To turn with me to Mark chapter
seven. I'd like to read our text. Beginning in verse thirty one. And again, departing from the
coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came into the Sea of Galilee
through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring
unto him one that was deaf. And he 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, Epata, that
is, 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. Now, I want you to try to imagine
a world of silence. Maybe you'd just be looking at
me, but you couldn't hear. what I was saying. Maybe you
try to read my lips but you couldn't hear. You couldn't hear music. Nothing but stone silence. Can you imagine what kind of
handicap that would be? I don't suppose anyone understands
but someone who experiences what kind of handicap that would be
to be deaf, to lack the ability to hear, how frustrating that
world would be to not be able to hear. Such was the case of this man
we just read about. And he had a speech impediment. Quite often when people lack
the ability to hear, it also produces a speech impediment. They struggle greatly with their
speech. Perhaps you've heard someone who's deaf try to speak
and you can't really quite understand what all they're saying because
they don't know what it's supposed to sound like. They're deaf. This generally goes with deafness
of speech impediment. So we have a man who is deaf
with a speech impediment and they brought this man to Christ
And they were asking the Lord to lay his hands upon this man.
And to heal him. In verse 33. And he took him aside. From the
multitude. He took him away from the crowd.
And he did some very unusual things. The Scripture says he
put his fingers in his ear. Now just imagine that here, this
man is deaf and our Lord takes his fingers and sticks them in
the man's ears. And then he does something that's
even more unusual. He spits on his hand and touches
the man's tongue with his spit. Now that's unusual. That's what
it says. That's what he did. And then
the scripture says he sighed. And that word literally is He
groaned. It's an inexpressible sound of
grief where you can't even say what it is you're feeling. He
groaned. He sighed. And then He gave this
command, Be opened. Now, our Lord, when He healed
in His earthly ministry, sometimes didn't use any means at all,
simply He spake it and it happened. Remember when the centurion said,
speak the word only. You don't have to come, you don't
have to move, you don't have to go anywhere. Speak the word only
and my servant shall be healed. Quite often our Lord healed without
the use of means as far as what we could see and sometimes He
used means. You remember in John chapter 9 where He came to that
blind man and the scripture says He spat in the ground and made
a made a mug out of the clay with his spit, and he took it
and put it in his eye. That doesn't seem like a way
to heal somebody's blindness, does it? He put it in his eyes,
and that was the means he used to heal it. Another time where
they're needing money to pay the temple tax, he tells Peter,
he could have just snapped his fingers and there the coin would
have been, but he says, you go throw a hook into the sea, And
the first fish that comes up that you catch, you're going
to find a piece of money in it, and you take that and give it to
them for us. He used means, and there's always
a lesson to be learned in the means that he uses. So he used these unusual means,
and what took place? Verse 35, in straight way, immediately,
his ears were opened. Now he'd been deaf. And now his
ears are opened. He could now hear something he
could not do. And the string, the word is literally
the bond of his tongue, that which kept him from speaking
clearly, was loosed and set free. And the Scripture says he spake
plainly, directly, rightly, articulately. Now, just before this, he could
not speak plainly. He had an impediment in his speech,
but now he speaks rightly, articulately, and plainly. And our Lord said
in verse 36, we see where He charged them that they should
tell no man, don't tell anybody I did this, but the more He charged
them so much, the more a great deal they published it. And they
were beyond measure astonished, saying, He's done all things
well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. Now, we certainly see Christ's
miraculous power to heal here, But if that's all we see, we
really haven't seen anything yet. And I pray that God will
be our teacher as we consider this passage of Scripture this
morning. Now this poor man supplies us with a picture of the natural
man. He's deaf. He's deaf. He cannot hear. He's unable to hear. And that
inability to hear affects his speech. You cannot be deaf and
not have it affect your speech. Now the natural man, this is
the way you and I are born into this world, we're born spiritually
deaf. Unable to hear the Gospel. Unable. Lacking the ability to
hear the Gospel. Oh, we can hear audibly. He lacks the ability to hear
and to understand. He may be as smart as Einstein,
but the natural man has no ability to hear the Gospel. It's beyond
his capacity. He can hear the words. He can
even know the definitions of the Word and give you the right
definitions, but he can't hear. He can't hear. He can't hear
with a true spiritual understanding. Now why is that? Because he's
dead in sins. Dead! What can a dead man do? Ephesians 2, 1 says, And you
and Hathi quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
What does a dead man have the ability to do? Nothing. A dead
man can't hear, and a spiritually dead man cannot hear. And let
