Great to be with you tonight and to join with you in the worship of God.
Let us worship God. We're going to sing those familiar words of Psalm 100.
All people that on earth do dwell, the Scottish Psalter version, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Let's join our voices together in God's praise.
Come on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him said when birth is rich for them, come we before Him and rejoice.
Not that the Lord is God in peace, without courage He gave us faith.
We are His walk, He doth us be.
And for His sheep, He doth us be.
All enter and His gates with ways.
Approach with joy His course unto.
Praise God and bless His name always.
Praise God and bless His grace.
For it is simply so to do.
For by the Lord of God is good.
His mercy is forever assured.
His mercy is eternally assured.
Let's έ
Let's pray.
Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this open invitation
that as those who dwell on earth, we are to come into your presence
with praise and with thanksgiving.
Come to the one who is altogether beautiful, magnificent, glorious.
Come as those with empty hands, that we might come to the one who can fulfill
and who can satisfy, who can restore, who can renew.
We thank you, Lord, that you have placed a welcome mat out
and that human beings, men and women, young and old, can come to you,
can come for grace, for forgiveness, for joy, for peace.
And Father, we pray that in our time together this evening,
that the praises of our lips, that the very prayer in our heart,
that the meditation of our mind would be pleasing in your sight.
We thank you that we are not alone.
We are promised in your word that where two or three are gathered,
even there, Jesus promises to be in the midst.
We thank you that when your word goes forth, it doesn't go forth alone.
It goes forth with your power, that the Holy Spirit himself
can take the words and apply them powerfully and transformatively
in our hearts and in our lives.
Father, we come to you as those who are weak,
and many of us are bearing burdens that are heavy,
physical, mental, emotional.
Our own cares or concerns, the cares and concerns of others.
We think of those words of our Lord Jesus,
come to me.
All who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest.
Father, help us to bring those cares and those burdens to you,
these weights that bear us down and ultimately crush us.
We thank you that we have a Savior whose shoulders are broad,
that he can carry what we cannot,
that he can do what we are unable to do.
And we ask that we would come to him for rest
and for peace and for comfort.
And we pray, Lord, for this town.
We pray for this island.
And we recognize that many, too, will be struggling,
struggling with the challenges of life,
with the challenges of age or infirmity.
And we ask, Lord, that we might be a people
whose hearts overflow with kindness, with compassion,
with care, with concern,
that not only would we receive compassion from you,
that we would exercise care and compassion to others.
Father, we pray that in this world
where there seems to be much darkness,
that we would be light,
that we would reflect the light of the gospel,
the light of our Lord Jesus,
the words that we say,
the lives that we live.
So we pray for compassion.
We pray for light.
We pray for hope.
Lord, we realize that we have in your word
and in your gospel hope for ourselves,
but not just for ourselves.
Hope for our families.
Hope for our communities.
Hope for this island.
Hope for this nation.
And hope for the nations of the world.
We think of the apostle Peter,
who gave praise to you
because you gave him a new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
So we thank you this evening
that Jesus' resurrection
means that we have a living Savior.
And his resurrection means, therefore,
that we have a living hope.
And we ask that you might give us words to convey
and lives that testify to the living hope
which we have in a living Savior.
Lord, we ask that in our time together this evening,
as we praise and as we pray
and as we hear and as we respond,
Father, be pleased to hear our prayers.
Be pleased to answer our prayers.
Be pleased to exceed our asking.
Be pleased to exceed even our imagining.
Because you are a great God
who is good, kind, and compassionate.
And we come to you in that personal
and powerful name of Jesus,
your Son, our Savior.
Amen.
Our next item of praise,
we're going to sing from the,
sing Psalms, Psalm 130.
Psalm 130, Lord from the depths.
We'll sing that to the tune of martyrdom.
Lord from the depths I call to you.
Lord, hear me from on high
and give attention to my voice
when I for mercy cry.
Let's join our voices together.
Lord from the depths I call to you.
Lord, hear me from on high
and give attention to my voice
when I for mercy cry.
Lord, hear me from on high
for in your presence to come stand.
if you are singing,
I bid my soul wait for the Lord, my hope is in his word.
More than the watchman waits for God, my soul waits for the Lord.
