Hello. All right, we're gonna
be in Mark 7. Mark 7, and we're gonna be looking
at verses 31 to 37. And our text begins with verse
31, saying, And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon,
he came unto the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coasts
of Decapolis. Now one thing, we notice when
we're looking through the Gospels, we see the speed at which our
Lord moved. He would just come into a place,
do the work that he went there to do, and then he wasn't there. He would leave again and go to
another place. And that was what it was like
with his time there in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. He had come
there to heal, to be found of that woman that Syrophoenician
woman whose daughter was possessed with the devil, and he healed
that little girl, and he showed mercy and grace to that woman,
and then he was gone, and he departed. And when the Lord departs
from a place, When he leaves a place, when he vacates a place,
mercy and truth and grace go with him, because he's the only
giver of mercy and truth and grace concerning the things of
our Lord. So, for this sake, Isaiah 55,
verses 6 and 7, Isaiah, the prophet said, Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. That is, When the gospel is being
preached, it's a mercy. It's a mercy to the people that
are hearing that word preached. But we're to beg God for ears
to hear it and we're to beg God for a heart to hear and to receive
and believe what's being said because a lot of people are religious
and a lot of people do those things that are outward and we
see it constantly through the scriptures and why these words
are written to us. They're for our benefit who read
the word. who have a hope that we are favored
by the Lord. And there's a lot of people who
have that hope that have no knowledge of God. And that's why it's here. It's for our sakes that we might
not think highly of ourselves and have confidence in our works,
but that we might look to the Lord and see what he's saying. So pray. Pray that the Lord show
you and me grace in enabling us to hear his word. And Isaiah
goes on saying, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will
have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. So if you're under the sound
of the gospel, it's a mercy, but woe to that one who comes
and goes with complete indifference to the things of God and thinks
very lightly of those things, rather come praying and seeking
the Lord to help you to hear and give you a desire and a heart
for the things being spoken. Now, in contrast to that, where
we see the Lord coming and going quickly, we see in the text that
he came unto the Sea of Galilee. And what a mercy that is, because
this is a place where the Lord came often, was to the Sea of
Galilee. He returned back again. And when
he came back, we see him doing many wonderful works for the
people there when they came and brought their sick and those
that were hungry and those that needed his help and mercy, they
were able to come to him again. and bring those that that needed
him and and he healed them and had mercy on them and the picture
there is to us is that we here who were in a local assembly
that's a that's an encouragement to us because we know and believe
God has started this work here. He established the work. He gathered
this people together and brought a pastor here and has established
the gospel here and gathered you together each week to hear
it numerous times throughout the week. And if he's done that,
Our hope and our confidence is that he'll continue to return
back here and meet with his people here and give his people what
they need to hear. He's not going to forsake you
nor leave you. Trust him. He delights to do that work for
his people. Remember and think about this
when I'm coming here each Sunday and each Wednesday, and you do
as well, that, Lord, would you meet with us again? Would you
visit us again and bring these times of refreshing and cause
me to hear your word afresh and wash me in your blood and draw
me to yourself and and give me a heart that loves you and loves
the things that are being said and spoken of here this morning.
So it's a great encouragement to know that the Lord returns.
Where he's showered us with his grace, he returns and he continues
to feed us with that grace. So be encouraged, brethren, and
pray for that to be done as well. Now this morning we're going
to look at the sad condition of a man who couldn't hear and
he couldn't speak well. fully unable to speak, but he
talked in a manner that was very hard to understand him. And I
remember growing up with a boy on my street. There was a boy
about a year older than me, and he was deaf, but could hear just
enough. And when he spoke, you could
hardly understand him. But his brother understood him,
because he listened to him a lot. And that's what this man seems
to be. He's deaf, so he can't really hear. And when he talks,
it's... You really don't understand what
he's saying, but we see how Christ opens his ears and he loosens
this man's tongue so that he can hear and that he can praise
the true and living God for his mercy and salvation. Our title
is, They Bring Unto Him. They Bring Unto Him. Now our
first point, well three points, and the first one is a sad condition.
