Good Cheer From Forgiven Sin
(No. 3016)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And, behold they brought to Him a man sick ofthe palsy lying on a bed:
and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be
of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." Matthew 9:2.
"And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was
borne of four. And when they could not come near unto Him for the
press, they uncovered the roof where He was: and when they had broken
it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, your
sins are forgiven you."
Mark2:3-5.
"And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy:
and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before Him. And
when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of
the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the
tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when He saw
their faith, He said unto Him, Son, your sins are forgiven you." Luke
5:18-20.
[Other sermons upon this miracle are as follows–No. 2,337, Volume 39,
THE PHYSICIAN PARDONS HIS PALSIED PATIENT and No. 2,417, Volume 41,
FIRST FORGIVENESS, THEN HEALING]
THIS man was paralyzed in body, but he was very far from being
paralyzed in mind. From the little we know of him, he would appear to
have been earnest, resolute, energetic and persevering. You very seldom
find persons attempting more for you than you, yourself, desire–and if
the four men who carried this paralytic person were so zealous in
getting him under the Lord's notice, we may be morally certain that he,
himself, was even more set upon it. His bearers would never have gone
the length of breaking up the roof and letting him down upon the heads
of the crowd unless he had urged them to do so. He was something more
than passive under such heroic treatment! If he did not suggest the
plan, he evidently entered into it most willingly.
Suppose it to be your own case, my dear Hearer. Are you not persuaded
that if, broken in spirit, you were to say to your friends, "let me
alone, my case is hopeless," few would dream of exciting themselves to
desperate efforts on your behalf, but would let you lie in your apathy,
according to your request? It is a rule that you must, yourself, be
energetic if you are to make other people energetic on your behalf and,
therefore, it seems to me that this man had a resolute and intense
spirit–and had such influence over his friends that he inspired them
by his eagerness, having first won them by his importunity. He besought
them to aid him in what had become a necessity of life–he must see
Jesus. He must be brought before the great Healing One, somehow or
other, and because of his personal eagerness and pressing importunity,
his friends made up their minds to help him.
We may yet discover a little more about this palsied man and it will
not be mere conjecture, for, by certain rules established by
observation and experience, we may often learn much of a character from
very small circumstances. Our Lord Jesus was accustomed to address the
persons who came to Him very much according to their mental condition.
When one poor man, half imbecile in spirit, was brought to him, He
asked him, "Will you be made whole?" He was so listless as barely to
have the will to be restored and Christ's saying, "Will you be made
whole?" is evidence to us that even the poor creature's wishes had
begun to slumber. Take it as a general rule that while Christ regarded
the onlookers and
spoke with some view to them, yet, in the main, His first thoughts were
concerning His patient and He generally spoke with an eye to that
patient's case. I gather, therefore, from the fact that Jesus said to
this man, "Son, be of good cheer," that he was very greatly depressed
in spirit and unhappy–and when He added not, "Your palsy shall be
removed," but "Your sins are forgiven you," we are quite safe in
concluding that the cause of the man's sadness was his sin, for which
beyond all things else he desired pardon! Our Lord went straight to the
root of the mischief–the man was sad, and so He cheered him. The man
was sad about his sin and so He granted him forgiveness. His palsy
would, secondarily, be a fountain of bitter grief to the sick man and,
therefore, the Savior dealt with it in the second place. But first and
foremost, over and above all grief for his infirmity, was his painful
sense of unforgiven sin. It is not likely that he told his bearers
about that, for they might not have been able to sympathize with such a
spiritual necessity–to them he spoke of his affliction, not of his
repentance, for while they would pity him for his palsy, they might
have ridiculed him for his guilty conscience. The Lord, however, knew
the heart's grief without telling–He read it in the sufferer's looks.
The great Sin-Forgiver knew right well that earnest gaze which meant,
"Be merciful to me, a sinner," and He met that wistful glance with a
smile and the cheering words, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."
I suppose that the patient was a young man, for the word, "Son," would
hardly have been spoken by our Lord to a man older than Himself. I
gather that he was a man of childlike faith, for Jesus did not call
people His "sons and daughters" unless there was something of the
childlike spirit about them. He was evidently a man of simple-hearted
faith who fully believed that Christ could forgive his sin and so it
happened to him, after the rule of the Kingdom, "According to your
faith, be it unto you."