O Israel, good pure hope in God, our mercy is with him.
And full redemption promises, his people will redeem.
If you'll turn with me in the Old Testament, we're going to read from the book of Isaiah.
This morning we looked at Isaiah 6, the prophet's commissioning.
We're now looking at Isaiah 35, which is quite a remarkable chapter.
Isaiah is a big book, it's 66 chapters long.
It's the second most quoted book in the New Testament, second only to the book of Psalms.
The first 35 chapters tend to be quite solemn, quite somber.
And yet this section ends on a very high and a very bright note with this chapter, this song of the redeemed,
and the transforming power that takes place when God intervenes.
The geography and the people are transformed dramatically, miraculously.
So let's read together, Isaiah 35.
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad.
The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands.
Make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance.
With the recompense of God, he will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.
In the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way.
Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it.
They shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing.
Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Amen.
And may God add his own blessing to this reading of his word.
We're now going to sing a psalm which points to that kind of transformation that takes place.
We're going to sing from Psalm 146.
We're going to sing from verse 5.
Blessed is the one who truly looks for help from Jacob's God.
And you'll notice the psalm that we sing from 5 to the end,
that he made the earth and heaven.
Verse 7, he delivers from oppression.
He relieves the hungry's plight.
He releases those in prison to the blind.
The Lord gives sight.
We're going to sing from verse 5, the tune of Stuttgart.
Let's join our voices together in God's praise.
Stuttgart.
Blessed is the one who fully looks for help to Jacob's God.
Blessed is the one who places all his hope upon the Lord.
He who makes the earth and heaven and the seas with all their storm.
He who keeps his every promise.
Who is faithful evermore.
He kills ever strong oppression.
He doesn't voy forbade.
singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing singing, singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing
through endless days. Praise to every generation. Praise to God, O Zion. Praise.
We'll have an opportunity to refer back to that chapter in a few moments, but
I'd like to read from Mark's Gospel, and as we move in our Bibles into the New Testament,
we're going to read from Mark chapter 7, but before I get there, let me just remind you of the opening
verses of Mark. Mark 1 verse 1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way, a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,
make his path straight. Mark wants us to know about Jesus, who he is, the Son of God, and notice at the
very beginning, Mark is connecting the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of John the Baptist, with the
prophecy of Isaiah. And as we now turn to chapter 7 of Mark's Gospel, I want to read to us from verse 31
down to 38, to the end of the 37, to the end of the chapter. Now Mark is interesting because Mark is the
shortest of the Gospels, and yet Mark contains many unique scenes, many unique events, many unique
characters. You would think that the shortest of the Gospels would have very little new or unique
information. But this man, the deaf-mute man at the end of Mark 7 is unique to Mark's Gospel, and I think
it's significant in our understanding of the person and the ministry of Jesus. So at verse 31 and 7,
then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region
of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. And they begged
him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his
ears, after spitting, touched his tongue, and looked up to heaven. He sighed and said to him,
Ephphata, that is, be opened. And his ears were opened, and his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear
and the mute speak. He does all things well. In these opening chapters of Mark, Jesus is establishing
his credentials, who he is, what he has come to do. I don't know if you ever had to do this.
I was trying to, I eventually succeeded in renewing my American driver's license. I'm from the state
of New Jersey. We don't have the DVLA. We have the DMV. Same idea. But the DMV, the Department of Motor
Vehicles, wants to make sure that you are who you say you are. So actually proving who you are can be
quite difficult. I went armed with my passport and my birth certificate and a bill that had my name and
address on it, and I barely succeeded. But I did succeed in improving my identity and renewing my
driver's license. But the opening chapters of Mark, Jesus is doing something profound. Remember, Mark tells
us that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And in these chapters, we see the credentials
of what you would expect from someone who is God. You see, Jesus does the things that God does.
Jesus says the things that God says. Jesus establishes his identity so that when we understand who he is,
we begin to understand why he has come. And you see, the whole theme of the New Testament, not just Mark's
gospel. The Apostle Paul summarized it, didn't he? He said, we preach Christ crucified. Jesus Christ,
Son of God, crucified for us, for sin, in order that we might come into a new and a living relationship
with him. And as you survey these opening chapters are quite remarkable. We see that Jesus has authority
to teach. He taught like no other teacher taught. We see that he has authority over nature. He can order
the wind to stop and the waves to cease being rough. We see his miraculous powers over disease,
over death, over evil. And as you read these chapters time and again, the impossible happens.
