2980. A Lift for the Prostrate

A Lift For The Prostrate

No. 2980-52:145. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, September 19, 1875, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Published On Thursday, March 22, 1906.

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 to them. {Mr 1:31}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1236, “Best House Visitation, The” 1227}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2980, “Lift for the Prostrate, A” 2981}
   Exposition on Mr 1:14-35 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2980, “Lift for the Prostrate, A” 2981 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Mr 1:28-2:12 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3228, “Oh, How He Loves” 3229 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Peter’s wife’s mother was sick with a very terrible fever. It was no ordinary one, such as, we are told, is common in the district where 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 itself 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; but he takes away both the fever and the prostration.

2. It is possible that the poor patient had almost given up all hope of recovery; and, probably, those who were all 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, so 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 pressure, 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.

3. I hope that there are many in this congregation whom Jesus Christ intends to bless; but they 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 now. 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!

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

5. 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 in pity on you. Now, listen.

6. 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 for ever,” yet it is equally true that he condescended 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, and sickness, and sorrow, and death as we do, for our sakes. Please never think of Jesus as though he were only a spirit, at whose presence you have reason 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 representation 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 to 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, “Step aside, for I am holier than you”; but 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, “Permit the little children to come to me, and do not forbid them: for of such is the kingdom of God.” He never repelled even the very worst of mankind when they approached him; but 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, and you would not!” Come, then, distressed spirit, and see, in the very fact that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, that he has come near to you, and laid his hand on you.

7. “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 men, and his name is called Jesus because he is the Saviour from sin. His work in this world was not to seek saints, but “to seek and to save those who were lost.” My Master’s errand was not to the good, the excellent, the righteous, but to the evil, the unholy, the unrighteous. He said, “Those who are healthy have no need of the physician, but those who are sick: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” If he did not come to save sinners, why did he come 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 on you, even as he laid it on Peter’s wife’s mother when she was sick with that great fever.

8. Do I hear you say, as in a whisper, as if you were afraid that anyone else should 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 offences, 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 object was the removal of sin, however great that sin may be. The Son of God is himself the Saviour of sinners; there must, therefore, be a colossal greatness about sin to need the Son of God to remove it, and to require that the Son of God should die before the more than Herculean labour 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.

9. That Jesus has come into contact with great sinners, is very clear; for, 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 will 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 all the tax collectors and sinners drew near 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 until 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 understand, 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; but he has come to take care of uncongenial men and women to whom he may bring the blessings of salvation. He has come, not to be ministered to, but to minister; — not to receive, but to bestow blessings; his object 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 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 in the Son of God has everlasting life.’ ” In giving that commission, our Lord Jesus Christ reached his hand across the centuries so 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.

10. 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, 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 everyone who hears the gospel, there is a savour in it; to some, it is a savour of death to death, and to others a savour of life to 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 sign of contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. Either his blood will be on you to save you, or else you will experience that dreadful curse which the Jews invoked on themselves, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” which remains on them as a curse to 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 another, to be sure of this, “The kingdom of God is come to you.” It is a solemn fact to have to state this, but it is so. Jesus Christ has, in some way or other, put his hand on you, and he is now in contact with you.

11. 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 GENTLY TO LIFT HER UP. She, willingly enough, responded to his touch; and, by at once resuming her household duties, proved that she was perfectly healed.

12. Now, there are some poor, prostrate, desponding souls, who need someone to give them a lift; and I wish that the Lord, even while I am preaching, might take some of you by the hand, and lift you up. My object will be to mention a few things which may help to give you a lift. You want 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 only 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.

13. 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 the nearest Christian friend among your acquaintance, 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 unusual; that is just how I was before I found the Saviour,” 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 just 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?

