2568. Sabbath Work

No. 2568-44:205. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, February 18, 1883, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, May 1, 1898.

And on the same day was the Sabbath. {Joh 5:9}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 744, “Jesus at Bethesda; or, Waiting Exchanged for Believing” 735}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2269, “Impotence and Omnipotence” 2270}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2568, “Sabbath Work” 2569}
   Exposition on Joh 5:1-23 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2269, “Impotence and Omnipotence” 2270 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Lu 4:33-36 6:6-11 13:10-17 14:1-6 Joh 5:1-9 9:1-14 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2568, “Sabbath Work” 2569 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Our divine Master healed men every day of the week; from the first day even to the close of the seventh day, he went around doing good, and healing all kinds of diseases. The healing virtue did not flow from him occasionally, but perpetually. It was not like that famous pool which was only now and then touched with the angel’s wing, and so made salutary to the sick folk lying around; but whoever stepped into the pool of Christ’s mercy found healing at any hour of the day or night.

2. Still, it is worthy of notice that the Lord Jesus frequently made the Sabbath to be a high day of grace and blessing. There was, I suppose, something about that day that led him more specially to display his great power on it; or, probably, he felt bound to meet the superstition of the Pharisees, and he met it by a flood-tide of mercy on that day to the sons of men. I have read to you the records of six notable miracles which were performed by our Lord on the Sabbath day. I need not read them again, but I will just remind you that those miracles comprised the casting out of a demon in the synagogue, the healing of a man whose hand was withered, the straightening up of a woman who had been bound by infirmity for eighteen years, the instantaneous cure of the dread disease of dropsy, the recovering of a man who had been afflicted with palsy for thirty-eight years so that he could not stir, and the opening of the eyes of one who was born blind; — six notable miracles to render the Sabbath day most famous as a day of the display of Christ’s power.

3. The Sabbath was a day of rest, and Christ did not break his rest by his miracles; for he was God, so it was rest for him to do good. You remember how, when he spoke to the woman of Samaria at the well of Sychar, he told his disciples that it was his food and drink to be showing mercy to her. He was refreshed by what, to others, might have been wearisome; and, assuredly, whenever the Lord Jesus performed a deed of mercy, it was rest for his heart. And, moreover, it was giving rest to others. To those who had been afflicted for so long, what rest his miracles brought! To that poor daughter of Abraham, who had been bound for eighteen years, what rest it was once more to straighten herself and to stand upright, and to glorify God for the marvellous miracle that had been performed. And the man who had been bedridden for thirty-eight years, what a time of merciful rest that Sabbath was for him! To take up his bed and walk, was to be made truly to rest; not for all that long period had he enjoyed such rest as he did on that memorable Sabbath when Christ healed him.

4. So, then, viewing the Lord Jesus Christ as divine, I say that he committed no breach of the rest of God. He first enjoyed it himself by working the miracle, and then he spread the influence of that rest on those who were helped by him. Viewing him also in his condescending capacity as the God-man, in the form of the servant of men, he did not break the day of rest, for his healing was a form of holy ministry. He was preaching sermons while he was healing the sick, — and the best kind of sermons, too, sermons that must strike and be remembered, for men could see them with their eyes as well as hear them with their ears. His cures are discourses in action. Whenever we try to interpret any of the miracles, I am sure you feel that we do not put truth into them, but that the truth is there already; there is much precious teaching in every miracle that he performed. The ruler of the synagogue might just as well have confessed that he broke the Sabbath when he read a chapter of the Scriptures as have said that Christ broke the Sabbath by healing anyone. They were really both doing the same thing, only the mere official was doing it in a much poorer and more perfunctory manner. Christ was grandly teaching while he was healing the sick, for what is the Sabbath day? Is it not a day set apart for the glory of God, for the reverencing of his most holy name? And, my brethren, what could bring God more glory than for the Lord Jesus Christ to be working these miracles which caused men to glorify God? She who had been bound for eighteen years, — the first thing she did when she stood upright was to glorify God. And others in the synagogue, of nobler spirit than Pharisees and lawyers, when they saw what God was doing by him whom they thought to be a prophet, glorified God. Although Jesus in a measure worked, he was all the while doing Sabbath work, — the very service for which the day was set apart, so that God might be honoured among the sons of men. They were fools and slow of heart — indeed, foul of heart to bring the charge of breaking the Sabbath against our blessed Master for what he did.

