Let's look at Matthew chapter
15 together. It's a very simple and brief
passage of Scripture. I pray the Lord will cause His truth to be clear and
weighty to us this morning. Verse 29, Matthew 15, 29, And
Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the Sea of
Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and sat down there." It seems that our Lord only made
contact with this one woman of Canaan that we saw in verses
21 through 28, in Tyre and Sidon there before he moved on to another
place near the Sea of Galilee. And we've seen this before, how
our Lord would travel here and there, great distances at times,
because there were specific ones there. You remember earlier in
our study in Matthew, the madman of Gadara that lived among the
tombs and cut himself and cried, scared everybody so much they
wouldn't go near him. Our Lord crossed a sea to have
mercy on him. And then when he had had mercy
on him and left him sitting and clothed and in his right mind,
he went back across the sea to the other side again. That's
such a beautiful picture. We're told in John 4 that he
went from Judea into Galilee by way of Samaria. He must go
through Samaria. If you look at a map of that
time, it's self-evident that he must needs go through Samaria.
It doesn't need mentioning except for the fact that there was a
woman at a well there with whom our Lord had an appointment that
he must keep. And I know that not everything
our Lord did is recorded in these books. John told us that. But
we see a pattern here and it can't be denied that our Lord
at times avoided multitudes and sought out individuals. He didn't always do that in Matthew
8, 18. He did deliberately. When he saw that the people,
that a multitude was gathering, he said, let's go to the other
side. And he sought out individuals. But at times, like in our text
today, he dealt with masses of people, multitudes. Sometimes,
Amid multitudes he picked out individuals like he did at the
pool of Bethesda. There was a multitude there waiting
for the stirring of the water and our Lord walked up to one
man, one lame man, and said, would you be made whole? Here he went up into a mountain
and he sat down. You may not have even noticed
that when I read the verse, and I wouldn't have either if the
Lord didn't call it to our attention. He sat down there. Such a simple
thing. He walked up that mountain, and
there was probably a rock that was appropriate, and He sat down
on it. Just the act of our Lord going
from a standing to a sitting position. Everything that He
did was meaningful. Every step that he took, every
word that he spoke was full of teaching. And him sitting down,
there's a reason why. He could have stood there and
dealt with this multitude, but I imagine it took some time.
All of these people were bringing those that were sick and lame
and blind and dumb. I imagine he was there for quite
a while. He didn't sit down here because
his work was done. He would do that later. He would
sit down on the right hand of the majesty on high after his
work here was finished. But here he sat down to work.
But he sat down because he was a man. You remember in John 4, we're
told why he sat down We talked about the woman at the well.
It says in John 4, 6, Now Jacob's well was there, and Jesus therefore,
being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. And it
was about the sixth hour. Even when, if we read the context
there, even the time that he sat down was significant. When I think of God being a man, It doesn't take long for me to
get lost in the wonder of that, does it you? But I like to go
as far as I can with that, by God's grace. David said, when thinking on
the things of God, oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my
ways. Nobody knows you like he does.
For there is not a word in my tongue. It hasn't even come out
of my mouth yet, but Lord, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before." Oh, and here's all of that, and, you've laid your hand
upon me. And then David said, and this
is what I thought of when I began to think about God being a man. He said, such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Sounds
like he had tried. And he said, I can't do it. I can't search it out. I can't
comprehend it. But that doesn't discourage us,
does it? From trying. From thinking on him. The wonderful
knowledge of who he is. and who He is to us, who we are
to Him. That's what David was thinking
about. That's what happens when I think
about God being a man and Him sitting down on a rock and teaching
sinners the words of life. I know that the young people
here, The girls are interested in boys, and the boys are interested
in girls, and you got dreams for the future and all that.
