NO. 2980<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22ND, 1906,<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.<\/b><\/p>\n
ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, SEP. 19TH, 1875.<\/p>\n
And he (that is, Jesus) came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.\u201d \u2014 Mark 1:31.<\/i><\/p>\n
Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother was sick of a very terrible fever. It was no ordinary one, such as, we are told, is common in the district when she lived; but \u201cLuke, the beloved physician,\u201d as Paul calls the evangelist, tells us that \u201cSimon\u2019s wife\u2019s mother was taken with a great fever.\u201d You know that it is the nature of fever to leave the patient prostrate even when the disease itself departs; but Jesus Christ not only intended to heal Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother, and to heal her at once, but he also meant that she should be so completely cured that she should have no lingering prostration. Christ\u2019s cures are always perfect cures; not partial ones. He does not cause the fever to go, and permit the prostration to remain; but he takes away both the fever and the prostration.<\/p>\n
It is possible that the poor patient had almost given up all hope of recovery; and, probably, those who were round about her would also have despaired if they had not had faith in the great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was, therefore, for her encouragement, and for theirs also, that our Lord bent over the bed whereon the fevered woman lay, took her by the hand, thus cheering her by showing that he was not afraid to come into contact with her, and then gently lifted her up; and she, yielding to the kindly pressurer rose, and sat up, \u2014 nay, not merely sat up, but left the bed, being so perfectly restored that she began at once to minister to them as the housewife whose duty it was to care for their comfort.<\/p>\n
I hope that there are many in this congregation whom Jesus Christ means to bless; but they are, at present, in a state of utter prostration; they are so despondent that their spirits sink almost to the point of despair. They cannot believe that there is mercy for them; they have relinquished all hope of that. They did, at one time, have some measure of hope, but it is all gone now.<\/p>\n
They are in the prostrate condition of Peter\u2019s mother-in-law, and they need Christ to do for them the two things which he did for her. First, he came into contact with her;<\/i> and, secondly, he gently lifted her up, and completely restored her.<\/i> May he do the like for you!<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>Our first concern, in looking after prostrate souls, is to tell them that Jesus Christ Comes Into Contact With Them.<\/p>\n
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 will ever come your way, and look in pity upon you. Now, listen.<\/p>\n
In the first place, Jesus Christ has come into contact with you,<\/i> for you are a member of the human rase, of which Jesus Christ also became a member by his incarnation. Never forget that, while it is perfectly true that Christ \u201cis over all, God blessed for ever,\u201d yet it is equally true that he deigned to be born into this world, as the infant of an earthly mother, and that he condescended to live here under the same conditions as the rest of us, suffering the same weakness, and sickness, and sorrow, and death as we do, for our sakes. Never think of Jesus, I pray you, as though he were only a spirit, at whose presence you have cause to be alarmed; but think of him, as a man like yourselves, eating and drinking as others did, \u2014 not a recluse, shutting himself away from sinners, but living as a man among men, the perfect specimen of manhood, the man Christ Jesus, for thus he has come near to you. You would not be afraid to speak to one of your fellow-men; then, do not to afraid to speak to Jesus. Tell him all the details of your case, for he was never a man of a proud and haughty spirit. He was not one who said, \u201cStand by, for I am holier than thou;\u201d but 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 would have driven them away, he said, \u201cSuffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.\u201d He never repelled even the very worst of mankind when they approached him; but he longed to gather them to himself. He wept over the guilty city of Jerusalem, and said, \u201cHow often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! \u201cCome, 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh! you say, \u201cI can comprehend that he has come near to men; but, then, I am, not merely a man, but a sinful man.\u201d Yes, and Jesus has come near to sinful men,<\/i> and his name is called Jesus because he is the Savior from sin. His work in this world was not to seek saints, but \u201cto seek and to save that which was lost.\u201d My Master\u2019s errand was not to the good, the excellent, the righteous, but to the evil, the unholy, the unrighteous. He said, \u201cThey 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.\u201d If he did not come to save sinners, why did he come as a sacrifice?<\/p>\n
Sacrifice is only required where there is sin, \u2014 an atonement is only needed where there is guilt. Christ comes to you, a guilty sinner, and he lays his hand upon you, even as he laid it upon Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother when she was sick of that great fever.<\/p>\n