This next verse we see this here where it highlights the sad condition
of this man and it's a condition which is true of us all spiritually. None of us by nature hears and
none of us by nature can speak and declare the things of God
with any true understanding of what it means in our own hearts. And we read here Mark 7.32, and
they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment
in his speech, and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. So this man was deaf. That means
that he didn't hear. They didn't have hearing aids
back then, and he hadn't heard Christ himself, that we can tell. That means he didn't hear his
voice and he didn't know his teachings. He didn't understand
or know the things of Christ and we don't even have any indication
that he had any desire to come to Christ. And when they were
bringing him, he might not have even known what they were doing
and where they were bringing him, but he went with them. And we see that even though this
man didn't have a care or an awareness of who Christ was,
those that loved him and cared for him, they knew who Christ
was. And they thought the best thing was to bring this man to
Christ, the one that could heal him and do good for him. I was thinking about this and
I'm sure it's true that each of you has people that you know
and that you love and care for and you talk to them and you
hear their struggles and their cares and their concerns and
what they're battling with and you think, wow, if they could
just hear this gospel, if they would just hear Christ, if they
would just come with me to Christ and he would just touch them,
He could heal them and He could deliver them from all their concerns
about this. They may not be delivered from
the specific trial they're going through, but they'd have the
comfort of Christ and that it would be made good to their souls
and for their eternal good. And what a comfort it would be
for them to come and hear. And we think like that because
we care about people and we want to bring them to hear what Christ
has to say in his word. Now notice this natural condition
of this man is that he's deaf and he had a speech impediment.
He couldn't speak well. This representation of what this
man is naturally, being deaf and having an impediment in the
speech, is true of us. And turn over to 1 Corinthians,
because I want us to see what that means. What do I mean when
I say this physical ailment that this man had of being deaf and
couldn't speak well, what does that mean for us? Because I'm
talking spiritually. Go to 1 Corinthians 2, in verse
9. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, and
we'll look at a few verses here. Regarding all men and women naturally,
this is true of us all, what we read here in verse 9. But
as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. We don't see or hear the truth
of God naturally speaking. We don't hear that which is true
of the living God, and receive it in the natural man, and understand
it rightly what's being said. But we see in verse 10, God hath
revealed it, or revealed them unto us. He's revealed these
things to us, hath, by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God,
and you could add, which is in him, or that Spirit of God which
God has put into the man to know these things. That's how we know
them, by the Spirit of God taking hold of us and opening our understanding
that we might understand what God is saying, that we might
be turned from dead works, vein, letter, religion, and see the
folly in that, and not hope in that, but understand that all
our hope and comfort and joy is found in Christ. That's the
Spirit of God that must do that for a person, because naturally
we don't. We think that in our doing is
going to be our hope and our joy, and we're going to benefit
from doing something religious for God. But that's not true
at all. If you remember, Christ said,
except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. And except he be born again,
he can't even enter into the kingdom of God, or see it, let
alone enter into the kingdom of God, because it's a spiritual
work. We are born spiritually dead. We don't know the things
of God rightly. We might have certain ideas.
We might learn to mimic back what we've heard or what we see
there, but it has no effect on us inside. It has no real lasting
help or deliverance for us from the bondage that we are in by
nature in our death. We must be born again, we must
be regenerated is what it is. It's being given life again from
the dead because naturally there's nothing here to the things of
God. Which is why in John 4 Christ
said that God is a spirit and them that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. Well, if we're born into darkness
and we don't have the spirit, then we can't worship him in
spirit or in truth unless he first gives us his spirit and
enables us to know him and to understand what he teaches us
and what he's revealed to us in the gospel here. Now going
on in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 12 it says, Now we, the church,
we've received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. So we're given that spirit by
God to know the things that he's provided for us abundantly in
