Begins by highlighting Jesus's healing of a blind man in Bethsaida, illustrating a gradual restoration of sight and a subsequent commission to avoid the town. It then transitions to Jesus questioning his disciples about his identity, leading to Peter's confession of him as the Christ. The message contrasts human traditions with God's Word, showing how traditions can lay aside, reject, and make God's commandments ineffective, urging listeners to follow God's Word. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of following Christ by taking up one's cross and losing one's life for the gospel's sake, contrasting a life lived for Christ with a life wasted, and urging listeners to choose wisdom by accepting Christ.
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Mark chapter eight. And verse twenty-two, Mark eight and verse twenty-two. And he cometh to Bethesda, and a drink of blind man unto him, and the shot 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 off.
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 set him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor call it to any in the town. And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Thittorea, Philippi. And by the way, he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men?
say that I am. And they answered John the Baptist, that some say Elias and others, one of the prophets. And if you were to read Matthew's account of this, they would say, And also Jeremiah's. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answered and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And Matthew has this. that the Christ the Son of the living God. 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 rebuke Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man. When he had called the people unto him with his disciples, also, said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
But whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for myself's sake, and the gospel the same shall save it. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world? and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my word, 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 angel.
Last week we mentioned something about chapter five about the traditions of men and that something else that I took up or started to take up Mark's Gospel. What I learned from chapter five or chapter seven is worth it all. And last week we were speaking upon five times you find in chapter seven the word tradition, tradition. Tradition, tradition, tradition, the traditions of men. And in pondering over that chapter this past week, I thought how important this is.
And I want you to notice this. If you want to have your Bible open at chapter seven, underline a couple of things. Last week I asked you to underline the word tradition five times. the tradition of your fathers, or the tradition of men. What does tradition do with the Word of God? Because that's the argument. The tradition of the Word of God, or what does tradition do to the Word of God? I want you to notice verse eight, and you'll find out what tradition does to the Word of God.
it lays it aside. That to lay aside the commandments of God, do you see those words? That's what tradition does. It lays aside the commandments of God. And if you notice verse nine, it rejects the commandments of God. Can you think of the traditions of men? laying aside and then rejecting the commandments of God. And in verse thirteen, what does it do? Tradition makes of none effect the word of God.
Three very solemn expressions. Can you conceive, and when I think of the traditions of men, I think of those writings, and views that man has thought of because he doesn't like the Word of God. And so he's willing to lay aside the Word of God. He's willing to reject the Word of God, and he's willing to make God's Word of none effect just in order to carry out his own tradition. Now that's pretty solid. I'm going to read something this morning.
I think of Spurgeon, Charles Adams Spurgeon. I think, in my mind, he was the greatest Baptist preacher in the church age. I've always loved Spurgeon. I read his biography years ago, and I guess I've read many of his sermons, and I couldn't begin to read all that he wrote, This is what his wife said about her husband, Haddon's burden, Charles' burden. She said, you would think, if you saw my husband and lived with him, that all he did was read.
You'd think his whole life was spent reading. Then again she said, if you knew all the right things that he did, writing books, writing letters, you'd think he did nothing else but write. And she said, if you saw and knew all the visiting he did, visiting the sick and visiting those in need, you'd think he did nothing else but visit. And if you knew how much he preached, you'd think he didn't do anything more than preach in his life. And she said, if you knew how much he prayed, you would think he didn't do anything else but pray.
And you know, I've always thought, yes, of Charles Spurgeon, and he has been my favorite of preachers. And I picked up something out of a very godly magazine a couple of three weeks ago. And I was thrilled to get it. I often wondered why, and what Virgin's views were, on the worship meeting or the breaking of bread. And he must have been a very godly man, according to what I have read concerning him. And we have a meeting here this morning, before this, known as the worship meeting, the communion service.
