Well Done!

Well Done!

Mark 7:31-37

Our passage opens with Jesus leaving the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon headed back to Galilee. But Jesus and His disciples don’t go straight back to Jewish country. We’re told that they went to the Decapolis.

If you look at where they were and where they were headed to, you would see that Jesus and His men took the long way around. In fact, going through Decapolis to get to Galilee is like going through Indianapolis to get to Louisville! This journey took a lot longer than it could have.

What was He doing?

I imagine that He was teaching and training them for the days ahead of them. Once He gets back to His homeland, He finds Himself under increasing attacks from His own people. This is one of the last opportunities He’ll have to be alone with His disciples before His crucifixion.

It’s interesting that Jesus goes to the Decapolis because if you remember those people had asked Him to leave their country in Mark 5 when he cast a legion of demons out of a man into a herd of pigs that drowned. The people there had rejected Jesus and forced Him to leave.

Now He comes back and they welcome Him with open arms. Why the change? What made the difference?

That redeemed man went home and told everyone he met exactly what Jesus did for him. He was such an effective witness that the people were eager for Jesus to come back to town, and when He did, they embraced Him.

What an important lesson for us!

It’s actually a great thing that Jesus went back. They turned their backs on Him and He would’ve been justified in never going back. But He went back and gave them a second chance.

Aren’t you grateful that He didn’t write you off the first time?

He keeps on loving; He keeps drawing; He keeps calling; until He gets what He’s after!

In our passage, Jesus comes to Decapolis and the people bring a deaf man to Jesus for healing. Jesus heals this poor man and the crowds marveled. They saw His power and they were amazed.

They said, “He has done all things well.”

I want you to see that He still has the power to amaze those who come to Him. Let’s watch Him work in this miracle and learn the lessons for us.

Let’s pray and we’ll read our text.

Pray!

Mark 7:31–37 ESV

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, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And 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.”

The first thing we notice is:

The condition

We’re told this man is deaf. Now, he may have lost his hearing from and an injury or born deaf. Either way, he can’t hear. Not only was he deaf, but he had a speech impediment. He could speak but his speech was slurred.

And even though his condition is tragic, it’s also a blessing.

Even though this man is handicapped, people around him cared. They heard Jesus was passing through and they brought their friend to Jesus. They believed He could heal this poor, handicapped man.

There’re a few things to think about before we move forward.

· First, there was something in His heart that drew Him to the handicapped.

He loved people who were cast aside by others. Jesus spent much of His time ministering to those with physical infirmities because He had a heart full of love and compassion for their needs.

Besides, handicapped people seem to be drawn to Jesus. And do you know why? It’s because He accepts them and loves them just like they are. They’re looking for that kind of love and acceptance from a society that rejects them because they’re different. Jesus loves them like they are and so should we!

There are many people who would love to hear the Gospel, if someone only cared enough to tell them.

· Second, this passage has to do with heaven.

Those who have suffered so much in this world and have trusted Jesus, will be delivered forever from their wheelchairs, their crutches, their beds and their institutions. Their bodies will be made whole and their minds will be renewed!

· Finally, we’re reminded that the physical healing are only illustrations of what He can in the spiritual realm.

You may have a sound mind and healthy body today. You might not be blind, deaf, crippled, paralyzed or mentally challenged, but if you’re lost, you have a far more serious handicap than any physical handicap ever experienced by anyone in the world.

If you’re lost, you can’t hear God. You can’t see what He’s doing. You can’t serve Him. You can’t walk for Him. Your spiritual body is crippled and if you die in that condition, you’ll be lost forever! That’s a serious condition to be in today!

One of these days the physically and mentally handicapped people who have trusted Jesus will leave their infirmities behind forever. They’ll go to Heaven where they’ll get new bodies and perfect minds.

But, if someone dies without Jesus, they’ll leave this world for Hell! That’s much more serious than any physical handicap a person can endure here!

We see the condition and then

The cure

The people bring this poor man to Jesus and He does a great work in his life. I want us to see how Jesus ministered to this man.

