We'll read a brief passage here
in Mark 8 and then see some things in this whole chapter. This is,
I believe, a pivotal passage right here, these few
verses, beginning with verse 22. And he cometh to Bethsaida, and
they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the
town. And when he had spit on his eyes
and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. And
he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that, he 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. While reading this passage of
scripture, I saw for the first time in my life, I believe, the
key to this passage. When I realized that our Lord
asked this man, he said, do you see anything? Do you see anything? And I realized because we study
these chapters verse by verse and I feel so strongly that that's
the right way to study the word of God. So let's see the context
of each verse and study it as it's written. In doing that,
I realized that the Lord had just asked his disciples the
same question. You remember in verses 17 and
18, remember that? He said unto them, Why reason ye, because
ye have no bread? Perceive ye not, neither understand?
Have ye hardened your heart? Having eyes, see ye not? And
having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember? He asked
this blind man, Do ye see anything? That's exactly what he asked
them. Don't you see anything? And here's the lesson. The Lord
is doing with us. Are you one of his disciples?
He's dealing with us exactly as he did with this blind man. Do you think the Lord's a bad
teacher? Is that why the disciples didn't get it? They just didn't
get it. Well, the Lord just wasn't able to teach them. And the same question with regard
to this physically blind man. Was the Lord unable to restore
his sight completely all at once? Did he have to do it in increments
because of some limitation on his part? We know better than
that. The Lord is teaching us that
this is our experience as believers. We see the Lord, our Savior,
give blind Bartimaeus and the man in John 9, 20, 20 vision,
just like that. Because why did he do that that
way? Because we need to understand that when the Lord saves the
sinner, he plumb saves the sinner. You go from darkness to light.
all at once and perfectly. You're not partially saved, you're
perfectly saved. When the Lord saves you, you're
saved. You're not imperfectly regenerated. You're either dead
or alive. You can't be anything, there's
nothing in between that. You're not incrementally redeemed. You're
made perfectly whole when Christ reveals God to you. And the Holy
Spirit quickens you. You can't be alive-ish. You were dead and you've passed
from death unto life. And that's what we see usually
when our Lord heals someone. But we have this little passage
here, sandwiched between two experiences of the disciples
that show clearly what our Lord is teaching in it. In the passage before this one,
the disciples are asked point blank by the Lord, don't you
see anything yet? That's what he asked this blind
man. Don't you see anything yet? Do you see anything? And in the passage after it,
which we haven't read yet, but here's what we see, the blindness
of the apostle Peter and the others. Look at it with me. Where
do we stop in verse 26? Look at verse 27. And Jesus went
out and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi, And
by the way, he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men
say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist.
But some say Elias, and others one of the prophets. And he saith
unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and
saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that
they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them. Now
look at what just happened there in that passage. What is he revealing
to them there? He's distinguishing between them
and what everybody else is saying in regard to what? Who he is. That's primary. That's 101. That's elementary school. If
you don't know who he is, you don't know him. You're not saved.
You're not a believer. You're not a disciple at all.
You don't know who he is. But then After that, he began
to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things,
and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he
spake that saying openly, that saying openly, and Peter took
him and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about
and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, he's
looking at all of them, but Peter, one on one here in a sense, but
what's he saying? You could ask Peter here, don't
you see anything? You're rebuking him, that's what
he came to do. Don't you see anything yet? Seest thou aught? But he said to Peter, get thee
behind me, Satan, for thou savest not the things that be of God,
but the things that be of men. The Lord first reveals himself
to us, and then he begins to show us the difference between
our things and his things. And you know what, before it's
all over, you know what he's going to teach us? And he's still teaching
us all of this. He's still revealing to us who
he is. But do you see how that's elemental? That's primary. We got to know who he is. That's
the first thing we see. You don't know what you are until
you see who he is. Lord, might I see a thing, and
I hate myself. That's the way it's got to happen.
You got to know what holiness is before you know what sin is.
