Good, Mike. We may be a small number, but
we're blessed. We truly are. I was telling someone
the other day, I said, the Lord has really gifted this congregation. I've traveled a lot, especially
when I was younger, traveled and preached in a lot of places,
different places, and I had to lead the theme. That was a real
one. But I had to leave the singing,
no piano a lot of times, nothing. And I love this. I love this. Alright, let's look in Matthew
chapter 4. I titled this message, He Healed
All That Needed Healing. He healed all that needed healing. When a person, a man or woman,
who never comes to Christ, who never confesses Christ, confesses
this, I don't need him. That's really what they're confessing.
For a person to never confess Christ and never come to him,
never look to him, by that very act is confessing, I don't need
him. I'm not that bad. I know some people that need
Him, but I don't need Him. Well, He healed all that needed healing.
I want us to look at this. And I'll back up here for a few
verses. And then we'll get to the verses
23-25. Now the Lord, it says, went about
preaching the Gospel. The good news. That's what the
Gospel is. The Gospel is good news. news in the gospel that's not
good. It's full of good news. He went about preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of heaven. There's nothing but good news
about that kingdom. And then he called sinners to
himself. He's going to make them believers first. He makes us
believers first. And he's going to make them,
as he does many of all his children, fishers of men. Christ has a purpose and a place
for every one of His children. He has a purpose and place for
every one of them. Now, when He calls Peter, Andrew,
James, and John, they immediately follow Him. This is the power
that goes with that call. But they immediately follow Him.
The first order of being a disciple A servant of Christ is this,
obedience. Obedience. They followed Him. He's their Lord. He's their master. He's their teacher. He's their lesson. They will learn the art of fishing
from Him. They will really learn something
about fishing. Fishing for men. They will preach
what He preaches. They will teach what He has taught. Nothing more, nothing less. He
is their textbook. He is their textbook. No man
can preach or become a fisher of men. Unless he's been taught
by the master fisherman. Unless he's been taught by the
master himself. And these disciples are going
to sit at his feet for the next three years. Of course, they
continually learned of him throughout their life. But they're going
to sit at his feet. And he's going to teach them
to be fishers of men. They're going to learn their
craft, so to speak, from him. And what he does here, he calls
them, he separates them to himself. He separates them from their
family, from their occupation. He separates them from absolutely
everything and calls them to himself. They must be separated
unto him if they're going to be fishermen, especially fishermen
of men, totally dedicated to their Lord and Master. You know,
the successful fisherman is one who's always on the water, always
casting the net, believing they're going to catch some fish. And
he's going to make them successful fishermen. Always going to be
about their Lord's business. And he began to teach by example
and by his word. You know, if our example, if
our life doesn't match what we say, what we preach, nobody's
going to listen to you, are they? Even your children won't listen
to you if what you say doesn't match what you do. They won't
even listen to you. So he's going to teach by example
and by word. And it says in verse 23, And
Jesus went about all of Galilee. teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the gospel, the good news of the kingdom, and
healing all manner of diseases among the people. Here's his
example. First, he went about all Galilee. Our Lord was not a chalkboard
teacher. Now that's not to say, you who
are in classrooms, you're stuck in there. And that's the way
you have to teach. But he was not a chalkboard teacher. He went about every morning when
he got up and the disciples were with him. He said, let's go. The field is ready for harvest. Let's go. And he went about field
trips. I remember when I was in middle
school. Yeah, we were middle school.
I had a science class, Mr. Alford, and he would take us
on field trips. We'd go out and catch butterflies
and all kinds of different things and come back with them. And
that was always one of the most interesting classes to me because
we got to go out and do field trips and got hands-on experience
of what he was talking about. But he took his disciples and
he went about all of Galilee. If a man is going to catch fish,
he must go where fish live. He must go there. He must seek
them out. Fish do not come to us and say,
catch me, catch me, unless God changes the nature of that fish.
Sinners are not going to come and say, save me, unless God
does something for them, unless God changes the nature of that
sinner. He's never going to call on the Lord. He's never going
to seek the Lord. We've got to go out to where they are. He teaches by example. It's not
the nature of fish to seek out the fisherman at all. It is the
nature of fish to flee when they see this fisherman, isn't it?
