Would you turn back to Mark chapter
7? I've entitled this message, hath done all things well. What a statement. A truer statement
has never been made. He hath done all things well. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, hath
done. And that word in the original
is in the perfect tense, perfectly completed, never to be repeated. He hath done all things, everything
that is included under that term, all things, he hath done all
things well, perfectly, no room for blame, excellently, rightly,
honorably, he hath done all things well. Now, if I was going to try to
come up with a personal testimony, this is what my personal testimony
would be, and I think it's the personal testimony of every believer. And you'll note the word I is
not in it. He hath done all things well. Now this was spoken in conclusion
of this miracle that we read of at the end of Mark chapter
seven, that is only recorded in the book of Mark, where he
healed a man that could not hear and consequently could not speak. Now, when I was a kid, when I
would think of the disability that I would least like to have,
I'd always thought of blindness. And from what I've read as an
adult, the sense that is most difficult to lose is that of
hearing, particularly if you've never heard. Can you imagine
a world where there would be no communication, where you've
never heard? and you don't have the ability
to hear, and you don't know, particularly in this day, you
would not know what was going on around you. You would have
no clue. You may see things, but there was no communication.
You couldn't hear. What a crippling disability.
And he couldn't speak. People who can't hear generally
cannot speak. The words come out. They don't
have phonics. They are unable to articulate
words. And back then, there was no help.
What a terrible affliction. He could not hear and he could
not speak. And this is given to picture
me and you. We can't hear. Oh, we can hear
the audible words and we can even know what they mean, but
we can't hear spiritually unless Christ opens our ears. And if he does open our ears,
It's going to affect our speech. This man couldn't speak. People
that don't hear, they are unable to speak. They have an impediment
in their speech. Now let's pick up reading in
verse 31 of Mark chapter 7. And again, departing from the
coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came into the Sea of Galilee through
the midst of the coast of Decapolis. before, that's when he had healed
the Gadarene demonic. But he comes here again after
somebody else. And they bring unto him one that
was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseech
him to put his hand upon them. Now, deaf, unable to hear. spiritually deaf, unable to hear. Now, if you're spiritually deaf,
you can hear the audible words, and you can even understand what
they mean. If I say that the Bible is the Word of God, the
inspired Word of God, you may not agree with that, but you
know what it means. If I say that God is absolutely sovereign,
God is God, the cause of causes, the first cause of all things,
the one who controls all men and all events, who doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or saying to him, what
doest thou? God is God. He's absolutely sovereign. There's nothing hard to understand
about that. Somebody says, that's deep. That's just so. That's
just so. If I say that men are dead in
sins, unable to do anything to save
themselves, you know what that means. Now, you might not agree
with it, but you know what that means. There's nothing hard to
understand about that. If I say that Christ on Calvary's
tree accomplished completely redeemed, everybody he died for.
Everybody he died for must be saved. They can't run the risk
of the possibility of the hazard of being anything but saved.
If Christ died for you, you must be saved. There's not gonna be
anybody in hell that he died for. Now, you know what that
means. That's easy to understand. You might not like it, you might
not agree with it, but you know what's being said. If I say that
the grace of God is irresistible, it can't be resisted. Grace doesn't
offer to save. God's grace doesn't try to save.
It saves. You know what that means. You can hear the words,
but here is where somebody is spiritually deaf. You're spiritually
deaf when you can't hear as a sinner. Now, if I'm not hearing the gospel
as a sinner, you know what that means? All of this stuff really
is meaningless to me. I know what's being said, but
It doesn't really have anything to do with me if I don't hear
as a sinner. And by sinner, I mean somebody
who all they do is sin. They cannot not sin. They can't judge anybody for
anything. Their sin is all their fault.
