We're turning this evening to Mark's Gospel, chapter 8 and verse 24. And he, the blind man, looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that, Jesus put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up. and he was restored and saw every man clearly." My friends, my subject this evening is spiritually blurred vision, spiritually blurred vision. You don't need me to tell you that the Lord Jesus did miracles, not one or two. He did many miracles, an uncountable number of miracles, which some of them are recorded. Only a very few, I think, are recorded. Many are not recorded in the Bible. It would take up too many books, John tells us, to record every single one that he did. In three years. So many things, marvellous, mighty, powerful healings and deliverances that he did for people. Or in some cases, he healed and delivered people from the evil one. And when you look at those miracles of his, well, you'll notice, I'm sure, something very simple. But the method that he used was different. He never stuck to the same method in his imparting of healing or deliverance. He often varied the way that he did it. We read of him touching a leper and then saying to him, be thou clean. He spoke. the word to corpses, Lazarus, come forth, or the widow's son, the widow at Nain, her son. He just touched even the brier, and without a word sometimes, or without even a touch. You remember the lady who came up behind and touched his garment? And he touched the back of his garment, the hem of his garment, and she was healed. Of course, he knew. He felt the virtue go out of her, but without a word and nothing in an indirect way, he passed that healing on. And so also you could think of the bread that was multiplied in the hands of Christ, and 5,000 people were fed with five loaves and two fishes. And this is how he worked. He healed sometimes or often people who were right in front of him and within eyesight and people who were beyond his eyesight, people who were a far distance in another city, another town far away. No problem. No problem to him. He could just say a word, go back, your son is healed, go back, the fever is gone, and that people will go back and discover it exactly at the very time when Christ said, your son is healed, that person, that boy was healed from a distance. What amazing things he could do. It's a marvel, isn't it, friends? Marvel that people couldn't really see him for who he is. Marvel, all these evidences presented before the people at Jerusalem and Galilee. He saw so many wonderful things, and yet still, still they didn't believe in him. Well, there was a variety in his methodology. But why? You have to ask. Well, one, it makes it very interesting, and diversity always makes life interesting. But it's also perhaps to prevent people thinking that there was some power in the methodology. You know what people are like. As soon as they see the same thing happening, they want to do the same thing. It's not the person, it's the methodology that's in use. If we can get our hands on the methodology, then we will be able to do the same powerful things that this man does. We have an example of it in the early church where The disciples were casting out devils in the name of Christ, and the seven sons, seven brothers, the sons of one Sceva, they thought they could cast out, oh, if we just say, in the name of Jesus, these demons will disappear. They were not even believers, and they tried that, it didn't work, and the devils jumped on them instead. And it's not just a formula. And Christ wants people to see that the power is not in the methodology. The power is in Him. The power is in Christ. Every healing emanates, comes from His hand, comes from Him. It's His word. It's His touch. It's because of Him that people receive their healing or their deliverance. And this is what he wanted people to see. It's in him. And in this miracle that is before us tonight, as we look at this blind man, we see that Christ also here is doing something a little bit different to the norm. In almost every other recorded healing, not all, but almost every other, the healing was effected immediately. And as soon as the Lord said, be clean, the leper was clean. As soon as the Lord said, receive your sight, the person received their sight. Lazarus didn't take time to get out of that grave. He came out immediately. And the Lord said, come out. But here, it takes place in two stages. And first we see the man, he was blind. He couldn't see a thing. Everything was dark. Everything was blackness to him. Then light, after Christ's first touch, light begins to filter through. And he can see, but not clearly and not distinctly. He says, I see men as trees walking. Then after a second touch of Christ, Now he's able to see everything plainly, everything clearly. Nothing is blurred anymore. All the blurriness is gone. Now I can see men as they are, he says. And tonight, friends, I do not wish to look in any great detail at this miracle. I will say some things, a few things. But I want to really home in on one particular