The Gospel'S Healing Power
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 11, 1866, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT
THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there
were Pharisees and doctors of the la w sitting by, which were come out
of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of
the Lord was present to heal them." Luke 5:17.
LUKE, the writer of this Gospel, was a physician and therefore had a
quick eye for cases of disease and instances of cure. You can trace
throughout the whole of his Gospel the hand of one who was skilled in
surgery and medicine. I gather from this that whatever may be our
calling, or in whatever art or science we may have attained
proficiency, we should take care to use our knowledge for Christ. And
that if we are called being physicians we may understand the work of
the Lord Jesus all the better by what we see in our own work, and we
may also do much for our Lord in real substantial usefulness among our
patients.
Let no man despise his calling. Whatever instrument of usefulness God
has put into your hands, consider that the Great Captain knew what
weapons were best for you to wield. Covet not your neighbor's sword or
spear, but use that which your Lord has given you and go forth to the
battle of life to serve according to your capacity. If you are placed
in this corner of the vineyard or that, consider that you are in the
best place for yourself and the best place for your Master. And do not
always be judging what your fellow servants ought to do in their place,
nor what you could do if you were in another place, but see what it is
that you can do where you are and use such things as you have in
glorifying your Lord and Master.
One is pleased to observe in the language of a true man how the man's
self shows itself. David frequently sings like one who had been a
shepherd boy, and though a king he is not ashamed to admit that he once
grasped the crook. There is a manifest difference between the
prophecies of Amos, the herdsman, and of Isaiah, the royal seer. True
men do not imitate one another, but each one, moved of God, speaks
according to his native bias and according to the circumstances in
which Providence has cast him. It was destructive to Egyptian art when
the great men of the land framed articles of taste, and laws of
statuary and of painting by which every sculptor must be bound–for
then everything like freshness and originality was driven away. The
proportions of every colossal statue and of every figure upon the wall
were rigidly fixed, and then the glory and excellence of art vanished
from the land.
To do the same in religion is even more unwise. To say, "You shall all
speak after one fashion, and you all shall conform to this manner of
talk and life," is folly at its height! Let each man speak after his
own manner, every man in his own order, each quickened soul bringing
out its own individuality and seeking in that individuality to magnify
God and to show forth the riches of His Divine Grace. These remarks
were suggested by the abundant record of cures in this chapter and
elsewhere in Luke's Gospel. Luke does not write like John, nor copy the
style of Matthew. He writes not as a fisherman or a publican, but as a
physician.
Luke did not cease to be Luke when he was called by Divine Grace. He
was the same man elevated and refined, and taught to consecrate to
noblest ends the gifts which he had acquired in his earthly calling. He
was a physician before, and he became "the beloved physician" after his
conversion.
I. The text, as we read it, suggests, in the first place, that THE
POWER OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL IS MAINLY A POWER TO HEAL. "The power of
the Lord was present to heal them." The power of the Gospel, of which
Christ is the Sum and Substance, is a healing power. My Brethren, when
Christ came on earth He might have come with destroying power. Justly
enough might God have sent His only Son with the armies of vengeance to
destroy this rebellious world.
But–
"Your hands, dear Jesus, were not armed
With an avenging rod.
No hard commission to perform,
The vengeance of a God.
But all was mercy, all was mild,
And wrath forsook the throne,
When Christ on the kind errand came,
And brought salvation down."
"I have not come," He said, "to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Elijah calls fire from Heaven upon the captains of fifties and their
fifties, so that they are utterly consumed. But Christ brings fire from
Heaven for quite another purpose, namely, that by its power men might
be saved from the wrath to come. The Gospel is not intended to be a
power to destroy. "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved." And if that
Gospel is made a savor of death unto death unto any, it is not on
account of its own intrinsic qualities or design but because of the
perversity and wickedness of the human heart.
