Strange Things
(No. 2614)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 19, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 18, 1883.
"We have seen strange things today." Luke 5:26.
THE world is growing very old, dull and commonplace. One takes the
newspaper and, often, after glancing through it, has to say, "There is
really nothing in it." The reason probably being that there is nothing
fresh or new happening on the earth–it is the same old sad story of
sin and sorrow constantly repeated. The world seems to be like a
cluster from the vine when all its generous juice has been pressed out.
Life, to many persons, has come to be excessively humdrum. The human
mind is always craving after novelties and, to find these novelties, it
makes "much ado about nothing." It runs raving mad over that which is
not worth thinking of and whips itself up into an intense excitement
about a matter that is of no more importance than a drop in a bucket,
or the small dust of the balance. The fact is, man wants something
really fresh and strange and if he can get it, he feels delighted! I
hardly think that when our good friend, Mr. John Ashworth, brought out
his book, he would have achieved so great a success with it if he had
not called it Strange Tales. But the strangeness was the attraction.
The stories in it were strange tales to the mass of mankind, though to
some of us they are very familiar things–but the strangenesswas the
point that attracted readers.
No man ever spent a day with Jesus Christ without being filled with the
sight of strange things! No man ever entered into communion with the
Lord Jesus without being delighted with wonders of love, of mercy, of
Divine Grace, of the Truths of God, of goodness for, while His Gospel
is the old, old Gospel, yet it always has a new face upon it and is
continually fresh and new–it never gets stale! We read of our Lord
that when John saw Him, "His head and His hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow," to denote His antiquity. And yet the spouse said of
Him, "His locks are bushy and black as a raven," as if to indicate His
perpetual youth, His unfailing strength and His unfading beauty.
Believe me, dear Friends, if you want to see that which is truly
strange, you must get into that spiritual realm where Christ is
acknowledged as King, the new Heaven and new earth wherein dwell
righteousness.
If you want to continue to be astounded, amazed, astonished, filled
with holy awe, you must come and be familiar with the Savior, His
person, His work, His offices and everything that has to do with Him
and, when you have become familiar with all these things, then you will
have to say constantly, "We have seen strange things today. Something
has occurred that has surprised even us who have grown used to
surprises. Our Lord has seemed to outdone Himself, though we thought
Him to be higher than the heavens–and His mercy has appeared to go
deeper than ever before, though we judged that it had already gone
deeper than the abyss, itself!" "O world of wonders! I can say no
less." He that enters this spiritual world where Christ is adored as
God and King has unlocked a cabinet of marvels that shall astonish him
during all his lifetime here and even throughout eternity! I am going
to speak about strange things and I pray that God will make what is
said to be of service to many.
I. First, I ask you to MARK THE STRANGE THINGS OF THAT PARTICULAR DAY
which are mentioned in our text. It was so full of wonders that the
people said, "We have seen strange things today." Well, what did they
see?
First, they had that day seen Christ disturbed in preaching, greatly
disturbed, and yet delighted to be so disturbed and accepting the
disturbance as part of His usual experience and the means of doing
further good to men. The Lord Jesus has gone into the square covered
court of a house–the people have pressed in behind Him, one after
another, till they are packed in a dense mass–and there are still
others around the door vainly trying to enter. Here come four men–it
is rather remarkable that there should be four such earnest men–who
have brought a sick neighbor on his bed, with ropes tied to the four
corners. But they find that they cannot get in through the crowd. They
push, they squeeze, they struggle, but there is no getting in! And
their poor paralyzed friend seems to be effectually shut out from
Christ. They go up the outside stairs of the house. They get on the
roof which covers the square where Christ and the people are–and they
begin ripping off the tiling! And now, look! The man is being let down
by the four ropes right before the Savior's face! There must be some
measure of dust, even if something still heavier does not come tumbling
down upon the Preacher's head, but here comes the bed with the man on
it! The people are sure to make room for him, now, or else he will be
supported on their heads! They seemed to be squeezed as tightly as they
could be, but they feel that they must, somehow or other, get a little
more closely together and so the man is gradually let down by his four
friends who carefully let out the four ropes at the same rate, keeping
good time together, lest one end of the bed should be too high and he
should fall.
