Let us open our Bibles today
to Mark chapter one. It's good to see each one of
you here today. Thank God for each one who is
able to come and worship this morning, and I pray the Lord
will bless his word to all of us. There's no reason he shouldn't,
because we're going to be reading and studying about the life of
Jesus Christ, our Lord. We're continuing to look at his
life as given in the gospel narrative of Mark. Last time we looked
at him, visiting and teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
And there he cast out of a man an unclean demon, and the unclean
demon or spirit confessed, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One
of God. Now today, we take up with what
followed that afternoon and the next day, beginning in verse
29. 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 anon they tell him of her. And he came
and took her by the hand and lifted her up. And immediately
the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And it even, when
the sun did set, They brought unto him all that were diseased
and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city
was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that
were sick of diverse diseases, cast out many devils, suffered
not the devils to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning,
rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed
into a solitary place and there prayed. And Simon, and they that
were with him, followed after him. And when they had found
him, they said unto him, all men seek for thee. And he said
unto them, let us go into the next towns, that I may preach
there also. For therefore came I forth. We're going to make three observations,
three very practical observations from these verses that we've
just finished reading. The first observation we read
of a sick person in the house, a sick person in the house. What are some of the lessons
that we may learn from that truth, that there was a sick person
in this house? Well, consider these four lessons.
First, there's no house, there's no house that may be built no
matter how costly and how secure, that is able to keep sickness
out. Man may build a castle and put
a moat around it, and he may keep certain enemies out of that
castle, but he will not keep sickness from entering therein. No bars, no alarm system, that
may block sickness from coming in to any house. It visits the
home of the rich and the poor, the wealthy and those who have
nothing, the educated and the uneducated, the strong and the
weak. None, no house is exempted. That begs the question, How did
sickness come into God's beautiful creation? When God created the
heavens and the earth, and in those six days of creation, every
day, God ended that day with the statement, and everything
was good. Everything was good. How is it
then that in God's good and beautiful creation, that sickness is rampant,
that sickness is everywhere. The answer, of course, is one
word, sin. That's the answer, sin. There
was no sickness, there was no death in God's beautiful creation
until Adam disobeyed God. And God proclaimed to Adam, you
know, we think about the wonderful promises of God. And they are
many, and they are wonderful. But some of God's promises are
threatenings. And one promise he made to Adam
was, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
Is God unfaithful? Or is God faithful to keep his
word? He told Adam, in the day that
you disobey, you're going to die. And when Adam disobeyed
God, that's when sin came into this world, and that's when sickness
entered into God's beautiful creation. Now, we're not saying, when I
say that, and when I tell you that this is what the Bible teaches,
we're not saying that every sickness that a person experiences is
the result of some particular sin. That was a common belief
among the Jews when our Lord was here in the flesh. And in
some societies today, that still is a very common belief that
if a person has a sickness, then that is the direct result of
him or her having sinned in a particular way. ask us to turn to John chapter
9. I said this is what was believed
among the Jews and we see that even among his disciples. Even
among his disciples in John chapter 9 verses 1 through 3 we read, And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, Who did sin? You see, they recognized their
belief was that someone, their sin had directly caused this
man to be born blind. Who was it? Was it the man himself
or was it his parents? Master, who did sin, this man
or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither
hath this man sin, nor his parents. Now, you know the Lord is not
saying that his parents and this man came into this world without
sin. That's not what He's saying at
all. For the Scriptures declare all have sinned, without exception. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But our Lord is teaching His
disciples here that the blindness that this man suffered was not
the direct result of any sin on the part of his parents or
of himself. Jesus answered, neither hath
this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. The works of God would be made
manifest in this man. You know, sicknesses, there's
no one in this building who has not been sick at some time, from
the very youngest to the oldest. Some people have referred to
sicknesses as God's messengers. God's messengers. And they all
come with the same message. Prepare to meet thy God. They all come with the same message. prepare to meet thy God. You know, in this pandemic, many
people have suffered. And my prayer has been that God
would bless these who have contacted this, this disease, this virus,
that God would use it for their good. And I have thought especially
of the young people. You know, young people seem to
believe that they are just out of harm's way. I mean, that there's
no way that a sickness, and even if they do get sick, it's not
going to result in death. We live in a society where the
advances of medicine are so great. Someone in our congregation told
me just two weeks ago of a friend of their grandchild, I think
is about 14 or 15 years old, Sunday afternoon, a couple of
weeks ago, went in to take a nap and never woke up. Never woke
up. They didn't know he was sick. I tell you, death comes, my friends. It comes to the young, it comes
