A Lift for the Prostrate

A Lift for the Prostrate

(No. 2980)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1906.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 19, 1875.

"And he (that is, Jesus) came and took her by the hand, and lifted her
up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them."
Mark 1:31.

PETER'S wife's mother was sick of a very terrible fever. It was no
ordinary one, such as, we are told, is common in the district when she
lived, but "Luke, the beloved physician," as Paul calls the Evangelist,
tells us that "Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever." You
know that it is the nature of fever to leave the patient prostrate even
when the disease departs, but Jesus Christ not only intended to heal
Peter's wife's mother and to heal her at once, but He also meant that
she should be so completely cured that she should have no lingering
prostration. Christ's cures are always perfect cures, not partial ones!
He does not cause the fever to go and permit the prostration to
remain–He takes away both the fever and the prostration!

It is possible that the poor patient had almost given up all hope of
recovery and, probably those who were around her would also have
despaired if they had not had faith in the Great Physician, the Lord
Jesus Christ. It was, therefore, for her encouragement and for theirs,
also, that our Lord bent over the bed where the fevered woman lay, took
her by the hand, thus cheering her by showing that He was not afraid to
come into contact with her and then, gently lifted her up. And she,
yielding to the kindly gesture, rose and sat up–no, not merely sat up,
but left the bed, being so perfectly restored that she began at once to
minister to them as the housewife whose duty it was to care for their
comfort!

I hope that there are many in this congregation whom Jesus Christ means
to bless, who are, at present, in a state of utter prostration. They
are so despondent that their spirits sink almost to the point of
despair. They cannot believe that there is mercy for them–they have
relinquished all hope of that. They did, at one time, have some measure
of hope, but it is all gone. They are in the prostrate condition of
Peter's mother-in-law and they need Christ to do for them the two
things which He did for her. First, He came into contact with her and,
secondly, He gently lifted her up and completely restored her. May He
do the same for you!

I. Our first concern, in looking after prostrate souls, is to tell them
that JESUS CHRIST COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THEM.

You think, my poor distressed Friend, that Jesus Christ will have
nothing to do with you. You have read and heard about Him, but He seems
to you to be a long way off and you cannot reach Him. Neither does it
seem at all probable to you that He will ever come your way and look
with pity upon you. Now, listen.

In the first place, Jesus Christ has come into contact with you, for
you are a member of the human race of which Jesus Christ also became a
member by His Incarnation. Never forget that! While it is perfectly
true that Christ "is over all, God blessed forever," yet it is equally
true that He deigned to be born into this world as the Infant of an
earthly mother, and that He condescended to live here under the same
conditions as the rest of us–suffering the same weakness, sickness,
sorrow and death as we do–for our sakes. Never think of Jesus, I pray
you, as though He were only a spirit, at whose Presence you have cause
to be alarmed! But think of Him as a man like yourselves, eating and
drinking as others did– not a recluse, shutting Himself away from
sinners–but living as a Man among men, the perfect specimen of
Manhood, the Man, Christ Jesus, for thus He has come near to you! You
would not be afraid to speak to one of your fellow men– then do not be
afraid to speak to Jesus! Tell Him all the details of your case, for He
was never a Man of a proud and haughty spirit. He was not one who said,
"Stand by, for I am holier than you!" No, He was a man with a great
heart of

love. He was so full of attractiveness that even children came and
clustered around His feet! And when His disciples would have driven
them away, He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and
forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God." He never repelled
even the very worst of mankind when they approached Him–He longed to
gather them to Himself. He wept over the guilty city of Jerusalem and
said, "How often would I have gathered your children together, even as
a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not!" Come,
then, distressed spirit, and see, in the very fact that Jesus is
Immanuel, God With Us, that He has come near to you and laid His hand
upon you!

"Ah," you say, "I can comprehend that He has come near to men, but
then, I am not merely a man, but a sinful man." Yes, and Jesus has come
near to sinful menand His name is called Jesus because He is the Savior
from sin! His work in this world was not to seek saints, but, "to seek
and to save that which was lost." My Master's errand was not to the
good, the excellent, the righteous, but to the evil, the unholy, the
unrighteous! He said, "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." If He did not come to save sinners, why did
He comes as a Sacrifice? Sacrifice is only required where there is
sin–an Atonement is only needed where there is guilt! Christ comes to
you, a guilty sinner, and He lays His hand upon you, even as He laid it
upon Peter's wife's mother when she was sick of that great fever!

