Turning tonight to the Gospel of Mark, continuing our series entitled The Touch of the Master's Hand. Tonight we want to look at another incident in which the Lord Jesus put forth his hand and touched the afflicted by that healing touch. He was able to cure and indeed bring health to the afflicted. The verse of Scripture that we want to consider tonight is verse thirty-three of Mark chapter seven. There we read in verse thirty-three, And he took him, that is the man that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. He took him aside from the multitude, put his fingers into his ears and he stepped and touched his tongue. There again we have the touch of the Master's hand. When writing about the Master's return to Galilee from the courts of Tyre and Sidon, Matthew informs us, the great multitude came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, lame, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet. And he healed them. Matthew 15 verse 7. Here we are given a glimpse of the great physician at work, healing the blind and the lame and the dumb and the name and many others. And what a tireless worker he was, highlighted by the words in our reading. Verse 31, and again, departing from the coast of tired and stifled, he came unto the sea of Galilee, and again. I wonder how often we would find that little phrase in Mark's Gospel, and again, and again. He was a tireless worker, tireless physician. He had gone to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, there to rescue the daughter of the Sardis, an ancient mother. But he did not rest there. He did not stay there very long, because we read, and again he came unto the Sea of Galilee. He did so because he had many more patients to see. He had the blind to see. He had the dumb and the name and the lame to heal. Again he left the borders of fire inside him. He came to the Sea of Galilee like a shepherd. He travelled away up north, north of the Sea of Galilee, in search of one sheep that was lost. When he had rescued that sheep, he again makes his way to Galilee, because there were more lost sheep to be found. He goes and searches them. When he reaches Galilee, there is no rest for him there. Having gone up into a mountain and sat down great multitude came unto him. It seemed as though there was not one moment for the Saviour to rest, for once he had sat down, a great multitude came unto him. And as a multitude came to the Lord Jesus Christ, they came to him from every direction. And they came bringing with them, they brought with them the lame. They brought with them the blind and the dumb and the named and many others. The Lord Jesus, the great servant, was pleased to heal every single one of them. Not one of them was turned away. The Lord Jesus did not say, I cannot see you today, I am too tired, I am too weary to see any more patients today. No. They came to him in a multitude and he healed every one of them. In other words, he saw everyone, he interviewed everyone, he touched everyone, he healed every one of them. He had time for everyone that was brought to Him that day on that hillside. The Lord Jesus always has time for us. He always has time for sinners. The lame, He has time for them. The blind, He has time for them. The dumb and the lame, He has time for them and many others. Sinner, it is time for you." He was never weary of sinners coming to him. And then the multitude brought the afflicted to the Lord Jesus. They brought the afflicted to Christ, trusting that he would heal the blind and the lame and the lame. Their trust was in him, and their trust was not necessary. He healed them all. Some physicians may specialize in heart surgery. Others may specialize in eye surgery. They have their own specific field that they specialize in. But oh, when you look at this physician, He specializes in every field, every medical field, every need. The man is afflicted with, Jesus Christ is able to take care of that need. He is indeed the specialist. Whatever our need is tonight, whatever your need is tonight, you can go to Jesus Christ with confidence. You can trust Him to meet your needs. You can trust Him to save your souls. You can trust Him to wash away your sins. Your trust will not be misplaced. While Matthew gives us, as it were, a panoramic view of that scene outside Galilee, Mark is pleased in his gospel to focus our attention on one man. Out of that multitude of lame and blind and half and many others that were brought to the Lord Jesus, a multitude of afflicted people, Mark focuses our attention on one man. One man, we are told, who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. as Mark puts it, and they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, verse thirty-two. And for this pure soul, that was a day I would believe he would never forget, because in the sight of that mountain, he experienced the touch of the Master's hand and the touch of the Master's hand changed his life completely. And oh, may some soul tonight experience that same life-changing touch of the Master's hand. Let us take a closer look at this individual and indeed this incident. First of all we notice the man and his trouble. The man and his trouble. As we have seen from the words of Matthew, there were many in that hillside that day who had many troubles. And they did the wisest thing of all. They brought their troubles to the Lord. They brought their burdens to Jesus Christ. And my