DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 30, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Jesus said unto him I will come and heal him." Matthew 8:7.
"And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go your way; and as you have
believed, so be it done unto you." Matthew 8:13.
THE centurion of Capernaum is an example to us in a matter which bears
upon the collection appointed for today, which, you know, is for
hospitals. This good soldier feared for the sick and was anxious for
the recovery of his palsied servant. Every employer should take a
sympathetic interest in his domestics when they are ill, but in some
cases this is not thought of. "If they cannot do their work, they must
go"–this is too often the language used about them–and they are
driven out of the house as soon as possible. I do not say that masters
and mistresses are often cruel, but I fear that some of them are none
too kind.
Among religious persons, kindness towards man should be as manifest as
piety towards God. The centurion had done what he could to benefit,
religiously, the people among whom he dwelt, for the elders of the Jews
said, "He loves our nation and he has built us a synagogue." But he
combined with a desire to benefit the soul, a sincere desire for the
welfare of the body. This was apparent in the interest which he took in
his, "boy," his personal servant, or young valet. God has joined body
and soul together and they ought not to be divided in our deeds of
charity. This captain's sympathy with his suffering valet was shown by
practical action.
He did not say that he felt for him and then go off to the guardroom
and keep clear of the sick youth. Nor did he merely stand and watch him
in his pain to see how he would fare, but he did something–he went
out, he called together the elders of the city, he summoned his choice
friends to him–in fact, he made the whole circle of his acquaintances
feel a sympathy with him concerning the illness of his servant. Then he
sent these elders and friends to the best Physician of the age and, I
think, also followed at their heels, himself. He used the surest means
within his reach and appealed to Him to whom none ever appealed in
vain!
From the centurion I gather that we must not be content with loving our
people and building them synagogues, but we must also build them
hospitals and dispensaries! Find them preachers, by all means, but find
them surgeons, too! We may not forget the soul, but we must also
remember that the soul dwells in a body liable to many disorders. We
may become just a little too spiritual–so spiritual as to spirit away
the very Spirit of Christianity! God grant us Grace to be as tenderly
considerate of suffering humanity as this centurion was and we probably
shall be so if we have as strong a faith and as deep a humility as he
had.
Our Lord, Himself, in our text, sets us an example which may plead with
us on behalf of hospitals today! He was here upon the high errand of
our redemption, yet He did not consider it at all derogatory to His
Divine purpose to be continually engaged in healing diseases! For three
years He walked the hospitals–He lived all day long in an infirmary,
for all around Him, at one time, they laid the sick in the streets–and
at all times physical evil in some form or other came in His way. He
put forth His hands, or spoke a word and healed all sorts of maladies.
This our Lord did very readily, for it was part of His lifework. "I
will come and heal him," He said, for He was a physician in constant
practice and would be around at once to see the patient.
"He went about doing good" and in all this He would let His people know
that He intended not to bless one part of man alone, but the whole of
our nature, taking upon Himself not only our sins, but our sicknesses!
Jesus means to bless the body as well as the soul! And though for this
present time He has left our body very much under the power of
sickness,
for still the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness. Yet He foreshadows in His healing miracles
the Resurrection, when He shall raise us perfectly healed and the
inhabitant shall no more say, "I am sick." Every restored limb, opened
eye and healed wound is a token that Jesus cares for our flesh and
blood and means that the body shall share the benefits of His death by
a glorious resurrection!
As in our Lord's life His teaching was always connected with healing,
He would have the Church, also, take a very deep interest in the bodily
sorrows of the people as well as in their spiritual needs. It will be a
very great pity if ever it should be thought that benevolence is
divorced from Christianity, for up to now the crown of the faith of
Jesus has been love to men. It is, indeed, the glory of Christianity
that wherever it goes, it erects buildings altogether unknown to
heathenism–hospitals, asylums and other abodes of charity! The genius
of Christianity is pity for the sinful and the suffering.
