Spiritual sight

Good afternoon, let's read in Mark chapter 8 please. There's a few things that I was thinking about in this chapter and I started to read in the context of it and I think it's going to be worthwhile to look at the whole of the chapter. So we'll read Mark chapter 8 starting at verse 1. Mark chapter 8 in verse 1. Mark chapter 8 in verse 1 says, In those days a multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called the disciples unto him and said with them, I have compassion on the multitude because they have now been with me three days and have nothing to eat.

If I send them away fasting to their own houses they will faint by the way for divers or many of them have come from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground and he took the seven loaves and gave thanks and break and gave to his disciples and set before them.

And they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes and he blessed and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat and were filled and they took up a broken meat that was left seven baskets for they had eaten and were about four thousand and he sent them away.

Verse 10, In a straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples and came to the parts of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came forth and began to question him, seeking of him a sign from heaven tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, Why does this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you that there shall no sign be given unto this generation.

And he left them and entering into the ship again departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod.

And they reasoned among themselves saying, Is it because we have no bread? And when Jesus knew it he said unto them, Why reason ye because you have no bread? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand. Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? Why do ye not remember? When I break the loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousands, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

And he said unto them, How is it that you do not understand? Verse 22. And he came to Bethsaida and they bring him a blind man unto him and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.

And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught or anything. And he looked up and said, I see man as trees walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up.

And he was restored and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house saying, Neither go into the town nor tell it to any in the town. Verse 27.

And Jesus went out in his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist, with some say Elias and others one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answered and saith unto them, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him.

But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan or adversary, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul or life? Also translated, Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Now there's a couple of things that I was thinking about from this chapter.

But as I began to read from the beginning, and it is something that is very important when we read God's Word and study it, to look at the things in their context, not just pick out a verse and try and form a doctrine from it, but to consider the context. And in this chapter, even though there are many different things in different places, I like to tie it all together. I think there is somewhat of a theme that runs through this chapter.

So really what I would like to talk to you about today is spiritual perception or spiritual sight. Because sight is one of the key things in this chapter. Really what I was thinking about was this man, this man that was blind, that the Lord Jesus works in.

And we see that this is a very unique miracle that the Lord Jesus performs in this man. Now you might say, why is this so unique? Because he gave other blind men their sight. It's not the first time that this has ever happened.

And that's true. But whenever you see the miracles that the Lord Jesus Christ does, when he heals a person, it's instantaneous and is complete. That is, of course, not what happens today with these people that claim to be able to heal people.

They heal them of a sore tooth and these people, they could barely get up on their crutches and walk and they say they've been healed. But when the Lord Jesus healed a person, he did it perfectly. The man that could that was lame, he didn't have to learn how to walk.

He could stand up, he could jump up on his feet and praise God, right? Was something that was done completely, instantaneously. But here we have a man that the Lord Jesus takes and touches him. And the Bible tells us that he spit on his eyes, put his hands upon him, and he asked if he saw anything.

And the man who was blind could say, yes, I see. I see men as trees walking. And then the Lord Jesus, notice what it says, he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up and he was restored and he saw every man clearly.

So this is, to my understanding, the only miracle that the Lord Jesus does in two stages or in two parts. And I think there's a purpose to it. And the reason that the context is important is because we have just read of the Lord Jesus in the boat with his disciples.

Did you notice the words of verse 18? Having eyes, see ye not? How is it that you do not understand? You see, these men had been with the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were very slow to learn and understand. So possibly the Lord Jesus is really giving an example and illustration of what his disciples were. They didn't see things clearly either.

They didn't understand all the things that the Lord Jesus Christ did. And what we find as far as spiritual understanding, the Lord Jesus Christ has to adjust their vision, their understanding. So that's a little bit of what I like to talk to you about today.

You see the Lord Jesus in the boat, he tells them, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. They'd all just taken part in this great feast. Four thousand people had eaten with just a little bit that the Lord Jesus Christ had blessed.

And it's interesting that they're now in the ship and the Lord Jesus is again speaking about leaven, which of course is in bread. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ warn them of the Pharisees? What is eleven of the Pharisees and eleven of Herod? Well, the Bible tells us eleven of the Pharisees is the doctrine of the Pharisees, the teaching of the Pharisees. You see, the Pharisees were very hypocritical.

They wanted to present to project that they were spiritual leaders of the people when they actually didn't even know God. Not only were they hypocritical, but they were legalists because there were many laws that they were trying to implement and burdening down the people. But not only that, they were unbelievers.

Rank unbelief was part of the leaven of the Pharisees. I take it at this time in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has done many of those works, those signs that really proved who he was.