Do I hear you say, as in a whisper, as if you were afraid that anyone else should hear you, that you are not only a sinner, but a great sinner, \u2014 that you have sinned beyond the ordinary guilt of the common mass of mankind, \u2014 that there are some points in which the crimson of your guilt is of a deeper dye than that of any our man? My friend, lest me assure you that Jesus Christ came to save the chief of sinners.<\/i> Do you see him, on the cross, enduring those indescribable pangs of death! Can you hear his death-cries, and that soul-piercing shriek, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d and still think that such a death as that was on behalf of little sinners\u2019 trifling offenses, mere peccadilloes or mistakes? Ah, no! the Son of God came to give his life a ransom for many great sins, and many great sinners. The grandeur of the atonement of Christ is a proof that its object 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 of God should die ere the more than Herculean labor of putting sin away could be performed; but, having put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, he is now able to save even the greatest of sinners.<\/p>\n
That Jesus has come into contact with great sinners, is very clear; or, as you read the record of his life, you see that his preaching was constantly aimed at just such characters.<\/i> If you take a survey of his usual congregations, you will discover that they were largely made up of such characters. The Pharisees said, with contempt, but no doubt with truth, \u201cThis man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them,\u201d Just at that very time, we have the reward, \u201cThem drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.\u201d His preaching evidently attracted them, and he never seems to have been surprised that it did, nor to have expressed his disgust that he should have drawn around him such a low and degraded class of hearers. No; but, on the contrary, he said that he was sent to seek lost sheep till he found them, and to welcome the wandering prodigal when he came back to his Father\u2019s house. Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the character of his congregation and the tone of his preaching, evidently came to this world on purpose to come into contact with the very worst of sinners. I want you to realize, dear friend, that my Lord Jesus Christ, is a man, and that he is not a man who has come to look for congenial companions who might be worthy to be numbered amongst his acquaintances; but 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; \u2014 not to receive, but to bestow boons; his object 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 grace, and 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: \u201cGo ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\u201d On another occasion, after his resurrection, he reminded them \u201cthat repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his nation among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem;\u201d that is, beginning at the very place where the people lived who had crucified him. \u201cBegin where they live who have stained their hands with my blood. Begin with them, and then go to every other creature in the whole world, and say to sinners in every part of the globe, \u2019Whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life.\u201d In giving that commission, our Lord Jesus Christ reached his hand across 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 berm, \u201cevery creature.\u201d So Jesus Christ comes into contact with you through the preaching of his Word at this very moment.<\/p>\n
There is one solemn thought that I should like you to think of, it is this, \u2014 having entered this house of prayer, and having heard the gospel, as you will have done before this service is over, the Lord Jesus Christ has so come into contact with you; that you will never lose the impress of that contact, whether you are lost or saved.<\/i> If you are lost, you will have the additional guilt of having rejected him; neither can you ever clear yourself of that guilt, do what you may. Your ears have heard the Word, so that, if you do not receive it, you will be numbered amongst those to whom the gospel came, but who judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life, like some of those to whom the apostle Paul preached; and, therefore, it shall condemn you. For, to everybody who hears the gospel, there is a savor in it; to some, it is a savor of death unto death, and to others a savor of life unto life. There is not a man, woman, our child, who has understanding enough to know what we mean by preaching the gospel, who will be able to go out of this house of prayer without receiving some token of contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. Either his blood will be upon you to save you, or else there will be realized in you that dreadful curse which the Jews invoked upon themselves, \u201cHis blood be on us, and on our children,\u201d which abides upon them as a curse unto this day. You shall either be cleansed from guilt by the blood of Jesus, or else you shall be guilty of rejecting him, and so putting yourselves in the same category as the Jews who rejected him, and who nailed him to the accursed tree. One way or other, to be sure of this, \u201cThe kingdom of God is come unto you.\u201d It is a solemn fact to have to state this, but so it is. Jesus Christ has, in some way or other, put his hand upon you, and he is now in contact with you.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
