And the title of my sermon this morning is I see men as trees walking.
I see men as trees walking.
This is a statement that's taken from Mark chapter 8 verse 24 and I'm going to get to
that a little bit later in the sermon.
I see men as trees walking.
Now the Gospel of Mark has always fascinated me and the reason why is that it seems somewhat
redundant.
Okay.
After growing up reading the Bible and getting to Mark and wondering why is the book of Mark
here because I felt like it was just a repeat of the book of Matthew and that it was almost
like an abridged version of Matthew or like a stripped down kind of Cliffs Notes version
of Matthew.
It just seemed like it was all the same stuff from Matthew but there was just less of it.
And so I wondered, you know, what's the point of having the book of Matthew or I'm sorry
the book of Mark but when it's just redundant with the book of Matthew.
So here's how it actually mathematically works out.
Actually three quarters of the content of the book of Mark is found in both Matthew
and Luke.
So basically you're getting a third helping of it in the book of Mark.
And in fact just when you compare Mark and Matthew alone, 90 some percent of the content
in Mark is already found in Matthew.
And then a few more percent is found over in Luke.
So there's very little unique content in the book of Mark.
So why do we have the book of Mark?
You know, so this always kind of interested me.
So I find myself reading the book of Mark over and over again trying to figure out,
you know, what is it about this book?
What's special about this great book but what is it that God is trying to get across to
us in this book?
You see when people are talking to me and they use an unnecessary word or they say something
unnecessary usually when people say something that's unnecessary it's doubly important
because then it begs the question why did they say that?
There was no need to say that.
There was no reason to put that word in there.
So it actually makes you pay closer attention and that's how it's been with me and the
book of Matthew.
So why did God give us?
I keep saying Matthew.
I hope I don't do this throughout the whole sermon.
Forgive me if I do.
When I say Matthew, I mean Mark, all right?
So see what I mean?
Like we overlook Mark.
We can't even say Mark.
We just keep saying Matthew, right?
Because so many more people have read Matthew because it comes first and you get to Mark
and it's like, okay, this is a lot of the same stuff.
Well, here's why God gave us the book of Mark because it isn't about there being new or
unique content.
Although there is some new and unique content, it's that each book, each of these four Gospels
is telling its own story, okay?
So it's about just the little nuances, the little differences, the little details that
Mark adds and more than that, it's just about the way the book of Mark is structured that
it's telling us a certain story and getting across a certain truth.
You see, the Bible is not intended to be studied like a science book or a math problem.
You know, a lot of people, they want to study the four Gospels by putting them in four columns
side by side and analyzing them with a microscope and trying to figure out, you know, the differences
or how they connect or something like that.
When in reality, the book of Matthew is the book of Matthew.
The book of Mark is the book of Mark.
It's meant to be taken as one whole where you start reading in Mark Chapter 1 and you
finish reading in Chapter 16 and that book of Mark is going to speak to you in a unique
way and it's going to tell the story of Jesus Christ in a way that is unique to the book
of Mark and different from reading Matthew or Luke or John.
So the book of Mark has its own emphasis and I'm going to speak this morning about one
of the major themes of the book of Mark that's unique to the book of Mark, the way this is
laid out about this concept of understanding and seeing and so I'm focusing in on this
verse in Chapter 8 verse 24, I see men as trees walking.
Now that entire story in Mark Chapter 8 about the blind man who is first partially healed
from his blindness and Jesus asked him if he could see anything and he says I see men
as trees walking.
Then Jesus anoints him again and he's able to see clearly.
This is one of those rare stories that is unique to the book of Mark but before we get
there I want to build up to this in the book of Mark starting in Chapter 1.
So I'm going to kind of just give you an overview of the book of Mark, everything leading up
to that.
So Chapter 1, if you want to start in Chapter 1 of the book of Mark, Chapter 1 is just rapid
fire and this is one of the things that the book of Mark is known for.
When you're reading the book of Mark, the words that come up over and over again are
immediately, straightway, forthwith, right?
Everything's just happening fast, immediately, now it is the most action packed of the Gospels.
So in Chapter 1 it's just rapid fire.
Here's what's all covered just in Chapter 1 alone.
It starts out with the preaching of John the Baptist.
Then it gets into the baptism of Jesus.
Then it talks about how Jesus is 40 days and 40 nights fasting and then he's tempted of
the devil.
That all happens in two verses, the fasting and the temptation.
Then Jesus begins his preaching ministry.
Then he calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
So at that point we're less than halfway through Mark Chapter 1.
That's already Matthew 4 when those events are happening.
Then Jesus casts out a devil of a man who's possessed with an unclean spirit.
Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.
Jesus heals a whole bunch of other people.
He preaches throughout Galilee.
He heals a leper.