The case stood thus–The paralyzed man was burdened with sin, weighed
down and oppressed in conscience. This urged him to seek the Savior. "I
must see the Christ," he said. His passionate earnestness extracts a
promise from the neighbors that they will take him to Jesus. He begs
them to do it now. But the Lord could not be reached, for a dense crowd
shut Him in. "I must see Jesus," cries the man. His friends reply, "You
cannot rise from your bed." "Carry me upon it," cries he. "But we
cannot get in." "Try," he says. They reached the door and they cried,
"Make room. Here is a man sick of the palsy who must see Jesus." They
are gruffly answered, "Plenty of other poor men want to see Him. Why
should everybody give place to you? What is the use of pushing? There
is no room for that bed here! What folly to drag a sick man into all
this pressure and heat! The Prophet is speaking–you will interrupt
Him. Away with you!" The bearers cannot enter. They plead and they
push, but all in vain.
"Then," cries the resolute man, "take me up the back stairs. Get me to
the top of the verandah and let down the bed through the ceiling. Run
any risk for I must get to Jesus." Possibly his friends object and
state the difficulties of the procedure suggested. "Why," says one,
"you will be hanging over the people's heads, for there will be no room
for you when we let you down." "Try it," he cries. "If I am let down
from the top, there will be no fear of my not reaching the ground! They
cannot push me up again, or keep me on their heads! They must make room
for me." His earnestness having been ingenious, now becomes infectious!
His bearers smile at his eagerness and enter into it with zest. He will
give them no rest till his desire is accomplished–and so they break up
the tiling, and let him down before Jesus, with the glad result
described in the Gospel, "Jesus said to him, Son, be of good cheer;
your sins are forgiven you."
We have before us, first, a doctrine–the doctrine that it is one of
the grandest comforts in the world to have your sins forgiven you!
"Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." Secondly, we have
before us a question. May everyone of you have the honesty to ask it
and to answer it in your own case. The question–Have I had my sins
forgiven me? For, if so, I have a right to be of good cheer and to be
as merry as the birds in spring. But if not, I am destitute of the
greatest comfort which Christ, Himself, can speak to a sinner's heart.
I. Dear Hearer, let us give our hearts at once to THE DOCTRINE. It is
plainly taught us here that the pardon of sin is one of the richest
comforts which the Lord can give to a man.
It is so, first, because the pardon of sin removes the heaviest sorrow
which a man can feel Some know little about this grief. May the Lord
cause them to mourn with broken hearts or they will perish in their
sins! Those of us who have known the burden of sin can tell you that it
is a crushing load. Thoughtful persons who have seen things in their
true light–honest persons who refuse to be flattered, pure-minded
people who long to be right with God–all these will tell you that a
sense of sin is, of all miseries, the most sharp and disquieting. To
know that you have sinned against light and
knowledge with special aggravations is as a hot iron to the flesh and
as a serpent's venom in the blood. There is no rest day or night to a
soul which carries this Hell within it–
"Sin, like a venomous disease
Infests our vital blood!
The only balm is Sovereign Grace,
And the Physician God."
I speak what I know from personal experience and I only say what many a
hearer knows, too, within his own soul. Once let conviction flash in
upon the soul and the world loses its fascinations–the music hall, the
ballroom and the theater are robbed of their enchantments–even
business wearies and domestic joys are deprived of sweetness. A sense
of sin spoils all. Guilt on the conscience hangs over everything like a
funeral pall. It drowns all music with its prophetic knell and withers
every green herb beneath its burning feet.
Sin, sin–what direr ill than you are, can even Satan, himself, beget?
A man infected with a deadly disease is never at ease. Whatever
garments he may put on, or at whatever tables he may feast, he is still
unhappy because he has the arrows of death sticking in him! Such is a
man conscious of sin. Nothing can please him. Nothing can ease him till
his sin is removed. But when sin is gone–when he knows that he is
pardoned, he is as a bird set free from its cage!
A great fire raged one night in a village and a large thatched mansion,
in which a man of God resided, caught fire. It blazed furiously, but he
and his wife and the most of his children escaped. Judge of their
horror when they counted them over, to discover that one little one was
missing. Nothing would content them while that dear child was in the
burning house. "Mr. Wesley," his neighbor might say, "we have saved
your chest of drawers. We have saved your valuable books from the
house." "Ah, but," the good man would have said, "my boy is in danger."