If men perish by the Gospel of Life, it is because they make that to be
a stumbling stone which was meant to be a foundation. The Gospel does
not even come into the world merely to reveal disease. It is true it
does discover, detect, and describe the maladies of fallen man. One of
the clearest exposures of man's fallen estate is the Gospel of the
Grace of God. But it is rather the design of the Law than of the Gospel
to discover to man his ruin. It is by the glare of Sinai lightning that
men tremblingly read the sentence of condemnation upon those who have
broken God's Law. By the gentler light of Calvary they may read the
same Truth of God, and must read it–but this is not the main purpose
of Calvary.
Calvary is the place for the healing balm rather than for the lancet
and the knife. The work of Jesus, our heavenly Physician, is not so
much to point out disease as to indicate and to apply the remedy.
Certain philosophers have made it their business and delight, with grim
sarcastic smiles upon their faces, to put forth the finger and mark out
human wickedness and weakness as a theme for ridicule and sarcasm. The
philosophy of the Stoics, the wisdom of such men as Diogenes, was but a
heartless unpitying showing up of human folly and sin.
It knew no remedy, and cared not to search for one. They showed poor
manhood to he besotted, befooled, debased, and depraved. And there they
left it, passing by on the other side as the priest and Levite did with
the wounded man in the parable. But Jesus came upon no such fruitless
errand. He convicts the world of sin by His Spirit, but it is not to
leave the world hopelessly despairing of its restoration, but to
recover it by His power! Jesus bears with Him power to heal! This is
His honor and renown. He has the eagle's eye to see our sicknesses, the
lion's heart bravely to encounter them, and the lady's hand to gently
apply the heavenly ointment! In Him the three requirements of a good
surgeon meet in perfection.
Beloved, I trust you and I have known this power to heal in our own
cases, and if it is so we know of a certainty that it is a Divine power
which comes from our Lord Jesus because He is most surely God. It is
the sole prerogative of God to heal spiritual disease. Natural disease
may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honor is to be
given to God who gives virtue unto medicine, and bestows power unto the
human frame to cast off disease. But as for spiritual sicknesses, these
remain with the great Physician alone. He claims it as His prerogative,
"I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal." And one of the Lord's
choice titles is Jehovah Rophi, the Lord that heals you. "I will heal
you of your wounds," is a promise which could not come from the lip of
man–only from the mouth of the eternal God.
On this account the Psalmist cried unto the Lord, "O Lord, heal me, for
my bones are sorely vexed." And again, "Heal my soul, for I have sinned
against You." For this, also, the godly praise the name of the Lord,
saying, "He heals all our diseases." He who made man can heal man. He
who was at first the creator of our nature can new create it. What a
transcendent comfort it is that in the Person of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth we have Deity Incarnate! "In Him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily." My Soul, whatever your disease may be, this great
Physician can heal you! If He is God, there can be no limit to His
infinite power! If He is truly Divine, there can be no boundary to the
majesty of His might!
Come, then, with the blind eye of your understanding. Come with the
limping feet of your energy. Come with the maimed hand of your faith.
Come just as you are, for He who is God can certainly heal you! None
shall say unto the healing flood of His love, "Up to here can you go
and no further." The utmost length of human sickness can be reached by
this great Physician! Have confidence, O poor doubting heart! Have
unstaggering confidence in the Divine Healer!
Although our Lord Jesus healed as Divine, remember that He also
possessed power to heal because of His being human. Is it not written,
"The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we
are healed"? He used no other remedy in healing our sin-sickness but
that of taking our sicknesses and infirmities upon Himself.
This is the one great cure-all. Blessed be the Son of God that the
medicine, bitter as it is, is not for us to drink, but was all drained
by Himself! He took the terrible cup in Gethsemane and drank it dry on
our account. The sharp but healing cuts of the lancet are not made in
our bodies–He bore them in His own flesh. When the plowers made deep
furrows, those furrows were not upon the sinner's shoulders, but upon
the shoulders of the sinner's Substitute. Did you ever hear, O Earth,
of such a Physician as this? Who heals by suffering Himself? Whose
pains, and sorrows, and griefs, and pangs, and torments, and anguish,
and death are the only medicine by which He removes the woes of men?
