[0:00] Welcome to our service this morning. Special welcome to any who may be visiting with us as we come together to worship God.
[0:16] We can begin by singing to God's praise from Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103.
[0:55] Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103.
[1:35] O thou my soul, bless God the Lord and all that in me is.
[2:11] Magnify and bless. Bless, O my soul, the Lord my God, and not forget for thee.
[2:35] O God, O God, and not forget for thee. O God, and not forget for thee. O God, and not forget for thee. O God, and not forget for thee. O God, and not forget for thee.
[2:47] O God, y ну, and not forget for thee. My name, and not forget for thee. O God, and not get y inv am gone. O when thee. O God, and not forget for thee. Les griff lawsuits most graciously forgive who night is Jesus servant peace zodiac is Relieve Who doth Redeem Thy life And love To death This Not Go down
[3:48] To Thee With Loving Thy nest Does A tender British Brown Who With The Fundance Of good Things Does Satisfied Thy Mouth So That He Thou Seek Of Seek Renew It Is Thy You God Righteous Judgment
[4:49] Execute For All Oppressive Ones His Ways To Most See His Act Make No To His Bell Of Sons Just join together in prayer Just pray That Blessed God Will you not Stir us up As the Psalmist Desire to be Stirred up So that he would Magnify And Praise His God We need Your help So that That you would Enliven
[5:50] Our Worship That our Praises Would be Stimulated So as To come From the Very Depth of Our Being Directed To the God Who Gave Us Life In Whom We Have Life For you Are the One Of Whom Your Servant Of Old Spoke And Said Of The God Of Heaven That it Was In You That we Live And Move And Have Be And If That Is Indeed The Case And So It Is How Much It Behoves Us To Seek Your Help As We Come Into Your Presence With Songs Of Praise Upon Our Lips And Our Hearts Engaged In This Activity Of Prayer Even Though There Is But One
[6:50] Publicly Leading In That Act May Our Souls Unite As One So That The Petitions Offered Are Our Petitions And That There Would Be A Unity And A Unison Of Desire You Work In A Mysterious Way With Regard To The Lives Of Your People Sometimes Our Thoughts Appear To Be Random Sometimes Our Thoughts Appear To Be Wayward Sometimes They Give The Impression Of Having Little By Way Of Good In Them And Yet In The Mystery Of Your Organizing Organization And Ordaining Whatsoever Comes To Pass So These Thoughts Make Sense So These Feelings Accord
[7:50] With The Feelings Of Those Who May Be Downcast And Who May Be Downtrodden And Who May Feel Themselves Neglected And Forgotten We Pray Lord That Whatever Our Experiences Are At The Throne Of Grace May We Understand That We Are Never Alone In This Place That When We Call Upon The Name Of God We Do So With Others Sometimes We Are Aware Of Their Presence Sometimes We Are Totally Oblivious To Their Being There And Yet Because It Is A Throne Of Grace And Because It Is Open Always And That You Are The One Who Has Opened It To Us And That There Awaits Each Of Us In That Place One Who Is The Great Intercessor Of His People Even Jesus Christ The Righteous The Messiah Of God The One Who Came Into The World To
[8:51] Reveal God To Us And Who Has Intended To Reveal God In Us We We Pray Lord That You Would Help Us Today With Your Hand Upon Us As A Worshipping People Though We Be Few In Number In Comparison With A Number That Could Be Present Even When We Think Of The Number That Belongs To Our Own Society How Many Delect God's House On The Lord's Day Your Day A Day That You Have Given To Us To To Rest From Our Labours And To Think Of The Affairs Of Our Soul To Glorify The God Who Gave Us Life And Who Sustains Life In Us We Pray That In This Rest That We Can Enjoy In Your Presence That We Would Find Our Our
[9:52] Bodies Nourished Just As Surely Our Souls Nourished Because You Intended For That End And We Pray That We Would Never Neglect What You Have Given To Us For Our Good We Remember Before You The Needs Of Your People And We Pray For The Community In Which We Are Met Today Remembering Your People Within That Community And All Who Make Up The Number Of It Some Known To Us Some Perhaps Unknown To Us We Pray That You Would Encourage Your People As They Live Their Lives Out In This World A World That Is Hostile To Them A World That Has Proved Again And Again That They Are Not Of This World That They Are Not Of That Number Whose Entire Possession Belongs To Time And All