That's all Chapter 1 which takes us all the way through Matthew Chapter 8.
Just to give you an idea of how Mark is just really going fast in Chapter 1.
Just showing Jesus Christ preaching and he's calling disciples and he's healing all these
people and doing miracles, casting out devils.
So look at verse 37 just to give you a little snapshot of this in Chapter 1.
It says, And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.
And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also.
For therefore came I forth.
And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils.
So Chapter 1 is just this tour de force of Jesus.
He's preaching.
He's doing miracles.
His fame is going abroad.
It's just success after success.
And all men are seeking for him.
Everybody wants to hear him preach.
Crowds are thriving.
Verse 45 talks about after he heals this man.
But he went out and began to publish it much and to blaze abroad the matter in so much
that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city but was without in desert places
and they came to him from every quarter.
Every part of the country, people are coming to hear Jesus.
So that's Chapter 1, just all that activity in Chapter 1.
When we get to Chapter 2, there are four separate episodes that are covered in Chapter 2.
And all of them involve Jesus being criticized in some way.
So in Chapter 1, it's really positive as far as just Christ is just winning and everybody's
coming to hear him and everything's great.
In Chapter 2, it's four stories and they all involve Jesus being criticized and it's always
in the form of a question.
It's always someone just asking a question to criticize him.
Let me show you what I mean.
Look at Chapter 2, Verse 1.
And again, he entered into Capernaum after some days and it was noised that he was in
the house.
And straightway, straightway means immediately.
Many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them.
No, not so much as about the door and he preached the Word on them.
So that's the transition from Chapter 1 because that's what Chapter 1 was all about, right?
Everybody's coming to hear Jesus.
He's doing all these miracles, doing all this preaching.
Verse 3 says, and they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four.
Look at Verse 5.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee.
But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.
Why did this man speak thus blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God only?
So here's the first criticism, right?
And it's in the form of a question.
Well, why is he speaking these blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God only?
Look at the next one, Verse 16.
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said
unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
There's the second criticism.
Couch says a question.
Verse 18.
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast.
And they come to him and say unto him, why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees
fast but thy disciples fast not?
So there's the third little passive aggressive criticism.
And then the fourth one is found, starting in Verse 23, it came to pass when he went
through the corn fields on the Sabbath day.
And his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn.
And the Pharisee said unto him, behold, why do they on the Sabbath day, that which is
not lawful?
So all of the criticisms in Chapter 2 are just questions, right?
So you have these four stories.
He heals a man with palsy.
He calls Levi, the publican, to be one of his disciples.
He gets questioned about fasting.
And his disciples eat the corn on the Sabbath day.
And every time, it's this little criticism of Jesus in the form of a question.
That's Chapter 2.
All right.
Then when we get into Chapter 3, the opposition is going to ramp up a little bit.
They're not just asking questions anymore, okay?
In Chapter 3, they're just openly out to get Jesus now, the scribes and the Pharisees and
people like that.
Look at Verse 2 of Mark Chapter 3, and they watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath
day that they might accuse him.
So they're basically now just scouting out, trying to find a way to accuse him.
Verse 3, and he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth, and he saith
unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life
or to kill?
But they held their peace.
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness
of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand.
And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Look at Verse 6, and the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians
against him, how they might destroy him.
So you see how in Chapter 3, we've transitioned from just asking questions, hey, you know,
what's going on here?
And just all these little criticisms of Jesus to just open hatred and hostility, where in
Chapter 2, they're just waiting to catch him and trip him up, in Verse 2, rather.
In Chapter 3, Verse 6, they're getting together and holding a council where the Pharisees
are getting together with the Herodians, saying, how can we destroy him?
Then of course, as mentioned in Verse 19, when he's picking his 12 disciples, and Judas
Iscariot, which also betrayed him, right?
So Judas is brought up as the betrayer of Jesus.
Then in Verse 20, it says, And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could
not so much as eat bread.
And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him, for they said, He's
beside himself.
So now even the friends of Jesus are saying that he's crazy.
Being beside yourself means you're crazy, you're out of your mind.
Verse 22, And the scribes, which came down from Jerusalem, said, He hath Beelzebub, and
by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
So that escalated, didn't it?
Because now it's, oh, he's demon-possessed, he's crazy, you know, he's wicked, we got
to destroy him, we got to stop him, right?
So it went from Chapter 1, everything's going great.
Chapter 2, they're questioning and criticizing.
Chapter 3, it's just open hatred and hostility and seeking to destroy Christ.
So now we enter a new phase in the Book of Mark, because now he's going to start speaking
in parables, okay?
And in fact, his first parable has to do with the fact that they're accusing him of being
demon-possessed.
That's his first parable.
Look if you would at verse 23, And he called them unto him and said unto them, In parables,
how can Satan cast out Satan?