The impossible healing, the impossible resurrection, the impossible calming of the storm, impossible feedings,
thousands of hungry people, and meager portions of food. But Jesus wants us to know what kind of
God he is, what kind of Savior he is, that he's the Savior who's come to cast out evil. He's the kind of
Savior who's come to bring health and happiness and vitality and abundance. And as we come to the end of
chapter 7, we encounter yet again an example of the power of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus, the care and the
concern of Jesus. This man who was deaf couldn't hear. This man who was mute couldn't speak. Not able to
communicate. Not able to interact. And Jesus heals him miraculously and powerfully. And as you read through
these chapters, you realize what an unusual cast of characters. You see, Jesus has come to call ordinary
people. Tax collectors, fishermen, those who are disabled, those who have physical problems, those who have weak faith,
those who are possessed by evil, those who are outside of the normal circle. Because even here, Jesus is outside of
Israel. He's in the area of the Gentiles. So very unusual men and women. People that we wouldn't think were
significant or substantial. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said, God must love the common man
because he's made so many of them. And you and I are quite ordinary people. We have ordinary lives. We have
ordinary hopes, ordinary fears. And the Bible says that there are not many wise and not many noble,
not many substantial. You see, Jesus is extraordinary. We are quite ordinary. He can do
extraordinary things. We can only do very ordinary things. So we come to the end of the chapter. We see
this man who is an outsider. He's an outsider and he has obvious problems. Can't hear, can't speak.
And they bring people to, and they bring him to Jesus. And Jesus takes him aside privately.
And he puts his fingers into the man's ears, spit and touch the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven
and he said, be opened. And the man's ears were opened. He could hear. The man's tongue was released
and he could speak. And he charged them, tell no one. You see, in this early part of Jesus's ministry,
he said to those who were healed often, don't tell. Don't let anyone know. You see, Jesus's popularity
was swelling at this particular point. And so much so that there were times where he couldn't move
about. There were times where he wasn't able to speak because the crowd was so large. In fact, if you
think of it this way, Jesus's preaching and teaching ministry was three years long. The first year was a
year of beginning. His first miracles, his first sermons, his first parables. The second year was a
year of popularity. Everyone wanted to see him. Everyone wanted to hear him. Everyone wanted his help.
And the third year was the year of opposition, where those many who had come to hear him heard him no more.
Many who had come to follow him followed him no more. His sayings were difficult. His demands were high.
His challenges were great. And that year of challenge then consummated with his betrayal, his arrest,
his trials, and ultimately his condemnation and his crucifixion. But now it's a time of encouragement.
Now it's a time of excitement. He has done all things well. And if you're a Christian here tonight,
I hope that you can testify that he has done all things well. We get it wrong. He always gets it right.
We have inadequacies. We have lack of understanding, lack of capacity. But if you're a Christian here
tonight, you can tell other people, he does all things well. He knows. He's able. He's willing.
He's powerful. He's personal. And I think there's such a value to testimony.
One of the reasons why I'm preaching for Mark is that Mark is quite familiar. We're doing a course
at Buccleuch, a Christianity Explored course, which takes us through Mark's gospel. So I've been reading
through Mark. And what we see time and time again is ordinary people who now have an extraordinary story
to tell. They've encountered Jesus and their ordinary lives are ordinary no longer. And if you've encountered
Jesus, you might think you're ordinary, but you're not. You've experienced the extraordinary saving
power of Jesus. And in these conversations around tables in our church at Buccleuch, we are encountering
people who are looking. They're searching. One guy saw the sign out in front of the church.
Christianity Explored, Monday 7 p.m. And he showed up. He said, I saw your sign. I thought I'd come.
Other people have come to our church recently. And they come and they say, I've become a Christian.
I'm not really sure how it's happened. But I watched this video. I was looking online. And I came to realize
who Jesus is. And I've trusted in him. I wanted to find a church. So I put, find a church in Edinburgh.