[10:52] That Time Brings Their Way Your People Have Their Face Set Upon A Heavenly Harbor Your Face Is Before Them As Something That They Navigate Towards With Great Delight They Are But Sojourners In This World Pilgrants As We So Often Speak Of Them But Sometimes They Are More Aware Of That Than At Other Times And We Pray For Them Today Remembering Those Who Are Unwell Remembering Those Who Are Confined To Their Homes Those Who Are Depending On The Care Of Others Be It In Their Homes Or In Homes For The Elderly We Pray For Those Who Are In The Hospice And We Pray For Given To Them Wherever Their Loft Is Cast Remember The Grieving And The Sorrowful Those Whose Hearts Are Heavy And We Bring Them To You And Ask Lord
[11:52] That You Would Magnify Your Name To Them We Think Of That Community In Sky And The Mainland Bordering That Has Experienced A Devast Blow In The Last Few Days A Community Such As Our Own Who In Most Cases Would Never Experience Anything Of This Kind And Yet The World In Which We Live Is A World That Sometimes Brings Into Our Midst Events That Were Not Heralded Nor Expected And We Cannot But Bring Our Cares And Concerns Before You Especially Those That Have Been Affected By It Families Torn Asunder Lives Broken And Bodies In Need Of Healing We Pray Lord For Your Mercy For Your Grace To Help
[12:53] In Time Of Need Remember All The Communities Of This Nation Of Ours Where We See So Much The Evidence Of Sin And Its Aftermath We Pray Lord That You Would Pour Out Your Spirit Direct Us To Christ The Alone Saviour Of Sinners Reminding Us That In Him Alone Is The Provision Made Whereby Our Sins Can Be Dealt With And No Matter What These Sins Are Sometimes They Are Vexatious Sometimes They Are Grievous Sometimes They Are Beyond Number And Yet Not One Of Us Can Afford To Think That They Are Without Sin Even As Jesus Spoke To Those Who Were Ready To Stone A Woman Said To Have Been Caught In The Act Of Adultery That Any One Of You
[13:53] Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone And Who Of Us Could Say That We Are Without Sin Not One Whatever That Sin May Be And Often It Is Always It Is Without Accompaniment It Is The Case That In Our Lives From Beginning To End We Sin Against Our God In Thought In Word And In Deed And That Is What Is True Of Us And Without Being Directed To Christ To Trust In That Christ For Our Selves Whatever Salvation He Brings To The Wayward And The Froward And The Wild And Those Who Have Shown Themselves To Be Sinners In The Extreme He Must Be There To Us Also And If He Is Not Then We Will Answer To Him At The Throne Of Judgment Help us Lord To Bring These Thoughts Into Subjection
[14:53] And To Think Of The Gravity Of Where We Stand Before God If We Are Without Christ We Are Without Hope In This World We Pray Lord Your Blessing On The Preaching Of The Gospel To The Far Corners Remembering Every Way In Which That Word Is Proclaimed Whether It's In Person Whether It's The Testimony Of The Saints Whether It's The Preaching Of The Gospel In Pulpits Or On The Streets Sometimes By way Of Television And Radio And Computer Those Societies That Are Close To The Gospel Find Themselves Open In The Way That These Avenues Are Explored And Used To The Glory Of Your Name We Bless You For It And Remember Those Who Have Come To Faith Through These Missions That Are Ongoing Remember Us Then Here As We Meet
[15:53] Together In Your Name Bless The Young Bless The Middle Aged Bless The Elderly Bless Parents And Grandparents And Children Remember All The Different Tears Of Our Community Those Who Are Living Alone Those Who Are Living Families We Bring Their Cares And Their Conserves To The God Who Knows All Things Bless Your Word To Us Now We Pray Pardon Every Sin In Jesus Name Amen We're Going To Read From The Scriptures Of The New Testament Gospel Of Jesus Christ According To Mark And We Can Read From Chapter 7 Mark Chapter 7 And We Can Read From Verse 24 Through To The End Of The Chapter And
[16:55] From Thence Jesus Arose And Went Into The Borders Of Tyre And Sidon And Entered Into A House And Would Have No Man Know It But He Could Not Be Head For A Certain Woman Whose Young Daughter Had An Unclean Spirit Heard Of Him And Came And Fell At His Feet The Woman Was A Greek And Syrophoenician By Nation And She Besought Him That He Would Cast For The Devil Out Of Her Daughter But Jesus Said Unto Let The Children First Be Filled For It Is Not Meant To Take The Children's Bread And To Cast It Unto The Dogs And She Said And Said To Him Yes Lord Yet The Dogs Under The Table Eat Of The Children's Cranes And He Said Unto Her For This Saying Go Thy Way The Devil Is Gone Out Of Thy Daughter And
[17:56] When She Was Come To Her House She Found The Devil Gone Out And Her Daughter Laid Upon The Bed And Again Departing From The Coast Of Tyre And Sidon He Came Unto The Sea Of Galilee Through The Midst Of The Coast Of Decapolis And They Bring Unto Him One That Was Death And 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 Says Unto Him That Is Be 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
