Turn back to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. I'm going
to pick back up verse 14. I said a few things about that
last week. And I want to pick back up and
include 14, 15, and 16 this morning. The title of the message is Christ
the Savior of Sinners. Christ the Savior of Sinners. That's what He came to do. And
He's going to do what He came to do. In Isaiah 42, it is written,
My servant shall not fail he did not come into this world
to make salvation an offer or a possibility he came to make it a certainty
a certainty sinners are going to be saved christ lives to see
to it. He died to purchase a multitude
of sinners that no man can number. Our Lord did not die. Now listen,
and you give this some thought. He did not die under the wrath
of God for sin, for sinners, and then leave the outcome. to
us. Think about it. Think that out.
Think about it. God did not put his son through
hell and then leave the outcome of
it to me. I was born hating God. The scripture says that the natural
mind is enmity against God. We naturally, everyone, Everyone
naturally hates the living God. We do not hate the God of our
imagination. The God we think he's this way,
a certain way, and we don't hate that God, but the God of this
Bible, who is the sovereign God of heaven and earth, who does
as he will, with whom he will, when he will. You know, when Moses asked to
see his glory, one of the things he declared to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And as he says over in Romans
nine, and I'll harden whom I'll harden. Spurgeon said that this matter
of salvation is according to the royal prerogative of God
Almighty. He's the potter, we are the clay. Let's never get that backwards.
Let's never think that God exists to serve me and you. We exist to serve God. The duty
of man is to worship and serve Almighty God, the creator. Remember
now, it says in Ecclesiastes 12, remember now thy creator,
in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not. He's
the creator, he's the potter, we are the clay. Christ said
to his disciples, he said, I chose you, you did
not choose me. Now let's get that straight.
It's like, before we go on, let's get this straight. I chose you, you didn't choose
me. You see, Jesus Christ is light.
I am darkness, naturally. By nature, I am darkness, that's
what the scripture says. God is light, we are darkness.
Darkness never chooses the light. Christ said in the gospel, you
will not come to me, that you might have life, you won't do
it. But you know the ones who will do it? It says in Psalm
110, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. When
God makes me willing, when God does a work of grace in me, gives me a new birth, regeneration,
reveals himself in me, And then when that happens, I'm willing
to come to Christ. I'm willing to bow to Christ.
I'm willing to receive Christ as he's revealed in the scriptures.
As he's revealed in the scriptures. Not as I think he is, but as
he is. As he is, the sovereign Lord. The sovereign Lord, you remember
in the, at the pool of Bethsaida. There was a lame man there. And
the Lord, there was all those sick people laying around. And
it said whenever an angel touched the water, disturbed the water,
you know, whoever stepped in first was healed. And the Lord
went to that place. He walked up to a lame man and
asked him if he'd be made whole. And that man, he said he didn't
have any man to help him. To help him down into the water.
And the Lord healed that man. Turned and walked away. Turned and walked away. And it said there was many sick
in that place. Many of them were sick in that place. He walked
up and he healed this one and he left. But the one thing I
noticed one time reading it and it just jumped out at me. There's
a lot of sick people laying around here. A lot of lame, a lot of
blind and all kinds of sickness. The Lord walks up, heals this
man, enables him to walk perfectly, not limp, walk, picks up his
bed and leaves. All those sick people, now listen,
all those sick people see this, not one of them, not one of them
said, Lord, would you heal me too? Not one of them said, Lord,
would you give me sight? Lord, would you heal my legs?
Lord, would you? Not one of them asked for mercy. They didn't want it. Now, we all want natural healing,
don't we? We all want to be, we get sick, we go to the doctor.
But it takes God for you and me to want spiritual healing.
It takes the work of God for me to want to be made whole before
him. That's the difference. That's the difference. Now. We will see here. We're going to see some things. We're going to see, first of
all, that the house where Jesus Christ is, is blessed. It's a
blessed home. It's a blessed home. We will
see his willingness to save because they prayed to him about her.
