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A Sermon (No. 981) Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, March 19th, 1871 by C. H.
SPURGEON, \\  At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
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 Judaea, 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 housetop, 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.
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?
Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins (he said unto the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day."—Luke
5:16-26.
YOU HAVE THIS SAME NARRATIVE in the ninth chapter of Matthew, and in the second chapter of Mark.
What is three times recorded by inspired pens must be regarded as trebly important, and well worthy of our earnest consideration.
Observe the instructive fact, that our Savior retired and spent a special time in prayer when he saw unusual crowd assembling.
He withdrew into the wilderness to hold communion with his Father, and, as a consequence, to come forth clothed with an abundance of healing and saving power.
Not but that in himself as God he always had that power without measure; but for our sakes he did it, that we might learn that the power of God will only rest upon us in proportion as we draw near to God.
Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church.
When our Lord left his retirement he found the crowd around him exceeding great, and it was as motley as it was great; for while here were many sincere believers, there were still more sceptical observers; some were anxious to receive his healing power, others equally desirous to find occasion against him.
So in all congregations, however the preacher may be clothed with his Master's spirit and his Master's might, there will be a mixed gathering; there will come together your Pharisees and doctors of the law, your sharp critics ready to pick holes, your cold-blooded cavillers searching for faults; at the same time, chosen of God and drawn by his grace, there will be present some devout believers who rejoice in the power that is revealed among men, and earnest seekers who wish to feel in themselves the healing energy.
It seems to have been a rule with our Savior to supply each hearer with food after his kind.
The Pharisees soon found the matters to cavil at for which they were looking; the Savior so worded his expressions that they caught at them eagerly, and charged him with blasphemy; the enmity of their hearts was thus thrown out upon the surface that the Lord might have an opportunity of rebuking it; and had they been but willing, the power of the Lord was present to heal even them.
Meanwhile, those poor tremblers who were praying for healing were not disappointed; the Good Physician passed not by a single case, and at the same time his disciples who were looking for opportunities of praising him anew, were also fully gratified, for with glad eyes they saw the paralytic restored, and heard sins forgiven.
The case which the narrative brings before us, is that of a man stricken down with paralysis.
This sad disease may have been of long continuance.
There is a paralysis which gradually kills the body, binding it more and more surely in utter helplessness.
The nerve power is almost destroyed; the power of motion is entirely suspended; and yet the faculties of the mind remain, though greatly weakened, and some of them almost extinguished.
Some have thought that this man may have been stricken with what is called the universal paralysis, which very speedily brings on death, which may account for the extreme haste of the four bearers to bring him near the Savior.
We do not know the details of his case, but certain is it that he was paralyzed; and, as I look at the case, and study the three records, I think I perceive with equal clearness that this paralysis was in some way or other, at least in the man's own judgment, connected with his sin.
He was evidently penitent, as well as paralytic.
His mind was as much oppressed as his bodily frame.
I do not know that he could be altogether called a believer, but it is most probable that being burdened with a sense of sin he had a feeble hope in divine mercy, which, like a spark in smoking flax, had hard work to exist, but yet was truly there.
The affliction for which his friends pitied him was in his body, but he himself felt a far severer trouble in his soul, and probably it was not so much with the view of being healed bodily, as in the hope of spiritual blessing, that he was willing to be subjected to any process by which he might come under the Savior's eye.
I gather that from the fact that our Savior addressed him in these words, "Be of good cheer;" intimating that he was desponding, that his spirit sunk within him, and, therefore, instead of saying to him at once, "Rise, take up thy bed," our tender-hearted Lord said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee."
He gave him at the outset a blessing for which the patient's friends had not asked, but which the man, though speechless, was seeking for in the silence of his soul.
He was a "son," though an afflicted one: he was ready to obey the Lord's bidding when power was given, though as yet he could neither lift hand nor foot.
He was longing for the pardon of sin, yet could not stretch out his hand to lay hold upon the Savior.
I intend to use this narrative for practical purposes; may the Holy Spirit make it really useful.
Our first remark will be this:
I. THERE ARE CASES WHICH WILL NEED THE AID OF A LITTLE BAND OF WORKERS BEFORE THEY WILL BE FULLY SAVED.
This man must needs be borne of four, so the evangelist, Mark, tells us; there must be a bearer at each corner of the couch whereon he lay.
The great mass of persons who are brought into the kingdom of Christ are converted through the general prayers of the church by the means of her ministry.
Probably three out of four of the members of any church will owe their conversion to the church's regular teaching in some form or other; her school, her pulpit, her press have been the nets in which they were taken.
Private personal prayer has, of course, in many instances been mingled with all this; but still the most of cases could not be so distinctly traced out as to be attributable mainly to individual prayers or exertions.
This is the rule, I think, that the Lord will have the many brought to himself by the sounding of the great trumpet of jubilee in the dispensation of the gospel by his ministers.
There are some, again, who are led to Jesus by the individual efforts of one person; just as Andrew found his own brother Simon, so one believer by his private communication of the truth to another person becomes instrumental, by the power of God's Spirit, in his conversion.
One convert will bring another, and that other a third.
But this narrative seems to show that there are cases which will neither be brought by the general preaching of the word, nor yet by the instrumentality of one; they require that there should be two, or three, or four in holy combination, who, with one consent, feeling one common agony of soul, shall resolve to band themselves together as a company for this one object, and never to cease from their holy confederation until this object is gained and their friend is saved.
