He Has Done All Things Well

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you turn over in your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 7. Mark 7, and we'll begin the reading at verse 31. If you're using your Pew Bibles, again, you'll be able to find that on page 890. 890 in the Pew Bibles. Mark 7, beginning at verse 31. Hear now God's Word.

Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, he came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to put his hands on him. And he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers in his ears and spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, Ephetha, that is, be opened.

Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosened, and he spoke plainly. Then he commanded them that they should tell no one. But the more he commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

Prayer for Illumination

The grass withers and the flower fades, but brothers and sisters, the Word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much for Your Word. And we pray now, God, that You would please help us understand it, and that it would be applied to our lives and to our hearts. Lord, we pray that you would well up in us a heart of praise and thankfulness. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would do his work in this next half hour, turning our minds towards you, where our joy and our hope is. In Jesus's name, amen.

Sermon

Living in a small town or living in the country between two small towns, there's something we've learned. You know, when we go on vacation, our mailman knows it. And when there's, as somebody said the other day, I talked about an appliance in the house that needed repaired. And a few days later, somebody else came to the house and said, word travels fast, Brian. Word travels fast.

And I'm sure in the small community in which you live, in the families, in the circles in which you run, you know people and have heard of people who are lost. Maybe you don't have to go too far in the community. Maybe it's people in your own family, maybe it's people in your own home, people who you know, who are far from the Lord. You hear rumors, there's a type of people you might hear rumors about. You know, the man who had an affair on his wife and the community finds out about it. Or the person in the town or in your family who's a drunkard. Maybe it's your friend from high school.

Who lives a life in which you wonder, how will this person ever come to praise God? It's a child who's gone wayward. And the church knows about and then prays for that child. But you wonder, how will that person ever come to praise God? Well, brothers and sisters, what the passage this morning will teach us and lead us to is that the Kingdom of God expands by coming into contact with Jesus. The Kingdom of God expands by coming into contact with Jesus by our hearts being amazed by Him, and then by telling others about Him. coming into contact with Jesus, being amazed with Jesus, and going and telling others about Jesus. And so we first see this as the people marvel at Jesus.

Notice in the story, and again departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon. He came, this is verse 31, through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the sea of Galilee. Then they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they begged him to put his hand on him. How did these people know Jesus? Right? Jesus is not in a Jewish area. He's in the Decapolis. He's in the Greek-speaking area, somewhere in the north and east of the Sea of Galilee. He's not in a Jewish area. When was the last...

How did they come to know about this Jesus? Because in Mark 5, Jesus had been on that side of the sea, ministering to a man who was possessed by demons. And Jesus healed him. And do you remember what Jesus told that man to go do? Go and tell all your friends and family. And the word has spread. And now we have people, we don't know who they are, then they, verse 32 says, they bring this man to Jesus. They had marveled in Mark chapter five, amazed. at the news that this former demoniac had said, but now they bring their friend to Jesus. And notice the contact that Jesus has with this deaf man. Now, we need to recognize, some of us, I think if you did a poll, right, if this was Chalk and Talk, I'd ask you to raise your hands.

If you had to choose between being blind and being deaf, I think a lot of people might choose deafness over blindness. But when you actually talk to deaf people, What you find out is, as they now have new forms of communication and can write out words and things like this, especially the ancient world, to not be able to hear also came with speech impediments. The old word for it was dumb.

It was like your tongue was chained down to the roof and bottom of your mouth and because you couldn't hear the sounds that your loved ones were saying, you didn't know how to speak the thoughts that were coming to your mind. Imagine being imprisoned You're a fully functioning, thinking individual, but every time you hear noises, you can't make out the words, if you can hear the noises at all. And even when you might want to express yourself, that you're hungry, you're thirsty, you're tired, ouch, that hurts, anything, how do you make yourself known? Your mind is functioning fine, but you're trapped within your body. This is how this man has lived from an early age. trapped inside his own body, unable to communicate, suffering.

But notice, Jesus sees this man. Jesus is not too busy to take notice of him. This is the compassionate Jesus that we come into contact with time and time again, just like he was not too busy to talk to the woman from Tyre that we saw last week. He challenged her in her faith, yes, but he looked her in the face and talked with her. Jesus sees people's needs and notice he also speaks to this man.

And he does so in two different ways, interestingly. The first way in which Jesus speaks to him, if we look at verse 32, and they begged him to put his hand on him, in verse 33, and he took him aside from the multitude, and he does a few things that we might scratch our heads at. This is the first time in all of Mark that we get Jesus doing something as he's creating a miracle. He takes his fingers, moves this man to the side so he's got his sole attention, and he takes his fingers and he puts them in his ears. And then he takes and he spits, and it seems like he puts the spittle on his finger and he touches the man's tongue.

What is he doing here? I think Jesus is communicating to this man, almost as in an ancient Palestinian sign language, you might think. He's telling this man, I'm gonna make you whole here. And I'm gonna make you whole here. Theologians call this divine accommodationism. Jesus is accommodating his language. He's getting down on a deaf man's level, and he's saying, I know your ears. I created your ears. I made you. I'm going to take your tongue. I'm going to loosen your tongue, and you're going to speak. So he communicates this with this man in a way he can understand, and then he actually speaks.