That must have been a great disturbance to our Lord! I know some
preachers who cannot bear to have even a baby crying during the sermon.
I do not feel especially delighted with that sweet music, yet I rejoice
that the good woman did not stay away from the service! As far as I am
concerned, she may bring her baby, even if it should sometimes cry–I
am glad to have her here that God may bless her. Perhaps a friend has
just dropped his cane in the aisle and made a loud noise just when the
preacher was trying to be very earnest. Well, that is a pity, but the
dear Savior was much more rudely interrupted by all the falling stuff
from the ceiling and the sick man coming down into the midst of the
crowd before Him! If there had been any "thread" in His sermon, He
certainly would have lost it–but His discourses were made of better
material than that. They were made, indeed, of fire, and fell like
fire-flakes on men's heads and hearts. He still spoke on, after He had
paused a while to attend to this man's case, and He did attend to it
very sweetly. He looked at the four men who had brought him and He saw
that they had great trust in Him. And, seeing their faith, He worked
the cure upon the sick man.
It was a strange thing that it should be so, but how much I would like
to see more of this strange kind of work! I don't know where I am to
find four men who are so in love with one of their friends that they
will break up ceilings and roofs to get him where Christ can bless him!
They will probably be four very imprudent and rash men, in the opinion
of others–the Lord bless the imprudent and the rash! They are
generally the best sort of men for such a task as this. Your more
prudent men would have stopped till the service was over and the people
had come out and, very likely, they would have waited till Christ had
gone out at another door–and so their friend would have missed Him.
But these rash, headstrong, ardent lovers of their sick neighbor must
somehow get him to Christ! So they break up the roof and there he is,
right in the Presence of Christ! It was a strange thing to do, but,
Brothers and Sisters, do not hesitate to do strange things in order to
save souls! Hardly mind what you do, so long as you can get them to
Christ. Your Lord will not blame you. He is so strangely loving–so
strangely full of goodwill to men–that even should you be guilty of an
indiscretion in your zeal, He will not upbraid you for it. Oh, labor
for the souls of your children, your servants, your neighbors–and the
Lord will accept that service, and you may yet have the delight of
seeing them made whole by Christ! That was a strange thing to begin
with. I am bound to say that the people who witnessed it talked all
their lives about the man coming down from the ceiling and Jesus Christ
healing Him!
But now they saw a greater wonder than that–the Christ of God
forgiving this man his sins! We talk about the forgiveness of sins, I
fear, rather glibly, without always realizing what a great thing it is.
You know that when Martin Luther was in deep distress of soul, a good
old monk said to him, "Brother, can you not say the Credo?" "Yes," said
Luther. "Well, then," replied the old man, "in the Credo you say, 'I
believe in the forgiveness of sins.'" "Yes," said Luther, "I know that.
I have often said it." "Then," enquired the other, "do you believe in
the forgiveness of your own sin? For, if not, how can you say, 'I
believe in the forgiveness of sins'?" This great Truth is sometimes
spoken of as though forgiveness were an impalpable something that was
done and yet not done, but Christ never meant it to be so. His death
was not a shadowy, vague Atonement that might possibly be available for
sinners, but a real and complete putting away of sin and, as many as
believe in Him may know for sure that their sin is put away and is as
completely gone as if it had actually ceased to be, seeing that Christ
bore the punishment of it. Yes, and the sin, itself, was, by
imputation, laid upon Him, as it is written, "The Lord has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all." "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him
and with His stripes we are healed."
Whenever a sinner has his sin forgiven, it is a strange, a wondrous
thing! Never think of it as a mere commonplace matter of no account,
for it is a marvel of marvels. The angels–a far nobler race than
men–fell from their first estate, but never has any of the devils bean
pardoned for his rebellion against the Most High. No Savior has
espoused their cause, no sacrifice has been offered for their guilt, no
Gospel is ever proclaimed in their ears! When they sinned, they fell
finally and now they are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness
unto the judgment of the great day." Yet man, who was not a pure
spirit, like the angels, but a spirit allied with materialism, an
inferior being, fell–and for him God left His throne to come and bleed
on earth to offer up an expiation! For men, sin became pardonable! No,
more, to multitudes of the sons of men sin has been forgiven and an act
of amnesty and oblivion has been passed concerning their rebellion!
