Mark chapter 8 we're going to
start reading in verse 22 through 26. Mark chapter 8 and it says in verse 22, and
he that is Christ cometh to Bethsaida. And they bring a blind man unto
him and sought Christ to touch him. And Christ took the blind
man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when he had
spit on his eyes, he put his hands upon him and asked him
if he saw aught. And the man looked up and said,
I see men as trees walking. After that, Christ put his hands
again upon his eyes and made him look up. And he was restored
and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house
saying, neither go into the town nor tell it to any in the town. Now this evening, I'm a simple, I'm not complicated. I don't claim to be something
that I'm not. But I have for you this evening
a simple outline. And I like simple outlines. Henry
was really good at simple outlines. Scott Richardson was really good
at simple outlines. Yet I hope with the Holy Spirit's
aid to proclaim that one and only gospel of the grace of God
to you this evening. Or in another place, the simplicity
of Christ and him crucified. Now that word, that phrase, the
simplicity of Christ and crucified, or we know it as the gospel,
though called by this world foolishness, but heralded of God, it is wisdom,
honor, and glory. So let's look together at the
last section of verse 25. He, this blind man, was restored
by Christ and saw every man clearly. Every man clearly. Well, how
can this be? He was blind. He could see no
one physically, naturally, or spiritually. He had absolutely
zero ability in and of himself to view or behold or perceive
anyone or anything. Couldn't do it. But again, our
text says in the last phrases of verse 25, he was restored
and saw every man clearly. Now, a reading in another text,
or in this text, another reading of this verse says, he saw absolutely
all men plainly. And this is important. He saw
every man absolutely plainly. I proffer three points, three
basic points. The first point being his eyesight
was restored. This man saw plainly or clearly
every man. And the first point is he knew
himself. When we're born, we're born in
sin. We do not have a good view, a clear view or a plain view
of ourselves whatsoever. But when our supreme and majestic
Lord reveals Himself to us, one of the first things He does is
show us ourselves. Shows us ourselves. As in, let
me illustrate this, as in Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 4,
well the vision of verse 1 of Isaiah 1, the vision of Isaiah,
the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Ah, sinful nation, he said, a
people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are
corruptors. They have all forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. They are
gone away backward. Isaiah chapter five, the same
man, said this, woe unto them, woe unto you that
join house to house, that lay field to field till there be
no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. Verse 11, woe unto them, you
that rise up early in the morning that may follow strong drink,
that continue until night, till wine inflame them. Verse 18,
woe unto them, woe unto you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity
and sin as it were with a cart rope. Verse 20, woe unto them,
woe unto you that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness
for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter. Verse 21, woe unto them, woe
unto you that are wise in their own eyes
and prudent in their own sight. But then when the Lord revealed
himself to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter six, in the year that King Uzziah
died, Isaiah said, I saw the Lord also sitting upon a throne
high and lifted up his train filled the temple. Verse five, then said I, woe
is me. Not you, not the person behind
me, not the people who are not here. Woe is me. Why? Because the Lord restored
his sight. Only the Lord can do such. Woe
is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips. And
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the Lord, the Lord of hosts." Another illustration
in 2 Samuel chapter 9. It's basically the
same thing over and over and over again. When the Lord does
a work in us, when he restores our spiritual sight, as it were,
we see ourselves clearly, plainly, and completely. 1 Samuel chapter
9, I'm sorry, 2 Samuel chapter 9 and verse 1, and David said,
is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may
show him the kindness for Jonathan's sake? Verse 6, now when Mephibosheth,
The son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David. He fell on his face and did reverence. Now David is a type of Christ
here. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered and said, behold,
thy servant. And David said unto him, fear
not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan's sake.