[18:56] More He Charged Them So Much The More A Great Deal They Published It And With Beyond Measure Astonished Say He Has Done All Things Well He Maketh Both The Deaf To Hear And The Dun To Speak Amen And May the Lord Hath His Blessing To This Reading Of His Word And To His Name Be The Praise We We Can Sing Now Verses From Psalm 34 Psalm 34 And We're Singing From Verses 11 To 18 O Children Hither Do Ye Come And Unto Me Give Ear I Shall You Teach To Understand How Ye The Lord Should Fear What Man Is He That Life Desires To See Good Would Live Long Thy Lips Refrain From Speaking Guile And From In Words Thy Tongue Depart From
[19:56] Ill Do Good Seek Peace Pursue Earnestly God's Eyes Are On The Just His Ears Are Open To Their Cry The Face Of God Is Set Against Those That Do Wickedly That He May Quiet Out From The Earth Cut Off That Memory The Righteous Cry Into The Lord He Unto Them Gives Ear And They Out Of Their Troubles All By Him Delivered Are The Lord Is Ever Nigh To Them That Be Of Broken Spirit To Them He Safety Doth Afford That Are In Heart Contrict And So On Verses 11 To 18 Of Psalm 34 O Children Whither Do ye Come And Unto Me Give Ear O Children Heather Do ye Come And
[20:57] Unto Be I Shall You Teach To Understand How Ye The Lord Should Fear What Man Is He That Life Desire To See Good Would Live Long Thy History Up What Ho pieds
[22:00] In Cheap Ro qualification to eternally God's eyes are on the justice years are open to their cry the face of God is set by his close that to wicked me that he may quiten from the air cut off their memory glory the righteous guide unto the
[23:13] Lord he unto them his year and they out of them the Lord is ever the Lord is ever right to end not be all broken the broken set could and he shif he doth afford blood and heart all right like like us to turn now for a short while to the passage that we read the
[24:27] New Testament scripture from the Gospel of Mark chapter 7 and going to consider the last miracle that we read of the verse 31 to 37 and read verse 37 again where beyond measure astonished saying he has done all things well he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak he has done all things well i wonder if you agree with that statement he has done all things well it's very much the case that when God works we have to acknowledge that what he is doing is not immediately obvious to us there is a question there is no question but that many of the things that he does do are difficult for us to explain or understand and in the realm of miracle we can understand that in one way because it wouldn't be a miracle if it had a natural way of being understood understood but i think in a whole of
[26:06] God's dealings especially with his people there are many things that they find difficult to understand i was reading one of Max Lucado's many books and he has written an awful lot of books and many Christians have read some if not all of them but his way of writing is very very easily understood it's not a difficult read in any way shape or form because he very often takes the Bible and explains it at a level that ordinary people like myself can understand and he punctuates these the telling of the story of the Bible and salvation through Jesus Christ telling the stories of ordinary men and women and he tells this story about a friend of his own a lady by the name of Tammy
[27:14] Trent now her story if you want a story with a happy ending it all depends how you consider a happy ending Tammy Trent and her husband had recently celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary and as part of that they went on a holiday together to Jamaica they lived in America and they had a lovely holiday there and on the last days of the day of the day they lived in America and they had a lovely holiday there and on the last days of the day of the day and on the last days of the holiday perhaps the last the very last day her husband decided to go to a local tourist spot that was well known for diving and he wanted to try that for himself he was a an accomplished diver and he went for his dive and she sat on the side of the lagoon where he was diving and to cut a long story short he dived and didn't come back to the surface and it was the following day when his body was recovered and she was left by herself waiting for news of the search that was going on for what was feared was his body anyway his body was recovered that morning and it was the same morning where the events of 9-11 took place 2001 in America two planes destroyed