Blessed Son of God, if I trust You, seeing that You are Divine, how I
will love You!
How I will cling to You, seeing You are human! With what gratitude I
will look up to Your Cross and view You, while those blessed fountains
of health are streaming crimson floods, and while Your heart, the
source of all spiritual sanity, is pouring forth a heavenly efficacious
torrent to wash the sinner from all his sicknesses! Come here, all you
sin-sick ones, and behold the glorious Son of God, made in the likeness
of human flesh, breathing out His life upon the Cross! Come here, you
that mourn for sin, you who are palsied and diseased with iniquity!
Here is power, power still present in the dying Savior to heal you,
whatever your diseases may be!
He healed all that had need of healing while He sojourned here, and the
costly balm of His Atonement has lost none of its power. The power
which dwelt in Christ to heal, coming from Him as Divine and human, was
applicable, most eminently, to the removal of the guilt of sin. Reading
this chapter through, one pauses with joy over that twenty-fourth
verse, "The Son of Man has power upon earth to forgive sin." Here,
then, is one of the great Physician's mightiest arts– He has power to
forgive sin! While He lived here below, before the ransom had been
paid, before the blood had been literally sprinkled on the Mercy Seat,
He had power to forgive sin! Has He not power to do it now that He has
died? Brethren, what power must dwell in Him who to the utmost farthing
has faithfully discharged the debts of His people! He has power,
indeed, seeing that He has finished transgression and made an end of
sin!
If you doubt it, see Him rising from the dead! Behold Him in ascending
splendor raised to the right hand of God! Hear Him pleading before the
Eternal Father, pointing to His wounds, urging the merit of His sacred
passion! What power to forgive is here! "He has ascended on high, and
received gifts for men." "He is exalted on high to give repentance and
remission of sins." At this moment, Sinner, Christ has power to pardon,
power to pardon you and millions such as you are. He has nothing more
to do to win your pardon. All the atoning work is done! He can, in
answer to your tears, forgive your sins today, and make you know it!
He can breathe into your soul at this very moment a peace with God
which passes all understanding, which all spring from perfect remission
of your manifold iniquities. Do you believe that? I trust you believe
it! May you experience now that the healing power of the Gospel is
power to forgive sin! Waste no time in applying to the Physician of
souls, but hasten to Him with words like these–
"Jesus! Master! Hear my cry! Save me, heal me with a word. Fainting at
Your feet I lie, You my whispered plaint have heard."
This is not the only form of the healing power which dwells without
measure in our glorious Lord. He heals the sorrow of sin. It is
written, "He heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds." When
sin is really manifest to the conscience it is a most painful thing.
And for the conscience to be effectually pacified is an unspeakable
blessing. Sharper than a dagger in the heart, or an arrow piercing
through the loins is conviction of sin. He that has ever smarted under
the pricks of an awakened conscience well knows that there is no pain
of body that can be compared to it. When crushed under the hand of God,
a man may form some idea of what the miseries of Hell must be.
Correspondingly joyous is the relief which Immanuel brings to us when
He brings better balm than that of Gilead and ministers Heaven's
infallible medicine to a diseased soul. When Jesus is received by
faith, He lifts all our sorrow from us in a moment. One promise applied
by His Spirit, one drop of His blood brought home to the conscience,
and at once there is such a peace so deep and profound that nothing can
rival it! What the poet wrote concerning recovery from bodily sickness
is doubly true of spiritual restoration!–
"See the man that long has tossed
On the thorny bed of pain,
At length repair his vigor lost,
And breathe and walk again:
The meanest floweret of the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,
To him are opening Paradise."
God grant that to you who fear His name the Sun of Righteousness may
arise with healing beneath His wings!