What a wonderful Truth of God is this! Whenever you feel a sense of
pardoned sin, or whenever you know that your fellow man has received
absolution from the great High Priest, the Son of God, you may at once
say, "We have seen strange things today."
When these people around our Lord had seen that wonder, they saw
something else which must have greatly surprised them–they saw an
exhibition of thought-reading. I have heard and read many curious
things about thought-reading. Some I have believed, and some I have
not. That any man can read my thoughts, I shall take leave to question!
At any rate, he may read this thought, for I will tell him what is on
my mind–that I do not believe him! But our Lord Jesus Christ, as He
looked at the Pharisees and the scribes, read their unexpressed
thoughts and, at once, saw what was passing within their minds! It was
not an easy thing, I should think, to read thoughts like these, "Who is
this which speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God, alone?"
But our Lord Jesus read those thoughts and answered them, though the
men before Him had not as yet spoken a single word! I have seen
wonderful exhibitions of thought-reading in this Tabernacle–not by me,
but by the Lord Himself! Many of you are witnesses of how I have
uttered from this platform the very words you have spoken when you were
coming here–and what you said in your bedchamber, where nobody heard,
perhaps, but some one companion, has been repeated in this place and
you have been astounded as you discovered that the Word of God, which
is quick and powerful, searches the heart and cuts asunder, just as you
have seen an animal split from head to foot by a butcher and its
innermost parts laid bare to the view of every passerby!
The Word of God often does that–discovers the secret thoughts and
intents of the heart and makes the man see himself as God sees him–and
makes him stand astonished that it should be so! We have frequently
seen this sort of thing happen as we sometimes tell to one another some
of the extraordinary instances in which men's very flesh has seemed to
creep as the things they said and did have been made known to them. It
will probably happen in like manner to many others–and those to whom
God will thus speak will say, as these people did–"We have seen
strange things today."
There was another strange thing they saw and, with that, I will
conclude this first part of my discourse. They saw a sick man who could
not lift hand or foot made, in a single moment, to walk and carry his
bed, at the word of the Lord, Jesus Christ! That must have been a
strange sight to those who knew this poor paralyzed man, when they saw
him stand up from the bed and glorify God as he did what Jesus bade him
do. And when the Lord speaks with power to a soul, as He constantly
does, and the man who knew not God learns to know Him, and the one who
feared not the Lord is brought to trust and love and serve Him, what a
marvelous thing it is! I sometimes wonder whether any person would
doubt the Inspiration of Scripture and the Divine origin and power of
the Gospel if he could live each day as I live and see what I see of
the wonders that are worked by the Gospel. Last Sunday night there came
into Exeter Hall a man who did not care for the things of God, but he
sat and heard the sermon. His brother had brought him–and was praying
earnestly for him. As he was going out, a friend, who had observed him
during the service, said to this man who had entered the hall utterly
careless and Christless, "You were interested in the sermon tonight,
were you not?" "I was," he answered, "very much." "Do you believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ?" The man at once replied, "I do believe in Him
with all my heart and all my soul." His brother, who was with him, and
who had been praying over him, said, "I was astonished beyond measure
to hear him make such a declaration of his faith!"
Beside that one, there were 12 other persons who came forward when the
service was over and distinctly declared that they had found the Savior
that night under the preaching of the Gospel. Though they had not been
religious people, and had scarcely ever thought of their souls, yet God
had found them! And these strange things do not occur with us,
alone–they happen every day with our beloved friends, Moody and Sankey
and, indeed, in a great measure, with all who preach the Gospel! It is
its own evidence of its almighty power and, as it wins its way, men are
saved, they are healed of the deadly paralysis of sin and made to leap
with active obedience and joyful service in the cause of Christ!
