Well, it is a delight to be with
you again, and I trust God will be pleased to meet with us. Turn
with me, if you will, to Mark, the eighth chapter. Mark, chapter
eight. Six or seven years ago, one of
the men in our assembly, Brother Rex Bartley, read this portion
of scripture at one of our evening services and made just a few
brief comments. as soon as he made them I thought
those are tremendous and I jotted them down trusting the Lord might
give me a message from this passage and I believe he has Mark chapter
8 verses 22 through 26 records one of our Lord's notable miracles
that is recorded by no one except Mark Mark alone tells us about
the healing of this blind man at Bethesda, Bethsaida. Now,
none of our Lord's miracles, none of our Lord's miracles were
accidental. You recognize that, I'm sure.
Understand this as well, not one miracle performed by him
while he walked on this earth or in all the Old Testament scriptures
was designed simply to show that he has power over the elements
of the earth. Not one of them was designed
simply to show the supernatural. They were all arranged by divine
providence and arranged as they were, when they were, to show
us something about the wonder of redemption, grace, and salvation
by our God. That's the purpose of the miracles. You who teach small children. when you teach them about Noah
and the ark, and you teach them about the miracles of Christ,
and those things that are looked at as supernatural. Don't do
those children the disservice of just pointing to the supernatural. That's not the purpose. The purpose
is to reveal something about the saving glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And until you see that in the
passage, or in the miracle, or in the event, you haven't rightly
seen what the purpose of the event, or the miracle, or the
passage is. Here in Mark chapter 8, verses
22, 23, 24, and 25. we see a highly instructive miracle
performed by our Savior. 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 or
anything. And he looked up and said, I
see men as trees walking. After that, he had put his hands
upon his eyes and made him look up, put his hands again upon
his eyes and made him look up, and he was restored and saw every
man clearly. The healing of this blind man
is, in my opinion, a very clear picture of the way God saves
chosen redeemed sinners by the almighty power of His grace,
by the power and grace of His Spirit. I want you to keep your
Bibles open on your lap here at Mark 8, and I hope that you
will see it, and that as our Lord Jesus took this blind man
by the hand and gave him sight, He will cause you by the hand
of his grace to see his glory and his grace in the saving of
sinners. First, in verse 22, he cometh
to Bethsaida, an out of the way insignificant little fishing
village. It was the home of Andrew and Peter and Philip. The Lord
came to Bethsaida after we're told in verse 13 that he left
the Pharisees. What a solemn word this is. And
he left them. He left them. In judgment, he left them. But he comes to Bethsaida on
an errand of mercy, seeking one of his lost sheep for whom the
time of love had come. A poor blind man who now must
receive his sight. And they bring a blind man unto
him, and besought him to touch him. Here is a blind man brought
to the Lord Jesus by his friends. Mark tells us three simple things
here. First, the man was blind. That's
you and me as we came into this world. Blind. Every man by nature
is born spiritually blind. want you to see that men don't
see things. They can't see them. They can't
see them. Every natural man is spiritually
blind. You were and I was. All men are
until the Son of God comes and takes us in the hand of His grace
and gives us eyes with which to see. Turn to Romans chapter
3. Hold your hands here. Romans
chapter 3. Verse 11. You're familiar with that passage
in 1 Corinthians 2. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. He has not the Spirit of God in him. Consequently,
he cannot discern anything spiritual. Romans 3, verse 11. There is
none, that's a pretty broad word, isn't it? that takes in you,
and me, and everybody else by nature. Doesn't matter how well
instructed, doesn't matter how good the preacher has been they've
heard, doesn't matter how orthodox the doctrine is they've been
taught, there is none that understand this. Not anything. You wonder why you get so frustrated
talking to the fellows you work with, or talking to your children,
or talking to your parents about the things of God? He said, I've
shown them everything I can show them, why can't they see it?
Because they can't see. Because they can't see. There
is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after
God. Man by nature has no ability
to discern or understand anything at all about God, grace, salvation,
and spiritual things. Quit trying to convince them.