II. <\/b>Leaving that point, however, I feel joy in passing on to the next one. When Jesus grasped the hand of Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother, He Then Began Gently To Lift Her Up. She, willingly enough, responded to his touch; and, by at once recommencing her household duties, proved that she was perfectly healed.<\/p>\n
Now, there are some poor, prostrate, desponding souls, who need somebody to give them a lift; and I would that the Lord, even while I am preaching, might take some of you by the hand, and lift you up. My object will be to mention a few things which may help to give you a lift. You want to be saved; you long to be saved; but you fear that you never will be, and it is that very fear which keeps you from being saved. If you could but hope, your hope would be realized; but you do not feel as if you dared even to hope. Now, give me your hand, and let me try to give you a lift.<\/p>\n
First, remember that others, who were very like what you now are, have been saved. Do you not know some people who used to be very much in the condition in which you are at the present moment? If you do not, then find out the nearest Christian friend amongst your acquaintance, tell him what you regard as the peculiarity of your condition, and I feel almost certain that he will say to you, \u201cWhy, that is not anything peculiar; that is just how I was before I found the Savior,\u201d If you do not find it so with the first Christian person whom you meet, you ought not to be surprised, because, of course, all Christians are not alike; but I feel sure that you will not have talked to many Christian people before you will find that what you consider to be very remarkable peculiarities in yourself will turn out to have been very common, for a great many other people have been in just the same state! I challenge you, who are very despondent, to see whether you cannot find some, who once were as you now are, who have been saved; and when you do find them, the reasoning is very clear. If A be saved, and B is like A, then why should not B also be saved?<\/p>\n
\u201cAh!\u201d say you, \u201cI have very few Christian acquaintances of whom I can make enquiry,\u201d Very well, then, I will give you another simple test. Take your Bible, and lock out the cases of conversion, and see whether the saved ones were not very much like you now are; and if that should not satisfy you, turn to the various promises that the Lord Jesus has made to coming sinners, and set 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 examination of the promises of the gospel without saying, \u201cWell, now, it really does look as if I could squeeze in there, at any rate; I think that description just exactly meets my case.\u201d I should not be surprised if you meet with some text, of which you will say, \u201cWhy, that looks as if it had been written entirely for me; it is such an accurate description of my forlorn condition.\u201d Well, then, if you find that Christ has invited such sinners as you are, and that, according to the inspired record, he has saved such as you are, why should not you also have hope! Have you been a thief? Remember that \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cThe dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in kits day;
And there may you, though vile as he,
Wash all your sins away.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Have you been a sinner in a more immodest sense? Remember that there was a woman, who was \u201ca sinner\u201d in that very sense, who washed Christ\u2019s feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Have you been a swearer? I should think that Simon Peter had been a great swearer before he was converted, or else he would not have used oaths and curses so freely when he denied his Master. Yet, in spite of that old habit breaking out again, Simon Peter was not only saved, but he became one of the most useful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. I might continue to mention all sorts of sinners, and say to you, \u201cSuch a 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. Others like you have been saved, so why should not you also be saved? Wherefore, be of good courage, poor prostrate sinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let me give you another lift. Salvation is all of grace;<\/i> that is to say, it is altogether of God\u2019s free favor. God does not save any man because there is anything in him that deserves salvation. The Lord saves whomsoever he wills to save; this is one of his grand prerogatives, of which he is very tenacious. His own declaration is, \u201cI will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion; \u201cand Paul\u2019s conclusion from that declaration is, \u201cSo then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.\u201d Well, now, if it be God\u2019s will to bestow his mercy upon sinners, according to his own sovereign grace in Christ Jesus, irrespective of anything good in them, why should he not show mercy to you? You have been looking for some reason in yourself why he should show mercy unto you, but you cannot find 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, \u201cIs it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?\u201d and so he will do. No man has any right to salvation. We have all forfeited all claim of merit; so, when the Lord gives his mercy, he gives it wherever he pleases. Why, then, should he not give it to you as well as to anybody else?<\/p>\n
I may also remind you that faith in Jesus Christ always does save the soul,<\/i> \u2014 simply trusting him, as we were singing just now, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cOnly trust him! Only trust him!
Only trust him now!
He will save you! He will save you!