But the Son of God sat down on a rock and taught sinners the
words of life. Taught them the truth that is
able to make a sinner wise unto salvation. That's wonderful knowledge. As one preacher put it once and
stuck in my mind for years now, there is a man on the throne
of glory. A man. The man. In order to see God, you must
look upon the man, Christ Jesus. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. That's great. Why did God become a man? The
answer is simple and glorious. Hebrews 2.17. Turn there if you'd
like to. I just want to look at one verse
there. Hebrews 2.17. This is the answer
to that. Why did God become a man? Hebrews
2.17. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.
It behooved Him. And what behooves him, behooves
his people. It behooves us in him that he
was made like us, like unto his brethren. He was born of a woman like us,
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, as Eve was to Adam and
Adam to Eve. And here's why he did that. Why
he became like us he didn't take on him the nature of angels,
but he took upon him the nature of sinners Not the sin nature
except without sin He took he's like us in every way yet without
seeing that he might be a merciful You see God said I'm gonna have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. How's he gonna do that? I You
don't have to become one of us. And faithful. Faithful high priest. What does a high priest do? He
represents the people. He brings an offering for the
people. He makes intercession for the
people. He enters into the holy place.
The holiest of holies. That which is within the veil
on behalf of the people. On the day of atonement, he makes
atonement for the people. And he became our high priest
in things pertaining to God. To do what? To make reconciliation. for the sins of the people. Because of the sins of his brethren,
there must be reconciliation made. We are enmity against God
by nature. That's what sin is. It is enmity
against God in thought, word, and deed. And that's what we
are by nature. So there must be a reconciling
of God and the sinner. Christ became one of us. And
as our high priest offered his own precious blood in that holy
of holies, not made with hands, to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. That's why he became a man, because
he can't do that otherwise. So the son of God sat down. He sat down. Then what did he do? Verse 30. Great multitudes came unto him,
having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and
many others. And picture this in your heart.
They cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed. His sitting down now, as we've
seen, is indicative of his condescension to become what we are, yet without
sin. The last three words of this
verse are the result of that. What's the result of him coming
down and becoming one of us, being made like unto his brethren?
That he might be our high priest, that he might represent us, that
he might offer propitiation on our behalf, before the throne
of God. What's the result of that? And
he healed them. He healed them. Who did he heal? Them. He was
made like unto his brethren. And he healed them. And who did
he heal here? There's another answer to that.
Everyone that came to him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. I don't read here in this passage
that he turned anybody away, not one person. Let's talk first
about his sufficiency to do that, to heal them. All of these ones
described and many others, and he healed them. We know from
our Lord's encounter with the woman with the issue of blood
in Mark chapter five, that when she was healed, it says there
that he perceived that virtue was gone out of him. Have you
ever thought about that much? I hadn't really. When he accomplished
the healing of her issue of blood, something that no one else could
do anything about, she had spent all she had and she was shut
up to him. And she knew it. But by God-given
faith, she said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment,
I'll be made whole. She didn't say, well, I've tried
everything else. I'm going to try Jesus. That wasn't it. She said,
I will be made whole. Then why did she do all of that?
Because she didn't know that then. She didn't know that then. She didn't know that until she
had spent everything she had. And she had to quit leaning on
the flesh. And that's the spiritual teaching here. But when he healed
her, it says in Mark 5 30, and Jesus immediately knowing when
she touched the hem of his garment, it says Jesus immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him. Where did it go? Clearly it went into her. It
went into her. It changed her. It transformed
her. It passed her from death unto
life. It went from him into her. It
had gone out of him. He turned him about in the press
and said, who touched my clothes? Knowing from eternity who it
was and what she would do and when she would do it and why
and what would happen when she did. The word virtue, is that interesting
to you? Virtue went out of him. The word
virtue means three words in the descriptive definition of this
word. Strength, power, and ability. I don't know about you, but when
strength goes out of me, I've only got so much left. There's
a limit to it, to my power, to my ability. And this ability
of our Lord, this power, is something that we don't possess at all.
Much less in limitless supply. We can't heal anybody of anything.
