Sermon 2980. A Lift for the Prostrate
(No. 2980)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1875.
"And he (that is, Jesus) came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministeredunto them." Mark 1:31.
PETER'S wife's mother was sick of a very terrible fever. It was no ordinary one, such as, we are told, is common in the districtwhen she lived, but "Luke, the beloved physician," as Paul calls the Evangelist, tells us that "Simon's wife's mother wastaken with a great fever." You know that it is the nature of fever to leave the patient prostrate even when the disease departs,but Jesus Christ not only intended to heal Peter's wife's mother and to heal her at once, but He also meant that she shouldbe so completely cured that she should have no lingering prostration. Christ's cures are always perfect cures, not partialones! He does not cause the fever to go and permit the prostration to remain-He takes away both the fever and the prostration!
It is possible that the poor patient had almost given up all hope of recovery and, probably those who were around her wouldalso have despaired if they had not had faith in the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was, therefore, for her encouragementand for theirs, also, that our Lord bent over the bed where the fevered woman lay, took her by the hand, thus cheering herby showing that He was not afraid to come into contact with her and then, gently lifted her up. And she, yielding to the kindlygesture, rose and sat up-no, not merely sat up, but left the bed, being so perfectly restored that she began at once to ministerto them as the housewife whose duty it was to care for their comfort!
I hope that there are many in this congregation whom Jesus Christ means to bless, who are, at present, in a state of utterprostration. They are so despondent that their spirits sink almost to the point of despair. They cannot believe that thereis mercy for them-they have relinquished all hope of that. They did, at one time, have some measure of hope, but it is allgone. They are in the prostrate condition of Peter's mother-in-law and they need Christ to do for them the two things whichHe did for her. First, He came into contact with her and, secondly, He gently lifted her up and completely restored her. MayHe do the same for you!
I. Our first concern, in looking after prostrate souls, is to tell them that JESUS CHRIST COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THEM.
You think, my poor distressed Friend, that Jesus Christ will have nothing to do with you. You have read and heard about Him,but He seems to you to be a long way off and you cannot reach Him. Neither does it seem at all probable to you that He willever come your way and look with pity upon you. Now, listen.
In the first place, Jesus Christ has come into contact with you, for you are a member of the human race of which Jesus Christalso became a member by His Incarnation. Never forget that! While it is perfectly true that Christ "is over all, God blessedforever," yet it is equally true that He deigned to be born into this world as the Infant of an earthly mother, and that Hecondescended to live here under the same conditions as the rest of us-suffering the same weakness, sickness, sorrow and deathas we do-for our sakes. Never think of Jesus, I pray you, as though He were only a spirit, at whose Presence you have causeto be alarmed! But think of Him as a man like yourselves, eating and drinking as others did- not a recluse, shutting Himselfaway from sinners-but living as a Man among men, the perfect specimen of Manhood, the Man, Christ Jesus, for thus He has comenear to you! You would not be afraid to speak to one of your fellow men- then do not be afraid to speak to Jesus! Tell Himall the details of your case, for He was never a Man of a proud and haughty spirit. He was not one who said, "Stand by, forI am holier than you!" No, He was a man with a great heart of
love. He was so full of attractiveness that even children came and clustered around His feet! And when His disciples wouldhave driven them away, He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdomof God." He never repelled even the very worst of mankind when they approached Him-He longed to gather them to Himself. Hewept over the guilty city of Jerusalem and said, "How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathersher chicks under her wings, but you would not!" Come, then, distressed spirit, and see, in the very fact that Jesus is Immanuel,God With Us, that He has come near to you and laid His hand upon you!
"Ah," you say, "I can comprehend that He has come near to men, but then, I am not merely a man, but a sinful man." Yes, andJesus has come near to sinful menand His name is called Jesus because He is the Savior from sin! His work in this world wasnot to seek saints, but, "to seek and to save that which was lost." My Master's errand was not to the good, the excellent,the righteous, but to the evil, the unholy, the unrighteous! He said, "They that are whole have no need of the physician,but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." If He did not come to save sinners,why did He comes as a Sacrifice? Sacrifice is only required where there is sin-an Atonement is only needed where there isguilt! Christ comes to you, a guilty sinner, and He lays His hand upon you, even as He laid it upon Peter's wife's motherwhen she was sick of that great fever!