mark draws our attention to one of those troubled souls that met the Saviour on that mountainside. One who came to the Lord Jesus Christ, one whose life heart and soul is changed. Notice regarding this man his approach. What do we read in verse thirty-two? And they bring on to him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. Do we have this man's approach And how he approached the Lord Jesus Christ, Mark tells us, and they bring unto him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. Here's a word for God's people. Who these people were that brought this man to the Lord Jesus, we don't know. perhaps his friends, maybe members of his family, perhaps someone else who just saw him and said this man needs to be brought to Jesus Christ. He's there and he has an impediment in his feet. We're not told, we're not given the identity of those who brought this man to the Saviour, but what we do know is They brought him to Christ. Now we are told by Matthew there was a multitude of people there. But Mark says, and they bring unto him one. These unknown helpers of this man could say, well I brought one soul to Christ. I may not have been able to bring many, but I brought one. Would these words not be then a challenge to us all? How many have we brought to Christ? Would these words not challenge us to endeavour to bring at least one soul to the Saviour? It is the day of opportunity. It is the day of grace. The door of grace is still open. Jesus is passing this way. Just like the man that brought this dumb man and tongue-tied man to the Savior, they had to seize the opportunity. They didn't know how long the Savior was going to be there. While they were there, they endeavored to bring this one soul to Christ. Believer, may we endeavour this year to bring one soul to Jesus, one soul, and be brought unto him once. Let us make it our prayer. Lead me to some soul today. Oh, teach me, Lord, just what to say. And friends of mine are lost and sinned and cannot find their way. Here there are who seem to care, and here there are who care." No doubt this man would have been most thankful that his friends, whoever they were, brought him to Jesus that day. Dearly beloved, tonight the soul that we bring to Jesus Christ will be eternally grateful. He'll thank us forever for bringing them to this world. Not only do we have his approach, we also have his affection. Most of those who were brought to Jesus that day had singular afflictions. It was the lame, the hunk, the blind, and the deaf. But we look at this man and we see that he had a double portion of afflictions. For we are told in verse 32 that he was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. The word there, impediment, means that he spoke, but he spoke with great difficulty. He wasn't deaf and dumb, But he spoke with great difficulty. I remember the days that I had an impediment. He spoke with great difficulty. So in that sense, we can identify with this man. Nevertheless, he stood before the Lord as a man the healing touch of the Master's hand. If he was going to be saved from all this trouble, what needed to happen to this man? He needed the Lord to open his ears because faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. He needed his ears open to hear the Word of God. And what else did he need if he was going to be saved? Why, he needed the Lord to touch his tongue. Because Paul says in Romans 10, 19, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, I shall be healed." But how could he hear? Because he was deaf. And how could he speak? He confessed to the Lord Jesus. He did his ears open in the name of the Lord that touched his tongue. There are many today That's where they need the touch of the Master's hand also. You need the Lord to unstop their deaf ears, because they're deaf to the call of the Gospel. They're deaf to the call of the Gospel and the preaching of the Word. You need the Lord to touch their tongue because they have great difficulty in accepting the Lord Jesus. Go let the Lord come and touch the deaf ears tonight, and touch the stammering tongues. Senators tonight might indeed believe, hear and believe, and confess Christ as their Savior. Let me notice something else. Notice the appeal. This man had his troubles. Thankfully, he also had his friends because they brought him to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we are told, And they beseeched him to put his hand upon him. They beseeched him, the Lord Jesus, to put his hand upon this man who was deaf and had the impediment in his Why, when you look at this man's friends, he had the very best of friends. Because the best friend the man has is the man that prays for him. And this man had the best of friends because they sought the Lord on his behalf and prayed They besought him that the Lord would put his hand upon him regarding this appeal or this prayer. We notice it was a burdens prayer. Evidently, this man's companions were concerned about him. They were concerned about him. They took time to bring him to the Lord Jesus and they took time to pray to the Lord on his behalf. I wonder how many people there are in this world that have others praying for them. Maybe we know of someone. Maybe there's someone even upon our own hearts tonight, and we are burdened for them, and we pray for them every day. We beseech the Lord to put his hand upon them and to save them by his grace. My friend, if someone's praying for