[29:01] Twin Towers now that was a separate event but unfortunately for her because of the aftermath of that incident she was left alone in Jamaica unable to leave it because all the flights in and out of America were shut down and at many other many other places besides she couldn't get out and nobody was able to leave it so she was left alone in her hotel room and she broke down and she cried out to God and as far as she was left alone in her hotel room and she broke down and she cried out to God and as far as her situation was concerned God wasn't hearing her but a knock came to the door and a housekeeper working in the hotel who had heard her cry wanted to come in and comfort her now this housekeeper was a Christian and she just took her in her arms and prayed with her in her situation now that didn't change the situation her husband was still dead it didn't change her circumstances in the sense that she felt very much alone but in the way that God worked this was part of it when you hear that and when you read about it there are a whole host of different questions that will come to your mind these two that young couple after the holiday was over they were both going to begin a time of missionary work working for the Lord not only by the Christians this was their plan this was what was waiting around the corner they were going to work with a missionary organisation sharing the gospel with others and this event took place so you stand back from that and you ask the question why does God allow that to happen?
[31:47] why does God allow such suffering to take place to anyone? but especially to his own people and if you want an answer for that well I don't have one and I will not pretend that I do have an answer and when you look at the account that we have here of a miracle the healing of a man who was born blind born blind born dumb and deaf you may ask the question why did God allow him to be born in that way?
[32:30] surely it would have been better if such an illness such a predicament had not been part of his experience if God is God why does he allow suffering in the world?
[32:44] why does he allow suffering in the world? what can possibly justify the experiences that are recorded in the Bible that allow Christ to work to the degree that he works and in many respects there are no answers to that question other than for us to understand that the world in which we live is a world where these things take place men and women are born into this world some, the vast majority of them are born healthy babies brought into the world some may suffer some illness some may suffer some predicament that would follow them all the days of their life and the reason for that is simply this that the world in which we live is a world that is marred by sin and one of the most most obvious aftermath of sin in the world is the fact that there is sickness there is disease there is death in the world and that is what the Bible tells us and that while these things must be that the greatest predicament that confronts man from the beginning is the fact of their own passion of sin and while God has not chosen to simply airbrush away the effects of sin in the world by making us all healthy physical specimens who do not have any ailments no pains no tears no sorrows what he has done is dealt with the greatest of griefs and that is the grief that sin brings into our experience for the person who is a Christian while they cannot experience the avoidance of the pain that loss brings or that the pain that physical suffering brings for them if you speak to them many of them will say while they would not have in any way invited their sufferings that they would not be without them because of what Christ has meant to them in their sufferings whether that is through bereavement or physical ailment or whatever it is because of who he is and what he means to them it makes all the difference now when we look at this passion we look at a miracle brought by Jesus and this passion we are told was somebody who was who had an impediment in his speech and was deaf probably the latter was because the impediment of speech was because of the deafness we can understand that and that Christ was brought to this passion because the knowledge of Christ meant that there was a belief from the part of those who brought
