WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.339 We're in the passage tonight, Mark 7, and Paul read for us from verse 24. We're going all 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:14.240 ! the way down to verse 37. I'm focusing on verses 31 to 37, but a moment just to look back at what's 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:20.080 happened before. It's interesting, this passage, both passages that we've read tonight, really 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:26.640 shows us two quite strange examples about Jesus interacting with people. In the one, he calls a 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:33.259 lady a dog, and in the next one, he spits on his hands and touches someone else's tongue. It's 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:38.399 quite bizarre. It's quite absurd if you begin to think about it. And perhaps one of the main things 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.719 that I hope you take away from tonight's meeting, whether you're a Christian or not, is that in order 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:49.140 to understand the Bible, you need to have a rich biblical literacy. You have to have a rich biblical 00:00:49.140 --> 00:00:54.480 imagination in order to understand all that takes place in the Bible. And so it's worthwhile, if 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:59.179 you're not a Christian, to delve deep into the Bible and to just read, to just let the world be 00:00:59.179 --> 00:01:03.500 shaped by what you read in the scriptures. Otherwise, you won't make sense of the things that 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:08.219 Jesus does. In many ways, as we come to this passage, we struggle to make sense of what Jesus does when 00:01:08.219 --> 00:01:16.000 he spits on his hand and touches someone else's tongue. So, I've got three points to make tonight. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:23.420 The first one is the clarity of Jesus and the requirement for personal faith. The clarity of 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:28.079 Jesus and the requirement for personal faith. And I'll give you the other points as I get to them. 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:32.760 But the first one is the clarity of Jesus. So, let's just return back to chapter 7, verse 31, and let's 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:37.599 see what it says there. Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:42.299 Galilee in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:47.819 impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, 00:01:47.939 --> 00:01:53.459 he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he 00:01:53.459 --> 00:02:00.200 sighed, and he said, Ephatha, that is, be opened. And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, 00:02:00.259 --> 00:02:07.859 and he spoke plainly. It's really a strange scene that unfolds right here. But Jesus has come back from 00:02:07.859 --> 00:02:12.639 Tyre, the region of Tyre, which was a pagan, Gentile country, and that's where he met the 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:17.960 Syrophoenician women. And now he's again at the Sea of Galilee. This isn't quite in the Promised Land, 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:24.939 but it is a Jewish settlement of people that settled there in the Decapolis. And this crowd 00:02:24.939 --> 00:02:31.479 brings to Jesus a man who cannot speak, nor can he hear. Now, he can speak just with some serious 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:37.400 impediment. So, communication must be really onerous and difficult for him. And it's worthwhile for us, 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:44.939 for a moment, to put ourselves into the shoes of this man. He is brought by a crowd, a thronging 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:52.540 crowd, to see a man who, by all accounts, looks quite obviously like a tradesman. Jesus, as we 00:02:52.540 --> 00:02:57.580 know, was a carpenter. He must have had hands that would mark him out as a man that's a carpenter. 00:02:57.640 --> 00:03:02.240 He certainly didn't wear the Pharisees' garb. He wasn't part of the Sanhedrin. He wasn't a religious 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:07.200 figure. Around him, he had his friends. These guys were fishermen, and some of them were tax 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:12.980 collectors. They certainly weren't part of the religious crowd. And so, this thronging crowd 00:03:12.980 --> 00:03:18.400 brought this man who's deaf, unable to hear, unable to ask questions to clarify what's going 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:24.439 on, and they bring him to Jesus. And it's important what we hear is they beg Jesus. It's not the man 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:29.340 begging Jesus. They beg Jesus to heal the man. They beg Jesus to heal the man. 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:38.300 And then, it really becomes quite bizarre. Jesus takes this man aside, privately, the passage 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:43.159 tells us. So, we can imagine he takes him around a corner. His disciples are most likely with 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:48.340 him. We've often seen that when Mark refers to Jesus in private, he's in a home, but his 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:54.000 disciples are there with him. And there, he stands in front of this man, this man who has 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:59.240 been brought by the thronging crowd to see this carpenter, this Jewish carpenter, and 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:05.539 now he's privately meeting with this Jesus, and Jesus looks at him, takes him by the ears, 00:04:06.819 --> 00:04:12.960 pokes his fingers into his ears, and then the next moment you might feel the release of pressure 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:19.600 as he takes his fingers out. And then he touches the spit on his tongue, and he walks over and 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:24.860 he touches the man's tongue, his mouth. Now, for a moment, if you want to imagine yourself, 00:04:25.140 --> 00:04:28.420 please then do it, it looks bizarre, but if you put your hands on your ears, and you can 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:33.400 just imagine the hummed sounds that you hear, and the strange scene that's unfolding, this 00:04:33.400 --> 00:04:40.000 man must have been truly baffled by all that he sees. And then the next moment, he can quite 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:46.100 visibly see that Jesus sighs. He breathes. He breathes out. That's what the passage is. He just 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:58.800 breathes out. And then as he looks intent at Jesus, all he can see is, how bizarre, how strange. 