Jesus also heals the power of sin. Sin may be, in your case, dear
Friend, so mighty that like a whirlwind it hurries you away at its
pleasure. You feel like the sere leaves which are driven by the
tempest. You have scarcely power to resist your passions. You have,
perhaps, yielded so long to certain forms of evil that now you are
positively powerless in strife against them. Do not, however, despair!
Christ can surely deliver you! The demoniac had such an energy of evil
within him that he broke the chains and bands with which he had been
bound. He cut himself with stones, and howled all night amidst the
tombs. But when Jesus came near to him he was soon seen clothed and in
his right mind, sitting meekly at the great Physician's feet!
And so will you, poor captive of evil! Do not think that you have to be
a drunkard, or that your angry temper needs always be your master! Do
not conceive that you must always be a slave to lust, or led captive at
the devil's will. There is hope for you, Man, where Christ is! And
though your disease is of as long standing as your very life, yet a
word from the powerful lips of the Son of God can make even you, whole!
The power of the Gospel is a power to heal the guilt, the sorrow and
the influence of sin. Jesus Christ came into the world to destroy the
works of the devil in all their forms. It should not be forgotten that
the Lord Jesus is able to heal us of our relapses. I have heard men say
that a relapse is what the physician frequently fears more than the
primary disease, and that there is frequently a period in the healing
process when the virus of disease gathers renewed energy and the
physician feels that now, and not at the first, the true battle has to
be fought.
We have met with men who have professed conversion, and we trust were
changed, who have gone back like the dog to his vomit and the sow that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire. We have had to mourn over
those in whom the change appeared to be great, but it was superficial,
and soon the power of evil returned upon them. But, my backsliding
Hearer, Jesus is able to heal your backslidings! What a mercy that is!
"I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely, for My anger
is turned away from them," What if you are sevenfold more a child of
Hell than you were before, yet even now, eternal mercy that drove out a
legion of devils from one of old can drive them out of you! The healing
power of my Master is such that if you have backslidden ever so far yet
He says unto you, "Return! Return! Return!"
There shall be more joy over you, you poor lost sheep, than over ninety
and nine that went not astray. He shall be more glad to receive you,
you wandering prodigal child, than He has joy even over that righteous
son who remained always in the father's house. To sum up much in
little, my Master, as a Physician, works cures very suddenly. He
touches, and the deed is done at once! He works cures of all kinds.
Such as have been the stumbling stones of other physicians have been
readily overcome by Him. He never fails. He has not in His diary one
single case that has overmatched His mighty power. He heals
effectually–the disease never again reigns when He has once dethroned
it. When He casts the devil out of the man, the devil shall not return.
He heals with His word even those who think that they cannot be healed!
There is no hospital for incurables now as to souls, for incurables
there are none. The Friend of sinners is "able to save unto the
uttermost those that come unto God by Him." Cases of disease so putrid
that men say, "Put them out of sight." Vice so detestable that the very
mention of it makes the cheek of modesty blush! Such as these the
master hand of Immanuel can heal! With God nothing is impossible, and
with the Son of God nothing is difficult! He can save the chief of
sinners, and the vilest of the vile! In the highest conceivable degree
the power of the Gospel is power to heal. Come, poor Sinner, and behold
Him who is able to heal you of your deadly wounds! Come look upon Him
now and live!–
"Raise to the Cross your tearful eyes,
Behold, the Prince of Glory dies!
He dies extended on the tree,
And sheds a sovereign balm for you."
II. A second remark arises from the text. THERE ARE SPECIAL PERIODS
WHEN THE POWER TO HEAL IS
MOST MANIFESTLY DISPLAYED. The verse before us says that on a certain
day the power of the Lord was present to heal, by which I understand,
not that Christ is not always God, not that He was ever unable to heal,
but this–that there were certain periods when He pleased to put forth
His Divine energy in the way of healing to an unusual degree. The sea
is never empty. It is, indeed, always as full at one time as at
another, but yet it is not always at flood. The sun is never dim, he
shines with equal force at all hours, and yet it is not always day with
us, nor do we always bask in the warmth of summer.