Whenever you see this miracle of mercy worked, you can say, "We have
seen strange things today." ' II. Now, with great brevity, I ask you TO
MARK THE STRANGE THINGS OF CHRIST'S DAY.
If you had ever beheld our Lord's life and work with the eyes of faith,
you must have seen many strange things. First, the Maker of men became
a Man! He that is Infinite became an Infant–He that made all things
was wrapped in swaddling clothes! He who fills all space was laid in a
manger and the Son of the Highest was known as the Son of Mary! We have
heard strange things when we have heard the Doctrine of the
Incarnation! "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His Glory, the Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of
Grace and truth." Truly, this was a strange thing!
Further, He who was Lord of All, became Servant of All! "Being found in
fashion as a Man," He lived a life of perfect obedience to His Father's
will and went about healing the sick, raising the dead and ministering
to all who came near Him. Most marvelous of all, on Him who knew no
sin, the sin of man was laid, and the righteous God meted out to Him,
the Innocent One, the chastisement due to the guilty! This is the
ground of our hope and the only foundation of hope for sinners, that
He, the innocent Christ, was made sin for us, "that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him." But what a wonder it is! The guilty
go free because He who is free from guilt suffers in their place! Tell
all men that wonder of wonders!
Yet that was not all. Jesus died on the Cross! And loving friends laid
Him in the tomb. Death had conquered Him, but, in that moment, Death
was conquered–
"He Death by dying slew."
That day He led Death, itself, captive to His own supremacy. Wonder of
wonders–Death put to death by death! Jesus Christ, by His dying, puts
dying out of the way for all His people. Yet, even that wonder is not
the last. Look, there He lies, for a while, wrapped in the grave
clothes and Death appears to have the mastery over Him. But that
Scripture must be fulfilled–"You will not leave My soul in Hades;
neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption." He must wait
there till the appointed hour strikes and then, early in the morning,
before the break of day, He was up and away! An angel rolled away the
stone, for He that had been dead was alive, again, and Jesus left the
abode of Death, no more to die! What a wonder it is that He who was
dead worked out our resurrection! And now, since He rose from the
grave, so all His followers must.
You may take what point you please in the history of the Lord Jesus
Christ and, if you really understand it, you will say concerning every
part of it, "We have seen strange things" in this matter. It is a chain
of miracles! It is like Alps on Alps and more than that, for the
mountains of mercy tower above the stars and reach even to the Throne
of God and God, Himself, was never more lofty and glorious than when He
was occupied in the stupendous labors of His Son Jesus Christ. Only
spend your time in the company of the great Wonder-Worker, and you will
continually be able to say, "We have seen strange things today."
III. Now I must close by asking you to MARK THE STRANGE THINGS STILL TO
BE SEEN IN THOSE IN
WHOM CHRIST WORKS. If He comes and blesses us, we shall often say, "We
have seen strange things today."
First, we have seen a self-condemned sinner justified by Christ. I can
tell you what I saw, one day, and I never shall forget the sight
throughout eternity! I saw a sinner whom I know right well–and I can
say no good of him, but much, very much that is evil, without at all
slandering him. He had been proud and haughty in his opinion of
himself, but there shone a light into his soul which unveiled to him
his deep corruption and depravity, the sin that mixed with all his best
things, and the still more dreadful sin that fermented in his worst
things. I saw that sinner–for I know him well–self-condemned. He
wrote his own sentence and he handed it to the Judge. He said that he
deserved to be cast away forever from the Presence of God and the Glory
of His power. And, as he passed up his own death-warrant, he dropped a
tear upon it and he said, "I now trust myself to the Sovereign Mercy of
God in Christ Jesus." I remember it well and I saw that self-condemned
sinner pardoned in a moment! The Lord said to him, "Your sins, which
are many, are all forgiven," and his face changed from darkness and
gloom into shining light and joy! And he has never lost the impression
of that blessed day–and, as he stands here to tell you the story, he
can truly say that he saw strange things that day! But, Brothers and
Sisters, there are hosts of you who have undergone the same blessed
operation! Self-condemnation brought you where the Savior absolved you
and, though it seems so easy to talk about it now, oh, how blessed it
was when first we felt it! My heart did leap for joy! I was never so
happy before and I sometimes think that I have scarcely ever been quite
as jubilant as I was on that day of holy excitement and exhilaration!