You can't do it. You can't do it. Just proclaim
the gospel to them. Wait on God to give them life.
Otherwise, folks won't see. That's all there is to it. Well,
I think man's got a little good judgment here. If it's about
spiritual things, got none. Every thought you have, who are
without Christ, every single thought you have about God is
wrong. Every thought you have about
grace, salvation, eternal life is wrong. about this book is
wrong. There is none that understandeth.
This poor blind man did not have the least glimmering of anything
until he was touched by the Savior. And so it is with man by nature.
The natural man has no sight. You're poor, but you think you're
rich. You're miserable and think you're blessed. Wretched and
think you're delighted. You're naked and think you're
clothed. Lost and think you have life. The Son of God stands set
forth before you every time the gospel is preached. Every time
we sing one of these hymns. Stands set clearly before you.
But you can't see. You have the gospel proclaimed.
Proclaimed to you regularly. Hearing it day in and day out
as you come into the house of God to worship Him. But you can't
hear. And you can't see. Why? Because
you're blind. You're blind. Understand that
and quit trying to make judgments for yourself about the things
of God. Just hear what God says and ask
Him to give you eyes to see. Here's something else. This poor
blind man's friends brought him to the master. There's no indication
in the book that this blind man believed anything. Not an indication
anywhere that he expected anything. He seems to have come to this
place, this place where the Lord Jesus was, simply because his
friends persuaded him to come. Oh, what good friends to have. What a good friend to be. Maybe
you come here tonight just because a friend has persuaded you to
come. You came in here with no interest in what's going on,
except you just have a friend who wants you to come. Oh, may God
be pleased this day to grant you life and light in Christ
Jesus. He would never have come to Christ,
but his friends brought him. And having done all that they
could do, look at the next thing. These friends of this blind man
besought the Lord Jesus to touch him. They couldn't heal him,
but they knew Christ could. This blind man doesn't seem to
have sense enough to pray for his sight when God who made him
is standing in front of him, so his friends prayed for him.
Now look at verse 23. Here we see our Savior performing
his operation of grace upon this man, and he does it in a strikingly
unusual way. We don't have any other picture
like this anywhere in the Bible. Nowhere else. He healed the man
by degrees. Gradually. Not all at once. That's strange. That's strange. You don't see anything like that
anywhere else in the scripture. The Son of God here shows us what
He does for sinners in the saving operations of His grace distinctly
in this man. Look at verse 23. 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 anything. First, the master took him by
the hand. Oh, what condescension. But here's
a far greater act of condescension. One day, he took me by the hand. He took me by His hand as my
surety in old eternity. And taking me in His hand, He
separated me from the rest of the human race by sovereign election,
by particular redemption. And then at the appointed time
of mercy and love, He came to where I was and took me by the
hand of His omnipotent grace, bringing me to Himself. And here
I am to tell you. If he takes you by the hand,
he will open your blind eyes. If he takes you by the hand,
he will never let you go. If he takes you by the hand,
you're perfectly safe. No man will ever pluck you out
of his hand. If he takes you by the hand in
time, it's because he took you by the hand in eternity. Wonder if I'm one of God's elect?
Has He taken you by the hand? Has He come to you? John
Gill said, when the Lord Jesus takes sinners by the hand, He
becomes their guide and leader. A better and safer guide they
cannot have. He brings them by a way they
know not and leads them in paths they had not known. He makes
darkness light before them and crooked things straight. and
does not forsake them. And next, the Lord Jesus took
this fellow and led him out of town. Can you imagine how excited
this blind man's friends must have been when the Lord Jesus
heard their prayer? They besought the Lord Jesus
that He would touch him. And He took him by the hand.
Oh boy, He's going to do what we ask Him to. Watch out boys!