5. I am very briefly going to refer to these cures of Christ, in the fond hope that he will transfer from the seventh to the first day of the week the glory which he put on his ancient Sabbath. I need not say in the “hope” that he will do it, as though it were a new thing, for he has done it all through the Christian era. I suppose that there have been more souls born to God on the first day of the week than on all the other days of the week. Certainly, today, on which Christ rose from the grave, has been the time of the resurrection of ten thousand times ten thousand; and when we have met together, on this first day of the week, to sing hymns and to pray, in the name of Jesus, and to talk about his great love and of all that came of it, he has been especially present with us, and he has performed wondrous miracles of mercy many, many times. May he do so among us now!

6. I. First, then, concerning Christ’s Sabbath cures, I make this observation, THESE CURES HANDLE MANY CASES; and we may expect that Christ, who performed such cures in the past, will continue to handle similar cases of need today.

7. The first was, a man under Satanic influence. Christ spoke the Word, and the demon came out of him. There may be such people here. I have known many children of God in that sad condition. Ah, poor creatures! They have been assailed with blasphemous thoughts, which they have hated and loathed, and yet the thoughts would come; they could not stop them. And so if it happens to God’s people, it will happen much more to those who, as yet, have never fled to Christ. I believe that there are some men who are transported in wickedness far beyond themselves, and who both say and do things which would not have entered into their hearts, bad as they are, if it were not for Satan taking possession of them, and bearing them beyond themselves. Just as I am sure that the Spirit of God often works in gracious men things which would not come even from their renewed nature, carrying them out of themselves by a holy ecstasy and a divine enthusiasm, so Satan, on the other hand, works in ungodly men beyond themselves, bearing them into a kind of frenzy and fanaticism of iniquity. Well, if I am addressing any such, — if it is a lucid interval with some poor wretch, — if the drunkard is sober tonight, — if the man who plunges into vice is here, — indeed, even if the devilish spirit is still within him. I am glad that he is here, for my Master can rebuke that spirit, and cast it out of the man never to return again. He will need more done for him than that, but that will be a grand beginning. Oh, that, in his infinite mercy, Jesus the enthroned King would reveal his divinity by casting out the spirit of darkness from the stronghold which he has made for himself in the hearts of men! That case, then, was handled by Christ on the Sabbath day.

8. The next case was that of a man conscious of a very grievous inability. He had an arm which hung helplessly by his side; he could not earn the food for his children; he could do nothing to help himself. His arm was withered; it was not merely dislocated, so that he could not lift it, but it had gradually dried up. The sinews had shrunk, the flesh had gone, the arm had become a mummified useless object. There are spiritual inabilities in all unregenerate men, but there are some inabilities of which they are conscious. “I cannot pray,” one says; “oh, that I could!” “I cannot believe,” says another; “oh that I could!” “I cannot do this, and I cannot do that.” Dear friend, whatever your inability may be, the Lord Jesus Christ is able to give you, even now, just that power of which you lament the absence. He can say, “Stretch out your withered hand”; and if you are only obedient to his gracious command, you shall stretch it out. You shall pray; you shall believe; you shall at once leave the sin that now holds you spell-bound. Oh, blessed be his name, though the power to do these things is not in you, it is in him! All that is needed to handle the sinner’s case is in Christ, for all power is given to him in heaven and on earth. Look up, then, you with the withered hands, for Christ is still present and able to heal now just as of old.