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand, and if a house
be divided against itself, that house cannot stand, and if Satan rise up against himself
and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
No man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first
bind a strong man, and then he will spoil his house.
Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever
they shall blaspheme.
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger
of eternal damnation, because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
So notice his first parables there about the kingdom divided or the house divided have
to do with people hating him, attacking him, saying that he has Beelzebub.
So he continues the parables in chapter 4 verse 1, and his second parable is similar
because it has to do with how people are receiving him, because in chapter 1 everybody's receiving
him gladly.
In chapter 2 the skepticism begins.
In chapter 3 the hatred and open hostility begins.
So in chapter 4 he continues the parables about how people receive his word, how people
listen to him or see his miracles or hear his preaching.
Look what it says in verse 1.
And he began again to teach by the seaside, and there was gathered unto him a great multitude,
so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the
land on the sea.
And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken,
behold there went out a sower to sow.
So the first parable is the parable of the sower, and of course we know that he that
sows the good seed is the son of man.
So Jesus is the sower.
The word of God is what's being sown.
The seed is the word of God.
And then these four different types of ground are four different types of people that could
receive God's word or not receive God's word.
So this parable all has to do with how people are listening and receiving his word.
Look at verse number 9.
It says, and he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
So you see, the good ground are people who have ears to hear in that sense.
Other people, they don't have an ear to hear.
They're not willing to receive the word of God.
Look at verse number 10.
And when he was alone, they that were about him with the 12 asked of him the parable.
And he said unto them, unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God,
but unto them which are without, all these things are done in parables, that seeing they
may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time
they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them.
And he said unto them, know ye not this parable?
And how then will you know all parables, the so are so at the word?
And he goes on to explain the parable.
Here's what's unique about the parables of Jesus.
Typically, a parable would be used to take something that is obscure and make it clear.
Right?
Let's say there's something that's hard to understand.
And so I might break it down and give an example and say, hey, you know, it's sort of like
when a sower goes out to sow, you know, and explain something.
But actually, Jesus' parables have the opposite purpose.
They're actually there to conceal the truth.
Do you see that?
They're actually there to make it a mystery and to conceal because he says, I'm going
to speak to them in parables that hearing they might not hear, that seeing they might
not see, not understand, but unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God.
But to them, it is not given.
And this is something that we see in all four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this
idea of Jesus is explaining things clearly to the inner circle, the disciples, and the
people that are close to him.
But to the throngs of multitudes, to the scribes, to the Pharisees, to the unbelievers, he speaks
in dark sayings.
And even some people that believe on him, the outsiders, they don't get to know the
mysteries.
Boy, isn't it great to be an insider?
Because, you know, here we are in 2019, we're on the inside because we get all these explanations
that the people of Christ's day didn't get.
So we're actually more blessed than if we would have been there to hear the Sermon on
the Mount in person, than if we would have been there to see the miracles of Christ in
person or to be standing on that seashore while Jesus is on the boat preaching.
We're even more privileged.
We're on the inner circle here because we're getting all these explanations that were given
to a very small group.
And we understand better than they did as we'll see as this progresses.
So he emphasizes the thing of whether or not people understand the Word of God.
How do they perceive the Word of God and comprehend it, not just hearing it, but actually understanding
it, right?
The people that are in the masses don't get it.
The disciples get it explained to them very clearly, but notice even they don't quite
get it because look what it says in verse 13.
He said unto them, know ye not this parable?
How then will you know all parables?
So you can see he's a little bit frustrated here with the fact that they're not getting
it.
Even the insiders aren't getting it, right?
Look at verse 23.
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
Verse 24, Jesus continues this theme again.
And he said unto them, take heed what ye hear.
With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you, and unto you that hear shall more
be given.
For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he that hath not, from him shall be taken,
even that which he hath.
So you see here that understanding the Word of God is a great privilege.
Having this knowledge, having this wisdom, having this understanding is a great privilege.
He says you better be careful.
You better take heed how you hear because he that hath, hath what?
Understanding.
Knowledge, wisdom, understanding.
He's going to get more.
He that hath, to him more shall be given.
But he that hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that which he seemeth to have.
And so you got to be careful.
Don't miss it.
Christ is preaching.
Christ is explaining these parables.
We got the written Word of God here in 2019.
You better pay attention.
You're sitting in church on a Sunday morning.
Hey, you better listen.
You better pay attention because many prophets and righteous men have desired to hear the
things that you hear and have not heard them.
But blessed are your eyes that see.
Blessed are your ears, for they hear.
So he's saying be careful, pay attention, listen, understand because you know what?
If you're here this morning and you're zoned out, you know what God's going to do?
He's going to make you understand less tomorrow than you did today.
