Mothers, you know, it seems accomplish more in one hour than a guy like me can accomplish in an entire day. Amen? And they have so much on their mind and so much on their plate. honor and thank the mothers around us and give them the respect that they do deserve. And I think it's very, very important, especially in this confused day and age that we live in, that we emphasize and graciously, lovingly remind the world of biblical motherhood and that we are willing to model that to the world as the Church of Jesus Christ. Godly motherhood is something, I believe, to be celebrated. uh... to be honored and never to be ashamed of for sure it's you're thinking uh... about a homemaker That is a career, too, really, if you think about it. A homemaker creates more wealth, saves more money, accomplishes more tasks, courageously endures against all odds, and achieves more success and praise than maybe any high-paying career could ever afford. And so we ought to be thankful for those who've made those sacrifices. Amen? Now, having said that, tonight, though, we do want to rather take a closer look at our Savior Himself. You know, one thing that we need to be careful of as we encourage the perspectives and values that the Lord teaches us and that have been tried and proven for generations to work best for our families, for our societies, and give the most fulfillment and joy for us as individuals, We have to remember that ultimately, though, it is not just about these perspectives and values and considerations. Christianity is not just a how-to manual, you know. Ultimately, it's all about a person, isn't it? It is about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, about our Savior. And so that's why I love taking always a closer look at our Savior. He is always worthy of our praise, our attention, and our adoration. It is from the Lord Jesus Christ that we learn how to truly care, that we see how He really had a great heart for children especially. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ where we point children specifically, but really everyone too, as the anchor and that solid rock for their souls. to rest and find peace. And it's when we look at the Lord's words, His actions and His love that He has for every child of God, whether they're a mother or not. And it is that that will carry us through each and every day in victory and in joy. So that's why we tonight want to look here in Mark chapter 8 and verse 22 at a very unusual healing event. A very interesting, very fascinating account that the Lord Jesus Christ had. And I'm so thankful for the accurate records that we have about the Lord's life. Four different perspectives, four gospel accounts of this historical life of God manifested in the flesh. And folks, I'm thankful for the honesty. I'm thankful that the Word of God never shies away from any details that would matter because the Word of God is truthful. The Word of God is so honest. You know, if you or I, if a mankind would have come up with a Bible in their mind, that I can guarantee you, it would have looked completely different. our heroes like Paul, or like David, or like Moses, and so many others, or like Peter, they would be faultless, you know? They would always do everything right, they'd know all the answers, and you know, we would probably have a tendency to shy away from the faults and failures and weaknesses that are part of our humanity, but not so in our Bible. Praise the Lord for that, Amen? And I want to begin reading there Mark chapter 8 in verse 22 down to verse 26. We'll pray and then break down these verses here. Mark chapter 8 verse 22. And he, Jesus, and he comes to Bethsaida. And they bring 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. And he looked up and said, I see men 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. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, I pray, Lord, You'd bless us. Lord, You'd minister to our hearts through this very unusual encounter that we have in Your Word. And Father, I pray You'd help us to understand it. Lord, I pray You'd strengthen our weary bodies and You'd just take away all the distraction of the week. And Lord, lift our hearts and our minds up, have words towards You in worship and in just more love to Thee, Father, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to first point out here a familiar location, a familiar location in Bethsaida. The name Bethsaida means a house of fishing and was this fishing village there located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is still one of the major landmarks there in Israel. Three of the Lord's closest friends, his disciples, Philip, Andrew and Peter, who were fishermen, came from Bethsaida. We'll read in John chapter one. The town of Poseidon is mentioned in the Gospels by name at least seven times. And we find that the Lord performed many powerful miracles in that area. For example, the feeding of the 5,000 is in the proximity of Poseidon. The healing of the blind man as we read here in Mark 8. The walking on water that the Lord did in Mark chapter 6 is in this area as well. It was to the era of Poseidon where the Lord went to have a little bit of a break and allow his disciples to grieve after John the Baptist was murdered by Herod. So now he was back in that town again. And we find here in this location of Poseidon that secondly there were some friends that cared. There were some friends that cared. Notice there again in verse 22. And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. This blind man obviously had a struggle to find his way to the Lord Jesus himself. And maybe he hadn't heard about him. Maybe he couldn't find where he was. But the fact of the matter is, he had some friends. He had some people that cared about him. They were the ones bringing him to Jesus. They had the faith in