14. “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 for the cases of conversion, and see whether the saved ones were not very much like you are now; and if that should not satisfy you, turn to the various promises that the Lord Jesus has made to coming 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 just exactly suits my case.” I should not be surprised if you find 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 you not 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 kinds of sinners, and say to you, “Such a one as you now are has been saved, and has gone to heaven; is that not a lift for you? I pray the Lord to make it so. Others like you have been saved, so why should you not also be saved? Therefore, be of good courage, poor prostrate sinner.”

15. Let me give you another lift. Salvation is all of grace; that is to say, it is altogether by God’s free favour. 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 tenacious. 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 by him who wills, nor by him who runs, but by God who shows mercy.” Well, now, if it is God’s will to bestow his mercy on 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 wish with my own?” and so he will do. No man has any right to salvation. We have all forfeited all claim 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 anyone else?

16. 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 basis for 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 who 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, who have been saved from drunkenness, and 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 behind those supposed good works will be this; you will do them in the hope of saving yourself by them. 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 heart-felt 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, and not as a means of getting something for yourself.

17. 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 confide entirely in him. They “only trusted him,” do the same, — “only trust him now.” They dropped into the arms of Christ, he caught them, and held them firmly. 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 who 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 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. So I have tried to give you a further lift up, 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.

18. Let me try to give you a lift in another way. I think I hear you say, “Oh sir, I know the gospel; but, somehow, I cannot get hold of it. I know what praying means, but I cannot pray as I wish. I know what repenting is, but, I cannot repent as I wish.” 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 now? Even though your heart is hard as the nether millstone? The Spirit of God can make it soft in a moment. Even though it seems impossible for you to believe in Jesus? The gracious Spirit is ready now to enable you to believe in him. What if now you seem to be the very opposite of what you ought to be? The blessed Spirit can completely change your nature. He can open the blind eye, and unplug the deaf ear, 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 for him. Come, heavenly wind, and breathe on 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 present already, dictating that prayer; for 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.

19. 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 remember 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 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 everyone knows as being a renowned sinner, — well, I pray the Lord to save you, my friend, because then the demons in hell will hear about 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 become 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 defect?” And so the kingdom of heaven grows, and Satan’s fame gets dimmed, and the fame of Jesus of Nazareth grows brighter and brighter.

20. “Ah!” one says, “I never looked at it in that light; for, certainly, if Jesus Christ were to save me, I should be the biggest wonder on earth.” Then I think it is very likely that he will save 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 hour after hour before they can get in. How did those doctors get to be so famous? If I were to tell you they got all their fame through curing chapped hands, and sore fingers, and warts, you would say, “Nonsense! No one gets fame through doing such little things as that.” How did they get their honour, 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 everyone talked about the wonderful cure; and, now, everyone goes to that doctor. He became famous through curing bad cases; one really bad case brought him more credit than fifty minor maladies might have done. So it is with the great Physician and you big sinners with such a complication of disorders that no one but Christ can cure you. My Lord and Master has an amazing way of healing those who appear to be incurable; and when he cures such cases as yours, heaven and earth and hell hear about 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!

21. 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 on the cross has such mighty power that, if a man had all the sins of mankind resting on him, yet, if he only looked to Christ by faith, his sins would be all gone in a moment. Did you over see that wonderful sculpture which represents the Laocoon {a} and his sons with the monstrous snakes twisted all around their limbs? Well, though you should be another Laocoon, and sinful habits should be twisted all around you, so that it would be impossible for you to free yourself from them, yet, if you look to Jesus by faith, these monsters shall drop dead at your feet. Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman, sets his foot on 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 sin, and you shall be delivered from its 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 marvellous 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.

22. But if you do, I ask you to remember, poor desponding, despairing sinner, that he who has come to save such as you are is a Divine Saviour. What a death-blow 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 on the cross, in order that he may save sinners. What difficulty can there be in the presence of Omnipotence? Do not talk about difficulty in the presence of the almighty God. He only has to will anything, and it is done; — to speak, and it stands firm for ever. Jesus Christ, my Lord and Master, is able to save to the uttermost all those who come to 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, and women, and children when he was here on 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 healed 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. Oh 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, — as 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, “Indeed, my brother, look to 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 kinds of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to 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 will save you! He will save you!
       He will save you now!