you, even as we were singing tonight, personally pray us for you as a best friend you have. Not only was it a burdened prayer, it was a believing prayer. They would have thought the Lord believed that there was power in the touch of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the touch of the Master's hand. They believed the Lord was able to heal this man. Why else would they pray to him? Why else would they beseech him? Why else would they say, put thy hand upon them? They believed that there was power, healing power, life-changing power in the hand of Christ. They believed. That's what it's all about. So the Lord Jesus said to the blind man who came to him, and asked, the Lord gave us to heal the blightness, to have mercy upon us. O Lord, my son of David, what did the Lord say to them? The Lord said, Believe ye that I am able to do this? And they said unto him, Yea, Lord, yea, we believe. who had a son who was limited, and brought his dear son to the Lord Jesus, and asked the Lord to heal him, deliver him. The Lord said to him, I can't believe all things are possible. To him that believeth. And the Father responded by saying, I believe. Help thy my unbelief." Dear child of God, when we're praying for souls, we need to pray believing. We need to pray believing. The companions of this man who was deaf and had the impediment in the speech, they came to the Lord and they prayed believing. They believed there was power in the touch of Christ. That soul that we're praying for may be far from God, may be deep down in sin. But when we pray for them, we need to pray believing. We need to cry out, Lord, I believe. Help thy my unbelief. Not only do we have the man and the trouble, but we have the Master and his But after bringing this man to the Lord Jesus and beseeching the Lord on his behalf, we are told what happened next. We go to verse thirty-three. Verse thirty-three we read, And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue. Mark the word. And he took him. The Lord sat with him. And he took him. You know, there's never been a soul that the Lord Jesus has turned away. Every soul that has been brought to Christ, every soul that has ever come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord has taken them. The Lord has received them. The Lord has embraced them. When the drunkard came to Christ, he took him. When the blasphemer came to Christ, he took him. When the harlot came to Christ, he took her. When the murderer came to Christ, he took him, too. Yes. And when the churchgoer came to Christ, he took the churchgoer, too. And when you come to Christ, My friend, he'll take you as well. He will accept all comings, all comings. For he has said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And all that cometh to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. The Lord Jesus will receive and take in all comings. as he did this man. Not only do we have his acceptance, we have his attention. Look at the attention he gave to this man. For it says again in verse 33, And he took him aside from the multitude. And the Lord Jesus dealt with individuals always deal with them in exactly the same way. Here on this occasion, he took the man, we are told, and he took him aside from the moment should attend the rest. You don't read of the Lord Jesus doing that before. He did it with this man. The word aside is found in three other places in Mark, only translated in a different way. In Mark 4, verse 34, the same word is found there translated alone. In Mark 6, verse 31, the same word is translated apart. In Mark 6, verse 32, same word is translated privately. And so the Lord Jesus took this man and He took him aside and He dealt with him alone and He dealt with him in private. It is just Christ and the man alone. Sometimes the Lord, in his providence and according to his sovereign will, will, instead of touching some soul at the meeting, where there are many people, he will instead take them apart. He will take them aside. And he has in the past taken men and women aside and led them on a bed of sickness and dealt with them there. Other times he has taken them aside and brought them into the house of mourning and he has dealt with them there. The Lord Jesus has his own ways of dealing with individuals. And He can take us aside and be with us in that way, in a personal distance. And of course, it doesn't matter whether we meet with Christ in the meeting, or on our sickbed, or even on a deathbed. It's still a personal meeting between Jesus Christ and His Savior. Not only do we have his attention, but also his actions. Verse 33 and 34. He took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers into his ears, and stepped and touched his tongue. And looked up to heaven, he sighed, and said unto him, Ask the South, that is, be open The Lord Jesus dealt with this man in a most... He thrust his fingers into his ear. We're told then that he stopped the man, touched the man, Many commentators have speculated as to why the Lord healed the man in this peculiar way. It all gives its own opinion, but really the truth of the matter is, no one really knows. And what we learn from this is, We really know very little of the ways of the Lord. We know very little of the ways of the Lord. This ought to encourage us, we who know him, to pray, Lord, teach me more about thee. Teach me more of thy ways. We notice when the Lord Jesus put his fingers into his ears