And Buccleuch happened to come up first on that web search. What does that say? It says that God is still at work.
God still is at work doing the extraordinary in the lives of men and women. And when you encounter
Jesus, you might think your life is ordinary. You might think your story is ordinary. But I tell you
what, you've got a story to tell of an extraordinary Savior with extraordinary love, with extraordinary
power, who has done great things in your life and has given you hope and joy and peace.
But as we look at this miracle, I think there's something more than just the establishing of Jesus'
identity. I think there's something more than demonstrating Jesus' power as great as that is.
You see, Mark often does this. Mark often creates almost like a frame where he has a miracle,
miracle in this case, and another miracle. And it frames a feast or a banquet. At the end of chapter
seven, we have a miracle. The deaf man, the deaf mute man hears and speaks. In verse 22 of chapter eight,
we have the blind man of Bethsaida, the blind man who sees. So you have two health miracles.
And then in chapter eight, the beginning of chapter eight, you have a feast, a banquet in a desolate
wilderness. Mark is, I think, is drawing our attention back in order to draw our attention forward.
As we read chapter seven, the healing of the mute man, we're told that this man was deaf and had a speech
impediment. He probably was able to speak, but he was not able to be understood. And the word that Mark
uses here is unique. It only occurs once in the New Testament. Now that happens. Mark particularly
use kind of ordinary language. So sometimes he uses words that Luke and Matthew and John don't use.
So having a unique word in Mark's gospel is not particularly unusual. But what is particularly
unusual is this unique word that appears in verse 32 is the same unique word that appears when the
translators translated Isaiah 35. And they wanted to translate the word for a speech impediment or mute
to describe what the Messiah would do when his kingdom came. So I think what we have here is an echo
where Mark is reminding us of an old promise to tell us even more about Jesus, more about
his kingdom, more about his plans, more about his purposes. Now what does an echo sound like? Well,
let me give you an example. It would be like if I were to say, I have a dream. Now there's an echo there.
It's not unique material on my part. I'm reminding you of that great speech that occurred in the summer of
1963 when Martin Luther King in March on Washington. He told an audience of hundreds of thousands of people,
I have a dream. So it's an echo. Takes you back. And it reminds you of something that has been said a long
time ago. If I were to say, we will never surrender. Again, there's an echo. 1940, House of Commons,
Winston Churchill, World War II. The deaf-mute man is an echo that takes us back to Isaiah 35. And if you
turn with me to that chapter, I think we can see how these two chapters are linked together. The miracle
of the deaf-mute man, the miracle of the blind man of Bethsaida, and a feast, a banquet that occurs
in a wilderness. If you look at Isaiah 35, it's quite a remarkable setting. And it doesn't look very
promising. We're told that where this song is set, Isaiah 35 verse 1, is described as a wilderness
and as a desert. The people don't particularly show much favor either. In verse 3, we're told that the
people are characterized by weak hands and feeble knees. Verse 4 tells us that they are people who
have an anxious heart. Verses 5 and 6, we're told that the people are blind, they can't see, they're deaf,
they can't hear, they're lame, they can't walk, and they're mute, they can't speak. Not particularly
favorable, does it? These are the kind of people, this is the kind of place. It doesn't seem like a
favorable place or a kind of favorable group of people for something remarkable to happen. Because
as a rule, if you're blind, you stay blind, you're deaf, you stay deaf, you're lame, you stay lame, you're
mute, you stay mute. The wilderness is still the wilderness. The barren place is the barren place.
And that's the way it always is. That's the way it always is unless something happens. Unless someone
comes in to change. Because we're told that the wilderness and the dry land will now become glad.
We're told that the desert will now rejoice and blossom like the crocus. And it shall blossom
abundantly. There's going to be an excess of life. There's going to be an excess of flowers.
There's going to be an excess of color, an excess of water. And you think, wow, how is this happening?
You just said it was a parched land, a wilderness. And now it's a flourishing, like a flourishing meadow.
And the people are changed. The weak hands in verse 3 are now being strengthened. The feeble knees are
being made firm. The anxious heart has been strengthened because God has come.
