bibles this evening to Matthew
chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Verse 14, we begin our reading. Then came to him the disciples
of John, saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy
disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, can
the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom
is with them? But the days will come when the
bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new
cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill
it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither
do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break,
and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. But they
put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. While
he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a ruler and
worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead, but come and
lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose and
followed him, and so did his disciples. And behold, a woman
which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind
and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself,
if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned
him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good
comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus
came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people
making a noise, he said unto them, give place, for the maid
is not dead, but sleepeth. And they left him to scorn. But
when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the
hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad
into all that land. And when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed him, crying and saying, Thou son of David,
have mercy on us. And when he was coming to the
house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus saith unto them,
Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him,
Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying,
According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were
opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that
no man know it. But they, when they were departed,
spread abroad his fame in all that country. As they went out,
behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with the devil. And when the devil was cast out,
the dumb spake, and the multitudes marveled, saying, It was never
so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, He casteth
out devils through the prince of the devils. Think of how much
was in a day in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. This day we
have just read about We're told that he healed a woman who had
suffered for 12 years with an issue of blood. He raised to
life the daughter of Jairus. He then gave sight to two blind
men, and lastly, he unloosed the tongue of this mute. I want you to think about that,
a day in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, what it must have
been. The many miracles, the healing
miracles which he wrought each day as people brought the sick
and those who were suffering from one malady or another to
him. And looking at these healing
miracles, I want you to turn back, keep your place here, but
turn back with me, if you will, to Isaiah chapter 35. In Isaiah chapter 35, this is
what these healing miracles do that I see. First of all, they
show the fulfillment of prophecy. Now you know that Isaiah lived
approximately a thousand years before the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world. And yet he prophesies of the
Messiah. If you look in verse five in
the first part of verse six, then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened. We saw that, didn't we? He opened
the eyes of two blind men. The ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as in
heart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. The tongue of the mute shall
So first of all, these miracles, as you read through the Gospels
and you see these various healing miracles, they show the fulfillment
of prophecy. The fulfillment of prophecy which
foretold what the Messiah would do when he came. Second, they
show how he could work such miracles. How was it possible? We don't
know any men who could do this, do we? Of course not. There are
none. There are none. How is it possible
that He, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, how He could unstop deaf ears,
open blind eyes, raise the dead, and loose the tongue of the mute? Well, we see it here in Isaiah
chapter 35, if you look in the last part of, oh no, verse four. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance. Even God with a recompense, he
will come and save you. How was it possible that he performed
these miracles because he is God. He is God. It is God who came. He came into
this world as a man, as a messiah, as a promised one. And third,
these miracles to me, they do these three things. They show
the fulfillment of prophecy. They reveal who he is and how
he could do this. He was more than just a mere
man. And number three, they show forth. the spiritual blessings. These
physical blessings, these physical miracles, they show spiritual
blessings. Notice in verse 6, at the end
there, it says, For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams
in the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and
the thirsty land springs of water. in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes." The water
here, of course, pictures life. There's no life without water.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ came, this is what He would accomplish. He would give life. And these
miracles. Here's a lame man. He can't walk. And God heals him of his lameness,
and now he can walk. And it shows that how by nature
we cannot walk in the way of God. We don't have the power. We don't have the desire to follow
Christ and walk in the right way. But through this spiritual
healing, through him giving us life, he opens eyes that are
blind to the things of God. We could not see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ until he commanded the light
to shine into our hearts. And we could not hear the voice
of God until he opened our ears that were stopped up. And our
tongue, we could not speak of the things of God. And I want
to spend just a little while tonight thinking about this last
miracle when he loosed the tongue of the mute. And the scripture
here says in verse 33, and when the devil was cast out, the dumb
spake, the mute spake. And we will look at this as what
happens when the Lord saves a sinner. When the Lord saves a sinner,
those who are spiritually mute, we are enabled to speak. We are given a new tongue, and
I believe also we are given a new vocabulary. Some of us are old
enough to remember when parents would wash their children's mouth
out with soap. I don't know if any of you ever
had that, any of you ever experienced that. I believe I did. You say,
well, that's cruel. It may have been somewhat cruel,
but it did work. It did work. You know, I'm amazed
when I hear today things that children in grade school, in
elementary school, words that they use and the way they talk. And you can't blame the children,
really, because they're just using words that they hear. They
hear it on the television. And some of them, no doubt, they
hear it from their parents. And so they just use the words
which they learn. That's just the way it is, isn't
it? I'm really amazed. I know in
many ways, as a pastor, I have lived a sheltered life. I spend
most of my time in my study. I understand that. And you folks
are out You work on a job, or your school, or wherever, and
you're exposed to all kinds of trash. And that's all you can
call it, is just trash. I mean, who would have ever thought,
when I was growing up, that students would talk back to their teachers? I mean, that just, you know,
we feared The teacher, and then after that, we fared the principal.