If we don't know who he is, we don't know anything yet. So he
teaches us that first, and then he teaches us the difference
between his things and ours. I'm still learning that, aren't
you? What he did and what he's doing. And then, you know, before it's
over with, you know what he's gonna teach us? When he had called,
verse 34, the people unto him with his disciples also, he said
unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake in the gospels, the same shall save it. For what
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh
in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Well, wait a
minute, Lord, that sounds pretty primary, doesn't it? Not being
ashamed of him. John the Baptist had a problem with that just
before he died. He sent his disciples unto the
Lord to ask him, are you the one we're looking for? Or do
we look for somebody else? And you know what the Lord sent
back? He said, blessed is he that's not ashamed of me. Blessed
is he. Tell him what's happening. Tell
John, let the blind see. and the deaf can hear, and the
dead are raised, and tell him this, blessed is that man who's
not ashamed of me. This, you see, he reveals himself
to us. We see a little bit. We begin
to see. And then he teaches us about
his things, his ways, the ways of his redemption and his sacrifice
and his resurrection. He began to teach him how he
must die and rise again. Paul said, oh, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection. God was teaching him that at
that point. And you see what I'm saying. We're still learning
all of it. But you see, we begin to see a little bit. We see who
he is and then we see what he did. We begin to see his way.
And then before this is over with, we're going to be sold
out if he's gracious to teach us. We're going to be sold out.
I wish I was there, don't you? I wish I could just sell out,
just take up my cross and follow Him. You know what happens on
a cross? You know what that means? There's
nothing but one thing that happens on a cross. People die on them.
That's what we need to do. We need to die to self. Die to
see Him. Die to this flesh. The Lord's
teaching us that. But we see Him. What do you see
now? Do you see anything? Do you see anything? Do I? Oh, may he teach us. May he teach
us. Reveal to us, Lord, who you are, like you did to them in verses
27 through 30. And then like in 31 through 33,
teach us concerning your work. your cross, your death, your
life, your way, your way, not our way. Don't let us savor the
things that be of men. Let us savor the things that
be of God. You remember what it said in Psalm 103 7? He made
known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. We see who he is in his acts.
No man can do this but God, but oh, he showed Moses something
further than that. He went further with Moses. Will
he do that with us? And teaches his ways, his ways,
so that we might savor his ways and not ours. Our Lord's greatest work, his greatest work, He revealed
his acts, his works, his miracles and things unto the children
of Israel, but his ways unto Moses. Well, wait a minute, his
greatest work is what he talked about in verses 31 through 33,
isn't it? That he must be crucified, that he must die,
that he must be despised and rejected and abused and die. and be buried and rise again.
That's his greatest work. But nobody sees it that way.
Nobody else saw it that way. It wasn't considered by anyone
to be a great miracle that he was going to be taken by wicked
hands and beaten and mocked and murdered. It was the miracle
of all miracles. But in order to see that, you
have to see more than just the displays of his power in healing
and turning water into wine and such. You'd have to know something
of his ways. Dear Lord, teach us your ways
like you did Moses of old. Show us your glory like you did
him, your redemptive glory. Show us how that you must suffer
many things and be rejected and be killed and after three days
rise again. Cause us to know you as Paul
begged and the power of your resurrection and the fellowship
of your sufferings. And he said this, that we might
be made conformable unto your death. Paul asked that in Philippians
3.10, that I may know you, who you are,
and the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of your sufferings.
That's what he began to teach them. And then he said this,
that I might be made conformable unto your death. You know what
that looks like? It's exactly what our Lord said
in our text. Take up your cross and follow
me. It's to die conformable unto
means in the likeness of, it's to die like he died. Do you know what that is? And do you see this progression?
It's not progressive sanctification. Christ has perfected forever
them that he sanctified with his precious blood, but a growth
in grace, a better and better spiritual vision that results
in a different walk. It results in a change from faith
to faith. And our Lord teaches us of this
progression in our text. I see men as trees walking."
