3306. Satan, Self, Sin, and the Saviour

A Sermon Published On Thursday, June 13, 1912.

And he asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” {Mr 5:9}

1. I think the text suggests to us something about Satan, and something about self, and also something about sin and the Saviour.

2. I. Without any preface, let us at once seek to find in the text SOMETHING ABOUT SATAN.

3. Although an unclean spirit, like his master, Satan, is very apt to lie, there is no doubt that here, in the presence of Christ, he spoke the truth when he said, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” So the first thought suggested by the name “Legion” is that there are many demons against whom we have to be on the watch in this world. There is one great master-power of evil who is called “your adversary the devil”; but there are also multitudes of demons under his control who are all, like himself, full of hatred for God and for goodness, and bent on doing as much harm as they can to the kingdom of Christ among men. We do not know how numerous these evil spirits are, but there is reason to believe that there are very many of them, so that it will be no easy task to overcome them; and it is no wonder that there is so much evil in the world when there are so many evil spirits constantly seeking to lead men astray.

4. The next idea connected with the name “Legion” is that of organization, for a Roman legion was not merely a large band of soldiers, but it was a thoroughly organized band of several thousand of men who had taken the oath of allegiance to the Roman emperor, and who yielded implicit obedience to the centurions and other officers who were placed in authority over them. In the same way, we have reason to believe that the vast multitudes of evil spirits are not an undisciplined mob, but that they are organized and controlled even as they were when the devil and his angels fought against Michael and his angels. No doubt they are able to consult and conspire together, and to work unitedly for the attainment of some common purpose. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, and the name prince implies followers who come and go at his command, and do his bidding. We who have most to do with fighting against this demoniacal Legion know that we have no easy task, and we can say, as Paul did, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It would be impossible for us to be victors in this dread conflict had we not on our side One who is more mighty than all who can be against us.

5. But the name “Legion” not only suggests the idea of many who are thoroughly organized for fighting, it also conveys the idea of unity. The unclean spirit said, “My name is Legion,” as if the legion were himself, and he were the legion. It is a great art in war when a whole battalion can be made to move as one man. The Roman phalanx was so often victorious because the men composing it were compacted into one solid body, and that seems to be one of the characteristics of the powers of darkness. It is a sickening thought that, while Christians frequently quarrel, we never hear of demons doing so. The Church of God is divided, but the kingdom of darkness appears to be one. Whatever internal strife there may be between evil spirits, we have no hint of it here; they all seemed to act in complete unison. Whether hate is a more unifying principle than love, I will not venture to say; but certainly these haters of God and of his truth appear to be knit together as though they were one devil rather than a multitude of evil spirits, yet the lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ are not knit together as one man under his blessed rule. Herein lies the force of the evil one, that his host is so united as to be called a legion, moving forward in absolute union as one great evil power. As you, beloved, think of this great host all banded together for one purpose, and that purpose your destruction, flying like vast hordes of locusts bent on devastating every place they visit, you must realize that you can never overcome the numerous, organized, united forces of evil by your own unaided strength.

6. The name “Legion” also suggests a great band of soldiers marshalled for war; not a company of people engaged in peaceful vocations, but an armed host marching to battle at their commander’s orders. The Roman legionaries were protected with heavy armour, and they carried short sharp swords with which they did terrible execution; when they went out to war, it was as when the tornado sweeps away the stubble or the fire sets the forest ablaze until it is utterly consumed. They were mighty men, trained and disciplined for war from their youth up, and Satan and his myrmidons {a} have been for these six thousand years familiar with the art of injuring and ruining men. They are expert in the use of their deadly weapons; they know what arrows in their quiver will find the joints in your harness, my brother, and what fiery arrows will be most effective against you, my sister. While reading the eighteenth Psalm today, I especially noticed what David says in the fifth verse: “The sorrows (the marginal reading is ‘the cords’) of hell surrounded me,” as though some infernal powers had thrown ropes all around him, and were drawing them ever more tightly hoping to enclose the psalmist in bonds from which he could not extricate himself. Then he adds, “The snares of death confronted me,” as though his enemies, whether men or demons, had laid deadly traps in which they hoped to ensnare him. This is what the evil spirits are constantly doing with regard to you, beloved; and you will be wise if you do what David tells us that he did: “In my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears”; and then you too will before long be able to say with David, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me: for they were too strong for me.”