Do I hear you say, as in a whisper-as if you were afraid that anyone else might hear you, that you are not only a sinner,but a great sinner-that you have sinned beyond the ordinary guilt of the common mass of mankind-that there are some pointsin which the crimson of your guilt is of a deeper dye than that of any other man? My Friend, let me assure you that JesusChrist came to save the chief of sinners. Do you see Him on the Cross, enduring those indescribable pangs of death? Can youhear His death cries and that soul-piercing shriek, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" and still think that sucha death as that was on behalf of little sinners' trifling offenses, mere peccadilloes or mistakes? Ah, no! the Son of Godcame to give His life a Ransom for many great sins and many great sinners! The grandeur of the Atonement of Christ is a proofthat its objective was the removal of sin, however great that sin may be! The Son of God is Himself the Savior of sinners!There must, therefore, be a colossal greatness about sin to need the Son of God to remove it, and to need that the Son ofGod should diebefore the more than Herculean labor of putting sin away could be performed. But, having put away sin by theSacrifice of Himself, He is now able to save even the greatest of sinners.
That Jesus has come into contact with great sinners is very clear, or, as you read the record of His life, you see that Hispreaching was constantly aimed at just such characters. If you take a survey of His usual congregations, you wiil discoverthat they were largely made up of such characters. The Pharisees said, with contempt, but no doubt with truth, "This Man receivessinners and eats with them." Just at that very time, we have the record, "Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinnersto hear Him." His preaching evidently attracted them and He never seems to have been surprised that it did, nor to have expressedHis disgust that He should have drawn around Him such a low and degraded class of hearers! No, but on the contrary, He saidthat He was sent to seek lost sheep till He found them, and to welcome the wandering prodigal when He came back to His Father'shouse. Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the character of His congregation and the tone of His preaching, evidently came to thisworld on purpose to come into contact with the very worst of sinners! I want you to realize, dear Friend, that my Lord JesusChrist is a Man, and that He is not a Man who has come to look for congenial companions who might be worthy to be numberedamong His acquaintances-He has come to look after uncongenial men and women to whom He may bring the blessings of salvation!He has come not to be ministered unto, but to minister-not to receive, but to bestow blessings. His purpose in being here,in this world, is not to pick out, here and there, a noble and notable character, but to seek after souls that need His Graceand to come to them and bless and save them! So He has, in this respect, come near to you!
Remember that commission of His, which He gave to His disciples a little while before He went back to Heaven- "Go you intoall the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." On another occasion, after His Resurrection, He reminded them "thatrepentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." That is, beginningat the very place where the people lived who had crucified Him! "Begin where they live who have stained their hands with Myblood. Begin with them and then go to every other creature in the whole world, and say to sinners in every part of the globe,'Whoever believes on the Son of God has everlasting life." In giving that commission, our Lord Jesus Christ reached His handacross the centuries that He might touch you-and I have come
here to obey His commission by preaching the Gospel to you, for you are included in the term, "every creature." So Jesus Christcomes into contact with you through the preaching of His Word at this very moment!