aspect, which this miracle teaches. this aspect of it occurring over two stages. And I wanted to apply it to seekers especially, because when we are seeking the Lord and we want to find the Lord, it may not happen immediately. In some cases it does. But usually it's a gradual coming to know the Lord. This is all about our understanding, our spiritual understanding. We are unable to grasp things when we first hear about it. It may take time and the Lord has to teach us again and again the things and point out things to us until we get it, until we grasp it. And so this is the idea here. So it's to those who perhaps you are in such a position, we could say at stage one, you've come to some understanding of the Lord, but you haven't come to such a point where you are fully believing in him. You're in a halfway stage. You left the world, yes? You know that the world is doomed. You know it's under destruction. You're on your way to Christ, but you haven't quite reached Christ yet. You haven't quite found Him by faith. He's not yours yet as the Lord and Savior. You're not an enemy of Christ. We could say even that you're a kind of friend of Christ, you know, anti-Christ. You lean towards him. You are for him. You're going in that direction. You perhaps think very highly of him. The last thing on your mind would be to blaspheme his name, or let other people do it, even all your friends may do it. I'm not going to do that. That's your way of thinking. You even may have some understanding of the gospel. We cannot say of you that you are completely ignorant of these things. You know some of these things. You know about salvation by grace, but not clearly. You haven't seen it clearly for what it is. You've seen through the world and its empty promises. You've left that behind. But you're still struggling, perhaps, to comprehend the cross and all that a cross means. You see the cross, but it's from a distance. It's from afar. It's a blur to you. You've started your spiritual journey to Christ and to salvation. But you yourself know. You're not there yet. You're seeing men as trees walking. This is what I want to talk about. Well, when Jesus came to Bethsaida, we read here verse 22, Bethsaida was on the northwest point, sorry, northeast point of the Lake of Galilee. And there was this blind man who was brought to him by, no doubt, his friends. It's good to have friends who bring you to church, who bring you to Christ, who bring you to the gospel. Well, these friends brought this blind man to Jesus and implored him. They besought him to touch Jesus. No doubt they had heard that Jesus had touched other people and healed them, and they wanted him to do the same. And ordinarily, he would have complied with their wishes and granted to them what they desired, and he would have touched that person and healed them. But this time, he does something different. He takes the blind man by the hand, and he leads him out of the town and away from the crowd. And friends, that's exactly what Christ does with seekers. That is what Christ does when he brings people, he takes people who are coming to him, he takes them away from the world, away from that pursuit of entertainment that everyone else is going after, away from the materialism that the friends around him are pursuing, away from sinful personal ambition, away from all the noise that is in the world. The Lord is, as it were, maybe through some incident, maybe through an illness or something, he's pulling that person away from these things that they have been stuck in for the earlier part of their lives. He brings them away from that so that he can deal with them in an individual and personal way. And on their own, he can reason with them, and he can begin to teach them the need of their soul, the need of forgiveness, the need to be right with God, and to impress these things upon them. And this is in his kindness. He does that. But it's all very personal, isn't it? This is not just something that the Lord does because he has to. It's an individual interest. Look at how we read, the Lord Jesus took the man by the hand. And the blind man allowed him to do that. The blind man allowed Jesus to take him and lead him wherever he would go. He was already trusting to a certain degree. That's quite a big thing, isn't it? This is a total stranger to the blind man. Here's this stranger taking a hold of his hand, but it's Jesus. It's the Lord Jesus. And so he trusts him and he's sure that he will not be harmed and that he will only do him good. That's how the seeker feels. That's the point the seeker comes to. He doesn't as yet know the Savior personally for himself. He has some idea about him. He's still seeking salvation. But he's sure it's Christ. It's Christ. It's the disposition of his heart. It's for sinners. And surely he is for me. Surely he will do me good, as he has done good to so many others. He knows enough of Christ. to trust him at least to this extent. The Lord put saliva on his eyes, and then he put his hand on the man's eyes. Do you see anything, he says? Oh, yes. I