What his wife thought of it, when she recollected that little John
would be burned to death, I need not tell you. But when, at last, he
was lifted out of the window and brought to his parents' arms–then be
sure that the good man would gather his whole family about him and
bless the Lord, even though all his substance was consumed. Now, when a
sensible man's soul is in danger, nothing can content him. He prospers
in business, his happy children play around him–but what of these
while his soul remains in deadly peril? When once, through pardoned
sin, his soul becomes like a brand plucked from the burning, then his
daily troubles lose all their weight and his heart is full ofjoyful
song! It is clear to every experienced man that the pardon of sin is an
immense comfort because it removes the bitterest cause of distress and
alarm.
Next, forgiveness of sin is a comfort of the first order, for, indeed,
it is altogether indispensable. You may possess every luxury, but you
cannot be solidly happy until sin is forgiven. "Why!" says one, "I am
really happy and yet I am not pardoned." Yes, but it is a remarkable
thing that happy people of your kind are never pleased while they are
quiet. They must get up an excitement and dance, or fiddle, or drink,
or play the fool in some sort–or they are not happy. I call that real
happiness which I can enjoy by the hour together in my room, alone,
calmly looking into things and feeling content. I call that real joy
which I feel when I wake up at night and, though full of pain, can lie
still and bless God for His goodness. It was said of old, "Philosophers
can be merry without music" and so can the saints of God! But the
ungodly, as a rule, cannot enjoy themselves without external objects to
raise their spirits. The truly happy man is satisfied from himself. A
spring within him of Living Water quenches his thirst so that he never
feels the drought.
A man cannot be really happy till his sin is pardoned, because sin
brings, more or less, a sense of condemnation. Picture a man in the
condemned cell. Try to make him comfortable. We provide him with a
dainty supper, we sing him gladsome glee, we exhibit fine pictures to
him–but he is condemned to die tomorrow and he loathes our feast and
our fineries. Bring in a thousand pounds and make him a present of it.
He looks at the golden sovereigns and he says, "What is the use of
these to me?" Tell him that a rich man has left him heir to a wide
estate. "Yes," he says, "but how can I enjoy it? I am condemned to
die." He is always in his dreams hearing his death-knell and picturing
to himself the dreary scene when he is to be launched into eternity. If
you could only whisper in his ear, "Her Majesty has granted you a free
pardon," he would say, "You may take away the feast, I feel too happy
to eat! All the gold in the world could not make me more delighted than
I am now, as a pardoned man." When men have come out of prison, after
they have been shut up for years, everything has been a joy to them.
Though they went home, perhaps, and found everybody dead whom they once
knew, and saw their own hair turned gray through having lain so long in
a moldy den, yet the sweets of liberty made the stones of the streets
shine as if they were made of gold and the fields seemed like fairyland
to them! Such is the
joy of pardon when it comes from our God. A man must have forgiveness,
or else everything will be emptiness to him– but when he is absolved,
he goes forth with joy and is led forth with peace!
Pardon of sins makes all our sorrows light If a condemned man is
permitted to live, he will not ask whether he is to live like a
gentleman or like a peasant. When some kind-hearted men struggle to get
the life of a condemned criminal spared, the man's friends think of
nothing but his life. When a judge sentences a man to penal servitude
for life, it may be thought a hard sentence, but you never hear of
complaints when a condemned criminal has his life spared–if we find
that he is to be kept a prisoner as long as he lives. The heaviest
punishment seems nothing if life is spared. You heave a sigh of relief
to think that the gallows will bear one less sad fruit and you forget
all about the servitude or the imprisonment which the convict will have
to endure. So, depend upon it, if you get sin pardoned and so are saved
from the eternal wrath of God, you will make no bargain with God
whether you have meat to eat and raiment to put on, or are left hungry
and naked! No, Lord, I will shiver in a beggar's rags with full content
if I am but pardoned. I will dwell in prison with a dry crust for my
food if I am but delivered from Your wrath! Thus it is clear that the
blotting out of sin takes the sting from every other sorrow.
