All right, brethren, Luke 4. I wanted to get to this portion last time because I know we have some brethren that have been sick and have family that are sick. And I really wanted to focus on this. So that's why I tried to prepare a message from this passage today. Our Lord went to Simon Peter's house Simon was married and his mother-in-law had a fever.

It appears she was near death. And it says in verse nine, he stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. And immediately she arose and ministered unto them. And so when the word spread, it says when the sun was setting, so this happened pretty quickly, all they that had any sick with different diseases brought them unto him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.

And devils also came out of many, crying out and saying, thou art Christ, the Son of God. And he rebuking suffered them not to speak, for they knew that he was Christ. And then when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place, and the people sought him and came to him and stated that he should not depart. They're begging him to stay. And he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. My subject is reasons for sickness. Everyone in the world gets sick. Everybody gets sick. But why? Why? What are the reasons? Well, for God's people, for the elect of God, the Lord uses everything in providence, including sickness, disease.

He uses these things to show us and teach us what he declares in his word. that Christ is all our salvation. Now that's the simple reason. He's showing us Christ is salvation. That's the purpose. And we'll see a little more detail as we go. But first of all, understand this, sin is the cause of sickness. That's what causes sickness, sin. That's what causes physical death, is sin. Now, everybody's a sinner, everybody. That includes God's saints. Those made holy by God are sinners. So sickness and trouble are sure to come. They are sure to come to us.

This was Peter, the apostle Peter. This was his wife's mother. Peter's a chosen child of God. He's won the Father's love from everlasting, just like he has all those he chose by grace. Peter's one that the Father sent the Son, and our Lord Jesus laid down his life for Peter. The Lord Jesus was there at that time to go to the cross for Peter and save him from his sins and make him righteous, just like he did for all his elect. And Peter had experienced the Holy Spirit sanctifying him.

He's holy. God the Father made us holy when he chose us in Christ, preserved us in Christ, that's Jude 1. And Christ made us holy by fulfilling the will of God, by fulfilling the whole law for us by his one offering, that's Hebrews 10. And then the Spirit sanctified us by giving us a new heart, in bringing us to trust Christ alone, forming Christ our sanctifier within us. So Peter's, he's a righteous and a holy man.

And yet, here he has one in his family sick, nigh unto death. Nigh unto death. Sickness came to Peter's house, to his mother-in-law. See, everybody's gonna face tribulation. Everybody's gonna face sickness, even God's people. You know, we start out with this ideal of how the life of faith's gonna be. Not gonna be a sinner anymore. Everything's gonna go good. We're gonna have a rosy life. And that's not usually how it ends up. Because we're gonna have tribulation. We're gonna have sickness. We're gonna have trouble. And it's not, when I say sin is the cause, I don't mean necessarily that it's necessarily a specific act of sin.

I mean it because that's our nature. My grandmother broke her wrist and she heard one of our neighbors was sick, and so she cooked something for her, like a couple days worth of food, and took it to the neighbor's house. And the neighbor asked her what happened to her wrist, and my grandmother said, oh, it's just sin. And the lady said, what'd you do?

Everybody thinks when you talk about sin, you're talking about some specific act of sin. Well, those are sins, but we don't have to do a specific act of sin. Sin is our nature, and we're gonna get sick because that's what our nature is. Anybody wants to deny that they're a sinner, hang around a little while, they're gonna die, and they're gonna prove, yep, they were a sinner, because that's why we die.

And when you get sickness or trouble, that does not necessarily mean that God is chastening his child. Sometimes it does. Sometimes he does chasten. We see it in the scripture. He does chasten by using trouble or sickness or something like that. That doesn't always mean that. We should never say that to somebody. That's not a good thing.

Go with me to Job 1. Job 1. I'm just about to the point of thinking that whatever my first thought is about a situation or about something that's happened to somebody, whatever, I'm about to the point of realizing whatever first comes into my mind, I need to just disregard that, because that's going to be wrong. You know what? That's generally how it is with it. But it certainly was the case with Job.

Job 1A. I'm just trying to show you that it's not always due to sin, not always God correcting. Job 1.8, the Lord said to Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? See, Job's trouble was not because of sin in Job, not some act. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught?

Has not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. That's so of all God's people. He's got a hedge around his people. And if you have blessings, it's because he gave it.

And but Satan said, but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Satan couldn't, see the Lord brought up Job and Satan couldn't do anything what the Lord permitted. But so Satan took Job's livestock, which was his wealth. He took his servants, he took his children, and their spouses all in one day. But by the grace of God, Job continued worshiping the Lord. Verse Job 2-3, and the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job? There's none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil. And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him without a cause. You see there, this wasn't done because Job had committed some sinful act.

And Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, all that a man hath he'll give for his life. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he'll curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said to Satan, behold, he's in thine hand, but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot until his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife to him, does thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips. And then Job's so-called comforters came, and these three friends came, and they blamed Job. They said, Job, you sinned. That's why all this has happened to you. You're sick because you sinned against God. He's getting you back. God said those men did not speak what was right. They said he did, they didn't. The Lord told his people, in this world, you shall have tribulation.

It does not necessarily mean God's child's committed a sinful act and God's punishing him. You're gonna have it, because we're all sin in our nature. But be sure to get this. The physical sickness and trouble is always the consequence of sin. and the evil that comes before, God's ruling it all. It's not happening without his permission, but it's the devil that's doing like he did to Job. But God taught Job through that, and God's gonna teach his child through anything that we have to suffer. Now, so what is God's purpose in our trouble, including sickness?

I want you to note the end of Luke 4, verse 38. Note the end of Luke 4, 38. It says, and they, her family, besought Christ for her. They besought Christ for her. Then look at verse 40.

Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with any different diseases brought them unto him. Now there's one reason right there for trouble and for sickness is to make God's child come to Christ. That's the purpose. If a brother's in trouble or sick, rather than being like Job's friends, rather than blaming them, rather than talking bad about them to others, rather than listening to anybody bad mouth them, seek Christ for them. Bring them to Christ.

Bring that troubled brother to Christ like they brought the sick to Christ. Brother Henry, used to say that he would remind us always, it's always right to be gracious. It's always right to be gracious. And our text shows us it's always right to seek Christ for your brethren. Go to Christ, bring them to Christ.

In time of trouble, we tend to find out who our true friends are, who our true brethren are. And a true friend is somebody that is gonna go to Christ on your behalf or bring you to Christ, speak to you of Christ, bring you to Him, pray for you. That's a true brother and a true friend. But God's purpose in any trouble, in any sickness, be it our own trouble or our brother's trouble, is to draw us to Christ to find help in time of need, to keep us knowing He's our only salvation. Now that's the first thing. And next we see this. Our trouble, including sickness, is to teach the Lord's people and keep us knowing that our salvation is Christ alone.

Just him, nobody else. Nobody else can help but him. He is salvation. Verse 39 says, he stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. And then verse 40 says, for all that were brought to him, he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. The Lord Jesus is the righteousness and holiness of his people. I've said this and I'm gonna keep saying it.

Sin equals death. Sin equals sickness and death. Righteousness and holiness is life. They're synonymous That's what Romans 8 10 says if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin But the spirit is life the cause of righteousness when Adam sinned death in her death in her and when Christ enters you life enters Because he's your righteousness They're one and the same.

And so Christ is our life. He is the health of his people, the life of his people, because he's the righteousness and the holiness of his people. And he's the great physician. He's the only one that can heal us by giving us him, by giving us his righteousness, giving us his holiness.

And when we're in good health and when we're prospering, we tend to start feeling self-sufficient. And we start thinking everything's going good. Boy, we've made the right decisions. We've made the right business choices. We've done this, that. Look what we got. And then when the trouble comes or the sickness comes, that's when we're reminded again, I can't do a thing without the Lord. And that's what we need to be reminded of. That's what we need to be reminded of. Christ is the great physician. The Savior stood over her. He stood over her. He's always over each and every one of his people. Our physician is all knowing.

A doctor, when he comes in, an earthly doctor, he's going to have to look at your chart. He's got a lot of patients. He don't remember what everybody's problem is. So he's going to have to come in, look at your chart, read your chart, really familiarize himself with what's wrong with you. Our physician don't have to read your chart.

He knows what's wrong. He knows everything about you. He knows what you need. For you who are his, At all times, he's watching over you. He knows. He knows what you need, whether you need help to see him and know him more, or you need to be brought down from pride, or you need to be lifted up from depression, or settled from your anxiousness, whatever it is, he knows your need, and he is the answer to that need, him alone. The way a great physician heals, the way the great physician heals, is through his word. Through his word.

We're gonna end, but I'm gonna go ahead and say it now too, we're gonna end with this point that he's gonna do all this through the gospel. But you see there, he came and rebuked the fever, and the fever left. Can you imagine an earthly physician, if he walked into a patient's room and rebuked the sickness to leave, he'd reveal he's a quack. And because it wouldn't happen.