see men as trees walking. Well, this is already a miracle, isn't it? Some miracle workers, if there are any, would have stopped here. That's it, praise God, you're done now. Go back, go home, be satisfied with this blurred vision that you have, this imperceptible, oh, it's not clear though, Lord. Oh, it is a miracle, really, because before all he could see, think if it was darkness and blackness. Now at least he does have some light. He does. He can see some things. He can see men as trees are walking. This was a man who was not born blind. Obviously, he knows what men look like, and he knows what trees look like. He once had his sight, we could say, for sure, but he lost it, which was quite common in Palestine at that time, with all the dust and everything that was blowing in the air at that time. It was a common thing for people to lose their sight. So at some point, he had sight. So at this point, now he has some sight, but every object that he sees is indistinct. That's not going to be much good really to him. So the Lord puts his hands a second time on the man's eyes and made him look up and now the light floods in. And he sees every man clearly. My friends, this is what we want to think of for a little. This is about our spiritual understanding and knowledge. When we begin seeking the Lord, we do not immediately come to find him. The journey is often a gradual one. some understanding we're gaining over the years. Maybe it's an understanding that begins even in Sunday school and we're learning those things and we've probably heard it many times but it hasn't clicked, it hasn't sunk in yet and it hasn't become, importantly, our own yet. And we're still seeking the Lord for clarity. We have some understanding, some knowledge, but it's not clear. It's confused knowledge. And the Lord wants to clear these things up for us so that we can see Him clearly and see the way of salvation clearly as well. Well, it may be, friends, that we are a bit muddled in our thinking about Christ. If you look at the following verses, where Jesus then asked his disciples, after this healing, he asked his disciples when they were in another town of Caesarea Philippi, whom do men say that I am? And one by one, they answered. John the Baptist said one disciple. Another said, Elijah. Some people think you are the prophet Elijah. Another one said, you're one of the prophets. But Jesus said, but whom say ye that I am? And Peter piped up, thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ, verse 29. And friends. To think of Christ as a great miracle worker, like Elijah, or as a great prophet, or as somebody who is a teacher, who is very good, well, that's good. That's a good step and a good view to hold of Him. But it's not a full view of Christ. It's not a clear view of Christ. It's an indistinct view that you have of Him. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the one whom God has promised from the very beginning of time, before the beginning of time even. He is the one whom God has promised to send into the world to take away our sins, the Son of God. Jesus Christ is none other than the Son of God, the one who came from heaven, the one who took our humanity to himself, a human body, a human soul. God became man. That's a tremendous thing. God becoming man. This Jesus is like you and I in every way except for sin. But he is not like us in so many ways. Oh, he was fully man in every aspect, but at the same time, he retained his deity in full. He is fully God, and he's fully man. This is who he is. This is the eternal God, made flesh. When you begin to see that, you're beginning to see and grasp clearly who the Lord Jesus is. But he says, who do you say that I am? What about you personally? How is it with you? He's a good man. He's one of the great religious historical figures that we've ever had. Without a doubt, I can say that you say. One who has taught us to love other people. Yes. You have some understanding, some right understanding of him, but may the Lord himself teach you more, that he is more than this. If you'll just remain there, friends, just with that little bit of knowledge, good as it is, it's not gonna be enough to save a person. You need to know that this man is the savior, and only in him can you find salvation. This is something that he often talked about and revealed himself. He said, I came into this world to give my life as a ransom for many, to save sinners. This is so vital. You may know many of the other titles about the Lord Jesus Christ, but if you're not clear on this particular title, that He is the Savior of sinners, you'll miss the whole point of His coming and the whole point of His being in this world. Oh, friends, there is no one like Him. Have you seen His love? Have you seen His willingness to heal and to help us? There was that leper, and he said, I know you're able, but are you willing to heal me, Lord? I will. He had a doubt in his mind. He knew that Christ had the power, but he didn't see the heart of Christ, that he is love, and he cares for us, the Savior, the Son of