Let's turn back to Mark chapter
one. We're going to have the preacher's class this Saturday
morning and all men are invited, 10 a.m. I've entitled this message, The
Fever Left Her. The Fever Left Her. And the Lord is going into Simon
Peter's home And evidently his mother-in-law lived there. And
Mark tells us she was lay. She was incapacitated by a great
fever. Luke's account says she was taken
with a great fever. Now I've had a few great fevers.
and you can become delirious, it's miserable. And she had a
great fever and was laid down and couldn't get up. Maybe she
was delirious. I don't know what all was involved
in this, but this word taken that I quoted from Matthew or Luke's account, is
also translated constrained, held, kept in, pressed, to be
sick of, stopped, being in a straight, stricken, be taken with, be thronged. That's the way this word is used
about this fever. And what I'd like to do is instead
of fever, let's use the word sin, which is what this fever
typifies. Constrained by sin. Held by sin. Kept in by sin. Suppressed by sin. Lying sick of sin. Stopped by sin. To be in a strait by sin. Stricken by sin. Being taken with sin. by sin. Strong words. Now, to a believer, it's not
this way with an unbeliever, but to a believer, sin is a disease
that they hate. Only a believer can say against
thee and thee only have I sinned. An unbeliever will not say anything
like that. Now an unbeliever doesn't like the consequences
of sin, the physical effects that it causes or the embarrassment
it causes when caught. Nobody likes that. But a believer
To him, sin is a loathsome disease. David said, my loins are filled
with a loathsome disease. And I know that's Christ speaking
from the cross, but it's also David speaking. Now, the whole
need not a physician, but what? They that are sick. And only a believer knows anything
about the sickness and the disease of sin. I love the way it says in verse
30, the last verse, Simon's wife's mother lay incapacitated, sick
of a fever. And anon they tell him of her.
You know, that's the best thing you could do for me. Tell him
about me. The best thing I could do for
you is tell him about you. I love that. They tell him about
her. They knew he was the only one
that could really do anything for her. They tell him of her. Verse 31, and he came. You know, there's a lot more
to that than meets the eye. And he came. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Whoso
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God. He that confesses that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh, he's of God. Now, everything
we believe is in that statement about his coming. The Father
sent him. He was before He came. That's
speaking of His eternal existence. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same eternally
was in the beginning with God. He was before He came. The Father
sent Him, and He came in the flesh, bone of our bones and
flesh of our flesh. He came in the flesh to touch
me and you. And he did exactly what he came
to do. He came to save his people from
their sins. And beloved, that's what he did.
He said, the son of man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost. I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance, what a blessed thing when he comes. I want him to come to me right
now, don't you? I want him to come to me just like he did Peter's
mother-in-law, laid sick with the fever and Jesus came. Behold, I come. Even so, come Lord Jesus. And the scripture says, he came
and took her by the hand. Now in Matthew's account, it
says he saw her. He saw her. And now there's something very
special about that. He saw her. I want the Lord to
come to me and see me. Now that means he knew her. He
knew her. I think of this passage of scripture,
Zacchaeus being up in that tree. He wanted to see who the Lord
was, but he couldn't, for he was short of stature. And there's
so much I want to see, but I can't. I can't unless he makes himself
known to me. But he comes to the town of Jericho,
and he looks up where he was, and the scripture says he saw
him. He saw him. He saw one who he had loved with
an everlasting love. He saw one of his elect. He saw
one who's been eternally united to him. He saw one that he was
going to die for. And he said, Zacchaeus. Can you
imagine how shocked Zacchaeus was? He didn't know. He'd never
talked to the Lord. And he called him by name. He
knew him. He saw him. He knew. Zacchaeus. Philip comes up to Nathanael
and says, we found him. Who is the Christ? He said, well,
who is Jesus of Nazareth? He said, can there any good thing
come out of Nazareth? And you remember when the Lord
came to him and spoke his name, he said, whence knowest thou
my name? He said, before you were here, when you were sitting
under the fig tree, I saw thee. I saw, oh, thou Lord, seest me. That's, I want him to come to
me and I want him to see me. He looked upon this woman. He
knew her all together. There was a blind or a halt man. just laying by the pool of Bethsaida,
waiting for someone to pick him up. He couldn't get to the water.