He will save you now!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
There have been a great many who have put this to the test, and they have found that faith in Christ has saved them. There are some people, nowadays, who tell us that this is immoral doctrine; they say that we ought to preach up good works. We do preach up good works, in the most forcible manner; for we say that faith in Jesus Christ prevents men from living in sin. We do not preach good works as a ground of salvation. That would be as foolish as children, who take flowers, and stick them in the ground, and say, \u201cOh, what a beautiful garden we have got! \u201cWe plant the seeds of the flowers, or the roots of the flowers of grace; for faith in Jesus Christ is the seed and the root of virtue, and he that believes in Jesus Christ is saved, not merely from the punishment of sin, but from the sin itself, \u2014 from the power of sin, from the habit of sin. If it be still said that this is immoral doctrine, let the thousands of men, who have been saved from drunkenness, and lasciviousness, and profanity, by simply believing in Jesus, rise up, and enter their solemn protest against the wicked charge that there is anything immoral in this teaching. Immoral doctrine. Why, it has brought millions to Christ, and millions to heaven. If this doctrine could truly be called immoral, then God himself might be charged with being immoral, for this gospel assuredly came from him, and it is nothing short of blasphemy to call it immoral. Hear this gospel, sinner. You have no good works, and you will never have any until you repent of sin, and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. If you try to have any, they will all break down, because the 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, \u2014 dead selfishness, which cannot be acceptable with God? But, sirs, if you will only trust the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall receive the immediate pardon of your sin, and with that pardon will come heartfelt gratitude to him who gives you the pardon; and with that gratitude will come intense hatred of everything that he haloes, and fervent love of everything that he loves. And then you will do good works; but from what motive? Why, out of gratitude to him; and not being the result of selfishness, they will really be good works, for they will be done with the view of pleasing God, and not as a means of getting something for yourself.<\/p>\n
Every soul, then, that has believed in Jesus has found everlasting life, and deliverance from sin. Very well, then, you also will find the same blessings if you now confide wholly in him. They did \u201conly trust him,\u201d do you the same, \u2014 \u201conly trust him now.\u201d They dropped into the arms of Christ, he caught them, and hold them fast. Do you the same; drop now into the arms of Christ, who stands beneath you, ready to catch you, and you shall most certainly be saved. This is Christ\u2019s own declaration, \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.\u201d 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: \u201cGo ye therefore, and teach (or, make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them (those who are made disciples,) into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.\u201d This is what Christ himself said; so, if you have believed in him, and have been baptized on profession of that faith, you are saved, just as myriads of ours have been saved. I have thus tried to give you a further lift up, and I pray the Lord Jesus to take you by the hand, and lift you up, you fevered and prostrate patients, who cannot rise without his power being poured into you.<\/p>\n
Let me try to give you a lift in another way. I think I hear you say, \u201cO sir, I know the gospel; but, somehow, I cannot get hold 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.\u201d Here is a text which will, I hope, give you a lift: \u201cThe Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.\u201d Can you not look up to heaven, and ask that blessed Spirit to help you now? What though your heart is hard as the nether millstone? The Spirit of God can make it soft in a moment. What though it seems impossible for you to believe in Jesus? The gracious Spirit is ready now to enable you to believe in him. What if now you seem to be the very reverse of what you ought to be! The blessed Spirit can completely change your nature. He can open the blind eye, and unstop the deaf ear, and take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. I know that you cannot help yourself; but I also know that the Holy Spirit can help you, for nothing is impossible unto him. Come, heavenly wind, and breathe upon these dry bones; quicken them into life and activity, so that, where there was nothing 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 present already, dictating that prayer; for no one really prays until the Holy Spirit teaches him how to pray. So, you who are like Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother, have we been able to lift you up yet? May the Lord\u2019s almighty hand be stretched out to you, for ours alone will be too weak to lift you up.<\/p>\n