They can't blame it on somebody else. And they have no claims
on God's mercy. They have no claims on God's
grace. Now that person hears the gospel
as gospel. You can only hear the gospel
as a sinner. A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. Now, if you're a sinner, The
gospel will come as good news to you. Good news is exactly
what you need. And not only was this man unable
to hear, he had an impediment in his speech. It sounded something
like this, I, I, I, I. I believed. I repented. I changed. I quit doing this
sin and I started doing this good thing. I, I, an impediment
in a speech. Now, I've asked people this question
many times that I've been trying to talk to. What would you say
to God if he said, why should I let you into heaven? If it begins with an I, that's
a dead giveaway. Because I, that's a dead giveaway. That's speech impediment. Well,
these people did the best thing they could do for this man. They besought him to put his
hand upon him. Verse 33. And he took him aside,
the Lord Jesus, took him aside from the multitude. Well, it's
a blessed thing to be taken aside by Christ, isn't it? If he deals
with me or you, he's gonna take us aside and deal with us individually,
all by ourself. It may be in a crowd, but it
is one-on-one. He took this man aside away from
the crowd, and he did four what seems on the surface very strange
things. First, he took his fingers and
put them in the man's ears. And then he spit on his hand.
Well, that wouldn't go across very well today, would it? He
spit on his hand, and he touched that man's tongue. And then the
scripture says, He sighed. And then he gave this command,
Ephetha, that is to say, be opened. Now the Lord healed different
people in different ways, all by his power, but he didn't have
any one way of doing things, but here is the way he did it.
He took his fingers and put it in the man's ears. The Lord said, if I with the
finger of God, that's the other time he mentioned finger. If
I with the finger of God cast out demons. Now what he is referring
to in this is his omnipotence, his mighty power. You see, if
he doesn't have mighty power, he can't do anything for me or
you. but he has omnipotence, he has the power, he has the
ability to do this for this man, and it's represented by his finger.
And then he did something very strange. It was kind of like
this with a blind man in John chapter nine. In John chapter
nine, he spit in the ground and made clay, kind of mud, and stuck
it in his eye. What could that do to help somebody?
Here, he spits on his hand, and he touches with his hand that
man's tongue. Something came from him to this
man. From his body into this man's
body. Now, I must have his righteousness
that comes from his body, his law keeping that was performed
in his body, and I need it to be put into me. Oh, how I need that. And then the Scripture says,
He sighed. It's spoken of the Lord doing
this two or three times. The Son of God, the Creator,
the God-man, sighing. Sighing. And this speaks of His
humanity. He's touched, the Scripture says. He's touched by the feeling of
our infirmities. He sighed. And then the sovereign
command, Ephetha, be opened. And look what Mark says in verse
35 in straightway. This is one of Mark's favorite
words. Immediately, straightway. You
see, when the Lord commands something, there's no interval of nothing
happening. When he commands, something takes
place. Immediately, straight way, his ears were opened, and the
string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. Now when he said, be opened,
that was with the same authority of light be. and light was. That's with the same authority
of Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus couldn't have said no.
He that was dead came forth. If he says to you, be opened,
you'll be opened. You'll hear. When did Lydia believe? When the Lord opened her heart. Remember that Acts chapter 16?
When did the disciples understand the scriptures? Luke 24, when
he opened their understanding and they understood the scriptures. That's when you and I are going
to understand when he opens our understanding. His ears were
opened because Christ commanded them to be opened. And I, Lord,
command my ears to be opened. That's my response to this. Lord,
command my ears to be open. Let me hear. Enable me to hear
your gospel. And the scripture says his tongue
was unloosed. The bond of the chain of his
tongue was set free. Now what is the evidence he could
now hear? He could now speak. He could now speak. The impediment of his speech
was removed. No longer I, I, I. but he, he,
he. Not me, him. You see, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. The Lord said, by your words,
you'll be justified, and by your words, you'll be condemned. If
grace is in a man's heart, that's what his speech is going to be
of. The grace of God, that speech impediment was taken away. He that is of God, heareth God's
words, he now spake plainly, not in ambiguous terms, so as
not to offend anybody. You see, he spoke plainly. And
if the speech is not plain and simple and easy to understand,
it's not of God. This man now spake plainly. Verse 36. And he, the Lord Jesus, charged
them that they should tell no man. Now, I'm sure you've wondered
before, why did the Lord do this? Why did he tell them not to tell
anybody? Because I would think tell everybody you can, but not
the Lord. He charged them. He commanded
them not to tell anybody. I know exactly why. The Lord
wasn't seeking to get advertisement. The Lord wasn't seeking to market
himself. The Lord wasn't seeking to gain
a hearing or gain a following. He came to save his people from
their sins. That's what he came to do. And he wasn't trying to
get people to market him or advertise him or anything like that. He
said, don't tell anybody. Well, they told everybody. And I can understand that, can't
you? If you witnessed this, wouldn't you want to tell everybody you
came across what the Lord did? So much the more a great deal
they published it, and they were beyond measure astonished. Say, he hath done all things