This Aramaic word meaning be loosened, it's a command, it's an imperative. Jesus, the one who created this man's ears, tells his ears to open up. Jesus, the one who knit him together in his mother's womb, is the one who commands his body that was ill-formed or damaged and says, open up. And creation obeys its master.

Jesus speaks. Jesus touches. Jesus sees. Jesus groans. Looking up into heaven, verse 34, it says, He sighed. That's the word. Sighed here, stagnado, is what a horse would do when they breathe out. Jesus breathes out, and the man is healed. Jesus commands, and for the first time in I don't know how many years, could you imagine how sweet of a sound that would be to this man? That the first words he hears are the words of Jesus commanding his ears.

And they obey. And everyone around there sings his doxology. And see, this is where we jump to verse 36, or verse 37, sorry. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. The point of the Christian life, the point, we just talked about it this morning in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, did we not?

What's the only rule? To direct us in how we may glorify and enjoy Him. The Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only rule by which we are directed in how we may glorify and enjoy Him. Our whole point in life is to glorify and enjoy God.

It's to sing His praises, to worship Him. as they did in verse 37. The joy of the Christian life is to marvel at the person and work of Jesus. The heart of the Christian knows no greater joy than singing, worthy is the Lamb. The apex of Christian experience is from the pit of our hearts, from our redeemed souls, to sing the glories of our Redeemer. That is what we find in verse 37.

So the question is, has He healed your soul? Has He opened your ears? Has He loosened your tongue that you might sing His praises? Has He come to a place in your life that you say, as we sang in Psalm 34, come taste and see that the Lord is good? Do you marvel at Jesus? Have you come into contact with Jesus in your own life?

Second Point

Are these just stories on a page, or has the Holy Spirit taken these words and impressed on you the truth of the historical reality of a Redeemer who saves His people to the uttermost? If He has, then we need to bring others to that same Jesus. The second point, bring others to Jesus. For this, I just want to have you notice something?

I didn't pick it up until I was working through this in the Greek this week. The they's and them's. As I was working through this passage, something hit me. After verse, from verse 32 on, the subject of the sentence actually isn't the deaf man for the most part. For the most part, he's the direct object. But the subject is the they's and them's. Look with me at this. Verse 32, Then they brought him one who was deaf and had an impediment of his speech, and they begged him to put his hand on them. And then it says in verse 33, this is where Jesus is the subject.

Then he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers in his ears. He spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to Evan, he being Jesus, again the subject of the sentence, sighed and said to him, Ephatha, that is, be opened. Immediately his ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke plainly.

Then he, being Jesus, commanded who? Them. Commanded them that they should tell no one. But the more he commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure. They, they, they, they, them, them, them. They were the ones who heard from the former demoniac about the power of Jesus Christ. And what did they do to their death man? He could not have heard from the demoniac his message. But these friends come and they take their deaf friend's hand and they take him to Jesus. They love their friend enough to go take him to go see the one who could heal him.

And this started at chapter 5 verse 20. It was these ones in chapter 5 verse 20 that it says they were amazed by the former demoniac's message. And now they have brought their death friend to Jesus in verse 32. They begged Jesus to heal him in verse 32. And Jesus commands them in verse 36. And they are astonished in verse 36 and 37.

Their hearts are moved. Their hearts are moved because they hear the message, they believe the message, and when they hear that the one who has done these miracles is in the region, they show their love for their friend and they hightail it to go see him. They brought their death friend to Jesus. But notice, their death friend could have never heard Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount. They brought him there trusting that it was only by the power of Jesus that somehow this man could be healed.

Will you? Will you bring your friends to Jesus? Will you tell your friends of Jesus Christ? Will you tell your family? What about your co-workers, your neighbors? We have people all around us who are spiritually deaf and blind, whose tongues are tied to their throats and they cannot sing the praises of God. Now you might say, whoa, hold on Brian, are you getting a little bit Arminian here on us? Bringing people to Jesus? What are you doing? Are you going theologically the other way? Well no, I just... I want to lean in on this and point out to you that God uses secondary means. God uses His people to go and disciple the nations.

We cannot be so scared of Arminianism that it zaps us of our strength and our zeal for evangelism. Romans chapter 10 itself, God asks, How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? God gives you the blessing, Christian, to go and tell your friends and family of the one who can open their ears and loosen their tongues. who can take away their spiritual blindness.

And again, just to defend this, how were you brought to Christ? Did you just sit in a white room, padded, no influences, and just contemplate in your own soul, looking in yourself? Or did someone tell you about Jesus Christ? Did someone else bring you the good news?

I gotta tell you, whether or not you think this is an Arminian principle, and we'll talk about the theology of it during Chalk and Talk, I thank God that my Master Chief, Dan Phillip, was not afraid of that theological conundrum, but told me of Jesus Christ. Told me of the one I needed to bow the knee to. This is what we call Andrew evangelism. Have you ever thought about how did Peter, the chief of the apostles, the spokesman of the twelve, how did he come to Jesus Christ? Andrew, his brother, came and told him of Jesus. He said, come on man, you've got to hear it from this guy.