There is one solemn thought that I should like you to think of. It is this-having entered this House of Prayer and havingheard the Gospel, as you will have done before this service is over, the Lord Jesus Christ has so come into contact with youthat you will never lose the impression of that contact, whether you are lost or saved. If you are lost, you will have theadditional guilt of having rejected Him-neither can you ever clear yourself of that guilt, do what you may. Your ears haveheard the Word of God so that if you do not receive it, you will be numbered among those to whom the Gospel came, but whojudged themselves unworthy of everlasting life-like some of those to whom the Apostle Paul preached and, therefore-it shallcondemn you. For, to everybody who hears the Gospel there is a savor in it-to some, it is a savor of death unto death-andto others a savor of life unto life. There is not a man, woman, or child who has understanding enough to know what we meanby preaching the Gospel, who will be able to go out of this House of Prayer without receiving some token of contact with theLord Jesus Christ. Either His blood will be upon you to save you, or else there will be realized in you that dreadful cursewhich the Jews invoked upon themselves, "His blood be on us, and on our children," which abides upon them as a curse untothis day! You shall either be cleansed from guilt by the blood of Jesus, or else you shall be guilty of rejecting Him-andso putting yourselves in the same category as the Jews who rejected Him and who nailed Him to the accursed tree. One way orother, you can be sure of this, "The Kingdom of God is come unto you." It is a solemn fact to have to state this, but so itis. Jesus Christ has, in some way or other, put His hand upon you and He is now in contact with you.
II. Leaving that point, however, I feel joy in passing on to the next one. When Jesus grasped the hand of Peter's wife's mother,HE THEN BEGAN TO GENTLY LIFT HER UP. She, willingly enough, responded to His touch and, by at once recommencing her householdduties, proved that she was perfectly healed!
Now, there are some poor, prostrate, desponding souls, who need somebody to give them a lift. And I would that the Lord, evenwhile I am preaching, might take some of you by the hand and lift you up. My objective will be to mention a few things whichmay help to give you a lift. You need to be saved. You long to be saved, but you fear that you never will be, and it is thatvery fear which keeps you from being saved! If you could but hope, your hope would be realized-but you do not feel as if youdared even to hope! Now, give me your hand and let me try to give you a lift.
First, remember that others who were very like what you now are, have been saved. Do you not know some people who used tobe very much in the condition in which you are at the present moment? If you do not, then find out the nearest Christian friendamong your acquaintances-tell him what you regard as the peculiarity of your condition-and I feel almost certain that he willsay to you, "Why, that is not anything peculiar! That is just how I was before I found the Savior." If you do not find itso with the first Christian person whom you meet, you ought not to be surprised, because, of course, all Christians are notalike, but I feel sure that you will not have talked to many Christian people before you will find that what you considerto be very remarkable peculiarities in yourself will turn out to have been very common, for a great many other people havebeen in exactly the same state! I challenge you, who are very despondent, to see whether you cannot find some who once wereas you now are, who have been saved-and when you do find them, the reasoning is very clear. If A is saved, and B is like A,then why should not B also be saved?
"Ah," you say, "I have very few Christian acquaintances of whom I can make enquiry." Very well, then, I will give you anothersimple test. Take your Bible and look up the cases of conversion and see whether the saved ones were not very much like younow are. And if that should not satisfy you, turn to the various promises that the Lord Jesus has made to seeking sinnersand see whether there is not one that is suited to such a sinner as you are. I think that you cannot go far in an honest examinationof the promises of the Gospel without saying, "Well, now, it really does look as if I could squeeze in there. At any rate,I think that description exactly meets my case." I should not be surprised if you meet with some text, of which you will say,"Why, that looks as if it had been written entirely for me! It is such an accurate description of my forlorn condition." Well,then, if you find that Christ has invited such sinners as you are, and that according to the Inspired record, He has savedsuch as you are, why should not you also have hope? Have you been a thief? Remember that-
"The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day.
And there may you, though vile as he, Wash all your sins away!"
Have you been a sinner in a more immodest sense? Remember that there was a woman who was "a sinner" in that very sense, whowashed Christ's feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Have you been a swearer? I should think thatSimon Peter had been a great swearer before he was converted, or else he would not have used oaths and curses so freely whenhe denied his Master! Yet, in spite of that old habit breaking out again, Simon Peter was not only saved, but he became oneof the most useful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ! I might continue to mention all sorts of sinners and say to you, "Sucha one as you now are has been saved, and has gone to Heaven-is not that a lift for you?" I pray the Lord to make it so! Otherslike you have been saved, so why should not you, also, be saved? Therefore, be of good courage, poor prostrate sinner!
