, because when things are going
well, well that's an easy thing to say. When things are not going
well, it's not so easy to say. In fact, it may be very difficult
to say. But nonetheless, it is true,
as the Lord deals with you and me, he deals with us in that
purposeful way, that divine way, that way which is best and good
for us, and to bring honour and glory to his great and holy name.
And it may be that the situation which we're in at the moment
may appear to be very difficult. We cannot believe that God's
way can be perfect toward us in this situation. But I believe
there will be an afterward. And then as the Lord's work moves
on, we should understand the reason why certain situations
develop in our life. things that we weren't able to
understand at the time, mysterious to us. Perhaps we were sad about
them, perhaps we were upset about them. Only because we can only
see the present. We can only see the situation
which exists now. And often our faith doesn't stretch
out to believe that all things are working together for good.
to those who love God and those who are called according to His
purpose. And when we're in the midst of
a difficult situation, it's hard for us to look out of this to
realise the truth of God's Word. But God is faithful and as He
does bring us through a situation, we can then see that this word
is true, he hath done all things well. And it will prove to us
that if things had occurred in accordance with our thoughts,
our ways, in fact, one of the big problems would be that God
would have not had the honour and the glory. And it is a very
significant consideration. And I believe very often It would
put crooked things straight and make rough places plain, as we
may analyse our lives and realise that had we had our way, God's
honour and glory would have been diminished, and the big I would
have taken some of the credit. God is a jealous God. God will
have the honour and the glory and therefore we should be thankful
that it is so and to have faith again when things are going wrong
and they seem to be difficult, to have faith to believe what
David said, as for God his way is perfect. Now, these people,
they were astonished at what the Lord had done. and sometimes
we may be astonished at what the Lord does. We may be amazed
at the way things work out, how the Lord brings his purposes
to pass. He brings them to pass for his
honour and glory. We only have to cast our mind
back really to Israel, the children of Israel in Egypt. Who would
have envisaged that the Lord would have produced all those
miracles that Pharaoh was to observe, and then to be brought
out with a high hand. They didn't need to fight, there
wasn't a battle, they were brought out. And the wonder is, the wonder
is, at the end of that, what was shown to them? by faith,
the Lamb of God. They saw clearly that deliverance
was only under the blood. It was the only way of deliverance. And as they passed on, no doubt,
day by day and week by week in that situation, wondering what
was going to happen next. Were they going to be delivered?
How were things going to occur? He had done all things well,
and what an amazing occurrence that was, when the Passover was
instituted. Israel would never have realised
the Lord's purposes in that, because they'd been there, they'd
been in Egypt those 400 odd years, and if we think of it, it was
to show forth God's honour and glory, and to bring in the glorious
institution of the Passover. If they'd gone out, if Pharaoh
let them go on that first occasion, there would have been no institution
of the Passover. And therefore, we wouldn't have
had the beautiful picture that we have in the Passover of the
sufferings of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we must
always think and that in our lives, He has done all things
well. He is doing all things well.
He's bringing all things to pass for His purpose, for His honour
and His glory. And indeed, they do work out
that way. There was the occasion when Jesus
was on this earth, that account of Lazarus, you may remember. Lazarus who had died. Lazarus
who Jesus loved. And he was the brother of Martha
and Mary. And they called for Jesus. They asked him to come. And he
tarried. He hadn't come as quickly as
they thought he should. And indeed, Martha said to the
Lord, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
my brother had not died. She looked at the present situation.
And we look often at the present situation. But she said, I know
that even now, whatsoever thou would ask of God, God will give
it thee. And Jesus said, thy brother shall
rise again. And she said, I know that he
shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. And Jesus said,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? A wonderful truth was brought
out, wasn't it? If Lazarus had not died, that
wonderful truth would not have been set forth. And a very similar
situation may exist in our lives. If certain things had not come
to pass, then we may not have had a blessing, we may not have
had a deliverance. Indeed, we may not have understood
the great truth of God. Here you see was a wonderful
truth which was being explained to Martha when he said, I am
the resurrection and the life. Now this of course was a new
situation. They never come across anybody
being raised from the dead in such a manner. And therefore
when the Lord said, I am the resurrection and the life, He
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." It's
a wonderful truth, isn't it? And how important for us to consider. And it may be that the Lord brings
us into a situation, it may not be just like this, but something
of a nature which will cause us to have declared to us, to
our soul, the truth of God. which would have an abiding effect
upon us. This had an abiding effect upon
Martha. She was in a real situation.