[36:27] Christ to them that he could do something for them and in many respects when you put miracles the miracles brought by Christ alongside each other you might think well this isn't really the most important of his miracles you know he's raised the dead he's done things that affected hundreds upon hundreds of people at one time but here this is one individual and Christ heals him and when you look at that miracle you might not think that this is the most important miracle that Christ does but I can assure you that for the person who was both dumb and deaf that it is the most important miracle that Christ did in his experience and I think that simple truth needs to be remembered when it comes to listening to the gospel we may mistakenly think that the gospel is meant for somebody else particularly those who live their life here in this world and there is a clear lack in their life that means that their life is is upside down for one reason or another we may look at ourselves and think well Christ did come and I believe that and I believe that because the Bible tells it to me and I'm familiar enough with what the Bible tells me to believe that this is the kind of person that Christ came to but very often there are many who think of themselves as as not really being of the urgent character the urgent matter that Christ needs to consider and I was this is what
[38:40] I was at a funeral the other day and I was looking looking at some of the people who were in front of me there and I don't know what goes on in the life of most of the people that I see I just don't know I can't I'll never be able to see that but I do know that there are many people and their lives as far as they appear outwardly they're not lacking they're outwardly they have everything that this world could possibly offer and you could write normal over their life but at the same time as far as can be seen with the naked eye for all their normality their normality does not include Christ their normality doesn't include a relationship with a saviour for sinners their normality their normality however well of they may be materially however organised their life may be as far as the outworking of it is concerned they have neglected one thing and that is that their relationship with Christ is not what it ought to be and they might think well
[40:09] Christ is for the person whose life is chaotic Christ is for the person who's the drunkard or the drug addict or the person who has got problems within the family who can't manage the home and so on Christ is for that kind of person but not for me but that's not what the Bible says we might think that when we look at this one miracle and we assess the need that is before Christ the man that is before him is deaf and dumb and when you look at it across the whole the whole gamut of need that is in the world you wouldn't place them in the order of priority very high up in your reckoning because you would think well the needs of this world if they are to be met by Christ surely more needs to be done more needs to be done for x y and z than needs to be done for this person but that's where we have where we get it so wrong and Christ dealt with this man's physical needs and no doubt dealt with them spiritually also but
[41:41] I think what I want you to do I want you to challenge you with is if you are for one moment thinking of your need as being of less import in the eyes of Christ than the need of the person who is in the world and who is clearly at times considered to be very far down in the opinions of men and women that attention should be focused on them more than you should focus on your own needs or the needs of your soul you need to carry out a reappraiser you need to think again I am not diminishing the fact that these men and women whose lives are in chaos do need salvation but then so do you and if you are not saved by the same hand that saves them if he becomes their saviour then you will be lost and it will bring no satisfaction to you that Christ is their saviour and he is not yours this man had a need and Christ was brought to him to meet that need the second thing you notice here is is obvious I suppose because in verse 32 they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in speech and they beseech him to put his hand upon him this man was introduced to Christ or Christ was introduced to him that's important and it's something that we overlook and as Christians it's not something we should overlook if we have the opportunity to introduce Christ to anyone or introduce anyone to Christ then that is an opportunity that we should avail ourselves of it is not an opportunity that we should neglect it is not something that we should in any way think is left to somebody else so a very pointed question to you Christian how many people have you sought to bring to the gospel here in this place?
[44:16] how many people have you said well we have a minister who preaches the gospel do you want to hear and preach? or we have a service in God's house the gospel is preached do you want to come and hear the gospel preached?