his Son Jesus Christ. We might know him and believe
him, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. If a person doesn't have that
spirit of God, he's just like this deaf person who can't hear
what's being said and doesn't rightly interpret them or understand
them and will still come away with a vain, carnal, dead, false
religion and a false hope, if any religion at all. Watch verse
14. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. So that's why we say, that's
why we understand what Christ meant when he said you must be
born again. Naturally speaking, we don't receive these things,
we don't understand them, we don't comprehend them, we don't
appropriate them right to ourselves. We come away with a false dead
view of God and who we are and what we're supposed to be and
things like that. Before the Lord does a work of grace in
us, we're deaf to the law and we're deaf to grace. We don't
even hear the law rightly and what the law is saying to man. We don't hear the threatenings
of the law. We don't hear the curse of the
law or its condemnation. So that a man who continues in
the law, let's start with justification first, a man who continues looking
to the law for his justification, Because there's people who claim
to believe in Christ and still somehow think that the law is
their righteousness, that they've got to keep that law for their
justification, some part of it. But that just says they don't
hear what the law is saying. They're not hearing what the
condemnation of the law against us for Moses describe it the
righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth
those things shall live by them and what he means by that what
does it mean that he shall live by them means you better do the
whole thing or you're going to perish and and deservedly so
in hell for all eternity and Paul wrote again to the Galatians
In 310 he said, For as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse, for it's written, Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. And that book contains the moral
law, they call it, the civil law that they call it, and the
ceremonial law. It's the whole law. You got to
do all of it. You can't separate it. Man likes
to separate it, but you don't see it separated in the scriptures. It all stands together or it
all falls together in those things. And if you hear what the law
is saying, the law says to you and I, guilty. Every one of us. There's not one of us that's
different from the other. And all of us are guilty before
the law. Because none of us can stand
here and say, I've kept the entire law perfectly. Even if we narrowed
it down to the moral law, I've not kept it perfectly because
we've broken these things in our heart, if not in our thoughts,
if not as well in our deeds and actions. So we're all guilty
of breaking the law. And so the law says, you're condemned,
you're condemned, you're condemned, and you're worthy of eternal
separation from God and hell. Now those who look to the law
for their sanctification, they're not comprehending what Christ
has actually accomplished for us. and how that he's delivered
us, that he's all our righteousness and that he continues to grow
us and feed us and lead us along as it pleases him. He creates
a desire in us and a willingness to be pleasing to him, but we
know that our pleasing and the hope that we have in our standing
before God is in Christ and it's in his righteousness, and he
does grow us in that grace. We do grow in humility and stop
thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but he
does that in a way that can only be described as his blessed spirit
teaching us, chastening us when we need chastening, feeding us
when we need feeding, strengthening us when we need strengthening,
when we're dead and cold and dull, the Spirit comes and warms
our heart inexplicably. He opens our eyes and our ears
to hear the Word. We could be sitting in our bedroom
reading the Word, or at the coffee table, or here in the services,
and the Lord opens it to us and enables us to see it like we've
never seen it before. And all we can do is say, Lord,
You've done that. We can't take any glory and say,
Well, I set aside 15 minutes this morning to pray, and that's
why I'm being blessed. But no, it's the Lord who did
that. And if he did set aside, and
it's of a profit to you, it's because the Lord did it. It's
the Lord who gets all the glory and the praise and the honor
and the adoration for doing anything. When I didn't deserve any mercy
or grace, I found mercy and grace in the Lord, and He brought me
back time and time and time and time again when I should have
just been cut off and turned loose and not given repentance. So it's all the Lord. All we
can say is it's by God's grace and mercy that we are what we
are. And what we are in ourselves
is nothing. He's taken broken, empty vessels
that ought to just be crushed and thrown out, and yet he pours
in his grace and his spirit and he gently teaches us in a way
so that we too are humble and gentle and patient and loving
with one another because we see it over and over again of how
patient and gentle and loving and kind he is to us, even when
we don't deserve it. He teaches us. Will we fall on
our face? Will we rise up and we'll see pride? Absolutely.