Let me add that it makes death, itself, light! I remember the story of
a felon, in those days when they used to hang people for very little,
indeed. A poor man, who had committed some offense, was condemned to
die. While he lay waiting for the sentence, the Lord sent a choice
minister of the Gospel to him and his heart was enlightened so that he
found Christ. As he was on the way to the gallows, what, do you think,
was this man's cry? He was overwhelmed with joy and, lifting up his
hands, he said many times, "Oh, He is a great Forgiver! He is a great
Forgiver!" Death was no terror now that he had found forgiveness
through Jesus Christ! Poverty repines not when sin is removed! Sickness
frets no longer when conscience is at ease! It may cost you many a pang
to feel yourself melting away in consumption, but what does it matter,
now that your transgression is forgiven? Every breath may be a labor,
every pulse may be a pang, but when sin is forgiven, the Lord has
created such a spring ofjoy within the heart that the soul can never
faint!
Yet again, dear Friend, remember that the pardon of sin is the
guarantee of every other blessing. When Christ said, "Your sins are
forgiven you," was there any question at all as to whether that
paralytic man would be healed? Certainly not, for the love which had
forgiven the sufferer's sin was there to prompt the Savior to say
afterwards, "Arise, take up your bed, and go unto your house." So, dear
Friend, if your sin is pardoned, it is true concerning you that no good
thing will God withhold from you who walk uprightly, and that all
things work together for good to you who love God, to you who are the
called according to His purpose. Everything between here and Heaven is
secured by the Covenant of Grace for your best benefit. And you can
sing–
"If sin is pardoned, I'm secure! Death has no sting beside– The Law
gives sin its damning power But Christ, my Ransom, died." You shall
never have a need but God will assuredly supply it since He has already
bestowed on you the major blessing– the all-comprehending blessing of
forgiveness! Covenant mercies follow each other like the links of a
chain–"Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving
kindness and tender mercies; who satisfies your mouth with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Do you think that God
forgives men their sins and then leaves them to perish? Such cruel
"mercy" would be more worthy of a demon than of the Deity! Pardon is
the pledge of everlasting love and the pledge will never be forfeited!
"Alas," cries one, "perhaps, after the Lord has forgiven me, He may yet
turn again and punish me!" Listen–"The gifts and calling of God are
without repentance." That is, God never repents of what He does in the
way of Grace. If He forgives, He forgives once and for all and forever!
It would be blasphemy to represent God as making a transient truce with
men instead of an eternal peace! The Lord casts the iniquities of His
people into the depths of the sea and their transgressions He remembers
against them no more forever. Is not this a blessed act of Grace? It
secures the removal of all the evil results of sin and is the guarantee
of all that will be needed this side of Heaven, yes, and of Glory,
forever! If you do but hear Jesus say, "Your sins are forgiven you,"
you may also hear Him say, "Be of good cheer," for there is everything
in the fact of pardon to make your heart dance for joy!
We will not linger longer upon the doctrine, but make our meditation
personally practical by pressing home the work of self-examination.
II. So, now, let us consider THE QUESTION, Are you forgiven?
Has God, for Christ's sake, forgiven you? "Ah," cries one, "do not
judge us!" I shall not attempt to do so, but I would beg you to judge
yourselves. "We cannot be sure of our salvation," answers another. Can
you not? Then you ought to never be happy, for a man who is in doubt
about a matter so vital as this, which involves his all, ought never to
enjoy a moment's peace! How can we rest in fear of Hell, in danger of
eternal wrath? Do you not long for certainties? A great novelist began
a favorite story with the sentence, "What I need is facts." In that
short sentence, he expressed the longing of many a thoughtful
soul–many of us feel that we need indisputable facts. Our proverb has
it, "Fast bind, fast find." Prudent men will take double care about
this weightiest of all concerns and will not be content till they are
infallibly cured. I will help you to answer this question by remarking
that there is a way by which we may know if we are not forgiven.