They caught, they talked to him about her and he just willingly
saves her and these others. And we'll see his power over
sickness and over devils who take advantage of people. They're
very real. Very real. One of the mistakes we made,
as I was saying to Doug and him this morning, one of the mistakes
we make is we separate that spiritual realm that we cannot see with
our physical eyes from this physical realm. You can't separate them. They're all connected. And we'll
see this here in a minute. Now our Lord goes to Peter's
house to spend the night. He's gonna stay with Peter. Remember
this. Our Lord said, the son of man hath no place to lay his
head. You and I have a place to go
home tonight to lay our head because he had no place. That's
the reason I have a place. I have the mercy of
God through Him. And everything I have, He's given
to me. But He truly, the Lord Jesus
Christ truly became poor that we through His poverty might
be made rich. Not just in this world, but rich
toward God. we might be made rich. Now he
saw Peter's mother-in-law lying on a bed sick of a great fever.
That's what it's called over in, let me read to you out of
Luke and Mark of this situation. This situation is written about
three times in the scriptures. Now it says in Luke chapter four,
I'll just read it to you here. And he arose out of the synagogue.
He was in the synagogue teaching, preaching, And he got up and
he left and he goes to Peter's house. And he entered into Simon's
house and Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever. Great fever. Fever back then,
especially, was dangerous. Dangerous. They didn't have what
we have today that can bring a fever down. It says she had
a great fever and they besought him for her. They prayed. It's just like this morning,
I prayed. I besought the same Lord they besought." They spoke
to him. They spoke to him, they prayed
to him for her. And he stood over her, listen,
and he rebuked. You know, one time in the scriptures,
there was a deaf and dumb person brought to Christ. The person couldn't hear. And they brought this person
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord said, come out of
him, thou deaf and dumb spirit. Cast it out. When he did that,
that person was able to hear. We would never put a connection
between those two. He said, come out of him, thou
deaf and dumb spirit. And here he stands over her and
he rebuked the fever that had a hold of her. And it left her,
it said, it left her. And immediately she arose and
ministered unto them. Now over in Mark chapter one,
it says, And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue,
they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and
John. But Simon's wife's mother lay
sick of a fever, and now they tell him of her. tell him of
her. And he came and he took her by
the hand, reached down and took her by the hand and lifted her
up. That's exactly what he does when
he saves us. He reaches down, I believe it
was Barnard that sang that song, when he reached down for me,
when he reached down for me and lifted me up, lifted me out of
the miry That's how God saved me. And he reached down for me. And when God reached down for
me, Christ is that one he reached, that he used to reach down for
me. He's the arm of the Lord. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed in Isaiah 53? Christ. When God reached down
for me, it was his son. He's the arm of the Lord. God's
arm. And immediately the fever left
her and she ministered unto them. The people prayed to him for
her. We are to pray for one another always. Never, never think a little of prayer.
To think a little of prayer is to think a little of God. Now,
if you've got a little God, you can say a little prayer. Would
you say a little prayer for me? No, I won't. I'll pray for you. Going before God and speaking
to God is never a little matter. Even if it may seem like a little
matter to us. It's never a little matter to speak to God Almighty. The Lord hears the prayers of
His people. If there's anything that I ask
this church to do for me, more than anything, is to pray for
me. Pray for me. And I want you to
listen to this. I do not believe in the power
of prayer. I do not believe in the power
of prayer. I do believe in the power of Christ to whom I pray.
That's not a play on words. I don't believe in the power
of prayer. I believe in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
one to whom I pray. That leper said, Lord, if you
will, you, you can make me clean. It wasn't the power of the prayer,
it's the power of the one prayed to, Jesus Christ. Prayer does not change things,
it changes me. It changes me. It brings me to bow to God's
will in the matter. Have you ever prayed about something
time and time and time again, and you finally, you really come
to the place, Lord, thy will be done? That's what prayer does. It brings
us around to God's will. We also see our high priest being
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was touched.
You remember when Martha, when Lazarus died, there was Martha
and Mary, and they were telling him about her, about him, telling
him about their brother. They were so sorry, Lord, if
you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Scripture says, and Jesus wept.
He felt their pain. Matthew Henry said, he felt,
I love this. He felt everything he took away. He felt everything he took away. We also see his willingness to
save them who are truly in need of him. In one place it says
He healed all that needed healing. If there's a sinner here this
morning that needs salvation, I assure you Christ will save
you. I assure you He will. Christ saw a need and He met
the need. Our Lord knows our need before
we ask Him. He delights to show mercy, but
He tells us to ask. asking you shall receive, knocking,
find, seek, knocking shall be open, seek and you shall find.