But the Lord is going to heal through his word, his word's power. He upholds the world by his power. This world's held in store by his power. He's promised God he's going to save all his elect. And he's redeemed us. He's promised he's going to call everyone. and give them faith, and God's not willing that any of his chosen redeemed people perish. So as long as this world, there's a lost sinner that God chose and redeemed, long as there's one in this world, this world's held in store by the word of our Savior, and he's gonna call that lost sinner by this word, and that's how he's gonna give us this healing and save us. So the primary lesson here, brethren, The same lesson here is Christ is our healing, and it's that he's our righteousness, he's our holiness, because he fulfilled all the law for it. And he's that righteousness and that holiness. I'm trying to just be simple, but this is it. And he's gonna do it through this word. Now, let me say this.

He's the one that's gonna heal you if you're sick, truly physical, earthly, bodily sick. He's the one that'll heal you. Listen, that doesn't mean you don't, some take that and so they won't have a blood transfusion, they won't take medicine, they won't go to an earthly doctor, because they, you know, Christ is the healing.

Listen, Christ is gonna save, but he's gonna save through the means he's ordained, which is preaching this gospel. And by the same token, he's gonna save through other means he's ordained when it comes to physical sickness, like an earthly doctor and earthly medicine. That's the means he's provided, and he'll do it through that. But he's doing it, just like he's gonna use preaching, but he's the one that's doing the saving.

So don't go to the extreme of saying, I'm gonna reject medicine. I mean, that's like saying, well, if he's gonna save me, he's gonna save me by his word, I don't have to hear the gospel preached. Yeah, you gonna have to, he gonna bring you under the gospel. So we don't go to that extreme of rejecting medicine.

But this is the lesson, he's the cure, he's the cure. Reverse in Matthew 8 and in verse 17 you don't have to turn there instead turn to Isaiah 53 Matthew 8 17 says this It says he did all this it gives the same account And it says he did all this that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet Himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses, and here's what that means He's doing all this healing as a picture and as an example that he is our salvation because he bore the sin of his people and the curse that we deserve. Isaiah 53, 4, this is what Matthew was quoting. And he said that's why he did all this healing. Isaiah 53, 4, surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. The way Matthew quoted it is himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Now is that you? That's me. By nature, I thought he was just a man, got killed by other men, because he got what he deserved. I didn't believe him. I didn't believe who he was. That's what it says there. But here's what was really taking place, and here's what our text is picturing.

He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. That's what this physical healing is picturing. All we like sheep gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way. That's all the people he saves, and he's gonna make us admit that. We left him. We didn't want him. We went our own way. We were the sinner, unable to believe or save ourselves. and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. All our sin and our unrighteousness, and it's with his stripes we're healed. Look at verse 11.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, his suffering, and shall be satisfied. Christ honored God's law for his people. Look, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the small with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. That's what all this is picturing. It's not just to tell us Christ heals us when we've got a cold, it's to show us Christ took the sin of his people, and he bore the curse we deserve, and he healed us by his stripes. He healed us of sin completely by making us righteous and holy.

Listen, if there's anybody here in this that's never confessed Christ, salvation is not a matter of you accepting Jesus. It's a matter of a holy God accepting you. God don't need mercy from you. He don't need you to pity Him and let Him save you. You need mercy from Him. And you need to come to Him and fall down on His feet and beg Him to save you and have mercy on you.

But I'll tell you this, everybody that ever came to Him like that, He saved them. He had mercy on them. We see it in our text. Everybody they brought to Him, He laid His hands on them and healed every one of them. And that's what He'll do. because his people are going to be brought to him. They're coming to him by his grace and he's going to heal them. If you go to him confessing you're absolutely totally ruined in sin and that you need to be saved by mercy and free grace and in Christ doing and dying alone, the only way you can really do that in truth is if he drew you there and made you know that and made you confess it to him. So he'll get the glory and he'll make us know he did it. Now look back at our text. We see another purpose of God in sickness. It goes along with our first message. It's to make his child to be more useful to speak of what Christ has done for us.

It says there in Luke 4, it says that the Lord stood over her and he healed her. He wreaked his fever and it went out of her. And it says, And immediately, verse 39, and immediately she arose and ministered unto them, immediately. Soon as he healed her, she rose up and went to ministering to him.

You remember whenever the Lord was telling Peter, you're gonna deny me, Peter. This was his trouble. Tribulation comes to us in a lot of different ways. Peter was lifted up in pride and he needed to be humbled. And Lord said, Peter, you're gonna deny me. He said, I'm ready to die for you. These others will, but I won't. I love you more than they do, is what he was saying. And the Lord told him, he said, Peter, I prayed for you.

Your faith's not gonna fail. But after you're brought through this trial, I'll bring you through it. He said, then you strengthen your brethren. And he's saying, then you tell your brethren what I've taught you through what I've done with you. And Peter did. Go with me to 1 Peter 5.