And then we'll come to know what we've done and we'll see the
grace and mercy of God. And he'll teach us this that
much more through it so that when we deal with our brethren,
It's in love, and not in a condemning, judgmental spirit that breaks
us up and severs us, but that which is pure and holy and righteous
before Him. It says in Hebrews 10.14, by
one offering, Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He's done it. He's done the work
and He's given us His Spirit so that by the Spirit we walk
in these things. Did I know all the things that
I know now? No, I don't think so, but I got
nothing to boast in. It wasn't by my hard work and
my study and my diligence in doing these things. All I can
say is that the Lord, in spite of me, continued to draw me and
show me Christ, bless me with a pastor who faithfully preached
the gospel, because that's what I needed to hear. And that's
how he fed me and comforted me and I can't tell you how many
times I came there thinking I'd get nothing out of it and all
I knew was I was just fixed like with a vapor lock on them and
just rejoicing in the word that I heard. That's the grace and
the power of God in spite of us working to do His will in
us. He let me see the depths of my
own heart, but he didn't leave me there. He drew me out with
cords of love and mercy. Now, there's some though that
will sit here and they're disinterested or they're not listening. They allow themselves to be distracted. The things that go through our
heads in our flesh is just amazing. We can think that, well, he's
not talking to me. or that's a sin that somebody
else does, that doesn't have anything to do with me, and we
can honestly believe that and think that this doesn't have
anything to do with me, or I'm not that bad, so he must be talking
about somebody else. And the truth is, I'm talking
about us all, because we're all in this together, we're all sinners,
and we're all worthy of eternal hell. It says in Ezekiel 18.20,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Whether you care for these
things or not, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. We're
all going to stand before God. Everybody dies. We know that.
And we're all going to stand before the God who created us
in that day. We're either going to stand in
our own works, or should I say, our own shame, or we're going
to stand confidently, boldly, robed in the righteousness of
Christ, trusting him. He'll stand with us and he'll
comfort us. We won't have to say a word because
his righteousness will speak for us. And we shall hear the
words, well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into
thy rest, which was prepared for you from before the foundation
of the world. And we're just going to look
at Christ and say, you did that for me. for me. I have nothing
to boast in. It's all your righteousness that
I heard those blessed words and enter into thy kingdom. Thank
you, Lord." That's what he's prepared. As he said, I go to
prepare a place for thee. If it were not so, I would have
told you. But he did that for his people. It's such a mercy. By nature, we don't hear the
law, and we don't hear the gospel, and we don't want to hear the
gospel when left to ourselves, because if you don't hear the
law, then you don't hear why you even need to hear of Christ.
It means nothing to you. If you're not a sinner, if you're
not desperate and have no hope of salvation, then you don't
need Christ, and that's why so many despise him or think very
lightly of him. So that's the hearing part, and
then there's the speaking part, as it says, this man had an impediment
in his speech, and that's because unregenerate man can't even tell
of the glories of God. We can't speak of those things
in any feeling manner. We can maybe recite back what
we've heard others say for good students, I guess, but we can't
even feelingly know or understand what God has done for us through
his Son until he's brought us to see something of the plague
of our own heart and our misery. It reminds me, when I was a young
man, I, from a very early age, had an interest in the things
of God. I can't tell you when the Lord saved me. I definitely
believe that it's by the gospel that he teaches us the truth.
No man's saved under a lie. But he'll reveal the truth to
us. And I don't think it's necessary
to say, well, I was saved on this day or not. That doesn't
mean anything. Some people maybe can do it because
they It's so obvious, but many of us don't know specifically
when we were converted or brought out. We are continually converted.
We were continually brought to see what a foul thing we are
and how the Lord has mercy upon us. But I remember speaking to
one of my friends, I was maybe 10 years old, and telling him
about Christ. And he actually was listening.
And he said, well, how does Christ save you? and I couldn't even
tell him. I didn't understand. When someone
would say to me, what do you mean Christ saves? Saves from
what? And I couldn't even tell the
person when they were asking me that. And I felt so ashamed.
And I remember that night when I was 10 years old, I went to
bed fearful. It took me a long time to fall
asleep because I realized I don't even know how Christ saves and
I was fearful and afraid and now I see and understand that
I'm a sinner. That's what I'm being saved from
is the condemnation of the law and the dominion of sin reigning
in my wicked heart and that God has provided his son not to be
a help to me but to be my salvation because I can't help. I can't
give any part in my salvation. And so Christ is all my salvation. He's all my hope and all my deliverance. And he came in doing that, he
shed his blood to cleanse me, to make payment for, to atone
for the sin, my sin and the sin of all his people. that they
might be freed and justified from the condemnation of the
law and from the reign and dominion of sin in the heart. And he gives
us his spirit to make us alive to now know and comprehend the
things of God. to hear what the law is saying,
to let go of that filthy rag of self-righteousness and to
look to Christ and to trust Him and to have that faith and hope. That's all His work and His power
and His grace. I can speak of those things now,
but I couldn't articulate them at all because I didn't know
it hardly. When I did land on something
right, I don't I don't know how I knew some of the things I knew,
but it wasn't because I really knew the truth. And the Lord
had mercy on me and brought me out of all that delusion and
all that confusion and all the other things that just kept swirling
around in this head and heart of mine. But the Lord had mercy.