7. Further, the name “Legion” is of historical interest. I have no time to relate the brave deeds of some of the most noted of the Roman legions; the record of them was cherished by their successors just as the heroic exploits of famous British regiments are kept in memory in our own land today. As you think of the legions of evil spirits that are still doing their wicked master’s will, you will see that they have some things in their past history in which they can glory, though their glory will be turned to shame. The banners of our soldiers tell of victories won on many a hard-fought field, and the first inscription on the black flag of Diabolos is the one word “Eden.” If Satan can be capable of any enjoyment, it must be a very sweet morsel for him to roll under his tongue when he thinks of the victory that he gained in paradise, when the whole human race, in the person of its representative, Adam, was so ignominiously overthrown. It is true that, since then, he has had more defeats than victories; and that, by this time, he must have had at least many a foretaste of that final bruising of his head which was foretold in the garden, yet he still perseveres in his hopeless task of leading on his condemned legions against the followers of that great King against whom he revolted so long ago. The indomitable pluck of Satan is a thing which deserves to be imitated by Christians. The only point in which I can hold him up for your admiration is this, — desperate as his cause is, he still presses on with it; foiled as he has been ten thousand times, he is still ready for the fray. Oh, that we had half as much holy courage as he has of unholy impudence, so that we might face our foes as boldly as he faces his! With such a blessed cause as our Master’s is, oh, that we had valour worthy of it!

8. So, Christian, I ask you again to look at your great adversary, that you may realize how stern the conflict is in which you are engaged. You are often afraid of Satan, but he is never afraid of you. If you turn your back in the day of battle, it is not likely that he will turn his. If you are to come off more than conqueror in this lifelong fight, you must be no mere feather-bed soldier. If you have only the name of a Christian, and not the nature of a Christian, defeat must certainly await you. Count the cost of this campaign before you start it, see whether your force of one thousand is likely to prevail against your adversary’s hundred thousand; and then, as you realize your own insufficiency, cry to the Strong for strength, rely on your almighty Ally, and in his might go out to this holy war, rejoicing in the assurance that “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”

9. II. Now, turning from that part of the subject, let us next find here SOMETHING ABOUT SELF.

10. I believe there are some people in this congregation who are in a measure desirous of salvation, yet they despair of ever being able to attain to it. We generally have some in these seats who are anxious about their eternal safety, but who fear that they never can be saved, — their sins are too many, their infirmities too great, their temptations too strong, and the circumstances in which they are placed too unfavourable. They conclude that, while other sinners may be saved, there is no hope for them. Let us see how the case of this poor demoniac resembles theirs. Someone has said that his answer to Christ’s question was, first, the proud opposition of a heart that wanted an argument for resistance to Christ; and, secondly, the mournful complaint of a being conscious of its miserable condition. In each case it may be instructive to some here.

11. First, there was much pride in the answer, “Legion, for we are many”; and there is much pride also in those sinners who despair of being saved because of the greatness of their sin. When men are resolved not to part with their sins, they generally use one of these two arguments; they either say, “Our sins are so great that we know we shall never get to heaven, so we may as well keep on sinning”; or else, “We can turn from sin whenever we please; repentance is such a simple matter that we can attend to it at any time, so we will put it off for as long as we can.” These are quite opposite extremes, but the transition from one to the other can be made very rapidly. If a man wants an excuse for clinging to his sin, he can always find one, and any lie will satisfy the soul that is resolved not to be saved. Suppose, my friend, you were suffering from some deadly disease, which a noted physician offered to cure, but you were unwilling to take his medicine, your foolish heart might suggest to you two reasons for not taking it. The first would be, “My case is so desperate that no medicine can do me any good”; and the other would be, “The medicine is so potent that, if I take it in a year’s time, when I am much worse than I am now, it will still cure me.” Neither of these would be a valid reason for not taking the medicine at once, and if a man died through refusing to take it, a verdict of suicide would be perfectly justifiable. There are multitudes of souls who are lost because they do not believe that Christ can save them; and, on the other hand, probably there are quite as many lost because they think it is such an easy thing to be saved that it can be settled any time that they please. I do implore you, dear friends, not to use any argument for refusing Christ. Why should you argue yourselves into eternal ruin? Have you not some better use to which to put your wits than to reason on Satan’s side to your own destruction? Rather, accept the testimony of God’s Word that your sins, even though they may be a legion, or more than that, are not too many to be forgiven; believe that there is efficacy in the precious blood of Jesus to make you whiter than snow, and that he is “mighty to save” even you, for “he is able to save those to the uttermost who come to God by him, since he lives for ever to make intercession for them.” If you are possessed by a legion of demons, trust in him whose almighty arm can overthrow them all.

