Read
Matthew 8:1-17 Here we have a wonderful word. All the Word is
wonderful. This blessed Book brings such life and health and peace,
and such abundance that we should never be poor any more. This Book
is my heavenly bank. I find everything I want in it. I want to show
you how rich you may be, that in everything you can be enriched in
Christ Jesus. He has abundance of grace for you and the gift of
righteousness, and through His abundant grace all things are
possible. I want to show you that you can be a living branch of the
living Vine, Christ Jesus, and that it is your privilege to be right
here in this world what He is. John tells us, "As He is, so are
we in this world." Not that we are anything in ourselves, but
Christ within us is our all in all.
The
Lord Jesus is always wanting to show forth His grace and love in
order to draw us to Himself. God is willing to do things, to manifest
His Word, and let us know in measure the mind of our God in this day
and hour. There are many needy ones, many afflicted ones, but I do
not think any present are half as bad as this first case that we read
of in Matthew 8. This man was a leper. You may be suffering with
consumption or cancers or other things, but God will show forth His
perfect cleansing, His perfect healing, if you have a living faith in
Christ. He is a wonderful Jesus.
This
leper must have been told about Jesus. How much is missed because
people are not constantly telling what Jesus will do in this our day.
Probably someone had come to that leper and said, "Jesus can
heal you." And so he was filled with expectation as he saw the
Lord coming down the mountainside. Lepers were not allowed to come
within reach of people, they were shut out as unclean. And so in the
ordinary way it would have been very difficult for him to get near
because of the crowd that surrounded Jesus. But as He came down from
the mount He met this poor leper. Oh, this terrible disease! There
was no help for him humanly speaking, but nothing is too hard for
Jesus. The man cried, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean." Was Jesus willing? You will never find Jesus missing an
opportunity of doing good. You will find that He is always more
willing to work than we are to give Him an opportunity to work. The
trouble is we do not come to Him, we do not ask Him for what He is
more than willing to give.
And
Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, "I will; be
thou clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. I like
that. If you are definite with Him you will never go away
disappointed. The divine life will flow into you and instantaneously
you will be delivered. This Jesus is just the same today, and He says
to you, "I will; be thou clean." He has an overflowing cup
for thee, a fullness of life. He will meet you in your absolute
helplessness. All things are possible if you will only believe. God
has a real plan. It is so simple. Just come to Jesus. You will find
Him just the same as He was in days of old.
The
next case we have in this chapter is that of the centurion coming and
beseeching Jesus on behalf of his servant who was sick of the palsy
and grievously tormented. This man was so in earnest that he came
seeking for Jesus. Notice this, that there is one thing certain;
there is no such thing as seeking without finding. He that seeketh
findeth. Listen to the gracious words of Jesus, "I will come
and heal him." Most places that we go to there are so many
people that we cannot pray for. In some places there are 200 or 300
who would like us to visit them, but we are not able to do so. But I
am so glad that the Lord Jesus is always willing to come and heal. He
longs to meet the sick ones. He loves to heal them of their
afflictions. The Lord is healing many people today by means of
handkerchiefs as you read that He healed people in the days of Paul.
You can read this in Acts 19:12. A woman came to me in the city of
Liverpool and said, "I would like you to help me. I wish you
would join with me in prayer. My husband is a drunkard and every
night comes into the home under the influence of drink. Won't you
join me in prayer for him?" I said to the woman, "Have you
a handkerchief?" She took out a handkerchief and I prayed over
it and told her to lay it on the pillow of the drunken man. He came
home that night and laid his head on the pillow in which this
handkerchief was tucked. He laid his head on more than the pillow
that night. He laid his head on the promise of God. In Mark 11:24, we
read, "What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that
ye receive them and ye shall have them."
The
next morning the man got up and called at the first saloon that he
had to pass on his way to work and ordered some beer. He tasted it
and said to the bartender, "You have put some poison in this
beer." He could not drink it, and went on to the next saloon and
ordered some more beer. He tasted it and said to the man behind the
counter, "You put some poison in this beer, I believe you folks
have agreed to poison me." The bartender was indignant at being
thus charged. The man said, "I will go somewhere else." He
went to another saloon and the same thing happened as in the two
previous saloons. He made such a fuss that they turned him out. After
he came out from work he went to another saloon to get some beer, and
again he thought he had been poisoned and he made so much disturbance
that he was thrown out. He went to his home and told his wife what
had happened and said, "It seems as though all the fellows have
agreed to poison me." His wife said to him, "Can't you see
the hand of the Lord in this, that He is making you dislike the stuff
that has been your ruin?" This word brought conviction to the
man's heart and he came to the meeting and got saved. The Lord has
still power to set the captives free.