And I will restore. There's that word. I will restore. thee all the land saw thy father
and thou shall eat bread at my table continually. And Mephibosheth,
as he saw himself clearly, as his vision was restored, spiritual
we're talking, bowed himself and said, what
is thy servant? That thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I am. That's what we are. That's what
we are. What about Mark chapter 7? Mark
chapter 7 verse 24 through 28. And from thence Christ arose
and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and he entered
into a house and would have no man know it but he could not
be hid for a certain woman whose young daughter had an unclean
spirit heard of him and came and fell at his feet. The woman
was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation, and she besought him
that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But
Jesus said unto her, let the children first be filled, for
it is not meat to take the children's bread and cast it unto the dogs. And she said, yes, Lord, that's
what I am. Yet the dogs under the table
eat of the children's crumbs. That's what she saw. She saw
herself clearly before a thrice holy God. One of the initial
lessons of God's gospel understood and believed upon in the heart
is, I am the chief of dead dog sinners. That's what Maurice
used to say. He used to say, dead dog sinners. We, by God's sweet grace and
mercy, are less concerned about, as I said, the person sitting
next to us in the pew, but we are astonished, amazed, and brought
low As the Holy Spirit reveals to us, we're clearly, we deserve
not the least of God's mercies. I love that passage in Luke,
Luke chapter 18 and verse 13, the publican in the, in the Pharisee,
the publican said, God be merciful to me. It starts there. Now religion, will point and
get you doing things. Tim James says, whips are biscuits. Keep you in line with whips or
keep you in line with biscuits. No, we, only by his grace, we
own up to what we are. We know we're sinners. This can
be further illustrated. You don't have to turn there,
but look it up sometime in Zachariah chapter 12. It says the spirit
of grace and supplications, it came and it revealed what we
are. And it said every family apart,
the mother, the father, the children, every family apart, wept and
were in bitterness. And that's what we see ourselves
clearly. But then Zechariah 13 one, then the fountain was opened
for sin and uncleanness. God, he takes no sons or daughters
to glory who are not made low by his grace.
The proud he humbles, he says. The grace he exalts to sit among
princes. Secondly, our second point, this
man saw all men plainly, absolutely all men plainly. Well, that person
whom the Lord graces to see every man clearly or plainly sees all
men and women and children surely as the scriptures declare us
to be. You know, we're not easily fooled
by the glitter and gold of this world because we know what it
And I can say this, but let's just see what the scripture says
John or I'm sorry Romans chapter 3 Romans chapter 3 as in Romans
3 starting in verse 9 What then are we better than they know
and know wise for we have aforeproved? Both Jews and Gentiles and in
this writing this is that's the whole world That they are all
under sin All under sin, as it is written, there is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeks after God. They've all gone out of
the way. They've together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Our brother prayed when he read
the scripture, after he read the scripture, basically what
he was saying is what Christ said. Without me, you can do
not a little bit, absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well, he continues on in Romans
3, whose, their throat is an open sepulcher, their tongues
they have used to deceit, the poison of asthma is under their
lips, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their
feet are swift to shed blood. Now we know, in verse 19, that
what things whoever the law sayeth, that sayeth to them who are under
the law, and every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. We see clearly, and most plainly,
that all are condemned. All are under this, the wrath
of God. They talk about privilege, born with privilege, and this
and that. Not in God's eyes. Not in God's eyes. Not whatsoever. In Romans chapter
5 and in verse 18, therefore by the offense of one, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. It's not that they're going to
be condemned if they don't believe. If you don't believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and what he is and who he is and what he's done
for you, you're under the condemnation of God. This is a great country,
don't get me wrong, but it's not like the judicial system
in this country. until proven guilty. No, we are
guilty until we're made innocent. Why? We don't have a problem
