Mark 7_31_37 notes

Mark 7:31-37 “The Greatest Secret known”

Intro: Have you ever been entrusted with a secret? Some people just can’t keep a secret. Several years ago as Father’s Day approached I asked Tony what he got me. He answered quickly, an electric fillet knife. Hope was so excited; she had saved her money and really wanted to surprise me with this gift. On Father’s day, as she handed me the wrapped gift… I looked it over, shook it, then close my eyes and said “let me guess… it’s an electric filet knife.” Hope was so mad at me, but I wasn’t the one who spilled the beans. Secrets are to be kept even when the secret is extremely wonderful and the whole world ought to know.

In today’s text we see another example of the messianic secret, which started in 1:44 as Jesus healed the Leper and told him to “tell no one, but rather show yourself to the priest and make your offering which is was commanded through Moses.” Again, we see it in 5:43 as Jesus restores to life Jairus daughter the tells them “no one should know about this.” We will soon see in 8:30 as Peter makes his great confession “you are the Christ” Jesus tells them to tell no one about Him. In 9:9 after the Peter, James, and John see the Glory of Jesus on the mountaintop and the Father Himself speaks to them, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him” they were instructed tell no one until He is risen from the dead. This is the messianic secret yet Mark portrays Jesus as the Messiah and in this Chapter we see Jesus do the work that only the Messiah can do and we glimpse of the Messianic age to come, which will involve Jew and Gentile alike.

Jesus after being rejected by the religious of Israel withdraws from Palestine and enters into an area mostly populated by Gentiles who received Jesus and glorified God as they saw the Messiah cast out demons, healed the lame, crippled, blind, and mute (Matt. 15:29-31). They were commanded to say nothing of what they saw, however they broadcast it loudly.

CPS: Jesus is the Messiah who ought to be obeyed, He breaks down barriers and will one day set up His Kingdom on earth including Jews and Gentiles to the praise of God the Father

The Man’s Condition 31-32

Jesus has left the area of Tyre and Sidon off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, he travels east then south east through the Decapolis (10 Greek Cities) and comes to Lake Galilee. This is the region that Jesus healed the demoniac in Chapter 5 and though they once begged Jesus to leave their area now because of the testimony of the healed demoniac (Mark 5:20) they receive him with eagerness and according to Matthews account, bring the crippled, lame, blind, and mute for Him to heal.

His Friends

Some concerned friends bring a man to Jesus who is deaf and unable to speak plainly. The emphasis of this passage is the miracle itself yet we need not overlook the good friends who brought the man to Jesus. A man is lucky indeed if he has one good friend in life. ILL Howard Hughes, when worth approximately 4 billion dollars, said, “I’d give it all for one good friend.” To have a good friend is a blessing to have a friend who will bring you to Jesus is a divine blessing. Mark tells us that these friends beseech Jesus, this is the Greek verb parakaleō to ask earnestly, beg, to plead. His friends begged Jesus to simply touch the man. Perhaps today we need to be that friend who accepts, encourages, and exhorts those close to us, and who when down and out, when all things seems hopeless bring them to the person of hope, Jesus. I had a friend take his own life this week, he had suffered from depression most of his life and he got to a place where he saw no hope, no future, in that moment of hopelessness he needed a friend to bring Him to Jesus and stay there with him as the Savior lay His hand upon his slumped shoulders.

His Condition

Here is a man hopeless, he had lived his life without the ability to experience many of the blessings we take for granted. Mark tells us the man was deaf, the Greek Adj. kōphos is used, it means to be mute and unable to hear. He couldn’t hear the birds chirping in the morning, the warning of thunder in the evening, the rhythm and melody of music, the words of affirmation from those who loved him. He could not easily communicate with those around him. Often times a person who is deaf is unable to speak plainly because they can’t hear the sounds of the words. Most people learn to speak through hearing words repeatedly. ILL: Chandler had a difficult time learning to speak, I remember sitting with him on the floor and continually saying cereal, cereal, cereal while making the sign for cereal. However the man also had a speech impediment. Mark uses a separate Greek Adj. mogilalos, this is its only use in the scriptures, it means hardly able to speak. The man had another hindrance. Ill. As a person with a speech impediment I feel for this man, knowing the frustration of not being able to clearly communicate. I have often been wrongly accused of having a bad temper because there is something I want to communicate quickly and clearly and I get frustrated when I can’t. Imagine for a moment what this man endured on a regular basis……. Do you know what caused this? SIN

His condition was caused by sin

This man’s condition was caused by original sin, when God created all creation was perfect but the sin of Adam and Eve marred God’s perfect creation and the wages of sin is death thus creation is subjected to death. Sickness, disabilities, disorders are tell tell signs of repercussions of sin. The bible teaches us that all have sinned and we bear the marks of that sin in our mortal bodies, we are sinners and that we can’t help and this man is a picture, a perfect illustration of each and every sinner.

His condition is an illustration of a sinner

As the man approached Jesus he could not hear the voice of God speaking to Him and he was unable to speak to others about Him. But his friends brought him to Jesus because they had heard of Jesus and soon the hopelessness and despair would go away and be replaced with an everlasting future as the Master, Creator, Sustainer, Savior of the universe cured the man.

Here is a man who is without hope in this world, but some friends brought him to Jesus.

The Masters Cure 33-35

Now we must take a moment and remind ourselves of whom Jesus is, the opening words of Mark’s Gospel proclaims Jesus “Son of God.” He is the second person of the trinity, the one whom was in the beginning and caused creation to take place by the words of His mouth. Though He was rejected by the Jews there was a lady from Tyre who correctly identified Jesus as Lord. It is the Greek Noun kyrios which means supernatural master over all! The friends stood in the gap and begged Jesus to touch the man and Jesus never disappoints!