And then he touched his eyes. I love this beautiful word in
this context, again. May he touch us this morning
again. I don't see things very clearly, do you? Touch me again. Now we see through a glass darkly. One of these days face to face,
but not now, not now. This is what we're talking about
this morning. This is what that man said when
he prayed this to the Lord. He worshiped and he said, Lord,
I believe. Help my unbelief. Do you see
that, Lord? I see, I see, but is that a tree
or a man? I know it's a man, but the trees
and men look kind of the same to me. Help me to see. Touch
my eyes again. And do you know what the Lord
is doing as he continues to touch our eyes? Just what the verse says in our
text, verse 25, it says he made him look up. Did you see that
as we read that? That's what he's doing. He's
going to touch our eyes and touch our eyes and touch our eyes until
we look up. And stop savoring the things
that be of men. and savor the things that be
of God. Oh Lord. He made him look up. What did
the disciples need to do in the text before this one? What did
they need to do? They were concerned with earthly bread when our Lord
was teaching them spiritual truth. They needed to look up. And what was Peter's problem?
In the passage after this one, he was worried about what would
happen to him temporarily. He was being selfish, wasn't
he? He had left all and followed the Lord. If the Lord did what
he said and must be done and was killed, what's going to happen
to me? Peter, you need to look up. Chris, you need to look up. The
Lord's going to have to make that happen. We're not just going
to look up without his grace now. Where is up? Where do you think
he was looking when he looked up in the sky? He was looking
at the face of the son of God. That's what he was looking at.
That's up. You don't get any more up than
that. He made him look up. The blessed face of the master.
Do you want to see everything? It says that he saw men clearly
after that. He saw everything. Men, other
men, this man that was standing before him, he saw everything
and everybody clearly. He could distinguish between
trees and men. Then he saw, you want to see everything right
and clear? Look at him. Look up. Oh man, he teach us this. Colossians 3 1 if ye then be
risen with Christ Seek those things which are above Look up
Where Christ sitteth What are we looking at Christ Think those
things which we're above what pearly gates and streets ago.
No, look where Christ is sitting Look at him on the throne On the right hand of God, the
very power of God to save, to comfort, to feed, to redeem. The right hand is power. Christ
is the power of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead. That's what
taking up your cross. Don't look at this world. You're
dead to this world. Paul said this world is crucified
under me and I under this world. Can you say that yet? Can I say
that yet? Can I say God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ? You're dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear. What are we looking, who are
we looking at? Don't look at this world. You're dead, and
your life is a person. Then shall you also appear with
him in glory. He's our life now. That's what
it means to take up your cross and follow him. You are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who
is our life, not has made my life better, not who is even
first in my life, not who is the best part of my life, not
who offers life or provides life. Christ is my life. For me to
live is Christ. And to die is gain. What can
be better than Christ? More Christ. Christ face to face. not through a glass darkly anymore look around you believer look
around you this is not your life this is just not you need to look up and I need
to look up and we're not going to see the things around us rightly
until we look up do you see alt? do you see anything? do you yet
not understand? are you blind also? Am I? He saw men clearly when he looked
up. You can't see yourself right
till you see him. To see men clearly is to see the man God,
God man clearly, the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw men clearly and
he saw the one who had healed him clearly. Have you ever seen
him clearly? That's how I want to see clearly.
Oh, and this is our prayer this morning. Lord, touch my eyes
again. I can see, but oh, how I want
to see. Did you notice that our Lord
found this man in Bethsaida? Do you remember Bethsaida? I want to be, Matthew 11, 20
through 24, if you want to jot that down, let's not turn there.
But this man was living in a cursed city. The Lord pronounced a curse
upon Bethsaida. He said, if the mighty works
were done in Sodom and Gomorrah, which I've done in you, they
would have repented by now. It's going to be more tolerable
in hell for Sodom and Gomorrah, whom I have destroyed, raining
fire and brimstone down upon them from heaven and made a spectacle
of. It's going to be more tolerable
in hell for them. than it is for you. A cursed
city, and yet there was a sheep in there. One of the exceptions, a remnant,
a remnant, a cast off, according to the election of
his grace. In a whole city full of unrepentant
wretches, our Lord found a sheep and brought him home. In a world of blind people, he
came and opened the eyes of this man. That's my testimony. He
came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man to him. Do you know
anybody that's blind? We see this teaching now everywhere
we look, don't we? Everywhere we look, we see this
teaching. Do you know anybody that's blind? They brought a blind man to him. You know how I'm able to see
this morning? And look, we're not gonna take
any glory away from Christ. We couldn't do that if we wanted
to. We'd just be pretending and we'd go to hell for it. I was
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. I see that now.