And when I read this, I was thrilled, and I'm going to read it to you. My witness is, and I think I speak the mind of many of God's people, that coming, as some of us do weekly, to the Lord's Supper, we do not find the breaking of bread to have lost its significance. It is always fresh to us. and he had a congregation of five thousand people. I have often remarked on Lord's Day, and evidently he preached in the morning besides having the worship meeting, I've often remarked on Lord's Day, whatever the subject may have been, whether Sinai had thunder over our heads, or the faintest notes of Canterbury have pierced our hearts, It always seems equally appropriate to come to the breaking of bread.
Shame on the Christian church that puts it off to once a month. And Mars the first day of the week by depriving it of its glory in the meeting together for fellowship and breaking of bread and showing forth the death of Christ till he comes. Those who know the sweetness of each Lord's day celebrating his supper will not be content, I am sure, to put it off to less frequent seasons. I thank God for that, and don't forget that was a Baptist preacher.
The assemblies such as we have are not the only ones to do this. And Spurgeon did this. Why did he do it? And follow it out so accurately, because it's in the Bible. That's why. And a few, those of you who have received this past week, likely you get them once a month, and that is letters of interest. You'll find a number of godly men, who in Spurgeon's time, and Spurgeon died about a hundred years ago, And before Spurgeon died, there were quite a number of godly men, raised up by the Spirit of God.
And I have read about these men, and left the churches. Some of them had large congregations, gifted godly men who knew Greek and Hebrew, men who preached to king and to royalty, Men with massive l'abines, giants of men. They left their large congregation. They left their big salary. And what did they do? Just what C. H. Spurgeon did. They came together as fives and six and sometimes ten and twenty.
Not the preach. but to remember the Lord Jesus Christ in the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine. Remember this. The Lord did not say, when he said this, do in remembrance of me, he didn't say that at a prayer meeting. He didn't say that at a preaching service. He didn't say that at a Bible study. He said that when there was bread and wine on the table, when they came together to partake of the bread and wine that speaks of his body and blood, that's when he said, this do in remembrance of me.
Says I've been in the South fifty-five years. I've yet to attend the first Baptist church who breaks bread on the first day of every week. They change that. I think now it's every quarter. Why not the first day of the week? That's what the Bible teaches. Some have now delegated or relegated it to twice a year. Some have said every Easter, what are they doing?
They are laying aside. They are rejecting. They are making up none, in fact, the word of God by their tradition. That's their new tradition. That's a serious point, isn't it? If there's a service that the devil hates, It's the worship meeting. For the devil wants worship himself. He promised the Lord all kinds of things. If you fall down and worship me, I'll give you this, I'll give you that. And Christian, let me tell you this. The devil will make it as hard as he possibly can to keep you from the worship meeting.
Who is in prominence there? And what service is it that the Lord Jesus loves the most? And he's glorified the most. It's at the worship meeting. That's the most spiritual meeting of any church. And why are they doing it? They did it in Spurgeon's day, a hundred years ago. And I don't know how long after that, you see the tradition that swept in. And as I read to you those verses and referred to them, laying aside the word of God.
Oh, well, some leaders got together, well, once a week that's too often. And we just lay that aside. And following laying aside the word of God, they reject it. And going further, they make it of no effect. That's what the Lord is speaking about in chapter seven of Mark. I commend it to you to read it and see whether you're following tradition. or whether you're following the word of the living God.
And the Lord Jesus said, As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until he comes. It's a remembrance feast. Is it difficult for you to sit down and spend five or ten minutes remembering loved ones? that have passed on. I have found it easier as I'm getting up in life, eighty years of age. I didn't think this way when I was young.
But now I think of my dear father and my mother. I remember them, I recall them, what they did that I didn't appreciate. And sometimes the tears come because they did so much for me and I didn't return what I should have and could have. You spend time remembering. What about remembering the Lord Jesus Christ? He loves you more than a parent. He loved you so much he gave himself to die on the cross for you.