We're going to watch Him work now. And then he led this blind
man away from those fellas so they couldn't see a thing. So they couldn't perceive what
was going on. He led the man out of town. Just as sure as we get the notion
that we can prescribe to God Almighty how to work. He's going to mess things up
for us. I guarantee it. He took this
man by the hand like Hosea said he would Gomer. He said, I will
lure her unto me in the wilderness, that I may speak comfortably
to her. I promise you, if God Almighty
does the work of grace for you and in you, He will deal in such a way that you cannot
mistake it. You won't need this preacher
or any other to tell you whether or not he's done it. And another
one can't come along and convince you he hasn't either. That's
exactly right. So what's the preacher here for?
To tell you what God does? That's all. Tell you what he
has done. Don't you think you need to coddle
folks and coerce them and talk them into it? No! No! No, if
God speaks to you, you will hear His voice. You will hear His
voice. This past Sunday morning, a dear
lady I've been preaching to for nearly 27 years, better part
of 27 years. She moved away for a little while,
moved back. Raised by one of the finest men I've met in my
life. Taught the gospel from infancy. Made professions of
faith, one on top of the other. Sixty-three years old. Sixty-three years old. Came up to my wife after service
and then to me. I said, when I came in here this
morning, God began speaking to me and He saved me by His grace. Brother Maurice Montgomery said,
Shelby said to him, he said, oh wouldn't you rejoice how she
is. When God speaks, you'll hear
His voice. When the Son of God takes you by your hand, you will
know He's taken you by the hand. He led this poor blind man out
of town because he wasn't interested in the town. He was just interested
in this man. He wasn't interested in what
the town would think of what he would do. He was just interested
in this man. He wasn't concerned for how the
town would react to himself or to this man. He was just interested
in this man. And he declared the town to be
unworthy of even witnessing his wondrous works. So he took the
blind man by the hand and led him out of town. And I promise
you, when he takes you by the hand, he will lead you out. Out
of all that you thought was good. Out of all your former notions
of religion. Out of all the world outside
the camp. But folks, these days, you know,
there's something, be outside the camp. It's not just going
outside the camp. Go outside the camp to Him. He'll lead you
outside the camp to Himself. Now, watch this. The next thing
our Savior did, if anyone had been an eyewitness to see it, they would have looked at that
and despised it. That's no way to treat a blind
man. What a horrible thing to do to
this man. And when he had spit on his eyes. Now before I preach
I usually try to read a little bit and study things. There are
many who suggest that it was the common medical practice in
those days. because doctors believed that
there was healing medicinal power in the saliva that comes from
a man's throat. You know, I can believe that.
They call it practicing medicine. But our Lord Jesus did not employ
falsehood to perform his work. Turn to Revelation chapter 3,
I'll show you what this is all talking about. Our all-wise Savior chose and
still chooses to use a terribly despicable means to perform His
work of grace upon poor blind men. God has chosen the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. This is the eye salve
with which He heals your blind eye. Revelation 3 verse 18. I
counsel thee to buy me gold dried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that
the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. But the spitting
didn't cause him to see. The master spit in his eyes,
and he's still blind. He's still blind. After he spit in his eyes, he
put his hands on him. And the touch of his hand, the
symbol, as it is always through his life, the symbol of his omnipotent
mercy, caused the man to see for the first time in his life.
I've been studying, preparing this message since early this
morning. Started late last night. And it doesn't matter how well
I prepare or how impressively I can declare it. It's less than vanity. except it's accompanied to your
heart by His omnipotent grace. The means, people say you folks,
y'all are means preachers. No, we preach Christ and that's
the means by which we do it. You believe God's people are
saved by what you do? No. Oh my God, a thousand times
no. But he uses spit. Like you, me. And by an omnipotent
hand of grace, touches his own. Now, what we have before us here
is a display of our Lord's sovereignty in the exercise of His grace.
These fellows had seen the Lord work before. And they said, touch
it! That's all they need. And the
Lord Jesus refused to let them be satisfied. You see, God simply
will not be put in our box. It won't happen. We think we've
got everything figured out. Boy, we like to get everything
figured out. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I like
things to fit. I do. We think we got everything figured
out by how God saves sinners and you read in the scriptures
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his brother's
womb. You know what, I've read everything that I could read
in the last 37 years, 38 years on that passage of scripture
and I ain't found anything that makes any sense yet, have you?