Let the Church be a healer like her Lord–at least if she cannot pour
fourth virtue from the hem of her garment, nor "say in a word" so that
sickness may fly–let her be among the most prompt to help in
everything that can relieve pain or assist poverty. So ought it to be,
for, "as Jesus was, so are we, also, in this world." Did He not tell
us, "As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you"? We cannot too
diligently study His Character, for He has left us an example that we
may follow in His steps. Since we cannot practice the healing art, let
us give support to those whose whole time is spent in it, that they may
be able, without fee or reward, to watch over the sick poor. And let
none among us act the tightwad when the blind, the crippled and the
lame cry to us as they did to our Master of old!
This said, I desire to pass on to my subject which is of a spiritual
kind. I want you to mark the development of the faith of the centurion
and, side by side with it, the growing manifestation of our Lord's
power. Both are seen in the narrative. The centurion had evidently
heard about Christ. Perhaps the healing of the ruler's child had
satisfied him that Jesus was the Messiah. He had attended at the
synagogue. I cannot doubt that a man who had built a synagogue would be
sure to go to it–and there he had learned of the Coming One–foretold
by Prophets and expected by saints. This Anointed One was to work
wonders among mankind and especially wonders of healing.
Thus he had gathered that Jesus was the Christ and he believed in Him
as having power to heal his sick servant. The first practical result
was that he humbly sent the elders with the urgent request to "come and
heal him." He believed that Jesus, if He were present, could restore
the dying youth. He had thought it over and his faith had reached as
far as that of Mary and Martha when they said, "Lord, if You had been
here, my brother had not died." In effect he said, If You will come
here, great Master, my servant will not die. He therefore cried, "Come
and heal him!" Observe that our Lord's answer was exactly proportioned
to the measure of faith in the prayer–"I will come and heal him."
"You cry, 'Come and heal him!' I reply, I will come and heal him." So
far so good. But the captain's faith is to be seen in a still clearer
light. He has been considering the matter still further and his
humility leads him to feel that he ought not to expect Jesus to come to
his house. Why should he trouble the Master to leave the crowd and to
cease preaching, to come and attend to his servant? He is grieved to
think that he should have proposed a visit–he feels himself unfit to
entertain One so holy and so great and, therefore, he sends off his
friends, post haste, to offer humble apologies and to beg the Master
not to come!
He has, at the same time, advanced in his belief in Christ's power, for
he says in effect, "There is no need that You should come–only will
it–merely say the word and the healing is worked. For I, also, am a
man under authority, deriving authority from being under it and I have
only to say to one soldier, go, and to another, come, and my will is
done. I have no need to execute my own wishes personally, for my will
governs my troops and each man is eager to do my bidding. So, great
Master, stay where You are. Go on with Your other work and only will to
bless me and it will be enough. Your desire will be accomplished
without fail. Oh great Emperor of all the forces of the universe, bid
Your triumphant eagles fly this way and the foe will vanish before
You."
Here was growing faith and, side by side with it, was a clearer
manifestation of the Master's power! Our Lord Jesus, then and there,
wills that healing power should go forth–He moves no further towards
the house where the palsied patient lies, but rather He turns
around–and in obedience to the wish of the centurion He walks away!
Yet the miracle is worked! The paralytic child has risen from the bed,
the captain's heart is gladdened–and those who came to plead stand in
the house to praise the Lord!
Awe-struck by the finger of God so near and so manifest, what could
they do but bless the Lord who had visited His people? That is the
story and it proves that our Lord Jesus Christ is Omnipotent in the
physical world! He can do what He wills and though at this present time
we do not appeal to Him for miraculous cures, it were well if we
trusted Him more upon that point, for all of the power which dwells in
medicine and all of the skill which is found in physicians is only
effective through His tender mercy! We know, however, that our Lord is
Omnipotent in the moral and spiritual world–and there, today, He
displays His most sublime feats of power and wisdom! We are going to
think about this and may the Holy Spirit make the meditation useful to
us.