I remember, also, a natural heart renewed by Divine Grace. I have gone
into my garden and I have seen a great number of trees that have new
branches which have been grafted into them, but I never yet saw a tree
get a new heart. I have seen it get new bark and many changes have
happened to it, but it cannot change its heart. There are some living
creatures that shed their claws and grow fresh ones, but I never heard
of a living creature that grew a new heart. That must be a strange, a
wondrous thing, to change the very center and source of life! Yet the
Lord Jesus Christ is constantly doing it–giving men new motives, new
desires, new wishes, new habits–changing them entirely and,
especially, creating in them new hearts and right spirits! Whenever you
see that miracle of Grace worked, you can say. "We have seen strange
things today." A woman came to see me and cast herself down at my feet.
She said that she had been such a sinner that she was not fit to speak
with me. I bade her rise, for I said I, also, was a sinner. And she
told me what she had been–I will not tell you the sad story, for I
should have to use words of shame if I described her. But she is among
us now, washed and sanctified–and she delights to serve her God and
honor and glorify Him! What changed that woman? Was it fear? No, she
was a brave spirit who would have dared any kind of devil, but the
Grace of God changed and transformed her, and made her into a loving
servant of the living Savior. Oh, whenever we see this deed of Grace
done–and we see it continu-ally–we say, "We have seen strange things
today."
Another marvel is, a soul preserved in spiritual life amid killing
evils. Did you ever see a bush burn and yet not be consumed? Did you
ever see a spark float in the sea and yet not be quenched? Many persons
here are, to themselves, just such wonders. They are living godly lives
in the midst of temptation–holy in the midst of impurity–serving God
in spite of all opposition. These are strange things!
Did you ever see evil turned into good?. There are many of God's
children who constantly see it. "All things work together for good to
them who love God." They are made rich by poverty, made healthy by
sickness, made strong by weakness, made alive by killing, made to go up
by going down! You who live the new life know the meaning of these
paradoxes and understand how these strange things make up a Christian's
progress to the Eternal City of God. Strange things do the people of
God see in their own lives as they find Heaven on earth! It is a
singular thing for anyone to be on earth and yet in Heaven, but we have
proved it to be so! We have seen men sick and we have seen men
dying–and yet as full of bliss as they could hold, as thankful in
their room of poverty–and almost as joyful, as if they had been among
the angels before the Throne of God above! There are surprises all the
way along the road to Glory, but what will it be when we come to the
end of it?
Did you ever try to picture the first half-hour in Heaven? Have you
ever thought of the sensations that will pass through you in the first
few days there? I think that we can very well judge what they will be,
for they have been revealed to us by the Spirit. We shall have the same
joys as we have here, only carried to a far higher pitch, for the life
of God in Heaven is the life of God in the heart on earth! Heaven is
but the outgrowth of a holy consecrated life and he that lives with
Christ below is already in the lower chamber of the Father's House. He
has but to climb a pair of stairs and be in the upper chamber where all
the glorified meet together with their Lord! Still, I doubt not that it
will be passing strange to go from earth into Glory.
Whenever I begin to talk about this matter, I always wonder who will be
the first among us to be called away, for it happens every week that
some out of our great congregation go Home. Sometimes, in a single
week, six or seven of our Church members go to the great Father's
House–whose turn will it be to go next? We have not the choice,
otherwise some of us might venture to put in an early claim that we
might enjoy our rest. I know some old folk and some sick ones, and some
who are greatly beset by Satan, and some who are sorely troubled with
doubts and fears who would gladly say, "Would God it were time for us
to go!" Well, dear Friends, rest assured that you are not
forgotten–the messenger will come to you, perhaps soon, and he will
say to you, "By tomorrow, you shall see the King in His Glory." You
will have to go down into the flood–to cross the dark river, as they
call it–but I do not believe that it is dark at all. I have seen the
light shining on the faces of many of the pilgrims as they have looked
back at me, when I have stood upon the river's brink to comfort
them–and it has not seemed at all dark. The happiest company I ever
keep is that of dying saints! I come away right merry, sometimes, from
their bedside, for they say to me, "O dear Pastor, the Truth of God you
preach is good to live upon and good to die upon!"