Should it be difficult to sit down and meditate upon and remember the Lord Jesus Christ? And if ever there's a need that is neglected and rejected in Christendom, it is the Lord's Supper. And I'm saying this. Hoping the Spirit of God will show you the importance of this service. You've got a child. You asked your child to do something, and the child said, I won't. You wouldn't like it.
The Lord Jesus is not asking you to do something. He's commanding you to do it. He says, this do in remembrance of me. And if you don't, you're just telling the Lord, plainly to his face, I won't. It's serious, isn't it? Now that's exactly what we have in chapter seven. Tradition has taken over the word of God. And three times, the commandments of God, the commandments of God, and that's not just the law, the Ten Commandments, For in the third case he says the word of God, making it the whole Bible.
Are you following tradition instead of the whole word of the living God? I would be afraid not to carry out God's word. I wouldn't feel happy to pray. if I did stop or refuse to do what the Lord asked. What right of you do you expect the Lord to answer your prayers? You ask Him, you pray, and ask the Lord to do this and do that. What right have you to expect that He doesn't answer what you ask for?
when you don't do what he asks you to do. If you do what he asks you to do, then he'll do what you ask him to do. And we cut the foundation out from under our prayer life by disobedience, refusing to do what the Lord has definitely asked us to do. And to me, It's a delight, it's a pleasure to sit down and remember the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the meeting where people are received into fellowship and that's the meeting where they're put out of fellowship.
That's the meeting where discipline is practiced and only at that meeting. I trust you remember these things. Now back to our passage. It's difficult in taking up a book to find a theme because there are miracles and there are parables the Lord reads or Lord gives us. Here we have a case of a blind man. They bring a blind man unto him. No mention of the names. of these people who brought this blind man, but they did.
That was a nice thing to do, a very kind thing to do for these people to bring a blind man unto the Lord. And they besought him. They were praying. That was nice too, wasn't it? They certainly had an interest in this man, and they must have had faith in the Lord, and they wouldn't have brought the blind man to them. And so you find these men and they bring this blind man unto the Lord. And what did the Lord do? He spit in his eyes. First of all, he took them by the hand and took them out of town.
These little things are very important in your Bible. He took the man by the hand and led him out of the town. maybe in town where his loved ones, his friends, and all his buddies and so on, and likely they wouldn't approve of what he was going to do, so the Lord took him out of town. Out in the country, possibly, where there was quiet, and the Lord, as we noticed last week, with the man who was deaf, one on one. So he took this blind man out of the town, and he spit at his eyes. Well, now you may think that's a humiliating. Someone's spitting my face like, you get mad.
But that's not the real meaning of this. In the Middle East, salava is often used as an aid to eye trouble. The salava. It's love. And if anybody salava... had virtue, it must have been that of the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus used Salalah in the eyes of this blind man. They asked the blind man, what do you see? He said, I see men as trees walking.
In other words, I don't see very things clearly. I see men as trees walking. I thought in reading that last night, men and trees, he couldn't discern between which, and looked as though they were walking or moving. I thought of one man and one tree, and that one man was nailed to that one tree, and he wasn't walking, he was spiked to the cross. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the work He did for us on Calvary.
And so the Lord put His hands on this man the second time, and asked him to look up. And he did, and he saw everything play. My, it's nice when everything's clear. There's no fog, like steam on the windows of the house. He saw everything plain. He saw everything clear. And that's wonderful, isn't it? No doubts, no fuzziness. I see the Word of God very clear and very plain. And that's what happened to this man.
And the remarkable thing is he commissioned this man after he saw everything through. He says, go home. Don't go in the town. That's unusual. There must have been something in town. Maybe it was as friends or relatives. Don't stop in the town. Go right home. I thought, you know, when a young person gets saved, don't go back to the town. You might see some of your old buddies. They'll make a fool of you. The Lord says, go right home. And don't stop in the town. There might be some excitement or some thing going on that'll disturb you. He saw everything playing.