12. This name “Legion” also suggests to us the mournful utterance of self-consciousness sorrowing over its sin. Surely in this congregation there are some who are saying, “Alas, our sins are many, and they have brought us into a most pathetic plight! We have not only withered hands, but, we have lame feet, we have blind eyes, we have deaf ears, and, worst of all, a heart that is dead as the stones of the street. From the soles of our feet to the crown of our head there is no soundness in us; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.” My dear friends, if you truthfully utter that sorrowful lament, I am glad to hear it; and whether you know it or not, that state of things is really a reason why God is likely to save you. Let me remind you of some of the arguments that we find in the Word of God. There is one in the eighteenth Psalm to which I referred to you just now; David says of the Lord, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me: for they were too strong for me.” He was unable to cope with his adversaries, so he trusted the Lord to deliver him, and he did so. There is a similar argument concerning the stone that covered the Saviour’s sepulchre. The women said, “‘Who shall roll away the stone for us from the door of the sepulchre?’ And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for” — For what? — “for it was very large.” If it had not been very large, they might have rolled it away themselves; but since it was too heavy for them to move, the angel rolled it away for them. David is a great master of this kind of argument. In Psalm twenty-five, he prays, “For your name’s sake, oh Lord, pardon my iniquity; for it is great.” {Ps 25:11} That seems a strange plea to urge, yet it is one that prevails with God. If I plead to be pardoned because I am not a great sinner, I am legal and carnal; but if I plead to be pardoned because I am such a great sinner, I am moved by an evangelical motive, and there is room for the display of divine grace to one who confesses his need of it. This is like the poor sufferer who cries out to the doctor, “Oh sir, attend to me, for mine is a desperate case!” or like the beggar on the street, who pleads, “Give me help, for I am starving.” You must use your need, and the greatness of your need, as an argument with the Lord. There are some whom I know here who would almost give their eye-teeth if they could only feel their sin as much as you do; they want to be troubled more about it, they need to despair more over it. Well, they are foolish, and so are you; they are foolish in desiring to despair more, and you are foolish in wishing that you did not despair so much. All of you should give up looking at yourselves, and go to Jesus just as you are, and trust in him to save you.

13. III. Now I come to the last point, SOMETHING ABOUT OUR SINS AND OUR SAVIOUR.

14. Our sins are very like Satan; they are his children, and they are very like their father. Our sins may rightly be called legion; oh, how many they are! I cannot count them, they are more in number than the sands of the sea or the stars of the sky. Yet, while they are so many, I may also say of them that they are one, for there is a dreadful unity about our sin. One sin very seldom checks another, it sometimes does, but more frequently one sin incites another. I have heard it said that some men would be mean if they were not proud, but I have seen people who have been very proud and also very mean. I have known some who have been very bad-tempered, but it was said that they would not display their temper in certain places because they feared they would be losers by doing so, only it was added that they indulged themselves all the more freely in other directions, and so made up for their selfish self-restraint. Except in such ways as these I do not think that one sin is a check on another; but, on the other hand, one sin very often leads to others. If you turn one demon out at the front door, he often comes in again at the back, and brings with him ten other demons worse than himself. You must have proved how easy it is to get rid of one vice only to fall into another. Did you never pray with all your heart against sloth, and then feel proud to think how busy you were getting? Then, when you got rid of your pride, you found that despondency was following close behind; and when you had fought against despondency, and overcame it, there was presumption pressing to the forefront. So you will find it until your dying day, but I trust that you will also find that, though your sins are so many, and though there is a terrible unity about them by which they work together to ruin you, your experience will be like David’s, so that you will be able to say, “They were too strong for me, but the Lord delivered me.”