There was an old man who was a trout fisherman, very successful
at it. And a young man said, how do
you do this? What's the secret to your success? He said, the first thing I do,
I get far away. Second thing I do, I get further
away. The third thing I do, I get even
further away. And then I catch him. I catch
him. It's just not the nature of fish
to seek out the fishermen. It's the nature of fish to flee
when the fishermen come. Same with sinners. The same with
sinners. It is their depraved nature You
know this by experience. It is their depraved nature to
flee from those who bring the gospel in, from those who preach
the good news. To flee, can you imagine this,
to flee from good news? That's the nature of sin. Christ
comes preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Gospel, that means
good news, the good news of the kingdom of God. God delights
to show mercy. But sinners by nature run from
them. They run from the very God that
delights to show mercy. Men love darkness rather than
light. They love a lie more than the truth. And God has to give,
create a new nature for men to have a different appetite. God
has to create an appetite for the gospel. He has to create
an appetite for you to desire and want grace and mercy. God
has to give that to you, or you'll never ask Him for it. Never ask
Him. Never seek Him. And that's why
He went about preaching. Wherever He went, He preached
the gospel of the kingdom. He had preached the good news
of it. And His disciples heard Him preach, and they got their
message from Him. They got their message from Him. And listen. I thought about this
last night. There was nothing artificial
about His message. Teaching them to become fishers
of men. There was nothing artificial
about it. No trickery. No trickery in it whatsoever.
You know, our Lord said in one place, if you're going to follow
me, you better count the cost. You better count the cost. It's
going to be costly, hard, not an easy road. Not in this life. You live in a world that hates
God. You live in a world that hates His people. He said you
better count the cost. So there's nothing artificial
about His message. Men use artificial lures nowadays
to catch fish, don't they? They take something that looks
like it. Now you've got something you spray on that smells like
it. I mean, they have really got this thing down to a science
to trick fish into taking the bait. Isn't that religion? That is an absolute description
of religion in our day. It is artificial. They're trying
to make it smell like it, look like it, but it's not real. It's
not real. But this will not do. when fishing
for men. It absolutely must be the truth. God does not catch men with a
lie. Always the truth. I read to you
over in Isaiah, I speak things that are right. Everything our
Lord said was right. Righteousness. It must be truth. We must tell the truth on God. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. God is absolute. As A.W. Pink said, He is absolute purity. Holy. That's who God is. And
just. I read that to you over in Isaiah
45. He said, I am a just God. I am
a just God and a Savior. And I believe it's in that order.
I'm a just God. Scripture says, He will by no
means clear the guilty. Boy, you might want to find out
what that means. I will by no means clear the guilty. In Christ
I'm not guilty. In Christ we've been put to death.
Those whom He died for were put to death in Him and buried. That
man's gone. That's why in Christ we're made
a new creation. And that man's not guilty. That
man's not guilty. God is holy, God is just, God
is sovereign. We've seen this over in Romans.
He saves whom he will. He chooses whom he will. You
know anyone else wiser to make that choice? Infinitely wise, infinitely good. Could anyone better make that
choice? He's gracious. He's merciful. He's long-suffering. This is
God. I'm a just God and a Savior. I've got to tell the truth about
Jesus Christ. There is no one more light on
in our day than Christ. There are more lies told on Him
today. There are more lies being told today on Him than anybody
else in this world. He's God. He's God incarnate. He's sovereign. He's the Redeemer. He's the mediator
between God and men. He's the surety. He's the high
priest. He's the sacrifice. His blood
is the blood of atonement. His righteousness is the only
righteousness by which sinners are saved. His righteousness. And he died for God's elect.
That's the truth. That's the truth. He did not
die to save every son of Adam. If he did, they'd be saved. He
died to save every one whom God gave him. He died for every one
of the promised seed, it says, of Abraham over in Romans. That's
who he died for. That's offensive to lost men.
That's offensive to the natural man. Truth is. Tell a person. Tell them the
truth. You tell people the absolute
truth. And see how upset they get. Just in a natural conversation.