I. The first thing I invite you to consider is THE PERFECT READINESS OF
OUR LORD JESUS for works of mercy. The centurion was concerned about
his servant, just as you and I are, I hope, today concerned about
certain poor souls which lie paralyzed by sin. We mourn over them and
if we could heal them we would gladly suffer any self-denial or
suffering. If we could bring our neighbors to Christ, it would be the
utmost joy to us–their perishing souls are, to some of us, as a
burdensome stone–a load heavy to bear. How can we endure to see them
die? The mass of working men around us, yes, and the majority of our
wealthy neighbors are under the power of the Wicked One!
To them the things which are seen are the only objects of their
thoughts. They will not regard the Gospel of Christ, or eternity, or
judgment, or Heaven, or Hell. The privileges with which our country is
so largely endowed are treated as if they were of no value
whatever–Sabbaths, Bibles, the Gospel and the Throne of Grace are
despised. This is mournful, indeed! Brethren, we must go to Jesus about
this evil thing and it may help us to do this if we now think of His
great willingness to bless servant, child, or any other person whom we
may bring before Him in prayer!
That willingness we shall see, first, if we notice that He did not
cavil at the pleas which the Jewish elders urged on behalf of the
centurion, though they must have been very distasteful to His mind.
They said, "He is worthy for whom You should do this." That was not the
right style of pleading with Him who came to save the lost and bless
the undeserving in the freeness of His Grace! The elders said, "He
loves our nation and he has built us a synagogue," and so on. Poor
souls, they were doing their best and using the kind of argument by
which their own hopes were sustained.
Our Lord regarded the spirit of their intercession rather than the form
in which they offered it and though the plea, laying so much stress
upon human merit, might very well have warranted Him in saying, "hold
your peace, for you are damaging rather than helping the case," our
Lord was so willing that He raised no question. From afar He read the
heart of the centurion and He knew that the good man's advocates were
altogether misrepresenting His views and feelings! The last thing in
the world that the lowly-minded soldier would have pleaded would have
been personal worthiness! His own words were, "I am not worthy"!
Had he known that his advocates would have talked in that fashion, he
would never have allowed them to speak on his behalf. If the centurion
could have been there, he would have said, "Your words cut me to the
quick, for I am not worthy. What little I have been able to do, I
cannot boast. I have done no more than I ought to have done! Do not
speak to my Lord in such a way." But Jesus was so willing to go that He
put up with all the blunders of the elders and responded to their
request, "I will come and heal him."
Beloved, very likely you and I make quite as great mistakes when we
pray–we fancy we pray very correctly, but I wonder what our Lord
thinks of our prayers? Surely He has often to pick out the meaning of
our hearts from among the errors of our lips! But so willing is He to
bless us, that if there is first a willing mind, it shall still be
accepted, for He rejoices to hear every prayer which seeks healing for
sin-sick souls! His willingness is seen, next, in the fact of His so
cheerfully granting the first prayer in the form in which it was put.
They besought Him that He would, "come and heal" the servant.
Now, that was not exactly the best form in which to put it. Certainly
it was not that which commended itself to the more mature thoughts of
the centurion. Why should Jesus go? He could heal the patient without
moving from the spot! Was there not a considerable measure of unbelief
about the elders' prayer? Yet our blessed Master took the prayer just
as it was and He seemed to say, "I see the measure of your faith and I
will give you the blessing as you are able to receive it." The Lord is
very generous to come down to our capacities. If He were always to act
according to His own Divine standard, we should be greatly dazzled–but
we should be afraid to draw near to Him! He condescendingly lays aside
the splendor of His majesty to act as well as to speak to us after the
manner of men–and then we see the sweet voluntariness of His Grace and
the cheerful willingness of His spirit to do us good.
If we cannot receive a blessing in any other than a second-class way,
we shall have it in the way in which we can take it. As our faith can
get no further, He will do the wonder according to the manner in which
our scanty thought is able to conceive and ask and receive. Oh what a
willing Friend we have in Christ! He bows the heavens and comes down,
meeting the weak in his weakness and the fainting in his faintness. He
comes answering prayers, not only according to the riches of His Glory,
but according to the poverty of our infirmity!