And here they are asking for a sign. And you notice that when the blind man is healed, he says, do not tell anyone when the Lord Jesus speaks to his disciples and says, do not tell anyone, because that time in his ministry had passed. There was a time when he taught the people and the miracles were performed.

To persuade the people that he was of the truth, the messenger of God, as Nicodemus recognized early on, you are a man that was sent from God because no one can do the signs that you do unless the Lord be with him. But the time came, it was evident in the in the nation of Israel that they were rejecting him. Their unbelief was was an awful thing, as they did not recognize him as a son of God.

John emphasizes two things that they did not receive. They did not receive him and they did not receive his word. They did not recognize who he was, so they saw no value in the words that he spoke.

And the time comes that the Lord Jesus stops public speaking. In the Gospel of John, that's after chapter 12, and then he teaches his disciples. So I take it this is later on in the ministry of the Lord Jesus when people have outrightly rejected him for who he is.

These were the Pharisees who were behind so much of the accusations and the purpose of doing away with the Lord Jesus. You have the leaven of the Pharisees and you have the leaven of Herod. Now from what I was reading, it seems that Herod was actually part of the Sadducees because in Matthew's Gospel it says the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but you all know they weren't on the same page because we have these men who were all taken up with the outward and the legalism and the rules and regulations were likely the Sadducees would actually be more liberal people, more of a sensual people, if we could say it like that, because they thought this was the only life they were going to live.

They didn't believe in resurrection. Isn't that the way it is today? That people don't believe that there is an after this, so they're going to do everything they can to please them today. So you have 11 of the Pharisees and 11 of the Sadducees and the Lord Jesus is teaching them.

He is warning them. And yet they don't understand, they think he's talking about bread. Hope there's nobody hungry here after eating lunch today.

And you notice the Lord Jesus didn't tell them now take a nap and then go. He sent them away. Hope nobody's sleeping today.

You know, the Lord Jesus was teaching them and they were slow to learn. What we find is these men really didn't have spiritual perception. We find that as the Lord Jesus works in these people and this blind man, sorry, he works in stages as a blind man's eyes are opened and then he is made to see clearly.

And what I was just considering was this is these disciples and their difficulty in understanding as the Lord Jesus asked him, who do men say that I am? And Peter freely confesses our art, the Christ. He begins to teach him that the son of man must suffer many things. And what is the first thing that Peter does as it were, he takes him aside and he says, how can this be? He begins to rebuke him.

If you are the Christ, how is it that you are going to suffer and to die? But what, what did Peter preach on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two? When he stands before his people, he says that Christ was delivered up by the pre-determined councils and the foreknowledge of God. You see, his spiritual vision had been made clear with the coming of the spirit of God. These disciples that were so thick headed and didn't understand anything and didn't see anything clearly.

And now they are seeing everything clearly. But really what I'd like to do is try and make an application to us in our lives today. We say that when a person is saved, their eyes are opened.

Blinded eyes are open. We give thanks for the light of the glorious gospel of Christ that penetrates our darkened souls. We come to appreciate and understand why the Lord Jesus Christ came to suffer.

It was because of my guilt, because of my sin. And our blinded eyes are open and we rejoice in that. As you know, sometimes in our lives as Christians.

We need to have our eyesight adjusted. I don't see Norm here was talking to him a while back about glasses. And he said, just wait until you're 40 and then you'll be coming to see me.

Well, I hope he's wrong because I don't really want to wear glasses. But you know, sometimes it's necessarily that we have our eyesight adjusted. Because we like the disciples don't see things clearly or like this man who was blind, his eyes are opened.

But he says, I see men as trees walking. And then the Lord Jesus works again and it says, and he saw every man clearly. So the question is today, how is our spiritual eyesight? Here's Peter, when he hears of the Lord Jesus Christ and what is before him, his suffering, his rejection, his being killed, and rising again after the third day, Peter rebukes him.

Because as far as Peter understood, man ought to preserve himself. He ought to save himself. That's natural self-preservation.

But you see, Peter didn't understand the purposes of God, the purposes of God that were greater than self-preservation. Because as far as the purposes of God for the Lord Jesus Christ, he was going to the cross to deliver himself up to suffering. He must suffer because that was a purpose of God for him in his life.

The Lord Jesus Christ tells him, whoever will come after me, let him deny himself and follow me. This word to deny oneself, if you look it up in Thayer's, to deny oneself is to forget one's self or get this, to lose sight of one's self-interest in one's own, to one's self in one's own interest, to lose sight of oneself. You see, that's the world that we live in and everything is about me.

We live in a self-centered world. But to be a Christian, to follow the Lord Jesus Christ is not a self-centered life. It's actually following the Lord Jesus Christ is denying self.