and stood and touched his tongue, we are told the Lord Jesus looking up to heaven, he sighed. Or the word means he groaned or was grieved. Why was he grieved? Why did the Lord sigh? So why did He groan? What grieved the Master? I believe that the Lord Jesus was grieved. When He looked upon this prayer solely with death and had the impediment in a speech, He was grieved when He saw what sin had done to mankind, and in particular to this man and to his life. Or that grieved the Lord. This man's plight grieved the Lord. My, how this teaches us of the Lord's own personal interest in individuals and individual sinners. My, when he sees souls given over to sin, as it grieved him that day. My sinner friend, tonight Jesus Christ is interested in you as he was interested in this man. Not only do we have his sigh, we have also his saying. Because the Lord Jesus, looking up to heaven, he sighed and saith unto him, Ephesah, that is, be open. The Lord is good at opening things. He opens the eyes of the blind. He opens the ears of the deaf. He opens the mouth of the dumb. He opens the heart of the unconverted. He's able to open windows in heaven. He's able to open doors that no man can shut. He's a great opener. He speaks with authority. He whom the winds and seas obey can open eyes and He can open your eyes tonight. He can open your eyes to see what He did for sinners on Calvary. Then you have the messengers and their testimonies. We read in verse 35, And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed. And he spake plain, and he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more, a great deal they published. The Lord is not only addressing the man whom he had just healed, but he's evidently addressing those who had brought him to Christ because it says he charged them. Notice the change in this man. The Lord Jesus touched his ears. Mark says that he spake plain. That's the change. A few verses before it says he had an impediment in his speech. He couldn't speak plain. And he was deaf. He couldn't hear. But when he felt the touch of the Master's hand, he was changed. He spake plain. What a wonderful change was wrought in this man's life through the touch of the Master's hand. And all who have been touched by the saving power of Christ can sing what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought. Since Jesus came into my heart, I have light in my soul for which long I had sought. says, Jesus, come into my heart. My friend, that change can take place in your life as well if you would but come to Jesus Christ. Not only the change, but the charge. Once more, after the Lord had healed the afflicted, He gives this charge. Verse 36, He charged them that they should tell no man. But the more He charged them, in other words, He didn't charge them just once. He went on. The Lord Jesus was pleading with them. They would publish it. He would charge them again. They would go on publishing it and he would charge them again. Tell no man! Why did he tell them that? Greek scholars tell us that the words, and he charged them that they should tell no man. Those words are in the middle voice, showing the charge was given with the personal interest of the Master in view. It was for his sake, it was for the Saviour's sake that the Lord Jesus charged the man and his companions, not to tell anyone. It was for the Lord's sake. Why was that? Well, Matthew tells us that multitudes came to him. And the multitudes were growing. And because the multitudes were growing, they were hindering the Lord in his work. And it was for his sake that the Lord Jesus said, Tell no man. When we touch or when we experience the touch of the Master's hand, when the Lord saves us by his grace, one of the first things we must learn We consider that last week, one of the first things we must learn is obedience to Christ. We are to obey His Word. And remember, it was for His sake. In other words, they were to put the Lord first. They were to come second. The Lord must be first. It was for His sake. He told them the same of it. May we, as believers, tonight put the Lord first and do all things for His sake. Then you have the confession. For we are told that when the people heard what was said about the Lord Jesus and what He had done for this man, it says, verse 37, and we are beyond measure astonished, saying, He has done all things well. He make us both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. He has done all things well. The drunkard is made sober. Aye, we can say, the Lord has done all things well. When he makes the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, we can say he has done all things well. When he makes the lame to walk, the halt to run, the dead to live, we can say he has done all things well. When he makes the harlot pure, the drunkard sober, the filly swine. We can say He has done all things well. And when He lets the sinner out of the mire, washes him in His own blood and presents him faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, we can say He has done all things well. For all eternity, we will sing to that end, now in a song of grateful praise. To Thee, O Lord, my voice I'll raise. With all the saints I'll join the tale. My Saviour, cast on all things well. And above the rest this note shall swell." This note shall swell. My Jesus cast on all things well. That's what it is to experience the touch of the Master's hand. He doeth all things well.