Do I hear you say, as in a whisper–as if you were afraid that anyone
else might hear you, that you are not only a sinner, but a great
sinner–that you have sinned beyond the ordinary guilt of the common
mass of mankind–that there are some points in which the crimson of
your guilt is of a deeper dye than that of any other man? My Friend,
let me assure you that Jesus Christ came to save the chief of sinners.
Do you see Him on the Cross, enduring those indescribable pangs of
death? Can you hear His death cries and that soul-piercing shriek, "My
God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" and still think that such a
death as that was on behalf of little sinners' trifling offenses, mere
peccadilloes or mistakes? Ah, no! the Son of God came to give His life
a Ransom for many great sins and many great sinners! The grandeur of
the Atonement of Christ is a proof that its objective was the removal
of sin, however great that sin may be! The Son of God is Himself the
Savior of sinners! There must, therefore, be a colossal greatness about
sin to need the Son of God to remove it, and to need that the Son of
God should diebefore the more than Herculean labor of putting sin away
could be performed. But, having put away sin by the Sacrifice of
Himself, He is now able to save even the greatest of sinners.

That Jesus has come into contact with great sinners is very clear, or,
as you read the record of His life, you see that His preaching was
constantly aimed at just such characters. If you take a survey of His
usual congregations, you wiil discover that they were largely made up
of such characters. The Pharisees said, with contempt, but no doubt
with truth, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." Just at
that very time, we have the record, "Then drew near unto Him all the
publicans and sinners to hear Him." His preaching evidently attracted
them and He never seems to have been surprised that it did, nor to have
expressed His disgust that He should have drawn around Him such a low
and degraded class of hearers! No, but on the contrary, He said that He
was sent to seek lost sheep till He found them, and to welcome the
wandering prodigal when He came back to His Father's house. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, from the character of His congregation and the tone of
His preaching, evidently came to this world on purpose to come into
contact with the very worst of sinners! I want you to realize, dear
Friend, that my Lord Jesus Christ is a Man, and that He is not a Man
who has come to look for congenial companions who might be worthy to be
numbered among His acquaintances–He has come to look after uncongenial
men and women to whom He may bring the blessings of salvation! He has
come not to be ministered unto, but to minister–not to receive, but to
bestow blessings. His purpose in being here, in this world, is not to
pick out, here and there, a noble and notable character, but to seek
after souls that need His Grace and to come to them and bless and save
them! So He has, in this respect, come near to you!

Remember that commission of His, which He gave to His disciples a
little while before He went back to Heaven– "Go you into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." On another occasion,
after His Resurrection, He reminded them "that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem." That is, beginning at the very place where the people lived
who had crucified Him! "Begin where they live who have stained their
hands with My blood. Begin with them and then go to every other
creature in the whole world, and say to sinners in every part of the
globe, 'Whoever believes on the Son of God has everlasting life." In
giving that commission, our Lord Jesus Christ reached His hand across
the centuries that He might touch you–and I have come

here to obey His commission by preaching the Gospel to you, for you are
included in the term, "every creature." So Jesus Christ comes into
contact with you through the preaching of His Word at this very moment!

There is one solemn thought that I should like you to think of. It is
this–having entered this House of Prayer and having heard the Gospel,
as you will have done before this service is over, the Lord Jesus
Christ has so come into contact with you that you will never lose the
impression of that contact, whether you are lost or saved. If you are
lost, you will have the additional guilt of having rejected
Him–neither can you ever clear yourself of that guilt, do what you
may. Your ears have heard the Word of God so that if you do not receive
it, you will be numbered among those to whom the Gospel came, but who
judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life–like some of those to
whom the Apostle Paul preached and, therefore–it shall condemn you.
For, to everybody who hears the Gospel there is a savor in it–to some,
it is a savor of death unto death–and to others a savor of life unto
life. There is not a man, woman, or child who has understanding enough
to know what we mean by preaching the Gospel, who will be able to go
out of this House of Prayer without receiving some token of contact
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Either His blood will be upon you to save
you, or else there will be realized in you that dreadful curse which
the Jews invoked upon themselves, "His blood be on us, and on our
children," which abides upon them as a curse unto this day! You shall
either be cleansed from guilt by the blood of Jesus, or else you shall
be guilty of rejecting Him–and so putting yourselves in the same
category as the Jews who rejected Him and who nailed Him to the
accursed tree. One way or other, you can be sure of this, "The Kingdom
of God is come unto you." It is a solemn fact to have to state this,
but so it is. Jesus Christ has, in some way or other, put His hand upon
you and He is now in contact with you.