Here is another lift for you. Notwithstanding all that I have said, you still think that you deserve to be lost, and that you must be lost, for your being punished will show the justice of God.<\/i> That is true, as far as it goes; but let me tell you something else that is equally true. Your being saved will glorify the mercy of God, and \u201che delighteth in mercy.\u201d I recollect the time when 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 know but 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 delights to show great mercy to great sinners; and if there is one man here, who seems not to have any good point about him, but whom everybody knows as being a renowned sinner, \u2014 well, I pray the Lord to save you, my friend, because then the devils in hell will hear 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 you have been accustomed to associate, will hear of it, and they will say, \u201cWhat! old Jack becomes Christian? Harry turned Baptist? I never would have believed such a thing to be possible.\u201d We like to have just such converts as these, and my Lord likes to have them too, for such victories of sovereign grace cause a great stir in the camp of the Philistines, and they begin to tremble, and cry, \u201cWho will be the next to turn? \u201cAnd so the kingdom of heaven grows, and Satan\u2019s fame gets dimmed, and the fame of Jesus of Nazareth grows brighter and brighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh!\u201d says one, \u201cI never looked at it in that light; for, certainly, if Jesus Christ were to save me, I should be the biggest wonder on earth.\u201d Then I think it is very likely that he will save you, for he delights to do great wonders, and to work mighty marvels. How do you think that a doctor gets to have great fame? There are some physicians in London, who have so many patients waiting to see them, that the poor sufferers have to wait hour after hour before they can get in. How did those doctors get to be so celebrated? If I were to tell you they got, all their fame through curing chapped hands, and sore fingers, and warts, you would say, \u201cNonsense! Nobody gets fame through doing such little things as that,\u201d How did they get their honor, then? Oh, there was a poor man, who was nigh unto death; he had been given up by several other doctors, but this one was enabled by God to heal him. Or there was a man, whose leg was about to be amputated, and this doctor said, \u201cI will save that man\u2019s limb.\u201d Or there was a complicated case of internal disease, and this doctor said, \u201cI understand that case,\u201d and he cured it, and everybody talked about the wonderful cure; and, now, everybody goes to that doctor. He became famous through curing bad cases; one really bad case brought him more credit than fifty minor maladies might have done. So is it with the great Physician and you big sinners with such a complication of disorders that nobody but Christ can cure you. My Lord and Master has a wondrous way of healing those who appear to be incurable; and when he cures such cases as yours, heaven and earth and hell hear of it, and it makes him famous. So I would encourage you to hope that he will save even you, though you are as prostrate as Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother was before Christ took her by the hand, and lifted her up. May my gracious Lord and Master help you to take encouragement from what he has done for others who were in as sad a state as you are now in!<\/p>\n
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.<\/i> A man is as black as midnight one moment, and as bright as noonday the next. Jesus Christ lifted up upon the cross has such mighty power that, if a man had all the sins of mankind resting upon him, yet, if he did but look to Christ by faith, his sins would be all gone in a moment? Did you over see that wonderful 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 for you to free yourself from them, yet, if you look to Jesus by faith, these 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 pierced foot of his shall crush the life out of your sin, and you shall be delivered from its power. Oh, that you might have grace to trust in Jesus for instantaneous pardon, instantaneous regeneration, instantaneous deliverance from nature\u2019s darkness into God\u2019s most, marvellous light! If you are as prostrate as Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s mother was, you ought not to lie still any longer when Christ, is ready to give you such a lift as that.<\/p>\n
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 Divine Savior.<\/i> What a death-blow this ought to be to every doubt! You say that there is a difficulty in your case. Yes, there is always a difficulty where there is only finite power; there always will be difficulties where there are Creatures with limited capacities; but here is the Creator, \u2014 the Creator in human flesh, \u2014 he who made the heavens and the earth has come down to live here as a man, and 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; \u2014 to speak, and it stands fast for ever. Jesus Christ, my Lord and Master, is able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God by him, and he is able to save them with the greatest possible ease. What an easy thing it was for Christ to bless men, and women, and children when he was here upon earth! A poor woman came in the crowd, and just touched the hem of his garment, \u2014 she could not get near enough to touch him; but she just touched the hem of his garment with her finger, \u2014 there was contact between her and Christ through her finger and the hem of his garment, and she was made whole that very instant. There, were other cases in which Christ healed people who were miles away from him at the time. \u201cGo, my way,\u201d said he to the nobleman, \u201cthy son liveth.\u201d He had not been 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 nigh unto death, Jesus Christ is able to save you. If I saw you at the very gates of hell, \u2014 so long as you had not actually crossed the threshold, \u2014 if I saw you trembling there, and you said to me, \u201cCan Jesus Christ save me now! \u201cI would reply, \u201cAy, my brother, look unto him, and he will take you from the gates of hell to the gates of heaven in a single moment.\u201d He said when on earth, \u201cAll manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,\u201d and it is just as true today. \u201cCome now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins to as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they to red like crimson, they shall be as wool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly trust him! Only trust him!
Only trust him now!
He will save you! He will save you!