Her brother had died. What was to happen now? Well,
the Lord knew what he would do. And you may remember they came
to the grave and Jesus wept. They said, where have you laid
him, he asked. And they said unto him, Lord
come and see. And Jesus wept. We have a little
sight there of the true humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then he came to the grave. And he said, take ye away the
stone. Martha said that he was dead. By this time he stinketh. for it had been dead four days.
Jesus said unto her, said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the glory of God. She took away the stone. Jesus lifted up his eyes and
said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew
that thou heardest me always, but because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. Lazarus, come forth. If Lazarus had not died, this
miracle would not have occurred. He doth all things well. He brought
a situation, as we may view it, a sad situation, a sorrowful
sin, a difficult thing. And as Martha said, Lord, if
thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. but there was a
purpose to be fulfilled. Lazarus that was dead came forth
bound hand and foot with great clothes and his face bound about
with a napkin. Jesus sat under them, loose him
and let him go. There was a wonderful, glorious
deliverance and we should not lose sight of that. Because here
we have this, that he has done all things well. And no doubt,
if Martha and Mary had been asked after this situation, what do
they think? I'm sure they would have said,
in like manner, he has done all things well. Because there's
been a wonderful miracle, a wonderful deliverance. And our brothers
brought back to life and the Lord has done it, and the Lord
has declared to me about the resurrection, what it means,
and how there is that need to believe. Yes, blessed truth,
isn't it? Therefore, the Lord deals with
us in this way for his honour and for his glory. So we see,
therefore, there was this man brought back to, or granted rather,
his hearing and his speech which he didn't have before. And the
statement is here, they say, he hath done all things well.
He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. The great blessing was that this
man, who couldn't hear and couldn't speak, was now delivered from
this infirmity. We can view this, can we not,
in a spiritual sense. How there is that need for the
Lord to grant to us our spiritual hearing and our spiritual speech. This man, he couldn't hear, No,
he was deaf. He couldn't speak properly. He
got an impediment in his speech. And he was in a time of great
need. The Lord didn't pass him by.
Yes, the people that brought this person to the Lord Jesus. And you know, it may be like
that sometimes. We may perhaps bring people,
as it were, to the Lord Jesus. People who are deaf, people who
are unable to speak, maybe we bring them in prayer to the Lord
Jesus. And we may perhaps have our view
of how things are going to be accomplished. These people said,
they came and said, and they beseeched him to put his hand
upon him Again, sometimes it may be that we pray in that way. It may be with a real urgency
because beseeching indicates a real urgency in prayer. And
we may think that what we're praying is really right and good
and proper. And we feel, well, if the Lord
does this for this person, then surely there will be, their ears
will be unstopped and their tongue will be loose. But the Lord may have a different
plan to our plan. The Lord didn't turn these people
away. He didn't say, I'm not going to do anything to this
person, he may just get on with it as he is. But he healed him
in his way. It's important for us to recognise
these details in the scripture, because the Lord is a sovereign. The Lord is a king and he will
do what will be for his honour and glory. And these people,
you see, were able then to turn around and say, when the Lord
had done that, when his ears were opened and the string of
his tongue was loose and he spoke plainly, they were then able
to stand back and say, oh, he hath done all things well. I
believe that's a wonderful lesson for us to take to heart, because
it is true that the Lord does do all things well. He did all
things well here, and he brought this man sight and freedom of
speech. But how important it is that
there are those that we know, perhaps that we pray for, that
may be in a situation Well, let us not be faint in our heart. Let us not be faint in our prayers.