Notice further that when the centurion sent a fresh deputation of his
choice friends to say to the Master, "Trouble not Yourself, I am not
worthy that You should come under my roof," our Lord did not quarrel
with the change of the prayer. Some people would have said. "What is it
that you want? First, I am to come and when I am almost there I am met
with a request not to come–what do you mean? This is not respectful
and I will not come." Our gentle Jesus spoke not so. Oh, no–such talk
might come from you and from me who are so great in our own esteem–but
never from Him because He is so much greater than we are! He thought
not of Himself, nor of His own dignity.
Let us imitate His meek and quiet spirit. When you are trying to do
good, you will often be put about by the whims of those whom you would
benefit. You will find that when you do what people ask you, they are
not satisfied. Many adults are like sick children who are always cross
and fretful. We must humor these poor hearts as our Lord did. He was so
willing to bless that He seemed to give carte blanche to those who
asked of Him! "Yes, you shall have the blessing whichever way you like,
so that you are but to receive it. It shall be given to you according
to your faith." Our Lord shifted His movements without pressure and
would go to the house or not, just as the centurion's faith might lead
him to pray!
Blessed, forever blessed, is our most gracious Savior who never wearies
of us, nor takes offense at our childish changes! The Savior's
willingness to bless this centurion's servant was very manifest from
the fact that He did not impute an ill motive to the centurion when he
bade Him refrain from visiting the house. There was no mistrust about
our Lord. He knew too much, both of man's evil and of the sincerity of
those in whom His Grace was placed, to suspect and to interpret
harshly. Ignorance and selfishness are mistrustful, but love thinks no
evil. If there are two ways of understanding a sentence, my Brothers
and Sisters, and one is better than the other, always read it in the
kinder way if you can. Never put hard constructions upon words and
actions.
You and I might have said in the case before us, "You see, he does not
want me in his fine house. He is a centurion and thinks much of himself
and I am wearing a poor garment and, therefore, he does not want me in
his villa to disgrace his halls. He is a captain, a man in authority,
having soldiers under him. His pride forbids my approach and,
therefore, I will have nothing to do with him." But no, it was not in
the Master's heart to think thus bitterly, but as at the first He had
said, "I will come and heal him," so now, when genuine humility
requests him not to come, He turns around, but works the miracle all
the same!
Brothers and Sisters, our condescending Savior must be very willing to
bless men since He takes the true meaning of their prayers where others
would write a harsh interpretation. Be not afraid to approach Him
however unworthy you are, for He will put the best construction upon
your broken petitions and interpret them always to your gain! His
disciples may severely criticize one another and may criticize you, but
they have learned no hard words in His company. Nor did He object at
all to the comparison which the centurion made. "I also," said the
centurion, "am a man under authority."
If you were to read that expression with dark spectacles, you might
make a great deal of mischief out of it. A caviler might say, "How dare
he even, for a moment, compare himself to the Son of God? How can he
draw a parallel of which he is one side and the blessed Lord the other?
What impertinence!" Brethren, our Lord was no critic. No, among the
brotherhood of fault-finders you never see the Christ of God! When He
has to deal with sincere people, He picks no holes, imputes no motives
and dwells on no mistakes. The centurion did not wish to make his
metaphor go on all fours and our Lord did not treat him as if he did.
Many a time have some of us had to suffer from this mode of attack, but
never from our Master, nor from those who imitate Him.
He took the meaning of the centurion's illustration and He admired it,
for, indeed, it was a grand and beautiful idea to set forth our Lord
Jesus as the great Emperor of the universe to whom all things are under
rule and to whose faintest word each form of force, whether good or
evil, is sure to render obedience! He showed that he had rightly
estimated Christ and enthroned Him as He should be enthroned in the
place of unlimited sovereignty and power! The Master did
not, therefore, for a moment, object to anything he said. No, but the
prayer had been offered that the servant might be healed and the prayer
was granted! The faith had been exercised which believed that Christ
could heal–and that faith was honored! Our Lord did exactly as the
prayer requested Him. He came when He was asked to come. He stayed when
He was asked to stay. He spoke the word when He was requested to speak
the word. He healed when He was asked to heal! In all things He yielded
Himself entirely to the centurion's wish to show His cheerful alacrity
in benefiting the suffering boy and in answering his master's prayer.