This man could not be brought to Christ by one, he must have four to lend their strength for his carrying, or he cannot reach the place of healing.
Let us apply the principle.
Yonder is a householder as yet unsaved: his wife has prayed for him long; her prayers are yet unanswered.
Good wife, God has blessed thee with a son who with thee rejoices in the fear of God.
Hast thou not two Christian daughters also?
O ye four, take each a corner of this sick man's coach and bring your husband, bring your father, to the Savior.
A husband and a wife are here, both happily brought to Christ; you are praying for your children; never cease from that supplication: pray on.
Perhaps one of your beloved family is unusually stubborn.
Extra help is needed.
Well, to you the Sabbath school teacher will make a third; he will take one corner of the bed; and happy shall I be if I may join the blessed quaternion, and make the fourth.
Perhaps, when home discipline, the school's teaching, and the minister's preaching shall go together, the Lord will look down in love and save your child.
Dear brother, you are thinking of one whom you have long prayed for; you have spoken to him also, and used all proper means, but as yet without effect.
Perhaps you speak too comfortingly to him: it may be you have not brought that precise truth to bear upon him which his conscience requires.
Seek yet more help.
It may possibly be that a second brother will speak instructively, where you have only spoken consolingly; perhaps the instruction may be the means of grace.
Yet may it possibly happen that even instruction will not suffice any more than consolation, and it may be needful for you to call in a third, who perhaps will speak impressively with exhortation, and with warning, which may possibly be the great requisite.
You two, already in the field, may balance his exhortation, which might have been too pungent by itself, and might have raised prejudice in the person's mind if it had come alone.
All three of you together may prove the fit instruments in the Lord's hand.
Yet when you three have happily combined, it may be the poor paralysed one is not yet affected savingly; a fourth may be needed, who, with deeper affection than ail three of you, and perhaps with an experience more suited to the case than yours, may come in, and working with you, the result may be secured.
The four fellow-helpers together may accomplish, by the power of the Spirit, what neither one, nor two, nor three were competent to have done.
It may sometimes happen that a man has heard Paul preach, but his clear doctrine, though it has enlightened his intellect, has not yet convinced his conscience.
He has heard Apollos, and the glow of the orator's eloquent appeals has warmed his heart, but not humbled his pride.
He has later still listened to Cephas, whose rough cutting sentences have hewn him down, and convinced him of sin; but ere he can find joy and peace in believing, he will require to hear the sweet affectionate words of John.
Only when the fourth shall grasp the bed and give a hearty lift will the paralysed person he laid in mercy's path.
I anxiously desire to see in this church little bands of men and women bound to each other by zealous love to souls.
I would have you say to one another, "This is a case in which we feel a common interest: we will pledge each other to pray for this person; we will unitedly seek his salvation."
It may be that one of our seatholders, after listening to my voice these ten or fifteen years, is not impressed; it may be that another has left the Sabbath-school unsaved.
Let brotherly quaternions look after these by God's help.
Moved by one impulse, form a square about these persons, beset them behind and before, and let them not say, "No man careth for my soul."
Meet together in prayer with the definite object before you, and then seek that object by the most likely ways.
I do not know, my brethren, how much of blessing might come to us through this, but I feel certain that until we have tried it we cannot pronounce a verdict upon it; nor can we be quite sure that we are free from all responsibility to men's souls until we have tested every possible and probable method for doing them good.
I am afraid that there are not many, even in a large church, who will become sick-bearers.
Many will say the plan is admirable, but they will leave it to others to carry it out.
Remember that the four persons who join in such a labor of love ought all of them to be filled with intense affection to the persons whose salvation they seek.
They must be men who will not shrink because of difficulty; who will put forth their whole strength to shoulder the beloved burden, and will persevere until they succeed.
They need be strong, for the burden is heavy; they need be resolute, for the work will try their faith; they need be prayerful, for otherwise they labor in vain; they must be believing, or they will be utterly useless,—Jesus saw their faith, and therefore accepted their service; but without faith it is impossible to please him.
Where shall we find quartettes such as these?
May the Lord find them, and may he send them to some of you poor dying sinners who lie paralysed here to-day.
II.
We now pass on to the second observation, that SOME CASES THUS TAKEN UP WILL NEED MUCH THOUGHT BEFORE THE DESIGN IS ACCOMPLISHED.
The essential means by which a soul is saved is clear enough.
The four bearers had no question with each other as to what was the way to effect this man's cure: they were unanimous in this—that they must bring him to Jesus; by some means or other, by hook or by crook, they must place him in the Savior's way.
That was undoubted fact.
The question was, how to do this?
There is an old worldly proverb, that "where there's a will there's a way;" and that proverb, I believe, may be safely imported into spiritual things, almost without a caution or grain of salt.
"Where there's a will there's a way;" and if men be called of God's grace to a deep anxiety for any particular soul, there is a way by which that soul may be brought to Jesus; but that way may not suggest itself till after much consideration.
In some cases the way to impress the heart may be an out-of-the-way way, an extraordinary way—a way which ordinarily should not be used and would not be successful.
I dare say the four bearers in the narrative thought early in the morning, "We will carry this poor paralytic to the Savior, passing into the house by the ordinary door;" but when they attempted to do so the multitudes so blocked up the road that they could not even reach the threshold.
"Make way; make way for the sick!
Stand aside there, and give room for a poor paralysed man.
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