Let me give you another lift. Salvation is all of Divine Grace. That is to say, it is altogether of God's free favor. Goddoes not save any man because there is anything in him that deserves salvation. The Lord saves whomever He wills to save!This is one of His grand prerogatives of which He is very firm. His own declaration is, "I will have mercy on whom I willhave mercy; and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." And Paul's conclusion from that declaration is, "Sothen, it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." Well, now, if it is God's will to bestowHis mercy upon sinners according to His own Sovereign Grace in Christ Jesus, irrespective of anything good in them, why shouldHe not show mercy to you? You have been looking for some reason in yourself why He should show mercy to you, but you cannotfind any such reason-and I can tell you that there never was any reason in sinners, themselves, why God should save them!He has always saved them for reasons known only to Himself which He has never revealed-and which He tells us He will not reveal.He asks, like the householder in the parable, "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with My own?" And so He will! Noman has any right to salvation. We have all forfeited all claims of merit, so, when the Lord gives His mercy, He gives itwherever He pleases. Why, then, should He not give it to you as well as to anybody else?
I may also remind you that faith in Jesus Christ always saves the soul-simply trusting Him, as we were singing just now-
"Only trust Him! Only trust Him! Only trust Him now! He will save you! He will save you! He will save you now!"
There have been a great many who have put this to the test and they have found that faith in Christ has saved them. Thereare some people, nowadays, who tell us that this is immoral doctrine-they say that we ought to preach up good works. We dopreach up good works in the most forcible manner, for we say that faith in Jesus Christ prevents men from living in sin! Wedo not preach good works as a requirement of salvation. That would be as foolish as children who take flowers and stick themin the ground, and say, "Oh, what a beautiful garden we have!" We plant the seeds of the flowers, or the roots of the flowersof Grace, for faith in Jesus Christ is the seed and the root of virtue-and he that believes in Jesus Christ is saved, notmerely from the punishment of sin, but from the sin itself-from the power of sin, from the habit of sin! If it is still saidthat this is immoral doctrine, let the thousands of men and women who have been saved from drunkenness, lasciviousness andprofanity by simply believing in Jesus, rise up and enter their solemn protest against the wicked charge that there is anythingimmoral in this teaching! Immoral doctrine? Why, it has brought millions to Christ and millions to Heaven! If this Doctrinecould truly be called immoral, then God, Himself, might be charged with being immoral, for this Gospel assuredly came fromHim and it is nothing short of blasphemy to call it immoral! Hear this Gospel, Sinner! You have no good works and you willnever have any until you repent of sin and trust the Lord Jesus Christ! If you try to have any, they will all break down becausethe motive at the back of those supposed good works will be this-you will do them in the hope of thereby saving yourself.What is that but sheer selfishness-dead selfishness, which cannot be acceptable with God? But, Sirs, if you will only trustthe Lord Jesus Christ, you shall receive the immediate pardon of your sin and with that pardon will come heartfelt gratitudeto Him who gives you the pardon! And with that gratitude will come intense hatred of everything that He hates, and ferventlove of everything that He loves. And then you will do good works! But from what motive? Why, out of gratitude to Him-andnot being the result of
selfishness, they will really be good works, for they will be done with the view of pleasing God-not as a means of gettingsomething for yourself.
Every soul, then, that has believed in Jesus has found everlasting life and deliverance from sin. Very well, then, you alsowill find the same blessings if you now trust wholly in Him. They did "only trust Him"-do the same-"only trust Him now." Theydropped into the arms of Christ, He caught them and holds them fast. Do the same-drop now into the arms of Christ who standsbeneath you, ready to catch you-and you shall most certainly be saved! This is Christ's own declaration, "He that believesand is baptized shall be saved." The belief is to come first, and the baptism is to follow as the confession of the belief.Christ commanded His disciples to observe that order-"Go you, therefore, and teach (or, make disciples of) all nations, baptizingthem, (those who are made disciples), into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This is what ChristHimself said. So, if you have believed in Him and have been baptized on profession of that faith, you are saved, just as myriadsof others have been saved! I have thus tried to give you a further lift and I pray the Lord Jesus to take you by the handand lift you up, you fevered and prostrate patients who cannot rise without His power being poured into you!