Come, then, dear Friends, we may be quite sure of our Lord's sympathy,
though we are not praying about a sick boy, but pleading for our sinful
neighbors! He loves sinners better than we do, for they have cost Him
more than they have ever cost us–even if we have spent nights in
watching and prayer on their behalf. To Him it is committed of the
Father to save the lost and His zeal to accomplish the work never
flags! Therefore we may be sure that our pleading and efforts will
touch a kindred chord in His heart!
II. Secondly, an equally interesting topic is before us in THE
CONSCIOUS ABILITY OF OUR LORD. You have
seen His perfect willingness, now behold His boundless power! I do not
know how it affects your minds, but that sentence from the lips of
Jesus, "I will come and heal him," has a strange majesty about it to my
soul. It is the word of a king wherein there is power. Perhaps the most
majestic word that was ever uttered was, "Light be"–no sooner was it
heard than the eternal darkness fled and light was!
But surely this is scarcely second in grandeur, if second at all! Its
sound is as much the voice of the Lord as that which scattered the
primeval shades–"I will come and heal him." Yet this royal and
powerful word was spoken as a matter of course. Our Lord Jesus did not
deliberate, but the healing words flowed from Him as naturally as the
perfume from the flowers. "I will come and heal him"–it is an
utterance resolute, true, clear, comprehensible, unconditional and to
Him, natural and commonplace–though to us Divine! It shows, dear
Friends, our Lord's conscious ability to deal with all manner of evil
since He was not at all puzzled by this intricate case!
Almost any other physician would have felt some measure of perplexity.
The case is described as that of a man sick of the palsy and yet
"grievously tormented." How could that be? Paralysis can hardly be
connected with acute pain. It brings numbness and so ends sensation, at
least such is my impression. Some interpreters think the disease must
have been a form of tetanus, but there is no mention of tetanus in
either account. It was a palsy and yet he was "grievously tormented." I
know nothing about it, but I have read that there is a period in which
paralysis may turn into apoplexy and the patient may suffer extreme
agony. If so, this may explain the mystery. However, though the case
perplexed many, it did not perplex the Lord Jesus, for He said, "I will
come and heal him."
Now, my Brother ministers, have not you and I a great many cases coming
in our way which tax our experience and make us feel at a loss? I have
had, during this week, to deal with several tempted ones whose
difficulties have put me to a non plus, or would have done so if I had
not borrowed from my Lord. Some experiences are a tangled skein–we
cannot follow the thread–and so far as we do follow, its knots and
snarls are our chief reward. See how Jesus sweeps away all debates
with, "I will come and heal him." All the complicated phenomena of
human disease He comprehends and, along the dark labyrinth of human
experience, His mighty word makes a way for itself! Undisturbed and
even undelayed, the eternal energy enters the soul, for Jesus says, "I
will come and heal him."
Neither did the extremity of the case at all dishearten Him, for this
poor man was ready to die, so Luke tells us, just on the verge of
expiring. Yet Jesus says, "I will come and heal him." It does not
matter to Jesus what the stage of the disease may be! A common
physician would shake his head and say, "Ah, you should have sent for
me before. I might have done something at an earlier date, but the
sufferer is now beyond all human help." Poor souls are never beyond the
reach of the Divine Healer and so He says without a word of doubt, "I
will come and heal him." Yes, had He been dead, Jesus could have said
and could have done the same! "I will come and heal him" is a word for
all emergencies!
Beloved, let us never hesitate to hope in prayer because the persons
for whom we plead are such great and horrible sinners and so very far
gone in crime! So long as they are not actually in Hell, let us firmly
believe that Christ can save them and, verily, if we can believe in our
great Savior with mighty faith, we shall yet hear Him say of many a
reprobate and outcast, "I will come and heal him." I again remark that
our Lord speaks of this healing as quite a matter of course, for His
language is after the manner of speech which men use when they know
that they are at their work and can do it as soon as they have it
before them.