with that because the Lord's restored my sight and I see that
I can't, I'm less than the least and so are we all. And again,
in Genesis chapter 6, 5, when God looked down at heaven and
he looked on the imaginations of the heart of man, they were
evil, continually. What's that mean? When you go
to bed, when you wake up, when you go to bed, when you wake
up, when you eat your lunch, when you eat your dinner, when
you go to work, continually. You don't need to know Greek
or Hebrew. Continually, you know what that
means. You know exactly what that means. Yes, indeed, we know
not Only by this sacred book's teachings, but by Holy Spirit
illumination, Psalms 39 verse 5, man at his best state is altogether
vanity. That word is useless. I know
we don't like to talk that way, and psychiatrists don't like
us to tell our children that, but we need to tell our children
the truth. If we love them, we tell them the truth. We don't
be mean about it. We speak the truth in love. But lastly, third point, we see and know, we are fully
persuaded that clearly and plainly the man, Christ Jesus, is the
only Savior among men. We see he's a man, he was the
God-man. And it says in our text that
he saw every man. Now obviously he's looking at
Christ. We see ourselves. We see what this world is. Thank
God we see Christ. We see every man. And there is
no hope in man, but the man, Christ Jesus. As he is revealed in his word,
he is our propitiation. He is our atonement. He is the
blessed covenant. This highly favored one, the
mediator between a thrice holy God and vile sinful men, the
Lord Jesus Christ, we understand by divine disclosure. He is our
savior, Matthew 1, 21. He is our elder brother, friend,
and keeper, Jude 24. He fulfilled every jot and tittle
against us and set us at liberty, Matthew 5, 18. We see clearly
now we've been restored. that Emmanuel honored the law
and the lawgiver, Isaiah 42. He by himself purged our sins
and died the just for the unjust, 1 Peter 2, 24 and 1 Peter 3,
18. He who knew no sin, Christ. He who had no sin, Christ. He who was cut off, says Daniel
9, but not for himself. Not for himself. Not for himself. If he was, he couldn't be a savior.
He couldn't. Because God demands perfection. And again, this is simple. I
say this is simple. This message, it's just three
points. Do you see him clearly or not?
It's really not. Do you see him? Are you still
holding on to a profession? Are you still holding on to the
false notion of free will or these such things? No. People are talking about do this,
do this. We preach done. D-O-N-E, done. Christ has done
it. So I tell you and I tell myself,
let us adore him, this man, this God man. Let us follow him. Let
us worship him. and let us love him evermore. We who were blind to all things
Christ, all things grace, and all things Bible, now we see
him most clearly. Him who loved us and washed our
sins away. Him who was in need of nothing. God is sovereign, supreme, he's
solitary. He did not need anything. adds
to them or nothing takes away from them. He who is in need
of nothing or no one left his father's side, left his father's
fellowship to seek and to save the greatest tyrants of all time, the chief of sinners. I had a
man argue with me. He said, well, we don't sin.
I said, yes, we do. He said, well, I got a scripture
for you, and I want to tell you this, and you'll understand. I said,
no, you don't have a scripture. And he looked at me, and he says,
I said, no, listen to me. I go, I'll listen to you, but
you know. And he quoted it, and I said, well, that's completely
out of context. That's not what that means. I said, how could
Paul say that he was less than the least, or he was the chief
of sinners? Well, that was before he was saved. What about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
David, Mephibosheth, he still was lame on both feet, wasn't
he? Christ washed the disciples' feet. Peter says, no, you don't
need to wash me. Yes, we do. Our feet need to be constantly
washed. They'll need to be washed before we go home, and they'll
need to be washed before we come here tomorrow, and tomorrow.
We're not, it's salvation is three, it's
in I am saved, I'm being saved, and I shall be saved. I love this passage in John 15,
if I can read it without breaking up. Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You
are my friends. John 15, verse 13 and 14a. And having loved his own, he
loved him unto the end. The work on the cross is finished. It's complete. It's done. Look to him. If you've never
looked to him, look to him now. I pray in closing that we would
be given eyes clearly to see ourselves and the Redeemer. and be given an entire view or
path to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do
you see him clearly? If you do, it's only by his grace. Grace has made us different.
Only by his grace. Thank you.