9. The third case was that of a woman who had been afflicted, I suppose, by spinal disease, until she was bent over double. She could not straighten herself up; it was something more than a mere stoop, it was evidently a very painful doubling up of herself so that her face looked rather to the earth than, as it should look, towards heaven. Poor creature! For eighteen years she had suffered from this grievous bend; but the Lord Jesus lifted her up, and made her straight, in one single minute. There may be here some very desponding and even despairing soul, but the Lord can lift up that soul. Last Thursday morning, I preached over in the City Temple, and I had my wages for preaching immediately after the sermon was finished, for when I came out of the pulpit a brother minister met me, and he said, “Sir, I cannot tell you now, but I will write tomorrow; my wife is set at liberty.” He wrote to tell me how she had been in despair, and what sorrow she had had, and what a grief it had been to him; but while I preached on “Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward,” she was brought out of bondage. Oh, how I praised and blessed God, and thought that I would like to preach day and night if I might only be the channel of such blessing again and again! It was the Master who made that poor crooked woman straight; and if there is another here who is like her, he can work a similar miracle for that poor soul. I know that many of you belong to the Despondency family. Miss Much-Afraid, down there, you think there is no one so bad as you, so lost as you are; but my Lord and Master can lay his hand on you, and you shall be straightened at once. Oh, what a blessed thought this is, — Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath! Oh, that he would work others like it on this Sabbath!

10. The fourth case was that of the man with the dropsy, an inward complaint which would soon have ended his life if Christ had not cured him. Last Wednesday, I saw a dear man of God who was afflicted with dropsy, and I bade him farewell. He said that, in the night, when he slept a little, the water seemed to rise almost to his heart, and he knew that he must soon die; and when I called just now, I found that he was gone. I may be addressing someone who has an inward fatal complaint; — I do not mean bodily, but spiritually; — and you feel that it must soon be all over with you, and that you must perish for ever. But, dear friend, you need not perish; if you come within range of my Master’s hand, you shall live, for he is able to pluck men from the jaws of destruction; and as it is said of this man that he took him, and healed him, and told him to go his way, so he can do with you. May God grant that he may!

11. The next case was that of a paralysed man: I believe that the man, after being so afflicted for thirty-eight years, had become paralysed in his mind as well as in his body. He was a poor feeble creature, who said to Christ, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.” So the Lord Jesus Christ said to him, “Will you be made well?” — as if he would see whether the paralysis had penetrated even into his will; and when the man hardly said that he had any hope about it, but only described his sad case, the Master said at once, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk”; and the man did so. Now, if you have been a trembling seeker for a long time, not so much in earnest as you ought to have been, and have now come to be spiritually paralysed so that you do not seem to have any energy left, yet still my Lord can give you energy, and speak the healing word, so that you shall rise, and take up your bed, and walk.

12. The last case was that of the man who was born blind. I know that he is represented here; plenty of you were born blind; indeed, more, there is not one of you who was not born blind spiritually; and “since the world began it was not heard of that any man opened the eyes of one who was born blind.” Perhaps it was not heard of until that day; but on that blessed Sabbath, Christ opened that blind man’s eyes. Oh, that he would take away the scales of prejudice that are blinding so many tonight! Oh, that he would remove the natural opposition to the gospel which blinds so many eyes and hearts, and give sight to men to see tonight! He can do it oh, that he may! I think that I have proved my assertion that these Sabbath cures handle many cases. They certainly handle the cases of many who are here; Christ is still “able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him, since he lives for ever to make intercession for them.”

13. II. I shall be able only to say a little on my second point, which is, that THESE CURES REPRESENT VARIOUS PROCESSES OF GRACE. The way in which Christ healed then, shows how he heals now.

14. The first man he healed with a word, and that word was not spoken to the man, but to the demon in the man. The demon in the man made a disturbance in the congregation; he cried, “Leave me alone.” Christ said, “Hold your peace, and come out of him”; and I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ deals with the devil in that way now, he never gives him a word more than is necessary. Oh, that he would say, “Come out of him,” to some drunkard who is here, and who has the drink-devil in him, or to some swearer or some other great sinner who is here. That man under Satanic influence was healed by a word, and Christ can do the same thing with a word now.