their hearts to say, you know what, if anyone can help our blind friend who's suffering, you know what, it would be this Jesus. Jesus has all the answers still today, amen? And they asked the Lord Jesus to touch him, to heal him and restore him. and they cared deeply about their blind friend. They cared enough to tell him what they knew about Jesus, and they cared enough to tell them who they knew. They had seen what Jesus could do, apparently, or at least heard, and so they encouraged his faith. Maybe for years, they'd taken care of his needs, and they continued to care again and again, maybe hoping, maybe praying, that something would improve and here was the opportunity for their friend to be made whole. But we also see how Jesus cares as well. Jesus cares. Now, how can you and I care for our friends? How can you and I maybe bring them closer to Christ? And, of course, that is through being that witness, through being that pointing sign, so to speak, towards the Lord. And letting them know, you know what? Because we love, because we care for them, the best thing that could ever happen to them is if they encounter the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the best thing that's ever happened to us. Why would we keep it, amen? Why would we not want those that we love to experience the same thing and receive salvation, receive forgiveness of their sins, receive that peace that goes beyond human rational understanding and have a home in heaven. In the New Testament, there's a person called Epaphras in Colossians 4 verse 12 that cared for his friends as well. It says there, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record that he hath a great seal for you and them that are in Laodicea and them in Heriapolis. Epaphras is a New Testament example of someone who cared so much for his friends that he would pray for them. He would bring their names to the throne of Jesus. We see here how Jesus cares deeply for friends who cared for their friend, Amen? I believe Jesus is touched by their concern and their care for the blind man. And he's willing to listen and to act upon their request In Galatians 6 verse 12, the Lord encourages us, We bear one another's burdens, not by sharing them with each and every person, not by spreading them and gossip everywhere. No, the best way we bear one another's burdens is to care and to be there for those who are hurting and struggling, but more so to bring them to the one who can do something about it. And that is the throne of the Father in heaven above. Amen? And so these Friends, they care their blind man's burden as well, and they care for him and bring him to the Lord Jesus. And Jesus cares for the man that is suffering there with his disability, his blindness. And we see here how tenderly he treats him. Notice in verse 23. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. Now we'll look at one reason here why he may have done that, but I think at least some part of the reason is that he saw the blind man's need and he cared for him. He needed to be taken aside, away from all the crowds so that he could focus his full attention upon that person's need. He needed to be taken away maybe from all the chit-chatter and all the attention of the crowds in order to fully focus on the Lord and to not be intimidated by what do other people think or how are they gonna react, what are they gonna say? Jesus knew exactly what the person needed, this man, and he tenderly takes him by the hand. And he leads them away from the crowds and deals with them individually. How compassionate, how loving the Lord is here with this man's need. But then number three tonight, I want to notice a God forsaken place, so to speak. You know, you've probably heard that phrase used before, oh, that's just such a God-forsaken place. And, you know, it does seem, in a sense, Busaida was indeed such a town, a God-forsaken town. And I believe there's great significance that the Lord let this person out of the town. The Lord had done many great miracles in that area, and yet the people continued in chronic unbelief. They kept continuing to reject The offer of love and forgiveness and of salvation that Jesus was reaching out to them. So in Matthew chapter 11, we see how beforehand the Lord had pronounced His judgment upon them because of them. He had condemned that town of Bethsaida for the hardness of heart. And for their continued unbelief in the face of so many mighty miracles. Matthew 11 in verse 20. Matthew 11 verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not. They refused to turn to the Lord. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Besidah! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon that they have judgment than for you." Now Tyre and Sidon were basically some of the epitomes of, you know, wickedness and God-forsakenness and God-rejection. So I believe that may be part of the reason why the Lord does not perform that miracle there in that town. He takes him out of the city. He would not allow any further to that town that had rejected him so completely in the face of such great evidence, such convincing and convicting manifestation of the power of God. but he still had compassion and showed kindness upon the individual. Amen? Do you notice that here? How the Lord is still so tenderhearted and so kind to this individual who's seeking out to him in faith. Now, number four, as we move along here and go back to Mark chapter eight, we see this very unusual healing method. in Mark chapter 8 in verse 23. Now we have another occasion where the Lord has done something similar before and we're not given all the exact reasons why the Lord healed in this particular manner. There's so many times where He just touches someone or He just says, you know, thy faith has made thee whole and they're healed. But here he sees fit to