TEXT: Mark 8:22-26
READING: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
SUBJ: Our Lord’s absolute control of divine providence so that it serves many purposes and that He may choose different ways to the same end.
AIM: That we may ever aspire to the Lord’s ultimate purpose for us and that we may ever receive at His hand cleared spiritual vision.
INTR: Blindness is a most powerful illustration of the impossible situation of the lost and unregenerate and to see the spiritual state of the many takes the remedy out of the realm of human device and endeavor.
1. I have tried to devise a way to describe the privileges of the sighted to one born blind. How would you describe color, light or a particular scene of beauty?
2. Three notable blind men are: Bartimaeus who is remembered for his desperate cry and the man born blind in John 9 and this one. There were others but we cite these for their differences.
3. The Lord will not be so understood as to be predictable to men. Could it have been that men would have attributed the method to the success rather than Christ Himself.
THESIS: The works of Christ in this physical world point to the grander scheme of things in which the mighty spiritual work of salvation is accomplished and will ultimately be to His glory. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalms 9:17)
I. Bethsaida and the blind man (v. 22)
1. Consider previous reference to Bethsaida: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Matthew 11:21
2. The tendency of men to subject Christ to their own rejections. (Romans 1 and giving them up to uncleanness, vile affections and a reprobate mind.)
3. For this reason, the town would not be privileged to witness what He was about to do.
1) Jesus is freely presented to all but,
2) He will be presumed upon by none
4. Others brought the blind man and so it is their faith to which He responds.
II. The touches of Christ (vv. 23-25)
1. He took Him by the hand to lead Him to the place where he would be healed.
1) We look back at the evidence of the hand of Christ guiding and protecting us until the time appointed.
2) The care of the Lord is not dependent on the person receiving the care.
2. Revelation in stages a matter for us all to consider
1) First the spittle on the man’s eyes and the question – of any sight at all.
i. Not that Christ needed to know but,
ii. That He would bring the man to experience it gradually
2) The second touch brought clear vision so that discernment was a matter of ability given him.
i. Made him look up
ii. Saw every man clearly
3) Paul’s Experience: And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. (Acts 9:8)
4) From Proverbs: But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18)
5) From Peter: But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
3. As a matter of course in us all: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 1 Corinthians 13:9 AND For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12.
4. Seeing because of regeneration and seeing the Gospel clearly as the reason of salvation.
5. The fear of presumption on the part of true believers 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalms 19:13-1
III. The final rejection of Bethsaida (v. 26)
1. The man was evidently not from Bethsaida but was brought there to see Christ
2. The woe upon Bethsaida and the rejection of Christ and the message of the Gospel
3. While we long for a manifestation of the power of God and a return to the love of the truth as it is in the Gospel, God does not always do His mighty works in the sight of men.
1) He pulled down the curtain of darkness at the crucifixion
2) The mighty working of His power was not understood by the many who observed and
3) They were hated by those who saw them as a threat to their own power.
4. Let us pray that it is not so with our nation and our community.
5. In any event, the message is to individual souls such as this blind man -- bring them to Christ.
