I've entitled this message, I See Men As Trees Walking. Have you ever wondered about
this miracle? It's unique in that it is the
only time a healing did not take place instantaneously. Every
time he healed someone, immediately their feet and ankle bones received
strength. They might've been a paraplegic
and they got up and walked immediately. His miracles were instantaneous. But this man, when his sight
was restored, it was only partial. He could not see clearly. He saw men as trees walking. touched him again, and then he
saw every man clearly. This was a gradual, progressive
healing. And I repeat, none of the other
healings were that way. They were all instantaneous,
immediate, but not this miracle. And the Lord did it this way
for a purpose, didn't he? we're supposed to learn something
from this gradual healing. Now this man was blind. What
an affliction. The man may have not been born
blind because he knew something about what trees looked like.
Maybe he saw trees at one time and he saw men as trees walking,
and there's a reference to him being restored, like he saw one
time and then he didn't, but at any rate, right now he's blind.
He's plum blind. And that represents the state
of the natural man. Spiritually blind. Spiritually blind to the character
of God. blind to his righteousness, blind
to his holiness. And really, you can't know the
character of God unless he makes himself known. Until then, you're
in blindness. And this man was in spiritual
blindness. Two things are necessary for
sight. First, the seeing eye. But if the room's pitch black,
what good will seeing eye do you? None at all. To see, you
have to have a seeing eye, and you have to have light. And it's
the same way spiritually. To see, you have to have a seeing
eye, an eye that beholds the glory of Christ, an eye that
sees God for who he is. That's the gift of God. The seeing
eye is of the Lord. but you've also got to have light.
You can't see apart from the light of the gospel. But here
we have this man in blindness. Now there are numerous Old Testament
prophecies of the Messiah giving sight to and opening the eyes
of the blind. I think Bartimaeus, knew Christ
was the Messiah because he said, Jesus, thou son of David. He
knew he was, have mercy on me. And I don't have any doubt that
he heard one time that this one called Jesus gave sight to one
who was born blind. And he thought he's the Messiah.
I guarantee you he had an interest in this. I'm sure people who
weren't blind, when they'd read that prophecy, they'd think,
well, that's good if I ever need it, but not Bartimaeus. He heard
that prophecy and he knew and he was waiting on the Lord Jesus
Christ to pass by. He says, if he ever comes my
way, I'll cry out. And that's indeed what he did.
He knew he was the son of David who came to give sight to the
blind. I think of John sending those
two men to ask Christ if he was the Christ. And he said, go tell
John what you've seen and heard. the blind receive their sight. When he announced his public
ministry in Luke 4, he said he was anointed for the recovering
of the sight of the blind. And if you read the gospel several
times, he healed the blind in group settings. They would bring
all kinds of different people to him with different afflictions,
and included was men who were blind, and he gave them sight.
But we read five different times in the New Testament of him dealing
with individuals who were blind and giving them sight. And sometimes
he used means. You remember that tell in John
chapter nine? That's one of my favorite stories
in the Bible. The Lord made mud, spit in the ground, made mud
and stuck it in his eye and said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. And he went and washed and came
seeing. things that happened after that.
But turn with me for a moment to John 9, and I want us to look
at the conclusion to this story. John 9. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they
had cast him out, and when he found him, he said unto him,
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said,
who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it's he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. Now what in the
world is that? If you see in yourself why God
could save you, you're under his judgment. If you can't see
any reason in yourself as to why he would look your way, you've
experienced his mercy. He came to give you sight. Now
let's go on reading verse 40. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, are we blind
also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind. What's that next statement? You
should have no sin. Now that is the state of everyone
who can't see any reason in themselves why God would look favor upon
them. You have no sin. But now you say we see. Therefore,
and I don't know of any more terrifying words than these,
your sin remaineth. It's there forever. Now these men, back to our text
in Mark chapter eight, and he cometh to Bethsaida, verse
22, and they bring a blind man unto him and besought him to
touch him. Now that's a good thing to do,
isn't it? If you want to do anyone any good, bring him to the Lord.
And that's what they did. Bring them to the Lord in prayer.