to the old. We just imagine, well, old people
are expected to die, yes. But that doesn't mean that young
people are exempt from death. Sickness comes, and it comes
with this message. Prepare to meet thy God, boast
not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may
bring forth. There's no house, this is a very
practical lesson as far as I'm concerned, there's no house that
can keep sickness out. Oh, but don't we love to read
and know that there is a place. There is a place where there
shall be no sickness. It cannot enter there. It is
that place that God has prepared for them that love Him. That
place the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples, I go to prepare
a place for you. That place As we read in the
book of Revelation, where the curse is removed, that curse,
the curse of death, physical death, spiritual death, eternal
death, that curse cannot enter there. In fact, we read, there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
Oh, that will be someday, won't it? Behold, God said, I make
all things new. And in that new heaven and new
earth, sickness will not come. A second lesson that I would
call to our attention, the sick person was of all people. In
our text, the sick person was of all people, the mother of
Simon Peter's wife. In other words, it was Simon's
mother-in-law. You know, the Roman Catholic
Church, which likes to claim that Peter was the first pope,
and at the same time insist on celibacy for their priest or
their ministers, they claim to know more than God. Because you
see, when Adam was alone, God said it's not good that the man
should be alone. It's not good. And yet, against
nature, they try to enforce what is not good. And let me tell
you something, only eternity, only at the judgment of God,
will be revealed the evil, the wickedness, that has come out
of that teaching. There have been times, and maybe
there are today, places where men forbade their wives and their
daughters to ever go to confession. It's just an opportunity for
evil and for sin, and it certainly has produced that of some of
the worst kind. No, it was Peter's mother-in-law
who was sick. Here's their so-called first
pope. We know he wasn't, but he was
married. Paul makes reference to this,
I believe in 2 Corinthians, and he makes the point that he also
had the privilege, if he wanted to, to have a wife. like Peter. He didn't choose to marry, as
far as we know, but he had that privilege. But all men were not
like Paul, and he knew that and recognized that. Most men need
a wife. Most men. Here's a third practical lesson. They immediately told Jesus. Notice that in our text. Here
in Mark chapter one, they immediately told the Lord. Look with me, if you will, in
verse 30. But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever and
a nod. They tell him of her. Now, I
said last week that immediately is Mark's favorite word. It would
seem that's Mark's favorite word as you go through this gospel.
Well, the word anon comes from the same root word that the word
which is translated immediately comes from. And that's what it
means, immediately. Immediately, they told the Lord
Jesus Christ that this woman was in the house and she was
sick of a fever. What a blessing, we would say.
What a blessing that he was there at this particular time, this
opportune time, he was in the house. But you and I know we
have the same opportunity. While he is not physically with
us, but spiritually, he is with us always. He has promised those
of his children, Lo, I am with thee unto the end of the ages. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Let us, like them, immediately,
anon, they told Jesus, let us, before we tell the doctor, Before
we tell the preacher, before we tell our friends, let's tell
our Lord. Let's tell our Savior. When someone
that is close to us is sick, let us tell Him first of all. And the fourth lesson I would
bring to us, the last from this particular observation, there
was sickness in the house. The fourth lesson was the sureness. the sureness of the Lord's power
to heal. Now this woman was sick of a
fever. In fact, some of the writers
say that she had a burning fever. She was prostrate with a fever. It had laid her down. The fever
had caused her to be weak. but the Lord's healing power
caused the fever. I want you to notice the fever
left her immediately when he gave the word, when he gave the
command, when he took her by the hand to lift her up, the
fever left her immediately and immediately she ministered. In
other words, the strength, the power that the fever had sapped
from her body with His healing was gone. She immediately ministered
unto them. What a lesson this is. When the
Lord heals a person of the disease of sin, and that's the worst
disease that anyone may have, and all do, the disease of sin. When He heals, He puts forth
His power by his blood, by his righteousness, heals a sin sick
soul. Immediately, we began to minister
unto him. Let me show you that in Matthew
chapter 25. Every child of God is a minister in some way. He
may never, she may never stand in a pulpit, of course, That
doesn't make a person a minister. Every child of God ministers
in some way to other believers. You know, just being an encouragement,
just encouraging another child of God, that's ministering, isn't
it? Sending someone a card, calling someone, ministering. unto the people of God. This
woman, as soon as the Lord healed her, she began to minister. And what I'm saying is, when
the Lord saves a person, we begin to minister unto His people,
unto Him through His people. Here in Matthew chapter 25, beginning
with verse 34, Then shall the king say unto them on his right
hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger,
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I
was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when shall we thee? And hungered, and fed
thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink. You know, as a child of God,
you think about the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, faith, temperance, kindness, goodness, the fruit
that the Spirit of God produces in you. You don't see that, do
you? You don't see that. You want
to see it. You ask the Lord to make you
fruitful, but you don't see it. These believers here, when the
