Deaf Hear and Blind See

Q: What does the Bible say about healing the deaf and mute?

In Mark 7, Jesus healed a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, demonstrating His power to restore both physical and spiritual hearing. In Mark 7:31-37, we find the narrative of Jesus healing a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. This miracle illustrates not just the physical healing but also signifies the spiritual miracles that Jesus performs for all who are spiritually deaf and mute. Jesus took the man aside, opened his ears, and loosed his tongue, reflecting the transformation that occurs when God intervenes in a person's life. The healing serves as a tangible sign of Jesus' authority and ability to restore both body and spirit, reminding us that true hearing and speaking comes from Him.

Q: How do we know Jesus' miracles are significant?

Jesus' miracles, including healing the deaf and mute, illustrate His divine authority and the spiritual truths He teaches about His redemptive work. The miracles of Jesus are significant for several reasons. They serve as manifestations of His divine authority and power. In Mark 7, the healing of the deaf man is not merely a physical restoration but is representative of the spiritual healing that Christ offers to all His people. Jesus indicated that the spiritual deafness and dumbness were not merely physical conditions but represented the state of humanity's sinful nature. His miracles point to the larger spiritual truths about salvation, revealing the character of God and the nature of His redemptive purposes. The astonishment of the crowd in Mark 7:37, declaring that He 'hath done all things well,' underscores the awesomeness of His works both physically and spiritually.

Q: Why is spiritual hearing and speaking important for Christians?

Spiritual hearing and speaking are crucial for Christians as they reflect the understanding of God's truth and enable believers to share the gospel. For Christians, spiritual hearing and speaking are foundational aspects of faith. In John 10:27, Jesus says, 'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.' This highlights the importance of being responsive to God's word. Spiritual hearing allows believers to discern His truth, while spiritual speaking enables them to articulate and share that truth with others. The transformation experienced by the deaf man in Mark 7 serves as a metaphor for the transformative work of grace within us – opening our ears to hear the gospel and loosing our tongues to declare the praises of God. Thus, as we grow in our understanding of God's word, we are compelled to share it, reflecting our relationship with Him and fulfilling the Great Commission.

Q: What does it mean that Jesus does all things well?

The statement that Jesus does all things well emphasizes His perfection and sovereignty in both His works and His divine nature. The affirmation that 'He hath done all things well,' found in Mark 7:37, speaks volumes about the nature of Christ and His work. It underscores the perfection with which Jesus operates in every miracle and in every aspect of His ministry. This is not limited to the physical healings He performed but extends to His teaching, His interactions, and ultimately, His redemptive work on the cross. The declaration serves as a reminder of God's sovereignty and goodness, reassuring believers that all of His works are for their benefit and glory. In a world filled with chaos and imperfection, knowing that Christ does all things well provides great comfort and confidence in His plans for us.

Mark chapter seven, and we'll start in verse 31 and read to the end of the chapter. And again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came in under, under the sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. 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 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, Ephetha, 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. 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'll end our reading there. Let's pray together.

Our Holy Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your message to us this morning that you have, because of your goodness and in your wisdom, because of who you are, you've seen fit to help. poor, undeserving, dead sinners such as we, not to assist but to come and to help and to save.

And we're thankful that you have seen fit to accomplish all yourself because you have truly done all things well. We're thankful that you've seen fit to reveal your character and your goodness to us in Christ, to redeem and purchase Your children who had no right to even ask, but because of your goodness, because of who you are, you've seen fit to redeem your people, call them to repentance and save our souls from our sin and from ourself, to draw us to you. We have so much to be thankful for, and we do at this time. We thank you. And while we thank you, we ask for your presence today, presence with us, presence with our brother Kevin, that you be with him and strengthen him continue to give him a message from you according to your will. We thank you for this time together.

We think of those of our number that can't be here with us today for whatever the reason is that you heal and comfort according to your will, according to your goodness. We pray for our pastor and for Janet that you give them a time of rest and traveling mercies, return them home safely to us according to your will. Father, we bow and we pray for all things in Christ's name. Amen.