I mean, if you went to his office, he meant business. The man who
was the principal in grade school, my uncles went to that school. He was a principal there. My
older brothers went to that school. He was a principal there. And
everybody respected the principal as well as the teachers. And
I know that was taught in the home, no doubt, first of all. But also, they demanded respect. They wouldn't allow you to talk
back to them. And the language, the words,
the trash talking that children, I'm told, I'm told this by teachers,
by those who are in the classroom. It just seems unreal to me that
children are using the language that they're using. But again,
I say it shouldn't surprise us because they're exposed to it
and you're exposed to it. This man, he could not speak.
He was dumb. He was mute. But when the Lord
healed him, when the Lord cast that devil out of him, the dumb
spake. And I want us to think about
that just for a few minutes tonight. First of all, Christ enables
men to speak to God. Now hear me now. Christ enables
men to speak to God. He's the only mediator between
God and men. And if we would speak to God,
we must go through Him. We must speak to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave this example. If you
look in Luke chapter 18 with me. By the way, I know there's some
young children here tonight and I know you're so thankful you
should be. That God has put you in a home,
in a family that have mother and father who love you and correct
you and teach you. teach you that which is right. That's a tremendous blessing,
isn't it? Here in Luke chapter 18, verse
9, our Lord tells a parable. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. And that's what self-righteousness
always produces. It always produces despising
others, thinking that we're better somehow than others. That's self-righteousness. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. Now he's not going to pray to
God because he's not going to pray through a mediator. He's
not going to pray through a sacrifice. He prays with himself. Now he
calls God. Yes, he uses that name, God,
that title, God. God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men. He's not praying to God. He's not praying to God. And
no one else is who does not go through Jesus Christ. He's the
one mediator between God and man. This man said, I thank thee
that I am not as other men are, extortioners and unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, you know, there's
just so much smoke in God's eyes. That's what we read in the book
of Isaiah, ain't it? About those who said they were
holier holier, that word, English word holier, it's only found
one time, and those who profess themselves to be holier than
others, God despise them. There's no difference. We've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now this poor
publican, he was made to know that. He was made, I want you
to see, he was made to know for him to speak to God. to call
upon God, for God to help him, it would only come through a
propitiation. Because that's what the word,
be merciful here, if you look it up in your concordance, this
is what it really is. The publican standing afar off
would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven. And all of
these figures here of, physical things, they speak to us, don't
they, of a person who approaches unto God. He would not so much
as lift his eyes unto heaven, showing his humility, his humility. He doesn't think like that Pharisee's
gonna run into the presence of God and speak to God, I thank
thee, God, I thank thee, I'm not, oh no. He won't even lift
his eyes toward heaven, showing he recognized his unworthiness. And then he smote upon his breast.
Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts and adulteries and lies and robberies. And the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And all of us
come into this world with a heart like that. Thank God for the
new covenant promise. God gives us a new heart. But
here's the problem. He smote upon his breast saying,
God be propitious. God be merciful to me, a sinner. In other words, he recognized
to speak to God, he had to come with a sacrifice. A sacrifice
that God had ordained and accepted. And the Lord Jesus Christ, don't
you love this? I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased. and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. It is only through the great
high priest that we have access unto the Father. The high priest
of Israel served as a type of our great high priest. We know
Aaron was the first high priest and he serves as a type. Moses was commanded to make him
garments of glory and beauty. Our great high priest, he doesn't
need any garments of glory and beauty. He is altogether lovely,
his person, his person. He doesn't need to put on anything,
just he himself. He's glorious and beautiful in
himself. On Aaron's robe at the bottom,
God commanded that there be palm granites embroidered all the
way around the robe. ever so often. There would be
a palm granite, and I believe that was to picture fruitfulness,
fruitfulness. The Lord Jesus Christ, he said,
I am the vine, you're the branches. Without me, you can do nothing.
But between those palm granites, we know there was a golden bell
placed all around the hem of his garment. And when the Israelites
heard those bells ringing, I mean, you can just imagine when he
went into the holy place, and he went in there only once a
year into the most holy place, I understand. But in the holy
place, he was in there every day, trimming the lamps every
week, changing the showbread, and those things that were necessary. Yes, offering incense on the
golden altar. But the Israelites, they could
hear those bells ringing. I could hear those bells ringing.
And the psalmist wrote this, he said, blessed is the people
that know the joyful sound. The joyful sound. They shall
walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. As the high
priest ministered in the tabernacle, Israel could hear the bells.
And it was a joyful sound because they knew the priest was there. And he was there as their representative. So tonight, we know that we have
a great high priest who stands between us, who is at the right
hand of the Father, whoever lives to make intercession, who offers
our prayers. We pray and our prayers are filtered
through his righteousness, his blood, and offered up unto the
Father. He opens, or looses our tongue
rather, that we may speak to God, first of all. we may speak
to God. The Lord Jesus taught us and
he enables us to speak to God. He makes the mute to speak. Isn't it a great blessing to
be able to speak to God? I mean, think about that. Here, little old me and you,
and we can speak to God? I like the words of that hymn,
this is my father's world. This is his world, and he's my
father, and I have access to him. I may speak to him, and
all because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, Christ enables
men to speak of God. Not only does he enable us to
speak to God, he enables men to speak of God. I want you to
look in Luke chapter eight as an example of this. Luke chapter eight. Beginning with verse 22. Now it came to pass on a certain
day that he, that is the Lord Jesus, went into a ship with
his disciples. And he said unto them, let us
go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep,
and there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were
filled with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to him
and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose
and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they
ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered,
saying one to another, What manner of man is this? For he commandeth
even the winds and water, and they obey him. And they arrive
at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. Why was the Lord going to the
other side of the lake? There was a man, a man who was
loved with an everlasting love. And he came into this world and
he was so possessed of devils, nobody could tame him. lived
out among the tombs, couldn't keep clothes on him. And yet he was one that Christ
came into this world to save. And the Lord's gonna find him. You may be one, I may be one,
that he came on purpose to save. And he's gonna find us, isn't
he? He's gonna find his own. He may be finding one right now,
I don't know. And be a blessing to me if I
heard that someone here tonight could say the Lord found me.
I didn't find him, he found me. This man didn't find Christ,
oh no, but Christ found him. And when he went forth to land
there met him out of the city a certain man which had devils
long time. He was an old sinner. God saves
sinners of all ages, doesn't he? He saves sinners of six years
old, eight years, I don't know how young, when. And I remember
reading the story of a man who heard John Flavel preach, and
he migrated to the US. John Flavel was a Puritan, and
I think his name was Luke Sharp. And he heard John Flavel preach,
a great Puritan preacher, and he migrated to the U.S., lived
in one of those New England states, and he grew old. He heard him
just as a young man. He came across the sea and had
a farm here and grew old. And way into his 80s, I believe
it was, one day he sat down, and that message he had heard
years and years before. came back to him. And the thing
about this is the Lord saved him, and he lived about 10 more
years, it seems like, and had a good testimony there in that
church for the rest of his life. The Lord's Word is powerful,
isn't it, when he sends it forth. Cast your bread upon the water.