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

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Mr 1:14-35}

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 all 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, 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, since 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, 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 to them, “Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” And immediately 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 around him, and lift him, by God’s grace, out of the element in which he lives 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 restrict the sinner to faith in Jesus Christ, — that is the main work of the true gospel fisherman.

19, 20. And when he had gone a little farther on, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.

They never had any reason to regret that they did so. 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 immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one who 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, but Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to 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, “Leave us alone;

How often that is still the cry of sinners, “Leave us alone. Why do you not hold your own views, and leave us alone?” Yes the demons, and those whom they control, still say, “Leave us alone.” But it is a part of the gospel to attack what is not the gospel, and it is as much the duty of the minister of the gospel to denounce error as to proclaim truth. If we do so, the old cry will still be heard, “Leave us alone. Leave us alone.”

24, 25. 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, —

He did not want any testimony from the devil. When a man of bad 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 ever 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 they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

It was the authority of his preaching which first astonished them; and then the authority with which he performed his miracles, 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 the region all around Galilee. And immediately, 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 with a fever, and immediately they tell 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 mass.

31-35. And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered to them. And in the evening, when the sun set, they brought to him all who were diseased, and those who were possessed with demons. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons: and did not allow the demons 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 prayed there.

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 on God. If God has given you much, my brother, go with your basket, and ask for more. Never stop praying. Increase your spiritual hunger, and God will increase the richness of the gift he will bestow on you.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — The Passion And Exaltation Of Christ” 429}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Gospel, Invitations — ‘Seek, And Ye Shall Find’ ” 499}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Extra Non-Tabernacle Hymns — Tenderly the Shepherd” 1084}

{a} Laocoon: The name of a legendary Trojan priest who, with his two sons, was crushed to death by two sea serpents. (Virgil, Aeneid ii. 40-56, 199-231) OED.

Jesus Christ, His Praise
429 — The Passion And Exaltation Of Christ
1 Come, all harmonious tongues,
      Your noblest music bring,
   ‘Tis Christ the everlasting God,
      And Christ the Man we sing.
2 Tell how he took our flesh
      To take away our guilt,
   Sing the dear drops of sacred blood
      That hellish monsters spilt.
3 The waves of swelling grief
      Did o’er his bosom roll,
   And mountains of almighty wrath
      Lay heavy on his soul.
4 Down to the shades of death
      He bow’d his awful head,
   Yet he arose to live and reign
      When death itself is dead.
5 No more the bloody spear,
      The cross and nails no more,
   For hell itself shakes at his name,
      And all the heavens adore.
6 There the Redeemer sits
      High on the Father’s throne,
   The Father lays his vengeance by,
      And smiles upon his Son.
7 There his full glories shine
      With uncreated rays,
   And bless his saints’ and angels’ eyes
      To everlasting days.
                           Isaac Watts, 1709.

Gospel, Invitations
499 — “Seek, And Ye Shall Find” <7s.>
1 Come, poor sinner, come and see,
   All thy strength is found in me;
   I am waiting to be kind,
   To relieve thy troubled mind.
2 Dost thou feel thy sins a pain?
   Look to me and ease obtain:
   All my fulness thou mayest share,
   And be always welcome there.
3 Boldly come; why dost thou fear?
   I possess a gracious ear;
   I will never tell thee nay,
   While thou hast a heart to pray.
4 Try the freeness of my grace,
   Sure, ‘twill suit thy trying case;
   Mourning souls will ne’er complain,
   Having sought my face in vain.
5 Knock, and cast all doubt behind,
   Seek, and thou shalt surely find;
   Ask, and I will give thee peace,
   And thy confidence increase.
6 Will not this encourage thee,
   Vile and poor, to come to me?
   Sure thou canst not doubt my will!
   Come and welcome, sinner, still.
                           Hewett, 1850.