After we sing, our brother Kevin will come and preach to us. We have Kevin Thacker here with us this morning and his wife, Kimberly, as our pastor and janitor are on vacation. We're so blessed this morning, brother. You weren't didn't have an opportunity to be here.

I strongly suggest you get that from sermon audio and listen. It was a real blessing. Prayers were answered that our Lord would see fit to. To reveal himself and communicate and bless and have a message. For us, and that's what we pray for, and that's what he provided this morning. And Kevin, we continue to pray for you today. If you would stand and grab your your. Your bulletins and stand while while Sean leads us in our morning called worship.

Come, let us sing a song of songs, the glory which to Christ belongs. The hosts of heaven began, the strain worthy, the Lamb for He was slain. slain to redeem us by his blood, and make us kings and priests to God, to cleanse from every sinful stain worthy the Lamb, for He was slain. Among a thousand hearts and songs, his sacred name fills all our tongues. All power in heaven and earth proclaim worthy the Lamb, for He was slain. Long as I live and when I die, this song of songs shall be my cry. And while in heaven with him I reign, worthy the Lamb, for he was slain. OK, if you would, turn in your hymnal to song number 287, Like a River Glorious. 287. Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace. Over all victorious in its bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth, fuller every day. Perfect yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Stayed upon Jehovah Hearts are fully blessed Finding as He promised Perfect peace and rest Hidden in the hollow of his blessed hand. Never foe can follow, never traitor stand. Not a surge of worry, Not a shade of care, not a blast of hurry, touch the spirit there. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Every joy or trial falleth from above. traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly find him wholly true. State upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding, as he promised, perfect peace and rest. Again, we have our brother Kevin Thacker and Kimberly here with us this morning. Tell a brief story before Kevin comes up.

First time I ever met Roger. First time we ever met. I was in a building I'd never been in before, and I met him for the very, very first time. And he said to me, relax. You're home. You're with family. Never met him, and I was in a building I'd never been to before. But relax. You're home. You're with family. All right, Kevin. Before Jonathan said it, I was going to say, I wasn't nervous, really, the first one. I'm nervous now. I guess I'll relax. I'm at home. Let's turn back to Mark chapter 7.

Thank you all for having us here. I'm thankful for you all. And I'm thankful for your pastor and Janet. And I can't, I could tell you, it just, I'm proud of bears them how kind. They are to me and my wife and how supportive they have been in hard times over the last several years and. Long time. They've been good to us and loved us and showed it and I'm thankful for him and so. And thank you all. For supporting them and being here and take good care of. Mark chapter seven.

Yesterday I was hoping to get off work, not work, and they said, no, you can't take leave. And I said, well, I can get off early. I can be done by about noon. And they said, all right, that's the plan. And they said, well, somebody had a car wreck at work, so you're going to have to take their part, and you're going to have to do more.

And I just kept working later. I got home from studying, but I can't just sit and study. It's like, I'm going to write a message now, and I sit down, and in 45 minutes, I'm done. It don't work that way. And so I start working on something. I got to kind of walk away from it. And I go out in the garden. And I was fixing the toilet paper holder in the bathroom. And Kimberly came in.

She said, you've got to have two messages ready, like, you know, 12 hours. Do you think you need to be fixing that? And I said, yes, I do. I said, you'd make a terrible preacher. Like, you're too organized. You have some faith in the Lord to give it. Not be fatalistic, but, and to speak plainly. I pray the Lord be with us, I can speak plainly. That's the title of my message, Hear and Speak Plainly. This man we're gonna look at here, Mark 7, he is deaf and dumb. Deaf means you can't hear, and dumb means you can't speak. So let's read that again. Mark 7, verse 31, and again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came into the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coast of Decapolis.

And they, bringing unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they beseeched him to put his hand upon him. 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, Ephetha, that is, be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the strings of his tongue were 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. And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. Now while on this earth, while the Lord was in His earthly ministry, He performed miracles. He performed physical miracles. And this is to show us the spiritual miracle. Spiritual miracles that He performs.