do this in a unique, in a different way. And he's not spitting on that person's face. We see here how he's with his spit on his hand touching his eyes. We're not exactly explained why he would use this unusual way. I think there's two or three different reasons we could conclude that that could be possibly part of the reason. The first one is I believe there may have been some possible partial belief. It may have been still some doubts in that blind man's mind. Maybe there were some, you know, some spiritual forces at place that were trying to hinder his faith and discourage him. Maybe he was still hesitant, you know, to believe the message of his friends. Hey, this Jesus can actually help you. And so in his compassion, the Lord may have first encouraged his faith to restore his sight partially. And as he realized, whoa, this is actually working. This Jesus is powerful enough to help me. That his faith got encouraged to trust him fully for healing. It could also be that we see here a picture. A physical picture of how our spiritual understanding happens many times in a gradual growth process as well. We, of course, talked about that already this morning a little bit. But so many times our spiritual illumination, so to speak, happens in steps. The disciples themselves were suffering from some of that partial spiritual blindness, so to speak. Just a little bit ago, the Lord had to rebuke them and said, Perceive you not, having I see you not. In verse 17 and 18, He's like, it's all so out in the open for you to see and you're not getting the message. How about you? But I'm there many times myself, amen? The Lord's word is so clear. He lays it all out there. All I have to do is trust and obey. All I have to do is step up by faith. And yet, you know, I'm hesitant, right? And so the Lord is so gracious to encourage his faith there. Again, in John 16, verse 12, the Lord said to his disciples, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. I think, though, this could very well be also a picture of how this whole nation of Israel, and maybe particular to those people there in the town of Poseidon, were seeing the Lord Jesus. They were seeing him very foggy, very unclear. They were seeing him only partial. Notice there, as we go back to Mark chapter 8, it says there in verse 24, And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. He could see some silhouettes, some figures that he could not distinguish before. Maybe it was just that he had some distinction between light and darkness of sorts. But it was still a bit foggy. It was still not completely clear eyesight there in that first step. And we find that spiritually speaking, for the nation of Israel, that's happened as a whole as well. And in Romans chapter 11, we read about that in verse 25. It says there, For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits. Notice. that blindness, in part, is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written. Now there will come the day where that partial spiritual blindness, so to speak, that veil will be taken away. And the whole remnant of Israel, as verse 5 says in Romans 11, will finally see the Messiah as He is, the crucified one, and their Redeemer. the one who sets them free from the power of sin and evil, from the power of death and hell. And until then though, many do not have the full clear picture of who the Lord is. To a degree, you and I are in a similar state. If we turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, There's so much that we still don't fully know or see or understand about God. And you know what? That is okay. We can still learn. And we can look forward to the day, as 1 John chapter 3 says, where we will see Him as He is. Amen? But until then, we understand a lot of things just by faith. We, as it says there, we now see through a glass darkly. but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known. And so our understanding, our perception of God is is in a sense limited. We maybe see his outline to a great degree here revealed to us in the Bible, but there's so many details that we still can't fully clearly see yet. And one day the day will come where we will see him fully as he is and that foggy glass, so to speak, will be taken fully out of the way. And once we enter his wonderful presence in heaven, we'll see him face to face. Once Christ comes, not just in his first coming, as he did there on earth, but finally in his second coming, he'll be revealed, not just as a loving Savior, not just as that sweet baby in the manger and the sacrifice and the redeemer for our sins. Then Jesus will also be fully revealed as the King, as a ruler of all nations, as the sovereign ruler of the universe. I find it interesting here though, if we go back to Mark chapter 8. I so appreciate your attention here on this warm day. What I want to notice there in verse 25. After that, he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up, and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. You see, there was never a question about the power and ability of Jesus to heal this man fully and instantly and restore his sight. I mean, he is the one who created the eye, amen? But notice there, after the second touch of the Lord, he caused this man to look. And I have to stop there and contemplate this a little bit. So many times when we can't see things clearly ahead, you know, there's times where in our life we can barely even see the next step ahead, right? And it seems all so obscured in darkness or in fear or in uncertainty and doubt. being pushed from left and from right and it may feel like the waves are caving in as the old saying goes and you know when I can't go left and right when forward and backward I don't know which way to go the best thing to do is always to look up to look up when I can't see clearly, when I'm confusion