me repeat, it's not like he lacks the intellectual capacity, but
he's got the intellectual capacity. That's not the problem. but he's
spiritually deaf. Now, there are people right sitting
here this morning, I suppose. I mean, anytime you got a group
of people, you got those who hear and those who can't hear. There are people who are going
to hear this message, and they're going to rejoice in it. And there
are other people who are going to hear this message, but they're
not going to hear it. They're not going to rejoice
in it. It's going to be dull and uninteresting to them, or
even offensive to them, and they're not going to like it. There are
some people who are going to love this. It's going to come as good news to
them. They're going to say, this is great. This is just what I
wanted. This is what I needed to hear. This is a blessing to
me. I love this. And there are other people who
are not going to have that response at all. They're going to say,
where's he coming from? I mean, that's negative. That's
morose. That's dull. It's just not connecting
with me. So some people hear and some
people don't. Now, why is that? Well, some
people have ears to hear. Our Lord said on many different
occasions, He that hath ears to hear. Not everybody has ears
to hear. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now here's
the key in understanding this thing of hearing. Now remember,
this is not talking about a lack of ability intellectually to
grasp what's being said or a lack of ability to hear audibly what's
being said. This is talking about a spiritual
deafness. The natural man cannot hear the gospel as a sinner. The only way you can hear the
gospel when it becomes gospel to you, when it becomes good
news to you, is when you hear as a sinner. You know, the only
way I can preach is if I preach as a sinner. Preaching to other
sinners. Then the gospel becomes real
to me. The gospel becomes powerful to me. Now it's real, whether
it's real to me or not. How I feel about it doesn't change
the message, but it becomes real to me in my experience. It becomes
real to you. You're able to hear when you
hear as a sinner and not before then. Take the doctrines of grace or
the doctrine of grace, however you want to say that. Men are dead in sins, totally
depraved. Scripture teaches that. God chose
a people to be saved. Scripture teaches that. Christ
died for those people. He died for the elect and accomplished
their salvation. He put away their sins. Scripture
teaches that. God's grace, the grace of the
Holy Spirit, is irresistible and invincible. Everybody God
the Holy Spirit calls, they come. Scripture teaches that. God's
people will persevere all the way to the end. You can hear that and you can
think, so what? So what? I mean, that's just
not speaking to me. That doesn't do anything for
me. That's okay, you know, so what? But if you hear this as a sinner,
if you really believe that you personally are totally depraved,
that's what you believe about yourself. I'm not talking about
what you believe about somebody else. I'm talking about yourself.
You believe you're a sinner. You believe that every time you
breathe, you sin. You know it so concerning yourself.
You really believe you're a sinner. When you believe you're a sinner,
the gospel becomes good news to you. To hear that God chose
a people, irrespective of their works, doesn't have anything
to do with their works, He does it simply because He wills to
do it, that's good news. That gives you some hope. To
hear that Christ accomplished salvation for the elect. He didn't
make salvation available if you do your part. That won't do you
any good if you're a sinner. No, He actually accomplished
salvation for everybody He died for. That comes as good news. To hear that The grace of the
Holy Spirit is invincible and irresistible. He doesn't simply
give you a chance. He actually creates life in the
heart, gives grace to believe. That comes as good news to a
sinner. The only way you can really hear
the gospel is if you hear as a sinner, and the only one who
can teach us that is God Himself. Only the sovereign grace of God
can teach you that you're a sinner. Now, because this fellow couldn't
hear, he has a speech impediment. And that word means to stammer
and stutter. And a natural man just cannot
speak the language of grace. It's a foreign language to him.
You see, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And what somebody really believes is going to come out in his speech.
Now, the natural man has a speech impediment. He stammers. He stutters
in his speech. And it works something like this.
I, I, I. Me, me, me. What makes you think
you're saved? Because I, was baptized, because
I believe, because I repent, because I know this and I know
that. It always begins with an I. It always begins with an I.
That's the speech impediment. He can't speak clearly. He cannot
speak articulately. Now, the only hope a man like
this has is for the Lord to put His hand upon him. So here we
have this man, deaf, unable to hear, and a speech impediment,
and we read in verse 33 that the Lord took him aside from
the multitude. You know, if the Lord deals with
me or you, you may be in a multitude, but He deals with you privately.
He deals with you privately. You might be in a big crowd,
But He's got His hand on you, and He's taken you aside from
the multitude, and He deals with you one on one. That's the way
the Lord always works. He took this man away from the
multitude. And the Scripture says He does
these four very unusual things. He sticks His finger in his ears.