I ain't found anybody who explains it with any satisfaction. Well
what do you do? Looks to me like John the Baptist
was filled with the Holy Ghost from his brother's womb. Does that fit your system? No,
but I gave up having a system to fit, that making the Word
of God fit my system a long time ago. What do you do with it?
I throw the system away. Every day I throw it away. Because I keep reading in this
book, something that just won't fit. In the Scriptures, the Lord
shows us five distinct cases where He healed blind men. Five
of them. Three were healed by the mere
word of our Savior. He spoke, they received their
sight. No touch involved. One was healed by the Savior
spitting in his eyes and touching them. And then there was another
one where the Savior spit on the ground and made a mud pack
and put it on his eyes and caused him to see. The fact is you can
be sure of this. He'd be dead sure of it. Now
these fellas were all healed, healed by the same Savior, and
received the same light, but not one of them had the same
experience. Not one of them. Not one of them. And I'm going to tell you something
that may shock the bitches off of you, but that's alright. While
you live in this world, you will never know exactly how
it was God convinced you of sin. That ain't going to happen. You
will never know exactly when it was that God first began to
give you light and life. When he first invaded your soul
and gave you life. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't going to happen. You will never know precisely
when it was that you really learned the gospel. That's not going
to happen. And it's best that it doesn't happen. Because I'll
tell you what will happen if you thought so. The exact word
that I've seen it over and over and over again. Instead of looking
to him for peace and assurance, you look at that experience,
what you know, who you heard, where you were, what you felt. Is that right, Pastor? It's exactly
right. It's exactly right. And the Lord
will not have you look for peace anywhere except outside yourself,
seated on his throne. That's all. That's all. Our Lord
Jesus saves His people. They experience things in different
ways. This is the one issue that must be settled. The one issue. One of the dear ladies here tonight
came up to our conference. Asked me, how can I know I'm
one of God's elect? How can I know? Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? I do. I do. He that believeth
on the Son of God, what does the book say? Hath everlasting
life. Now after he touched Him, look
at verse 24. The Savior asked this blind man
if he could see anything. And he looked up and said, I
see men as trees walking. Well, that ain't much. It is
if you were blind. What did you see yesterday? Nothing. What do you see now?
I see men in the streets walking. That's something. That beats
the daylights out of not seeing it at all. When the Son of God
came to this man to give light to this spiritually blind sinner,
He did much the same with me as He did this blind man. First
the Savior spit in his eyes and touched them. And the man, as
a result of the Savior's gracious work, could see men as trees
walking. And then he touched him again. Newborn babes in the family of
God usually don't see much. And seldom do they see anything
clearly. It should be remembered, and
remembered with great thankfulness, that He gives light. But He doesn't
give it all at once. If you have any true spiritual
light, any true spiritual knowledge, you have great reason to lift
your heart in praise to our God who gave you that light. You
may not see clearly. You might think it's so little
to see me in His trees walking. But it is beyond doubt, evident,
that he's given you eyes to see or you wouldn't see. If I see
Christ as my all-sufficient and only Savior, if I see Christ, what's the Scriptures
compare seeing to? It's believing. Look unto me. Except he may be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Seeing is faith. And if I look to and see Christ,
the Son of God, as my only all-sufficient Savior, that's God's own testimony
in my soul that my name's written in the Book of Life. What does
the book say? Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. When God gives the center, faith
in Christ. The Lord God issues the report
of the gospel in that sinner's own soul. Looking to Christ,
I'm justified. That's right. Do you mean your
faith justifies you? You know better than that. But
I didn't have any justification to look to Him. That's exactly
right. That's exactly right. Looking
to Him, God speaks peace to my soul. Looking to Him, God speaks
justification to my soul. Looking to Him, God declares
no condemnation. And He doesn't until He gives
you eyes to look to Him. That's all there is to it. Robert
Hawker says there's a vast difference between deadness and death. This
fella might not be able to feed himself, but if he can take food,
he's got life. He might not be able to move,
but if he can breathe, he's got life. And the Lord Jesus, if
He causes you to look to Him, to see Him, He will cause you
to see clearly. When God first saved me, I can't
speak to anybody else's experience, but I try to be honest with mine.