We don't know. You say, well, if I believed
like you, I'd only preach to the elect. Well, like Spurgeon
said, you put a mark on each one of them, and that's who I'll
preach to. But we preach to everyone, right? And we know that some, God has
chosen, and they're going to hear the voice of the good shepherd,
and they're going to follow him. God saves his people. This man
had been a long time in this situation. He was, had been in
sin a long time. When he saw Jesus, he cried out
and fell down before him with a loud voice and said, what have
I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? Most I, I beseech
thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the man, for oft times it had caught him
and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters and he'd break
the bands was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus
asked him, saying, what is thy name? And he said, Legion, because
many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that
he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there
was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain, and
they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them.
And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the
man and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the lake and were choked. When they that fed
them saw that what was done, they fled and went and toted
in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the
devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Oh, that's
a beautiful sight, isn't it? When a sinner sits at the feet
of Jesus. Sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Clothed. Clothed. And in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also
which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of
the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart
from them." Now you would think after the Lord brought this miracle
and this man was delivered that the whole town would want the
Lord to stay there, want the Lord to continue there. Oh, no.
You see the hatred of men of the gospel, don't you? They ask
them, we want you to leave. We don't want you here. And he
went up into the ship and returned back again. Now, here's the point.
Now, the man out of whom the devils were departed, besought
him that he might be with him. He wanted to get in the ship
and go with the Lord Jesus Christ. Sure he did, after what the Lord
had done for him. But Jesus sent him away saying,
now listen, return to that own house and show how great things
God hath done unto thee. He enables us, Christ enables
men to speak to God first of all, and then speak of God. Speak of God, this man, is to
tell what great things God hath done for him. And show how great things God
hath done unto thee. He's not going to go home and
talk about his decision. Talk about praying the sinner's
prayer. No, the Lord said, go home and show what great things
God has done for thee. We speak of God. Those of us
who are saved by the grace of God, we speak of his amazing
grace. We never get over that fact,
do we? That his grace is amazing to
think that he would have mercy upon such a sinner. We speak
of his righteousness, we sure don't speak of ours because we
have none. For the child of God, it is always,
not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Now the last thing, Christ
enables men to speak to God, to speak of God, and thirdly,
to speak for God. I want you to turn back to Jeremiah
with me just a moment. To speak for God. This is, we read about God's
calling Jeremiah to be a prophet. here in Jeremiah chapter one.
In verse four we read, then the word of the Lord came unto me
saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Who
formed him? God did. That's one thing we, as preachers
and as parents, and as we have opportunity, we should insist
this whole idea of evolution is a lie of Satan. That every
person, God formed us in the womb of our mother. And God made
us either man or woman, male or female. God did that. And God did it on purpose. We're
living in such a crazy, mixed-up world today. People think they
can decide what gender they want to be of. No. God told Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee. And that means he
loved him, doesn't it? I knew thee. The Lord Jesus said,
I will I will say unto them, I never knew thee. Depart from
me, you cursed into everlasting fire. I never knew thee. Doesn't
mean he was not cognizant of them, but he never loved them.
I never knew thee. But here God tells Jeremiah,
I knew thee, and before thou camest out of the womb, I sanctified
thee. I set thee apart, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations. Then, now here's Jeremiah, then
said I, I, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, say
not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee,
and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid
of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the
Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand
and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I
have put my words in thy mouth. Christ enables men to speak for
God. Now, all believers may speak
for God, but we know that God calls some men to speak for him,
that is, as preachers of the gospel. And let me just read
you these verses, very familiar verses to all of us here. But Romans chapter 10, beginning
with verse 13, the apostle said, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? Impossible. Impossible. You can't call upon someone in
whom you have not believed. Not for salvation. And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Another impossibility. You cannot believe in someone
of whom you have not heard. No more than you can come back
from a place where you've never been. You can't do that. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sinned? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. It's not
just preaching, is it? It's preaching the gospel of
peace. Proclaiming how it is that we
may be reconciled unto God. We may have peace with God. and
bring glad tidings of good things. I pray the Lord would bless these
words to all of us and loose our tongues, loose our tongues
to praise Him and to speak to our Father and to speak of Him
and His loving kindness and His tender mercies and to speak for
Him. Romans, I mean, 1 Corinthians
chapter 11.