He said there in Matthew 11, those The disciples of John the Baptist, they came to him and they said, are you who we seek or are we seeking another? And he said, you go back and tell John the things you've seen and the things you've heard. He said, the blind receive their sight.

That's a miracle, isn't it? The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. That's a miracle. The deaf hear. The dead are raised up. It gives life to the dead. And God's listing miracles. Remember that last one? The poor. have the gospel preached to them. That's a miracle, God says so. Now, I can only, me or no other man can do that, except if God's pleased to make them. And he has to bless them. But for, to make people poor, in spirit, needy, and for have good news preached to them. He calls that a miracle. When the Lord found us, we didn't find him. He found us, we were the lost ones.

We were blind, because we could not see his glory only our own, which is nothing. We were lame. We could not walk in paths of righteousness. We were lepers, unclean, unclean. We couldn't be in his presence, couldn't be around him. We were deaf. We couldn't hear of his majesty, of his mercies, of his grace. We couldn't hear that love. We had no idea what it was. All we could hear is just the beat of our own death drum.

Thinking we were fine. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We were poor. Poor of understanding. We were poor of atonement. We had no covering. We were poor of a home. When he said, I go to prepare a place for them, that's a place of atonement. That's a place of atonement with God. A place of reconciliation. That's a home.

We had none of that. This man here was physically deaf and he physically had a speech impediment. He couldn't speak right. And like us, this man, the same as you, the same as me, we came into this world, we were conceived in sin, from the womb we spoke lies. Because, why does a baby lie? What's out of the heart comes to the mouth, they're lying to you. They don't need a diaper, they don't need food, they just want you to hold them. We're born spiritually deaf and we're born spiritually dumb. We can't speak plainly because that's a language that we've never heard. It's a language we don't speak. But the Lord called this man through his means and in his providence he brought him to the great physician. In his mighty providence and power he made this come to pass.

And he physically heard, he could physically speak, but that man had a new heart in him, and he had ears to hear, and he had a tongue that spoke plainly what God has done. He said, let their works be known that they may praise their God. We all men know that, know he's done it. Verse 32, Mark 7, 32. And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseeched him to put his hand upon him. These people brought, who's they? We'll see them again at the end, They're the ones rejoicing. This is the Lord's servants. Who's that? Was this people that's assigned a position to go do? No, it's just people who's already been given ears to hear. And they plainly spoke to that man. They have a new heart that can speak to him. He can't understand it. It's a language they don't, he doesn't speak. But they said, come on, you're coming with us. Come see a man. He's able. Come to him.

Not come to a church, not come to a certain preacher or an organized religion, come to a person, a man, the man cross Jesus. That woman at the well, that half-breed Samaritan. The route was actually shorter to go through Samaria, but the Jews would go around the city. It's like, I can't even be around the people. They're horrible. But the Lord went right there to that well.

And that woman, he spoke to that woman. He said things that no one could know. And he revealed who she is, and he revealed himself to her. When you see your negative and his positive, you see your need and his ability, and you see him as he is, you desire him. To know him is to love him. To know him is to love him.

And he revealed that to her, and she left her water pot. She come here to get water. You need water in the desert. You get thirsty. I was thirsty the other day, and I couldn't think of nothing. I just wanted to get water. She left that water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that I ever did.

Is not this the Christ? That's who we need. That's who God promised He'd send. That's the first promise, to see the woman. This is it. This is God, born of a woman. Then they went out of the city, and came unto Him. And Christ preached to those people. Those men, this harlot, went and got, and said, come see a man. And He preached to them.

And they heard. He gave them ears to hear. And that lady wanted her friends to hear. She had heard. She wanted her friends to hear and her family to hear. And you know what they said after they heard him speak? They said unto the woman, now we believe. Not because of thy saying. You told us right. For now we have heard him ourselves. And know indeed this is the Christ, the Savior of the world. We are deaf. We didn't hear you, we heard him. We heard him.