He spits on his hand. And He takes that spit and places
it on the man's tongue. And then He sighs. in grief. It's a groan. That's
the way the word is generally translated. He groans. And then
he gives this command, be opened. Now, every one of those things
has some significance as to how a dead sinner is made to hear. Now, first, if you look at the
way finger is used, the finger of God, It's always used to represent
the power of God. Do you remember when our Lord
said, if I by the finger of God cast out demons, by whom do your
sons cast them out? He says, I by the finger of God. I by the power of God. So the
finger represents God's power. It takes the power of God to
make somebody see they're a sinner, and to make somebody hear the
gospel as gospel. It takes nothing less than the
power of God. Now, this is my hope as a preacher. It's not up to me to try to talk
you into anything. It's not up to me to try to get
you to believe a certain way. I can't do it. And I know that. There's only one way You or I
can ever see that we're truly a sinner and hear the gospel
of the gospel. There's only one way my ears
can come unstopped so that I can actually hear and hear in a way
where it's good news to me and that's by the power of God Almighty,
the same power that created the universe, the same power that
raised Christ from the dead. That's the power that's given. to a dead sea that enables them
to hear. So I don't despair of anybody
here this morning. Now, I can't make you hear. I can't make myself
hear. But the Lord can. Salvation is by His mighty power. He stuck His fingers in that
fellow's ears. And if the Lord sticks His fingers
in your ears, you're going to hear. Have no doubt about that. He stuck his fingers in his ears,
signifying his power that gives this man the ability to hear.
And then what does he do next? He spit on his hand and touched
his tongue with the spit that came from his body. Now, probably
you think that seems almost gross. It does. I mean, I agree. That's
not something that we normally think of doing. But that's what
the Lord did. But there's something he's teaching
us from that. For this man to speak plainly,
which was the result of him being able to hear, which is the result
of him being given life from the dead, something must come
from Christ to him. Now that spit, as crude as that
may seem, but that's the language the scripture uses, that spit
was whose spit? It was Christ's. Something had
to come from Him and come into contact with this man for him
to be able to hear and for him to be able to speak. Something
from Christ had to come to him. Now I know this, for me to be
saved, something must come from Christ and be placed on me and
in me. Now here's what takes place when
God saves a sinner. When He gives him ears to hear. When He gives him a mouth to
speak the Gospel. So he speaks plainly and he understands
the language. Something's got to come from
Christ. to that person. Christ's righteousness, Christ's
perfect obedience comes from Him to me. Something came from Christ to
me. Now it's not enough. Listen to me. It's not enough
for Christ to do something for me. I need Him to do something
for me, but it's not enough for Him to do something for me. He's
got to do something to me. Yes, He's got to do something
for me, but He's got to do something to me also. Is it the work of
Christ for you? The work of Christ in you? Something
must come from Christ and touch me. For me to be saved, something
must come from Christ and be placed upon me and in me, and
that's what takes place here. Christ's righteousness placed
on me by imputation, His Spirit put in me by the new birth. Now
when Christ saves somebody, something comes from Him His righteousness
is counted to them and for them. He took my sin to Himself and
He gives me that which comes from Him. His righteousness.
He spit on His hand and He touched His tongue. And look what happens
next in verse 33. He touched His tongue, verse
34, and looking up to heaven, He sighed. He groaned. Now this is an expression
of grief, of heaviness, of burden, of pain. Looking up to heaven,
he sighed. He groaned. Who knows what that
groan must have sounded like. But what's this all about? What's
this represent? Turn with me to Mark Chapter
14. For my ears to be open and for my tongue to be loose, what
grief he had to experience. Look at Mark Chapter 14. Verse 32. And they came to a place which
was named Gethsemane. And he saith to his disciples,
sit ye here while I shall pray And he taketh with him Peter
and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be
very heavy. And he saith unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch, And
he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible,
the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all
things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but what Thou wilt." Now why was our Lord praying like this?
Why was He sore amazed and very heavy? Why did He have such grief?
This was the time when He was being made sin. It began in Gethsemane's garden. Now for me to have ears to hear,
for me to be able to speak plainly, He's going to have to be made
sin for me. That's what this groan is. That's what this grief
is that he experienced. He sighed as he looked up to
heaven. He sighed at knowing that whatever
happened to this fellow is going to happen to him. Now, this is
what this grief is. This is why our Lord groaned. This is why our Lord sighed.
He was going to be made sin. Now, how much of this do we understand?
Not very much. Not very much. My sin, though, became His. It actually became His. All the burden, all the filth,
all the whatever it is. Now, He never sinned in His person.
You know that as well as I do. He never sinned. He knew no sin. But my sin became His. And he sighed under that burden. He groaned under that burden.
But just as truly as my sin became his, his righteousness becomes
mine. It really is mine. It's mine. Now, he sighed. He sighed under
this burden. And what happened next in our
text in Mark 7? And He sighed, verse 34, and
saith unto him, Ephetha. That is, be open. This is the command of irresistible
and invincible grace. This is the work of God the Holy
Spirit when He opens the heart and He opens the understanding.