We may know that we are not forgiven if we have never felt that we need
forgiveness. Where guilt has never been perceived, it has never been
removed. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us." If I feel that I am as good as most people and,
perhaps, a little better. If I try to justify myself and think of
gaining Heaven by my own endeavors, then I am under condemnation! God
has never healed the man who was never wounded, nor has He made the man
alive who was never dead. If you have never been humbled before God so
as to acknowledge your sinnership, then you are still abiding under His
wrath. Think of that, I pray you, you who are at ease, wrapping
yourself about in the garments of your own merits! "Because you say, I
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," you may
be sure that, in God's sight, "you are wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked." Dear Friend, I hope it is not so with you.
Again, he has never been forgiven who does not at this moment hate sin.
Jesus never came to save us in our sins, but to save us from our
sins–and wherever He takes away the guilt of sin, He also kills the
love of it. Sin never seems so black as when we see it put away by
Jesus' blood. At the sight of the Cross, we grow angry with ourselves
for having slain our Lord by our transgressions. Never dream that you
can be pardoned and then be allowed to live as you did before– the
very wish to do so would show that you were still under condemnation.
Again, you are not forgiven if you have never sought Christ and His
atoning blood. If you have labored by other means to procure mercy, you
have not found it, for no one else can give it but the one appointed
Mediator. Can your "priest" grant you pardon? Did you offend the
priest? Then the priest can forgive you for offending him, but he
cannot forgive you for offending God! None but God in Christ Jesus can
blot out sin and you must go to Him–and if you do not, you are not
forgiven, whatever you may dream.
Once more, have you forgiven everybody else This is a home question to
some minds, but remember how necessary it is to answer it. If you do
not forgive everyone his brother his trespasses, neither will your
Heavenly Father forgive you. There it stands, "Forgive us our sins, for
we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us." If you cannot pardon
everyone, no matter how grievous the offense, neither has God pardoned
you. A malicious heart is an unrenewed heart. A revengeful spirit is
clean contrary to the Spirit of God who passes by transgression,
iniquity and sin. This Truth of God may be little preached, but Holy
Scripture makes it very prominent and you will be most unwise if in any
measure you ignore it. You are not forgiven if you cannot forgive!
Let me now help you, by some positive test, to see whether you are
forgiven. Only one is needed–you are pardoned if you are a true
Believer in Jesus Christ. It is written, "Jesus seeing their
faith"–that is, the faith of the four bearers, and the faith of the
man who lay upon the bed–said unto him, "Your sins are forgiven you."
The poor palsied man so believed in Jesus that his very face beamed
with confidence when he came into Christ's Presence and so Jesus,
seeing his faith, said to him, "Your sins are forgiven you. "Do
youbelieve in Jesus? I know that you believe that Jesus Christ is God
and a great Savior, but is this a mere matter of doctrine to you, or do
you really believe in him? You know what it is to believe in a man so
that you can trust him and leave your affairs in his hands–do you
believe in Jesus in this way? That is the faith which saves. When a man
believes in Christ so as to commit himself to Christ for salvation, he
believes rightly, for believing is but another word for trusting,
relying, depending upon!
Do not trifle with this question. It is my hope that you can answer,
"Yes, unless I am awfully deceived, I am trusting the blood and merits
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am so trusting Him that I endeavor to
follow in His footsteps and to copy His example." Then you are saved,
for "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus."
Dwell on that word, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God." If you really trust Christ, though you have only done so
during the last hour, your transgressions are put away and your
iniquity is covered, for He immediately pardons them who come to Him.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If you have
confessed your sin to Him and trusted in Him, you are most assuredly
cleansed by His blood!
Now for my last word. It is this. Jesus said, "Be of good cheer; your
sins are forgiven you." Come, then, let us be of good cheer for our
sins are forgiven. Let us be happy. Let us be merry in the Lord. Let us
begin to sing for very joy of hearts because our sins are forgiven us
for Christ's sake! We are very poor, but our sin is forgiven us. We are
very weak, but our sin is forgiven us. We are, perhaps, getting very
old, and near to our end, but our sin is forgiven us. We are full of
infirmity and vexed with temptations, but our sin is forgiven us for
His name's sake! "Son, be of good cheer," said the Savior, and shall we
be otherwise? What if our room is a very small one–what does it
matter–if our sin is forgiven? "Ah, but there is a sick one at home!"
"Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." You know how the
Master, when the disciples found another source of joy, turned them
back to this, "Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not that the spirits
are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in
Heaven." And so, when you find a multitude of troubles, follow the same
good advice!