15. That brings me to my last point, which is this, the Lord Jesus Christ can as easily cast out a legion of sins as he can cast out one. If I had only committed one sin in my whole life, I should have needed an omnipotent Saviour to put away that one sin by the sacrifice of himself; and if I could have committed all the sins that have ever been committed by all the sinners in the whole world, I should not have needed any greater Saviour than I have now. If I had only one disposition towards evil, one vice that needed to be overcome, or one bad tendency that had to be counteracted, I should need the almighty power of the ever-blessed Spirit to accomplish the task; and if my heart is a cage full of unclean birds, that same Holy Spirit can drive them all out. When the Lord comes into the battle-field, we need not trouble about counting the numbers of the enemy, for he is the Lord of hosts, and he is in himself mightier than all who can be gathered against him, and he can overthrow all the forces of evil as easily as Jesus Christ cast the legion of demons out of that poor demoniac.

16. Perhaps some of you are just now in great trouble because of your inward corruptions; it may be that you have recently had such a sight of them as you have never before had in all your lives. Well, dear friends, this may humble you, but I pray that you will not let it cause you to dishonour the Lord Jesus Christ. Never forget that the King of kings is still reigning supreme over all the powers of darkness. Satan may rage and rave in his great wrath, but there is a bit in his mouth and a bridle on his jaws, and he can be controlled and restrained just as the Lord pleases. He who rules the roaring billows and rides on the wings of the wind can make all the forces of evil subservient to his will. Even when the devil is permitted to attack the children of God, there is always a limit set beyond which he cannot go, as there was in the case of Job. To my mind, the poor patriarch, sitting down among the ashes, struck with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, and yet resignedly saying to his wife, “Shall we receive good from the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” is a much nobler being than Satan reigning among the fiends of the pit. Job might have laughed Satan to scorn as messenger after messenger came to tell him that his oxen and donkeys were stolen and his servants slain by the Sabeans, that his sheep had been burned up by lightning, that his camels had been carried away by the Chaldeans, and last and worst of all, that his children had been killed by the great wind from the wilderness that struck the four corners of the house where they were eating and drinking; and I think that was what Job practically did when, with sublime resignation, he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” How glorious was the patriarch’s victory when he had been still further tried, yet was able to utter that grand declaration of his faith in God, “Though he kills me, yet I will trust in him!”

17. But how much more glorious was the victory of the man Christ Jesus over his great adversary and ours! When “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” was nailed to the cross, Satan thought that he had won the day. The old serpent had stung him to death, vainly imagining that it was all over with him. I think I see the arch-fiend gloating over the awful agonies of the dying Saviour, and maliciously taunting him as he hung there apparently forsaken by God and man. “Ah!” he says, “Seed of the woman, I have indeed bruised your heel. I have made men reject you, and put you to death; I have vexed and tormented you, I have scorned and scouted {derided} you, and you have not a word to ask for yourself, and now your soul must soon depart out of your body.” Yet as the devil was still pouring out his proud boasts and taunts, with a mighty voice the expiring Saviour cried, “It is finished”; and in that moment his soul sprang on the enemy, and utterly routed him for ever. “You have conquered, oh Galilean!” is said to have been the dying cry of Julian the apostate, {b} and Satan might have said the same; for when Jesus nailed to his cross the handwriting that was against us, “having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in himself,” for that is the marginal reading of Col 2:15, and therefore, with Dr. Watts, —

   I sing my Saviour’s wondrous death;

      He conquer’d when he fell:

   “’Tis finish’d!” said his dying breath,

      And shook the gates of hell.

   His cross a sure foundation laid

      For glory and renown,

   When through the regions of the dead

      He past’d to reach the crown.

Yes, Jesus triumphed in the very hour that looked like the time of his defeat; so praise him, you bright spirits before the throne; and imitate him, you saints still here below, for —

   As surely as he overcame,

      And triumph’d once for you,

   So surely you that love his name

      Shall triumph in him too, —

even though your foes are named Legion, for they are many. May God bless you, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

{a} Myrmidon: An unscrupulously faithful follower or hireling; a hired ruffian; a base attendant. OED.
{b} Julian the Apostate: Roman Emperor from 361 to 363. Editor.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Mr 5}

1-6. And they came over to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he had come out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

What a pathetic object this poor creature must have been, — a terror to the whole region! So far as man was concerned, he was in an utterly hopeless condition; yet there was hope for him, for Jesus had crossed the sea apparently with the special purpose of healing him. Our Saviour had proved his power over the winds and waves, and he was about to show that demons were equally subject to his control.