You see, the Lord Jesus could see things clearly. He could see the big picture. There was no need for his sight to be adjusted.

How are we doing as Christians today? Do we see things as God sees them? That was a problem with Peter. The Lord Jesus, he begins to rebuke the Lord Jesus because of his suffering. He says, get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not.

And this is a sad translation. The only time it's savorous, the rest of the time it says, think or mind. Or if I can borrow from the context, Peter, you do not see as God sees.

You see things that men see them. And the Lord Jesus is adjusting Peter's eyesight. The purposes of God is not that the Lord Jesus would save himself, be spared from being delivered up in suffering and die.

That was God's purpose for him. Peter, you don't understand. You don't see things clearly.

Now, for you and I as believers today, do we see things clearly? Do we see things as God sees them? Do we need to have our spiritual eyesight adjusted? The apostle Peter speaks of spiritual myopia, doesn't he? Being nearsighted. He speaks of being diligent in growing in our Christian faith. And second Peter, about adding to our faith.

But he speaks about those that lose sight of the fact that they have been delivered from the sins of this world. That lose sight of the fact that this world itself is going to be destroyed by fire. That we ought to be striving not for the things of this earth and this world, but for the things that have value in God's eyes.

The things that are eternal. And again, this word translated out, save us not, you do not set your mind. That's the idea.

You do not think like God thinks. You think as a man thinks. And the very same word is used by the Apostle Paul as a reminder of perverse men who mind earthly things.

It's the same word. They mind earthly things. They're not concerned about spiritual things.

They're thinking about what they can do and the pleasure that can be had here and now. They mind earthly things. Again, Colossians chapter three, set your affection.

It's the same word. Set your mind, your affection on things above, not on the things of earth. I was just talking to Kyle or to somebody at the conference.

As gospel preachers, we tell people the only thing that matters is being saved. The only thing that matters in life. That time isn't important.

It's eternity that a person needs to worry about. And yet sometimes as Christians, we do the exact opposite. We get all taken up with the things of time and this earth, and we forget about the things that are eternal.

That's why it's a good thing to have our spiritual eyesight adjusted to set our affections on the things above. And Peter, before he receives the Holy Spirit, he doesn't understand. You see things as man sees them.

But how does a spiritual person see things? The Apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, for which cause we faint not, though our outward men perish. That's a complete opposite of what Peter was thinking. Save yourself, that you do not perish.

Paul says it doesn't matter if this outward, this body perishes. Yet indeed, man is renewed. The inward man is renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us in evermore exceeding eternal weight of glory. And he goes on to say, while we look at the things that are, we look not on the things that are seen. See, Paul's vision was clear, was better than 2020.

We do not fix our attention on the things that are seen, but on the things that are not seen. Because the things that are seen, the things that surround us are temporary. But the things that are not seen are eternal.

I live in the same world that you do. Please understand me. As Kyle says, I live in the same world.

I have the same temptations, the same difficulty. And Ross was speaking about normal Christians. We all live in the same world, and I'm not speaking down to you.

But it's interesting how the devil is so subtle in getting our attention fixed on the things that are earthly. And at the end of the day, they're not really going to matter. When our short life here on earth is over, we'll have to say, you know, really, it was just a waste of time.

The things that we were so taken up with. Is it any wonder that the Lord Jesus says, whoever will come after me, let him deny himself or lose sight of his own interests. His spiritual vision is going to be adjusted to see the things that are the interests of God.

And sadly, the apostle Paul speaks of a man named Demas. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed. That's sad.

But you know, it speaks to us of the reality of the grip that this world would like to have on each and every one of us. Then instead of seeing the things of God and putting value in the things of God and interest in the things of God, we're taken up with the things that are so little value or meaning. The Lord Jesus says, whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever will save his life will lose it. A life that is lived for self fulfillment is going to be a wasted life. In other words, as you notice what it says, whoever will lose his life for my sake and for the gospels, the same shall save it.

Losing everybody is about loss and gain today, right? I won't ask you about your stocks. If you've lost or gained, won't ask you about the mill price. We already know where that's at.

But what about spiritually speaking? Are you losing or are you gaining? Are you living a life for Christ's sake and the gospels? Are you living a life for self? And that is something that we often have to face every day. And I look at my own life. You know, we ought to take decisions based on this, not whether it's going to be good for me, but whether it's going to be for the glory of God.

Whether it's going to have a lasting effect. Or whether it's just going to please me for a little while. And that is a world that we live in.

It's all about here and now. Might the Lord help us not to fall into the same trap. And to be nearsighted when it comes to spiritual things.