II. Leaving that point, however, I feel joy in passing on to the next
one. When Jesus grasped the hand of Peter's wife's mother, HE THEN
BEGAN TO GENTLY LIFT HER UP. She, willingly enough, responded to His
touch and, by at once recommencing her household duties, proved that
she was perfectly healed!

Now, there are some poor, prostrate, desponding souls, who need
somebody to give them a lift. And I would that the Lord, even while I
am preaching, might take some of you by the hand and lift you up. My
objective will be to mention a few things which may help to give you a
lift. You need to be saved. You long to be saved, but you fear that you
never will be, and it is that very fear which keeps you from being
saved! If you could but hope, your hope would be realized–but you do
not feel as if you dared even to hope! Now, give me your hand and let
me try to give you a lift.

First, remember that others who were very like what you now are, have
been saved. Do you not know some people who used to be very much in the
condition in which you are at the present moment? If you do not, then
find out the nearest Christian friend among your acquaintances–tell
him what you regard as the peculiarity of your condition–and I feel
almost certain that he will say to you, "Why, that is not anything
peculiar! That is just how I was before I found the Savior." If you do
not find it so with the first Christian person whom you meet, you ought
not to be surprised, because, of course, all Christians are not alike,
but I feel sure that you will not have talked to many Christian people
before you will find that what you consider to be very remarkable
peculiarities in yourself will turn out to have been very common, for a
great many other people have been in exactly the same state! I
challenge you, who are very despondent, to see whether you cannot find
some who once were as you now are, who have been saved–and when you do
find them, the reasoning is very clear. If A is saved, and B is like A,
then why should not B also be saved?

"Ah," you say, "I have very few Christian acquaintances of whom I can
make enquiry." Very well, then, I will give you another simple test.
Take your Bible and look up the cases of conversion and see whether the
saved ones were not very much like you now are. And if that should not
satisfy you, turn to the various promises that the Lord Jesus has made
to seeking sinners and see whether there is not one that is suited to
such a sinner as you are. I think that you cannot go far in an honest
examination of the promises of the Gospel without saying, "Well, now,
it really does look as if I could squeeze in there. At any rate, I
think that description exactly meets my case." I should not be
surprised if you meet with some text, of which you will say, "Why, that
looks as if it had been written entirely for me! It is such an accurate
description of my forlorn condition." Well, then, if you find that
Christ has invited such sinners as you are, and that according to the
Inspired record, He has saved such as you are, why should not you also
have hope? Have you been a thief? Remember that–

"The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day.

And there may you, though vile as he, Wash all your sins away!"

Have you been a sinner in a more immodest sense? Remember that there
was a woman who was "a sinner" in that very sense, who washed Christ's
feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Have you
been a swearer? I should think that Simon Peter had been a great
swearer before he was converted, or else he would not have used oaths
and curses so freely when he denied his Master! Yet, in spite of that
old habit breaking out again, Simon Peter was not only saved, but he
became one of the most useful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ! I
might continue to mention all sorts of sinners and say to you, "Such a
one as you now are has been saved, and has gone to Heaven–is not that
a lift for you?" I pray the Lord to make it so! Others like you have
been saved, so why should not you, also, be saved? Therefore, be of
good courage, poor prostrate sinner!