15. The man with a withered hand was healed by a personal word. The Lord Jesus Christ said to him, “Rise up, and stand in the midst.” That he could do, for he did not have withered feet; there he stood. It is a grand thing when the gospel message singles a man out from his companions, and he feels that the preacher is speaking especially to him. Have you ever felt that? It is one of the ways in which Christ saves men. I am preaching to the whole congregation, but Christ is not; he is preaching to you, my friend, if he intends to bless you; and you feel as if you were stood up to be shot at. After Christ had given the man a personal pointed word, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” It was done at once at the word of command; and now he says to you, poor guilty sinner, “Believe! Believe in me, and you shall be saved.” Oh, that Christ might speak that word of command straight into your soul, for, as the Lord lives, if you believe in him, you shall not perish, but you shall have everlasting life! In this man’s case, it was a personal word that performed the healing he needed.

16. In the next case, there was a touch as well as a word. The woman was in the crowd in the synagogue, bent over double, and perhaps could not even see the Christ; but he said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity”; and he laid his hands on her, and with that word and that touch she was freed in a minute. She was called on to do nothing except to believe that it was all done, and so she straightened herself up; the Lord Jesus Christ gave her the strength to rise, and she did rise. There are many conversions like that; all of a sudden, a man finds that everything has been done for him; Christ has saved him, he is forgiven; and he rises, and stands upright. Now, poor woman over there, do that; believe that Christ has loved you, and given himself for you. Oh, may his Spirit enable you to do so! Now you are upright, are you not? You feel as if you could stand up, and shout, “Hallelujah! The Lord has done it! He has broken my bonds, and set his child at liberty.” It was a word and a touch in that poor woman’s case.

17. In the next case, — that of the man afflicted with the dropsy, — there was healing without a word. I do not think that there was even a word spoken to him. Christ saw the man swollen as he stood before him, and it is written, “He took him, and healed him, and let him go.” And I have known the Lord to save some souls without any spoken word; his own secret power has done it all. The man has been sitting at his work, or walking around; and, suddenly, — he did not know how, — he felt his heart become soft, and his spirit inclined to his Saviour; and he looked to him, and was enlightened, and, his face was not ashamed.

18. In the case of the paralytic, there was not only a word, there were two words. The first was an enquiring word, meant to arouse him: “Will you be made well?” This was spoken to wake him up, and make him think and hope; and then came the commanding word, “Take up your bed, and walk.” The Lord sometimes brings men into a state of spiritual health by two words instead of one. For a little while, he seems to ask them whether they really will be saved, whether they have any wish to be saved; and when earnest desires after salvation are aroused, then comes the gospel precept, “Believe and live,” and they do believe and live.

19. In the last case, — that of the blind man, — Christ used means as well as words, but the means were very poor ones, as we think. He spat, and made clay of the spittle, and then put the clay on the man’s eyes. “More likely to blind him,” you say, “than to give him sight.” And I have known a sermon, of which I have thought, when I went home, “I wish I had never gone into the pulpit.” I have been ready to cry my eyes out about it; the Lord could not bless it, — so I thought; but he did. It was from his own mouth, after all. Though I was only the clay, and he put that clay on to the man’s eyes; — even my poor rough statement of the truth, which seemed as if it would blind the man from seeing him, but it did not; — it opened his eyes. The Lord can use very strange means; and he does so. I have known him to use means in men’s conversion which I thought he could not use; and it makes one speak with bated breath about some people who seem to use very odd means to bring men to Christ. If the Lord brings them, the end may not justify the means; but, at the same time, it makes us very careful what we say, lest we fight against God. If the Lord chooses to spit, let him spit; and if he chooses to use clay, and that seems a very odd thing to put on blind eyes, it is better than the best ointment, if Christ ordains it. So let him do things in his own way, for he always does them right.

20. Now, what shall be the way in which he will heal you? Well, it will not matter, dear friend, what means are used; as long as your cure is accomplished, God shall have the glory for it.

21. III. I want you to notice now, in the third place, very briefly indeed, that THESE CURES ON THE SABBATH DAY WERE DONE BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE.