It's not like, well, I went to church.
I zoned out.
I thought about something else.
Well, guess what?
Tomorrow you'll understand less.
Next Sunday.
It's not that you just won't learn anything.
You'll go backwards.
You better read your Bible every day.
You better be listening.
You better be paying attention.
You better come to church and listen or you'll lose knowledge.
You will actually lose wisdom, lose understanding and be in the dark instead of being in the
light.
What does the Bible say here?
Take heed what you hear.
Pay attention.
Verse number 26.
All of these parables continue the same thing because even verse 26 says, so is the kingdom
of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and
day and the seed should spring and grow up.
He knoweth not how.
So even this parable is about man's lack of understanding, not understanding how the kingdom
of God works or how the seed grows.
Look at verse 33 and with many such parables, spake heed the word unto them as they were
able to hear it, but without a parable spake heed not unto them.
And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
So that's that deeper understanding that those who are on the in-crowd get.
Thankfully, we have the written word, so we have the potential to be on that in-crowd
if we'd bother to wake up every day and read our Bible instead of tuning in to some stupid
foolish talk show morning show where it's just mindless banter.
You know, all the banter of morning shows, you know what I'm talking about.
This is the morning show folks, tune into this, take heed what you hear.
So this chapter continuing that theme of understanding versus not understanding, this chapter actually
ends with a lack of understanding of who Christ is, the final verse of the chapter.
Think of you would at verse 40 and he said unto them, this is after he calms the sea
and does this miracle.
Why are you so fearful?
How is it that you have no faith?
Verse 41 and they feared exceedingly and said one to another.
What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Now shouldn't they kind of know what manner of man this is at this point?
How about the Messiah?
How about he's the Christ?
How about he's the son of God?
But they're like, what kind of a person is this?
What manner of man is this?
So you know, this is a question that shows that they're still not getting it right now
throughout the next few chapters, he does a whole bunch of miracles.
Mark has the most miracles of just where there's not a lot of long excerpts of Christ preaching.
It's a lot of parables, a lot of miracles.
It's a totally different emphasis than the other gospels.
It's a unique gospel that's making particular points and he does a whole bunch of miracles
over the next several chapters and in fact, a lot of the miracles he ends up doing twice.
Like first he feeds the 5,000, then he feeds the 4,000.
So it's like he does that miracle twice and then they're still not getting it.
He does two miracles regarding his control of the sea because the first one is where
he calms the sea and calms the storm and then the second one is where he walks on the water.
Now go if you would to Chapter 6 and let's go to that miracle where he walks on the water.
He's doing these things twice trying to get through to them, trying to get them to understand
and they're just not grasping things.
And sometimes it's easy to read the Bible and feel like the disciples are just not very
smart.
But you have to put yourself in their position.
They're not like we are.
It's easy for us with hindsight.
We understand everything because we've got the whole New Testament.
We've got the whole Bible all bound in a nice cover right here.
We can read all of it and see the whole big picture.
We've read the Epistles of Paul.
We've read the book of Revelation.
They don't have that stuff, okay?
So you got to kind of give them a break and cut them some slack.
Let me explain something to you.
They were greater men than we are.
So it's easy to look at them and say, why are you guys so dumb?
Why don't you get it?
Are you that dense?
Can't you see what's happening right in front of you?
But you know what?
We're more dense.
We fail to understand things, even though we've been given so much more than they were
given.
Sometimes we do stupid things and we don't get it.
I can't even count how many times I've learned some amazing truth from the Bible and just
felt like an idiot.
Like, how could I have not seen this before?
It's on every page.
It's all over the Bible.
How did I fail to recognize this?
So don't be too hard on them because they're human beings just like you and just like me.
And so we have a tendency to be the same way.
And in the same situation, we wouldn't have been that 13th disciple like, idiot, let me
explain things to you.
We would have been scratching our heads the same way at some of this stuff.
It's not like he picked the 12 densest guy.
He picked 12 great men that eventually would, 11 of them would turn the world upside down.
I mean, they would do great things.
But they're growing.
They're learning.
And so this is a stage where they're still struggling to understand things.
But look at chapter 6 verse 49.
But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit.
This is Jesus walking on the water.
And cried out.
For they all saw him and were troubled and immediately he talked with them and saith
unto them, be of good cheer at his eye, be not afraid.
And he went up unto them into the ship and the wind ceased and they were sore amazed
in themselves beyond measure and wonder.
Now why are they so blown away by this?
I mean, it says that they're just sore amazed in themselves beyond measure.
I mean, the Bible is just stacking up descriptions here of just how amazed, you could have just
said, hey, they were amazed.
It's like, no, they were sore amazed beyond measure.
You can't even measure how sore amazed in themselves they were.
Okay.