Let me try to give you a lift in another way. I think I hear you say, "O Sir, I know the Gospel but, somehow, I cannot gethold of it. I know what praying means, but I cannot pray as I would. I know what repenting is, but I cannot repent as I would."Here is a text which will, I hope, give you a lift-"The Spirit also helps our infirmities." Can you not look up to Heavenand ask that blessed Spirit to help you? What, though your heart is hard as the nether millstone, the Spirit of God can makeit soft in a moment! Though it seems impossible for you to believe in Jesus, the gracious Spirit is ready right now to enableyou to believe in Him! If now you seem to be the very reverse of what you ought to be, the blessed Spirit can completely changeyour nature! He can open blind eyes and unstop deaf ears and take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heartof flesh! I know that you cannot help yourself, but I also know that the Holy Spirit can help you, for nothing is impossibleto Him! Come, heavenly Wind, and breathe upon these dry bones! Quicken them into life and activity so that where there wasnothing but death, there may be a living army to serve the living Lord! And, blessed be His holy name, He will do it for,wherever there is a true, heart-felt prayer for His Presence, He is already present, dictating that prayer! No one reallyprays until the Holy Spirit teaches him how to pray! So, you who are like Peter's wife's mother, have we been able to liftyou up yet? May the Lord's almighty hand be stretched out to you, for ours alone will be too weak to lift you up!
Here is another lift for you. Notwithstanding all that I have said, you still think that you deserve to be lost and that youmust be lost, for your being punished will show the Justice of God. That is true, as far as it goes, but let me tell you somethingelse that is equally true. Your being saved will glorify the Mercy of God and "He delights in mercy." I recollect the timewhen I thought that if Jesus Christ saved me, it would be the biggest thing He ever did. I thought so then, and I do not knowbut that I think so now. And I feel sure that when I get to Heaven, I shall still have that idea. And if you, dear Friend,think the same concerning yourself, I expect you are about right! Jesus Christ, however, loves to do big things. He delightsto show great mercy to great sinners and if there is one man here who seems not to have any good point about him, but whomeverybody knows as being a renowned sinner-well, I pray the Lord to save you, my Friend, because then the devils in Hell willhear of it and they will be angry! And I like them to be angry for such a reason as that! And the wicked men with whom youhave been accustomed to associate, will hear of it and they will say, "What? Old Jack a Christian? Harry turned Baptist? Inever would have believed such a thing to be possible!" We like to have just such converts as these and my Lord likes to havethem, too, for such victories of Sovereign Grace cause a great stir in the camp of the Philistines-and they begin to tremble,and cry, "Who will be the next to turn?" And so the Kingdom of Heaven grows, Satan's fame gets dimmed and the fame of Jesusof Nazareth grows brighter and brighter!
"Ah," says one, "I never looked at it in that light, for, certainly, if Jesus Christ were to save me, it would be the biggestwonder on earth!" Then I think it is very likely that He willsave you, for He delights to do great wonders and to work mightymarvels! How do you think that a doctor gets to have great fame? There are some physicians in London who have so many patientswaiting to see them that the poor sufferers have to wait hours before they can get in. How did those doctors get to be socelebrated? If I were to tell you they got all their fame through curing chapped hands, sore fingers and warts, you wouldsay, "Nonsense! Nobody gets fame through doing such little things as that!" How did they get their honor, then? Oh, therewas a poor man who was near death. He had been given up by several other doctors, but this one was enabled by God to healhim. Or there was a man whose leg was about to be amputated and this doctor said, "I will save that man's limb." Or therewas a complicated case of internal disease and this doctor said, "I understand that case," and he cured it-and everybody talkedabout the wonderful cure-and now, everybody goes to that doctor! He became famous through curing bad cases-one really badcase brought him more credit than 50 minor maladies might have done. So is it with the Great Physician and you big sinnerswith such a complication of disorders that nobody but Christ can cure you! My Lord and Master has a wondrous way of healingthose who appear to be incurable! And when He cures such cases as yours, Heaven and earth and Hell hear of it and it makesHim famous. So I would encourage you to hope that He will save even you, though you are as prostrate as Peter's wife's motherwas before Christ took her by the hand and lifted her up. May my gracious Lord and Master help you to take encouragement fromwhat He has done for others who were in as sad a state as you are now in!