Christ is fullness itself, but that fullness does not always overflow.
He is able to heal, but He is not always engaged in healing. There are
times when the power to save is more than usually manifest–times of
refreshing, seasons of revival, days of visitation–acceptable days,
days of salvation. Any student of the world's history who has read it
in the light of true religion will have observed that there have been
favored periods when the power of God has been peculiarly present to
heal men. My solemn conviction is that we are living in such an
era–that this present moment is one of the set times when God's power
is peculiarly manifest.
I gather this from many signs, but even the text assists me in my
belief. Observe that on the occasion mentioned in the text there was a
great desire among the multitude to hear the Word. In the opening of
the chapter we read that they pressed upon our Lord by the sea. Further
on we find them coming from all parts of the country in multitudes.
Special mention is made of doctor's of the law and Pharisees, the last
people to be impressed, who nevertheless, overcome by the common
enthusiasm, were found mingling with the throng. We are told that the
people thronged the house at such a rate that the palsied man could not
be brought into the congregation except by the expedient of breaking
through the roof!
When God's power is moving there will be a corresponding motion among
the people! They will long to hear when God's power is with the
speaker. Take it as a sign of Divine Grace when the houses dedicated to
worship are full. Consider that the Lord is about to fill the net when
the fishes crowd around the boat. We cannot expect the Gospel to be
blessed to those who do not hear it. We may lawfully and properly
expect it will be a blessing to those who have an intense anxiety to
listen to it. At the present hour I see a religious awakening among the
masses of London, not so great a one as we desire, but still there it
is and we must be grateful for it.
We shall not long have to put up with the pernicious nonsense of
Puseyism–public opinion will aid us in putting it down. It has taken a
long time to wake up our nation, but it will awaken after all. I think
I see the tide of popular feeling turning in the right direction. Men
are just now occupied about religious thought, and whether they think
rightly or wrongly, there is more attention just now paid to religious
truth than has been for many a day. And where ministers do but preach
simply and lovingly the Gospel of Christ at this moment they find no
lack of hearers. This is a sure sign that the power of the Lord is
present to heal.
Observe next that the healing power was conspicuously present when
Christ was teaching. Note carefully the favored hour, "when He was
teaching." Jesus linked the healing with the teaching. It was so with
the material healing, much more with the spiritual healing, for "faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Brethren, is there
not among our own Brethren, of whom we can speak with the most
certainty, more teaching of Christ now than there was? I am persuaded
that the most of my Brethren preach more faithfully and fully the
simple truth of Christ Jesus than they once did. Teaching is returning
to the pulpits.
Now mark, dear Hearer, whether you are saved or not–if you are present
where Christ is fully preached, where He is lifted up, exalted,
proclaimed, and commended to you–you are in a place where He also is
present to heal. Is it not written, "I, if I am lifted up, will draw
all men unto Me"? A further sign of present power is found most clearly
in the sick folk who were healed by Jesus. Now we know that in this
very house not a Sunday passes without souls being converted. We have
before our Church meetings the cases of hundreds whom God has blessed
by the simple telling of the story of the Cross. This, then, is proof
positive that when Christ is being taught, and souls being blessed, He
is in a remarkable manner present to heal.
One other thing must be noted, namely, that this particular time
mentioned in the text was prefaced by a special season of prayer on the
part of the principal Actor in it. Did you notice it? He withdrew
Himself and prayed, and then the power of the Lord was present to heal
them. Is it so that even with regard to Christ Himself, the Lord and
Giver of
Life, in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead, and who has the
Spirit without measure, yet before that Spirit is publicly manifested
in any high degree there must be a special retirement for fervent
prayer? How plainly does this say to us that the Church must pray if
she would have the healing power! And, my Brothers and Sisters, we have
prayed! There has been such prayer put up by this congregation as I
believe was never excelled, even in Apostolic times!