The Bible is using a really extreme language here to tell us they are shocked to see Jesus
walk on the water.
Now, why would it be shocking to see Jesus walk on the water when he's already been healing
lepers, healing the blind, healing the deaf, you know, he's been fed the 5,000, he's fed
the 4,000.
Why is that so amazing to them that he's going to walk on the water now?
And then look what it says in the next verse, it explains that very question of why they're
just sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wonder, for they considered not the miracle
of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
Isn't that amazing?
They considered not the miracle of the loaves.
It doesn't click with them, wait a minute, if Jesus can feed 5,000 people with five loaves
and two fists, of course he can walk on water.
You know, he's divine, he's God, right?
He's Christ.
They're still not grasping these things.
Now go to Chapter 8 of Mark, after the second, because there was the first miracle of the
loaves.
And after the first miracle of the loaves, where he feeds the 5,000 with five loaves
and two fists, then when he walks on the water, they're sore amazed and they can't believe
it, even though he already calmed the sea in Chapter 4, right?
They're sore amazed, they're blown away by it because they considered not the miracle
of the loaves, so he does the miracle of the loaves again.
They didn't get the message the first time, let's do it again, right?
So this time he feeds 4,000 with seven loaves, okay?
And after the second miracle of the loaves, the disciples end up getting sharply rebuked
for not getting it, okay?
Look what it says in verse 14 of Chapter 8, Mark 8, 14, now the disciples had forgotten
to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.
And he charged them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
leaven of Herod.
And they reasoned among themselves saying, it's because we have no bread.
And when Jesus knew it, he said to them, why reason ye because you have no bread?
Perceive ye not yet, neither understand, have ye your heart yet hardened, having eyes, see
ye not?
I mean, look, what was Christ's intent?
He said, hey, those people outside, those multitudes out there, yeah, I'm gonna speak
to them in parables so that seeing they see not and hearing they hear not, right?
But you guys, man, it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
I'm gonna explain everything clearly to you guys.
And then it's like, what?
You don't understand either?
Know ye not this parable?
Do you have ears and you hear not?
That's not supposed to be you, that's supposed to be them.
That's them.
Those people are supposed to understand these things.
I mean, he's pretty frustrated here because look what he's saying.
Have you yet hardened your heart?
Perceive ye not, neither understand, verse 18.
Having eyes, see ye not, and having ears, hear ye not, do ye not remember?
When I break the five loaves among 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye
up?
They say unto him, 12.
And when the seven among 4,000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?
And they said, seven.
And he said, how is it that you don't understand?
What do you not understand about this?
And this isn't the only time that he's laying into them here.
Now here's the key question though, right?
This is all building up to the point.
Say, what is the point of the sermon here?
Why is this sermon called I See Men as Trees Walking?
Let me explain to you what I'm building up to with this because the question comes into
some people's minds saying, are these guys even saved?
Are they saved?
Now look, there is some dumb doctrine out there that says, oh, they weren't saved yet.
Like Jesus is just going to pick a bunch of unsaved people and send them out preaching.
Let's get 12 unsaved guys, send them out preaching, and let's base my whole ministry on these
12 unsaved folks.
That's ridiculous.
It's nonsense.
Okay.
Obviously one of them was unsaved, but that was on purpose.
You know, he picked Judas Iscariot.
He knew from the beginning that he was a devil.
He knew from the beginning who did not believe on him, but the other 11 believed on him.
They're saved.
They believed that he's the Messiah.
Okay.
But just because they're saved, just because they believe on Christ doesn't mean that they
understand everything.
You see what's going on in the book of Mark here?
There are the outside crowd, the people out there, they don't get it.
He speaks them in parables.
They don't get it.
And then there's the inside crowd that has the potential to get it.
They have the opportunity to get it.
There's you and me today.
We have the opportunity to understand.
We have the opportunity to get it, but does that mean that we get it?
Does that mean that we understand?
Does that mean that we see like we should be seeing?
No.
And here's where this powerful story comes in of the blind man who sees men as trees
walking.
And again, this is one of those rare stories that is unique to the book of Mark, but you
can see how the whole book of Mark's been building up to it, up to chapter eight, right?
Look at verse 22.
He cometh 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 ought,
if he saw anything.
So he leads him by the hand, takes him out of the town, spits on his eyes, puts his hands
on his eyes, and then he says, do you see anything, right?
Do you see ought?
And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking.
Now this is an improvement because this guy was blind.
This guy went from seeing nothing, from being totally blind, total darkness.
He can't see anything.
Now he can see people and he sees them moving around and everything like that, but he cannot
identify their features.
He can't see their face clearly.
He can't see their eyes, their nose, their mouth.
Basically to him, it's like trees are walking because he basically just sees these pillars
of color or he sees a blurry pillar moving around, right?