The first thing that Jesus does is take him away from the crowd. Now, the crowd expected Jesus to heal him right then and there. But Christ isn’t going to embarrass this man. He can’t hear the commotion around him, the begging and pleading of the people.

It’s not like other handicaps. You can’t see that someone is deaf. People can often get impatient with the deaf. We had a carrier who was deaf. He could read lips, speak better than a lot of people I know but if he wasn’t looking at you, he wouldn’t know you were speaking.

He did my route while I was on vacation and when I got back, I had someone tell me how rude the mailman was. He wouldn’t answer him and just kept walking even though he was yelling for him. The look on his face when I told him why he didn’t respond.

So, Jesus refuses to make a spectacle of the man. He takes him aside and by doing this is basically saying, “You’re more than a problem. You’re a person and you’re important to me. I care about you!

Jesus doesn’t treat people like they’re just numbers. They’re all individuals. He healed many people but His methods varied:

· He touched a leper

· He put spit and dirt in a blind man’s eyes

· He made one blind man go to a pool and wash

· Others He healed from a distance

Every case was different and every case deserved special attention from the Savior!

He saved all of us the same way with the same blood and the same gospel. But I guarantee that He used different methods in all of our lives. You can’t put Him in a box. He doesn’t always work the same way.

But there is one constant that we can depend on. Jesus cares for you on a personal level. He’ll work in your life in a way that’s unique for you. And that’s what He does with this man.

He can’t tell him what He’s going to do, so He tries to communicate physically, almost like a form of sign language.

He sticks His finger in the man’s ears to let him know that He is going to do something about his deafness. He spits and touches the man’s tongue to let him know that He is going to something about his speech. It’s gross, but that’s what He did!

It’s like Jesus is trying to awaken faith in this man’s heart, trying to get him to understand that something is going to change in his life. Whatever the reason, Jesus reaches out and touches him.

· He touched the sick and made them well!

· He touched the lepers and made them clean!

· He touched the dead and made them live!

Jesus wasn’t afraid to touch the defiled, the unclean. He wasn’t afraid of getting dirty. He knew that sickness and death had to submit to His power.

Jesus just walked up to this poor man and touched him!

When we couldn’t get to Him, He left Heaven and came into this world to die for our sins. We couldn’t touch Him, but He came to our world, lived among us, died on the cross to save us, and He touched us!

He didn’t push us away because of our sins. Instead, He took them upon Himself so that we could be saved. All because He was willing to touch us where we were.

By the way, if we’re going to reach the lost for Christ, we’re going to have to go where they are. We’re going to have to touch them where they live. We can’t isolate ourselves from them. We can’t participate in their sins, but we must make the connection if we want to be effective.

After touching him, Jesus looks toward heaven. It told the deaf man where the healing was coming from. Jesus was looking to His Father and He was telling this man, by sign language, that his healing was coming from above. It also shows the Son’s dependence on the Father.

If we want to be as effective as we can, we must also depend on the Father. We’ll be more effective in our outreach and we’ll be more effective in serving others if we depend on the Lord.

After looking toward Heaven, Jesus “sighed.” The deaf man couldn’t hear the sigh, but he could see Him do it and it spoke volumes to him. The sigh said “I care about you and what you are going through!”

He cares about you and about what you’re facing today. And no matter what it is or how hopeless it seems; you’ll find help and hope in Him.

Jesus’s sigh of compassion comes right after looking towards heaven. Right after He looked to the Father. And anytime that we come into the presence of God, the harshness and sadness of the human experience will become even clearer.

The closer we live to the heart of God the more we can feel the heartache of others! The secret of compassion is a life of close communion with the heavenly Father!

The closer our communion with Him the more effective our ministry to the world around us!

My hopes and prayers are that we’ll develop a heart of compassion for others like Jesus. That our hearts won’t be so self-centered and that we’ll look to the needs of everyone not just those who are like us, think like us, look like us. That we have compassion for everyone. Christ didn’t just come to save me or you. He came to save the world.

One day a little boy came home from school really sad. His mom asked, “Honey, is everything all right?”