6, 7. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God, that you do not torment me.” {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2966, “Resistance to Salvation” 2967}

The voice was the voice of the man, but the demon so completely dominated his entire being that he could only speak as the unclean spirit directed him.

8. For he said to him “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.”

So that the demon’s adjuration was an answer to the Lord’s command, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.”

9-13. And he asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there near to the mountains a large herd of swine feeding. And all the demons besought him, saying, “Send us into the swine, so that we may enter into them.” And immediately Jesus gave them permission. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were drowned in the sea.

It is clear from this narrative that the demons knew that Jesus was the Son of the Most High God, and that he had absolute power to do with them whatever he pleased. It is also clear that they believed in prayer, and that they were all agreed in their supplication to him; and it is significant that Jesus granted their request: “Send us into the swine, so that we may enter into them.” There was a certain congruity in the unclean spirit entering into the unclean animals, so “immediately Jesus gave them permission.”

14, 15. And those who fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him who was possessed with the demons, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

What an amazing sight that was for them to see! Yet they need not have been afraid, they ought rather to have rejoiced to see the poor demoniac “sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind.”

16, 17. And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who was possessed with the demons, and also concerning the swine. And they began to ask him to depart out of their country.

Here is a second prayer in which many united, a very foolish and wicked prayer, yet the Saviour did as these people wished. He would not force his company on those who wanted him to go, so he at once turned his face to the boat so that he might “depart out of their country.”

18, 19. And when he was come into the boat, he who had been possessed with the demons prayed him that he might be with him. However Jesus did not allow him, but says to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and has had compassion on you.” {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2262, “Christ’s Curate in Decapolis” 2263}

This is the third prayer in this chapter; not like the two previous ones, the petition of many who were not Christ’s followers, it was the earnest supplication of one who was so grateful for what Jesus had done for him that he longed to be always with him. Yet it was not granted, because Jesus saw that the man could serve him better by bearing testimony among those who knew him to the great things the Lord had done for him.

20. And he departed, and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him: and all men marvelled.

His testimony not only made men marvel, but it helped to prepare the people to welcome the Saviour when he returned to that region.

21. And when Jesus was passed over again by boat to the other side, many people gathered to him: and he was near to the sea.

How many missionary voyages Jesus made, sometimes to one side of the sea, sometimes to the other side! What an example of holy diligence he is to us! As long as he lived here below, he never ceased to labour for he never ceased to love.

22. And, behold, there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

It was an unusual thing for a ruler of the synagogue to be at the feet of Jesus, yet that is the best place for all of us. If God has placed any of you in an eminent position, it will well become you to fall at the feet of Jesus as Jairus did. There is no place more suitable, no place more honourable, no place more profitable, than at the feet of Jesus.

What brought Jairus there? It was his great need; and that is what will bring us there, a sense of our great need.

23. And besought him greatly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death: please, come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be healed; and she shall live.”

This was great faith, yet it was also little faith, for he limits Christ’s power to his physical presence, and he stipulates about the way in which the cure is to be accomplished: “Please, come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be healed.” Yet we never like to criticize faith; there is so little of it, and it is so precious a thing that we are glad to see it anywhere, and especially in a ruler of the synagogue. Oh, that we all prayed like this for our little daughters and our little sons: “Lord, come and lay your hands on them! There is sin in them, and sin means spiritual death, come and lay your hands on them, so that they may be healed, and live for ever.”

21. And Jesus went with him;

He will always regard true prayer; if we can believe, Jesus will come.

24, 25. And many people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, —

There were many in the throng around Jesus who did not touch him, and there were many who touched him, but not as she did; so she is singled out from the crowd: “A certain woman,” —

25-28. Who had an issue of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was none the better, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the crowd behind, and touched his garment. For she said, “If I may touch only his clothes, I shall be healed.” {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 827, “Faculty Baffled — The Great Physician Successful” 818} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1382, “The Touch” 1373}

Was this woman sent, do you think, to encourage the faith of Jairus? It has been well said that the child of Jairus had been twelve years living, but this woman had been twelve years dying, so, if Christ could heal the woman who had been twelve years dying, he could raise the child who had been twelve years living. It is significant that there should have been this equalization of the number of years in the two cases. Although Jairus seemed strong in faith, he was not really so. He put the best side of his faith forward; while this woman, who was strong in faith, yet coming behind Christ, and touching him as it were by stealth, put the worst side of her faith forward. We have known this to be the case in others; some who seem to be strong in faith are none too strong, and some who seem to be very weak in faith are much stronger than they seem.

