Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitchedyou?Paul writes as if they had come under some kind of witchcraft and been deluded by it. This seemed to astonish the Apostle, so he cries out to them "Who has bewitched you?"

1. That you shouldnot obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?They had heard the plainest possible preaching from Paul and his companions. Jesus Christ had been so clearly set forth before them that they might, as it were, see Him as He hung upon the Cross of Calvary. Yet, under some unhallowed spell, they turned aside from the faith of Christ!

2. This only I want to learn from you: Didyou receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?

[See Sermon #1705, Volume 29—THE HEARING OF FAITH.] "You profess to have received the Spirit—did the Spirit come to you by the works of the Law, or through hearing and believing the

Gospel?"

3. Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now madeperfect by the fesh?"Did you begin right, and are you going to finish in some other way? Is the foundation laid in the Truth of God, and will you build lies upon it? Is the foundation Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, and is the superstructure to be wood, hay and stubble?"

4. Have you suffered so many things in vain—if it is, indeed, in vain. "Have you been made to suffer through conviction of sin? Have you even been persecuted for the Truth's sake? And are you going to give it up after all that?

5. He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of fait? "Have those miracles been worked in your midst by the power of faith or by the works of the Law?"

6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That is the Scriptural Doctrine— faith is counted or imputed for righteousness.

7. Know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Those who are justified by faith in Jesus. Those whose faith is counted for righteousness—they are the children of believing Abraham—not those who are under the Law of Moses.

8. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In you shall all nations be blessed. Just as Abraham was blessed, so are the nations to be blessed, that is, by faith. By faith they become his spiritual seed. By faith they enter into his Covenant. By faith, they receive the blessings of Grace.

9. So then they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Just as the believing Abraham was accounted righteous, so believing men who are the spiritual seed of Abraham, are also accounted righteous.

10. For as many as are of the words of the Law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them. Can any man perfectly keep the whole Law of God? Has any man ever continued in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them? No and, therefore, all that the Law does is to bring the curse upon those who are under its dominion—none of them can obtain salvation by the works of the Law!

11. But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident: for the just shall live by faith. [See Sermons

#814, Volume 14—LIFE BY FAITH and #2809, Volume 48—FAITH—LIFE.] This passage is again and again repeated in the Scriptures—"The just shall live by faith." There are no other just men living! There cannot be any other just men living, but those that live by faith!

12. And the Law is not of faith: but, the man that does them shall live in them. The law demands doing. The Gospel enjoins believing. The believing man comes in as an heir of the blessing, but the man who trusts to his own doing is an heir of the curse.

13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse ofthe Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursedis everyone that hangs on a tree. [See Sermons #873, Volume 15—CHRIST MADE A CURSE FOR US and #2093, Volume 35—THE CURSE AND THE CURSE FOR US.] What a wonderful Doctrine this is! We should have he itated to use such language as this had not the Holy Spirit, Himself, moved Paul to write that Christ was "made a curse for us." He who is most blessed, forever. He who is the fountain of blessing and the channel of blessing to all who ever are blessed was, "made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree"—

14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise ofthe Spirit through faith. Dear Friends, are you living by faith upon the Son of God? Are you trusting in God? Are you believing His promises? Some think that this is a very little thing, but God does not think so. Faith is a better index of character than anything else. The man who trusts his God and believes His promises is honoring God far more than is the man who supposes that by any of his own doings he can merit Divine approval and favor.

15. Brethren, I speak after the matter of men. Though it is but a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no man disannuls, or adds thereto. If a covenant is once made, signed, sealed and ratified, no honorable man would think of drawing back from it. Whatever happens afterwards, the covenant having been once made, is regarded as an established fact and it must remain.

16. 17. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your Seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the Law which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. This is sound reasoning. God made a Covenant with Abraham and said that in him and in his Seed all nations would be blessed. All Believers are in Christ, who is here called Abraham's Seed and, therefore, they must be blessed! Whatever the Law may say or may not say, it was not given until 430 years after the Covenant was made with Abraham and, therefore, cannot affect it in any way.