When first I had some awareness of God having revealed His grace
in me, I knew that Jesus Christ is my God and my Savior alone. But I didn't know a thing on
earth about eternal sonship and the distinct persons in the Holy
Trinity. I really didn't. I didn't. I was convinced of
my sin. I didn't know the difference
between iniquity, transgression, and sin, but I knew whatever
it was is me. I was convinced of it. And I
was convinced that Christ had put away my sin by the sacrifice
of himself. I was thoroughly convinced. I
didn't have any idea. If you'd have said the name Jehovah,
Sid, kidding you to me, I'd have looked at you like, why did you
say that? I didn't have any idea what it meant. But I knew Christ
is my righteousness. I understood that. If you had
asked me about election, I would have told you I'm not old enough
to vote. But my first week in school,
they're going to kick me out of school because I teach an
election. I didn't have any idea what those things were. I just
knew that if I'm his, he chose me. I understood it clearly. I understood it in the experience
of my soul. I didn't know anything about
effectual calling, except that I got it. He drew me, and I ran after Him. And I want to tell you something,
that's true of you too. That's true of you too. Somebody
ask you about Laxarianism, shoot. I've never been Laxland, didn't
know anything about Laxlanders. I said all that to say this,
never despise the day of small things in yourself, or anyone
else. We don't learn everything at
once. And when we've learned everything we know now, we still
don't know much. Now look at verse 25. Our Savior's work hadn't ended
yet. He who touched me is God of the second touch. After that
He put His hands again upon His eyes and made Him look up and
he was restored and saw every man clearly. The path of the just is a shining
light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The light
shines and it shines more clearly now than it used to. And it will
continue to shine until that perfect day when we see all things
as they really are, seeing them as God our Savior sees them.
But for now, those who see most clearly don't see much. I'm sorry
to have to tell you this, but there are some things you just
don't yet know. And the things that you think
you know a great deal about, I promise you, you know just
very little. Very little. Very little. The
more I study this book, and the things revealed in this book, and when I was 17 years old,
Brother Rupert, there wasn't anything in this book I didn't
know. I'm telling you the truth. I will take on any challenger,
anytime. But now I'm nearly 57 years old.
That's nearly 40 years. And there ain't much in this
book I know. It gets bigger every day I read
it. Oh, I know him. of whom the book speaks. And
I know the book speaks of Him. But I know so little of Him.
So very little of Him. Now let me share with you what
Brother Rex told us when he read this passage. He said when this
man was touched the second time, and he saw every man clearly,
Brother Rex said, I don't know exactly what this is intended
to teach, but I'm sure with regard to, as it applies to you and
I who believe, he saw the first man clearly. The first man, Adam. The first
man, Adam, was made a living soul. God created him out of
the dust and breathed into his nostrils, and Adam became a living
soul. This man Adam was made by God
to be a covenant head, a representative man. And this man Adam, did you
know he is the only person or thing in all this book, the only
one, that's specifically identified as a type of our Savior? The
other one Romans chapter 5 verse 14 says he is the figure of him
that was to come. That's the only time that language is used.
Adam was a typical man. He was typical of another man.
This man Adam was married to a wife whom he loved. And this man Adam because of
his love for his wife willingly plunged himself into sin and
death and a curse before God. And this man, Adam, became sin. What he was. Then Brother Rex
said, let's see all men, every man clearly, surely means that
we see the second Adam, the last Adam, the second man, the last
man, the Lord Jesus Christ clearly. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. The first man, the last man.
What strange language. No, not if you see both clearly.