29-31. And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that disease. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that power had gone out of him, turned around in the crowd, and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

They spoke too fast, as we also sometimes do; it would have been better if they had said nothing which looked like questioning their Master’s word.

32, 33. And he looked all around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 514, “Tell It All” 505}

The miracle had been performed in her, yet she was fearing and trembling because she perceived the imperfection of her way of approaching the Saviour. Probably, after we are saved, we see more of our mistakes than we did before; and when the blessing really comes to us, we begin to be anxious lest we should lose Christ because of some misapprehension in our way of finding him. The woman “fell down before him, and told him all the truth.”

34. And he said to her, “Daughter, —

This was a very unusual way for Christ to speak to a woman, he was so careful in his speech, but then she was a very exceptional woman: “Daughter,” —

34, 35. Your faith has healed you; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” While he yet spoke, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain ones who said, “Your daughter is dead: why do you trouble the Master any further?”

This ruler of the synagogue was on the brink of getting the blessing he sought, and then the very worst news came to him. It may be that just now some of you have seemed to receive the sentence of death to all your hopes, yet you are on the very verge of getting the blessing. It is often so; just when the devil knows that the blessing is near, he struggles the hardest with the soul that is seeking it. Do not be cast down if that sentence of death comes to you, but still believe.

36-39. As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he says to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid, only believe.” And he allowed no man to follow him, except Peter and James, and John the brother of James. And he comes to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and sees the tumult, and those who wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he says to them, “Why do you make this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleeps.”

Jesus knew what he was about to do, and, speaking with the knowledge of the miracle he was about to perform, he said, “The damsel is not dead but sleeps.” A charlatan, who wanted to make himself famous, and in order to increase the èclat {flash of brilliance} of the miracle, would have said, “The damsel is really dead”; but the Saviour, in his infinite modesty of heart, puts it like this, “The damsel is not dead, but sleeps.”

40. And they laughed him to scorn.

Can you picture the scene? These people, who had been hired to weep and wail, had not much of the spirit of mourning in them, for they laughed deliberately and derisively; they turned on the mighty Master of life and death, and “laughed him to scorn.”

40. But when he had put them all out, —

That was the best way to answer the scorners. It is no good arguing with people who can cry or laugh to order: “when he had put them all out,” —

40-42. He takes the father and the mother of the damsel, and those who were with him, and enters in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha cumi”; which is, being interpreted, “Damsel, I say to you, arise.” And immediately —

Notice how this word “immediately” comes in again. It is the characteristic word in reference to Christ’s miracles; they are usually performed at once. We read, in the twenty-ninth verse, “Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up.” Now we read, “Immediately” —

42. The damsel arose, and walked;

Oh, that the Lord Jesus Christ would work some miracles “immediately” in our midst just now! He can do it if he pleases; before this service ends, there may be some who shall have passed from death to life, out of the darkness of sin into the marvellous light of grace. Blessed be God for this; who will it be?

42, 43. For she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them strictly that no man should know it;

He did not want to blaze abroad the story of these wonderful deeds of his. The crowd was already inconveniently large, so that “he charged them strictly that no man should know it”;

43. And commanded that something should be given to her to eat.

She might have continued to live by a miracle just as she had been miraculously raised from the dead; but it was needless, and Christ never performed an unnecessary miracle. Do not look for miracles when ordinary means will suffice. “He commanded that something should be given to her to eat.” When life is given or restored, the next thing needed is nourishment; when you are made spiritually to live, be sure to attend a soul-feeding ministry; and diligently read the Word, so that you may get all necessary nourishment for your soul out of it.

C. H. Spurgeon’s Useful Books at Reduced Prices.

“Good Tidings of Great Joy.” Christ’s Incarnation the Foundation of Christianity. “Central Truth Series.” Vol. 1. Cloth Boards. Published at 1s. 6d., offered at 1s.