INSIGHTS & NOTES FROM
CHAPTER 9
"Vers. 1 - 8. A man sick of the palsy." "The faith of the centurion obtained a cure for his servant." "CHRIST THE RESTORER OF HEALTH & THE FORGIVER OF SIN." "On our way to cure we have no time for speculation, or curiosity; but to draw near with faith." "Why does our Saviour begin with the pardon of sin? 1. To display His sovereignty. 2. To show that the soul is the principal care. 3. Perhaps the man suffered more from spiritual distress than from bodily pain." "The worst kind of paralysis, but, God be thanked, far the rarest of all, is that of the heart & conscience." "Ver. 6. But that ye may know that the Son of Man. - Forgiveness" "Forgiveness is reconciliation; the offence is no longer allowed to stand between the parties. When God forgives He receives us back to His favour. It is free, full & outruns our repentance. But He does not destroy the consequences of sin; the punishment remains." "...the paralysis, both moral & physical, was removed." "Ver. 9. He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom." "Whom are we to follow & on what road, & to what place? I. WE ARE TO FOLLOW CHRIST. Do not the soldiers follow their captain? Do not the redeemed follow their deliverer? Do not the disciples follow the teacher?" "II. WHAT IS THE WAY ALONG WHICH HE CALLS US TO FOLLOW?" "...a new & living way." "III. WHAT PLACE." "Ver. 10. As Jesus sat at meat in the house." "Ver. 11. Publicans & sinners." "You cannot bring the best out of a man if you do not believe that the best is somewhere in him." "Throw away your miserable, smouldering, fuming torch of conceit & hatred, lift up to them the light of love, and lo! they will arise & shine; yea, flame & burn with an undreamt of glory. (Canon Farrar.)" "Ver. 12. They that be whole need not a physician." "I. WHO NEGLECT THE HEAVENLY PHYSICIAN? 1. Those who depend for salvation upon their own good lives. 2. Those who depend for salvation upon their religious duties. 3. Those who depend for salvation upon their correct notions. II. THOSE WHO VALUE THE HEAVENLY PHYSICIAN - 'They that are sick.'" "I. THERE IS A MORAL DISEASE IN THE HEART & CHARACTER OF MAN. 1. Depraved mental appetite. 2. The faculty of moral vision is impaired. 3. Moral stupor & weakness & want of activity." "Jesus the Physician: I. WE ARE ALL SICK. Many are our ailments. Sin is the great malady. We need a Physician. The world has no medicines. He is adapted for it. Understands all cases. Neglects none." "The main remedy is His own precious blood" "IV. THOSE WHO KNOW THEIR TRUE CONDITION ARE VERY DESIROUS OF HIS HELP. (G. Burder.)" "Christ the Physician of souls: - I. SIN IS THE SICKNESS OF THE SOUL. It is the disease of the soul that makes the sinner a sick man." "Sickness takes away the beauty of the body. Sin spoils the beauty of the soul." "IS SIN THE SICKNESS OF YOUR SOUL? 1. Go quickly to the Physician for the cure of the disease of the soul which you labour under. Delay no longer. 2. Time is flying. No medicine will cure that wound, no argument will persuade it to return." "3. Death is approaching. ...4. Make frequent application to Christ." "3 things concur to the cure of the soul. I. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. II. THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. III. THE WORD OF CHRIST." "Other physicians are enriched by their patients, but He enricheth His making them heirs of glory." "Ver. 13. I will have mercy & not sacrifice. - Mercy preferred to sacrifice" "I came not to call the righteous - The main object of Christ's ministry, to call sinners to repentance." "Ver. 15. Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn?" "The joy of spiritual freedom." "Ver. 16. A piece of new cloth unto an old garment." "By an old garment I understand is meant a man's own righteousness." "1. Because it is old as Adam. 2. Because it is worn out." "Ver. 17. New wine into old bottles." "Ver. 20 - 22. And touched the hem of His garment. - Touching Jesus" "However deep-seated & desperate the condition of the soul's health, the Saviour can help us." "Faith comes with a deep despair of all other help but Christ's." "Faith comes with an implied trust in Christ." "Faith feels a change from the touch of Christ. (J. Ker. D. D.)" "The sun can send some of its light & heat through very murky skies, & the Sun of Righteousness can do the same, & even more." "All traces of the disease vanished. Complete - perfect. Faith goes to Christ: - Can you tell why the needle trembles to the pole? The buds feel their way to the spring? Flowers to sunlight? They are made for it, & souls are so made for Christ." "Vers. 23 - 25. The maid is not dead, but sleepeth. - The healing of Jairus's daughter." "Unbelief says it is useless to trouble the Master any more." "Jesus is the Resurrection & the Life, & He restores out of death in all its stages." "They were too wise in their own conceit to think of looking with the eye of faith." "How much there is in which a devoutly-trained faith may discern truth & comfort & promise of good, where the mere human eye might discover nothing but perplexity or disappointment. (J. Puckle, M. A.)" "Ver. 29. Then touched He their eyes." "Faith is not merely an emotion; it is a conviction of the understanding." "Faith is the bucket by means of which a man may draw water out of the wells of salvation, & drink to his heart's content." "...faith is that little cup, which we hold up to the flowing stream of Christ's grace: we fill it, & then we drink & are refreshed." "Vers. 32, 33. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake. - The dumb made to speak" "God does not want ability so much as availability. The demon of selfishness must be cast out." "The demon of wilfulness must be cast out." "Ver. 35. Healing every sickness. - Christ the Physician" "Ver. 36. But when He saw the multitudes. - Christ's look of sympathy" "THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 1. Faint. 2. Scattered. 3. Shepherdless." "Christ was moved with the sight of physical suffering; here it was spiritual disease." "...compassion grows by what it feeds on, & is of the very nature of the love of God." "Ver. 28. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest." "THE FIELD is the world." "THE HARVEST LABOURERS. 1. All who try to win souls are in His eye as reapers gathering the wheat into the garner." "Few in proportion to the world's need" "Christ was deeply affected by the spiritual depression of the people - 'they fainted.' Christ was deeply affected at the spiritual destitution of the people - 'were scattered abroad.'" "Labourers are wanted." "OUR LORD DIRECTION HIS DICIPLES HOW TO OBTAIN A SUPPLY. 1. Pray ye. ...3. Pray to the Lord." "THE LORD JESUS HEARD THEIR PRAYERS." The Biblical Illustrator, Baker, pgs. 153 - 172.
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AuthorCross Preaching Pentecostal Pastor. Husband to Tonia, Father to 3 beautiful girls, Monica, Zoe & Briana, & Grandfather to Wesley & Elliott Archives
September 2023
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