22. The first was the man who was misbehaving himself in the synagogue. I do not say to any, “Come, and misbehave yourselves in the house of God”; but I do say, “Come anyway to the place where prayer is accustomed to be made.” I would rather that a man should come to ridicule the gospel than not come to hear it at all. Here is a man, with the devil in him, disturbing the worship in the synagogue by crying out to Jesus, “Leave me alone.” Yet it was a blessing for him to be there, and a great blessing for him that the demon was not quiet that morning. The devil is very crafty, but he is often a great fool; and he made a huge mistake when he took to bawling out on that Sabbath. Whenever I hear a man swear, I always pray for him; and, I have sometimes thought, when I have heard an oath, it has been a warning bell ringing to let me know that it was time for me to pray. It is a horrible thing that men should blaspheme, and curse, and swear, but I believe that there would be less of these evils if all Christians prayed whenever they heard an oath, for the devil would see that it would not pay him, for, fool though he is, he has some sense left. In any case, this man was in the synagogue making a disturbance.

23. The next person was the man with a withered hand; he could not do any work, and, besides that, it seems that he had some love for the house of God, and there Christ singled him out, and blessed him. The woman who was bent over double was also there. I like the idea of her going to the synagogue; no doubt it was a trouble for her to walk, and she was a very pitiful object; yet she loved the place. I believe she was a gracious woman, for it was said of her as it is not said of others, “she glorified God” when she was made straight. Never mind what your infirmity is, dear friends, be sure to come to the house of God. There was a dear sister, who used to sit on my left hand here, and who did not hear a word I said, for she was so deaf; but she always came because, she said, she thought it was a good example to those who were all around her to come and sit here. Besides, she said, someone told her what hymn we were singing, and she could join in that; and so, to the day of her death, she was still here. Yes, we love the place where God condescends to meet his people, and we hope to get a blessing there, somehow or other, as this poor woman did.

24. But the other three people healed in these Sabbath miracles were not in the synagogue. The man with the dropsy was cured after synagogue hours. The Lord Jesus Christ had gone to eat with a certain Pharisee, and it was then that he saw this poor man. Oh dear friends, may the Lord bless you after the service is over, if he does not bless you while the service is going on! May he bless you at your meal! You who love the Lord, pray him to bless men and women when they are sitting at their supper tonight after the sermon is over, and they have gone home, and have not, perhaps, felt the power of the Word. God can bless them even there, just as this poor dropsied man received his cure when the Sabbath services were over, and he had gone to his evening meal.

25. The next case, I think, was early in the morning, before the service. Whether it was or not, does not matter, for it was the case of a man who could not go to the synagogue; he had the palsy, he could not even step into the healing bath, so I know that he could not go to the synagogue; yet the Lord came and healed him. Pray, dear friends, for the sick folk at home; and when you yourselves are ill, do not think that you are shut out from Christ because you are shut out from the public means of grace; the Lord can come and bless you wherever you are. Oh, what a Saviour my Master is! If you cannot come to his house, he can come to your house. If you cannot go to the synagogue, he can come and make a temple of your little room, and save you there.

26. As for the blind man, he was not in the synagogue; but he used to go, for we read that they cast him out of the synagogue, so he must have been formerly in it. But on that occasion he was not there; I wonder whether the reason was because he was too poor. His neighbours asked, “Is this not he who sat and begged?” Perhaps he did not like to go because he did not have suitable clothes to go in. I always think it is a very sad thing that people should make that excuse; I do not care what clothes you come in, the only clothes that are unfit to wear are those that you have not paid for. Let our clothes be ever so poor, or ever so plain, do not stay away from the house of God on that account; but come and listen to the gospel. But if it really is the case that you cannot come, what a mercy it is that God can bless the poor who do not come to his house; for he can go to them. Perhaps, he means someone who is here tonight — some dear child of his — to call in on the road home to see some poor person who has not come because he says that he does not have suitable clothes. Knock at his door, and say, “Our minister was saying, this evening, that some people did not come to God’s house because they thought they did not have suitable clothes, and his words brought you to my mind; he said that God could bless them at home. I thought that, perhaps, the Lord might bless you through me. Let me tell you about Jesus Christ for a few minutes; I will not tire you, then let me pray with you before I go.” Why, who knows? Perhaps, this very night, you may be a messenger of mercy to some poor creature of that kind.