A person asks a workman to repair a lock or a window and he answers,
"Yes, I will come and attend to it." He means that he can do it, it is
his profession and it is as easy to him to do it as to come. So can our
blessed Master save a sinner as easily as His Spirit can come to that
sinner–and we all know that His Spirit is a free Spirit–and like the
wind, blows where He wills! Jesus could come to the centurion's house
and He could as easily heal as He could come. "I will come and heal
him"–the work is simple enough to the Divine Redeemer to whom nothing
is impossible! No disease of sin can baffle the Savior or even cost Him
special effort to eject it! Look to Him, you ends of the earth, and
prove for yourselves that none are beyond His mercy's reach! Oh that
all who hear me this day would make a like trial of His healing might!
As for the method of procedure, our Lord, in His conscious power,
treats the modus operandi as a matter of indifference. He grants the
first petition as it was presented to Him and will come and heal the
servant. But when He is requested not to come, He quite as willingly
says, "According to your faith so be it unto you." He could heal as
well at a distance as near at hand! Present or absent, it was all the
same to Him! A touch, a word, a thought could do all that was needed.
It was so and it is so still, for our blessed Lord saves sinners in all
sorts of ways. He can save them in their pews under the preaching which
they have heard so constantly, or He can meet with them in their lonely
chambers, reading some godly book! Or He can wound their hearts by a
loving word spoken during a walk with a friend.
We have known Him call men, by His Grace, right out of the paths of
sin, wounding them with secret arrows when they were at ease and secure
in the service of the devil! Where no means of Grace, as we call them,
were present, yet have sinners been smitten at heart and have been
turned to God by that heavenly influence of the Spirit which remains
the supreme miracle of the present dispensation! Saul of Tarsus was not
on his knees in prayer, but hastening to shed innocent blood–and yet
the Lord brought him down and made him seek salvation. Beloved, our
Lord knows how to reach inaccessible persons! They may shut US out, but
they cannot shut HIM out!
This should much encourage us in pleading for souls which are out of
our usual line of action. When we plead with Jesus, let us never bind
Him down to ways and means of our choosing, but let us leave to Him the
method of salvation! Jesus was so conscious of His power that you never
find Him uttering an expression of wonder, or manifesting the slightest
surprise when His will is done and a notable miracle is worked! No, but
He did marvel at the centurion's faith and on another occasion He
marveled at the people's unbelief! He is so in the habit of doing it
and He is so able to do it that it is no wonder that Christ saves
sinners!
You and I will wonder and throughout eternity we will declare that
wonder, singing with rapture and surprise the loving kindness and
pardoning power of Christ Jesus, but He does not wonder. Virtue goes
out of Him almost unconsciously, for He is so full of power that He can
bless on all sides and scarcely know it! Even as the sun shines north,
south, east and west and never wonders at its own shining, or as a
fountain sends forth its sparkling drops and never stops to admire
itself, or to marvel at its own flashing flow, so does Jesus readily,
easily, out of His very Nature scatter pardon and salvation on all
sides! He marvels at our faith! He marvels more often at our
unbelief–but to Him His own power is not a thing of wonder at all!
Beloved, I want you to get fast hold of this thought if you can, and I
beg you to hide it away in your hearts–that Jesus Christ is, beyond
measure, able to save! We do not half believe it! We think we do, but
we do not even a tenth believe it, for when we meet with a rather hard
case we are ready to give it up in despair. Despairing persons we too
soon leave in their gloom–and even melancholy men and women we are shy
of, we wish we had never seen them, instead of believing up to their
point–and believingly interceding until we see them happy in Christ!
If we meet with a horrible blasphemer, or a foul person, or a bloated
drinker, we feel quite out of our latitude and in the land of monsters!
Whereas it is with such cases that our Lord is much at home and we
ought to pray most about such persons–and to be most confident that
the Gospel was meant to meet their grievous ills. Is there not a great
Savior for great sinners?