Last Monday was a day of wrestling of such a kind that the blessing
could not be withheld! I have almost ceased to ask further! I wait in
joyful anticipation of the heavenly visitation! I come not forth today
so much as a sower as a reaper! I believe that the fish are taken in
the net, and that we have only to pull it to land! God grant the net
may not break by reason of the multitude of fishes! God is with us, and
that of a truth in this House this day. Wonders of Divine Grace are
being worked–while we are yet speaking men are being inclined to look
to Christ! While we are lifting Him up, tearful eyes are looking to
Him! In many a heart there may be heard the cry, "I will arise and go
to my Father."
Now with all these signs meeting together–a desire to hear, a set time
of private prayer, the teaching of the Word, and the manifest blessing
of souls under that Word–I gather that we have arrived at this present
moment at that state which is described in the text.
III. Passing on to a third thought, we observe that WHEN THE POWER OF
THE LORD IS PRESENT TO HEAL,
IT MAY NOT BE SEEN IN ALL, BUT MAY BE SHOWN IN SPECIAL CASES AND NOT IN
OTHERS. It is a melancholy reflection that men may be in the region of
Divine power and yet not feel its operations. I have read this verse
through a great many times with one object–I have tried, if I
could–to make the text mean that the Pharisees and doctors of the law
were present and that the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
But the text does not so teach us. The power of the Lord was not
present to heal the doctors and Pharisees, for they were not healed.
The word "them" agrees with the noun further back, according to the
frequent usage of the New Testament by which the pronouns are not made
to refer to the nearer noun, but to another more remote. The power of
God was present to heal the sick–not to heal the doctors, nor the
Pharisees. And yet how nearly they could have gained it, for had they
but known their sickness, and been willing to confess their infirmity,
there was power enough to have healed even them!
But as it was, we do not find that one of them was healed–not so much
as a single doctor of the law, or a Pharisee felt the power which was
passing so near to them that they were amazed and staggered and fell to
quibbling about it. Dear Hearers, this very melancholy observation must
be applied to some that are present now. You may be in the midst of
this congregation which is under remarkable visitations of God's Divine
Grace, and yet there may be no power present operating in your heart to
heal you. You will observe that those who missed this Grace were not
the harlots. Infamous as they were by character, they felt the power of
the love of Jesus and entered into His kingdom. We do not find that
this power was lacking among the publicans–we have an instance here of
one of them who made a great feast in his house for Christ.
Where, then, was the power lacking? Where was it unsought and unfelt?
It was, in the first place, among the knowing people–the doctors of
the law. These teachers knew too much to submit to be taught by the
Great Rabbi. There is such a thing as knowing too much to know
anything, and being too wise to be anything but a fool. The knowledge
of the doctors was that which puffs up–not the knowledge which comes
from God. Ah, dear Hearer, beware of head knowledge without heart
knowledge! Beware of being so orthodox as to set yourself up as a judge
of the preacher, and to refuse to be obedient to the Truth of God.
Beware of saying, "Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, that is very applicable to
So-and-So, and very well put." Do not criticize but feel. It were
better for you that you had been a common plow-boy, whistling at the
plow, who never heard these things until today, and have now listened
to them, and have received them in all their novelty, and power, and
beauty for the first time. This were better for you than to have heard
them till they ring in your ears like the bell which you have heard
every Sunday, of whose monotony you are weary! Beware of going down to
Hell with a millstone of sound doctrine about your necks, for if you
will be damned you may as well perish knowing the Truth of God as not
knowing it!
No, if you catch the formula and lay hold upon the creed, and imagine
yourself to be teachers of others, it is even easier to perish in that
state than it is if you came in to hear the Word untaught before in its
glad message. These were the knowing ones who had no power to be
healed! Those, moreover, who had a good opinion of themselves were left
unblessed. The Pharisees! No better people anywhere, from Dan to
Beersheba, than the Pharisees, if you would take them upon their own
testimony!.