When Christ saves a sinner, he makes all things new. As we see
in Revelation 21, where Christ is sitting on the throne, he
says, behold, I make all things new. He makes his people new. And that's why Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 5.17, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
Old things have passed away. All things are become new because
they become new in Christ. We don't just reform and improve
on what was here. Christ, he puts aside and casts
aside that which is natural and of these works and he blesses
us with new life, a new spirit and hope in Christ. He puts it
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. With these new ears,
we now can hear the voice of Christ, and with this new tongue,
we can speak what Christ has done for us, even if it's minor. You maybe can't articulate everything,
but if you know, I'm a sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in all. If he is your hope, then that's
all. that we need to know that he
did the work. And it's not about all these
doctrines and different things, but it's trusting and resting
in him. All right, our second point is
taken aside. It says in verse 33, the beginning,
it says, and he took him aside from the multitude. He took them
aside from the multitude. Now, there was a lot of healings
going on at this time. In Matthew 15, which is the corresponding
viewpoint of Matthew at this time, he just writes in verse
30, And great multitudes came unto Christ, having with them
those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others,
and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them. But
Mark here is inspired to highlight this man in particular, how the
Lord did something for this man, and he took him aside. He pulled
him apart from the rest of the multitude, and we see that, right? When the Holy Spirit When he
comes upon a sinner, he sanctifies them. That's what it is, it's
to be set apart, it's to be separated out from all the others and separated
for the use of God, for God to take up his abode in that sinner
and to make that sinner his own. He brings them and he draws them
in. It says in 1 Peter 1, verses 2 and 3, we see this separating
apart, in 1 Peter 1, 2 and 3, Peter says he's speaking to the
elect according to the foreknowledge of God. God knew his own, because
he chose them before the foundation of the earth. He knows them.
And he says that we're elect according to the foreknowledge
of God. And how do we know? Well, through sanctification
of the Spirit. The Spirit separates us. He takes
us out from all the dead and deaf and the blind in the world
where we were, just like them, and he separates us out to himself
for his own use unto, it says, unto obedience. And we do obey,
we do have faith in Christ, but disobedience here is speaking
of us being brought to behold the obedience of Christ, to behold
what He has done for us. That work, that salvation work
that He did, that's, we're separated unto that work, that obedience
of Christ. and sprinkling or washing of
the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied,
verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope. There it is again. He gave us
a new birth. We were dead spiritually, Now,
he's made us alive spiritually. He's begotten us again from the
dead. He's given us a spirit so we
are alive to the things of God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. And what he's saying there is
that through that resurrection, through that work which Christ
did when he laid down his life to purge us of our sins, when
he wrought that good work for us that we couldn't do and saved
us from our sins, that we see and understand now through the
resurrection of Christ. We know God is pleased with that
work, and He's accepted it, and all who come to Him shall find
rest for their souls. He is the way, the truth, and
the life, and that's who we are to come through, through the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now back in our text,
verses 33 through 35. And he 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, Ethetha, that is, be opened. And straightway
his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed,
and he spake plain. So Christ himself gave this man
hearing and loosed this man's tongue that he might be able
to speak plainly. And here in this example, we
see him using his fingers and he spits. I don't know if he
spit directly on his tongue or spit on his fingers and then
touched his tongue. Either way, he put his own spit there in
that man's mouth and it's just... I don't know if there's anything
to really gain from that or understand, except that it's a humbling thing,
if you will, to have him do this, but there are some sweet things
that we can see in it. It says that he looked up to
heaven, and that does communicate to us that all good gifts, all
perfect gifts come from above. from God who is good and kind
and merciful to us and he blesses us with that heavenly birth and
he's the one who heals us and strengthens us in his son Jesus
Christ. But we know that Christ didn't
need to touch this man. There's many times when he just
spoke the word And the person was healed. He did that with
the centurion's servant. He didn't even go to the house.