And the scripture says, when Jesus saw him. Now there were
a multitude of impotent folk there, but he didn't see all
of them. But when he saw this certain man, he saw him. He saw him. He saw him lie. And he knew that he'd been a
long time in that case. And he said, wilt thou be made
whole? Luke's account says he stood
over her. He came, he saw, and he stood
over her. This is in Matthew, Mark, and
Luke's account. All give a little bit different
details. He came and he stood over her. The Lord is on the way to Jerusalem. Scripture says He set His face
toward Jerusalem. And the Old Testament account
says that He set His face like a flint. He was going to the
cross. This is why He came. He's the
only one who ever really came to die. And He knows His hour
has come. And He's going through Jericho,
headed toward Jerusalem with His face set like a flint. And I'm sure many people were
calling His name, Jesus! Jesus! He kept moving. But suddenly
there was a cry from the crowd that caused him to stand still. What was it? Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. Do you know he always hears that
cry? Always. That caused him to stand
still while he was on the way to Jerusalem. He came and stood
over her. Now that word means to be present,
to be at hand, to stand still. There you are. Now, I want you
to think about this, to be present. How important and I can't emphasize
it properly. How important is the presence
of Christ? I think of His presence when
He stood before time began as the surety of all those the Father
gave Him, all those that were united to Him, and He agreed,
I'll take full responsibility for their salvation. How important
was His presence then? How important was His presence
when He became flesh and stood before the law and kept it perfectly. He has magnified the law, the
Scripture says, and made it honorable. Oh, how important was His presence
before God's law for those 33 years. How important was His
presence when He died. When He was nailed to that cross
and all the sins of God's people were put away. How infinitely
important was His presence when He was raised from the dead.
The Scripture says He was raised for our justification. How important
is His presence right now at the right hand of the Father,
controlling everything and everybody, ruling and reigning, making intercession
for every single one of His people. He brings my name before the
Father. There's a man in glory, Jesus Christ the Lord. His presence,
He's there for me. He was present. Near at hand. Verse 31, and he came and took
her by the hand. The other accounts say he touched
her. Now, sometimes he would heal
by willing it. If you will, you can make me
clean. Jesus said, I will. Be thou clean. Sometimes he used rather ordinary,
unordinary means. He spit some clay and made a,
made a mud pie and put it in the guy's eyes and says, wash
and be cleaned. That's unusual. But here he touched
this woman that was burning with the figure. Look in Verse 40
of the same chapter, and there came a leper to him, beseeching
him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion. Don't miss that. Moved with compassion. Put forth his hand and touched
him. How long do you reckon it had
been since this man had been touched by another human being?
He was full of leprosy. Nobody'd get close to him. But
the Lord reached forth his hand and touched him. Now, the Lord
touched us when he became bone of our bones and flesh of our
flesh. He touched us. And He touched
us on the cross when He was made to bear our sins. Oh, how He
touched us. And even now, He's touched by
the feeling of our infirmities. Is there anyone feeling the weight
of your sin? He's touched by the feeling of
our infirmities. I think of his touch. There's a funeral procession.
And he stops and touches the coffin. And says, young man,
I say unto thee, arise. And he arose. Those two blind
men. He says, do you believe that
I'm able to do this? They said, yea, Lord. And he
reached forth his hand and touched their eyes and said, according
to your faith, be it unto you. What was their faith? Yes, they
believed he could do this. On the man of transfiguration.
When Peter made that stupid statement, let us make three tabernacles,
and all of a sudden a great cloud descends. And they're scared
to death. They hit the dirt. They don't
know what's going to happen. They think maybe they're going
to be killed. And Jesus reaches forth His hand and touches them
and says, be not afraid. The touch of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Luke's account says He rebuked
the fever. He rebuked the fever. Very much like He rebuked that
demon. Look in verse 25, And Jesus rebuked
him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when
the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him, and all were amazed, insomuch as they questioned
among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine
is this? For with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits,
and they do obey him." Now did that fever have any choice when
he told him to leave? He told the fever to leave? He
rebuked the fever? He charged the fever to leave?
the command of omnipotence, and the fever had to obey his voice. He said, my word shall not return
unto me void. It shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I've sent
it. You know, the Lord never asks
people to do things. He tells them to. And there is
invincible almighty power. Every time He says do, it's done. There's omnipotence in His command. I love to think about Matthew.