[44:31] are you embarrassed about the kind of services that go on here? are you embarrassed about the kind of ministry that is ongoing here? are you embarrassed about your minister? I am not attracting attention to myself but that is the kind of thought that may come into my mind however foolish it may be or however accurate it may be when I was on holiday and I do go and listen to the gospel when I am on holiday I don't take a holiday from the gospel it is my pleasure to go and hear other people preach the gospel and I usually try if I am able to preach go and listen to the gospel close to where I am staying so where we are staying it might not be the kind of service that I am used to but that is where I choose to go and hear the gospel if at all possible I make a choice of a service if there is a choice
[45:38] I would want to hear the gospel preached but one thing that gives me pleasure is hearing the gospel preached hearing that the same gospel that I preach is the gospel that I am hearing preached by others and that is important for me because it worries me because it worries me maybe I am getting things wrong maybe I am not preaching the right gospel maybe that is where we are losing out that people don't want to come to hear what is being preached here because it is not the gospel but I have not heard anything that would make me believe that what I try and preach maybe not as well as others but it is still the gospel that I preach that I hear preached by others the same Christ the same encouragement given to others to come to hear that Christ to believe in that Christ to trust in that Christ because their need is the same as the need that I set before you
[46:41] Sunday by Sunday and the remedy for your sin is the same remedy that I would say that they say Christ was introduced to this passion and he was glad of that fact Christ was glad of it but the man who was suffering was was what do you what do you think here they brought this one passion to him who could address his needs that's what you need to remember when you bring somebody to church somebody who doesn't usually come to church don't be embarrassed about asking him because if they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior they need to know him don't allow the world to teach you otherwise to say to you otherwise if you do not know Christ as your Savior then you are lost and if you know a person to be in that situation don't be embarrassed about introducing them to somebody who can deal with their lostness that's what I'm saying it's as simple as that the third thing we have here is how Jesus deals with them in verse 33 now there are many things that Christ does that he doesn't explain to us he doesn't tell us why he does what he does and it's interesting when you read the various writers and commentators they have opinions as to what Christ is doing and why he took him aside from the multitude put his fingers into his ears and he spit and touched his tongue is he giving us there some some recipe for salvation not at all he is dealing with this man in the best way that this man can have his needs addressed remember he was deaf and he couldn't speak and
[49:13] Christ some suggest that he needed to deal with him in a very physical way because he wouldn't be able to hear him speak if he was deaf I used to stay go and stay in Glasgow and the place that I I stayed in where a family member stayed was a place that was had in the neighbourhood the headquarters of St Scotland and St Scotland St Scotland and St Scotland deals with young people who are born not just deaf but they are blind and they are done and they spend a lot of time trying to communicate with these children through their senses through touch and through feeling through touch and through feeling and so on because you can imagine the nature of the difficulty that these children have when they can't hear a passion speak when they can't see a passion when they can't respond themselves now Jesus was speaking to this passion and communicating with them so that this passion his his impediment could be dealt with more fully but whatever lay behind it and you know some look at that word which you heard me try and read if fatha be opened it's not easily read it's not easily read but then maybe that word was used by Christ specifically to help this passion in the healing process who knows whatever
[51:26] Jesus meant by what he did the end product is healing he brings this passion on a journey where his ears are opened and his tongue is unloosed and if you look at it purely in this way it wouldn't matter to this passion how Christ took him to this place where he could hear and where he could speak it didn't matter what mattered for him was that he could do what he couldn't do before he could hear when he couldn't hear before he could speak when he couldn't speak before that's the thing you know as Christians we are very often thinking a lot of the conversion of others and the more mystical it is and the more sensational it is the better you know
[52:39] Christ deals with a passion in a way that's unexpected and unexplained and there's a lot of of well mystery surrounding it then it must be right that passion must be saved is that right does it have to be completely out of of this world in order for Christ to bring a passion to himself well if you believe that you're wrong I think that I think that holds a lot of people back who sit under the gospel and who believe that you know there must be something dramatic happen before Christ can be my saviour well the bible doesn't say that the bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved it's not experience thunder and lightning it doesn't mean that you have to go on any journey that is unexplicable the only journey that you are to be on that takes you to Christ and allows you to believe in him