He just spoke the word and that was it. The man was healed. And
of the Syrophoenician woman, he didn't go into her house.
He just said, according as your faith believes, so it is. Now they asked him to touch him,
and so he did. But the thing is that Christ
doesn't always saved the same way. We're all saved by Christ.
Don't misunderstand me. We all must come through the
blood of Christ. And we know that God uses means.
He uses the gospel to teach us and to instruct us, but there
are differences, right? You might hear the gospel publicly
preached and believe. You might hear the gospel in
private, speaking to another person who's telling you these
things and hear the gospel and believe. You might hear it audibly
because someone's speaking it orally to you, or you might read
it. I know I was very blessed When
I for a whole year thought I was cut off from the things of God
and that God hated me, and I had no hope, but I continued coming
to what I thought was the church at the time, and I happened to
read a Christian history magazine which was covering George Whitefield,
and it had a snippet of exactly what that man preached, the gospel.
And I saw it with such power, and it was such a help to me,
because I thought I was cut off from God, because I had done
despite his grace, and that I was just cut off, and could never
know his mercy and grace anymore, only to realize when I was reading
what Whitefield had said, was that suddenly I asked, wait a
minute, I was trusting in all my righteous works. I was coming
to Christ because I thought, what prevents me from coming
to Christ? I'm supposed to go to him, and I can go to him.
I thought I could, by my own strength and works come to Christ. And the thing is, is God in mercy
cut me off to expose to me what self-righteousness was abundant
in me, and I was trusting in those works that I was doing. I said a lot of the right things,
but I really was trusting in those works until I was cut off. And then when I read Whitefield,
it was such a mercy that God won't let us come. to Him, trusting
in our own works. It's not going to be us plus
Christ. It's only Christ. And Christ
came to put away the sinner's people completely, with no help
or work on our part. And then what a deliverance that
was. And then I began to hear and to seek out where I could
hear the Gospel preached plainly and clearly. And it took a lot
of years, but the Lord had mercy in bringing me through all kinds
of other confusion And again, I'm not trying to say when I
was saved. It's just the Lord in mercy brought me out of all
that junk and nonsense and brought me under the gospel. As he says
to his church, come out. Come out from among them, my
people. Because he's going to cause us and make us to know
the truth. of the Living God as revealed
in the Son, Jesus Christ. And that's where our hope will
be fixed in. He is the hope. To Him, give
all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of sins. So, we can't even say
to someone, well, your experience wasn't just like mine. Some people
have a very hard and difficult time in coming to the Lord and
resting in Him. And yet, they may slip off into
sleep. in peace until that resurrection
morn. They may lay down their head
at the end very peacefully, and others may come in without much
of a fight and without much struggle or turmoil, but they rest in
Christ. They see it without knowing every
depth of their sinful heart, but towards the end of their
life, they may have a harder time and a more rough time. And
we can't say and judge another servant of the Lord that their
hope is fixed in Christ. then their hope is fixed in Christ,
and treat them as a brother, and love them, and serve gladly
with them shoulder to shoulder. As it says in Ezekiel 46, 9,
When the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn
feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to
worship shall go out by the way of the south gate. He may come
in and very bitter, harsh, cold, tough circumstances, but enter
out through that which is warm and sunny and pleasant and calm
and peaceful. And then that one who entereth
in by the way of the South Gate shall go forth by the way of
the North Gate. You may enter in in sunny, warm,
and pleasant circumstances to a degree and rest in Christ,
but your exit may be harsher and more difficult and more trying,
but even so, the Lord knows them that are His, and He knows how
to preserve them that are his, and keep them till the day of
Christ's visitation." So, he says to this man, Epithah, that
is, be open. Oh, and it also says that he
sighed, and that sighing there communicates to us what mercy
the Lord has for us. It wasn't because he was upset
that he was healing this man or had to heal him, but he sighed
to show the empathy and the feeling that he has for us, as he bore
that weight of that man's sin in his own body to take it from
him, to heal us of our infirmities, he did that for us, because Christ
receiveth sinners. He brings us to know that. He
receiveth sinners. And then he said, Epithet, that
is, be open, and straightway his ears were opened, and the
string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain, so that Now
should any man ask that man, anyone ask that man, what is
the reason for the hope that is within you? We can now say,
the Lord Jesus Christ had mercy on me, that he was gracious to
me, in spite of me, in spite of my sin and my wickedness,
the Lord has had mercy upon me. And then we see this in our final
point, verses 36 and 37, 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,
saying, He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak. So that even though Christ charged
them, they wouldn't be quiet about it. They spoke and declared
the glory of Christ in doing this. It just reminds me of that
parable where the Lord spoke of two, two that had a debt to
a wealthy creditor, one 500 pence and one 50 pence. When the creditor saw that neither
could pay, he frankly forgave them both, it says. Christ turned
to the Pharisee Simon, whose house he was in, and he said,
Simon, which of the two will love him, that creditor, more?