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:06.220 But yet the moment that it made sense to him what Jesus was saying, be opened, we hear the 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:11.080 man's ears were opened, and he was able to speak. And so what we see happening here is 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:18.579 Jesus. Jesus is absolutely, unmistakably clear in who he is and what he came to do to this 00:05:18.579 --> 00:05:27.599 man, personally and intimately. He addresses this man in his very own situation, and everything 00:05:27.599 --> 00:05:33.959 that he does is personal. It's meant to be intelligible. It's meant to this man, for this 00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:41.919 man, in order to be understood what Jesus is coming to do. Now I'll explain a bit more 00:05:41.919 --> 00:05:45.539 about the ears and the spitting in a moment, but let's just stop there for an application. 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:56.099 Jesus is interested in you as an individual. Jesus is interested and takes great interest 00:05:56.099 --> 00:06:01.699 in who you are as a person. You are not just a face in the crowd, even if I can just see the 00:06:01.699 --> 00:06:08.339 top part of your face tonight. Jesus is interested in your whole being. He's not just interested 00:06:08.339 --> 00:06:13.139 in this evening of your life. He's interested in the whole story of your life. He is a God 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:19.779 that takes interest in us from our birth until our very end. He knows our story, and he is, 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:26.279 as we can see in this passage, intent on making himself as clear as possible to you, no matter 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:34.459 what your circumstances. If you're an unbeliever, the God of the Bible is intent on being as clear 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:40.239 as possible to explain to you who he is and what he came to do. He's not a God that speaks 00:06:40.239 --> 00:06:45.139 in riddles that try to withhold himself from you. He is presenting himself clearly to you, 00:06:45.239 --> 00:06:50.819 and tonight is perhaps an opportunity for that. If you're a believer, you need to know that perhaps 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:57.339 you've grown numb and accustomed to the gospel, but the God of the Bible is a God that knows you, 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:01.819 knows your story, and wants to clearly communicate to you who he is and what he came to do. 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:10.139 But both of these groups, both of you require, both of these circumstances require a response 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:15.680 in personal faith. Take the information that you hear, that you receive from this Jesus that he's so 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:21.220 clear about he is, and act by putting your faith and your trust in him, perhaps renewing your faith 00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:28.180 and your trust in him even tonight. Now Jesus puts his fingers into the ears, and after spitting 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:34.519 touch this man's tongue, why does he do that? Why does he do that? Jesus is making it as clear as 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:41.780 possible to this man that he's intent on healing him. He's intent on opening his ears and loosening 00:07:41.779 --> 00:07:50.899 his tongue. And when Jesus addresses the man with the word, he addresses the man in a way that he 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:56.879 understands that Jesus is about to heal him. He is cutting through the layers of unbelief that this 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:03.099 man might face. And we've seen earlier in the gospel of Mark how God, through Jesus, speaks to his 00:08:03.099 --> 00:08:10.419 people, and he's speaking produces the faith that responds. So Jesus speaks to the man, and it produces 00:08:10.420 --> 00:08:18.140 the faith that responds. Jesus has to do this. We've seen earlier in this whole gospel of Mark that 00:08:18.140 --> 00:08:24.480 his own disciples are called on numerous occasions hard-hearted. Hard-hearted. They're unable to 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.819 understand. They go through incredible experiences with Jesus, and yet they don't understand. And Jesus 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:36.080 is fully intent on making it as clear as possible what he came to do and who he is. There's one 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:41.460 occurrence that happens in John 9 where the disciples bring a man who was born blind to Jesus, and they 00:08:41.460 --> 00:08:45.840 ask him, who was it? Why is he blind? Who sinned? What's the reason for his blindness? And then Jesus 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:51.379 says plainly, he says, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:59.740 displayed in him. You see, my central premise here is that Jesus performs these miracles as a 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:07.360 wordless sermon, as a parable, to address often the crowds, often the poor person suffering because of 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:13.919 his illness, but most often his disciples. He's performing the miracle so that his disciples can 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:19.779 see what Jesus is doing, so that their hard hearts would be softened and they would believe. 