Let us pray on. Let us remember this account,
so that in the end, the Lord will be honoured and the Lord
will be glorified. Now, what had occurred to these
people when he charged them that they should tell no man. But
the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal, they
published it. They had something to say, didn't
they? They'd seen the Lord's appearing. They'd seen His work
appearing. I'm sure that's what we long
to see more and more of. His work appearing. Now when
His work appears, when His work appeared here, what were the
people doing that had brought this man? They'd seen the outcome. They'd seen this man's given
hearing ear and speech freed. And what did they do? They published
it about. There wasn't silence. Oh no,
they declared it. The Lord's name was honoured
and glorified. What a blessing it will be then
in our lives if we are able to observe these situations. We
have a God today who is the same. He is a great Almighty God, the
one who rules on high, the one who has all things in his control. And the Lord does those things
in his control which will bring us to himself. Like those Israelites of old,
they came to that situation on that night when the Lord brought
to their attention the need for that Passover, that Passover
lamb that had to be slain. And the blood was on the doorpost
and they weren't freed. They weren't set free from Egypt
until that had come to pass. Sometimes it may be like that
in our spiritual lives. There may not be that setting
free That freedom to come out, as it were, of Egypt, of bondage,
under hard taskmasters, until the Lord has revealed Himself
to us in that way, that we've seen the necessity of the shed
blood of the Saviour. Because until our spiritual eyes
and ears are opened, we do not understand the blessing and the
reality and the importance of these things. They pass over our heads. We
recognise them in the word, we know what they mean in a natural
way, but when the Lord comes and unstops our ears and gives
us spiritual sight, then it is that we see the glory and the
necessity of these things, it is then that the Lord Jesus means
something to us. Otherwise, He will not. When the Lord comes, and when
the Lord reveals Himself to us, and it may be in various ways,
He cannot lay down any hard and fast rule. The Lord came to various
people in various situations. But one thing is clear. He came
to them where they were. We heard them calling. Remember,
blind Bartimaeus. He cried out, have mercy upon
me. He'd been crying for a long time
and he'd received no healing. But when Jesus came, when Jesus
passed by, there he knew was the way of cure, the way of salvation. And he cried out, have mercy
upon me. And Jesus stopped. And Jesus
called him to him and asked him what he wanted. He said, Lord,
that I might receive my sight. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Yes, there was a going forth in earnestness, a true cry that
he might receive his sight. The Lord have mercy upon him.
Because that's what we all need. The mercy of the Lord. To receive
our sight. Because we don't deserve it.
Because we've sinned against the Holy God. And we have to
come and be like those lepers of old and cry out, unclean,
unclean. And it may be that we're without
the camp. We're dismissed, we're without
the camp. We can't come in. We're unclean, we're unclean. Well, remember the Lord came
and he cleansed the lepers. Oh yes, he cleansed them. He
freed them from that leprosy in the same way. If we come like
that, crying out, unclean, unclean, which by nature we are, we need
the Lord to come and to speak the word to cleanse us, so that
we might once again come within the camp. We might come once
again within and be numbered amongst the true worshippers,
no longer dismissed to the outside, but brought in because of what
Jesus has done. He has done all things well.
We may have been a long time outside, We've been waiting for
a long time. Remember that person by the pool
of Bethesda, waiting a long time to go down into the pool, the
pool of Siloam. And many years, when the Lord
came, the Lord spoke the word. And the man was healed. He hath
done all things well. The Lord doesn't come too late.
He doesn't come too early. We're told, your time is always,
but my time is not yet. Sometimes we need to be prepared
to receive the blessing. And in that preparation, it may
be that we have to have our own estimation of ourselves lowered. brought down, so we come into
that place where we feel in our hearts that we are less than
the least of all saints. We don't have a position that
we are able to crow over and say, well I have of course a
wonderful experience in this and that. No, we come down less than the
least of all saints. We're then, you see, we're nothing
in ourselves. And what's the result? That Christ
may be all and in all. We then lose sight of ourself
and we look to the Saviour. Our eyes have been opened, our
ears have been unstopped. And the blessing is then, if
this follows, and our tongue is loosed. When the Lord does bless, it's
a wonderful evidence of that blessing, when the tongue is
loosed. And we love to speak about the
things of God. It's our joy, not a hardship. We love to speak about the things
of God. We love to tell of what He's done for us. Because it
brings honour and glory to His great and holy name. We love
to speak of those things which we've been shown. We have to
come and confess how ignorant and foolish we were. Yes, such
sinners. And yet the Lord has looked upon
us and had mercy. and has in measure revealed himself
to us. Now, such blessings should bring
forth praise from our hearts, from our lips. It is significant
that this is spoken of here like this. Straightway his ears were
opened and the string of his tongue loosed and he spake plain. It didn't say we didn't say anything.