Let me give you another lift. Salvation is all of Divine Grace. That is
to say, it is altogether of God's free favor. God does not save any man
because there is anything in him that deserves salvation. The Lord
saves whomever He wills to save! This is one of His grand prerogatives
of which He is very firm. His own declaration is, "I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy; and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion." And Paul's conclusion from that declaration is, "So then,
it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that
shows mercy." Well, now, if it is God's will to bestow His mercy upon
sinners according to His own Sovereign Grace in Christ Jesus,
irrespective of anything good in them, why should He not show mercy to
you? You have been looking for some reason in yourself why He should
show mercy to you, but you cannot find any such reason–and I can tell
you that there never was any reason in sinners, themselves, why God
should save them! He has always saved them for reasons known only to
Himself which He has never revealed–and which He tells us He will not
reveal. He asks, like the householder in the parable, "Is it not lawful
for Me to do what I will with My own?" And so He will! No man has any
right to salvation. We have all forfeited all claims of merit, so, when
the Lord gives His mercy, He gives it wherever He pleases. Why, then,
should He not give it to you as well as to anybody else?

I may also remind you that faith in Jesus Christ always saves the
soul–simply trusting Him, as we were singing just now–

"Only trust Him! Only trust Him! Only trust Him now! He will save you!
He will save you! He will save you now!"

There have been a great many who have put this to the test and they
have found that faith in Christ has saved them. There are some people,
nowadays, who tell us that this is immoral doctrine–they say that we
ought to preach up good works. We do preach up good works in the most
forcible manner, for we say that faith in Jesus Christ prevents men
from living in sin! We do not preach good works as a requirement of
salvation. That would be as foolish as children who take flowers and
stick them in the ground, and say, "Oh, what a beautiful garden we
have!" We plant the seeds of the flowers, or the roots of the flowers
of Grace, for faith in Jesus Christ is the seed and the root of
virtue–and he that believes in Jesus Christ is saved, not merely from
the punishment of sin, but from the sin itself–from the power of sin,
from the habit of sin! If it is still said that this is immoral
doctrine, let the thousands of men and women who have been saved from
drunkenness, lasciviousness and profanity by simply believing in Jesus,
rise up and enter their solemn protest against the wicked charge that
there is anything immoral in this teaching! Immoral doctrine? Why, it
has brought millions to Christ and millions to Heaven! If this Doctrine
could truly be called immoral, then God, Himself, might be charged with
being immoral, for this Gospel assuredly came from Him and it is
nothing short of blasphemy to call it immoral! Hear this Gospel,
Sinner! You have no good works and you will never have any until you
repent of sin and trust the Lord Jesus Christ! If you try to have any,
they will all break down because the motive at the back of those
supposed good works will be this–you will do them in the hope of
thereby saving yourself. What is that but sheer selfishness–dead
selfishness, which cannot be acceptable with God? But, Sirs, if you
will only trust the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall receive the immediate
pardon of your sin and with that pardon will come heartfelt gratitude
to Him who gives you the pardon! And with that gratitude will come
intense hatred of everything that He hates, and fervent love of
everything that He loves. And then you will do good works! But from
what motive? Why, out of gratitude to Him–and not being the result of

selfishness, they will really be good works, for they will be done with
the view of pleasing God–not as a means of getting something for
yourself.

Every soul, then, that has believed in Jesus has found everlasting life
and deliverance from sin. Very well, then, you also will find the same
blessings if you now trust wholly in Him. They did "only trust Him"–do
the same–"only trust Him now." They dropped into the arms of Christ,
He caught them and holds them fast. Do the same–drop now into the arms
of Christ who stands beneath you, ready to catch you–and you shall
most certainly be saved! This is Christ's own declaration, "He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved." The belief is to come first,
and the baptism is to follow as the confession of the belief. Christ
commanded His disciples to observe that order–"Go you, therefore, and
teach (or, make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them, (those who
are made disciples), into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit." This is what Christ Himself said. So, if you have
believed in Him and have been baptized on profession of that faith, you
are saved, just as myriads of others have been saved! I have thus tried
to give you a further lift and I pray the Lord Jesus to take you by the
hand and lift you up, you fevered and prostrate patients who cannot
rise without His power being poured into you!