Bring them to the Lord, that's what they did, that's a good
thing. But they had a defective faith. They besought him to touch
him. Did the Lord need to touch this
man to heal him? No, speak the word only and my servant shall
be healed. Verse 23, and he took the blind man by
the hand. Don't you want him to take you
by the hand? He took the blind man by the
hand and led him out of the town. Now that's significant. As a
matter of fact, when he healed him, he said, don't go back to
that town. Don't tell anybody about me in that town. Now that
town's the same town of which he said, woe unto thee, Bethsaida. for the mighty works which were
done in thee had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Now, the point is,
when the Lord takes your hand, he's going to lead you out of
that kind of religion. He always does. He took that
man by the hand and he led him out. Lord, I want you to take
me by the hand and I want you to lead me out, don't you? I
want him to do for me exactly what he did for this man. He
took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town, and
when he had spit on his eyes. Now, that's something to think
about, isn't it? I mean, he spit in his eyes. If that represents anything,
I'm sure it represents something. If it represents anything, it
represents the word of God coming from his mouth. I wanna hear
from him, don't you? I don't wanna just hear from
the preacher. I don't wanna hear from some man. I want the word
of God to come to me from him. He spit on his eyes and he put
his hands upon him. And when I read that, I can't
help but think of the great high priest putting his hands on the
scapegoat, and that transfer of guilt. The sins of Israel
were put on that scapegoat, and that scapegoat bore the sins,
the laying on of hands. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
took my blindness. When he was on the cross, he
couldn't see a thing. He was in utter darkness, physically,
And he was in darkness spiritually in the sense that he said, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now he knew what he was doing.
I don't mean to even imply that he didn't know what was going
on at this time, but he was cut off from his father. And he got
no smile, no favor from his father. He was in utter darkness, no
communication with his father. And that's the reason if we have
sight of who he is, he gave it to us because of his darkness.
And he put his hands upon him and asked him if he saw aught. Now, the Lord never asks a question
for information. He's going to teach us something
from this. He asked him if he saw aught. And he looked up and said, I
see men as trees walking. I see men as trees walking. Now, I get the feeling that he
knew something was wrong with his sight. But he said, I see
men as trees walking. Now, there's two things that
strike me about that. First, never does anyone ever
see everything clearly at first. Just never. I had in my notes
most of the time that doesn't happen, but then I marked it
out. It never happens. He saw men as trees walking. He did not have a clear sight. Now, I understand exactly what Paul
meant when he said, we see through a glass darkly. You understand
that? We see through a glass darkly. There are many things we can't
give an account of. We see in an enigma is what the
word means. We see through a glass darkly. Now, I hope, and I think I do,
I hope, I don't know how long I've been a believer, but a long
time in my experience, And I hope I have grown in understanding. And I know I have. I see more
of His beauty than I did when I first came to know Him. And
you know what? I'm not just blowing smoke right
now. I see more of my own sinfulness than I did when I first came
to know Him. I see more of my need of His
grace. I see more of my need. I hope I've grown. I hope I've
grown to love you more. I hope I've grown to love you
more. I sure hope I have, but it's still true. We see through
a glass darkly. That's Paul's own testimony. Be patient with young believers.
Be patient with old believers too. We're all in need of patience
because we all see through a glass darkly. And I think of Paul's
words, if a man thinketh he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing,
yet as he ought to know. Knowledge puffeth up. I know something you don't know.
Charity edifieth. builds up. So the first thing
that I would see about this gradual miracle is that everybody doesn't
know everything at first. And there's a growth in knowledge. There's a growth in grace and
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's the second
thing that really hit me about this. What are the largest living
things? Trees. Trees are the largest living
things. And let me tell you something
else about trees. They can't walk. And he saw men as trees walking. Now, you can be sure of this.
When your sight is wrong, you always see men too big. Yourself? and everybody else. When your sight is wrong, you
always see man as too big, and the reason you see man as too
big is because you're seeing God too small. Those two things
go hand in hand. Now, when you see man too big,
you see his power, his ability, his influence, and you get all
upset with the power that man has. Man doesn't have any power. Man doesn't have any influence.