Though your case seems so hopeless to you, or, if you have any hope of recovery, you feel that it will take a long while,I want to remind you that Jesus Christ pardons sinners in an instant. A man is as black as midnight one moment, and as brightas noonday the next! Jesus Christ lifted up upon the Cross has such mighty power that if a man had all the sins of mankindresting upon him, yet, if he did but look to Christ by faith, his sins would all be gone in a moment! Did you ever see thatwonderful sculpture which represents the Laocoon and his sons with the monstrous snakes twisted all about their limbs? Well,though you should be another Laocoon and sinful habits should be twisted all about you, so that it would be impossible foryou to free yourself from them, yet, if you look to Jesus by faith, those monsters shall drop dead at your feet! Jesus Christ,the Seed of the woman, sets His foot upon the monster, Sin, and breaks its head. And if you believe in Jesus, that piercedfoot of His shall crush the life out of your sins and you shall be delivered from their power. Oh, that you might have Graceto trust in Jesus for instantaneous pardon, instantaneous regeneration, instantaneous deliverance from nature's darkness intoGod's most marvelous light! If you are as prostrate as Peter's wife's mother was, you ought not to lie still any longer whenChrist is ready to give you such a lift as that!
But if you do, I bid you remember, poor desponding, despairing sinner, that He who has come to save such as you are is a DivineSavior. What a deathblow this ought to be to every doubt! You say that there is a difficulty in your case. Yes, there is alwaysa difficulty where there is only finite power. There always will be difficulties where there are creatures with limited capacities.But here is the Creator-the Creator in human flesh-He who made the heavens and the earth has come down to live here as a Manand to die upon the Cross in order that He may save sinners! What difficulty can there be in the Presence of Omnipotence?Talk not of difficulty in the Presence of the almighty God! He has but to will anything and it is done-to speak and it standsfast forever! Jesus Christ, my Lord and Master, is able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him, andHe is able to save them with the greatest possible ease. What an easy thing it was for Christ to bless men, women and childrenwhen He was here upon earth! A poor woman came in the crowd and just touched the hem of His garment-she could not get nearenough to touch Him-but she just touched the hem of His garment with her finger. There was contact between her and Christthrough her finger and the hem of His garment and she was made whole that very instant! There were other cases in which Christhealed people who were miles away from Him at the time. "Go your way," He said to the nobleman, "your son lives." He had notbeen near him! He could work the miracle just as easily at a distance.
O Sinner, nothing is impossible with God! If you are sick and near death, Jesus Christ is able to save you! If I saw you atthe very gates of Hell-so long as you had not actually crossed the threshold-if I saw you trembling there and you said tome, "Can Jesus Christ save me now?" I would reply, "Yes, my Brother, look unto Him and He will take you from the gates ofHell to the gates of Heaven in a single moment!" He said when on earth, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgivenunto men," and it is just as true today! "Come, now, and let us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins are as scarlet,they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."-
"Only trust Him! Only trust him! Only trust Him now! He willsave you! He will save you! He willsave you now!"
Oh, that He would bless this word to you! Christ is God as well as Man. He suffered on the Cross in the place of sinners,but He lives after the suffering has been accomplished! He lives as the Savior who is mighty to save and whoever will takeHim as his or her own Savior shall find it to be so this very hour!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK 1:14-35.
Verse 14. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. When oneservant of God is laid aside, it is a call to the rest to be the more earnest. So after John the Baptist was put into prison,"Jesus came into Galilee." Sometimes a loss may be a gain-and if the loss of John was the means of bringing out Jesus, certainlyboth the Church and the world were the gainers! "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God."