00:09:21.539 --> 00:09:27.060 And he's constantly speaking to us, knowing that we too have hard hearts, that is, slow to believe and 00:09:27.059 --> 00:09:36.059 slow to trust in the promises of God. He's constantly speaking to us. Now, it's this quote from C.S. Lewis, 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:42.379 I'm sure you're familiar with it. He says, pain insists upon being attended to, but shouts, well, God 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:48.599 whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to our consciousness, but shouts to us in our pains. It is 00:09:48.599 --> 00:09:56.019 his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. God whispers to us in our pleasures. The whole creation around us, 00:09:56.019 --> 00:10:02.620 Romans 1 would remind us, is he's preaching to us, he's speaking to us about who God is, 00:10:03.079 --> 00:10:08.319 his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature. Ever since the creation of the world, 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:14.220 these things are clear, so no one is without excuse. God is whispering to us who he is and what 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:19.220 he's intent on doing. But then God goes further and he speaks to us through our consciences. 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:25.519 And we read this in Romans 2 verse 14, for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:30.879 the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:36.560 work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness. 00:10:38.379 --> 00:10:43.139 Now, God whispers to us in the pleasures that we enjoy of creation. He speaks to us through our 00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:50.379 conscience. As I'm sure many of us have found out in our short lives so far, that he shouts to us in 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:58.199 our suffering and our pain. It is, as C.S. Lewis says, his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. And that is 00:10:58.199 --> 00:11:05.319 the prayer that should accompany this passage. As we look at the pain that our city and our country is 00:11:05.319 --> 00:11:11.159 going through because not just of COVID, but the ensuing economic downturn that is sure to follow. 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:18.360 There are many medical treatments that have been halted because of this. There's pain to follow. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:24.899 There's opportunities for God to speak to a people, to make clear who he is and what he came to do. 00:11:25.079 --> 00:11:30.419 That's what he did with this man who was a deaf and a mute. And he's coming to us as a country and as a 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:35.459 city, as a community, as a church, to remind us once again of who he is and what he came to do. 00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:43.780 It requires a response, personal faith in this Jesus. Point two. 00:11:43.779 --> 00:11:56.579 This passage tells us that there was a expectation of a Jewish Messiah that is reliant on a biblical 00:11:56.579 --> 00:12:02.120 culture. And I don't know how to put that point more succinctly than that, but just call it biblical 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:07.759 culture. Let me try and talk a little bit about that and you'll see why I mean that. When Jesus 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:13.299 appears to this man and he touches his ears and he touches his tongue and he heals him, 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:22.779 it is clearly understood by the crowd that is there around Jesus. In fact, they break out in 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:28.419 something of a doxology in verse 37 and they were astonished beyond measure saying, he has done all 00:12:28.419 --> 00:12:34.799 things well. He even makes a deaf hear and the mute speak. So they break out in song when they see what 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:40.019 Jesus has done to this man. So what's going on in their minds? Why do they interpret what Jesus does 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:46.559 with this man as something that's worthy of a doxology, of a song of praise? Why do they interpret 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:54.479 it like this? Well, they do this because, well, they've got a rich biblical imagination and steeped 00:12:54.479 --> 00:13:00.479 in biblical literacy. They understand the culture of the Bible. What do I mean with that? Well, in Isaiah 35, 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:07.920 there is a clear prophecy about a time when someone will come, the Messiah, that will do exactly this. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.539 Verse 5 of Isaiah 35 says this, 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:14.100 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:18.480 Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. 00:13:19.920 --> 00:13:22.180 So those that knew about this prophecy 00:13:22.180 --> 00:13:28.220 saw Jesus and they realized something, something happened just now in Jesus that changes 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:34.700 everything that requires a different response. There were two responses open to them. The one 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:40.940 was to worship him as the Messiah, as prophesied by Isaiah 35. The other one was to make him a 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:47.820 military leader like they did 160 years before, raising up the Maccabean revolt that was intent on 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:57.180 opposing the oppressors. But this crowd seemingly chose to sing a song of praise to this Jesus. They could 00:13:57.179 --> 00:14:01.819 only do this because they understood what Jesus was all about. They had the biblical background. 00:14:01.819 --> 00:14:02.459 The 00:14:02.459 --> 00:14:08.459 furniture was there for them to put it in together to see what it was all about. 