I see a little more clearly than I used to. I see that now. He came where I was in time,
to the cursed place, and he opened my eyes. And all the glory is
his. All of it. He came to Bethsaida. He came to him. He came to this
man. And they brought him to him.
Don't miss this teaching either. Now, don't miss it now. You know
how I can see? My dad brought me to Christ. And I don't mean that in the
sense that religion does when they talk about leading somebody
to the Lord. Because I know what they mean
by that. I've been in it. They mean that they asked a sinner
if they wanted to go to heaven when they die and led them in
some kind of a stock prayer that they had made up and pronounced
them safe. I don't mean that. I mean just what our text says.
Somebody brought this man to the Lord. Reckon why? Reckon why? You think they loved
him? They knew something about the Lord. And they said, he needs
my master. He needs the Lord. He needs the
Lord. I'm going to bring him. I'm going
to bring him. I was raised in a gospel church,
but when I was very young, it split up. I was probably seven
or eight years old. We went to a church in name only
near where we lived after that because we didn't have any idea
where else to go. All of my young life, my dad would tell me what
was wrong with the message that we heard. We'd hear the man preaching.
He'd sit me down at home and say, you remember when he said
this? And I'd say, yeah. He said, forget that. That's
not right. And he'd open the word of God and show me the truth.
Just him and me, and we'd talk and we'd read scripture and we'd
cry together a lot. And then one day, we were at
the Pilgrim Bookstore in Pasadena, Texas, where all the Spurgeons,
the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit is published. Published there
only, as far as I know. We saw a little flyer there in
that bookstore announcing the fact that Brother Henry Mahan
was going to be speaking at the Bel Air Reformed Church, where
a man named Drew Garner was pastor. And I remember my dad saying,
we're going to go hear him. We're going to that. I said,
all right, I'll go with you. And I thought about this as I
wrote this down. My oldest brother, He didn't
go with us. He was off living his life. He
wasn't interested in what they had at that bookstore. He wasn't
interested in my dad or what he had to say. But by God's grace,
I was there with him. And he said, we're going. My brother had no interest in
God or anything about God. But my dad, who had been telling
me for years the truth, took me to hear the truth of Christ
preached. And I remember the service as
well. I remember some of the things that Henry said, and this
was a long time ago. I was a teenager, I believe,
maybe 20. I remember one of the messages that Henry preached
was on religious sayings and what was wrong with them. And
he'd say, this is what's wrong with that, and here's the truth.
Here's what the Bible says. This is what religion says. This
is what God says. And I remember enjoying that
very much. But most importantly, to me anyway, we spoke to Henry
after the services, one of the services, and he asked where
we were worshiping, and we told him we really weren't. And he
said, do you know about Jack Shanks and New Caney? And for
the next 22 years, from that day, For the next 22 years, the
Lord taught me of his son, taught me the gospel by a faithful man
of God in New Canyon, Texas. If I hadn't been with Jack, I
wouldn't have met my wife. I could go on and on. But the Lord caused all of it
and he used my dad. The first message I ever heard,
now I remember the first message I ever heard Jack preach, and
I could almost preach it right now, I remember it so well. I've
told you this before, the name of it was Are You Thirsty? He
preached from that text, oh let him that is a thirst come, and
let whosoever will come and take the water of life freely. And
as he preached it, as he preached on who is thirsty, are you thirsty,
I found that I was. And the best I can tell, that's
when the Lord saved me. I don't know if He saved me before
that or after that or at that moment when I was sitting there
listening to that message. But I know this, when Jack asked
that question from the Word of God, are you thirsty? I was.
And I drank. By God's grace, I drank. I found
that Christ satisfied that thirst. And that He alone could. But I'll never forget or cease
to be grateful to the Lord for my dad bringing me to Christ. That's what he did. It's just
as simple as that. I brought my children to the Lord. Have
you? If you're here, I bet you have.