III. We shall close by a third equally interesting point of great
practical value. I have spoken of our Lord's
willingness and power. Now we will note THE ABIDING METHOD OF OUR LORD
JESUS. The first method
mentioned here was, "Come and heal him." Jesus then went about doing
good, but He does not now vouchsafe His bodily Presence, or give
physical tokens of His being near to anyone. If any say to us, "Lo
here," or, "Lo there," let us not believe them, for Jesus is not, now,
upon the earth–He has gone up on high. We do not now pray, "Come and
heal him," in the sense of expecting a vision or revelation of Christ
after the flesh to those whom we love. We believe that He
will come one day, a second time, and heal the sicknesses of this poor
world, but till then we know Him not after the flesh, neither do we
seek any personal coming.
The other and permanent mode of our Lord's action was that He should
speak the word and so perform the cure. "Say in a word and my servant
shall be healed." That is the style of our Lord, today and throughout
the whole of this dispensation. The healing energy of Jesus is now
seen, not by His personal Presence, but by the power of His Word in
answer to the prayer of faith. This is henceforth His fixed and abiding
method of cure–the Word rendered effectual by believing prayer.
Now, I want you to notice that this mode of operation is outwardly
similar to the Lord's usual and natural way of exercising His power in
Nature and in Providence. Though clearly it is one of the highest forms
of supernatural action, it may not at first seem to be so. Look at
this–when Jesus stands at a bedside, bows over the sick child and
touches his little hand and he is healed, the deed is notable and is a
great miracle. But will it not seem to you to be even a greater display
of power, if possible, that Jesus should remain at a distance and not
see the suffering one, nor even speak so as to be heard in the darkened
chamber–and yet His mere will shall be able to quicken life and
restore health? It is a very clear display of supernatural power, is it
not?
This healing by volition, or by a single word? Yet it does not seem so
striking, somehow, to half-opened eyes when you look at it from the
grosser point of view, for this is just how the good God is working
every day in Nature and in Providence, achieving His purposes by His
silent will and by those echoes of His creating voice which still
linger among us. When but a little while ago your fields were bare and
your gardens desolate, if the Lord had suddenly come forth in awful
glory and caused snow and ice to fly before Him and had then benignly
touched the valleys and the hills and covered them with grass and corn,
you would have exclaimed, "This is a great miracle!" But in truth it is
an equally great display of power that the deed is done, though by less
glaring processes!
The will of the Lord transforms the clods of the valley into an army of
wheat ears and clover balls! His quiet wish reddens the clusters of the
vineyard and ripens the fruit of the garden! Is not this, also, a
marvel of power? Though the Lord has not come forth riding upon cherub
wings, nor has He spoken audibly in commanding sentences, yet the
secret energy of the eternal Word is evermore going forth to give us
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat. What more Divine form of miracle
is to be desired? I believe that when we rise to the possession of a
fully developed faith we shall see ourselves to be daily compassed
about with the Omnipotence of God and shall look on every tiny blade of
grass and upon the insect which balances itself on it–and the dewdrop
that decorates it–as being quite as manifestly the finger of God as
when the Nile turns to blood, or the dust of Egypt becomes flies!
To the Believer, miracles have not ceased, but the common course of
Nature teems with them! The power of the Word of God in answer to the
prayer of faith is now our Lord's way of blessing and this method
exactly suits the wish of true humility. Humility says, "I am not
worthy that God should do anything for me which would attract attention
to me or make me seem honored above others." The lowly soul hears of
one who was saved through a dream or a vision and he feels that he is
not worthy to be thus favored! No, my Friend, and you need not wish for
it, the Word of the Lord is enough and that Word is near you at this
moment–in your mouth and in your heart–you have but to hear and your
soul shall live!
If I were pleading for the conversion of a sinner I should feel
hampered by my own unworthiness if I believed that salvation
necessitated a bodily manifestation of my Lord or some extraordinary
display of power before men's eyes. But if my Lord will save by His
Word, only, then do I venture to ask with confidence! Here is no parade
of power, but quiet Divine energy and this the meek of the earth
delight in! I am sure that it pleases faith better than any other way.
Oh that the power of the Word might be displayed at this time! Oh my
Lord, how I desire of You that You would save thousands and I would be
glad if it were done without me, without any of Your servants, if only
You would say in a Word and by Your Holy Spirit cause a nation to be
born in a day!