He spake plain, and we're told, he hath done all things well,
he hath both, maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to
speak. Until the Lord blesses us, we
haven't got anything to say really, have we? We're dumb. But when the Lord comes and blesses
us, then our tongue should be loosed and we should desire to
speak forth the honours of his name. That his name may be honoured
and glorified, that praise may come forth from our lips. He
hath done all things well. It's a wonderful blessing to
think of that. And it's really, what is it?
It's the goodness of the Lord. It is love and favour toward
us. And we can think of that verse
in the second chapter to the Romans and the fourth verse. It's a very beautiful verse where
the Apostle says, he speaks well, that's the third verse perhaps.
And thinkest thou, O this, O man, that judgest them which do such
things, and doest the same, that thou should escape the judgment
of God, or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance,
and longsuffering, not knowing that The goodness of God, leadeth
thee to repentance. I believe that's so true. The
goodness of God toward us. That breaks down our hard heart. That's when we come and say,
He has done all things well. He's long suffering toward us.
His great goodness. And so the apostle goes on, but
after by hardness and impenitent heart, treasures up unto thyself,
wrath against a day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his
deeds. To them who are by patient continuance
in well-doing seek for glory and honour, and immortality,
eternal life." Patient continuance. We have the examples, don't we,
of patience, continuance in the Word of God. We don't know how
long this particular person had suffered. It may have been from
his birth. We read of others who had it
from their birth. They had to be very patient.
And of course, naturally, we have it spiritually from our
birth until the Lord comes and shines into our heart. And then
as we see the truth and the blessing of the Word of God, Coming back
to that illustration of Israel and the Passover, then to be
brought to direct it to what that represented, of course the
Lord Jesus Christ and His death, His crucifixion, the shedding
of His most precious blood. There was in the Old Testament
there, that clear picture of the need to be under the blood
for any safety. And then in the New Testament
to realise There is only safety as you and I are under the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we are amongst those for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ has died, has shed his most precious blood,
that is the only place of safety. We may have been concerned, we
may have been very worried that we were not safe, but we are
not safe. until we have the evidence that
we are under the blood. The Lord Jesus Christ indeed
has died in our place. He's paid the price for our sins.
He's borne our sins. He's paid the price. Oh, instead
of us. What a blessing it is to realise
and to know that we have such a great and glorious Saviour. Now when the Lord opens our spiritual
eyes unstops our deaf ears, to behold a scene of matchless grace,
it is Jesus in the sinner's place, to view the Lord Jesus in our
place, suffering on our behalf, bearing the curse for us, so
that we are spiritually, eternally set free, that we possess that
new life, that life given to us by our God. What do we then
say? What will we say? What must we
say? He hath done all things well. What will it result in? I believe it must result in our
testimony, our evidence of speaking well of Him. He is worthy to
receive all honour and all glory for that which is done, in revealing
Himself to us as our Saviour, in delivering us from the wrath
to come. Oh, what a blessing it is that
we hear the glorious words of the Gospel. Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lonely
in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Our spiritual
ears have been opened. We hear the glorious call of
the Gospel and we are attracted to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know what it is to view Him and to see Him with our eye of faith
and to behold then that Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. It's as though scales have fallen
from our eyes. It was so in the Apostle Paul's
life, wasn't it? It is so in our life. It is as
though scales fall from our eyes and we see things that we never
saw before. Perhaps it may be we see men
like trees walking. We don't see things always dead
clear at the beginning. But then the Lord clears our
misty sight and then we view Him. We view the Saviour. We see He is the only one. He is our only hope. for time
and for eternity, all our hope is stayed upon what He has done,
and that great work, that glorious work, to work beyond our comprehension,
to think the Lord God Almighty, as we just mentioned in prayer,
a little of His greatness, condescending to come into this sinful world,
to suffer and to bleed and to die, in order that you and I
might receive the gift of eternal life." Well, my friends, then,
to have our ears open and hear that Gospel call to come unto
Him. And we're beyond measure astonished. They were astonished. We may
be astonished at the Lord's love and mercy and goodness toward
us. And may we be found saying, He hath done all things well
He maketh both the deaf to hear, I now hear, And the dumb to speak,
I now speak, To his praise, for his honour and glory. Amen.