Lord told them that they had ministered unto Him, they were
bewildered. When? When? When did we ever
do that? Ah, the Lord Jesus said, When saw we thee a stranger,
took thee in, or necked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick,
or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
unto me. This woman immediately began
to minister when the Lord healed her, and so When God saves a
person, that person immediately begins to minister. Now, you
can't see that maybe, probably never will, but the Lord sees
it, the Lord knows it. So that's my first observation
from this passage of scripture. There's no house where sickness
may be kept out. My second observation is we read
of how fast his fame spread. Notice in verse 32, and it even,
that is in the evening, when the sun did set, they brought
unto him all that were diseased and them that were possessed
with devils. And all the city was gathered
together at the door. And he healed many that were
sick of diverse diseases and cast out many devils. and suffered
not the devils to speak, because they knew him. When Mark in verse
28 wrote, immediately his fame spread abroad. When he casts
that demon spirit out of that man in the synagogue, immediately
Mark tells us his fame spread abroad. Now, at evening, we read, when
the sun has set, the Sabbath is over. Remember, they had a
belief that you shouldn't heal on the Sabbath. They accused
our Lord of doing wrong because he healed that blind man on the
Sabbath. In fact, they said if he were
of God, he would not heal. He couldn't be of God if he heals
on the Sabbath. They had such an opinion, such
a false idea about the Sabbath that they didn't realize the
Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. There's
works of mercy that may be done on the Sabbath, sure. He showed them the hardness of
their hearts when he said, which one of you having an ass or donkey,
you don't loose him from the stall and lead him to get a drink
and it's a Sabbath day and you don't feel like you've done anything
wrong. But you accuse me because here's
this person who was afflicted of a demon spirit for 18 years
and I have depossessed her. of this demon spirit. And I did
it on the Sabbath day. But now we see the Sabbath has
ended in this passage of scripture. And so everyone was there at
Simon Peter's house. They were there at the door. And it's important for you and
I to see this. This is the point I want to make.
They brought their diseased and demon-possessed people to Him. To Him. Notice that in verse
32. And even when the sun did set,
they brought unto Him all that were diseased and them that were
possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered
together at the door. They brought them to him. They didn't bring them to the
synagogue. There was no power in the synagogue
to heal. And Simon's house had been there
for years. They didn't bring sick folk to
Simon's house until he was there. And the point I want to make
is, Until a person comes to Him, it's not coming to the church,
it's not coming to a creed, it's not learning a certain catechism
and going through all of those steps that men come up with.
No, it's coming to Him, to Christ. Because the healing power is
not in any man or any invention of man. But it is rather in His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They brought them to Him. Now, He would not allow them
to speak, these demon spirits that He cast out. We saw that
last week. He rebuked that spirit. He would
not allow him to speak. And I said last time, and I repeat,
the Lord Jesus Christ would not be associated with demons and
devils. In other words, he would not
have them confessing, we know who thou art, thou holy one of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ would show
himself. He didn't want the testimony
of those demons. He would show himself. He would
prove himself to be the holy one of God by his power in healing
those who were sick, and casting out these demon spirits. Why don't you look back into
the Old Testament with me to Isaiah chapter 42. This prophecy
concerning him, the servant of the Lord, in Isaiah chapter 42. Beginning in verse five. Thus
saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them
out, he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out
of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit
to them that walk therein. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness. Now this is speaking of Christ,
the Lord's servant. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee. and
give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles,
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name,
and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images. His proof of who he was, in John
chapter five and verse 36, he said, the works which the Father
hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, they bear
witness of me. He didn't need these demon spirits
to bear witness of him. His miracles, the works which
he did, the works which the Father gave him to do, they bore witness
to him. They bore witness that he was
the Holy One of God. Now the third observation. I
want you to notice that we read of Jesus rising early the next
day, verse 35. And in the morning, rising up
a great while before day, he went out and departed into a
solitary place and there prayed. Consider several thoughts here. First, his rising early in this
text was on the first day of the week, that is, the Sunday
after the Sabbath day. He rose this day from a night
of sleep, a night of rest. And this reminds us that the
Lord Jesus Christ was truly man. The Lord never was sick physically. He never had a cold, never had
the flu. He never had any of the diseases
which are the result of sin, because He had no sin. But the
scripture says, He took upon Him our infirmities. These sinless
infirmities which are common to man. Does man, do you ever
get thirsty? You know you do. The Lord Jesus
Christ took on our infirmities, the sinless infirmities that
are common to man. You ever get hungry? You ever
get tired and weary? What a scripture is that in John
chapter 4 where we have the eternal Son of God in the flesh who the
Scriptures tell us and we know He upholds all things by the
word of His power. This whole universe is held together,
it consists by His power, and yet here He is as a man sitting