27. IV. Now I close with what might have been my entire sermon, for there is enough in this last division to preach from for a month. It is a very exceptional thing that all these Sabbath cures were CURES OF PEOPLE WHO DID NOT ASK TO BE HEALED. They were all examples of free, sovereign grace giving blessing to those who did not crave it.

28. The first one did not ask for it, but entreated Christ to leave him alone; yet he was healed. The next, the man with the withered hand, I suppose did not even think of it until Christ said, “Stand up”; and then he stood up, and his hand was restored. The next, the poor woman who had been bent over double for eighteen years, I should think that she did not hope for such a thing. Certainly, she did not say a word about it; but, to her astonishment, mercy burst in on her with these words, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” What a surprise it was to her, as the grace of God often is when it dispels man’s despair! The dropsied man did not ask for healing, but Christ took him, and healed him, and sent him on his way. As for the paralytic man, he did not have enough nerve left to ask. Christ had to ask him, “Will you be made well?” And then the blind man, he also, perhaps, had never dreamed of such a thing, for he expressed his own astonishment: “Since the world began it was not heard of that any man opened the eyes of one who was born blind.” They did not ask for the blessing, yet they received it.

29. Well, what is the inference from all that I have been saying? Why, that you who do ask for the blessing shall receive it; for if Christ goes to those who do not ask, you who have been asking — asking for days, and perhaps for months, may well get up courage, and expect his mercy; and you shall have it. Why, if a man on the street gives alms to a poor beggar who did not ask anything from him, the boy at the crossing will be tipping his hat to him, I am sure, and following him all across the road, for he is sure of getting something. He says, “He gave to that fellow who did not ask; surely, he will give to me if I do ask.” Oh, believe that it must be so with you if you ask the Lord Jesus Christ; surely, you seekers shall be finders.

30. The next inference I draw is this. What a mercy that we are able sometimes to bring into the house of God some who have never asked God to bless them. Have you brought in any here tonight? If you have not, you know that you ought to do it, for it is the duty of Christians to be constantly bringing in outsiders where God gives a blessing. Some of you have brought others; well then, if the Lord Jesus Christ spontaneously blessed those people who seemed to be there by accident, much more will he bless those whom you have brought to his house, and for whom you are now praying that he would bless them. Do not say, “It is of no use to bring in such and such a person, he is not at all seriously inclined.” That is the very person to bring in. Those who are seriously inclined will come by themselves; you are to bring those who do not have any desire to come. It is grand work to be ploughing virgin soil that has never been broken up before; it is a great mercy to speak into an ear that has not been plugged with gospel wax, an ear that listens to the gospel as a thing that is fresh and new, and which comes with startling novelty to the soul. Bring in people of that kind! Remember that we do not trust in their will; our trust is in the will of God. We do not trust in their power; our trust is in the power of almighty grace. We do not trust in their coming here to seek Christ; our trust is in the fact that “the Son of man has come to seek and to save those who were lost.”

31. As for you who have never trusted the Saviour, all you have to do is to cast yourselves, with all your weight of sin, on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ; and I solemnly charge you to take heed that you do not neglect it. Beware lest, while you are thinking about it, the moments should steal away, and hope should steal away with the moments. Some of you have come here a good many Sabbath nights hoping to lay hold on Christ; leave your hoping, and lay hold on Jesus. May the blessed Spirit now tell you to stretch out that withered hand, and grasp eternal life! It is within reach of everyone who desires to have it; it may be yours if now you trust him who brings it to you. But please do not continue in unbelief any longer. If you do, I think I know what will happen to you. You will begin to say, “There is no hope for me” and then you will stop coming to hear the gospel; and then what is likely to become of you? As I look at some of my hearers, I might well fix my countenance, as Elisha did when he looked on Hazael. He could not bear to think of all that the man would do, and when the man himself heard the prophecy, he said, “Is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Yes, he was dog enough to do even that. A friend was speaking to me of an unhappy man whose life has been one of licentiousness and crime, and who has gone away from his country; he used to sit by his wife’s side in this house, and he said that he would one day turn over a new leaf. But then he did not yield himself to Christ; so, when he did turn over a new leaf, it was a blacker one than he had ever turned over before; and, unless you repent, some of you will do the same as that man did. May God bless and save you, dear friends, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Expositions By C. H. Spurgeon {Lu 4:33-36 6:6-11 13:10-17 14:1-6 Joh 5:1-9 9:1-14}