I saw a man and his wife, both of them very ill, lying in bed,
together, but not a syllable of sympathy did they appear to need from
me. And they seemed delighted to say to me, "We learned Christ from
your lips. We have lived on the Gospel you preached and it holds us up,
now that we are lying here. We are glad to go home to Heaven–we are
full of life and full of immortality even now!" Oh, yes, these are
strange things–except to those who form part of this strange company
with God, who is, to many, a stranger in His own world, and with
Christ, who is a stranger, sometimes, in His own Church! We can say,
and we shall say at the close of our lives, "We have seen strange
things today."
There is one strange sight which I wish that you, dear Friends, if you
are unconverted, would look upon–I wish that you would see Jesus as
your own Savior. He is not far from any one of you. O look, look, look
at Him and, as you look at Him, you shall live! That is God's appointed
way of salvation. "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the
earth." And, dear Heart, if you should see that strange
being–yourself–a saved sinner, I would like you to see another
strange sight, namely, all your family saved! It will be such joy to
you to have your wife rejoicing in Christ with you, joining in your
daily prayer, and your children, even in their childhood, loving their
father's God. There is a text for you to lay hold of, supposing that
you are not yet converted. It was the middle of the night when, in
Philippi, the jail began to rock to and fro. The jailer's house was up
above, and he knew that he had two strange prisoners down in the vaults
below. They had been singing in the night and the other prisoners had
heard them and, as the jail rocked and reeled, and the doors flew open,
the jailer, a stern Roman legionary, thought that his prisoners must
have escaped and that he would be put to death for allowing it.
So he was about to thrust his sword into his own heart, but Paul
shouted to him, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." Then, when
a light was brought, that man fell down before Paul and Silas and said
to them, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they answered,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your
house." Do not leave out those last three words, "and your house." Do
not seek your own salvation without that of your household, also! Look
up the passage in Acts 16:31-34–"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved, and your house. And they spoke to him the Word of
the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same
hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and
all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he
set food before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his
house."
It was a midnight service and Baptism of the whole household upon a
profession of their faith! God send you a like blessing! You will see
strange things, then! Many of us have seen already them in our families
and we hope to see them repeated a thousand times! The Lord give you,
every one, a personal blessing, and then bless your households, also,
for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 5:12-32.
Verse 12. And it came to pass, when He was in a certain city, behold, a
man full of leprosy. What a contrast there was between these two
persons–the Lord Jesus full of purity–and this man full of
impurity–full of leprosy! He could not be more than full. He had as
much leprosy as a man could contain.
12. Who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought Him, saying, Lord,
if You will, You can make me clean. This was splendid faith! Here was
adoration of the noblest kind! No angel before the Throne of God could
render the Son of God more honor than this poor leprous man did. He
believed in Christ's power at once to rid him of that otherwise
incurable disease. "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean."
13. And He put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be you
clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. This is what
Christ can also do in the spiritual realm. If a man is full of sin, let
him but fall down on his face before Jesus and say, "Lord, if You will,
You can make me clean," and the Lord will put out His hand, touch him,
and he will be clean in a moment. "Immediately," not needing the lapse
of a single hour–"immediately the leprosy departed from him."
14. And He charged him to tell no man but go, and show yourself to the
priest, and offer for your cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for
a testimony unto them. As long as the Ceremonial Law was in force,
Christ very diligently obeyed it and bade others do the same. That Law
is now abolished and the Jewish priesthood has also ceased to be. But
mark the modesty of our Savior. As Man, He sought no fame or honor,
but, as far as He could do so, He suppressed the voices that would have
brought Him notoriety. Yet grateful tongues could not all be silenced,
even at His bidding.
15. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of Him: and great
multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their
infirmities. There was s double attraction about the Lord Jesus–His
sweet, instructive speech, and His gracious, healing hand. There is a
still somewhat similar attraction in every true Gospel ministry, not
the attraction of the mere words of human eloquence, but in the Truths
of God which every faithful minister preaches and in that matchless
soul-healing power which goes with the Word wherever it is believingly
heard.
16. And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed. That is
just what you and I would probably nothave done under such
circumstances. We would have said, "We must seize this golden
opportunity of publishing our message. There is a tide in the affairs
of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to plenitude of blessing and
we must take advantage of it." But our Savior did not wish for fame, He
cared nothing about excitement and popularity, so, "He withdrew Himself
into the wilderness and prayed" for more of that real power which
touches the hearts of men so as to save them, caring nothing for that
power which merely attracts a crowd and excites momentary attention. O
servant of God, when you are best succeeding in your service, imitate
your Lord–withdraw yourself and pray!
17. And it came to pass on a certain days, as He was teaching, that
there were Pharisees and doctors ofthe law sitting by, which had come
out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem; and the power
ofthe Lord was present to heal them. To heal the people? Yes, and to
heal the doctors, too! And that was a far more difficult thing than to
heal the ordinary folk. It must have been a time of great mercy and
favor when Christ was ready to bless even the Pharisees and doctors of
the law who were sitting by.
18. And, behold–For it was a great wonder–
18. Men brought in a bed, a man which was taken with palsy. A paralyzed
man.
18, 19. 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. There was, no
doubt, a staircase outside, as there usually is to Eastern houses.
"They went upon the housetop,"
19-21. 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, Man,
your sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to
reason, saying, Who is this which speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive
sins, but God alone?Most true, O Pharisees and, therefore, He isGod,
for He can forgive sins and He has forgiven this poor sinner!
22, 23. But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He, answering, said
unto them, What reason you in your hearts? Whether it is easier to say,
Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, rise up and walk? "Does not each
of these require the same Divine power? If I am able to bid him rise up
and walk, I am also able, by the same Divine authority, to forgive his
sins."
24-26. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power upon earth
to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto you,
Arise, and take up your couch, and go into your house. And immediately
he rose up before them and took up that on which he lay, and departed
to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they
glorified God, and were filled with fear With a reverent awe!
26, 27. Saying, We have seen strange things today. And after these
things He went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the
receipt of custom. This Levi, or Matthew, was a tax collector. Not like
those of our own day, but one who collected the taxes for the Roman
governor and made what he could for himself out of them. At least that
is what many of the "publicans" did.
27, 28. And He said unto him, Follow Me. And he left all, rose up, and
followed Him. This was just a parallel case to that of curing the
palsied man–it is precisely the same morally as the other was
physically. The office of a publican was disreputable in the eyes of
the Jews, and this Levi was probably making fast money at the cost of
his own countrymen. He was morally paralyzed as the other man was
physically,but as soon as Christ said to him, "Follow Me," "he left
all, rose up, and followed Him."
29, 30. And Levi made Him a great feast in his own house: and there was
a great company ofpublicans and of others that sat down with them. But
the scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, Why
do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?'t seems that there can
never be a great wonder worked by Christ without somebody or other
objecting to it! I suppose that the sun never rises without annoying
thieves who would like a longer time to perpetrate their deeds of
darkness. And no miracle of mercy is ever worked without somebody
finding fault with it for some reason or other. Be not dismayed,
therefore, now that in these modern days there have arisen many cunning
objectors to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let them object to it, as the
dog barks at the moon–the moon still shines on in her silver
brightness! So, when all objectors shall have howled themselves to
silence, the eternal Gospel will shine on with never-failing splendor.
These scribes and Pharisees murmured against Christ's disciples and
said to them, "Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?"
Their Master did not leave them to defend themselves, but He took the
case into His own hands.
31. And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole–"Such as
you scribes and Pharisees claim to be
31. Need not a physician; but they that are sick ' 'You regard them as
sick and I regard them in the same way and, therefore, am I found where
these sick ones are. Why should I turn aside from them to insult you,
who are so wonderfully healthy and think yourselves so good?"
32. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.