Observe with due respect their public character. Were they not most
eminent? See the breadth of the borders of their garments! How visible
were their phylacteries! How diligently did they wash their hands
before they ate! How scrupulous about straining out gnats from their
wine! How careful to tithe the anise, and mint, and cummin! Yet these
were the people who obtained no blessing from Jesus. They were too good
to be saved. How many people there are of this kind! "Well," says one,
"I know I never robbed anybody. I have brought up my family respectably
and conducted myself with such decorum that nobody could possibly find
fault with me."
Just so, and you will not have Christ because you are whole, and have
no need of a physician. "Ah," says another, "surely if we do our duty
to the best of our ability it will be all right with us." If you think
thus you will find that when you have done your duty to the best of
your ability, you will have no part nor lot in a Savior because
manifestly, on your own showing, you do not require one! The Lord Jesus
will take your own showing and will say, "I never knew you. How could I
know you? You were never sick. You never needed Me. You declared that
you were whole, and you would not stoop to accept the salvation which
I, the Savior, came to bring." Thus will Jesus speak to you who now
proudly despise His Grace.
Once again, the people who did not get the blessing were not only the
knowing ones and the very good ones, but they were also the people who
stood by. As one observes, they did not come to be preached at, they
came for Christ to preach before them. That used to be the old style of
sermon prefaces–"A sermon preached before the honorable or worshipful
company of So-and-So." Now that is the worst kind of preaching
anywhere, preaching before people. Preaching right at people is the
only preaching worth hearing and worth uttering. But they did not come
for Christ to operate upon them–they were not patients–they were
visitors in the hospitals. Like visitors they went round to the beds
and looked at the prescriptions put over the sick and observed each
case.
And when the physician came in and began to exercise his art upon the
sick, they stood by and criticized his treatment, imagining all the
while that they were not sick themselves. If they had been lying on the
bed sick they could have been healed, but they took only a superficial
interest in the healing, for they came not to partake in it. Beware, my
dear Hearers, of going to places of worship merely to be lookers! There
will be no lookers on in Heaven! And there will be no lookers on in
Hell! Take care that you do not play the looker in the worship of God
here. Every Truth of God spoken by God's servants has a bearing upon
you. If it is threatening and you are in the gall of bitterness, it is
yours– tremble under it!
If it is the promise of Divine love, then if you have no part in it, be
afraid, be ashamed, be alarmed–and fly to Christ that you may partake
in it. Those who get no blessing are those who suppose they do not
particularly need it and stand by, having merely come to see and to be
seen, but not to receive a cure. Those who felt not the healing power
sneered and caviled. They said further down in the chapter, "Who can
forgive sins but God only?" When a man gets no good out of the
ministry, he is pretty sure to think there is no good in the ministry.
And when he himself, for want of stooping down to drink, finds no water
in the river, he concludes it is dry–whereas it is his own stubborn
knee that will not bend, and his own willful mouth that will not open
to receive the Gospel.
But if they quarrel, if they raise questions, if they dispute, we know
their breed. We understand the race to which they belong, and we know
how Jesus said to them of old, "You generation of vipers, how shall you
escape the damnation of Hell?" If any shall not escape, surely they
shall not whose only hearing of the Gospel is to make it the butt of
their sarcasm and the object of their ridicule–who look derisively
even at the Cross itself with a dying Savior upon it–and thrust their
tongue into their cheek and make jests and merriment of the agonies of
the world's Redeemer.
Beware, lest you have those jests in your mouth on earth, which you
will have to digest in Hell! Beware, lest your mockery return upon you
at the Last Great Day when the words of Solomon shall be fulfilled,
"Because I called and you refused, I stretched out My hands and no man
regarded, I also will mock at your calamity, I will laugh when your
fear comes." There were persons, then, to whom the present power of
Christ to heal was of no service whatever and there may be such now.