well. They were beyond measure astonished. Now, I dread the thought of ever
being anything but that. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner,
condemned, unclean. I hope it's never anything but
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, I don't ever want to lose the
wonder of His grace. I don't want to ever look at
it just as a doctrine to argue over, but something to be amazed
by. They were beyond measure astonished, saying, hath done all things well. Now, I don't have any question
that this is every believer's personal testimony. He hath done
all things well. You know, whenever I hear a I
in a personal testimony, I despise those things. I despise religious
people's personal testimony when it's really a bragamony of how
wicked I used to be and how good I am now and all that foolishness
that goes on. That's not gospel. But here's gospel. He hath done
all things well. And who is he? You know, this
is the most important thing we could ever consider. And we could
consider it every day and be thrilled by it every day. Who
is he? Who is the one they were astonished
by? He's God. God, the son, the second person
of the blessed eternal trinity, the great I am. the one who is
omnipresent. Now listen to this, I don't think
I'd ever thought about this in this term. The one who is omnipresent,
whom the heavens cannot contain, who made the universe, he doesn't
dwell in the universe, he made the universe, and the universe
is in the hollow of his hand. He, the omnipresent God, dwells
in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. In him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. God manifest in the flesh, the
God-man, the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
the Word made flesh, the brightness of God's glory, the express image
of His person, upholding all things by the word of his power,
he, he, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Lamb of God. You know in that last epistle
in the book of Revelation, how is Christ known as the most? The Lamb, the Lamb in his sacrificial
character, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
the Lamb having been slain 28 times, the Lamb. This is the He of whom they were
so astonished, the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten
and well-beloved Son of the Father. I love thinking of Him as the
only begotten. Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee. That's not an event of time.
It's a fact, irrespective of time. He's the eternal, only
begotten Son of God. He hath done. He hath done. Now, I've already said that this
was in the perfect tense in the original. Whatever it is He has
done was perfectly completed and it cannot possibly be repeated. He has done all things well. Summarized by his glorious sixth
statement from Calvary's tree, it is finished, perfectly completed,
never to be repeated. What's he doing? I don't know. But it's all good. You don't know what he's doing?
No. I have no idea. But I know it's all good. Well, how are you doing? I don't
know. You know, people ask me all the
time, and I ask people all the time, how you doing? And we say,
fine, good, all that kind of stuff, but I don't know how I'm
doing. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I'm not doing real
well. There are a whole lot of things
you can criticize about how I'm doing. You know, that's really
the emphasis of religion. How you doing? How you doing? How you doing? Are you growing?
Are you becoming more holy? Are you becoming less sinful?
How you doing? What has he done? That's what
I'm interested in. What has he done? He hath done
all things well. Look at Mark chapter 5. Turn
back a couple of pages. Verse 18. And when he was coming to the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him. That's a glorious desire, isn't
it? I want to be with him too. I want to simply be with him.
That's it. I'm with him. I'm in him. How be it Jesus suffered him
not and said unto him, go home to thy friends and tell them How great things
the Lord hath done for thee. Not the great things he has enabled
you to do, or the great things he is doing in your life. You
go home and tell your friends the great things the Lord hath
done for thee. and has had compassion on thee. Now, our salvation or our religion
is either a religion of do or done. Which one are you? Do or done? And back to our text, he hath
done all things Well, this is a comprehensive and all-encompassing
statement. Let me give you some scriptures
with the phrase, all things. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Thou knowest all things. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Of him and through him and to
him are all things to whom be glory both now and forever. All things are of God. He, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is before all things. Whatever it is, He's
before it. He's the cause of it. And by
Him, all things consist. He is appointed heir of all things
and upholds all things by the word of his power. He said, behold, I make all things
new. I wish I could get a hold of
that. I've got a new history. I've got a new history. And it's
all good. He hath done all things well,
excellently, perfectly. Now, creation is something He's
done. You know, it's glorious to think
of Him being the Creator. I love thinking about Him speaking
the worlds into existence, bringing the universe from nothing. There
it is, simply because He willed it. The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the earth, or the firmament, showeth forth His
handiwork. made us. I love what the human body, for
I will praise thee, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous
are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. You think
of animals, they're all His. You
think of the atom, the minutia of the atom, the vastness of
the universe. He made it all. And He did it Well, he looked
upon his creation and behold, it was very good. Everything in providence is what
he has done. And he has done all things well. I've already quoted this and
we know that all things work together. Who's working together?