15. And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the Gospel It is clear,from this passage, that our Lord exhorted men to repent and to believe the Gospel. There are some who profess to be His followerswho will not allow us to do this. We may teach men, and warn them, they say, but we must not exhort them to repent and believe!Well, as the contention of these people is not in accordance with the Scriptures, we are content to follow the Scripturesand to do as Jesus did-so we shall say to sinners, "Repent you, and believe the Gospel."
16-18. Now as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea: for theywere fishermen. And Jesus said unto them; Come you after Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And straightway they forsooktheir nets and followed Him. The Gospel minister is like the fisherman with a net. I have sometimes heard the comparison drawnas though the Gospel fisherman had a hook and a line, which he has not. His business is not to entice a fish to swallow hisbait but to cast the net all round him and lift him, by His Grace, out of the element in which he lies in sin, into the boatwhere Christ still sits, as He sat in the olden days in the boat on the sea of Galilee. To shut the sinner up to faith inJesus Christ-that is the main work of the true Gospel fisherman!
19, 20. And when He hadgone a little farther, He saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in aship mending their nets. And straightway He called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants,and went after Him. They never had cause to regret that they did! Whatever they left, they were abundantly rewarded. Theyhad a rich reward here on earth-and they have a far richer reward in Heaven. Whatever a man gives up for Christ is a blessedinvestment which will, sooner or later, bring him good interest!
21, 22. And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue, and taught. And theywere astonished at His doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. He did not do as thescribes did, who made a great parade of learning by quoting this Rabbi and the other. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say untoyou." He spoke as one who felt that He had authority to speak in His own name, and in the name of God, His Father. This methodof teaching quite astonished the Jews. I wish that those who now hear the Gospel might be astonished at it, and be astonishedinto the belief of it by the power with which it comes home to their consciences and hearts.
23, 24. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone. How often thatis still the cry of sinners, "Let us alone. Why do you not hold your own views and let us alone?" Yes, the devils and thosewhom they control, still say, "Let us alone." But it is a part of the Gospel to attack that which is not the Gospel-and itis as much the duty of the minister of the Gospel to denounce error as to proclaim the Truth of God. If we do so, the oldcry will still be heard, "Let us alone. Let us alone!"
24, 25. What have we to do with You, You Jesus of Nazareth? Are You come to destroy us?I know You who You are, the Holy Oneof God. And Jesus rebuked him. He did not want any testimony from the devil. When a man of ill character once praised Plato,the philosopher said, "What can I have done wrong that such a fellow as that speaks well of me?" So when the devil bore testimonyto the Divinity of Christ, "Jesus rebuked him."
25, 26. Saying, hold your peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice,he came out of him. For, if Satan must come out of a man, he will do him as much mischief as he can before he departs. Hiswrath is all the greater because his time is so short-
"He worries whom he can't devour, With a malicious joy."
27. And theey were all amazed, Insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrineis this? For with authority commands He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him. It was the authority of His preachingwhich first astonished them. And then the authority with which He worked His miracle and subdued the world of demons. Blessedbe God! Christ has not abdicated His authority! He is still the great Messenger of God, full of Divine authority to save menand to deliver them from the power of Satan.
28-30. And immediately His fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee. And forthwith, when they werecome out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon's wife's motherlay sick of a fever, and soon they told Him of her. Christ was a house-to-house missionary, as well as an open-air preacher.There is much good to be done by those who know how to visit and to look after individual cases. There is great good to bedone in that way-as well as by dealing with mankind in the bulk.
31-35. And He came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered untothem. And at evening, when the sun set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.And all the city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out manydevils: and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day,He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. His hard day's work probably ran on far into the night.Yet, "a great while before day," He was up at the sacred work of supplication! The more work we have to do with men for God,the longer we ought to be at work with God for men. If you plead with men, you cannot hope to prevail unless you first pleadwith God. And, inasmuch as our Lord had great success the day before, it teaches us that the greatest success does not releaseus from the necessity of still waiting upon God. If God has given you much, my Brother, go with your basket and ask for more.Never stop prayer. Increase your spiritual hunger and God will increase the richness of the gifts He will bestow upon you!