At some time in the 90s, I don't know when, Maurice Montgomery stopped at a town on a Wednesday night and filled in for Brother Henry. And I always locked him. I was a teenager. Maurice didn't talk to me that day. I didn't hear Maurice talk. He said, let God. What? And screamed real loud. And he speaks on Daniel 4 and Nebuchadnezzar. And I was Nebuchadnezzar. Wait a second. That ain't some king from a long time ago. That's me. God spoke to me that day. Now he used Maurice. That's what Maurice is doing. And that's the first message I remember remembering. If that's worth anything. But we need to hear him. And we're deaf. And because we're deaf, we can't speak right. And you can't do anything about that. I can't do anything about that. The Lord has to. And I've seen my dad.

I'll tell you next week. I'm preaching next weekend down in Pockville. And they've been down there for 40 years. Henry went down there 40 years ago next weekend. And I got tricked into preaching there. Tom Harding tricked me. My whole life, my dad heard the gospel, and I saw it. We don't go to family reunions anymore. He would sit down and argue with his brothers and his sisters, and my aunts and uncles and cousins, and go over and say, look, look, look, look. And I thought, why is he doing this? It's never worked as a child.

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. How will they hear without a preacher? God has to send a preacher to preach to them. They have to. We don't need to sit down and reason with our loved ones about the gospel. The Lord must do that. Our charge is to tell them, come listen. Come listen. We're all blind. When he saw us, where he put us.

Anytime you're in a trial, and the waves are coming over the ship, and you think this is it, I'm just surrounded, what am I going to do? You're right where God put you. He ain't surprised, well you're surprised by it. He's not surprised by it. This man was deaf. He didn't know what it was to him. He didn't even have a clue what that meant. God knew, because He made him deaf. This was His pleasure, His good pleasure and will to put him there. And He sees us right where He puts us. We were deaf when He first spoke to us.

Fannie Crosby, they said, oh, that's horrible. You didn't have sight. She was blind. Wrote all the pamphlets. And he said, it's wonderful. She said, it's wonderful. She said, the very first person I'm going to see is the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't have to see y'all, y'all. First face I'm gonna see is his.

We need to be able, be made to know how deaf we really are, how blind we really are, how our speech is impeded. If we've never been deaf, we still are. If we've never been blind, we still are. If we've never been mute, we still are. There in John 9, it says, and some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and they said unto him, are we blind also?

You saying I'm blind? Guy was mad at me one time. He said, you saying I'm a sinner? I thought, he's actually paying attention to me. If you're mad, that's because you're listening. And they got mad, them Pharisees. They said, are we blind also? And God Almighty spoke to them. And he said, if you were blind, you would have no sin.

But now you see. You say, we see. Therefore, your sin remaineth. When the Lord works in somebody, we see, we hear, we walk, we are made clean. And Isaiah 29, it said, in that day shall the deaf hear the words of this book. Hear it their whole life. And we still, and that's a living word, it still happens.

That last hour, under the table. How long has that been there? That seemed brand new to me last night. I was like, when did it say that? I never paid attention. I was blind to it, and the Lord revealed it. I guess so, I'd have it to say to you all this week. But who does this work? Who does it? He said in Isaiah 43, I will say to the north, give up. I will say to the south, keep not back.

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name. I gave him my name. For I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together and let people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified. He said, let them hear and say, it is truth. Let them hear and say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Who can do that? God does it. What are you saying? Salvation, hearing new life is of the Lord. He's got to do it.

And verse 32, and they bring him unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they beseeched him to put his hand upon him. Him having an impediment of the speech, that's proof he had a hearing problem. If someone is born deaf, there's a few deaf people I deal with in my job.

And some are better than others. They try to speak, and I appreciate that. And I'm trying to learn some sign language so I can say you're welcome. of those things. But not being able to hear, they can learn some words and learn some sounds and kind of make it through vibrations. But other sounds they cannot replicate because you have to hear to replicate. Now that's physical.

We can understand that. Those that the Lord haven't worked in yet, they've proved they've not heard the word of the Lord because of how they talk. They don't know any different. But they're saying things that don't sound right to believers. Because we hear. They haven't heard the truth about themselves yet. They haven't heard the truth about the Lord yet. And truth about salvation yet.