And he touched her hand, he took her by the hand, it says it lifted
her up, but he touched her hand and the fever left her. And she
arose and ministered unto them. Our Lord is not afraid to touch
sinners. He wasn't afraid to touch that
leper. You know, he didn't have to touch that leper. But no one
had touched that leopard for many years. I have no doubt.
For a long time, nobody touched that man. He could have just
said, I will be thou clean. Because he said that to the centurion.
He said, you know, that centurion said, speak a word, my servant
will be healed. And he said, according to your
faith, so be it. And he was healed. He could have said to that leopard,
be thou clean. But to show his compassion, He
reached out and touched a man that nobody would touch. Nobody
wanted to come within a mile of that man. He was full of leprosy
from head to toe. Putrefying piece of flesh. That's what he was. And the Lord
reached out there and touched him, his hand on him. He's not
afraid to touch sinners. He came to save the lost, the
dying and the sick of sin. That's what he came to do. If
you're sick of sin, I got a doctor for you. I got a physician that
can heal you. The Lord Jesus Christ. And by doing this, He's showing
us His power and willingness to save us from our sin. The
very root cause of every sickness, every disease, every mental disorder,
the very root cause of it is sin. It's sin. That's the root cause of it.
The very root cause of death is sin. It may, and I may die
of a heart attack or cancer, but the very root of it is sin. Sin is like a fatal disease.
It shuts us down. It lays us low. It keeps us from
serving God. It's debilitating. It is absolutely
debilitating. And our Lord can save us from
the debilitating power of sin. He says, it's written in Romans,
sin shall not have dominion over you. It will not control you,
for you're not under the law now, you're under grace. You're
under the power of Christ. His power to save, now listen,
his power to save is very real. Touched her hand and rebuked
the fever, she was healed immediately. I said last week, salvation is
immediate. I'm no more saved now than I was 40 years ago when
I heard the gospel. I'm no more saved now than I
was then. I've grown in grace, I've grown in knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But brethren, if I was saved
then, I'm saved now. Here's how salvation goes. Now
get this, here's how it goes. I have been saved, I am being
saved, and I shall be saved. That's how it goes, that's the
process of it. I am saved, I have been saved,
and I'm being saved. Now it says the evening has come.
It's been a long day. Been in the synagogue preaching,
dealing with people. It's been a long day. The evening's come and much work
is still to be done. There's no shortage of sinners
in need of mercy, is there? There's no shortage of sinners.
There's no shortage of trouble. Every person in this room, every
person, even from the youngest to the oldest, we all have trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble. No one escapes trouble. And our Lord worked tirelessly
doing His Father's will and saving sinners. Like He said, I must
at least go through some area, as we heard back in the study.
He was, you know, he sat on that well, he was tired, he was hungry,
because the disciples went in town to get something to eat.
He was hungry, thirsty, and as a man he was, as a man he endured
what I endured. He said in one place, my meat,
this is, well, it's in that same place, John chapter four. My
meat is to do the will of him that sent me. They said, did
somebody bring him something to eat? Oh, he said, I'll tell you what
my meat is. I'll tell you what my appetite. I'll tell you what
my appetite is. It's to do the will of my father. And the will of his father is
to save a multitude of sinners no man can number. Father gave
to us. That's his father's will. And
he said, that's my meat. And it says many were brought
to him. You know, people are just not
going to walk in here and fill these pews up. They don't want
it. They don't want Christ, they
don't want forgiveness of sin, they don't want to go to hell.
Anybody that's got enough sins to get in and out of the rain
don't want to go to that place. But they don't want to be saved from
sin. Who they are, what they are. But the man he brought to him,
You know, invite people to come to hear the gospel, the same
one that saved you can save them. Many were brought to Him that
were possessed with devils. Yes, that's some that were possessed
with them. Taken advantage of. There's a
spirit world we can't see now that's very real. It's just as
real as you looking at me and me looking at you. Just that
real. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
2. There's a lot of places I could turn to this morning, but I don't
want to get off on that subject. Ephesians chapter 2. Listen to this. And you hath
he quickened, given life to. These are the ones he has saved
and he's going to tell them this is who you are, this is where
you were. And you hath he quickened who
were dead, spiritually dead. You weren't physically dead,
but you were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein,
in time past, you walked according to the course of this world.