on the well because He was weary from His journey. That's amazing,
isn't it? That's a mystery. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. This may also remind us that
on the first day of the week, several years later, the Lord
Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, would rise early in the morning. He would show that he was loose
from the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. Having finished the work which
the Father gave him to do, the Lord Jesus Christ was given
a work to do. What was that work? It was to
glorify God on the earth, the work that all of sin and come
short of the glory of God. He finished that work. He glorified
God. And when he died, he was able
to say, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Was
his father pleased with that work? Did his father accept that
work? Well, you know he did. Because
on the third day, early in the morning, on that Sunday morning,
He raised him from the dead. A second thought comes to my
mind. His praying in a solitary place,
as we're told here, reminds us of what he taught us. He taught
you and me about prayer. He said, when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet. The religious Pharisees, hypocrites
of that day, you know they loved to pray on the street corner,
so everyone would see them and praised them for being so religious,
and they obtained what they wanted. But he said, not so. When you
pray, enter into your closet, and when you've shut the door,
pray to thy father in secret. Thy father in secret shall reward
thee openly. The Lord Jesus Christ is up early,
earlier than the others, earlier than his disciples rather, earlier
than others in that house. He's up and out and in a solitary
place. We live in a city and I, you
know, there's a blessing about living in the country. When you
can get out, get out among the trees. We sang that hymn while
ago, walking through the woods and hearing the birds singing.
Get along in God's creation. If you can't do that in your
car, in your closet, whatever you, wherever you can get along and commune with your father,
father, What a blessing, what a blessing
to be able to speak to your father and know that he already knows
what you have need of. And yet he said, ask and you
shall receive. A third and last thought that
comes to me, the disciples use of this word all, A-L-L. Notice that in verse, And when
they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek thee. Would anyone reading this verse
understand the word all here to mean every single solitary
person in this world? Now, Capernaum was a relatively
small place. But would anyone even think that
when these disciples came to the Lord Jesus Christ and told
him, all men seek thee, that they mean every person here in
the city of Capernaum, in this village, every person without
exception is seeking for you. If President Trump visited Houston
and you read the newspaper the next day and it said all Houston
went out to see him, would you believe that by all it meant
every citizen of Houston, Texas went out to see the president?
Of course not. You recognize that word all doesn't
always mean every single solitary person. And I point this out
to us because some people, when they see that word all in the
Bible, they say, well, all means all. Well, it does. All does mean all. But all doesn't
always mean every single solitary person. I want to close by having
us turn to 1 Timothy, if you will, 1 Timothy chapter 2. This
is the point I'm making. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 4. We read here, who will have all
men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Now,
the word all there, do you believe it means that God will have every
single solitary person to be saved? If you do, you know he's
failed because not all people are saved or going to be saved. The knowledge of the truth doesn't
come to all people, every single solitary person. You have to
understand that in the context here. Now, everyone who is saved
is saved because of the will of God. Not by the will of the
flesh, not by the will of man, but it is rather by God's will. But in the context here, when
Paul is telling Timothy that prayer should be made for all
men, we're talking about all classes of men. All men in authority,
kings, look above that in verse 1. I exhort therefore that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in
authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God, of God our Savior who will have all men. And another point
to notice here, this God who is spoken of here is not the
Savior, is not the Son of God. It is God Almighty. He providentially, He saves all
men. He gives life and breath to all
men without exception. He will have all men to be saved. common to the knowledge of the
truth. And then in verse six, we read,
who gave himself a ransom for all. Now, to believe that means
that Christ gave himself a ransom for every single solitary person,
then you must believe there are some people that Christ ransomed
who are in hell. Now, if you can believe that,
believe it. I can't believe that. I cannot believe that because
the Lord has taught me who He is, that He is God Almighty,
that He cannot fail in His work. And a ransom that doesn't ransom
is no ransom as far as I'm concerned. He gave himself a ransom for
all. Who are they all? All that the
Father giveth me, they shall come to me. He didn't say they
may come to me, they might come to me, no. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Yes, his blood ransomed his people. The ransom price is paid. Thank
God it's paid, paid in full, accepted, and all of those for
whom he bled and died. are set free, ransomed, ransomed
from sin. I trust the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here today. Understand that last verse
by our Lord's own words when he said, for the son of man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, now listen, and
to give his life a ransom for many, many, as many as the Father
hath given me. Read that over and over in his
prayer in John 17. I pray not for the world, but
for them thou hast given me out of the world. I trust the Lord
would bless this word to all of us here today. And I want
us to sing this hymn because of the text. The title of the
hymn is Tell it to Jesus. Number 347.