But our Lord possesses it in abundant, endless supply. Virtue was going out of Him all
day this day we're talking about. To all of these ones that came,
multitudes came. And He healed. They kept coming, and He kept
healing. And it doesn't matter how many come to him. All whosoever
come unto me, I'll in no wise cast out. This picture's our
Lord's ability to save all who come to God by him. He's able
to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him. He's
plenteous in mercy where sin abounds, Grace does much more
than that He's infinitely able to save and that you might ask
Then why doesn't he save everybody if he's plenteous in mercy? Why
then does he not have mercy on everybody? Well, there's a simple
answer to that From the scripture. I don't have to answer that the
Lord's already answered that he said I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy and He has mercy on everybody he wants
to. Nobody can stop him from having mercy. You can't stay
his hand or question what he does. He'll have mercy on whom
he will. I have a question for you this
morning. Why would God have mercy on any sinner? We don't want
his mercy. That's what a sinner is. We don't
want his mercy. We don't want his law. We don't
want his grace. Sinners don't want mercy until
he gives it. If you want mercy from God, you
already have it. You can mark it down. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Not better
than the ones that don't. Smarter, better talk. Blessed
of God are they. And they'll be filled. He gives
mercy to every sinner that asks for it. Everyone. And we would never ask for it
if not for His power. His people are willing in the
day of His power. We don't want mercy by nature. We just want to be God by nature.
And this is pictured in the next truth that we notice from our
text. I think about these ones that came and picture this scene.
What an incredible scene this is. Lame, blind, dumb, and maimed. These are ones that could not
even come to him unless they were brought. These are people
dependent, and that picture's the Holy Spirit, the Father in
the person of his Holy Spirit. The Lord said, no man can come
unto me. A blind man not even gonna find
his way to the Lord. A lame man can't even get up
and go where he is. If you'll just take the first
step, that rules you out. And me too. We're going to have
to be brought. This is our spiritual condition
by nature pictured in these wretched people that he healed. We cannot
come to God. No man can come. Why? Because
we're lame spiritually. We can't walk. We can't walk
before God. We can't walk with God. That's
a picture. Walking with God is a picture
of fellowship and communion with God. Not since the garden. Are
we able to do that? Except we'd be brought there. Enoch, it says, walked with God
and he was not because God took him. But Enoch didn't walk with
God by nature. He walked with God by grace.
The natural man is enmity against God. The scripture asks the question
in Amos 3.3, can two walk together except they be agreed? That's
a rhetorical question with an obvious answer. No. They can
walk down the street together, but not in the sense of walking.
This is talking about walking is agreement, fellowship, communion. And like Mephibosheth, spiritually
speaking, we're lame on both of our feet. What happened to
Mephibosheth? David said, go fetch him. That's
what happened. And from that day on, he sat
at the king's table and ate real good. And that's what happens
to us spiritually. Spiritually, we're blind. What
a clear picture this is of our need. The Lord said this plainly
to Nicodemus. except a man be born again, born
from above, unless God do something for you from his throne, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. That's the definition of blind.
You cannot see. I like how John chapter nine teaches
this truth so beautifully and clearly. John nine one. Could you quote it if I put you
on the spot? As Jesus passed by, he saw a
man that was blind. Isn't that glorious? He saw a
man that could not see him. That's my testimony. And then
in John 9, 35, after the religious had showed their contempt for
him and the one who healed him, and cast him out. Jesus heard
that they had cast him out. And when he had found him, he
said unto him, do you believe on the son of God? And he answered him, who is he,
Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus answered, listen
to this, thou hast seen him. The first one he ever saw, he
was blind from his birth. The first one he ever saw was
the Lord, the one who gave him the ability to see. Who is he,
Lord, that I might believe on him? Thou hast both seen him. Before you met me, you weren't
seeing much, but you've seen me now. You've seen me. The spiritual
teaching of that opening of his physical eyes, you've seen him. You can't believe on Him until
you see Him. And it's He that talketh with
thee. And He said, Lord, I believe.
