They brought the man to Jesus, and we too have to be brought and have these things explained to us. We would not seek God by ourselves. We are ignorant of where to obtain help. All of us come to Christ because we are drawn by a work of God in our hearts. Many are brought by friends to hear the gospel. They speak of what God has done for them, they explain to us the way of salvation, and they urge us to come and hear preaching. We don’t appreciate the Lord – we are so stuck in our ways. If God didn’t do something put someone in our lives to speak to us we would not respond. We have to be pressed, urged. He was deaf, and not aware of Christ’s reputation. God causes someone to pray for us, to persuade us to come to hear the gospel. He was possibly quite content in life, and could be quite cheerful. ‘Don’t talk to me from that Bible. I am doing perfectly well without God, thank you.’ We have no notion of what is wrong with us and what is at stake.
The man had a speech impediment. This was not the result of his deafness; he had two handicaps. We may be, we think, successful, and do well in our studies or our work, but we have a terrible handicap: we are deaf, and cannot hear or understand the plan of salvation. We are also dumb: this man could not really speak at all, and similarly we do not know how to pray. We do not know what to pray. If we pray at all, we pray for earthly needs, without any seeming awareness that we are facing a lost eternity. We may pray, ‘Lord, help me get over this illness; help me pass my exams; help me get this thing that I badly want, but we don’t pray for God to take away our sin and the eternal consequences of it. We do not pray for a new heart and to be made willing to obey God. We don’t enjoy any relationship with God. We too are suspicious at his message turns us away. We are alienated from God and under condemnation, need to repent of our sins. That is the first thing we learn: that we are cut off from God.
If you are embarrassed to be hearing the preaching of the gospel, and it is not where you want to be, then don’t be carried away by your first thoughts. Suspect yourself. Tell yourself that you have deeper needs than just your material needs. You must treat this message seriously and not just listen to your first reaction. You have an eternal soul and the salvation of your soul is life’s most important quest.