and doubt and despair, when things are foggy in life, the right thing, the best thing to always do is to make sure I look up to my Savior. Amen? Folks, that is why I say and Lord, by God's grace, will say until my dying day, make sure you settle in your heart and mind right now, right here, in the good days, so to speak, where our faith may be strong, hopefully, They would say, you know what? I settle in my heart and mind that my God is good. My God is good. And no matter what, I refuse to ever doubt that. Because in the day of darkness and fogginess and of despair and pain and discouragement, in the trials of life, in the dark shadowy valleys, Psalm 23 says, you know what, our Lord is right there with us, the Good Shepherd, leading us along, but in the fog, we may not realize where He's holding our hand, and we may doubt His goodness and His compassion, and we have to remember, you know, no, no, no, the right thing is to look up then. The right thing is to go back to that anchor of my soul, that firm commitment that I made. No, no, I know God is good. I don't understand what He's doing right now. I can't see how His plan is working out. I can't figure it all out in my mind, but I know that He knows best. He sees the things I can and I refuse to give the enemy of my soul ground and allowing the doubts on God's goodness in my heart and mind. And that may be one of the most important lessons we can learn from this blind man here. As the Lord reached out in love and in compassion and in care, he looked up. And we're not told exactly, but I like to think that very possibly it was the Savior's face that was the first clear human face he was able to distinguish. Now then lastly here, number five, as we're almost done, in verse 26, in chapter 8 of Mark, And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. We had already recognized how the people of Bethsaida as a whole had rejected the Lord, and so the Lord said, Hey, you have it your own way, so to speak. And he sends him to his house, to his own home. So it seems like he wasn't a resident there in Bethsaida. He may have lived in the surrounding area. And it's fascinating how the Lord cares not just about this blind man. He also cares about his family. He cares about his friends and his neighbors. And we have a similar example of that to a man that he sets free and that he helps and restores in Mark chapter 5, and we want to close with that. And I believe that the same concern the Lord has for our loved one and for those in our life, and the same mission, so to speak, to be a witness, He's passed down to us as well. In Mark chapter 5 verse 19 this man that he restores wants to go with Jesus and it says Jesus suffered him not he wouldn't allow him but saith unto him go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee It reminds me of that Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8, who when he trusted in the Lord and he went on his way rejoicing for how much God would love him and how much God had done for him in saving his soul and caring for him and opening his eyes spiritually, so to speak. Folks, that is maybe the most powerful witness we can ever be to this world. As church, we are the ground on the pillar of the truth. We are to uphold the truth and the revelation of God's word. And we are the ones praying as those friends of the blind man were interceding for their friend's behalf. And we're the ones praying on our loved one's behalf and seeking to bring them to the one who can help. to the one who can heal them, not just physically, but much more so can heal their hearts and can heal their eternal condition. But most and foremost, dear friends tonight, when all seems foggy, when all seems unclear in life, let's determine right here and right now that no matter what, we will believe that our God is good. Because as long as you know that your God is good, there's still hope. And as long as you know that your God is good, you know that He still loves you, even when you don't understand or don't see. And sometimes that's all we need, amen? And we need to look up to the Lord. So with that, I believe in this unusual healing, there's so much you and I can learn as children of God. how the Lord deals with people, how they responded to Him. But tonight, I do not know where you're at in your walk and your faith with the Lord. The Holy Spirit of God does, though. And I want to encourage you tonight, if you have never made the decision to receive that wonderful love that God has for your soul, No one will ever love you. No human can ever love you as much as Jesus does. He's given His very own life when He didn't have to. When He died on the cross to die the death that you and I deserve, so to speak, so that you could go free. You could be forgiven. You could be reconciled and have that new abundant life. Don't miss out on that. Don't miss out on that. Trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior, I guarantee you, is the best decision anyone can ever make. And dear Christian, tonight, are we willing to look up to the Lord? And are we willing to be a witness to others and tell them of the great things that God has done for us? Are we willing to share that compassion that the Lord had and show the same love and care, amen? As we bow our heads and close our eyes in prayer tonight, I wanna encourage you, if you need to make a decision for the Lord tonight, Right now, right here, is the opportunity and prayer to the Lord. If you've never asked Jesus to save you and forgive your sins, right now, right here, you can ask Him to save you and to trust Him with all your life and all of your eternity. If you've never made That determination in your heart. You know what? No matter what, I refuse to doubt the goodness of God. Right here, right now. I believe the Lord would want you to do that decision.