God rules. God reigns. And the higher you see God, the
lower you'll see man. And the higher you see man, the
lower you'll see God. Now, what was the problem with
this man's sight? He saw men too big. I don't care
if it's himself. I don't care if it's anybody
else. He saw men too big. Turn with me for a moment to
1 Corinthians chapter four. Verse six. And these things,
brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to
Paul for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think
of men above that which is written. that no one of you be puffed
up for one against another. Now this can take so many forms
of seeing men above that which is written. Preacher worship,
clergy laity, a failure to remember who the first cause is and look
at men as the secondary causes and put the blame on men. I love
what David said when Shemai was cursing David. And Abishai said,
let me go cut off his head. He said, no, the Lord said, curse
David. And that's true with regard to everything. And if we forget
that God's the first cause behind everything, we're putting men
too big, aren't we? We're giving them too much credit. It's a failure to remember that
man at his best state is altogether vanity. It's a failure to Remember
total depravity and total inability and this is so true wrong on
the fall wrong on at all I'm to see not to think of man above
that which is written any man All error has this as its root
a low view of God and consequently a high view of man Crediting
him with the ability that he doesn't really have now the first
thing that comes to my mind is free will Men talk about free
will. Do you have any idea how preposterous
that is to think man's puny will can trump God's will? Well, that's
ridiculous. And yet, that's where we get
when we think of man being too big. Now, when Paul spoke of
proving the good and acceptable perfect will of God and not being
conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing
of your mind, let me show you what he said. Turn with me to
Romans 12. Romans 12. Verse one, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. Holy. You know, you can't present your
body a living sacrifice holy unless you are holy. You know
that? You can only be holy if you are
holy. And that's what every believer
is in Christ Jesus. Holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling. Now I beseech you that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove, that you may demonstrate what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now look at the
first thing he says with regard to that. For I say through the
grace given unto me to every man that's among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now back to our text again. Where
was this man's vision messed up? He saw men as too big, didn't
he? He saw them as trees and he saw
their walking and he was making some thoughts about their walk
and so on. And what happened next? Verse
25, after that, he put his hands again upon his eyes and he made him look up. It just says he looked up in
the first time, but this time he made him look up. You know, we took him by the
hand. That's a strong, that's not just, you know, grasping
him tenderly by the hand. It means he seized him. He overtook
him. He overcame him. He rescued him. I mean, this is the call of the
irresistible, invincible grace when he takes him by the hand.
And this time, when he's gonna see clearly, the first time,
he looks up, and he's all men as trees walking. But this time,
Christ made him look up. Lord, make me look up. Don't
you want his grace to just reign and overtake you? That's what
happened with this man. He was made to look up. And after that, he put his hands
again upon his eyes and made him look up. And he was restored
and saw every man clearly. Now everything about salvation
in our experience, and I'm so thankful it's like this, it's
what he makes us do. Don't you want it to be that
way? I want to be made to believe. I don't want to be in my hands.
I want to be made to believe. I want to be made to repent. I want to be made to follow Christ. That's what I need. I need invincible,
irresistible grace. That's the only kind of grace
that'll do me any good. Where he makes me to do his will. Where he makes me to call on
his name. He made him look up. And when
he made him look up, his sight was restored. And the scripture
says he saw every man clearly. Not the size of trees, but in
reality. This is restored sight. You'll
see every man clearly. And the reason you see every
man clearly is because you see Christ clearly. You will not
see every man clearly until you see him clearly. And when you
see him clearly, you'll see yourself and everybody else for what they
are. It's only when we see God that
we will see every man clearly. Now to see God in his holiness
is to see men, particularly this man, in his own sinfulness. Now the clearest view I can have
of myself, the most accurate view I can have of myself, is
that of being sinful. And the only way you'll see yourself
as sinful is if you see Him in His person, in His holiness,
in His glory. I think of Isaiah. In the year
the king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. High and lifted up,
his train filled the temple. And what did Isaiah say about
himself when he got that sight? Then said I, woe is me. I think it's so interesting in
the previous chapter, six times he said woe unto them. Woe unto them. But now it's altogether
different. Woe is me. I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. That's when you see
men clearly. When we see man in his sinfulness
and inability, oh, how we see the necessity of the gospel.
We see the necessity of every aspect of the gospel. I see myself
for who I am. Let me tell you what I need.