He is. For good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. Ecclesiastes 3.15 says, God hath
made everything beautiful in his time. The lot is cast into
the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Everything that happens to me
or you, he hath done all things well. Perfect, no matter how
painful, no matter how perplexing, He hath done all things well,
so that we are instructed in the scripture in 1 Thessalonians
5, 18, saying, in everything, and that's the same Greek particle
as in all things, in everything, give thanks, no matter what it
is, for this is the will of God. in Christ Jesus concerning you. This is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. Now, here's our personal testimony
with regard to our salvation. He hath done all things well. Now, when he stood as my surety
before time began, and took complete responsibility for my salvation. He did it so well. You know how
much the Father looked to me for after He took me on? Not
a thing. He hath done all things well,
everything God requires of me, everything He looks to His Son
Jesus Christ for. He has done all things well. became flesh as the representative,
as the savior of those he stood for, as the surety of those he
stood for. When he became flesh, the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. In the flesh, for somebody, not
just privately, but for somebody, He kept the law. He honored God
completely. He worked out a perfect righteousness. He's done all things well. I
love what he said to John the Baptist in Matthew 3.15, thus
it becometh us. You know, my name was in that
us. Every believer is in that us. Thus it becometh us. to fulfill all righteousness. He hath done all things well. When he died for his people,
oh, he did it well. He made an end of sin. Now, if you're a believer, the
sin that's troubling you, it's not. It's not. It's blotted out. It's God. He completely paid
the debt. He has done all things well. He made my sin not to be. He
completely satisfied God. Now this is how much He satisfied
God. God is completely satisfied with me. And it doesn't have
anything to do with me. It's because of the satisfaction
He rendered on my behalf so that God Himself, the holy, glorious
God, is completely satisfied with me. I'm afraid I don't much
believe that most of the time. I think He's mad at me, but He's
not. He's completely satisfied. Redeemed us. He didn't make redemption
possible. He redeemed. He sanctified us.
He glorified us. He hath done all things well.
When he's raised from the dead, oh, he's done all things well.
When he was raised from the dead, every believer was justified. Now don't forget what justification
means. He was delivered from our offenses,
raised again for our justification. If you're justified, that means
you have no sin. That means you have no guilt.
That means you stand before God having never sinned. He has done all things well,
completely reconciled, perfected forever. Oh, his intercession. Oh, how well he does his intercession. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by Him. Now, would that
describe you? You come to God only by Him,
no other way? He has saved them to the uttermost
that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Now, when He said, Father, forgive them, Do you know everybody he prayed
for was forgiven? When he said, Peter, I've prayed
for you, that your faith fail not. Peter's faith didn't fail. He failed, but his faith didn't
fail. He never quit believing that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, I have no doubt that he
quit believing he was saved at that time. He thought, it's over
for me. but he never quit believing that
Jesus Christ is God the Son, the only Savior of sinners. John
said, these things have I written unto you that you sin not. Y'all love that statement. You
know, sin, it's never okay. It's never acceptable. Well,
you're a believer in salvation by grace, that sin's okay. No,
it's not. These things write I unto you that you sin not,
but when you do, we have an advocate with the
Father. He was my advocate before the
sin, He's my advocate during the sin, and He's my advocate
after the sin. And He's a lawyer who's never
lost a case. And he's a lawyer that makes
all of his clients plead guilty, and yet causes every one of them
to be justified. And our lawyer is the son of
the judge. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And finally, He came to glorify
His Father. And He did it well. He said, I've glorified Thee
on the earth. I have finished the work Thou
gavest Me to do. Do you know He glorified the
Father in such a way that the Father could not be glorified
anymore? He glorified the Father infinitely. Now, isn't this the
testimony of every believer? He hath done all things well. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that he has done all things well. And Lord, we know that you're
infinitely and completely satisfied with him. And Lord, we're completely
satisfied to be saved by him. We thank you for him. I ask that
you would take this message and bless it for your glory and for
our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.