And they think they've still done something, and it comes out of their mouth. I don't know someone's heart. The Lord does. The Lord looks upon the heart. I can't know it. But on a long enough timeline, I know what comes out of the mouth. Who they brag on. Who did the work, who gets the glory? Give it time, they'll prove themselves. It's so.

And we can't do a thing about it. If I could, look, my children, if I could take a funnel and put it down their throat and pour the gospel into them and they had new life, strap them down. That's gonna happen right now. Can't do it. What do we do? Pray to the Lord. Come to Him. Ask Him. That's to the heathen that runs rampant in this world, cursing God and all things around him.

The Lord said, Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain, for, it comes with a promise, the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. And this whole world thinks it's saying a cuss word. It's to take his name and turn it into vanity. And people don't know what they're doing. They're saying things.

And that's in religion too. Sanctify yourselves. Well, sanctification is a co-effort between God after He saves us. Jehovah M. Kadesh, the Lord that sanctifies you. That's His name. To say you're doing that is to take His name in vain. But they can't hear the words of this book. Because God has to do it. Unfortunately for you all's sake. Some of you all know me. I was a hard to deal with teenager. And I would say I wasn't apologetic because I wasn't apologizing to nobody.

And I'd fight these scriptures anybody would listen, because I wanted to win. And it was right, because that's what it says. And through deductive reasoning and good reading comprehension, I can tell you what this book says. And then the Lord saved me. As Barnard said, my doctrine was straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. And then God came to me and saved me.

How about that? That's what He's doing to this man. If we say we've not sinned, we make Him a liar. And His Word's not in us. Lord, let's bring us down. If somebody says, I chose to be saved, I found the Lord, I came to these doctrines of grace and agreed to... No! We ought to be put in the dirt and need saved from our sins. And Psalm 117 says, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy Endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. That's easy, isn't it? Will his mercies fail?

No. No. Can he lose one? No. Is he wrong? No, he ain't wrong. Am I wrong? Yeah. The problem's me. Who brought this evil upon me? I did. I did. A man asked me that one time, too. He said, who brought this evil upon me? And I said, yeah, they asked that in Jonah, didn't they? They ended up throwing him in the sea. I don't think they liked the answer, did they? The Lord saved them, too. By the way people talk, it's plainly and painfully obvious they cannot hear. Not to them, but to the ones that do hear. The Lord said, old generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? Speak good things. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." There in verse 33, and he took him aside. They told him, they said, put your hand on him. You know, he didn't do that. He put his fingers in his ears and then spit, and another one he spit and made mud and put that in his eyes.

All of them came to have life in Christ. But it wasn't exactly the same way, was it? He deals individually where it meets us where we are on our points of contention, and he deals with us as children. I got four children, and I have to deal with all four of them differently. One of them I got to just all but brawl with. The other one I can just go squint a little bit, and that one cries. He knows us. He knows our frame. And I'm so thankful it's different.

I used to be so jealous, because I was just such a rebellious child and was a heathen. The Lord had to give me good believing parents from birth. And I was raised under the gospel. And I was always jealous of people who grew up in false religion. And then the Lord saved them. I said, they had that aha moment. I said, no, this is wrong, and that's right. And I thought, what was I looking for? I was looking for the Savior. I was looking for an experience. No, no. And I was saddened, because my ears were done. But every believer, we're all saved by the Lord. But the little nuances, that's kind of different. And they said, well, you made that other one able to hear and able to talk by just touching him. So you put your hand on him.

And the Lord said, I ain't doing it that way. I'm going to do it my way. He's still going to hear, but I'm going to do it my way. It says in verse 33, and he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ear and spit and touched his tongue. He didn't follow their methods. He had the same outcome, didn't he? He took him aside. He took his deaf and dumb man, and he got him alone.

One-on-one. That's the narrow way. You find that narrow way is one man wide, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And this isn't a group effort. It's not because of who my parents are or mommy and daddy prayed for me. No. The Lord has to get us alone. Nobody else is around. and deal with our hearts, speak to our hearts. Only he can do that.

