The Deaf Hear & the Dumb Speak

Q: What does the Bible say about spiritual deafness?

The Bible indicates that spiritual deafness refers to an inability to understand and accept the Gospel due to being dead in sins. Scripture teaches that the natural man is spiritually deaf and cannot grasp the Gospel as a sinner. Despite being able to hear words audibly, he lacks the spiritual ability to understand their significance. This deafness is rooted in being dead in trespasses and sins, as expressed in Ephesians 2:1, which underscores that a dead person can do nothing, including respond to the Gospel. Thus, understanding the message requires a divine intervention, where God’s grace opens the ears of the spiritually deaf, allowing them to perceive the truth of the Gospel.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

The doctrine of total depravity is grounded in Scripture, which teaches that all are dead in sin and unable to come to God without divine intervention. Total depravity is a cornerstone of Reformed theology, expressed in the Five Points of Dordrecht. It teaches that every part of human nature is affected by sin; thus, apart from grace, no one can choose God or accept the Gospel. Ephesians 2:1 illustrates that we are born spiritually dead in trespasses and incapable of hearing or responding to the truth of God. This dire condition of humanity necessitates God's sovereign grace to awaken the dead and enable a genuine response to the Gospel.

Q: Why is God's grace important for salvation?

God's grace is essential for salvation because it is the means by which He enables believers to hear, understand, and respond to the Gospel. The importance of God's grace in the salvation process is emphasized throughout Scripture. Grace is the unmerited favor of God that brings life to those who are dead in sin. According to Mark 7:34-35, when Jesus used the command 'Be opened,' it illustrates the irresistible grace that enables the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. This shows us that salvation is not a result of human effort or decision but fundamentally relies on God's grace to transform the heart, allowing for true understanding and faith.

Q: What does it mean to hear the Gospel as a sinner?

To hear the Gospel as a sinner means to understand and accept it in the context of one's own sinfulness and need for grace. Hearing the Gospel as a sinner involves a realization of one’s own depravity and the necessity of Christ's righteousness for salvation. As Todd Nibert emphasizes, until a person sees themselves as a sinner, the Gospel will not resonate as good news. The message only becomes significant when it is understood that salvation depends solely on Christ’s work, not on personal merit. This aspect of hearing is enabled by God’s grace, which transforms the hearts of the unworthy, leading them to grasp the depth of their sin and the beauty of Christ's redemptive work.

Q: Why do some people believe and others do not?

The difference lies in God’s grace; some are given ears to hear and hearts to understand the Gospel. The disparity in belief among individuals is attributed to the sovereign grace of God that opens the hearts and ears of the elect. Mark 7:35 shows that when Jesus opens the ears of a deaf man, it reflects the divine act of regeneration bestowed only on some. Not everyone has the spiritual capacity to hear the message of the Gospel; those who are made alive by the Holy Spirit respond positively, while others remain spiritually deaf. This underscores the Reformed understanding of predestination and divine election, where God chooses whom He will have mercy on for salvation.

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 under 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, Epheta, 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 astounded, 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
tried 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,
a 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. 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 ears. I 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, and 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. 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'd
use 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 straightway, 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 have
he quickened who were dead in trespasses. 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. There are people right sitting
here this morning, I suppose. I mean, anytime you've got a
group of people, you've 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's
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. 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. 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. Now, 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 OK. 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's 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. It 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. And the only hope a man like
this has is for the Lord to put His hand upon him. So here we
have this man. Death, 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
as 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 sinner 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. I 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. 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 the sinner. When he gives him hears to hear,
hears to hear, when he when he gives him a mouth to speak the
gospel, so he speaks plainly and he doesn't. 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. This is 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 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 loosed, 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 said to the 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, Epithet, 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 tongues were loosed and he spake plain. All of a sudden,
you can understand what he had to say. You know, before this,
he spake in vague, hazy language. You couldn't really understand
what he was saying. He spake in 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? Did 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's all in salvation. 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! Isn't 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 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, Amen.

The Deaf Hear & the Dumb Speak

What does the Bible say about spiritual deafness?

How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

Why is God's grace important for salvation?

What does it mean to hear the Gospel as a sinner?

Why do some people believe and others do not?

Sermon Transcript

About Todd Nibert

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Deaf Hear & the Dumb Speak

What does the Bible say about spiritual deafness?

How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

Why is God's grace important for salvation?

What does it mean to hear the Gospel as a sinner?

Why do some people believe and others do not?

Sermon Transcript

About Todd Nibert

Comments

More from Todd Nibert

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Todd Nibert

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book