Let me try to give you a lift in another way. I think I hear you say,
"O Sir, I know the Gospel but, somehow, I cannot get hold of it. I know
what praying means, but I cannot pray as I would. I know what repenting
is, but I cannot repent as I would." Here is a text which will, I hope,
give you a lift–"The Spirit also helps our infirmities." Can you not
look up to Heaven and ask that blessed Spirit to help you? What, though
your heart is hard as the nether millstone, the Spirit of God can make
it soft in a moment! Though it seems impossible for you to believe in
Jesus, the gracious Spirit is ready right now to enable you to believe
in Him! If now you seem to be the very reverse of what you ought to be,
the blessed Spirit can completely change your nature! He can open blind
eyes and unstop deaf ears and take away the stony heart out of your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh! I know that you cannot help
yourself, but I also know that the Holy Spirit can help you, for
nothing is impossible to Him! Come, heavenly Wind, and breathe upon
these dry bones! Quicken them into life and activity so that where
there was nothing but death, there may be a living army to serve the
living Lord! And, blessed be His holy name, He will do it for, wherever
there is a true, heart-felt prayer for His Presence, He is already
present, dictating that prayer! No one really prays until the Holy
Spirit teaches him how to pray! So, you who are like Peter's wife's
mother, have we been able to lift you up yet? May the Lord's almighty
hand be stretched out to you, for ours alone will be too weak to lift
you up!

Here is another lift for you. Notwithstanding all that I have said, you
still think that you deserve to be lost and that you must be lost, for
your being punished will show the Justice of God. That is true, as far
as it goes, but let me tell you something else that is equally true.
Your being saved will glorify the Mercy of God and "He delights in
mercy." I recollect the time when I thought that if Jesus Christ saved
me, it would be the biggest thing He ever did. I thought so then, and I
do not know but that I think so now. And I feel sure that when I get to
Heaven, I shall still have that idea. And if you, dear Friend, think
the same concerning yourself, I expect you are about right! Jesus
Christ, however, loves to do big things. He delights to show great
mercy to great sinners and if there is one man here who seems not to
have any good point about him, but whom everybody knows as being a
renowned sinner–well, I pray the Lord to save you, my Friend, because
then the devils in Hell will hear of it and they will be angry! And I
like them to be angry for such a reason as that! And the wicked men
with whom you have been accustomed to associate, will hear of it and
they will say, "What? Old Jack a Christian? Harry turned Baptist? I
never would have believed such a thing to be possible!" We like to have
just such converts as these and my Lord likes to have them, too, for
such victories of Sovereign Grace cause a great stir in the camp of the
Philistines–and they begin to tremble, and cry, "Who will be the next
to turn?" And so the Kingdom of Heaven grows, Satan's fame gets dimmed
and the fame of Jesus of Nazareth grows brighter and brighter!

"Ah," says one, "I never looked at it in that light, for, certainly, if
Jesus Christ were to save me, it would be the biggest wonder on earth!"
Then I think it is very likely that He willsave you, for He delights to
do great wonders and to work mighty marvels! How do you think that a
doctor gets to have great fame? There are some physicians in London who
have so many patients waiting to see them that the poor sufferers have
to wait hours before they can get in. How did those doctors get to be
so celebrated? If I were to tell you they got all their fame through
curing chapped hands, sore fingers and warts, you would say, "Nonsense!
Nobody gets fame through doing such little things as that!" How did
they get their honor, then? Oh, there was a poor man who was near
death. He had been given up by several other doctors, but this one was
enabled by God to heal him. Or there was a man whose leg was about to
be amputated and this doctor said, "I will save that man's limb." Or
there was a complicated case of internal disease and this doctor said,
"I understand that case," and he cured it–and everybody talked about
the wonderful cure–and now, everybody goes to that doctor! He became
famous through curing bad cases–one really bad case brought him more
credit than 50 minor maladies might have done. So is it with the Great
Physician and you big sinners with such a complication of disorders
that nobody but Christ can cure you! My Lord and Master has a wondrous
way of healing those who appear to be incurable! And when He cures such
cases as yours, Heaven and earth and Hell hear of it and it makes Him
famous. So I would encourage you to hope that He will save even you,
though you are as prostrate as Peter's wife's mother was before Christ
took her by the hand and lifted her up. May my gracious Lord and Master
help you to take encouragement from what He has done for others who
were in as sad a state as you are now in!