He said, enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat, but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Could the multitude be wrong? Everybody agrees that X, Y, Z, right? Everybody knows this. Was the multitude right in Noah's day? Math disagrees, doesn't it? The Lord disagrees. Was the multitude right in Sodom and Gomorrah? Was the multitude right in Jericho? In the days of our Lord, while He walked this earth? They crucified Him.

Nothing's changed. There's a remnant. It's not just a small piece of garment. It's a discarded small piece of garment. We're the rejects. The rejects from the factory. A remnant. And it's not an error of people saying, you're so arrogant. No. The Lord was gracious. I'm thankful he elected the people because nobody deserves it.

We've got to get through that first, don't we? He put his finger in his ears. He had to stop him from hearing everything else. Because he's getting input from mom, he's getting input from dad, the spirits I'm speaking. And we're getting, well, this preacher on TV said this, and I've been going to my old church, and my old pastor says this, the Lord has to stop all that. And you're going to hear nothing but me. He has to lock in on us. Stop them hearing any lies, anything other than the word of the Lord.

They'll say, the Lord said it, I believe it, that settles it. No. The Lord said it, that settles it. He don't do what's right, what he does is right, that's the difference. He said it, that's it. He has to tune out with everything else, saying everything we've ever heard, everything we believe, to only hear what he says. He says in the scriptures, he's the voice of many waters.

The Lord gives, if it happens in the home, and then it happens in the local church, and it happens in the church throughout time, it happens in the body, his whole body. throughout everything. It's kind of the same throughout. The Lord sends pastors after his own heart to give you knowledge and understanding. You can have all the knowledge in the world.

God told me one time, he said, boy, you better watch those songs. He really knows the Bible. I said, yeah, but he don't understand it. He don't know what it says. The Lord has to give us knowledge and understanding. Pastors are sent to do that. That's what the Lord does to us.

And so I knew that he was the voice of many waters. And you know what happened? I knew that. One day, I understood it. physically was there in a big old valley and hit rain there in the desert and a flash flood come through. It was 10, 15 feet deep in that real top valley.

And we was getting close to it on rock. And so we were safe. And Kimberly was, I don't know, eight feet from me. And she was yelling at me. And you know what I could hear? Nothing but that water. I mean, it was roaring. And she screamed, hey! And I was hollering at her, hey! And you couldn't hear nothing. And right then, I thought, he's the voice of many waters. When God speaks, nothing else can be heard. You can scream all you want to. Kick, scream, whatever. It don't matter.

You're going to hear him. And boy, isn't that wonderful he makes us to hear him? He gave that general call when the Lord was baptized. He said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. What a gospel message. One sentence. God spoke. You want to make God happy? It's going to be in His Son. That's the only one He's happy with. That general call went out to the whole world. They can read it right now. And on that Mount of Transfiguration, He said, this is My Son in whom I'm well pleased. Command came with it. The command of salvation. Hear ye Him. Hear Him. He gets this man alone, by himself. Plugs up his ears to everything else in the world. And then he spits and touches his tongue. And I'm going to be real honest with you.

When I read that, I thought, ooh, that's gross. We was over in Iraq, and there was customers. I was higher up. We had to go eat with these people. And they'd take a big old thing of food and put it in their mouth. And that guy goes, you ain't putting that food in my mouth.

I don't know if they're back to washing hands, the tradition of men, right? But as soon as I read it, I thought, whoa. And at my level of understanding, The means the Lord uses ain't the means that I'd choose. And what may seem gross to something, initially, say, ooh, what's that?

Do you know, he's a friend of publicans and sinners, and he eats with them. That means he sits down with harlots, and harlots nowadays sound like a Disney character. It's an older term. All these undesirable people and he'd reach over and take your peanut butter and jelly sandwich you've been eating on, take a bite off of it and hand it back to you. The holy God of heaven and earth eats with sinners.

I want to hear him. If he spits and touches my tongue, that's fine. That's fine, isn't it? He touched his tongue. And that's what he does to us. And Isaiah 6 says, then one of the seraphims unto me, flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs off the altar, and he laid it on my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sins purged. A new heart was in there. Well, wouldn't a live coal sear a tongue? You'd never be able to talk. Well, his ways ain't our ways.