Does someone say, "I am head over heels in trouble, for I am in great
straits"? Let me lay my hand upon your shoulder and say, "Brother, be
of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." "Oh, but I have very little
to live upon!" True, but you have this comforting message, "Your sins
are forgiven you." Be of good cheer–your Lord bids you to be so, for
your sins are forgiven you!
If you are not happy, it will be disobedience to Christ, for He
commands you to "be of good cheer." It will look as if you did not
value the blessing that cost Him His blood. "Your sins are forgiven
you." It cost Him His life to buy you this redemption–are you going to
groan when you get it? No doubt you are pleased to give good things to
poor persons and, if so, you like to see their gratitude. I gave
something, not many days ago, to a man and he just put it in his pocket
and walked off without a word, as if he would say, "I thought you would
have given me at least ten times as much." I thought, "If I had seen
the way you would take it, my Man, I would not have been in such a
hurry with your gift." When you give your children a little treat, you
like to see them pleased and thankful. But if they sit down and fret
over your kindness, you are disappointed and are in no great haste to
indulge them again! Our Heavenly Father's gifts must be valued and
delighted in–if He has forgiven us our sins, let us be happy!
"Son, be of good cheer." Have some regard to the outside world, for, if
they are pardoned men and women with gruesome countenances, they will
infer that there is not much comfort in the Grace of God, after all.
"My wife," says one, "declares that her sins are forgiven her, yet I am
sure when there is a little trouble in the house she is more
downhearted than I am." "There," cries a woman, "my husband tells me
that his sins are washed away, but he grumbles and murmurs till we are
all made miserable by him!" Do not let it be so. If you have a cross to
carry, let us bear it joyfully for Christ's sake. If we have work to do
for Christ, let us do it with delight. Let us live to music. Let us
march to Heaven to a gladsome tune, rejoicing in the Lord because our
sins are forgiven! And let each one of us say–
"All that remains for me Is but to love and sing And wait until the
angels come To bear me to the King!"
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK 2.
Verse 10. And again He entered into Capernaum after some days; and it
was heard that He was in the house. And straightaway many were gathered
together, so that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as
about the door: and He preached the word unto them. It is a very
singular fact that although man, in his natural state of heart, is
opposed to the Gospel, yet he is drawn to hear it. Even though he
abhors it, yet oftentimes he cannot help listening to it. Wherever
Jesus Christ is, whether He is present in Person, or in the preaching
of the Word, it will be certain to be heard
abroad and multitudes will come to hear. The grandest attraction either
in or out of Heaven is still the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
3-5. And they came unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was
borne of four. And then they could not come near unto Him for the
press, they uncovered the roof where He was: and when they had broken
it up, they let down the bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of thepalsy Son, your sins
are forgiven you. In Luke's account of this gathering, we read that
"the power of the Lord was present to heal them," and when we ask, "Why
was that power so remarkably present?" we think that one reason was
because there were persons present who were anxious about the good of
others. And, today, wherever four persons come together praying for
some poor soul, you may rest assured that the power of the Lord will
there be present to heal. I do not think that so much of the success of
sermons depends upon the preacher as upon those model hearers who are
all the while praying for a blessing and who are making other members
of the congregation–those who are converted–the constant subject of
their supplication. Christ blessed this man because of the faith of the
four who carried him and, possibly, because of his own faith.
Notice that our Lord did not at first say to the sick man, "You are
healed of your palsy," but He said, "Your sins are forgiven you." This
was laying the axe at the root, because sin is at the bottom of
sorrow–and where sin is pardoned, even the effects of sin will be
removed.
6-9. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning
in their hearts. Why does this Man thus speak blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in His
spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why
reason you these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the
sick of the palsy, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and
take up your bed, and walk? Whichever is spoken, Omnipotence is
implied. The Presence and Power of God, alone, could give efficacy to
either sentence, but to Him, the one is as easy as the other.
10-14. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to
forgive sins, (He said to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto you,
Arise, and take up your bed, and go your way into your house. And
immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all,
so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying they never saw
anything like this before. And He went forth again by the sea side; and
all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. And as He
passed by, He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of
customs, and said unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed him.