I'm going to read you some statistics about this. A group of about 8,000 people was surveyed a while back, and they were church goers, and they were just asked, how did you come to know Jesus Christ? Like, what influences were there in your life that led you to be the type of person who believes in Jesus and comes to worship every week? And these statistics are enlightening.

They're rough numbers, but 1-2% of the people said they had certain needs that the church was able to help them with. 2-3% of the people said their church was in a town and it had a sign, they saw the sign and they walked in. 5-6% said they were influenced by some preacher. 2-3% said there was a church program, maybe a VBS event or something like that and that got them to come to know Christ. 1-2% said there was a visitation effort, people actually came and knocked on their door.

4-5% said there was a program for Sunday school. All of those combined pale in comparison to the next one. Over 70% of the people they surveyed came into a relationship with Jesus Christ because one of their friends or family members told them of Jesus Christ.

I can sit up here and preach blue in the face But you have a far greater disproportional impact for the furthering of the kingdom of grace than I will ever have up here preaching. Because you have direct contact with the Peters in your life. With the deaf in your life. With your friends, with your family members, with your co-workers, with your loved ones, with your neighbors than I ever will have. God's given you a blessing. A blessing to go tell others of the one who has made your soul well. This is relational evangelism. God's blessed you.

Do you know how the early church spread? It didn't spread by revivals. Right, yeah, that's how it first happened in Acts chapter 2 when Peter gets up and he preaches to the Jews, but that's the only instance we have of anything like that happening. But when you read through the rest of the New Testament and you read through church history, it's by people telling their friends and their neighbors of Jesus Christ and showing that love to their neighbors.

As the Romans would abandon their children in the field and the Christians would go and rescue the children, they showed the love of Jesus Christ. As slaves were brought in from foreign nations, captors of war into the Roman Empire, guess who some of the first people they met with who would show them compassion?

The Christians. time and time again. Why do you think so many hospitals in our own nation still bear names like Grace, Mercy, Providence? Because it was Christians who desired to show the love of Jesus Christ and to try to tell others of Christ. starts in our own hearts as we marvel at what Jesus has done and it works out in us telling others but we must lastly live lives of doxology live lives of doxology now that's a five dollar theological word doxology doxos is glory we live lives Wanting to speak of the glory of Jesus Christ. Wanting to tell others of the glory of Jesus Christ. Singing the glories of God. Never, Christian, never stop marveling at Jesus Christ.

This is what the church in Ephesus was commanded in Revelation. They had all the great doctrine in the world. We can be the most theologically astute congregation. You can quote to me, Calvin. You can tell me you're exegesis. You can do all these things and you can even hate the sinful things of this world. But if you forget your first love, brothers and sisters, our lampstand will be taken away from us. We must marvel at Jesus Christ. We must never forget our first love. We must be like those who said in verse 37, he has done all things well.

What is described here? Do you know what the word praise is in the Greek? Eulogizomai. Saying good words about God. That's what they're saying here. He has done all things well. Their eyes are upon Jesus. Yeah, they're happy and joyful that their friend is healed, but their eyes are on Jesus. It is what He has done. He has the power to do these miracles. He has the power to save. He has the power to heal. He is worthy of all praise and glory. He has done all things well.

In their estimation, as they look at the person and work of Jesus, they cannot come up with negatives. They might scratch their heads at things, but boy, all they want to say is that what He does is well. And they want to sing those praises. They want to tell others. So much so that the verse before that, Jesus says, don't tell anyone.

And the more he presses that on there, it's kind of like trying to keep a volleyball. Have you ever taken a beach ball or a volleyball into a pool and tried to push it underwater? You can only hold it under for so long. Right? What's the point here is that it's welling up inside of them. It's pressing up from inside of them. They cannot help it. They need to tell others about this One whom they praise and love.

Is that your life? Maybe for some of you, doxology is a distant thing. Maybe for some of you, there's just hardships. And you think, man, this is great, Brian, that you're saying all these happy things on a sunshine morning, but you don't understand the gloom in my heart. Jesus has been there. It is not in the place in which all things are well, but in the fact that He does all things well. There are those who are not healed. There are answers that we do not have.

But do you trust that even in the question marks and in the sorrows of your soul, that He has done all things well? That someday He will finish the work that He began? How will the kingdom of grace expand? By us coming into contact with Jesus Christ. by us marveling at who He is and what He has done, and by going and telling others about Him.

Closing Prayer

Christians, I pray that you live glory-filled lives, rejoicing in who God is and what He has done. Let's pray. Father, we confess to you that there are times in which our hearts are cold and dark. That it seems like the flame that once raged in our soul of a love for you has gone down to burning embers. Father, I pray for each one of these members of your church, each one of these children of your kingdom. That your Holy Spirit might blow into their hearts, convict them of the coldness of heart, convict me of the coldness of my heart.

Lord, we pray that you would stoke up back in us our first love. And that we might sing that you have done all things well. Father, please give us this type of spirit that you might reap a harvest here, even in our own communities. In Jesus' name, amen.

We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.