That's what Donnie said. Jonah got swallowed by that whale. He said, the Lord said, Jonah swallowed the whale. I believe that too. A new heart that speaks out of the mouth is willing. Says, and I also heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? As soon as he seared that tongue. Who will go for us? Then said, I hear my sin be. Lord, I'll do anything you want. Wherever you are is where I want to be. Whatever you're doing is what I want to be. Romans 10, it says, From the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now he's going to speak plainly. Verse 34, Mark 7, 34. And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephetha, that is, be opened. His sigh is something that's special. For this man to hear, Spiritually, for us to hear, for us to speak plainly, oh, the cost.

God was forsaken by God. People say, I feel so alone. And I felt that way. We've never been alone like that. Nothing like that. The cost of that was the eternal God who cannot die laid down his life. the death he would accomplish. We can't do nothing but die. He has to make us live. He can do nothing but live. And he died for his people.

He sighed like a father pitieth a child. That's one of the definitions or translations. There's five meanings of repentance in the scriptures. One of them is a sigh. When it repented God that he put man on earth, it's literally he sighed. He sighed and saith unto him, Epheth, that is, be open and straight way, right then.

His ears were open and the strings of his tongue was loose and he spake plain. He didn't have to go through speech therapy. Can you imagine that? I think of that man that was laying in his hole lot for 30, 40 years. He's been laying in his bed. If I lay in a bed for six hours or more and don't move, I can't hardly walk. Could you imagine laying there for 42 years? The Lord said, get up, take your bed, and get out of here. He popped up and started walking.

And that's just physical things. Can we believe how dead we were? God show us how alive we are in him. And be happy. Todd just preached on fasting. And the Lord says plainly in the scriptures, this is the fast that I approve of. And it's believing on his son and trusting his son. And I thought, nothing resolved. He may have said it once. I just heard it and it stuck. But people's tore up, upset over things.

He said, go sit underneath the shade tree and eat a ham sandwich. Calm down. You're fine. And I thought, to sit down and eat a ham sandwich and trust the Lord, by His definition, that's fasting. To eat a sandwich is to fast in the house. Talk about Rahab. Great work, act of faith. What'd she do? Lie to the government.

I want to understand things the way He understands them. I want to see things the way He sees them. I want His mind to be made like Christ. Straightway his ears were opened, and the strains of his tongue were loose, and he spoke plainly." Our Lord spoke plainly. They said, well, is Lazarus sick? He said, and Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. It was simple, and it was plain.

I heard a guy preach one time, and he said, at this point, Jesus began to exegete this passage My mom and dad spent a whole lot of money on my, I may not sound it. I got a pretty good education. I had to go Google that one. I was like, what in the world is that? It's to expound a text and all that stuff. Lord said, I'm the door. A child knows that's a door. You know what bread is? I'm bread.

As simple as it could be, he spoke plainly. What's that mean? We're at fault if we don't believe him? How thankful we are. It's just simple. It's plain. And the older I get, the longer the Lord deals with me and my stubbornness and blesses me in spite of myself, the simpler this becomes. It's simple. I can't hear. He has to do it. I hear. And I won't say what He says. I used to be nervous, like, I don't really know how to tell somebody. If God said it, why should I be ashamed to say it? It's plain. It's simple. Christ spoke plainly and those He's given faith to do, do so too.

It says there in Hebrews 11, these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. This ain't my home. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

I want to go home. I think the Lord still has things for me to do on this earth. I don't want to speed the process along. But there'll come a time, the more I'm tired of this earth, the more I want to go home. And I'm not of this world. I'm here. I was stationed in Germany for two years. I'm not a German. I got along well while I was there. I moved up well in the ranks and got along with everybody.