I don't know what all Matthew'd heard. He heard something, but
there he is sitting at the receipt of customs, tax collector. And the Lord said, follow me. And he rose, forsook all, and
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the only way you'll do that
is if there's sovereign, irresistible grace in that command. Somebody
says, I don't know if I could do that. If he commands you to,
you can. You sure will. You see, with the command comes
the ability. Stretch forth thy hand. He couldn't. He could when the Lord told him
to. He rebuked that fever. And he took her by the hand and
lifted her up. This is our spiritual resurrection. Luke's account simply says she
arose, but she didn't so immediately. She did so immediately. There
wasn't a time of recovery. You know, I've been sick and
the fever goes, you're laid out, you're sick, you don't have the
strength to move. But she rose up immediately.
No time of recovery, nothing of that nature. And she got up
and immediately started serving them and I bet she fixed the
best meal she'd ever fixed for the Lord at that time. She was
cooking for the Lord. Now I can't imagine what a meal
that must have been. She was supernaturally energized
and she got up and served the Lord when he raised her up. Now there's something that I
want to point out in verse 31. And all three writers say this. And he came and took her by the
hand and lifted her up. And immediately the fever left
her. Where'd it go? immediately the fever left her. It was in her and then it left
her. Where did it go? Now we can learn
something regarding the gospel and the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ by this. And anytime I deal with something
like this, I always, I do so thinking I don't want to darken
counsel with words without knowledge, and I'm talking about things
that I know I don't understand, and you know I don't understand
them. I'm just trying to give what the scripture teaches that I believe,
and I want you to see this. Regarding what was going on in
the cross, that was a transaction between the Father and the Son
that we'll never really be able to understand. We're thankful
for it. But I think that this gives us some more understanding
of what's taking place when we see this. Now, would you turn
with me to Matthew chapter 8? This is Matthew's account. Now, I think this is glorious
to think about this. Verse 14, and when Jesus was
come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid and sick
of a fever, and he touched her hand, and the fever left her,
and she arose and ministered unto them. When the evening was
come, that very evening in that same house, they brought unto
him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast them
out, cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that
were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. Now I know that's used by faith
healers to say it's not God's will for you
to be sick. God, Christ bore your sicknesses
so you don't have to if you just have the faith to believe him
for that and ask him to heal you. Now, if you're healed of
anything, the Lord healed you. Amen. And he always uses means
as far as I, you know, I know people say, uh, I've always heard
people say, well, this, I had cancer and then it was gone.
Well, mate, I don't know. I don't know, but I know that
he uses means I took chemotherapy. I could pray. Well, Lord, heal
me. Well, He could have done it without chemotherapy. He could
have done it without operations. He could have done all these
things. But I think when James is talking
about pray for the sick, anointing them with oil, oil is a means. It's not saying there's saving
efficacy and power and healing in that oil. Remember the man
who was beat up and they poured in oil and wine? It's medicinal.
I think we're to use the means whatever the Lord gives us to
use. Does he just up and heal people
and all of a sudden it's gone? Well, people claim that that's
happened. Maybe it has. I've never seen
it verified, but I don't know. I know he generally uses means.
I know that. And people have used that to
faith healing and all that kind of stuff. But turn with me for
a moment to Isaiah 53. This is where this is a quotation
from, Isaiah 53. Verse four. Surely he hath borne our griefs. and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, but 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. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, when Matthew quotes that,
he uses the word sicknesses and diseases. He doesn't use the
word iniquity and transgression. He uses the word sicknesses and
diseases. He bear our sicknesses. He took our infirmities. He took them, he received them.
And that disease, that fever went somewhere. When the fever
left, it went somewhere. And like I said, sin is a disease
to the believer. It's a grievous disease. Anybody like having a disease?
No, you want to be healed from it, don't you? You don't enjoy
having a disease. You don't take rest in having
a disease. You want to be delivered from it. And sin is a disease,
a loathsome disease to a believer. Well, the scripture says he took
them and willingly bore them. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree, just as he healed all the sick. Everybody he died
for was healed. By his stripes we are healed. Now, the Bible nowhere says that
our sins were imputed to Christ. Did you know that? The Bible
nowhere says our sins were imputed to Christ. They were, but it's
not what the Bible says. And I think that this is given
to give us some understanding of what was taking place on Calvary's
tree. Now, sickness, disease cannot
be imputed to me, can it? That'd be meaningless. I'm going
to impute this fever to you. Can't be done. You can't impute
the sickness to somebody. It doesn't even make sense. But
this fever can be transmitted. Through the bacteria or virus
or whatever it is that brought it on, it can be transmitted. And I can become feverish. I can become sick. become sick
through the transmission of whatever's in the air or whoever you're
around, you can actually become sick. Now Christ Jesus had all
the disease transmitted to him. All the sin transmitted to him. He didn't commit any sin. ever. But he experienced the
fever, the vileness of sin. Now, do I have any idea what
I'm talking about? I first say no. No. More does anyone else. But the
Bible gives us this to give us some idea of what was taking
place. He willingly took our infirmities
and bore our sicknesses. I repeat, you can't impute a
sickness to somebody. I'm gonna impute sickness to
you. That doesn't make you sick, but sickness can be transmitted to
you. And that is what was going on
the cross. Our sins actually became his
that he bore in his own body on the tree. And I don't know
of anything that's more comforting and heartbreaking than that.