[53:57] Bishop Ryle in his own comments he says Christ may best bless the word as it is preached publicly he may bless the word preached or he may bless the word read in private he can awaken a person to a sense of their need through any means through any means at his disposal he may can he can speak to a person who's lying in the hospital bed who up until that moment had no thought of their soul and at that moment Christ can awaken in them a sense of need but it doesn't have to be like that he can equally come to them in the still small voice that makes them come to their senses and understand that Christ is the need of their soul he can use means he can work above means what is important as it is here the cure that is affected and the cure that is affected which we are reminded of for the greatest of all ills the sickness of our souls we know that the miracles that Christ performed were miracles that are affecting a physical cure and that itself is important when we think of this patient who was deaf it was important for him to be able to hear how frustrating it is if your hearing is impaired but
[55:54] I think the greatest deafness that we have is a spiritual deafness and it's interesting that although the Bible tells us that that Jesus was going to be revealed as the healer that he is revealed to us as the healer of spiritual ills I think the passage that comes to mind when you are looking at what Christ is doing here in this one experience is a reminder to us of how he is portrayed as you know as promised you know the prophet Isaiah for example he speaks of the Messiah and the evidences that will tell us who the Messiah is and what the Messiah was going to do and we read and I don't doubt for a minute that it was Christ that the prophet had in view say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not behold you God will come with vengeance even God with a recompense he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped and the tongue of the dumb sing 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 and on highways shall be there and away and it shall be called the way of holiness and so on
[57:51] I'm sure there are people in the south of England who are waiting for miracles because their ground is parched and they're waiting for rain and the drought like situation that has befallen them is reminded then of their need of the rain of heaven if only men and women were as aware of the parched soul that is theirs the drought like conditions that makes them live on without Christ and without God and without hope in the world Christ alone is the one who is able to save and through miracle he came into the experience of this passion the gospel is the gospel story but it is a true story it is the greatest story ever told we are reminded of and the sham history not just in the way that Christ heals but in the way that he speaks to this group of people who brought their friend for healing once Christ has done it he says to them don't tell anyone he charged them that they should tell no man and that is a mystery how could they possibly not tell anyone
[59:33] I don't know if he was testing them one of the commentators one of the commentators was saying he was Christ was was guarding against the danger that he would be exposed to when his reputation was enhanced and his enemies were stimulated to to rise up against him well that was going to happen anyway so it is one of these questions I don't have an answer for it but can you think of anybody that Christ would come into their life and that they would want to keep it to themselves keep it to themselves don't let anyone know I believe but I don't want anybody to know that I believe that doesn't sound right does it?
[60:35] it doesn't sound right would we have a church today? would we have a congregation of people today? if the people of God remain silent?
[60:51] surely not Christ himself says that if this people remain silent then the stones themselves would speak it is not something that we can countenance however Christ deals with us we should be ready to share it with others encourage others to come to the same Christ to receive the same healing because it is a miracle that he does when a sinner is converted it is a miracle of grace when a person who has no knowledge of Christ comes to know that Christ for themselves it is nothing less than the power of God's grace amazing grace well may God allow us to see in this tale of Christ's doing allows to ask ourselves questions concerning our own need for a miracle in our lives let's pray
[62:01] Lord of God we give thanks that you are a God who is able still to perform miracles you deal with your people and sometimes they are in awe of your dealing sometimes they may not understand what you are about or why you are doing what you are doing what you are doing what you are leaving and done that you could have done but they still trust that you are the Christ who doeth all things well the same words that we have here help us to believe in and to trust in the Christ who can do for us what no other can cleanse from sin in his name Amen we are going to conclude with the words of Psalm 107 Psalm 107 and we are singing from verse 15 verse 15 O that men to the Lord would give praise for his goodness then and for his works of wonder done unto the sons of men because the mighty gates of brass in pieces he did tear by him in sunder also cut the barge of ironware falls for their sin and their offence to sole affliction here all kind of to sole affliction bear all kind of meet their soul a pause they to death's gates draw near in grief they cry to God he saves them from their miseries he sends his word them heals and them from their destructions free these verses
[63:49] O that men to the Lord would give praise for his goodness then O that men to the Lord would give praise for his goodness then O that men to the Lord would give praise for his goodness then O that men to the Lord would give praise for his goodness then and for his works of wonder done O that men to the sons of men胃 Do you know any peace now?
[64:31] TCan proceed By. In. SONG CONTINUES FOOLS FORM THEIR SINNANDERAL PENS, GOOD STORM OF LESHERMIL, ALL KIND OF MEET THEIR STORM OF HORS,
[65:37] THEY TOO JUST KEEPS DROW NEAR. IN GREAT, THEY TRIED TO CONTRESIST, AND FROM THEIR MISERIES, HE SENDS THE WORLD, AND HEAR THEIR SON, AND FROM THEIR DISCUSSIONS, AND FROM THEIR MISERIES.
[66:21] Jesus Amen Praise, mercy and peace To God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Dressed and abide with you one and one and one Amen