But that wasn't my home. This is my home. I happen to be in this shell of flesh, this seed of flesh, and inside of me is germinating life. And that life's His. I want to be with Him. I want to be with the Son, come out of this shell, and shed it. It's plain. People say, you're crazy. You're suicidal. I want to be with my Master. That's where I want to be. What did this deaf and dumb person say? Salvation's of the Lord. Verse 34, and he looked up to heaven and sighed. And also, that word sighed, I looked it up, it means to make in straights, so I had to look that up. Christ bore this man's deafness. He bore his dumbness, his inability.

And saith unto him, Ephetha, that is, be open. And straightway his ears were opened, and the strings of his tongue was loose, and he spake plain. And now the Lord's speaking to him, and all his buddies that brought him. 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. I know what that says. And then about 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I started understanding a little bit what that meant. And then about five years ago, I understand more of what that meant.

Like, how could the Lord say, don't do that? And then they do it every time he says, stop doing it. This is God Almighty. If he says, it's going to rain, get you an umbrella, it's going to rain. And that always confused me so much. And I thought, he's dealing with his children. Don't open that package. What are they going to do? Open the package. Don't go in that door.

They're going to run to it. He understands their frame, don't they? And I know this may not work for you. It worked for me. If you ever ratchet strap something down on a trailer or back of a truck or something, you push on that thing. You give it some resistance. Make sure it's going to stick. Like I said before, if the Lord gives faith, he's going to prove it. And he was putting a little pressure on them, a little back pressure. Don't say nothing. And the more he said, don't, well, we've got to tell somebody. This ain't something we can keep to ourselves. We can't hide this lighter underneath the basket and put it on the hill. This is good news.

And not only did they have concern in the value for their own soul, they had value for the souls of those around them. No, they just brought their friend. Oh, boy, if he's saved one, maybe he'll save two. See, they're counting down like old Abraham for Sodom and Gomorrah. They're counting up. And this is the day that brought them.

And aren't you hopeful if somebody, if your loved one comes to services with you, or they listen to a message you sent to them, aren't you hopeful, Lord might save them? Expecting. I expect, Lord, save everybody. Here's this. Wonderful to me, why wouldn't it be wonderful to you?

He did today, on this day. Verse 37, and they were beyond measure astonished. They came there expecting Him to give this man ears to hear, and He did, and they were astonished, saying, He hath done all things well. Did he put his hand on him like you asked him? No, what he did was well. Just how he did it.

Do you see that at the end of trials? You look back, the longer I live, the easier it is to look back on old things. The more time, the longer that scar's been healed over, the easier it is to analyze it. You say, boy, that was just, I needed that. That was right. It was hard. It hurt. But it was right. He does all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. He's saving his people in his providence, no matter what it is. I'm jealous of my chickens. I've got a whole bunch of chickens at the house.

We don't really know how many. Sixty-seven? I don't know. And I learned, too, we've got sheep. You know how they always say counting sheep? They try to go to sleep and say it was counting sheep You can't count sheep. They all look the same. And as soon as one goes in, this one's going there. You can't tell which head goes to which sheep. They're all huddled together and moving. And I give up and go sleep, too. But I'm jealous.

Them sheep and those chickens, they don't care what's going on in the Middle East. They don't care who the president is. They don't like it when it rains too much. They'll go, my grandpa said, chicken's got a head that big, and it's got enough sense to get out of the rain. They go away when it's raining. Seek shelter in the time of storm, but they're not worried about a thing. They got to make it. I'm a lost sheep.

He came and saved me. What do I have to worry about? He's done all things well. All things well. Thank y'all for having us. We'll be with you. Hopefully, we'll see you again soon. Thank you, Kevin. We appreciate you all making this trip. And again, the burden and the work that I know is part of what you've been called to do. And we're thankful for prayers answered. We were fed and blessed this morning, weren't we? We thank you. OK, Sean.

Deaf Hear and Blind See

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about healing the deaf and mute?

How do we know Jesus' miracles are significant?

Why is spiritual hearing and speaking important for Christians?

What does it mean that Jesus does all things well?

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Deaf Hear and Blind See

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about healing the deaf and mute?

How do we know Jesus' miracles are significant?

Why is spiritual hearing and speaking important for Christians?

What does it mean that Jesus does all things well?

Sermon Transcript

About Kevin Thacker

Comments

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