Certain professors eagerly pine for a great stir–they will not believe
that the kingdom of God prospers unless thousands crowd into our
assemblies–and unless great excitement reigns and all the papers are
ringing with the names of famous preachers! They like it all the better
if they hear of persons being thrown into fits during the meetings, or
read of men and women falling down, or screaming under excitement and I
know not what besides. They can believe in Christ's power if there are
signs and wonders, but not otherwise! That is going back to, "come and
heal him." But we are
content to abide by the second mode. Can you not believe that by each
one of us making the Gospel of God to have free course, our Lord can
effectually save men by His Word?
Quietly, without observation, without signs or wonders, Jesus will
bless believing testimonies and answer believing prayers! Strong faith
is well content with the Lord's settled and usual mode of action and
rejoices to see Him save men by His Word in answer to the prayer of
faith. It is perfectly reasonable that we should expect our Lord to
display His healing power in this way. What the centurion said was full
of forcible argument. He said, "I am a captain of a troop. I do not
have to go about from place to place to do everything personally. No, I
remain in my quarters and issue orders, and I am sure of their being
carried out. I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to my servant,
'Do this,' and he does it."
Is it not clear that the far greater Captain of our salvation does not
need to come forth bodily in order to save any? His Word will suffice!
Give Your order, O Immanuel! Speak to the powers of darkness and the
captive sinner shall be free! Speak, and the human will must yield to
You and the human heart must receive You! Is it not so? My Brothers and
Sisters, we do not believe enough in our Lord! I come back to that–we
do not believe enough in what is so perfectly reasonable! If we will
but speak our Master's Words and let it go forth, with less and less of
our own words to cripple and hinder them, souls must be saved! Do you
not believe in the plain preaching of the glad tidings? Do you not
believe in the rams' horns?
O children of Israel, do you despise the rams' horns and do you long
for horses and chariots and battering rams and mighty engines of war?
Remember Jericho and how, by God's own appointed, though simple means,
the huge walls rocked to their fall? Will not the Lord's own means
suffice still? Oh, Believers, do you need anything this day except the
simple preaching of the Gospel? If so, you are departing from the point
where your faith ought to remain, since it still pleases God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe! "The world by
wisdom knew not God," and never will know God! Trust not philosophy,
but stand by the old, old story and pray the Master to work by it as in
former ages. You need no new word to be spoken, only let the Living
Word be filled with power and souls will be healed!
Now, if anyone here will try in his own case this Divine method of
healing, it will succeed in his instance as in that of the centurion's
servant. If you, dear Hearer, will believe the power of Christ and
trust Him to save you, you shall certainly obtain eternal life and that
at once! Can you heartily believe in Jesus as you find Him revealed in
Scripture? Can you be content without strange feelings, without
remarkable terrors, without dreams or visions? Can you be content
simply to trust your Savior? You shall be healed immediately, yes, this
very moment–before this rain shower has ceased the showers of
Everlasting Grace shall have fallen upon you! You must not ask the Lord
to come by some singular feeling within you, but just to speak while
you are hearing and the miracle of Grace will be worked!
Let me add once more–if you who are converted long to see others
saved, you will be wise to keep to the established method. Pray,
believe and then expect the Lord to work by His own Word in answer to
your prayer! The centurion rose to this method. He began lower by
desiring a personal visit, but he grew up to this plain, simple, yet
glorious way! Can you not do the same? Seek no marvels, but test the
power of the Gospel upon your friends. Do not ask the Lord to go out of
His way, but beseech Him to apply His Word with power to those whose
eternal welfare lies near your heart. Bring your loved ones under the
sound of the Gospel and entreat the healing Lord to put forth His power
thereby and your desire shall be accomplished!
Alas, if the Son of Man comes, shall He find faith on the earth? If He
were to come now and ask us all to put into the collection box what
faith we have–when He opened it, would it come to the eighth part of a
farthing? Yet every man among us that is a Believer ought to have an
inexhaustible treasure of golden faith! Lord, we believe! Help You our
unbelief! Lord, increase our faith! Amen.