I need God to elect me. Election is not just a doctrine.
I need God to elect me. Christ, I need Christ to die
for me and put away my sins. I need God the Holy Spirit to
invincibly cause me to live and give me life. I need to be preserved
by the grace of God. This is not just giving a cent
to some doctor. This is what I need. If I ever
see my sinfulness, if I ever see myself clearly, that's what
I'm going to see. You know, if we look at other
men harshly, judgmentally, obviously we're
seeing ourselves way too high. You can just write that down.
I love Romans 2.1. I need to be brought back to
that every day because I judge every day. Therefore thou art
inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for you
that judge doest. present tense, the same things. If I see men in a compassionate
and gracious way, it's because I've seen his compassion and
his grace, the freeness of his grace toward me. Now, our view of man tells directly
what our view of God is. And when we see him clearly,
we see The man, clearly. The man, Christ Jesus. It's only when you see yourself
clearly that you see there's one God and one mediator between
God and men. The man, Christ Jesus. You see him clearly as the only
way to the Father. You see he is the man, the God
man, God's prophet, the word of God, God's priest. If he brings
me into God's presence, I must be saved. God's king, the king
of kings and the Lord of lords. Now let me give you an example
of a man who saw Christ or saw men clearly. We can use him for
so many examples, the thief on the cross. Now here's a man who
saw men clearly. He saw the man clearly. Don't you fear God. And regarding that same one,
he said, this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Now he saw the man clearly, didn't
he? He's God. He's man. He's the Lord. Do you see that? Do you see that
clearly? He's God. He's man. He's the Lord. He's the one whose
will is always done. And he saw men clearly. Don't you fear God? Sing, you're
in the same condemnation. Now right before this, he was
cursing Christ with the other fellow. But now all of a sudden
he sees what this man is and what he had been. Don't you fear
God? Sing, we're in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly,
we're getting the due reward of our deeds. He saw himself
clearly. He saw his buddy clearly. We're
getting exactly what we deserve. But this man, hath done nothing
amiss. Lord. Oh, he saw him so clearly. You know, I wonder how many people
laughed when they heard him call him Lord. He called him Lord.
I mean, he's hanging on a tree. He's nailed to a tree. Most helpless
man alive. I bet people, he thinks he's
Lord. Yep, he knows he's Lord. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. You're not gonna stay on this
cross, you're gonna come back as a mighty reigning victor. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Now this man saw every man clearly,
didn't he? And that's what happens when
the Lord gives us sight. Now verse 26, how many times
does this happen after a miracle. And he sent him away to his house,
saying, don't go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.
Now, one person said that's because that town was under God's curse.
Well, I don't know that. I know he did say, woe unto you,
Bethsaida. There's no question about that. So it wasn't a good
place. But he told people so often,
don't tell people who I am. Don't let them know about this
miracle. Don't tell them what I did. Now that happens numerous
times. And we think it seems like the
best thing that could happen is for this to be spread. Everybody
could find out who he is and his power and his glory. And
it seems like this would be good for the kingdom of God to let
everybody know that this is happening. He said, don't tell anybody it
happened. Don't go tell anybody in your
home. Don't tell anybody in town. Make sure nobody knows about
this. Once again, we see that the Lord
was not seeking a hearing. He wasn't trying to advertise
himself to get you to buy his product. He wasn't trying to promote himself.
He came for this purpose, to glorify his father and save his
people from their sins. That's why he came. And he doesn't
need man's marketing. Did you hear what the Lord did? He doesn't need anything like
that. I'll tell you what, everybody
he gives sight to, they're gonna see. And they're gonna call upon
his name, just like this man did. I wanna be of that number
that sees every man clearly. And the way you can know is if
you do have spiritual sight, is if you see every man clearly.
You see this man clearly, you see all men clearly, you see
the man clearly as the only way to the Father. You no longer
saw men as trees walking. Let's pray. Lord, we are so thankful for
Your Word. Lord, we ask that our eyes might
be opened to see You, Your glory, Your holiness, Your power, and
our need of Thy Son. Let us see ourselves enough to
know that we have nowhere to look but Christ. May He be exalted. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.