Here's how we walked at one time, every believer. And this is how
the world walks. This is exactly how the world
walks. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. The spirit that now works, works. in the children of disobedience,
works in every unbeliever. There's a spirit, it's evil,
it's darkness, and it's at work in every unbeliever. Everyone is born in darkness
and under the power of darkness. Try to quit stuff. Why can't
I just get over this or quit this? There's a greater power
that has a hold of it than you realize. A greater power that
has a hold of it than what you realize. Not until Jesus Christ breaks
that power can a person be free. Whom the Son sets free, he is
free indeed. The Lord sets him free. He's
not gonna let Satan have power over him no more. Whatever it
is. Whatever it is. He enables us
to have power over him. And note his power. And he cast
out the spirits with his word. No ceremony. No hocus pocus. You know, none of this hocus
pocus stuff. No, he just said, leave. Get
out of here. And they had to obey. They had
to obey and leave. Just with the power of His Word,
He made them leave. This shows us how important it
is to be where the Word is preached. I cannot express strongly enough
the importance of being here and hearing the Word preached.
And if you can, bring someone here to hear the word preached
because God's not going to save anyone apart from his word. He's
not going to do it. You're not going to grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ apart from his word. It's not going
to happen. Our Lord never operates apart
from his word. And listen here and I will wind
it down. It says he healed all that were
sick. Our Lord demonstrates here his
absolute power over flesh, over us, and over all principalities. It says in the scriptures that
he led captive, all principalities captive. He led captivity captive. All principalities are subject
to Jesus Christ. Everyone. Everyone. Satan is not a loose cannon.
He is absolutely not a loose cannon. Jesus Christ has him on a chain. And he can only go as far as
he lets him go, then jerks him back. Jerks him back. That's foreign, like he does
the ocean. He said, hither shall thy proud
ways come and no further. Here's what you're allowed to
do. I mean, right down to the jaunt and tittle and no more,
no more. Here's all the trouble I'm going
to let you cause my saint, my child, and no more, no more. No sickness is beyond the power
of the Sovereign Lord. No sinner is beyond his power
to save. No one has gone so far, so corrupt, fallen so deep that
Jesus Christ cannot save. He saved me, didn't he? He saved
you. He didn't save anybody. Many times He healed the blind,
the lame, the deaf, and He raised the dead to show us that He is
the Savior of sinners. Now, if you're not a sinner,
you don't need Him. It says Christ died for sinners.
If you're not a sinner, He didn't die for you, I'm telling you.
He died for sinners. If you can truly find yourself
as a sinner, As a bona fide sinner, Christ died for sinners. It says he died for the ungodly.
Ungodly. Most people would say, don't
call me ungodly. Don't call me ungodly, that'd
be offensive. You know, until the Lord saved
Mary. She was just as ungodly as Mary
Magdalene. Right? By nature, she was. She was not allowed to go into
the sin and the corruption that Mary Magdalene went into. Why? God didn't let her. If God had, listen, and I know
this, I know this. If God would take his hand of
restraint, pull it back, there's nothing we wouldn't do. When you realize that, that kind
of takes the starch out of you. That'll take some of that self-righteousness
out of you. When you realize that. And all that he did, in verse
17 and I close, all that he did was in fulfillment of the scriptures.
Everything. He left nothing unfulfilled.
The scriptures are written of him and he fulfilled them right
down to the jotting table. He was obedient to the law. He
fulfilled every jot and tittle of God's Word. He was even obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Scripture says the soul that
sinneth shall surely die. Have I sinned? Am I gonna, is
the Lord gonna save me? Am I his? Is he gonna save me?
Am I a sinner? Is he gonna save me? Then Jesus
Christ has to die because I sinned and the soul that sinneth must
surely die. So he's gotta die. He's gotta
pay the sentence. He's gotta pay for my sentence. Jesus Christ is a real substitute And nobody else. Nobody else. But he's a real substitute. All
right.