And our trouble, our sickness, and God saving us by his grace, number one, that's the preeminent thing, is to tell other sinners about Christ. It's to minister to other sinners, telling them Christ did it all. He's the only way of salvation. And if you have trouble and he saves you out of it, is to say, Christ did it, he's all. If you're sick and he heals you, it's to tell others, Christ did this, you need Christ.

Every time he does anything for you, it's to bring you to him, it's to bring your brethren to him, it's to remind you he's all your salvation, it's to remind you he's the power that saves through his word, and it's so that after he's done it, you go and also, speak of him to others about what he did, minister to them.

Immediately, she got up and went to ministering to people. You might read that and just take it that she got up and went to cooking dinner for them all or whatever. She probably got up and went to saying, y'all need to believe this man. You need to trust this man. He is the savior. That's probably how she was ministering to them, is preaching to him. But here's what Peter did. We don't have to guess how Peter ministered. The Lord said, when you're saved from this, he said, you strengthen your brethren. Here's how Peter did it.

In 1 Peter 5, 5, he said, all of you, he said, you be subject one to another, you submit to one another and be clothed with a humility because God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. See, Peter, before this, Peter was telling the Lord, I won't deny you. I'm ready to lay down my life for you. Peter was exalting himself in his time. Peter learned, better just humble yourself and trust the Lord.

He'll exalt you when you need to be exalted. You get that? He said, you submit to him that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist one way, looking to Christ, steadfast in the faith.

And remember, these things are happening to your brethren, too, just like they're happening to you. Knowing the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren. Christ's not trying. He's accomplishing the same thing in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, will make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you, and he'll get all the glory, because the power and dominion is his forever and ever. To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever.

See, it's not just to save you. It's not just to minister to you and teach you again that Christ is all. So then you can go and remind your brethren Submit to him, he is salvation. He's the only one that can save. And then lastly, I'm just gonna hit on this very quickly. All of this is done, I showed you last week, the passage begins speaking of him preaching and talking about his power, and it ends the same way. This passage is telling us he heals his people, not only by what he did for us on Calvary's cross, but by what he does through the preaching of the gospel giving us a new nature, a new heart, a new spirit to believe in. And he's gonna do it through this gospel. He said in verse 41, the devils came out of many crying out, saying, thou art Christ, the Son of God, and he rebuked them and he suffered them not to speak, for they knew he was Christ. Here's the point of that.

The Lord is not gonna use a false preacher. He's not blessing that at all. And he said it, he said, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord. I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. He said, I will give you pastors after my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. So he shut the mouths of the devils. He wouldn't let them speak about him.

But wherever his people are, he's gonna get the gospel to them. They try to get him to stay there, And in verse 43, he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. And right now, he's in glory, but he's sending this gospel.

Because he said in John 10, 16, he said, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold in Israel, not elect Jews. He said, I got some Gentiles. And he said, them I must bring, I must. And they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

He's calling all his people through this gospel and healing us by speaking and rebuking the fever to leave us. and giving us faith to trust Him, making us righteous and holy in Him, and making us know it so we trust Him alone. So, He's gonna use physical sickness sometimes to remind you of these things. Trouble of every kind. It's gonna be for you personally, or for your brother, or for both of you. But He's gonna keep you knowing that you need to cry to the Lord. You're the sinner. Bring in your brethren to the Lord you come into the Lord.

He's gonna teach you He's all your salvation keep reminding you over and over and over and over He's the only one that is your salvation and he's gonna keep you declaring his name Ministering to others that need him your brethren and Law Center Just like she got up went to ministering to them. He's gonna keep doing it and he's gonna do it all Through this gospel every bit of it I got this quote from an old preacher.

He said, I would not be half the man I am, but for God giving me a sick child. My tendency is toward aggressiveness, sternness, harshness, but that little sick child has softened me and been like a benediction upon my life. Afflictions do not spring out of the dust, do not be impatient with them. We need something to soften this hard life. And that's a good example of what the Lord's gonna accomplish.

Whatever the trial, whether it's you or another brother bearing it, you go to Christ for them, go to Christ directly for you, and cast all your care on him, pour out all you need on him, and remember, he is all salvation. I love this, I just thought of this, but I love this, John wrote, I put this on text sometimes when I'm, or emails when somebody's sick.

He said, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. I want to see all my brethren recover from sickness, but you gonna die. But what I want to see more than anything is I want to see your soul prosper. I want to see your soul prosper.

That's the important thing. Knowing Christ is your life. Trust in Him. That's the main thing. He will heal your body, and we pray for one another on that, and I do. I pray, Lord, give you good health. Whatever trouble you're in, know the purpose of it is Him. Go to Him. That's the purpose. That's the purpose. All right, Brother Greg.