Though your case seems so hopeless to you, or, if you have any hope of
recovery, you feel that it will take a long while, I want to remind you
that Jesus Christ pardons sinners in an instant. A man is as black as
midnight one moment, and as bright as noonday the next! Jesus Christ
lifted up upon the Cross has such mighty power that if a man had all
the sins of mankind resting upon him, yet, if he did but look to Christ
by faith, his sins would all be gone in a moment! Did you ever see that
wonderful sculpture which represents the Laocoon and his sons with the
monstrous snakes twisted all about their limbs? Well, though you should
be another Laocoon and sinful habits should be twisted all about you,
so that it would be impossible for you to free yourself from them, yet,
if you look to Jesus by faith, those monsters shall drop dead at your
feet! Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman, sets His foot upon the
monster, Sin, and breaks its head. And if you believe in Jesus, that
pierced foot of His shall crush the life out of your sins and you shall
be delivered from their power. Oh, that you might have Grace to trust
in Jesus for instantaneous pardon, instantaneous regeneration,
instantaneous deliverance from nature's darkness into God's most
marvelous light! If you are as prostrate as Peter's wife's mother was,
you ought not to lie still any longer when Christ is ready to give you
such a lift as that!

But if you do, I bid you remember, poor desponding, despairing sinner,
that He who has come to save such as you are is a Divine Savior. What a
deathblow this ought to be to every doubt! You say that there is a
difficulty in your case. Yes, there is always a difficulty where there
is only finite power. There always will be difficulties where there are
creatures with limited capacities. But here is the Creator–the Creator
in human flesh–He who made the heavens and the earth has come down to
live here as a Man and to die upon the Cross in order that He may save
sinners! What difficulty can there be in the Presence of Omnipotence?
Talk not of difficulty in the Presence of the almighty God! He has but
to will anything and it is done–to speak and it stands fast forever!
Jesus Christ, my Lord and Master, is able to save unto the uttermost
all them that come unto God by Him, and He is able to save them with
the greatest possible ease. What an easy thing it was for Christ to
bless men, women and children when He was here upon earth! A poor woman
came in the crowd and just touched the hem of His garment–she could
not get near enough to touch Him–but she just touched the hem of His
garment with her finger. There was contact between her and Christ
through her finger and the hem of His garment and she was made whole
that very instant! There were other cases in which Christ healed people
who were miles away from Him at the time. "Go your way," He said to the
nobleman, "your son lives." He had not been near him! He could work the
miracle just as easily at a distance.

O Sinner, nothing is impossible with God! If you are sick and near
death, Jesus Christ is able to save you! If I saw you at the very gates
of Hell–so long as you had not actually crossed the threshold–if I
saw you trembling there and you said to me, "Can Jesus Christ save me
now?" I would reply, "Yes, my Brother, look unto Him and He will take
you from the gates of Hell to the gates of Heaven in a single moment!"
He said when on earth, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men," and it is just as true today! "Come, now, and let
us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins are as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
shall be as wool."–

"Only trust Him! Only trust him! Only trust Him now! He willsave you!
He will save you! He willsave you now!"

Oh, that He would bless this word to you! Christ is God as well as Man.
He suffered on the Cross in the place of sinners, but He lives after
the suffering has been accomplished! He lives as the Savior who is
mighty to save and whoever will take Him as his or her own Savior shall
find it to be so this very hour!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK 1:14-35.

Verse 14. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. When one servant of God is
laid aside, it is a call to the rest to be the more earnest. So after
John the Baptist was put into prison, "Jesus came into Galilee."
Sometimes a loss may be a gain–and if the loss of John was the means
of bringing out Jesus, certainly both the Church and the world were the
gainers! "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom
of God."

15. And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at
hand: repent you, and believe the Gospel It is clear, from this
passage, that our Lord exhorted men to repent and to believe the
Gospel. There are some who profess to be His followers who will not
allow us to do this. We may teach men, and warn them, they say, but we
must not exhort them to repent and believe! Well, as the contention of
these people is not in accordance with the Scriptures, we are content
to follow the Scriptures and to do as Jesus did–so we shall say to
sinners, "Repent you, and believe the Gospel."