That's what he sees.
So he says, I see men as trees walking.
So he sees these blurry characters moving around.
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 them away to his house saying, neither go into the town nor tell it to any
in the town.
Now what is the significance here?
You see, he saw through a glass darkly, but he did not see face to face.
And this is exactly what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12, for now
we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.
You see, being saved and really the condition of the 12 disciples at this point is pictured
by this guy here.
So he's been building up to this.
Think about it.
He just finished rebuking them in verse 21.
How is it that you don't understand?
That's verse 21, right?
Then verse 22, this isn't a coincidence.
Then in verse 22, we have a story showing their exact condition.
Their eyes have been opened.
They've been led by Christ out of the town.
He's been holding them by the hand.
He's been leading them and teaching them and guiding them.
They're saved.
They've received their sight, but they only see through a glass darkly.
And that's the condition of the apostles.
They're saved.
They see, they understand, but there's a lot that they don't understand, right?
They have a partial understanding.
So when you get saved, when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, boy, the scales fall
off.
I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see men as trees walking, right?
Because when you, when you get saved, you can see, but you don't see everything.
You don't understand everything.
You don't see everything crystal clear.
Look, it's a journey to understand more.
And that's the journey that the apostles are on here.
You know, they're having to learn more and grow more and understand more.
You're not going to just instantly understand everything just because you got saved.
But getting saved allows you to see something versus being blind.
Those that are unsaved are blind.
They cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.
The Bible says that they're foolishness unto him.
Neither can he know them because you are, they're spiritually concerned.
It's like trying to explain to a blind person who was born blind what green looks like or
what blue looks like or what red looks like.
You're not going to be able to explain to a blind person who's never been able to see
what color looks like, right?
Now if they had previously had their sight, then they know what those things look like,
right?
But when a person gets saved, they go from blindness to sight, but they don't have perfect
sight, right?
So there's a second anointing that's needed.
There's a second working that's needed here.
And that's what the apostles need because they've gotten the first healing.
They understand somewhat.
They know Jesus is the Messiah.
They know he's the Christ.
And then what happens next?
Because what I'm trying to get you to see is that the order of things in the book of
Mark is not just, hey, let's just chop the book of Matthew down to size and make an abridged
version.
Here's Matthew and then here's a shorter Matthew for review purposes.
No, Mark stands alone as its own powerful testament of Jesus Christ's life and ministry
as death, burial, and resurrection.
It stands alone as God's masterpiece here, the book of Mark.
It's not just, oh, here's a shorter one.
Matthew too long for you?
Read a short one.
You know, you need something a little more action, something that moves a little faster.
Here's Mark.
No, everything in Mark is there for a reason.
They're getting rebuked for their lack of understanding.
Then we roll into the men as trees walking story about healing the blind man, which is
unique to the book of Mark.
Then we roll directly from that because that ends in verse 26.
Look at verse 27.
What's next?
And Jesus went out and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi and by the
way, he asked his disciples saying unto them, whom do men say that I am?
And they answered, John the Baptist, but some say Elias and others, one of the prophets.
Are those people right?
No, those are the people on the outside that don't get it, right?
They don't get it.
And he said unto them, but whom say ye that I am?
And Peter answerth and sayeth unto him, thou art the Christ.
So do the disciples have a better level of understanding than the people out there?
Yeah.
I mean, the people out there, they don't get it at all.
They have his identity completely wrong.
They think he's John the Baptist or Elijah, he's just one of the prophets, but they know
at least that he's the Christ.
I mean, Peter says, I'll tell you who you are.
You are the Christ.
And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
Okay?
He doesn't want that to be commonly known yet at this point, but look at the next breath.
Did Peter nail that answer or what?
Peter nailed it.
It's like, who do you say I am?
You're the Christ.
It's like, you got it, but keep that to yourself.
You're right.
So you got the right answer.
You know, they're not getting ripped.
Why don't you get it?
Okay.
But, but, oh, that's coming because look at the next verse and he began to teach them.
Now what has began to teach them me?
It means he wasn't teaching them this before, because remember in Mark chapter one, it says,
then began Jesus to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of evidence.
That means he's starting to preach that he hadn't been preaching up to that point.
He starts to preach that.
So now that he has hammered all these things and taught all these things and, and got them
to be sure and to realize and to fully understand and grasp the fact that he's the Christ.
I mean, they've got that down pat.
I mean, they, they've got it figured out.
Okay.
Now he's saying, okay, now it's time for you to learn the next thing.
You know?
Okay.
Now you can see men as trees walking.
Know that I'm the Christ, but now let's get you to see even more clearly.
Let's get you to see what that means for me to be the Christ.
He began to teach them.
This is something new that he's teaching them now that he had not been teaching up to this
point 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 then Peter just said, got it.