God has come. God has come. So Mark is connecting us to this great picture. To this great promise that had
been written 700 or so years ago. And if you get the echo, you get not only can Jesus open or
unstop the ears that are blind and open the tongue that is mute. But Jesus is ushering in a kingdom
where the wilderness itself is now blossoming, where the desert is now a place of abundance.
And notice in verses 5 and 6, the blind now have eyes that are opened and the deaf now have ears that
are unstopped. The lame is now leaping like a deer and the tongue of the mute is now singing for joy.
This is the transforming power that Messiah has come to bring. He's changing the geography.
He's changing the people. He's transforming them so that they bear little resemblance to what they once were.
And if we get this connection, we realize that Mark is not just telling us about a miracle,
as marvelous as that is. But he's telling us that the Messiah, Jesus, is entering in a whole new world order.
Everything is changed. Everything is transformed. Even the burning sand now becomes a pool. The thirsty
ground, the ground that has no water, is now becoming a spring that's bubbling up with water.
And we have a picture here where there's now an absence of dangerous animals. And there's a presence
of a people who are walking on a way. They're walking on a highway. It's called holiness. There's no clean,
unclean people there. The fools will not go astray. There's no danger there. But there's a way that is
now made in the wilderness. And on this path, on this highway, is filled with people. The lame now
leaping. The mute now singing. The blind, their eyes are opened. And the deaf, their ears are unstopped.
Those with feeble and weak arms and legs. Those with fearful and anxious hearts are now strengthened
and transformed. And we're told that these are a ransomed people. A price has been paid. And they
have been set free. Ransomed. And they're returning. And notice that they now have a song to sing.
Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing
will flee away. The Messiah has come to change everything. He's come to change this world.
He's come to transform its inhabitants. He's come to take the desert and the parched places
and make them places of bubbling springs and abundant wildlife. Abundant flowers. A place of beauty.
A place of completeness and fullness. And Mark is telling us about this Messiah who has come.
Who is the Son of God. And who has come to accomplish this great work in us. This great work for us.
And to show us his glory. And to show us his majesty. To show us his power. And that we now can walk
in this way. We can now travel on this path. We can now be characterized as a people who are set apart
for God by God. That's what it means to be holy. You are set apart for. God wants you for his very own.
He wants you to know him. He wants you to serve him. He wants you to follow him. And he has done
everything that is necessary for you to be rescued. This word ransom. The word redeem. I said this morning
was a payment of a price. In the ancient world there were three categories of people
who needed to be ransomed. The slave. Owned by another. Required a benefactor to come
with the resources to pay a price. So that the captive could be set free. The prisoner of war. Caught
behind enemy lines. Under the subjugation of an enemy army. A payment price had to be made. So that
that prisoner of war could be set free. The other picture is a picture of someone who was on death row.
Someone like Barabbas. You see on Good Friday one of the crosses that was prepared was prepared for him.
He was an insurrectionist. He was a murderer. He was a dangerous man. But what happened? A price was paid.
A substitute was found. The guilty goes free. Why? Because the innocent was punished.
Isn't that remarkable? Barabbas the violent man. Barabbas the guilty man who was destined for one of those
three crosses leaves that day a free man. That's what happens when a price is paid. That's what happens
when a debt is canceled. That's what happens when a substitute is found. So that we can be categorized
not as the unholy but as the holy. Not as the captive or the slave or the prisoner but we are now set free.
Set free to be the people that we are meant to be. To sing the praises of God. To leap with joy
and to enjoy the created world in all of its fullness. In all of its abundance.
In Mark's gospel you remember that the miracle of the deaf mute man was quickly followed by a large
gathering. A large gathering of people. 4,000 in total. But they gathered in a desolate place.
They gathered in a place where there were no resources. They gathered in a place where there
was very little food. And what does Jesus do? He multiplies the loaves. He multiplies the fishes.
So that this barren place. This wilderness area. Now becomes a banquet. Isn't that what we're
reading in Isaiah 35? The barren place becomes a place of abundance. The deaf mute becomes the one
who is singing for joy. And the blind man, the blind man of Bethsaida, is slowly having his eyes opened.