When
I was in Australia a lady came to me who was much troubled about her
son who was so lazy. I prayed over a handkerchief, which was placed
on the boy's pillow. He slept that night on the handkerchief and the
next morning he got up and went out and secured a position and went
to work. Oh, praise the Lord, you can't shut God out, but if you
will only believe He will shut the devil out.
Jesus
was willing to go and heal the sick one but the centurion said,
"Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof;
but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." Jesus
was delighted with this expression and said to the man, "Go thy
way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." And
his servant was healed the self-same hour.
When
I was in Australia a man came up to me. He was leaning on a big stick
and said, "I would like you to help me. It will take you half an
hour to pray for me." I said, "Believe God and in one
moment you will be whole." His faith was quickened to receive an
immediate healing and he went away glorifying God for a miraculous
healing. The word of the Lord is sufficient today. If you will dare
to believe God's Word you will see a performance of His Word that
will be truly wonderful. Here we have with the centurion an audacity
of faith, a faith that did not limit God. Failures come when we limit
the Holy One of Israel. I want to encourage you to a living faith to
believe God's Word.
The
next healing we read of here is the healing of Peter's wife's mother
who was sick of a fever. Luke tells us that Jesus rebuked the fever.
The fever could hear. The moment it could hear it went. Jesus had a
new method. Today there are a lot of folks who try to sweat out a
fever. You can't sweat the devil out. He can stand all the heat that
you can apply to him. But if thou canst believe, deliverance is as
sure and certain for you as it was for Peter's wife's mother.
I
received a telegram once urging me to visit a case about 200 miles
from my home. As I went to this place I met the father and mother and
found them broken hearted. They lead me up a staircase to a room and
I saw a young woman on the floor and five people were holding her
down. She was a frail young woman but the power in her was greater
than all those young men. As I went into the room the evil powers
looked out of her eyes and they used her lips saying, "We are
many, you can't cast us out." I said, "Jesus can." He
is equal to every occasion. He is waiting for an opportunity to
bless. He is ready for every opportunity to deliver souls. When we
receive Jesus it is true of us, "Greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world." He is greater than all the powers
of darkness. No man can meet the devil in his own strength, but any
man filled with the knowledge of Jesus, filled with His presence,
filled with His power, is more than a match for the powers of
darkness. God has called us to be more than conquerors through Him
that loved us.
The
living Word is able to destroy satanic forces. There is power in the
name of Jesus. I would that every window in the street had the name
of Jesus written large upon it. His name, through faith in His name
brought deliverance to this poor, bound soul, and thirty-seven demons
came out giving their names as they came forth. The dear woman was
completely delivered and they were able to give her back her child.
That night there was heaven in that home and the father and mother
and son and his wife were all united in glorifying Christ for His
infinite grace. The next morning we had a gracious time in the
breaking of bread. All things are wonderful with our wonderful Jesus.
If you would dare rest your all upon Him, things would take place and
He would change the whole situation. In a moment, through the name of
Jesus, a new order of things can be brought in.
In
the world they are always having new diseases and the doctors cannot
locate them. A doctor said to me, "The science of medicine is in
its infancy, and really we doctors have no confidence in our
medicine. We are always experimenting." But the man of God does
not experiment. He knows, or ought to know, redemption in its
fullness. He knows, or ought to know, the mightiness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is not, or should not be, moved by our outward
observation, but should get divine revelation of the mightiness of
the name of Jesus and the power of His blood. If we exercise our
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ He will come forth and get glory over
all the powers of darkness. At eventide they brought unto Him many
that were possessed with devils; and He cast out the spirits with His
word and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, "Himself took our
infirmities and bare our sicknesses." The work is done if you
only believe it. It is done. Himself took our infirmities and bare
our sicknesses. If you can only see the Lamb of God as He went to
Calvary!
He
took our flesh that He might take upon Himself the full burden of all
our sin and all the consequences of sin. There on the cross God laid
upon Him the iniquities of us all. There on the cross of Calvary the
results of sin were also dealt with. "As the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same;
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their life time subject to bondage." Through His death there
is deliverance for you today.
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