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:16.620 And perhaps that's what will help us as we look at this passage to further understand, well, a biblical 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:23.099 culture, biblical literacy is necessary and it's something worth pursuing as we plant churches, as we seek to do 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:27.500 gospel ministry. It is one thing, it's a good thing to preach the gospel and to expound the 00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:35.740 scriptures. But it is also a good thing to teach your children just basic biblical literacy. It is also 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:41.500 a good thing to teach your city, your community just basic biblical literacy. As we give up ground on 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:46.460 these things, well, we're removing some of the pieces that we'll need in order to bring the gospel to bear on 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:53.019 someone's heart. I was reminded over Christmas of a boy who certainly did not have biblical literacy, who 00:14:54.060 --> 00:15:00.620 asked his teacher after Christmas, why is it, after the minister came to tell them about Christmas and 00:15:00.620 --> 00:15:07.980 the nativity play, why is it that they called a festive season like this a word that his dad often 00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:13.740 exclaims when his football team loses on the screen or when something hurts him or is angry or upset? 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:19.580 And the teacher had to explain to him, no, it's the name of Jesus Christ. It is a name of a person. 00:15:19.580 --> 00:15:25.259 That's who it is. The biblical literacy simply isn't there. And that's what's necessary. And I want to 00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:32.460 push all of us, whether you're a child or an adult, to use opportunities to build a biblical culture in 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:38.620 your sphere of influence so that we can draw on that in future. Well, this is necessary if we were to 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:43.500 understand exactly why Jesus does what he does here with this man. So let me try and explain the saliva 00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:49.500 and the ear for a minute. Let me just, it's long shots. I'll admit that. Both of the comments I'm 00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:54.860 about to make is tenuous links, but it's the kind of thing that you can do if you've got a rich biblical 00:15:54.860 --> 00:15:59.980 understanding and you can sort of see the Bible in its fullness. You're not just looking at little 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:04.460 verses and little words to just fixate on that, but you look at the old tapestry of scripture. 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:10.379 So why the saliva? Now, earlier we've been preaching through Mark's gospel in Canada Water 00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:16.700 Church. And in chapter 14, Jesus says to them, he says, and he called the people to him again and 00:16:16.700 --> 00:16:20.700 said to him, hear me all of you understand. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:27.019 can defile him, but the things that come out of him is what defiles a person. And yes, Jesus, 00:16:27.019 --> 00:16:31.580 and he takes the saliva that comes out of his mouth and he touches someone else's tongue with it. 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:40.379 It's as if he's putting words, actions to words. And he says, out of me, there is nothing that defiles. 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:48.460 And it fits because with the lady at the well in John, is it John four? He says, if you were to ask me, 00:16:48.460 --> 00:16:54.400 I will give you the living water, the living water that comes out of Jesus. Jesus is the source of this 00:16:54.400 --> 00:17:01.180 living water. So I know it's a, it's a long, long shot to go from, from water to saliva coming out of 00:17:01.179 --> 00:17:06.379 Jesus, but, but it's helpful, isn't it? It's, it's something worthwhile to say, but Jesus is the 00:17:06.379 --> 00:17:11.500 source of this healing and it comes from him. Well, the most tenuous one is probably the one I'm about 00:17:11.500 --> 00:17:19.319 to tell you. It's from Exodus 21. Uh, and it's about the poking of the ears. Now, these are the rules 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:24.960 that you shall set before them, says God in Exodus 21. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:30.319 years. And the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. And then he explains, if he comes back 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:35.900 and he says, well, master, I love you. Uh, and I want to stay. Then the master shall bring him to 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:42.279 God and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:49.660 with an awl. And then he shall be his slave forever. Reach biblical understanding, the poking of 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:55.040 the ears. Is this a way of Jesus saying, this is an invitation, an invitation for you to be a follower, 00:17:55.600 --> 00:18:02.440 a bond servant of me, Jesus Christ. It certainly has its benefits. Galatians four, uh, Paul goes on 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:07.860 to tell us that, so you're no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God, 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:14.560 to be a slave of Jesus Christ means to be an heir of Christ and all that is his. And so as Jesus 00:18:14.560 --> 00:18:19.420 preaches to this man, this wordless sermon of poking his ears, his fingers into his ears and touching 00:18:19.420 --> 00:18:25.660 his tongue with saliva, he's inviting him to become a bond servant of Jesus, following Jesus, 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:30.519 as he is the giver of life that overflows from within him. 