ILL Tell of Dad’s aneurism in May of 2015, and how I begged Jesus to heal him, and what the greatest Neurosurgeon in the U.S. said on the 5th day after an angiogram. * Jesus never disappoints when He is approached by faith, yet He is not under obligation to do things our way.

The Master’s touch

Jesus takes the man away from the crowd in order to deal more personally with the man. Isn’t it wonderful that the Savior of the world is a personal Savior! Jesus begins to communicate with the man in a way he could understand in order to encourage faith. Jesus puts His finger into the man’s ear letting him know that He is about to open the man’s ears, Jesus then spits on His hand and touch’s the man’s tongue with His saliva.

The Master’s look

Now Jesus looks up to heaven in order for the man to know where this healing power is coming from and to show us still today that Jesus while on earth never acted independently from the Father.

The Master’s compassion

Then Jesus let out a deep sigh, it’s the Greek verb stenazō which means a deep groan. Jesus saw first hand the effects of sin on His creation and it hurt His heart and He was moved with compassion

The Master’s words

Then came the healing words. “Be opened,” In Aramaic its 1 word. ILL: Prayers don’t have to be long and drawn out, I remember while in Peru, our flight got canceled and it looked like we would be stuck in Arequipa, missing our connection in Lima. My friend Dewayne said let’s pray, we look at Daniel expecting Him to beg and plea for a plane, He simply said “Lord give us a plane.” Within 2 minutes we had seats on a different airline!

Immediately the man could hear and speak plainly for the first time His life. Praise the Lord, and here we get a glimpse of the messianic age to come as prophesied by the Isaiah in chapter 35:5-6b Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, And the tongue of the dumb sing:

Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one of God who does the things only God can do, because He is God come to earth so that man can experience restoration.

The Multitudes Confession 36-37

As Jesus and the man returns from their private meeting, He gives the people a Charge; it’s the Greek verb diastellō which literally means orders, or a command. ILL: This is a military word, anyone who has served in the military understands that you carry out your orders! Yet the more he charged them the more they proclaimed what they say. The term “so much the more a great deal they published it” This is a double comparative, horrible grammar but used for effect. The people were so greatly astonished, they praise Jesus saying He hath done all things well he maketh the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!

Jesus has done all things well, Mark takes us back to the 6th day of creation as the Lord looks at all He has created and saw that it was very good. Here is a re-creation, a new creation and the new creation is very good, He has eyes to recognize truth, ears to hear the voice of God, a tongue that can praise the Lord of Glory. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17)

Yet Jesus orders the people not proclaim this, why? Because Jesus is Messiah not miracle worker. ? Because He did not desire to be a spectacle, He didn’t want people to follow Him because they saw Him as a great miracle worker and that is what happens, people want to see signs not the messiah. In 8:11 Mark tells us the Pharisees’ came seeking a sign, Herod wanted to see Jesus so he could witness one of His miracles!

Jesus wants obedience over evangelism.

Here is a comparison, the last time He was here (5:20) the people begged Him to leave as He healed a demoniac sending the cash crop of swine to their death. Jesus the Messiah demands obedience, yet we do the very opposite, He told them to say nothing yet they broad cast it. He tells us to tell everyone yet we tell no one.

Conclusion: Jesus is Messiah, He is to be worshiped through faith and obeyed at all times. In this text we see GRACE, as Jesus demonstrates through the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment that there are no barriers- racial, cultural, physical beyond the grace and goodness of God. (Eph 2:11-19)

Mark 7:31-31 “Amazing Grace”

Intro: During the late 1800s English evangelist Henry Moorhouse made several trips to America to preach. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor section of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the youngster’s side and found him unhurt but terrified. “My mamma’ll whip me!” he cried. The preacher suggested that they try to put the pitcher back together, but the pieces of glass would not stay together. The boy kept crying. Finally Moorhouse picked up the youngster and carried him to a nearby store where the preacher purchased a new pitcher. Then he returned to the dairy store and had the pitcher washed and filled with milk. With that done, he carried both the boy and the pitcher home. Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed him the pitcher and asked, “Now will your mama whip you?”

A wide smile spread upon his tear-stained face, “Aw, no sir, ‘cause it’s lot better pitcher than we had before.”

In our text we see Jesus has left Tyre after His meeting with a woman of great faith who simply wanted a crumb from the table of the master and Jesus comes to Decapois on the east side of lake Galillee where He meets a man who is Deaf and has speeh impediemt, a picture of hopelssness as the man can do nothing for Himself not even communicate his need nor hear the voice of God.

CPS: Today I want you to see that Jesus is full of grace and how amazing is that grace as it breaks down racial, cultural, physical barriers! No barrier is beyond the grace and goodness God!

The Man’s Condition 31-32

His Concerned Friends

His Physical Condition

The Master’s Cure 33-35

The Master’s Touch

The Master’s Look

The Master’s Compassion

Jesus has empathy for us, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another and responds with compassion to our needs.

The Master’s Words

The Master’s Results

This man is a perfect picture of sinner turned saint, he could not hear the voice of God speaking to Him and he was unable to speak to others about Him. But Jsus dealt with him on the basis of Grace and Immediately he could hear and speak plainly. What Grace the man could do nothing, Jesus did it all!

ILL: When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award—yet receives such a gift anyway—that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.

The Multitudes Confession 36-37

Their Orders

Their Disobediences

Their Proclamation

The New Creation

He does all things well (Gen. 1:31, 2 Cor. 5:17)

He Messianic Age (Is. 35:5-6)

Conclusion: What Grace! Jesus demonstrates through the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment that there are no barriers- racial, cultural, or physical beyond the grace and goodness of God. So what’s keeping you from coming to Jesus.