You can tell the truth and they get upset with you. Tell your wife that dress doesn't
look as pretty as you think. I'm just saying tell the truth
and you'll see how offensive it gets. It can get offensive. And God
does. God tells the truth. God will
tell you the dress doesn't look good. He'll tell you the suit
doesn't look good on you. He'll tell you. I speak things
that are right. And then we have to tell the
truth about men. Telling these little ones growing
up, you know, when they go to school and they're taught, really
they're taught the total opposite of the Word of God. Total opposite. We have to teach the truth, even
to the young ones, I mean to those young ones, what we are
by nature. Totally depraved. Spiritually dead. That's how
we come into this world. Totally dead, spiritually depraved. Have to tell the truth. No matter
how much it hurts. Our Lord told the truth. That's
why it made those Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes, that's
why they got so mad. But when He called that woman
a dog, she didn't get mad, did she? She said, yes Lord. You're right, I am a dog. I'm
your dog. And the dog eats the crumbs that
falls from the master's table. That's what truth does when it
comes in power. And God uses it to save a needy
sinner. You've got to tell the truth.
And this is one net that never needs many. You notice there,
two of them were mending their nets in the ship. They broke.
You know those old natural nets. But this is one net that does
not need mending. It will never break. It will
never fail. It will never fail. No matter how many centers are
caught in it, it'll never fail. It will never fail. Anything
else will have to be mended. It'll have to be mended. Anything
else will have to be mended time and time again. But the gospel
has never, ever needed mending. It's never needed an adjustment.
It's never needed fixed. It's the everlasting gospel.
There's nothing wrong with it. It'll never need mending. Stick
to the truth and we won't have to mend the nets. if we just
stick to the truth, stick to preaching Christ and Him crucified,
and we'll never have to mend the nails. Never. That's all
we have to do. Paul said, I am determined, to
those Corinthians, I am determined not to know anything among you
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's all I want to know. And
then Christ was an example to them. In this, he was not lazy. He was not lazy. He was always
casting the net, always fishing for men. Always. If a man is
going to fish for a living, he can't be a lazy man, can he?
Not if he's going to fish for a living. Or he's going to starve
to death. He'll starve to death. Fishing
all the time is laborious work. I had a man say to me, not too
long ago, talking about getting out of the business and doing
this just full-time. He said, you going to retire?
I said, no, I want to be full-time ministering. I'll be full-time
at it. He said, well, now that's a lot
easier than this. This man doesn't believe in the gospel. He said,
now you know that's easy. You'd have never been able to
stay with the Lord. You'd have never been able to
walk where He walked and labor as He labored from daylight till
dark, feed 5,000 and heal all these people. We'll see this
as we go through. They were thronging Him. At one
point, His fame was so much because of the healing that He had to
stay in the desert. They said He had to stay in the
desert places. No rest. Done properly. It is very laborious
work. Fishing for men. You're fishing
for people who don't want to be caught. You're fishing for
men who naturally, who by nature, hate God. And God has to do something. But we have to catch that gospel
man. Preaching Christ crucified. That's the gospel of the kingdom.
It's not a catch-and-release program. I like those programs
up in, you know, I go to Cranberry River, and they've got some catch-and-release
areas where they stock them full of fed fish. You know, these
fish are fed, you know, they're well-fed, they're grown, they're
fat, and they're, you know, they'd actually make you think you was
a fisherman, because they'd bite on anything. They would absolutely bite on
anything you throw out there. You could take a chewing gum wrapper
and put it on a hook and throw it out there, and it'd bite it.
until they get a little bit smarter and in there for a little bit.
But this is not a catch-and-release program. It's not sport fishing. It's not pleasure fishing. It's
fishing for lost souls. It's standing and telling men
who are on their way to hell about God who saves sinners. It's telling men about a Savior
whom they can't stand and don't want until He makes them willing. in the day of His power. But
when you go talking to men about God, about Christ, about salvation,
about themselves, they don't want to hear it. Not naturally.
Not naturally. No, not naturally. They don't
like it. But we are fishing for lost souls. I thought just the weight of
this, thinking about this last night, standing here preaching
the Gospel, As we come in here, I thought, my soul. The responsibility
that's on this is phenomenal. It really is. What you did this
morning, teaching those kids, what a phenomenal responsibility
that's on this. Waiting. Eternity bound. I'm talking this morning to eternity
bound souls. I know we'll all get up in the
morning, we'll go to work and do our thing, but I'm telling
you what, there'll be one time we won't do that and we'll stand
before God. And the only hope any of us have
is Christ Himself. And it's our responsibility to
tell men this. But tell them. Does anyone know what the worth
of a soul is? What's my worth? I wrote this
down last night. What is my soul worth? You can't
put a price on that. And you can't put a price on
anyone else's either. What's a soul worth? Oh, we labor. It's laboring work. It's laboring work. It says over
in 1 Corinthians. Look over here in 1 Corinthians. If it's done properly and right,
It's labor. It's a labor of love now. It's
not a labor that you... It's a labor of love. Over here
in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says in verse 9, For we
are laborers, not loiterers. We are laborers together with
God. We are laborers together with God.