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:36.800 Now, this is necessary for us because every explanation that I'm sure you've heard from 00:18:36.800 --> 00:18:42.980 this pulpit and other gospel ministries, when we preach, we are not simply trying to teach you 00:18:42.980 --> 00:18:48.080 some biblical facts. It's helpful for Bible quizzes and pub quizzes and that sort of thing, 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:52.359 and I agree, but, but that's not the point of preaching. In fact, what the people do when they 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:57.960 go out after Jesus has healed the man, it's clear that they go out proclaiming. That's the verb that's 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:05.379 used for what they do. They zealously proclaimed. They were preaching. I often have to rely on a rich 00:19:05.379 --> 00:19:09.740 biblical understanding of what the Bible says about the gospel in order to take one passage 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:15.120 and relate it to the cross, but that is what preaching is all about. It is bringing the cross 00:19:15.120 --> 00:19:23.279 into relief so that you in 2020 can see the majesty of Jesus and the worth of Jesus and the finished work 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:27.319 of the cross and that you will fall down and worship Jesus for all that he has done for you. 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:36.579 So that is then my third point. The only way Jesus can heal sinners is through taking their place. 00:19:36.579 --> 00:19:44.839 And so let's rely on some of this biblical furniture that we've put in place in order to make sense of it. 00:19:45.199 --> 00:19:50.939 When Jesus comes to a man who is deaf and mute and he heals him, particularly in the gospels, 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:56.099 in some way we've got to view the gospels as Old Testament books. You know what happens when Jesus 00:19:56.099 --> 00:20:02.059 is resurrected and he pours out his spirit on his church. It's then that the dividing wall between 00:20:02.059 --> 00:20:08.259 Gentile and Jew is overcome. It is then that the Holy Spirit brings intimacy between God and his people 00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:15.119 and new hearts. But here at this point, every miracle that is taking place is almost a miracle on 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:26.079 loan. It is because Jesus will himself become deaf on the cross that he can now take this man's 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:30.859 deafness away. And it is because Jesus will himself become mute on the cross that he can take the 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:35.939 muteness away of this man. It's because Jesus will bear the punishment for our sin on the cross 00:20:35.939 --> 00:20:40.119 that he can perform these miracles. And these miracles aren't in the first instance about 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:46.000 physical healing. They are about what Jesus will accomplish on the cross. And it is not just the 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.019 opening of ears or the opening of mouths, but it is about the salvation of the whole self 00:20:50.019 --> 00:21:00.660 that Jesus will accomplish. So as Jesus is crucified, we can say that he went deaf to the voice of his 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:06.960 father. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me is what he cries out on the cross. The words that 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:15.079 has accompanied his ministry at every point throughout his life, that voice turns to God's punishment for 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:20.639 the sin that we deserved. Judgment as he becomes and bears the curse on our behalf. 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:29.439 Then as Jesus breathes his last, his last words are, it is finished. From that moment on, he does not speak 00:21:29.439 --> 00:21:38.639 again. His tongue sticks to his roof of his mouth as he passes away. Jesus stops speaking so that we can 00:21:38.639 --> 00:21:44.759 continue speaking. Jesus stops hearing so that we can continue hearing. And Jesus' last breath is almost a 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:49.379 sign of the breath that he breathes on the man as he sits in front of him, touched his ears, touched his 00:21:49.379 --> 00:21:55.779 tongue, and he sighed. Jesus' last breath on the cross is the very first breath that he pours out on his 00:21:55.779 --> 00:21:59.980 church. And we read about this in John 20, when Jesus appears to his disciples, he says to them, 00:22:00.379 --> 00:22:06.879 peace be to you after his resurrection. And again, he said, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:12.779 even so I am sending you. And when he has said that, he breathed on them and said to them, 00:22:12.779 --> 00:22:17.359 receive the Holy Spirit. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:22.740 they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness for any, it is withheld. So Jesus equips them with 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:30.139 his last breath. And as this man was given hearing and speech, it was a little microcosm of all that 00:22:30.139 --> 00:22:35.559 Jesus would accomplish on the cross, where he himself would take our place. And with his last breath, 00:22:35.639 --> 00:22:40.019 he will give us the first breath of the Holy Spirit so that we too can say, 00:22:40.019 --> 00:22:49.680 Ephatha, be opened. So we too can proclaim with Jesus Christ that took your place. And so those lips, 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:56.500 those words should go onto our lips as we become the people that now sing for joy. What do we sing? 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:02.680 We sing the gospel for joy. For in Jesus, he has brought reconciliation between us and God. 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:10.779 So with that, I conclude. And I would like to pray for us, to pray that the Holy Spirit would indeed equip us 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:16.039 with his spirit to go out and also speak the gospel boldly to the world. Let's pray.