To put interest and emphasis where God places them and to make this practical, to make this simple. And I ask you, what are the things that God values? What are the things that God puts interest in? It'd be a little bit of a test to see if we see as God sees or if we see as men see. I think we all understand that God has a great interest in the souls of men.

God's purpose is that all men would be saved. Come to the knowledge of the truth. And yet, how much interest do we have in preaching the gospel and seeing souls saved? If that is one of God's priorities.

Is that my priority? What about the well-being of the Lord's people? The reason I read from the beginning of the chapter was these people had been with the Lord Jesus Christ for three days and he didn't just say, send them home. It says he had compassion on them. And he says they need to eat because if they go as they are, they're going to faint by the way.

And he feeds them and he fills them. What about God's people? God's people need to be fed today. They don't need rules and regulations or legalism like the Pharisees.

They need to be fed from God's word. Do we have an interest in feeding God's people, making sure that they're filled, making sure that they don't go away hungry to have an interest in God's people when a care and a burden for them, that their needs are met? It says he fed them. He had compassion on them.

So the souls of men, the well-being of God's people. And whether this is included or point number three, you can do what you want, but the assemblies of God's people. The Apostle Paul speaks of the assembly in Ephesus as something that was very valuable to the Lord, Jesus is very valuable to God because of the price that was paid, the blood of his son for that little company of believers in Ephesus.

So how much value do I place on the assembly? Do I place enough value on the assembly that I get ready for the Bible reading? That's going to prove how much I value the assembly and feeding God's people. Or is something else more important, I'll let you be the judge of that, being ready to contribute, being ready to pray, being ready to preach the gospel, being ready to teach the people of God. We read of the value that God places on these things.

My God, help us to see the things as he sees them, to value the things that he values. That our spiritual eyesight might be clear. Yes, God has saved us.

Our eyes have been opened. But maybe today he is going to adjust our vision, just like this blind man, so that he sees clearly, you know, what's sad about this, speaking about getting old and losing your eyesight, it works the other way spiritually, doesn't it, for the most part, usually it's people that have grown and aged and matured and have the experience of life that start to see things clearly. But the sad thing is they don't have a lot of time.

Whereas the young people who Lord willing have their lives ahead of them are the ones that often don't see clearly. So I'd like to encourage the young people here today. You think about your life, that if God grants you what is ahead of you.

That who are you going to live for? Are you going to live for self? Are you going to deny yourself for Christ's sake, for the gospel? To live a life that is of some value to God. What a wonderful thing it would be. And that's why I appreciate so much the missionary conference this weekend that people are.

Are made aware. That God is working in so many places in this world. And that there is a need.

And that there is opportunity. And that people might not just have their sights fixed on the things of earth, you know, the degree, the career, the house, and the list goes on. But that there might be some spiritual vision implanted into their minds.

That they might see that there is something that might be done for the glory of God in this world. Though it might mean sacrificing what pleases me. What is for my own pleasure.

For the pleasure of God. To please him. I just share something with you in closing because it's touched my own heart.

Is a man that was saved just a few years ago. Maybe three years ago. Worked in construction.

He worked in the wintertime driving semi. Good jobs making lots of money. As you know, it began to burden him that he was missing so many of the meetings because of his work.

So he was praying to the Lord that God would give him another job. Another job where he would have time to be at the meetings. And wasn't too long.

Someone told him, look, we're looking for someone to work here. But it doesn't pay as much. It's close to home.

And he says, this is the answer to my prayer. Not going to be able to make as much. But I'm going to be at all the meetings.

You know, something that was a little bit of a test for him is he had bought this sports car. Very expensive. While he was working these good jobs, he had no problem making the payments on it.

But if I'm going to take another job where I can be at the meetings and I'm going to have to give it up, I'm going to have to sell it. So he left his job. He got the lower paying job close to home.

You know, it wasn't a week later that his boss called him from the semi driving job. Come back to work. I'll give you double what you were making.

He says, no. He said, I'll give you two thousand dollars a week to come and work for me. Would have been pretty easy to pay off the car and keep it would have been pretty easy to pay the house down, wouldn't it? Come back and work for me.

He said, no. He said, listen, I'm going to give you twenty two hundred dollars a week to come and work for me. Now quit your job and come back.

His prayer was, Lord, I don't want more money. I want more time. And he told him no.

And he's still at the same job and he's still at the meetings. What a test from God. To deny self.

To give up what is pleasing to me. To please God. And I esteem that brother.

I appreciate him because he has spiritual sight. Because he can put value on the things that God values. And he's willing to sacrifice some of the things that would be to please himself.

Might God help us? Again, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever will come after me. Let him deny himself.

Take up his cross. Follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it.

Whoever will lose his life for my sake and the gospels the same shall save it. Might God help us to see things as God sees them?