And just this past week, it was lying on my desk. Last summer when I was up in North Carolina, as most of you know, they gave me my eightieth anniversary prior supper. Of course, they gave me one here before I left. So he gave me quite a meal for and trying to get together, three hundred and seventy-five people, a bunch of preachers there. And I got a lot of letters from people, and one of them was lying on my dressing table. And I thought of it, when I read about this man, he didn't see things quite clearly.
And I'm going to read you part of this letter. Dear Lester Wilson, this note... is to thank you for preaching the sermon on Zacchaeus up the Sycamore Tree. At the close you said, come down from your religious tree to where the Lord Jesus Christ is. She's a nurse. She said, I wanted to go to the front, but started down the aisle, and before I reached the door, Wallace Jackson... I think Lawson met him when we were up in Atlanta. Wallace Jackson asked me if I was saved.
I told him no, but wanted to be. He took his Bible and showed how to be saved. His Bible and showed how to be saved. I believe, and I know I'm saved now, but... will I ever doubt it? She said, you came down the stairs at that moment and said, at that moment, I would be afraid to doubt what God said. She said, those words have stayed with me all these thirty-eight years.
He not only saved me, but has kept me now. As I know, he'll go with me till he takes me home. Thank the Lord for sending you to North Carolina. May he continue to use you in his service. Your sister in Christ, Bertha Ray. This happened, she said, in February the twelfth, Will I doubt it? She wasn't seen very clear, was she? But just at that moment when I just happened to hear her make that remark, Will I doubt it?
And I've forgotten all about the incident. And that's when I said, I would be afraid to doubt what God says. And friend, I would be afraid to doubt what God says. If God tells me my sins are forgiven, if God tells me I have everlasting life and I'll never perish, I'd be afraid not to believe that, or to doubt it. If God says it, he means it. And so this blind man, he saw everything clearly. Now the next thing you have in this chapter is Peter's wonderful confession.
He said, whom do men say that I am? And of course, quite a few had their opinions. One says, why you're Elias or John the Baptist, or you're one of the prophets. Yes, and others said, like I mentioned, over in Matthew, you're Jeremiah, and over in John, it says that he is a good man. There were lots of opinions back then about who Christ was. He says, whom do men say to that? A lot of people, some have even gone so far, they've said he's an apostate.
Some have said, well, he's a wonderful example. He's an interesting individual. He's sincere. He's an upseller of tradition. And I was reading last night, what some of the writers in history who made no claim to Christianity, what they said, and I'll tell you, they referred to the person of Christ as an unusual man. They didn't accept him as Savior. Oh yes, friend, I cannot what men or women say today.
I know who Jesus Christ was. And Peter speaks up. He says, Thou art thee, Christ, the Son of the living God. And that's true. Blessed art thou, says the Lord. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Joeleth, or flesh and blood hath not revealedeth unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Christ is not an explanation, Peter revelation. Blessed up now, Simon bar Jonah, flesh and blood, no man's revealed this unto you. Peter, my Father revealed this to you.
Now art the Christ the Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus made that remarkable statement. On this rock I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Father reveals the Son, and the Son reveals the Church. Poor old Peter. You know there are those today who believe Simon Peter was the foundation of the Church. And they say they increased all the popes back to Peter, rubbish.
You read verse thirty-two here and see how the Lord rebuked Peter. He got a rebuked after what the Lord had said, made a wonderful, perfect confession. But the Lord said to Peter, He says, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savor's not the thing that be of God, but that should be of men. The devil, right after that wonderful confession by Peter, he turns around and he's an instrument of the devil. Satan is speaking through Peter.
Well, I don't want to build on that foundation. I wouldn't want to face my hopes for eternity on a man who could be so quickly swayed by the wicked one, the devil. And don't forget Peter was a married man, for the Lord raised up Peter's wife, mother. And Simon Peter denied the Lord with oaths and curses. Do you mean to say that's a pope? No. I want to know one thing that Peter says himself in his epistle, He said, I am also an elder.