You know, the world says seeing is believing. That means something
completely different from what I'm talking about here. But seeing
is believing. It's the same thing. The spiritual
version of his physical eyes being opened is faith in Christ,
beholding him. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen before, not seen with these eyes. I believe. And I think he was telling the
truth. You know why? Because it says he worshiped
him. I think he did believe. We're dumb by nature. We're dumb. That doesn't mean what the world,
when somebody says you're dumb, yeah, they mean you're stupid.
You can't think right. This is talking about not being
able to speak, which is spiritually speaking, pretty much the same
thing. Dumb. The reason we can't talk
right is because we don't know anything spiritually. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a problem for me by nature. Unless the Lord gives me a voice,
I can't call on him. I'm done. Turn to Mark chapter
7. Mark chapter 7 verse 31. This
is such a beautiful picture of this. This spiritual truth that
by nature We have to confess Christ, what we talked about
in the Bible class this morning. How are you going to do that
if confession is made with the mouth? We can't do it. Mark 7,
verse 31. 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. And they bring
unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech. Have you ever known somebody
like that? 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, and I'm not
sure if I can pronounce this, but it looks like, Eph-phi-thi,
Eph-phi-thi, the emphasis on the first syllable there, Eph-phi-thi,
that is, be open. Let there be light. Lazarus come
forth. Whatever he commands is done. That's why that man said I'm
one under authority and I have a hundred soldiers that go when
I say go and come when I say come. All you got to do is speak
the word. Just speak the word. Be opened and straightway his
ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed and
he spake plain. Have you ever seen that spiritually?
I've witnessed that, spiritually speaking. I've known those who,
when they spoke about the things of God, had an impediment in
their speech, contradicting themselves and contradicting the plain word
of God. And I've seen the Lord do a work
upon them until they spoke plainly. I'm not just whistling Dixie.
I've seen that happen before my very eyes. And we're maimed
at birth. This word means twisted, crooked. I knew a young man many years
ago who was like this, and I've seen others like that, but I
knew this man personally very well. And it was painful just
to watch him walk. You've seen that before, I know.
It was just, just watching him walk across the room, your heart
broke and went out to him. My nature, we're twisted. You know, when I believe it was
Peter that was preaching, when he said, save yourselves from
this untoward generation. You know what that word means?
Crooked. My nature, we're crooked. We're twisted up. Grotesque. And the text says, and many others,
can you imagine this scene? It says they cast them down at
Jesus' feet. And he healed them. To see one
blind man made to see would cause a stir. But you can just imagine
this incredible scene. And look at what the next verse
is, verse 31. And think of what an astonishing
thing this would be to behold this. That sinners are made whole
by the precious blood of Christ. Oh, wait a minute. I thought
you were going to say that the lame were made to walk. No, this is spiritual
teaching. If we're not astonished, like
these, listen to what it says, in so much that the multitude
wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to behold,
the lame to walk, and the blind to see. They wondered at it.
Have you ever wondered at the greatest miracle that our Lord
has ever performed on a sinner when he changes a vile, wretched,
spiritually leprous rebel into a loving, submissive child
of God. You talk about a miracle. If
you know anything about that, you'll wonder at it. Sure enough.
Especially if you've experienced it. These people who had no problem
themselves, when they came, were standing around watching as mute
people tried out their new voices. Can you hear that? How many of
them were there? I don't know. It says a multitude.
How many of them were mute before? And they were beginning to speak
and they were saying things. Whereas before they couldn't
speak at all and blind people were looking around. And don't
you imagine they were gazing into the faces of the ones that
they loved. The ones that they lived with
their whole lives and had never laid their eyes on. Can you imagine
what they were saying and the tears that were flowing? Lame
folks were probably jumping around like that lame man in Acts 3,
8. It says, he leaping stood up and walked and entered with
them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And this whole multitude of all
these different kinds of wretched sinners who had been healed. You can just imagine that picture.
And then think beyond the earthly, the temporal, the physical, and
think of the effects of Christ's power and mercy on a sinner.