God. What greater demonstration could he give to the world that he loves sinners than coming into this world and then suffering and dying on Calvary's cross? Do you see him? There's no one like him, friends. No human being to be compared to him. You see Christianity. It's not about just keeping a set of moral codes, or it is about being saved from sin and from judgment by this Savior. When you see that, you're seeing Him clearly. Oh, this is what we need, to be saved by the hand and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what is necessary. Are you clear on that? Secondly, we could say maybe the purpose of Christ's mission is a blur to us. You know, when the Lord went on here to tell the disciples about the rejection that he was due to face when he went up to Jerusalem towards the end of his life, he said, things are going to end badly. I'm going to be rejected by the religious people. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to die at the hands of men. Peter said, never, Lord, never. That's never going to happen to you. You see, Peter's understanding was wrong about the Lord's mission. The purpose of Christ coming to the world was to suffer, was to die, was to be rejected, was to go to Calvary's cross. That's why he came. Peter thought, no, he misunderstood. And he thought Christ's kingdom was to be an earthly kingdom, and Christ was to rule and to reign, and his kingdom was to be in this world. And the Lord had to correct him. He didn't expect the Lord to say, suffer and die, and he even had the audacity to take the Lord aside and rebuke him for saying such a thing. But he got it wrong, and Christ has to correct him. or seeking friend. It may be that you also, you look at the cross and you believe that Jesus died on the cross, but you cannot fathom the meaning. What does it all mean, you say? You're not in doubt that Jesus died on the cross, but you haven't yet grasped what does it mean that he died on the cross. Perhaps it's your prayer. As the hymn writer wrote, Oh, teach me what it meaneth, the cross uplifted high, with one the man of sorrows condemned to bleed and die. I see it. I see it. I've heard it. I've read about Christ dying on the cross. I've read about him shedding on his blood. But what does it all mean? What is it all? What's behind it all? Why did he have to do that? Explain to me. Well, friends, the main thrust of the cross is substitution. That word substitution. Christ dying in the place of sinners, of those who trust in Him. This is what was happening at the cross. Jesus is taking the place of guilty sinners, making an atonement for their sin. The justice of God is being poured out upon Him. in full, and He takes it all. He takes the place of all those who are trusting in Him, or who will trust in Him, and He's going to pay the penalty for their sin in full. This is what's happening. I deserve to bear the full brunt of God's justice and God's anger, God's fierce anger against sin, God's righteous anger. It deserves to fall on me. It should fall on me. Justice demands that it falls on me. But Christ comes along and says, I will die in the sinner's place. I will bear the full brunt of that judgment. I will bear it on their behalf. Let them go free. Let justice in full pour out its full cup upon me. I will drink it all. I will bury it all so that they may be forgiven their sin and go free." This is what the cross is, friends. This is what it's all about. stepping in where I should have stood, bearing in my place. In that few short hours, he bore what every believer would have borne had they gone to hell in that few hours. And only he could do it as the infinite Son of God. That's why there is only one Savior. I would have crushed us. We cannot say, I would have died on the cross and borne away my sins. We can never do that. Only he could do that. Only he could bear in such a short time what for us would have taken an eternity to pay. But that's the second thing, the purpose we need to see so clearly why he came. But then thirdly and finally, it may be that you are half enlightened in your mind on the terms of salvation. Now salvation is free. God gives it to us as a gift. It's of grace. Yes, we know that. But there are some requirements from God. If God gives you salvation and then you subsequently receive it, or rather put it this way, God will not give you salvation if after you receive it you are intent on living just as you did before you were saved, or before your conversion. He won't give it to you. If you have no desire to change, if there is no intention to change, if there is no will to change and to turn from sin, if you are unwilling to give up your sin, if you want to go on still in your sin after you have believed, you want the blessing of heaven, you want to be forgiven your sin, but you don't want to turn from your sin, He cannot bless you with salvation. If you are unwilling to yield your life to Jesus Christ, You won't have him, friends. These are what we call the terms of salvation, or the terms, rather, of discipleship. And we have that