He opens the ears. When He says, be open, you know
what happens? It's opened. And you hear. You hear, not just
audibly, But you hear the Gospel as Gospel. You hear it as good
news to you. It's no longer dull and uninteresting. It's no longer offensive. It's
no longer scandalous to you. It becomes good news. It's good news to me. Your ears are opened. Be opened. The command of irresistible
grace. And here's what happened. Verse
35. And straightway, Immediately, his ears were opened
and the string of his tongue was unloosed. He could now hear.
And the string of his tongue, that which bound his tongue,
was set free. And what was the evidence? I
love this. Straightway, his ears were opened and the string of
his tongue were loosed and he spoke plain. All of a sudden,
you can understand what he had to say. You know, before this,
he's speaking vague, hazy language. You couldn't really understand
what he was saying. He's speaking ambiguous terms so that it may
mean this and it may mean that. You're not really sure. I mean,
it could be taken in a million different ways. But when God
gives somebody the grace to speak plain, you know what they do?
They speak plain. They speak articulately. You
can now understand what they're saying. It means something. This
man now speaks plainly His speech impediment kept Him from speaking
the language of grace, but now having been given ears to hear
and a heart to understand, He speaks with plainness. Now when you ask Him, what makes
you think you're saved? I didn't come out first. He doesn't
have that I, I, I. I did this. I did that. I believe
this. I believe that. He doesn't begin with an I. What
makes you think you're saved? Because Christ saved me. He did
it all. That's what makes me think I'm
saved. He did it all. I believe His gospel. I'm looking
nowhere but Him. Here's what makes me think I'm
saved. And you know, I do think I'm saved. Do you believe you're
saved? Do you believe you'll go to heaven
when you die? Yes, I do. I really do. Well, what makes
you think that? Because Christ died for me. That's why I think that. Well, what? Didn't he die for
everybody? No. No, if he died for everybody,
then that would be meaningless, wouldn't it? If he died for everybody
and some of them wind up in hell? That doesn't get it, does it?
Now, here's my assurance. Christ died for me. That's my only hope. What makes
you think you're saved? Because Christ died for me. Well,
how do you know He died for you? Well, I have to say, I hear,
I believe He did. I believe on Him. It's not just because I believe
He did, but because I believe that what He did is all I need
for salvation. That's the evidence that He died
for me. I'm relying on Him. But the reason I'm saved, the
cause I'm saved, is not because I did anything. It's because
Christ died for me. The language is now plain. The
language is now simple. Salvation is by grace. Salvation
is all by grace. Not partly by grace and partly
by works. It's all of grace. He now speaks plainly. Salvation
is of the Lord. It sounds like this. Christ is
all and I am nothing. I really believe that. What are
you in salvation? Nothing. What is he in salvation?
Everything. I really believe that he is all in salvation and
I find such joy in that. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. I really believe
that His righteousness is the only righteousness. I really
believe that His precious blood actually put away sin. I really
believe that His grace is invincible and irresistible. I believe grace. And that's what
happens. The speech impediment is taken
away. He now speaks plainly and clearly. Verse 36. And he charged them. He commanded
them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged
them, So much the more a great deal they published it. Now,
I don't know how I'll look at that verse. It seems like if
you told them not to speak about it, they shouldn't do it. Seems
that way, doesn't it, if you said that. But I tell you what, if you ever believe grace, you
won't be able to keep your mouth shut about it. It'll be impossible
for you. You'll have to. We sing that
song, and this is the song we began the service with. Amazing
grace! How sweet the sound! Is it amazing
to you? Amazing grace! How sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. Was blind, but now I see truly. Amazing! He couldn't keep quiet
at this time. 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. Verse 37, And they were beyond
measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear
and the dumb to speak. Now here's the confession from
the mouth of every believing heart who hears. and who can
speak. Here's what they say. He has
done all things well. My salvation is what He has done. All the pressures off me. All
the stress. It's what He has done. And He has done all things well. You see, he makes both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak. Salvation is what he makes. The
word means causes or creates. He makes us to be what we were
not. Righteous. He causes the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak. And right now, You are witnessing
this miracle. This deaf man now hears. And this dumb man now speaks. I'm not only preaching what I
believe the Bible teaches. I'm preaching what I've experienced.
I'm testifying. He makes the dead to hear. He
makes the deaf to hear. He makes the dumb to speak. What a miracle of amazing grace. And I truly sing amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind,
but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. He makes the deaf to hear and
the dumb to speak. Let's pray together. Lord, I ask in Christ's blessed
name that the deaf may hear and the dumb may speak for the glory
of Thy holy name. Lord, we're so conscious of our
own inability to perform any of these things, but we look
to You to perform all things for us. Bless Your Word for the
Lord's sake. In His name we pray.