God only deals with this race with two men. The first Adam and the last Adam. And in verse 48, as is the earth
is such are they also that are earthy, as is the heavenly such
are they also that are heavenly. How much do you have in common
with the first Adam? What do you have in common with
him? Is there anything missing? Anything about Adam that's not
Tim James. That's what you are by nature. That's what it is
to bear the image of the earthly, I believe. Are you in Christ? What is it about Him you don't
have? You mean, you mean we are just
as fully, just as absolutely, just as truly, just as fully
One with Christ as we were one with Adam? No, I mean more so.
Much more so. Much more so. This is a real
union. So real that there's no separation
of me from Christ. And there is a separation of
me from Adam. Each of us are individual human beings. And
though we are individual believers, we are one man in Jesus Christ. Is that the language of Scripture?
One body in Jesus Christ. One with Him. This last man was
really the first man. Who do you think the scripture
is talking about when the triune God got together in Genesis 1.26
and said let us make man in our image and after our likeness?
Talk about Christ. You mean Christ had a body before
he came into the world? No. Yeah, no, no, no, not really. But he is that one for whom God
made the universe and he made the human race in the image of
that one who was our eternal servitude and our eternal covenant
head who was married to us before the world began. He was married
to us. I love the picture of marriage
in the scriptures. When Mary was espoused to Joseph, was she
married to him? Was she married to him? Absolutely. Absolutely. She was his wife. Well, they hadn't come together
yet. I told you I loved the picture. I was married to Christ before
this world was made. And there came a time when He
caused us to come together in His grace. But the marriage took
place in eternity. And my covenant head because
of his love for me. Willingly plunged himself into
sin and death and was made a curse rather than lose me. And now he sits enthroned in
the highest heaven right where he's always sat. The glory he
has now that the father gave him after he finished his work
on the earth, read it in John 17, is the glory he had with
the father before the world was. This is the way things always
been. He's just working it out for us to see and experience
and enjoy for the praise of his glory. And then Brother Rex said,
when a man's eye has been touched, he sees the natural man clearly. The natural man? You read in the book, he's dead. Yeah, that was me. Still is this
natural man. Reading a book that's corruption,
dead men's bones. That's me. Reading a book that's darkness,
blackness, sin, corruption in this heart. Bursting from this
heart, polluting everything around me. That's me. That's me. You too. The natural man. Helpless. lost, justly condemned,
doomed, damned, worthless, fit for nothing but hell! Oh, but
dear, this man whose eyes the Savior has touched, he sees the new man clearly. Created in righteousness and
true holiness, called Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Now, Christ is revealed in me
by all means. But the revelation comes as a
result of the presence. I've been born of his spirit.
To be born of his spirit is to have Christ invade my life. John calls this the holy siege. Peter calls it partakers of the
divine nature. God tells us it is that which
is born of God and cannot sin. Now you wonder why you have such
a struggle in your soul? Lusting for everything evil? And you do. You do. And longing for everything holy?
And if you're born of God, you do. Oh, I want to know Him. And yet there's a heart of flesh
as full of enmity against Him as ever it was. The flesh lusting
against the Spirit. So that you cannot do the things
that you would. But wait a minute. This is wonderful. Paul says,
it's no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth in me.
That ain't me no more. That ain't me no more. No, no, no, no, no. The life
which I now live by the faith of the Son of God, I live yet,
not I, but Christ that dwelleth in me. That's the real me. That's the real me. That's the
real me. Bill Carver said, I have no reason ever to look
at you any way except as I look at my Savior. That's called esteeming the other
better than yourself. If you're in Christ, the only
way God ever sees you is as His Son, yeah. But that's not quite
it. When He sees you, all He sees
is His Son. And one of these days, I talk
about it a little bit now, I'm going to see the resurrection
man clearly. as I born the image of the earth
there I'm going to bear the image of
the heavenly without spot or wrinkle or infirmity or blemish perfect and he going to present
me that way with exceeding joy amen stand together.