He said, “Billy came back to school today and told us that his daddy died. They buried his daddy yesterday.”

Then he said, “Mama, Billy was so upset about his daddy dying that he just cried and cried.”

His mother said, “Well, what did you do?”

He said, “I just laid my head on my desk and cried with him!”

That’s the kind of heart that Jesus had, and that’s the kind of heart that we need!

Then, Jesus said one word, “Ephphatha,” which means “be opened.”

When Jesus said this, the man’s ears were healed and his tongue was set free. He could hear! He could speak! One command, one word from Jesus and his life changed forever!

That’s the power of the Word of God!

· I’ve seen spiritually deaf ears opened by the Word of God!

· I’ve seen spiritually blind eyes opened by the Word of God!

· I’ve seen spiritually dead people raised to life by the Word of God!

· I’ve seen lives changed by the power of the Word of God!

He’s changed my life through His Word

That’s what our Savior can do and He can do that for you today!

We see the condition, the cure and:

The confession

Right after performing the miracle, Jesus tells the crowds to not tell anyone about what He had done. He’s telling them to keep it on the low and not let the word get out. And He keeps on telling them to be quiet, not to tell anybody about it.

But what did they do? They did the exact opposite. He told them to not tell anyone and they told everyone!

And it’s easy to see the contrast between us and them. He told them to tell no one and they told everyone. He’s commanded us to tell everyone and we tell absolutely no one.

We need to be spreading the news that Jesus is a life-changing, soul-saving Lord. And that’s not just me saying that.

· That’s His command.

· That’s our obligation.

· That’s what He’s equipped us to do.

Jesus didn’t tell us to share the gospel just when we feel led to. He expects us to tell the world about Him. So, get up, get at it because you’ve got a story to tell.

We’re told, “And they were astonished beyond measure.”

What they saw Jesus do was more than they could comprehend. It left them with their mouths hanging open in amazement. They summed up what they felt about Jesus by saying, “He has done all things well!”

That statement, what they said was a statement of faith. They looked at all they knew about Jesus and they have their stamp of their approval of Him and His ministry. They considered His miracles and His ministry and they said, “He has done all things well!”

He has done all things well!

I can look back at the past and tell you that He has never failed me! Even while I was lost in my sins, He was patiently leading me along to that moment in time when He would save me.

Since that day, He has been way better to me than I deserve because I’m not perfect and I’ve messed up plenty of times. But He’s blessed me, used me and let me see His power over and over! He has done all things well!

As I stand here and look to the future, it gives me confidence and hope to know that He will continue to do all things well.

· We may not understand all the twists and turns of the road of life.

· We may wonder why some of the terrible events in life take place.

· We may wonder why people have to get sick and others have to die.

We wonder about many of those things. Right now, some of you have question marks as tall as mountains in your mind over certain events and areas in your life. I can’t tell you why life has gone like it has for you.

I will say that if you’re saved, when you leave this world and you stand in His presence in Heaven, you’ll look back over the days of your life and you’ll say, “He has done all things well!”

And, when you stand before Him in glory, your voice will join the chorus of all the saints of all the ages and together will praise Him for His grace and His goodness and we’ll shout, “He has done all things well!”

The man in this text met Jesus that day and his life was never the same again. Meeting Jesus changed everything, forever for this man. He can do the same thing for anyone who will come to Him today!

Why?

He does all things well!

If there’s a lost person here, let me speak to you for just a minute. If you’ll come to Jesus today, you’ll find that He does do all things well. He can save your soul from sin and from Hell. He can change your life. He can give you eternal life.

He does all things well. Come and see for yourself.

Whatever your spiritual condition, whether you’re saved or lost, Jesus can help you today!

· He can deliver you from desperation and despair.

He does all things well.

· He can forgive your sins and help you live a godly life.

He does all things well.

· He can lift your burden and give you peace in your heart.

He does all things well.

“All” is a mighty big word! It covers a lot of territory. But understand, He does all things well. Come to Him and let Him teach you that truth today! He can fix it so you leave here today saying, “Well done!”