Got it.
All right.
Let's do it.
Is that how Peter responded?
Now Peter went from doing great to failing miserably and he spake that saying openly.
So Jesus spake that saying openly and Peter took him and began to rebuke him.
So when Jesus gets up and says, all right guys, I'm glad we got this figured out now.
Okay.
I'm the Christ.
I'm the son of God.
We got it.
Okay.
Now let me explain to you what's going to happen.
I'm going to be rejected of the elders.
I'm going to be killed.
I'm going to write, you know, this is, this is the next phase that they need to understand,
right?
He's saying I'm going to be killed and after three days rise again.
And Peter takes him in and starts to rebuke him.
No you're not okay.
Now what is Jesus response when Peter begins to rebuke Jesus?
But he had, but when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter
saying, get thee behind me, Satan for thou savor is not the things that be of God, but
the things that be of men.
Now what does this mean?
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Now this is something that you never want to say to Satan.
Jesus is not saying this to Satan is Jesus looking at the devil and saying, get the behind
me, Satan.
No.
Jesus is saying to Peter, get the behind me and he's calling him Satan, but is Peter actually
Satan?
No.
So is Jesus actually saying this to Satan?
No.
This is not something that you would ever want to say to Satan.
This is only something that you would say to a person who's acting like Satan, right?
Because what does it mean?
Get thee behind me.
What does get behind me mean?
If I said to you, Hey, get behind me.
And there are other places in the Bible where this is said, Hey, get behind me.
You know what it means?
Follow me.
I'm in charge here.
I'm leading.
Not you.
That's what it means.
Get behind me.
Now we don't want Satan following us.
We don't want Satan behind us, but, but Jesus wants Peter behind him.
You understand the difference there?
So he says, get thee behind me, Satan.
What he's saying is, look, don't you tell me how it is to be the Christ or what it means
to be the Messiah or what it means to be Christ.
I'm going to tell you what it means to be Christ.
You shut up and get behind me and I'm going to lead the way here.
Yes, I am going to die and yes, I am going to rise again three days later.
Now there's another important thing that he says here at the end of verse 33 for thou
savor is not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
You see, there are two ideas of what it means to be the Christ or the Messiah.
There's God's idea of what it means to be the Messiah, which is what?
Stating us from our sins, dying on the cross for us, shedding his blood for us so that
we can go to heaven so that we can be saved, so that we can be redeemed from our iniquities.
That's what it means to have the Christ, the Messiah.
But is that what the Jews thought?
Was that the human logic?
No.
What the Jews thought was, oh, the Messiah is going to free us from the Romans.
Oh, the Messiah is going to re-institute a great kingdom like David.
It's going to be another David.
It's going to be another Solomon.
Instead of being oppressed by the Romans, we're actually going to be on top again.
We're going to be ruling it.
And by the way, that's what the Jews today, that's what they're looking for.
They're not looking for a Messiah to come save them from their sins.
They're looking for a Messiah to come and put money in their pocket and give them political
power.
That's what they're looking for.
They're looking for glory on this earth, power on this earth, wealth on this earth.
And guess what?
That's something they were looking for back then, which is why they didn't like Jesus.
Even Peter didn't even like it the first time he heard it.
When Peter hears this, he rebukes Jesus.
Why?
Because he's already got an idea of what it means to be a Messiah.
Oh, you're the Messiah.
You're the Christ.
Great.
So, who gets to sit on your right hand in your kingdom?
Who gets to sit on the right hand and on the left, right?
Is what we find all in the book of Mark.
So, who's going to be the greatest among us?
That's the kind of conversations that they're having, okay?
And then he says, no, actually, it's about being a minister.
It's about being a servant.
Even the Son of Man didn't come to be served, to be ministered unto, but to minister and
to give his life a ransom for many.
That's what he begins to teach in the second half of Mark because this is what they need
to hear.
See, Peter savored the things that be of men, basically man's idea of who Christ is.
Man's idea of what the Messiah is, right?
Man's expectation of what the Son of God is going to be.
And he's saying, no, you need to savor the things that be of God, God's plan.
Get behind me and listen to God's plan of what it means to be the Christ or what it
means to be the Messiah.
So what's the moral of the story here?
Okay.
Well, first of all, the moral of the story is read the Bible.
And don't ever look at a portion of scripture and say, oh, this portion of scripture, this
is redundant.
This isn't important.
You know what?
We don't always have perfect understanding.
And even being saved does not give you perfect understanding.
You must be on a quest to gain more understanding, to learn more.
You must listen in church.
You must listen to the Spirit of God.
You must listen as you read your Bible and not just think, oh, I get it.
I understand it.
I got it.
Take heed how you hear.
And when you get to a book like Mark, don't say, oh, you know, the book of Mark, I already
read this in Matthew.