Friend, are you such an one?
IV. In the last place, I want Christian people here to observe that
WHEN THE POWER OF CHRIST WAS PRESENT IT CALLED FORTH THE ENERGY OF
THOSE WHO WERE HIS FRIENDS TO WORK WHILE THAT
POWER WAS MANIFEST. My dear Brothers and Sisters, the members of this
Church especially–what I have to say is earnestly addressed to you.
You will perceive that as soon as ever it was discovered that the power
of healing was present, loving hearts desired to bring in others that
they might experience it. Four persons took each a corner of the bed
and brought in a palsied man who could not come of himself. They let
him down with much inconvenience through the roof. God is blessing the
Church now. Christian men and women, join together to pray for your
friends who cannot or will not pray for themselves! And if you meet
with any in deep distress, palsied with despair who cannot lift the
finger of faith, strive to bring them to hear the Gospel. Bring them
where Christ is working miracles!
If one of you cannot prevail to lay the case before the Lord, let two
of you unite. If two should not be enough, let four blend their
petitions. If four should not suffice, tell it to the Church and ask
the whole to pray. But strive to bring dying sinners where Christ is
working spiritual miracles. If you read further on in the chapter you
will learn how to bring some persons to the Savior who would never hear
of Him otherwise. Levi made a great feast, for he thought to himself,
"I should like Jesus to come and preach to the publicans. They are such
great sinners, just such as I am. If I could but get them to hear Him
they might be converted.
"But," he thought, "if I ask them they would say they could not afford
to give up a day's work. They will not care to listen to a sermon. So
(he said) I will get them this way–I will invite them to my house to a
feast. They will be sure to come then, and then I will ask Jesus to
come and eat with them, and I know He will not let them go without
saying a good word." So you see he used arts as fowlers do when they
are anxious to catch their prey! Now cannot you be as watchful and
thoughtful in your generation as Levi was? Cannot you get the outcasts
and the neglecters of the Sunday to your own house or to anybody else's
house, and use means to bring them under the sound of God's Word?
Why, if you have a few flowers in your back room, if it rains in the
summer time, do not you always put them out in it? You put all the pots
out in the garden to let them catch the shower. Do so with your
friends, your neighbors, your children, your kinsfolk–while the rain
of Divine Grace is dropping, try to get them under the influence of
it–and if they will not come by one means try another! Only get them
where the power of the Lord is present, for perhaps Jesus may look upon
them and they may look to Him and may be healed!
And oh, let me say in closing, if they should not be saved, the
responsibility will not then rest with you, even as the responsibility
this morning does not rest with me. We have proclaimed to you in this
House many times that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
We have told you that the heavenly Father is willing to receive
returning sinners. That He delights in mercy. That He is free to blot
out sin. We have told you that the blood of Christ can make the
filthiest clean, that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men. We have urged you to flee away like doves to Jesus' wounds.
The power of the Spirit of God has led many of you to come to Him, and
you are saved! But alas, there still remains a multitude who are
unsaved. Well, if you perish it is not because Christ has not been
taught in your streets. You will go down to Hell, some of you, with the
light shining on your eyelids, but with your eyes willfully closed
against it. You will perish with the voice of Mercy ringing in your
ears–and in Hell you will be awful monuments to the justice of God who
will then say to you, "You sinned against light and knowledge, and
against love and mercy."
If they perish who despised Moses' law, how shall you escape if you
neglect so great a salvation? May the Holy Spirit now, with mighty
energy, apply the precious blood of Jesus to every hearer, and unto God
shall be glory world without end. Amen.
"Blessed Savior, at Your feet I lie, Here to receive a cure or die. But
Grace forbids that painful fear, Almighty Grace, which triumphs here.
You will withdraw the poisoned dart, Bind up and heal the wounded
heart. With blooming health my face adorn, And change the gloomy night
to morn."