If any man be in Christ, Paul said, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. I can see. I can see God. Does that cause you to wonder? I can see God. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I was like these ones, only much
worse, because I was spiritually in this condition. I once was
lost, but now, oh now, I'm found. I was blind, but I can see God
now. I can see myself as God sees
me, but I see myself also washed in his precious blood. I can see how God can have mercy
on somebody like me. He sat down and healed me. He saves a wretch like me by
sending his son to live like I couldn't do and to pay for
all that I did do and will do with his precious blood. Whereas before I was hideous
and vile and wretched, a spiritual leper, now I'm clean. Now I'm
clean. Listen to the language of Paul.
Turn to these familiar words in Ephesians 2, and I'll close
with this. If you can think of this physical
scene of our Lord healing all of these wretched, miserable
people, and think of the spiritual truth of this, and listen to
Paul describe that very thing in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. This is what happened. hath he quickened who were dead. My eyes were dead, and he gave
them life. My legs were dead, and he gave
them strength. Dead, dead in trespasses and
sins, the whole man, a spiritual corpse, wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air. the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. We will not have this man to
reign over us, then Satan reigns over you. You walk in according
to his will. Well, I've got a free will. No,
you walk in according to Satan and his will. You're bound by
him and his will. Among whom, in everything that
we've talked all through the book of Matthew, those that were
possessed with devils, that madman of Gadara, Spiritually, that's
what he's saying. This is what happened. The Lord
has raised the dead. He's cast Satan out. The strong
man has been cast out by a stronger among whom also we all had our
conversation, our conduct in times past in the loss of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And we're by nature, the children of wrath, even as others. Just
like others. Exactly like others. But God. No difference in us and others.
But here's the difference. But God. Who is rich in mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved us. There it is right there. There's
the source of every blessing. You want to trace it back? Keep
asking why. Keep asking why. God saved me. Why? Because I was one of his
elect why he didn't say Jacob have I chosen although he did
Jacob have I loved you keep asking why you're gonna find yourself
at the love of God The God who loves one and hates another With his great love who's rich
in mercy why because he loved I He so loved that He gave. He so loved that He had mercy.
He so loved that He chose. For His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, even when we were unlovable,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ. By grace are you saved, and hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. He's sitting down now because
his work is done. What he came down here to do,
he's finished it. He's accomplished it. To redeem
his people, to honor his father, to obey his father like we didn't,
and to pay for our rebellion against God and our sin against
God to redeem us from our sins. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That's a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. And now he's done it and he's
sitting down and we're sitting with him. Sit together. Don't you like
that word? With regard to me and Christ
together. in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. We're with him and we're in him.
That in the ages to come, he's done all this, why? He might
show the exceeding riches of his grace. How does he show that? In his kindness toward us. You
remember last week? Behold a woman. Why are we looking
at her? Because you see the grace of
God in her. You see the mercy of Christ.
She's a trophy of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why. He showed the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us. In giving the children's bread
to a dog. You can't see that happen without
saying, oh, the riches of his grace. That's what Paul did when
he was writing about it. He said, oh, oh, the depth. For by grace are you saved through
faith. How did God save you? By grace. How do you experience his grace?
Through faith. And that faith is not of yourself.
Don't debate about that anymore. No need to argue about that.
It's not of yourself. It's the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should boast. So quit boasting about
it. For we are his workmanship. He is worthy of all honor, just
like he that built the house is worthy of all honor, and not
the house. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
and that we should walk in them. If we could see it with these
eyes, what happens to a sinner when almighty grace comes, when
Christ comes? Perhaps we would do more of what
these people did in our text. What'd they do? It says they
glorified God. They glorified God. I wish I
could do that. But the truth is we have better
eyes than these. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen, the substance of things hoped for. By faith we see the
grace of God on sinners. We've seen the new creation and
we've seen Him. who created us in himself. May
the Lord give us grace to see, if we're able to see that, by
faith we'll do what they did. They glorified God. They glorified,
it says, the God of Israel. The God, the sovereign savior
of his people. May he give us grace to glorify
him. Let's bow in prayer.