You're God's husbandry, tillage. You're God's tillage. You're
God's building. That's what's going on. Laborers
together with God. You can see those disciples following
Him around. Laborers together with God. That's
God in the flesh. That's who He is. And then Christ
was an example to them in bravery. The people that he preached to
were not fond of his message, fond of the miracles, but not
the message. That's why you see all these
preachers, you know, they forsake the message and they get into
miracles because they can get more out of the crowd that way.
They can get a bigger crowd and you can fleece the crowd. But Christ was an example and
bravery in that he preached the gospel and never held back. He
never took the edge off of it, ever. He made those Pharisees,
Sadducees, so mad, but he never changed the message. Never. You know, people want the gift,
but not the giver. They truly do. They want the
gift. Everybody wants to go to heaven. I haven't met anybody
who says, I don't want to go there. But their idea of heaven
is an eternal vacation. That's what it is. They want
to give, but not to give. Fish want to bait, but they don't
want that fisherman. They want to bait, but not the
fisherman. They would rather stay in that water than what
they do. Everyone likes a free meal, don't they? Everyone likes a free meal, but
no one wants to be saved from sin unless God himself makes us willing
to be saved from sin. God has to do that. He must catch
us. He must catch us. We like the
water too well. We like the sewer we swim in
too well. Man drinks iniquity like water.
I'll tell you what men are like as compared to fish. Carp. Bottom feeders. That is a description
of the human race. Just bottom feeders. And the
Lord has to catch us. He has to catch us. Change our
nature. And make us fall in love with
Him. Or we'll never do it. And then He preaches to them.
And He heals them. It says here, healing all manner
of disease among the people. He was not afraid. Now listen.
Here is our Lord, the Holy One. He's called in Scripture, the
Holy One of Israel. This is the One who is truly
holy. When the angels sang, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
here He is. This is Him. And He was not afraid
to get among the people. He was not afraid to touch them.
He wasn't afraid to touch that leper. Nobody else would touch
that leper. The Pharisees, the religious
people, all of them, they wanted nothing. He didn't stay the distance. Don't you come over here. But
the Lord let him come up. The Lord was not afraid to touch
him. He got among the people. This one who was harmless, holy,
harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners got among the sinners. Oh, what an example. What an
example he was to his disciples and to us. He walked among the
people and healed all manner of diseases. Not afraid to touch, not afraid
of their germs. I've watched this as people have
gotten older, as people get older, and I've gotten older. I've watched
people that get older, they get more afraid of germs. They don't
want to touch a doorknob. Watch me, they get older and
do this. They get more afraid of those things. Our Lord was never afraid to
be touched by a sinner or to touch one. Never. He allowed
sinners to come into His presence. This is the Holy One of Israel
now. Sinners like us. You think that leper looked bad?
What do you think we look like spiritually before God? No comparison. None. And if we're
going to catch sinners, we must be among the people. We have
to get out among sinners if God's going to save them. I was thinking
about that last night. You have to get out where they
are. You have to go where they are. He said get out into the
highways and hedges. We have to get out and cast the
gospel net. as the Lord has shown us. And as we do this, let us
remember this, salvations of the Lord. Christ performed the healing.
He did the saving. He uses men to preach, but He
does the saving. He does all the saving. And note
here His ability to save. all manner of diseases. There
was no disease that he could not heal. Not one challenged
him. Not one. He healed all manner
of diseases. No sin he couldn't take away.