He doesn't go any further. But here is Simon Peter, and he confesses the Lord. And it's remarkable in this passage, whom do men say that I am? Those two words, I am are very significant. I am. And if you go through John's Gospel, you'll find those two expressions. I am the door by me, if any man enter, and he shall be saved. I am the bread that came down from heaven. I am the good shepherd. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. Before Abraham was, I am.
This is the foundation the church is based on. The fact that Jesus Christ was deity. He was the son of the living God. And upon this walk, he says, I will my church on the fact that Jesus Christ was deity, God manifest in the flesh. And certainly Peter had nothing to do with the foundation of the church. Times about God. But at the close of this chapter... you have the possibility of losing your life or losing your soul.
I'm not going to get into the possibility of you losing your soul. That text is over here and we may take that up next Sunday as a subject by itself. But there is a possibility a person can be saved and lose his life. Is Spurgeon, or not say is Spurgeon, on this case. After a series of meetings, a man walked up to him and he said, Mr. Moody, how many souls were saved tonight? He said, two and a half. Two and a half. What do you mean? Do you mean two children and an adult?
Two adult father and a child? Nope. The very word. Verse. I... believe that two children got saved, they're the two, and an old man got saved, there's the half. For the two children not only got their soul saved, they're life saved, they've got a life to live for the Lord. The old man does. He got saved, but his life's gone. Isn't that sad? True today, sometimes a person gets saved, they know they're going to heaven, the sin forgiven. What are they doing with their life?
That's what the Lord tells us. Or ask that question. Take up your cross and follow me. The thief on the cross, his soul was saved right at the end. What kind of a life had he to give? None. His life was a blank. He didn't have the opportunity to live a life that glorifies God. Poor Lot. Lot, he was saved so as by fire. Lot was saved. But he lost his life.
He lost his wife. He lost all his flocks. He lost everything. And there are Christians who get saved. And what about their life? It's a waste. They're not living for Christ. How wonderful when a person is saved and they are living, saving their life. They're living for Christ. Yes, that's a sad, sad thing. To lose your life. The wonderful thing. for your soul to be saved. But God has left you here for a purpose.
He wants you to save your life. When I was a young fellow, I knew someday I was going to accept Christ, but I want to enjoy this world. I had my mind made up. I was going to play hockey. I was going to do this and the other thing. But thank God the Lord saved me when I was nineteen. How I praised him for that. A lot earlier, I thought that I fought salvation. When I was saved, I accepted Christ. Now I meet.
I've had sixty long years to serve the Lord. That's wonderful. My life saved. And when I got saved, a lot of people says, you're fools. You're throwing your life away. If I could escape like you, I'd make it. No. I got saved. I gave up my potential as a hockey player. And I got into this blessed book. I got the Bible, and I'd sit it up against the sugar bowl, the breakfast table, and I'd get a bite of cereal and a little verse of Scripture.
That's all I wanted to do. And friend, I wouldn't change places for any living man. My life was saved. And those poor people back there, and I don't know one of them who got saved, who said, You're throwing your life away. No, I didn't throw my life away. My soul got saved, thank God, and thank God my life was saved too. Well, it could have been thrown away. I want to tell this incident about...
William Kelly. And of those of you who got me to digest, you'll see his picture. And the back in those days, I referred to in Spurgeon's day, there were a lot of great minds, godly men, gifted men. They knew Hebrew, Greek, and they fantastic minds. And this Kelly, William Kelly, even Spurgeon, said he's got a mind for the world. One day, the professor in a certain college. He noticed this young man, and it happened to be William Kelly's nephew. He noticed this young man, and he was taken with his ability to speak Greek, how clear he was in his pronunciation, how wonderful he was in speaking Greek.
so much so that this professor approached him, and he says, young man, he said, who taught you Greek? He says, my uncle. He said, I'd like to meet him. The young fellow said, I think that can be arranged. So he went to his uncle, William Kelly, and he said, my professor would like to have a talk with you. Well, he said, I'll be glad to talk with him. And it was arranged. And so Mr. Kelly met with the professor of the university in his office. And in the conversation that followed, the more Kelly began to be speaking in Greek, that professor's eyes began to open.
