FAITH REWARDED.
"And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there
were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out
of every town of Galilee, and Judea and Jerusalem; and the power of
the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a
man which was taken with a palsy; and they sought means to bring him
in, and to lay him before Him. And when they could not find by what
way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went upon
the house-top, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into
the midst before Jesus. And when He saw their faith, He said unto him,
'Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.'"
All the three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, record this
miracle. I have noticed that when any two or three of the Gospel
writers record a miracle it is to bring out some important truth. It
seems to me that the truth the Lord would teach us here is this: The
honor He put upon the faith of these four men who brought the palsied
man to him for healing. Whether the palsied man himself had any faith
we are not told; it was when He saw "_their_ faith" that His power was
put forth to cure the sick of the palsy.
I want to say to all Christian workers, that if the Lord sees our
faith for those whom we wish to be blessed, He will honor it. He has
never disappointed the faith of any of His children yet. You cannot
find an instance in the Bible, where any man or woman has exercised
true faith in God, where it has not been honored. Nothing that the
Savior found when He was on this sin-cursed earth pleased Him so much
as to see the faith of His disciples; nothing refreshed His heart so
much.
We read in the Gospel narrative that there was a great stir in the
town of Capernaum at this time. A few weeks before, the Savior had
been cast out of his native town of Nazareth. He had come down to
Capernaum, and the whole country was greatly moved. His star was just
rising, and His fame was being spread abroad. Peter's wife's mother
had been healed by a word. The servant of an officer in the Roman army
had been raised up from a sick bed, and the Savior had performed many
other wonderful miracles. Men had come to Capernaum from every town in
Galilee, and Judaea, and from Jerusalem. They had gathered together to
look into these wonderful events that were occurring. The voice of
John the Baptist had been ringing through the land, proclaiming to the
people that a Prophet would soon make His appearance, whose shoe
latchet he was not worthy to unloose. While the Baptist was telling
out this message the Prophet Himself made His appearance in the
northern part of the country, and all these wonderful things were
transpiring.
The Pharisees and doctors of the law had come to Capernaum to look
into the reports that were spread abroad. The house where they were
gathered was filled to overflowing, and these wise men were listening
to the Savior's teaching. Many of them hardly believed a word that He
said. It may be there were some believing ones among these wise men.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea may have been there: if so, they
were not yet known as disciples of Jesus.
The writer of the Gospel says: "The power of the Lord was present to
heal them." We are not told, however, that one of them was healed. So
it is very often now. The power of the Lord may be present to heal in
these gatherings; yet many will come and go, wondering what it all
means, and without being healed of their spiritual diseases. What we
need is to have the power of God in our midst.
A man came into one of our meetings in London. He got into a part of
the hall where he could not hear a word of what was spoken or sung; he
could not even hear the text or the portion of Scripture that was
read. There he had to sit through the service, so to speak, shut up
alone with himself. A little while after he told some one that as he
sat there God had revealed Himself to him, and spoken peace to his
soul. There is such a thing as the power of God being present to heal,
though men may not hear the voice of their fellowman.
These four men were real workers. They were worth more than a houseful
of these Pharisees and doctors of the law who came merely to criticise
and look on. I do not know who the four men were, but I have always
had a great admiration for them. It may be one of them had been blind
and the Lord had given him his sight. The other may have been lame
from his birth; when the Master restored him to strength, he thought
he would like to use it in bringing some one else to be healed. The
third man may have been a cured leper, and he wished to help in
getting some other afflicted one cured. Perhaps this palsied man was
his next-door neighbor. The fourth man, it may be, had been deaf and
dumb, and he thought he would employ his hearing and his speech in
helping some one else. These four young converts said to themselves:
"Let us bring our sick neighbor to Christ." The palsied man may have
said he had no faith in Christ. But these four friends told him how
they had been cured, and if the Master could heal them surely He could
heal a palsied man.
Now it seems to me nothing will wake up a man quicker than to have
four persons after him in one day. People are sometimes afraid that
they will entrench on each other's ground if more than one worker
happens to call at the same house. For my part, I wish that every
family had about forty invitations to each meeting.
I lately heard of a man, a non-churchgoer, who did not believe in the
Bible or religious things. Some one who was distributing tickets asked
him if he would go to the meetings. He got quite angry. No, he would
not go; he did not believe in the thing at all; he would not be seen
in such a crowd. A second man came along, not knowing that any one had
been before him, and asked if he would accept a ticket for the
meetings. The man was still angry, and, as we would sometimes say, he
"gave him a piece of his mind." He told him to keep his tickets.
By-and-by a third man called and said: "Would you take a ticket for these
meetings?" The man by this time had got thoroughly waked up, but yet
he declined to receive the ticket. He went into a shop to buy
something. The man in the shop put a ticket for the meetings into the
packet; when the customer got home and opened it, lo and behold there
was a ticket! He got so roused up that he went, not to our meeting,
but to a neighboring church. I do not know that he has come clean out,
but I believe he is, at any rate, in a hopeful condition.