16-18. Now as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew,
his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishermen. And
Jesus said unto them; Come you after Me, and I will make you fishers of
men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed Him. The
Gospel minister is like the fisherman with a net. I have sometimes
heard the comparison drawn as though the Gospel fisherman had a hook
and a line, which he has not. His business is not to entice a fish to
swallow his bait but to cast the net all round him and lift him, by His
Grace, out of the element in which he lies in sin, into the boat where
Christ still sits, as He sat in the olden days in the boat on the sea
of Galilee. To shut the sinner up to faith in Jesus Christ–that is the
main work of the true Gospel fisherman!

19, 20. And when He hadgone a little farther, He saw James, the son of
Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in a ship mending their
nets. And straightway He called them: and they left their father
Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after Him. They
never had cause to regret that they did! Whatever they left, they were
abundantly rewarded. They had a rich reward here on earth–and they
have a far richer reward in Heaven. Whatever a man gives up for Christ
is a blessed investment which will, sooner or later, bring him good
interest!

21, 22. And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the Sabbath
day He entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished
at His doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not
as the scribes. He did not do as the scribes did, who made a great
parade of learning by quoting this Rabbi and the other. Jesus said,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you." He spoke as one who felt that He had
authority to speak in His own name, and in the name of God, His Father.
This method of teaching quite astonished the Jews. I wish that those
who now hear the Gospel might be astonished at it, and be astonished
into the belief of it by the power with which it comes home to their
consciences and hearts.

23, 24. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit;
and he cried out, saying, Let us alone. How often that is still the cry
of sinners, "Let us alone. Why do you not hold your own views and let
us alone?" Yes, the devils and those whom they control, still say, "Let
us alone." But it is a part of the Gospel to attack that which is not
the Gospel–and it is as much the duty of the minister of the Gospel to
denounce error as to proclaim the Truth of God. If we do so, the old
cry will still be heard, "Let us alone. Let us alone!"

24, 25. What have we to do with You, You Jesus of Nazareth? Are You
come to destroy us?I know You who You are, the Holy One of God. And
Jesus rebuked him. He did not want any testimony from the devil. When a
man of ill character once praised Plato, the philosopher said, "What
can I have done wrong that such a fellow as that speaks well of me?" So
when the devil bore testimony to the Divinity of Christ, "Jesus rebuked
him."

25, 26. Saying, hold your peace, and come out of him. And when the
unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out
of him. For, if Satan must come out of a man, he will do him as much
mischief as he can before he departs. His wrath is all the greater
because his time is so short–

"He worries whom he can't devour, With a malicious joy."

27. And theey were all amazed, Insomuch that they questioned among
themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority commands He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey
Him. It was the authority of His preaching which first astonished them.
And then the authority with which He worked His miracle and subdued the
world of demons. Blessed be God! Christ has not abdicated His
authority! He is still the great Messenger of God, full of Divine
authority to save men and to deliver them from the power of Satan.

28-30. And immediately His fame spread abroad throughout all the region
round about Galilee. And forthwith, when they were come out of the
synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James
and John. But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and soon they
told Him of her. Christ was a house-to-house missionary, as well as an
open-air preacher. There is much good to be done by those who know how
to visit and to look after individual cases. There is great good to be
done in that way–as well as by dealing with mankind in the bulk.

31-35. And He came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and
immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And at
evening, when the sun set, they brought unto Him all that were
diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city
was gathered together at the door. And He healed many that were sick of
divers diseases, and cast out many devils: and suffered not the devils
to speak, because they knew Him. And in the morning, rising up a great
while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and
there prayed. His hard day's work probably ran on far into the night.
Yet, "a great while before day," He was up at the sacred work of
supplication! The more work we have to do with men for God, the longer
we ought to be at work with God for men. If you plead with men, you
cannot hope to prevail unless you first plead with God. And, inasmuch
as our Lord had great success the day before, it teaches us that the
greatest success does not release us from the necessity of still
waiting upon God. If God has given you much, my Brother, go with your
basket and ask for more. Never stop prayer. Increase your spiritual
hunger and God will increase the richness of the gifts He will bestow
upon you!