A two-step miracle. Isn't that interesting? Where Jesus touches the man's eyes and he begins to see
the outlines. Looks like trees walking. Touches the man's eyes again and he now sees clearly.
So maybe this evening this isn't yet clear to you. Maybe it's becoming a little bit clearer. Maybe
the outline shapes are beginning to be seen. Now you don't need to be able to see the connection
between Mark 7 and Isaiah 35. If you don't see that, that's okay. But whatever one of those two
passages you read, you see the same message. You see the preview and you see the fulfillment.
You see the preview of coming attractions in Isaiah where the prophet says there's coming a day.
And you won't believe it. You won't believe what this day looks like. You won't believe what the
transformation will look like. You won't believe what the wilderness will come to look like. And you
won't believe what the people come to look like. And you read Mark's gospel or Matthew's gospel or Luke's
gospel or John's gospel or Paul's letters. And you see the transformation taking place. And you not only
read the pages of scripture, but you hear the testimonies of God's people from that day forth
until this day. I have the privilege of teaching. And I find that one of the most powerful examples,
or one of the most powerful aids in teaching are giving examples. I teach the doctrine of regeneration.
That, you know, Jesus, when he says you must be born again. Now, in a sense, that's a key biblical truth.
We need a completely new start, a completely new mind, a completely new life. But these truths are
sometimes best seen in illustrations. So in the United States during the early 1970s, America was
embroiled in a political scandal, the largest scandal we ever had. The only time a president of the United
States had to resign was the Watergate scandal. And one of the architects of the Watergate scandal was a
man called Charles Chuck Colson. And you see, Chuck Colson was the hatchet man. Whenever something bad had to be
done, Nixon would always say, get Chuck to do it. Chuck would do the dirty work. Whatever that was needed,
he would do. Why? Because he had this obsessive desire to please and to serve the president.
And then the whole situation came crumbling down. The president, yes, was re-elected. But then all the
major architects were indicted, were charged. And most of the Nixon White House found themselves in prison
for what they had done during the scandal. But the first man to go to prison was Chuck Colson.
And he didn't plead his innocence. He pled his guilt. He didn't try to explain his actions away,
but he put up his hand and he said, I did what was wrong, and I deserve to be punished. What was the
change? Chuck Colson famously said during the 1972 election, I would run over my own grandmother
to re-elect the president. She was living at the time. That's the kind of person he was. And just a
year and a half later, he stood in a court of law and pled guilty to conspiracy because he knew what
he had done was wrong. What happened? He was born again. Somehow, some way, God worked in this man's life.
The hatchet man. The one who orchestrated all the dirty tricks. You see, a friend of his gave him a
book. He said, I think you should read this book. It was entitled Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
That was the first Christian book I was given by a friend when I wasn't a Christian. He said, Bob,
I think you might like this book. Chuck Colson read the book. He became a Christian. And from that point
forward, he dedicated his life to serving those who were in prison, to serving those who were without
hope and without help. And he founded a charity which was called Prison Fellowship, which now exists in
over 120 nations in the world. The man who was obsessed and focused on one thing, namely re-electing
President Nixon, was now focused on another thing, glorifying Jesus Christ. And when he came to write
his autobiography, which sold millions of copies, the best title he could give it was Born Again.
Because he was born again. You see, we can't explain how it happens, but we can see it when it happens.
I can't explain to you how Jesus can unstop the mute tongue, can open the deaf ears, can enable the blind
to see. I can't tell you how he can forgive sins and how he can renew us and restore us, but I can tell
you that he does. How can the sinless one become sin? I don't know, but he does. How can he take my sin
and my guilt and my shame? He does, and he will, and he can. You see, there's hope here in the message
of Jesus. There's power here, and there's transformation. And when you hear the testimony
of a man or a woman who's come into a living relationship with Jesus, everything has now
changed. Their heart, their mind, their life, their desires, their goals, their hopes, their joys have
been transformed from the inside out. The land is now abundant. The people have been strengthened.
Their knees and their hands have been firmed up. The eyes now open, the ears unstopped, the lame now
leaping, and the mute now singing. This is what Jesus has come to do. This is the transformation that
he can affect. And this is the kingdom that he is ushering in. And he says he wants us to be found
there. He wants us to be in that number, in that great multitude who are journeying on this path.