Brought them to the Lord. You know why? Because I love
them. And I can't make them drink,
but he can. He can. And let's not miss this
teaching here this morning. Do you know anybody that's blind? I believe the time is short.
I really do. I believe that. But here's what
I know. I don't know if the time is short
or long, but here's what I know. Now is the accepted time. Today
is the day of salvation. I know that. Do you know any
dying sinners? The great physician still in
business. He's still in business. His offices are still open. He's
able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him.
My dad brought me to Christ in the sense that these men in our
text brought this blind man. They couldn't save him, but they
knew who could. They knew who could, and they loved him enough. But God had been bringing me
to his son all my life. By means of my dad, who loved
me, by many other means, chiefly by His Word. Somebody had to
preach. How are they going to believe
in Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? Somebody was preaching. The Lord sent
a preacher. No man can come except the Father
draw him. How does He draw us? Well, by
believers that love us, by the preaching of his gospel, by every
circumstance in our lives, by the irresistible power of his
Holy Spirit, by every means that he's pleased to use, he draws
us and brings us to his son. This man had an appointment with
Christ and he couldn't miss it. He's not the one that made it.
The Lord did. And the Lord brought him and
he brought me and he opened my eyes and he's been opening them
ever since. He brought me out of the city. Do you see that
in the text? He brought him out of the city, out of that cursed
place. Come ye out from among them and
be ye separate. How's that going to happen? The
Lord's going to have to bring me out. My brother was still there and
still is, but he brought me out. Did you notice in verse 23 these
blessed words? He took him by the hand. He didn't invite him to come
out. Oh, do you see the difference between religion's so-called
savior and my blessed redeemer? He took him by the hand and led
him out of the city. Did he do that for you? Bless
God, he took me by the hand. That might seem strange. You
know a grown man taking another grown man by the hand? Not if
he's blind, it ain't. Why did he take him by the hand?
Because he was blind. He needed to be taken by the
hand. And I'll tell you why else he
took him by the hand. Because he loved him. He loved
him. And then he spit on his eyes. We saw in chapter seven how that
what is in the Lord's mouth must wind up in our mouth. He spat
there and touched that man's tongue with his spit. And that's
our, we're gonna confess Him when He does that, what's in
His mouth, what's that? Glory to God. Worship unto the
Lord, praise unto the Lord, thanksgiving unto the Lord. That's not in
our mouth by nature. That's got to come from His mouth
to mine. And I'll tell you what else,
what's in his mouth has got to go right here, too, in my eyes,
or I'll never see. I can't see what he says, what's
in his mouth. I'll never see what's in his
mouth unless it comes into my eyes, unless he applies it. Do you see what he has said?
That's what he asked us. Don't you understand? I've spoken
to you, I taught you truth, and you're talking about earthly
things. Don't you see anything? These are written that you might
believe. Do you believe? He put what was in his mouth
in my mouth, and if he puts in your eyes this morning what was
in his mouth, you'll see. You see what I'm saying? He put
what was in his mouth in my mouth, or I wouldn't be saying it. I
wouldn't have anything for you. And if what's in his mouth, his
word, enters your eyes, your spiritual eyes. You don't have
spiritual eyes until he touches your eyes. And if he does, you'll see. You
won't see perfectly, but you'll see. And you'll pray, Lord, touch
my eyes again. Touch them again and again. He made him look up into his
own face. In verse 25, after that he put
his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up and he was
restored and saw every man clearly. He saw himself clearly, this
is spiritual now, language, every man. Himself, everybody else,
and the man that had made him see. That's about all you need
to see. You need to see what you are,
and you need to see who he is. And Lord, our prayer this morning,
touch our eyes. He sent him away to his house.
Well, Lord, I'll follow you. No, go home. You realize how
many times he said that? He said to that demon possessed
man, that man said, Lord, I would be with thee. I would come with
thee. No, go home. Go home. Go home and tell what
great things the Lord hath done for thee. And you remember what
else he said? And hath had compassion on thee. Tell some other blind people.
Tell some other demon-possessed people of the Lord's mercy. Can we do that? I pray that he'll
enable us to do that. Let's pray together.