There is a change in the method of displaying Christ's power, but His
power is always the same. To the palsied man, He said "Arise, and take
up your bed, and walk." But to the man engaged in a calling which
degraded him, Christ said, "Follow Me" and, "he arose and followed
Him." Blessed be God, we still have in our midst the living Lord who is
as able to work miracles of mercy today as when He was upon the earth!
And we have not merely to exhort, to persuade and to entreat, though we
have to do all that, but we have also to speak with authority in the
name of this glorious Son of God and to command men to repent and
believe in Him! He is with us, by His Spirit, to make His Word mighty,
so that, to this day, palsied men do arise and walk–and sinful men are
led to turn from evil and to follow Christ.
15-17. And it came to pass, that as Jesus sat at meat in Levi's house,
many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His
disciples: for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the
scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with publicans and sinners, they said
unto Jesus' disciples, How is it that He eats and drinks with publicans
and sinners? When Jesus heard it, He said unto them, They that are
whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. For ordinary
Christians to associate with those who are like the publicans and
sinners of Christ's day might be dangerous, for, "evil communications
corrupt good manners," and Christians should be careful as to the
company in which they are found. But for Christians to go among such
people to try to do them good is Christlike! The Church of Christ
always fails in her duty when she looks upon any class of persons as
being beneath her observation, or too far gone for her to reach. Our
Lord's mission was to find out and to supply the needs of mankind–and
He seems to have paid particular attention to the very worst of men
because they needed Him the most. And His Church should always be
guided in her choice of work by the necessity of the objects that need
her care. And Brothers, you and I who are in the ministry will do well
to choose not that sphere in which we may be most happy and
comfortable, but that one in which we are most needed. If I were a lamp
and had my choice of where I
would be hung, I should prefer to be hung up in the darkest place in
London where I could be of most service. And I think that everyone of
us would make just such a choice if we judged rightly and desired to be
where we were needed and to do as the Savior did when He was on the
earth.
18-20. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and
they come and said unto Him, why do the disciples of John and of the
Pharisees fast, but Your disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them,
Can the children of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with
them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast
But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from
them, and then shall they fast in those days. While Christ was with His
people in Person, they could not help having joy and gladness. But when
He was gone from them, they must lament His absence.
21, 22. No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the
new piece that filled it up takes away from the old and the tear is
made worse. And no man puts new wine into old bottles: else the new
wine does burst the bottles and the wine is spilled, and the bottles
will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. The bottles
were made of skin and the wine put into them must be of a suitable
port. To prescribe fasting to His disciples while He was making them
glad with His personal Presence would have been incongruous and absurd.
And there are some things that we ought not to expect from young
Christians–and other things that we ought not to expect from old and
mature Christians. We should not expect to find new wine in old
bottles, nor old wine in new bottles. "A place for everything, and
everything in its place," is not only a rule for the home and the
merchant's counting house, but it is also a rule which should be
observed in the Church of Christ, for God, as a God of order, always
puts things in their proper places and in due order.
23. And it came to pass, that He went through the corn fields on the
Sabbath; and the disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of
corn. They had offended the Pharisees by not fasting and now they were
offending them again in a similar way, though with reference to a
different matter!
24. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath
that which is not lawful According to some Rabbis, you might pick an
ear of wheat on the Sabbath, but if you rubbed it between your hands,
they said that was a sort of thieving which was a kind of labor that
must not be performed on the Sabbath. They made all sorts of ingenious
restrictions, too ridiculous for us to quote. These disciples were,
therefore, according to them, chargeable with sin because they had
plucked ears of corn and had performed the operation of threshing them
on the Sabbath. And we have some of that sort of folk living now who
take the smallest matter, which is altogether insignificant, and in
which there is neither good nor harm, and magnify and distort it–and
then make a man a grave offender all for next to nothing. We have
learned not to be very much troubled by anything that they choose to
say.
25-28. And He said unto them, have you ever read what David did, when
he had fled, and was hungry? He and they that were with him? How he
went into the House of God in the days of Abiather the high priest, and
did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for thepriests,
andgave also to them which were with him? And He said unto them, The
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the
Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. He has made it to be no longer
a day of bondage, but a day of blessed rest and holy service for God!
Works of necessity, works of piety and works of mercy are not only
allowed to be done, but are commanded to be done upon the Sabbath.