And you see, the great thing about the path that's described in Isaiah 35 is the path has a beginning.
The path takes you from where you are, but the path also has a destination. The path takes you where God
wants you to be. You see, in this world there is sorrow, and there is suffering, and there is hardship,
and there is disability, and there is despair and hopelessness. But we're told that this highway will
take us from where we are to where he wants us to be. We're told that everlasting joy will be upon their
heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. In this world there is no
shortage of sadness, no shortage of sighing. But when you walk in this way, when you enter into this
relationship, when you come to know this king, this messiah, what you begin to see is that joy begins
to overtake. Happiness and joyfulness and satisfaction begins to overtake our steps. And sorrow and sighing
begins to move into the rearview mirror. You see, we have a new direction. We have a new destination.
We have a new hope that is rooted in the coming Jesus, the Son of God. And that's why Mark says,
I've got good news for you. I've got good news to tell you. I've got good news to tell you about who
Jesus is. I've got good news to tell you about what Jesus has come to do. And I want you to know tonight,
people, that this message is a message that is good, not bad. This is a message that is filled with hope
and not despair. This is a message that is intended for your benefit and blessing. So wherever you are
tonight, spiritually, whatever you know or don't know, whatever you've done or haven't done, there's an
open invitation that's given to us. That there is a free invitation given. That the weak can become
strong. The blind can see. The deaf can hear. The mute can speak. The lame can walk. And the ransomed and
the redeemed will walk on this highway. And they will one day be with God in glory, not because of what
they have done, but because of what he has done. Not because of who we are, but because of who he is.
And I think Mark wants us to know that this is the kind of savior. That this is the kind of God who has
come down to our level in order that we might be brought up to his level. Not because of what we have
done, but because of what he can do and is doing. So there is joy for the redeemed of God. The ransomed will
sing with joy. Sorrow and sighing will flee away. And we will have a new and an everlasting life. A new and
everlasting joy. And there will be a comfort that is ours forever and ever. The mute man now could speak.
The deaf man now could hear. The blind man now could see. And the lame man now could walk. God delights in
doing the impossible. He delights in doing extraordinary things in the lives of ordinary people like us.
You don't need to believe me. Don't take my word for it. See for yourself. Taste and see that God is good.
See for yourself what Jesus can do. Because Jesus delights in showing mercy. And his power remains
undiminished. His grace and his mercy are new every day. May God bless his word and may he accompany his
word with his power to transform your heart, your mind through what Jesus has done for us and what the
spirit can do in us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. I thank you for its truth.
And I thank you for its power. Lord, we are weak people. We are fragile in body and mind. We are
inconsistent people. Sometimes hot. Sometimes cold. Sometimes interested. Sometimes disinterested.
But we have a consistent and a persistent savior. We thank you that Jesus not only has come to save,
but we're told that he's come to seek and to save the lost. Father, I pray that he might be seeking
people even now. Seeking people even here. Because he seems to have a 100% success rate. And I pray that
we might see yet again his power, his grace, his faithfulness in our day, in our age, in our lives,
in this church, in this town, on this island, and in this land. For your glory and for our good. Amen.
We're now going to sing that great psalm of transformation. Psalm 126, the Scottish Psalter,
right near the end of our psalm books. Psalm 126, when Zion's bondage, God's turned back as men
that dreamed were we. We'll sing to the tune of Lingam, and we'll stand to sing to God's praise.
When Zion's bondage, God's turn back as men that dreamed were we. When Zion's bondage, God's turn back as men that dreamed were we.
and filled with clouds and water was our love. Our song with melody, our song with melody, our song with melody.
singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing, singing singing, singing, singing, singing singing, singing, singing singing, singing singing, singing singing, singing singing, singing singing, singing singing singing, singing singing singing, singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing
Joy to us is broad, joy to us is broad, joy to us is broad.
And things of water in the south, our bondage short recall, our bondage short recall.
Who so indeed shall reap in time, of joy and joy they shall.
At man grave there shall see, in growing forth the morn, in growing forth the morn.
In darkness bringing my christie's, rejoice in shall return.
Rejoice in shall return.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Amen.