He was amazed. and Kelly's knowledge of Greek and other languages. And the professor all of a sudden said, Mr. Kelly, would you mind telling me what your occupation is? Yes, he said, I'm a preacher, and he says, I spend my life going around teaching small groups of Christian the word of God. I spend my life feeding the Lord's people. The professor, after taking a deep breath of surprise, he abruptly said, Man, you're a fool.
What was Kelly's response? He says, I'm a fool for which world? That jolted the professor. I'm a fool for which world. In other words, professor, you think I'm a fool if you die. And undoubtedly, like a lot of these college professors, they don't have any good time for the word of God, the word of God. The time came when that professor passed into eternity. And when he did, I know what he said.
I'm the fool. I'm the fool. Kelly, what? He's the wise man. I'm the fool. That's true. And friends, all those buddies I had, I don't know one of them who got saved, I witnessed to some of them. I don't know one. They're all dead as far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen one of them in thirty years. And I go to Canada. And when they come to die and die, they will. Unlikely many of them have. This world is passing.
You're going to have to leave it. And all my friends, when they read their last, went into head. They won't say Mr. Wilson was a fool. They'll say he was a wise man. The point is this, friend, when you leave this world and leave it, you will. If you're not born again, if you're not saved by the grace of God, you'll say like that, Professor, I am the fool. I'm the fool.
But thank God when a Christian passes away, one who's born again and knows Christ when he breathes his last, I'm the wise man. Yes, you're either going to be a fool or you're going to be wise. And when you know Christ, and it's the wisest thing any man or woman can do, except Jesus Christ as he. Take up his cross and follow him. You'll have to pay a price. But friend, the dividends are wonderful.
A glorious eternity with Christ, and you save your life. You were able to live a few years to witness for Christ and to glorify His name. And so you're either going to be a fool or a wise man. The wisest thing you can do is to accept Christ as your personal Savior. The most foolish thing you can do is to reject. What are you going to do this morning?
Kelly's remark jolted that professor, a fool of which were this world or the next. Kelly was a fool for Christ's sake. And friend, I'm willing to be a fool for Christ's sake. I know that when I get to heaven, I was lost in making this decision that I did to accept Christ and turn over my life to him. And only God knows what the harvest is of what I'll meet.
I'll likely get a lot less than what I think I might get in the way of a harvest. I'll be thanking God that I'm saved. If I don't get any rewards, I'll thank God for one thing, I'm in heaven. I'm not concerned about the rewards. I'm concerned about, and that's no real concern, for I know I will see my Savior. I know I will be with and like him forever. That's wisdom. What about you?
Will you accept Christ? Will you accept him now? Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to thy holy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy precious holy word. We thank thee for it. Thank thee for this blind man whose eyes were opened. how God very and willing to manifest that same power this morning and open the eyes of the blind. And we trust that thou speak to us thy people to reverence thy word and not lay it aside or reject it or to make it of none account.
May we tremble at thy word. And seek thy help. with thy grace to carry it out for thy glory and our good. We ask it in our Savior's name. Amen. Shall we sing in closing verse, hymn three, five, four, how every soul, vice and oppressed, there's mercy with the Lord, and he will surely give you rest by trusting in his word, only trust him. Only trust them, only trust them now. He will save you. He will save you.
You'll save you now. Sound like that? Thank you. And just sing the last verse.
If you're not a Christian, be wise, except Christ now. Don't be a fool. and reject them or reject them. The last verse. Until we move, we throw it into the glory of God, we throw it down, we throw it down, we throw it down, we bow it down, we bow it down, we bow it down, we bow, we bow, we bow, we bow, we bow, we bow, we bow, He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.
Don't forget the meeting tonight, Bobby Rishi. Thank you. I want to share your credit.