He will save you now!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Oh, that he would bless this word to you! Christ is God as well as man. He suffered in the stead of sinners on the cross, but he lives after the suffering has been accomplished, he lives as the Savior who is mighty to save; and whoever will take him as his or her own Savior shall find it to be so this very hour.<\/p>\n
EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
MARK 1:14-35.<\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 14. Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, \u2014<\/i> <\/p>\n
When one servant 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, \u201cJesus came into Galilee.\u201d Sometimes a loss may be a gain, and if the loss of John was the means of bringing out Jesus, certainly both the Church and the world were the gainers: \u201cJesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
15. And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.<\/i><\/p>\n
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 followers, who will not suffer 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 Scriptures, and to do as Jesus did, so we shall say to sinners, \u201cRepent ye, and believe the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them; Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him.<\/i><\/p>\n
The gospel minister is like the fisherman with a net. I have sometimes heard the comparison drawn as though the gospel fisherman had a hook and a line, which he has not. His business is not to entice a fish to swallow his bait 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 boat where Christ still sit, as he sat, in the olden days, in the boat on the sea of Galilee. To shut the sinner up to faith in Jesus Christ, \u2014 that is the main work of the true gospel fisherman.<\/p>\n
19, 20. And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship 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.<\/i><\/p>\n
They never had cause to regret that they did so. Whatever they left, they were abundantly rewarded. They had a rich reward here on earth; and they have a far richer reward in heaven. Whatever a man gives up for Christ is a blessed investment, which will, sooner or later, bring him good interest.<\/p>\n
21, 22. And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.<\/i><\/p>\n
He did not do as the scribes did, who made a great parade of learning by quoting this Rabbi and the other, but Jesus said, \u201cVerily, verily, I say unto you.\u201d 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 method of teaching quite astonished the Jews. I wish that those who now hear the gospel, might be astonished at it, and be astonished into the belief of it by the power with which it comes home to their consciences and hearts.<\/p>\n
23, 24. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone;<\/i><\/p>\n
How often that is still the cry of sinners, \u201cLet us alone. Why do not you hold your own views, and let us alone? \u201cYes the devils, and those whom they control, still say, \u201cLet us alone.\u201d But it is a part of the gospel to attack that which is not the gospel, and it is as much the duty of the minister of the gospel to denounce error as to proclaim truth. If we do so, the old cry will still be heard, \u201cLet us alone. Let us alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
24, 25. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, \u2014 <\/i><\/p>\n
He did not want any testimony from the devil. When a man of ill character once praised Plato, the philosopher said, \u201cWhat can I have done wrong that such a fellow as that speaks well of me?\u201d So when the devil bore testimony to the divinity of Christ, \u201cJesus rebuked him,\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
25, 26. Saying, hold thy 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.<\/i><\/p>\n
For, if Satan must come out of a man, he will do him as much mischief as ever he can before he departs. His wrath is all the greater because his time is so short.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe worries whom he can\u2019t devour,
With a malicious joy.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
27. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.<\/i><\/p>\n
It was the authority of his preaching which first astonished them; and then the authority with which he wrought his miracle, and subdued the world of demons. Blessed be God. Christ has not abdicated his authority. He is still the great Messenger of God, full of divine authority to save men, and to deliver them from the power of Satan.<\/p>\n
28-30. And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee. And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon\u2019s wife\u2019s mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her.<\/i><\/p>\n
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 be done in that way, as well as by dealing with mankind in the bulk.<\/p>\n
31-35. And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And at even, when the sun did 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 many devils: and suffered not the devil 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.<\/i><\/p>\n
His hard day\u2019s work probably ran on far into the night. Yet, \u201ca great while before day,\u201d 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 plead with God. And, inasmuch as our Lord had great success the day before, it teaches us that the greatest success does not release us from the necessity of still waiting upon God. If God has given you much, my brother, go with thy basket, and ask for more. Never stay thy prayer. Increase thy spiritual hunger, and God will increase the richness of the gift he will bestow upon thee.<\/p>\n
HYMNS FROM \u201cOUR OWN PRAYERBOOK\u201d \u2014 429, 499; AND FROM SACRED SONGS AND SOLOS\u201d \u2014 64.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 2980 A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22ND, 1906, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, SEP. 19TH, 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 ministered unto them.\u201d \u2014 Mark … Continue reading “A LIFT FOR THE PROSTRATE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}