here. And the Lord went on to tell them in verse 34, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and 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 gospel's, the same shall save it. That's not going to win many disciples, is it? You want to come after me, you've got to take up your cross and follow me. But you have to. You want God, you want your soul to be saved, your immortal soul to be eternally saved, and it's worth giving up everything in this world so you may have Christ. This is so important, friends, because there are many sincere seekers after the Lord, and they really want to be saved, but they stall here. They're unwilling to yield their life entirely over to the Savior. They want to hold on. They still want to be the king of their life. I cannot give Christ my whole life. I'll give him an hour on a Sunday. I'll give him some time, but I can't give him my whole life. We may be here, friends, at stage one, perhaps, seeing the need to believe in Christ, to trust in him entirely. Yeah, we see it clearly, plainly, but we haven't realized that we must raise the white flag. And we must make a total surrender of ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, there's that New Testament example of the rich, young ruler who came to Christ. He had everything, isn't it? Rich, young ruler. He was rich at a young age. Probably that he had worked hard for it, I think. I feel sure of it. He was young. It's lovely to be young and energetic and have your health about you. And he was a ruler, even at a young age. He was a person who had reached the top. He was obviously a successful young man. And he came to the Lord Jesus. It was also a religious side to him. He came to the Lord Jesus and he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And after a little bit of conversation, the Lord said, sell everything that you have and give to the poor. And he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. Lord, you're losing a convert here. Don't do that. He did it. This is what the Lord said. This is the terms. You want me? You want eternal life? This is the terms of discipleship. You've got to give up your riches and come and follow me. Now the Lord doesn't say that to all of us, but this man's idol was his riches and he was unwilling to give it up. And that's why the Lord put his finger on this particular idol that was in his heart. And he went away, and we're sad. We read, and the Lord loved him. Also, we read there in, I think it's Mark's gospel. But that young man, he was there, ready, willing. Everything was there just right. But at one last stage, it was at stage one, we could say. But at one last stage, he couldn't yield himself over to Christ. Well, friends, it's so vital. that we repent of sin. We want Christ. We want salvation. These are blessings that God is willing to give us. Don't be like that Old Testament prophet Balaam. Balaam, he said, he wanted to die the death of the righteous. He wanted the blessing of going to heaven. But he also wanted to live in an unrighteous way while he was on the earth. He loved mammon. He loved riches. And he couldn't give that up. This is what the Lord looks for from us, friends. Do you see this clearly? I trust in Christ. I repent of my sin. And at the same time, I yield myself over entirely to Him. Lord, be my Lord. Be my King. Be my Lord and my Savior. This is how I take you. Whatever you say to me, I will do. Where you lead me, I will follow. I am your disciple now. My will is to do your will. This is how the person responds. Oh friends, that's the second stage. You've seen it now. You come to that point, you've seen what it is to believe truly in the Lord. It's not just a mental thing in the head. Yes, we believe with the mind, But then also, with our will, we yield it over to him. Well, may the Lord Jesus Christ, who led this man so personally, so kindly, so gently by the hand, may he lead you wherever you are in your journey to Christ. May he lead you further on. May he lead you to himself. He's already taught you so much. He's already imparted much knowledge to you. Let him take you on to full salvation and to a full and right standing with yourself. May he clear away all the blurriness. May he clear away all those indistinct things that are preventing you from coming through to know him. May he give you a clear spiritual eyesight and grant to you that full salvation. Let's pray together. our loving God and Heavenly Father, we once again thank you that you condescend to teach sinners in the way. And such teaching and such enlightening we need by your Spirit to be given to us. Oh, clear away the darkness. Only speak the word, Lord, and say, let there be light to us and make things plain. And Lord, if we are struggling even in certain areas, We pray that you would overcome our difficulties and struggles and help us to come wholeheartedly, willingly, and yield ourselves entirely over to our Savior. Bless us with these things that we desire from you, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Let's close by saying, amen.