He said, well, I suppose the one who was forgiven 500 pence.
He said, well, you've rightly judged. Then he pointed out how,
because Simon at that time was judging Christ, because Christ
was letting a sinful, wicked woman touch him. She was at his
feet, wiping his feet with her tears and her hair, and she kissed
his feet, and she anointed his feet with oil, and Simon did
none of those things, because he thought very lightly of Christ. Christ was just, I don't know,
some guy who claimed to be a rabbi. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't,
but he wasn't moved by him like this woman was clearly moved
and he turned Christ turned and said wherefore I say unto thee
her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom
little is forgiven the same loveth little." And when someone understands
what Christ has done for them, just like this man who was deaf
and his tongue was tied and he couldn't speak, that man was
brought to love Christ for what he had done. He had worked a
great deliverance in him. And that's how it is with us. The more of Christ we see and
what he's done for us, the more joyful and thankful and warned
and desirous we are to know him. We want to know him more and
more, and we want to speak of him and what he's done for us
more and more. At the beginning of our passage,
it says in verse 32, And they bring unto him one that was deaf
and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseech him
to put his hand upon him. And the question for us is, do
we know any that are spiritually deaf? and spiritually dumb, unable,
and don't know these things of Christ. And if your desire is
that he would put his hand upon them, then pray and beg the Lord
to help you to speak and to declare like these here who are rejoicing
in him and beyond measure are astonished. Pray that the Lord
would open a door and help you to speak and declare what Christ
has done for you that they would be encouraged and brought here. If they have a smartphone, you
can text them a message. If they don't have a smartphone,
you're going to have to email it to them or hand them a CD or invite
them to come. But pray, and pray that the Lord
touch them even now that they have a willingness, some desire
to come and hear the gospel because Christ receives sinners and he's
merciful to those who seek him with all their heart and need
him. He's very, very good to his people
and very merciful. So I pray the Lord will bless
that to our hearts and let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank
you, Father, for your great mercy. And Lord, we don't know or understand
all things Lord, or how or why you work certain ways, but Lord,
we see it. We see your work. We see the
moving of the Spirit in your people and how you bring us together
with a heart and a desire to hear your voice. Lord, take away
our deafness and our blindness. Help us to see and to hear your
voice. And Lord, loosen our tongue.
because we're often so worried what others think, or we think
that we're not able to articulate these things. But Lord, have
mercy and help us to say an appropriate word in season. And Lord, though
we fumble and say the wrong thing, especially we judge it to be
the wrong thing and think ourselves foolish, Lord, we know that You're
able to take that word and by Your Spirit, cause that dear
loved one of ours and that dear friend to hear what you would
have us to hear. And Lord, we pray for your people
here, Lord, those that are sick and have need of your comfort
and your strength and your provision. Lord, we even think of Steve
who's going for a procedure later this week,
Lord, that you would have mercy upon him, give him strength and
peace, and you comfort his mom and his dad, Lord, and let them
be a help to him, and let it be a time where they are drawn
together closer to each other and to you, Lord. Father, we
pray for your mercy upon Steve, and Lord, each of us here have
weaknesses and fears and concerns and worries and doubts. Lord,
we pray that you would help us, whether you answer each of them
or not, that you would draw us to yourself to have our hope
and our confidence and our trust fixed in you, and that we would
see and know the glory of our God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Lord, we pray that you continue to visit us and lay this word
to our heart. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.