We are going to read the inspired records of several of our Saviour’s Sabbath cures, for they are very instructive. In Luke we read:

4:33-36. And in the synagogue there was a man, who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Leave us alone; what have we to do with you, you Jesus of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us? I know who you are; the Holy One of God.” And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Hold your peace, and come out of him.” And when the demon had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and did not harm him. And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word is this! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”

This was a very remarkable cure performed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the Sabbath day. Now let us turn to another, which is recorded in the sixth chapter of this same Gospel.

6:6-10. And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day; so that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Rise up, and stand in the midst.” And he arose and stood up. Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing; ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it?’ ” And looking around on them all, —

I think I see that piercing glance, which read their very hearts, and condemned the wickedness it saw there: “Looking around on them all,” —

10, 11. He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so and his hand was restored whole just like the other. And they were filled with madness; and discussed with each other what they might do to Jesus.

This was a second miracle performed by our Lord on the Sabbath day, and it also was a very notable one.

Follow on in the same Gospel until you come to the thirteenth chapter, at the tenth verse.

13:10-17. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and was bent over double, and could in no way straighten herself up. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said to the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work: therefore in them come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, and said, “You hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath release his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, be freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

His adversaries might well be ashamed, and the people might well rejoice at such a display of his power and mercy; but the point I want you to notice is that the poor woman was set at liberty by the Lord Jesus on the Sabbath day.

There is another Sabbath miracle recorded in the next chapter.

14:1-6. And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat on the Sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him who had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; and answered them, saying, “Which of you shall have a donkey or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” And they could not answer him again about these things.

Christ’s question was unanswerable unless they wished to condemn themselves.

Now I want you kindly to turn to the next evangelist, in whose Gospel you will find the record of the fifth miracle which our Saviour performed on the Sabbath day as recorded in John.

5:1-9. After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whoever then stepped in first after the troubling of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. And a certain man was there, who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now in that state for a long time, he says to him, “Will you be made well?” The impotent man answered him, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus says to him, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” And immediately the man was healed, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day it was the Sabbath.

I hope to speak on these miracles in my discourse, so only briefly refer to them now; but this Sabbath afforded another memorable example of our Lord’s healing power.

In the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel you have the remarkable story of the man born blind.

9:1-3. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, “Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents:

That is to say, their sin was not the cause of his blindness.

3-14. But that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had spoken this, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” (which is by interpretation, “Sent.”) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbours therefore, and those who before had seen him that he was blind, said, “Is this not he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he”: others said, “He is like him”: but he said, “I am he.” Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He answered and said, “A man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash’: and I went and washed, and I received sight.” Then they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought him who previously was blind to the Pharisees. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

This gracious act of Christ was made another occasion for complaint on the part of the Pharisees, and it is the sixth example in which we are very specially and definitely informed that our Lord Jesus Christ performed miracles of healing on the Sabbath day. Oh, that he would do similar works in our midst even now in a spiritual sense, if not literally!

Rebuilding Of Metropolitan Tabernacle

Readers of these sermons preached in the great building burned out on Wednesday, April 20, will deeply sympathize with the Pastor and the church now rendered homeless; and doubtless, many of them will gladly help the fund opened for the rebuilding of the structure as soon as necessary arrangements can be made. Contributions will be gratefully received by Pastor Thomas Spurgeon, or Thomas H. Olney, Esq., Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, London, S. E.