Let's skip forward to Luke.
You know what?
We need the book of Mark because it has something unique to teach us, powerful truths.
And look, you think I'm really teaching everything that Mark has to offer right now?
I'm just scratching the surface of a powerful truth, this buildup from chapter one that
builds up to this profound moment in chapter eight, folks.
This is what the book of Mark has to offer that the other gospels don't.
They don't have this, right?
Oh, 90 some percent of the stories are the same, right?
But what about that one that's not the same?
And what about how all the other stories have been arranged and different details are given
to lead you up to this unique story so that you can comprehend this powerful truth?
So number one, we don't ever want to walk away from certain portions of scripture and
say, you know, what do I need first and second Chronicles for?
I've already got second Kings, where do I need second Chronicles, right?
More of the same, redundant folks, if something's redundant, it's doubly important because then
the question is why repeat this?
Because it bears repeating and because it's being arranged in a different way to give
a different truth.
So don't, don't dissect and analyze and look at the Bible with a microscope and get your
four columns of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and then you can't see the forest for
the trees.
No pun intended, right?
Get the big picture of reading.
Why don't you sit down and read the book of Mark in one sitting?
Why don't you sit down?
Oh, that's too long, lazy, ignorant person who will, you know, I just, it's too much.
Well, you'll sit down and watch a movie for two hours.
How long does it take to read the book of Mark?
Couple hours.
You'll sit down and watch a ball game for three hours or four hours or something.
You know what?
Folks, if you want to see clearly, if you want to hear, if you want to understand, you
got to read your Bible, right?
And look, I understand that you're busy.
I understand that you have things going on in your life and, and that there's not always
time, but you know, sometimes there is that time to sit down and read the book of Mark
or some other portion of scripture and read enough to get the big picture, not just 10
verses a day or something.
And then you don't even get the picture because by the time you get to chapter eight, you
don't even remember what chapter one even covered because it was weeks ago.
So number one, I want to encourage you to read your Bible.
And number two, I want to encourage you to seek a higher level of understanding and not
be content with the first, a pile of Christ's spit and fingers that, that, you know, okay.
Yeah.
Now I can basically see a little bit more.
Let's go back and get the sharp vision.
Amen.
That's why we go.
Look, that's one of the reasons why we go to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night, get up and read our Bible every day, right?
It's because we're not content to just sing a song about how we were blind and now we
see, we want to see 20, 20 vision.
We don't want to see men as trees walking.
We want to see something clearer.
So number one, I hope this will encourage you to read your Bible, understand the greatness
of the book of Mark, that the book of Mark is greater perhaps than you might've thought
previously and understand the depth of this book.
And number two, that you would not be like the disciples in a half state of seeing, but
that you'd get to where you can actually see clearly.
And you know what's ironic about this is that the book of Mark on the surface appears to
be the most shallow gospel.
On the surface, right?
Just right there on the surface.
If you looked at the four gospel, you'd say John is the deepest.
Just right on the surface.
Seems like John is the one that's really deep.
In the beginning was the word.
The word was with God and the word was God.
It's very deep.
All of the book of John is so deep right there on the surface.
It's deep.
You can tell it's deep.
And then you look at the book of Mark and think like, oh, this is a little more shallow.
Not a lot of deep teachings, a lot of action, a lot of stories, a lot of fun stuff.
I've often won children to the Lord and put a bookmark in Mark chapter one and said, here,
start reading here.
Because I figured a kid would probably love the book of Mark just because there's so much
action in it, right?
So it's interesting how the book that on the surface seems shallow is actually the book
to tell you how to get a deeper understanding as a mature Christian.
And then the book that on the surface is so deep, the book of John is the book to give
to unsaved people to tell them how to get saved, how to get to first base.
Think about that.
The book of John claims to be the book that is written so that people could get saved.
So that's why we give it to brand new believers and say, here, you just got saved.
Read the book of John.
So the book that on the surface has the most depth is the book God says, oh, I wrote this
for new believers or people that aren't even saved yet so that they could get saved.
And then the book that we say, oh, well, the book of Mark, I mean, you're not going to
get much theology out of that.
You're not going to get many sermons out of that.
You're not really going to get a lot of depth out.
Just go over to Matthew, get a little more bang for your buck, spend a little more time
in Luke.
You'll get a little more depth.
But the book of Mark here ends up being a book whose literal theme is whether you understand
or don't understand.
That's literally the theme of the book.
And it's actually showing you and teaching you how to get a deeper level of insight,
comprehension, understanding so that you don't see men as trees walking but that you see
plain.
So that you see clearly.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this powerful book, Lord, and I pray that we would just
love you and love our Bibles and love your word and love Jesus Christ and help us to
continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name we pray.
Amen.