If one visit does not wake up a man whom you want to reach, send a
second visitor after him; if that has no effect, send a third, and a
fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth, and a seventh; go on in that way day
after day. It is a great thing to save one man, to get him out of the
pit, to have his feet set fast on a rock, and a new song put in his
mouth. Nothing will rouse an indifferent man quicker than to have a
number of friends after him. If you cannot bring him yourself, get
others to help you.
These four men found an obstacle in the way. The door of the house was
blocked, and they could not get near the Master. They may have asked
some of these philosophers to stand aside; but no, they would not do
that. They would not disturb themselves about a sick man. Many people
will not go into the kingdom of God themselves, and they will throw
obstacles in the way of others. After trying probably for some time to
get in, these four men began to devise another plan. If it had been
some of us, most likely we would have got quite discouraged, and
carried the man back to his home.
These men had faith, and perseverance too. They are going to get their
friend to Christ some way. If they cannot get him through the door,
they will find a way through the roof! "Zeal without knowledge,"
people say. I would a good deal rather have that than knowledge
without zeal. You can see them pulling and tugging away at the burden.
If you have ever tried to carry a wounded man up a flight of stairs
you will know it is not an easy matter. But these four men were not to
be defeated, and at last he is up there on the roof.
Now, the question was, "How can we get him down?" They began to tear
up the tiling. I can see those wise men looking up and saying to one
another: "This is a strange performance; we have never seen anything
like this in the temple or in any synagogue we were ever in. It is
altogether out of the regular order. These men must be carried away
with fanaticism. Why, they have made a hole large enough to let a man
through. Suppose a sudden shower were to come, it would spoil the
house."
But these four workers were terribly in earnest. They let the bier, on
which the man was lying, down into the room. They laid their friend
right at the feet of Jesus Christ; a good place to lay him, was it
not? Perhaps some of you have a sceptical son or an unbelieving
husband, or some other member of your family, that scoffs at the Bible
and sneers at Christianity. Lay them at the feet of Jesus, and He will
honor your faith.
"When He saw _their_ faith." I suppose these men were looking down to
see what was about to take place Christ looked at them, and when He
saw their faith He said to the palsied man: "Son, be of good cheer;
thy sins are forgiven thee." That was more than they expected; they
only thought of his body being made whole. So let us bring our friends
to Christ, and we shall get more than we expect. The Lord met this
man's deepest need first. It may be his sins had brought on the palsy,
so the Lord forgave the man's sin first of all.
The wise men began to reason within themselves: "Who is this that
forgiveth sins?" The Master could read their thoughts as easily as we
can read a book. "Is it easier to say, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or
'Rise up and walk?' But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath
power on earth to forgive sins, He said unto the sick of the palsy, 'I
say unto thee, arise; take up thy bed and go into thine house.'" The
man leaped to his feet, made whole. He rolled up the old bed, swung it
across his shoulders, and went to his house. Depend upon it, these
philosophers who would not make way in order to let him in stood aside
pretty quick to let him go out. No need for him to go out by way of
the roof; he went out by the door.
Dear friends, let us have faith for those we bring to Christ. Let us
believe for them if they will not believe for themselves. It may be
there are those here who do not believe in the Bible, or in the Gospel
of the Son of God. Let us bring them to Christ in the arms of our
faith. He is unchangeable--"the same yesterday, today, and for ever."
Let us look for great things. Let us expect the dead to be raised, the
harlots reclaimed, the drunkards saved, and the devils cast out. I
believe men are possessed of evil spirits now, just as much as when
the Son of God was on earth. We want to bring them right to the Lord
Jesus Christ, that He may heal and save them. Let this cursed unbelief
be swept out of the way, and let us come to God as one man, looking
for and expecting signs and wonders to be done in the name of Jesus.
He can perform miracles to-day, and He will if we ask Him to fulfill
His promises. "He is able to save to the uttermost."
And let me say to any unsaved man that God has the power to save you
from your sins to-day. If you want to be converted, come right to the
Master as did the leper of old. He said, "Lord, if Thou wilt Thou
canst make me clean." Christ honored his faith, and said, "I will; be
thou clean." Notice--the man put "if" in the right place. "If Thou
_will_." He did not doubt the power of the Son of God. The father who
brought his son to Christ said, "If Thou _canst_, have compassion upon
him." The Lord straightened out his theology then and there; "If
_thou_ canst believe." Mother, can you believe for your boy? If you
can, the Lord will speak the word, and it shall be done.
It will be a good thing for us to get right down at the feet of the
Master, like the poor woman who went to Elisha and told him of her
dead child. He asked his servant to take his staff and lay it upon the
dead child. But the mother would not leave the prophet. He wanted her
to go with the servant, but she would not be satisfied with the
prophet's staff, or even with his servant; she wanted the master
himself. So Elisha went with her; it was a good thing he did, for the
servant could not raise the child.
We want to get beyond the staff and beyond the servant, right to the
heart of the Master Himself. Let us bring our palsied friends to Him.
It is said of Christ that in one place He could not do many mighty
works there because of their unbelief. Let us ask Him to take away
from us this cursed unbelief, that hinders the blessing from coming
down, and prevents those who are sick of the palsy of sin from being
saved.
"The faith that works by love,
And purifies the heart,
A foretaste of the joys above
To mortals can impart;
It bears us through this earthly strife,
And triumphs in immortal life."