There is no sin that Christ cannot take away. None. The scripture says he is able
to save to the uttermost. them that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Whatever
spiritual disease we may have, Christ is able to save us from
it. He's able to wash us from all our sins. But now listen
to this. Everyone has a peculiar sin that
troubles them. Everyone. If Christ is able to
break the power of that cancelled sin. We sing that song. He's
able to break the power of cancelled sin. He can do that. They brought unto Him those who
were tormented. Look here in verse 24. His fame
went throughout all Syria and they brought unto Him all sick
people that were taken with diverse diseases, torments, those which
were possessed with devils, And those which were lunatic and
those that had the palsy, He healed them. He healed every
one of them. Every one of them. There was
no case too hard for Him. For us, yes. For Him, no. They came to Him one time, the
disciples, over here in Matthew 17. Look over here in Matthew
17. In Matthew 17. And verse 15, Lord, he said,
have mercy on my son, for he's a lunatic, and so are facts,
for oft the times he falleth into the fire and oft into the
water. And I brought him to thy disciples,
and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said,
O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus
rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was
cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus,
apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out? No case too hard for him. Us,
yes. Us, yes. Why couldn't we do this?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. Verily I say
unto you, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, You
shall say unto this mount, Remove hence to yonder place, and it
shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting." Nothing
was impossible. He rebuked, and it went. He spoke,
and it left. He is able to wash us from all
our sins in His blood, cover our naked soul in His righteousness,
and overcome all indwelling sin. Overcome it. Our Lord's ministry here as He
goes about preaching the gospel of the Kingdom is confirmed by
these miracles. He was always teaching, preaching,
and healing sinners. And these miracles were confirmation
that this is God. This is the Messiah. He's the
One. And He demonstrates His power over sin Satan himself
by these miracles. All power, he said in one place,
is given to me in heaven and in earth. No case too desperate. And in healing these people that
were brought to him. They were brought to him from
all quarters. All manner of diseases. He demonstrates his willingness
to heal. And he had compassion on those needy people. He was
the most compassionate man that ever was and is today. Compassionate. How many times he said, I have
compassion on the people. Compassion. I wrote down several
verses of scripture throughout the Gospels here where he said,
I have compassion. I have compassion. Then he said, Father, I have
compassion on them. He demonstrates his compassion
in saving sinners. And then he was long-suffering
with sinners. Long-suffering. These are people that hated him,
and he knew it. But he saved it. Healed it. Some of them he saved. Some of
them, no doubt there, went away in unbelief. That whole crowd, I'm sure, did
not believe. Many of them went away in unbelief. But he was
long-suffering, merciful. He's a merciful physician. Never
did the great physician turn away those who needed healing.
Never. We have a high priest that can
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And then he's
an example here to all believers. And his fame went throughout
all Syria. Here's an example for us. They
brought unto him all the sick people. Who brought him? Who brought them? They. They heard of Him. They heard
of His fame. They heard of His ability to heal. And they brought
them. They did. I tell you this, anyone
you want to see the Lord save, bring them to hear the Gospel.
He won't save them without it. And we know He's sovereign in
these things. We know that. But if He can't bring them here,
at least bring them before Him in prayer. Continually. Just like you do your own children.
Bring them continually before Him in prayer. It says over here in Luke 14,
23, And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highway
and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be
full. I look this word compel up. It
means force. Constrain. Arouse. Irresistibly. It says compel
them, compel them to come in. I bet you that's
what Noah did. Noah built that ark. I bet when he went around, he's
called a preacher of righteousness. He was compelling them. He said compel them. They're
about to perish. The flood's about to come. It's
real. It's real. God will do the saving. God saves
whom He will. He says bring them in. Compel
them to come in. Compel them. Go out where the
fish are. Go out where the sinners are
and bring them in. We have a great message for sinners. Do you really believe that? We
have a great message for sinners. Christ died for sinners. Is there
better news than that? Christ died for the ungodly.
Do you know any ungodly? Do you know anybody like that?
Compel them to come. Compel them to come. And then I'll close with this.
In verse 25, And there followed him great multitudes of people. One writer said this, he's able
to heal many as easily as a few. Numbers are no challenge to him.
Compel him to come in and hear this gospel message. And there followed him great
multitudes of people. He healed everyone that needed
healing. Look over in Luke chapter 9. Let me read this. In Luke chapter 9, in verse 11, and the people when
they knew it, followed him. And he received
them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed
them that had need of healing. I tell you, if I find a sinner
that needs healing, tell him about Christ. If we can find
one that needs healing, tell him about the Lord Jesus Christ. He healed as many as needed healing.