To think of him bearing my sin and having to feel the awful,
wicked weight of it and the violence of it and the depravity of it,
that makes me feel bad. Also makes me feel good. He took
my sins and my sorrows. He made them his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. Now, turn with me to Romans chapter
8 for a moment. Romans chapter eight, verse one. There's therefore now, right
now, present tense, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And how are they described? Who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now, let me
say this. Walking after the flesh and walking after the spirit.
Walking after the flesh is just being a natural man. Walking
after the spirit is believing the gospel. There's not a time
when you're walking in the flesh and then all of a sudden you're
walking in the spirit and then you go back to walking in the flesh.
No, they that are in flesh cannot please God. He brings that out.
Walking in the flesh is the walking of the natural man, believing
salvation by work, salvation by merit. Walking in the spirit
is believing the gospel. That's what it is to walk in
the Spirit. Now let's go on reading, verse two. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death, for what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh. Now, what's Paul saying? The
flesh is the problem, not the law. What the law could not do. You know what the law could not
do? It couldn't justify you. It couldn't give you life. It
couldn't do any of those things because of your flesh. The weakness
of your flesh. The sinfulness of your flesh.
What the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Who sinned? The Elexian,
whose flesh? Christ's flesh. He condemned
sin in the flesh. He put it away. It is no more. My sins of the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sins not in part but the whole, have been
nailed to the cross where He bore them in His own body and
in His own flesh and condemned them and put them away. My sin
not in part but the whole has been nailed to the cross and
I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
oh my soul. Now the fever left her and went
to Christ. And my sins left me and went
to Christ. You know what he did with them? He put them away. They are no more. They're separated from me as
far as the east is from the west. And what did she do? Go back
to our text. Mark 1. Verse 31, and he came and took
her up by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever
left her and she ministered unto them.
Now, what I want to notice is she wasn't commanded to. Now that you have life, you need
to start being a servant. You need to start ministering.
Here's what you need to do. Nothing like that was said to
her. She rose up and she ministered
to them. That's what she wanted to do. It was a great blessing to her
to do so. Now, when the Lord saves somebody,
you know what they become? They become a servant, a minister,
a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, a willing servant. Do
you want to have any other identity than that of a servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ? You don't. And you don't have
to be told you need to be this way. It's what you want. She rose up and ministered to
them. Now it was, um, Martin Luther King Jr., who said
this, I don't think much of his preaching, I don't think he was
a gospel preacher, but he did make this statement that's always
been very poignant and resonant with me. What's it take to be great? It doesn't take great gifts.
It doesn't take talent. It doesn't take education. It
doesn't take money. It takes being a servant. He that would be great, let him
be the servant of all. And everybody in this room ought
to be zealous about being great in this sense, being a servant
of all. The Lord said, whoever gives
a cold cup of water in my name, he's going to receive a prophet's
reward. Now, I want to be like Peter's
mom. I want to do this spontaneously. I want to do this because it's
what I want to do, not because somebody says it's what you need
to do now. She rose up and she ministered to them. And I dare
say that was the best meal she ever fixed when she was cooking
for the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would cause your grace to reign in
us. And Lord, we're so amazed at the willingness of your son
to take our infirmities and bear our sicknesses in his own body
on the tree and put them away. And Lord, we can't really understand,
but we believe. We believe that thy son is all
in salvation and we rest in him. Lord, he's all we have and he's all we want. and he's
all we need. And we give thanks for him. We
give thanks for the beauty of thy son, for the completeness
of his salvation. And Lord, raise us up to be servants
like you did Peter's mother-in-law. Teach us what it is to be a servant.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.