18. For if the inheritance is ofthe Law, it is no more of promise. God gave it to Abraham by promise. It was a free gift—He did not bestow it upon the condition of merit on Abraham's part. Isaac was born, not according to the power of the flesh, but according to promise—and the whole Covenant is according to free Grace and Divine promise.

18, 19. But Godgave it to Abraham bypromise. Whatpurpose, therefore, does the Lawserve?[See Sermon #128, Volume

3—THE USES OF THE LAW.] What was the use of it?

19. It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. The law makes us know what transgression is. It reveals its true nature. Under the hand of the Holy Spirit, it makes us see the evil of sin. We might not have perceived sin to be sin if it had not been for the command of God not to commit it—but when the commandment comes, then we recognize sin and the evil of it.

19-21. Andit was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the Law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid! For if there had been a Law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law. There could not have been a better Law! Some talk about the Law of God being too severe, too strict, too stringent, but it is not. If the design had been that men should live by the Law, there could not have been a better Law for that purpose and, therefore, it is proved that by the principle of Law nobody ever can be justified, because even with the best of laws, all men are sinful and need that justification which comes only by Grace through faith!

22. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [See Sermon #1145, Volume 19—THE GREAT JAIL AND HOW TO GET OUT OF IT.] All of us, by nature, are shut up like criminals in a prison that is so securely bolted and barred that there is no hope of escape for any who are within it. But why are all the doors shut and fastened? Why in order that Christ may come and open the one only eternal door of salvation—"that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

23. But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

[See Sermon #2402, Volume 41—UNDER ARREST.] Well do I remember when

I was "shut up" in this fashion. I struggled and strove with might and main to get out, but I found no way of escape. I was "shut up" until Faith came and opened the door and brought me out into "the glorious liberty of the children of God."

24. Therefore the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faih. [See Sermon #1196, Volume

20—THE STERN TEACHER.] The tutor was a slave who led the children to school and sometimes whipped them to school. That is what the Law did with us—it took us under its management, whipped us and drove us to Christ.

25. But after faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. Now we go to Christ willingly, cheerfully, joyfully, trusting in Him with all our hearts. The tutor's work is done so far as we are concerned.

26. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. We hear a great deal about the universal fatherhood of God, but it is all nonsense! There is no Scripture for it whatever. Those only are the children of God who are "the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. "He is everything to you. He covers you, He surrounds you. You do not stand before God in your own filthy rags, but you have put on Christ."

28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. What a mercy it is to be in Christ, so that you are not seen any more, but only Christ, and you accepted in Him!

29. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. "According to the promise"—not according to your works, or your gifts, but "heirs according to the promise."

"And, behold, there was a woman which hada spirit ofinfirmity eighteen years, and was bent over, and could in no wise lift herselfup. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said unto her, Woman, you are loosened from your infirmity And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God." Luke 13:11-13.

OUR text commences with a "behold"—"behold, there was a woman." And as it was often remarked by the Puritan writers, whenever we see the word, "behold," in Scripture, we are to regard it as a nota bene, as a mark in the margin calling our particular attention to what follows. Where Christ worked wonders, we should have attentive eyes and ears. When Jesus is dispensing blessings, whether to ourselves or to others, we should never be in a state of indifference!

I shall use this miracle as a type, as it were, for doubtless the miracles of Christ were so intended. Our Lord was declared to be "a Prophet mighty in deed and word." He was to be a Prophet like unto Moses and He is the only one who was like unto Moses in these two respects. Many Prophets followed Moses who were mighty in "word"—such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah, but then they were not "mighty in deed." Many, on the other hand, were "mighty in deed"— like Elijah and Elisha, but they were not "mighty in word." Our Lord was mighty in both respects and a Prophet in both respects—"a Prophet mighty in deed and word." I take it, therefore, that His miraculous deeds are parts of His prophecies. They are the illustrations of His great life-sermon. The words which fell from His lips are as the text and the letter of the Book, but the miracles are the pictures from which our childlike minds may often learn more than from the words, themselves. We shall so use the picture before us now—may the Holy Spirit give us instruction!

I. In the first place, THIS WOMAN, BOWED DOWN WITH A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY, TYPIFIES TO US THE CASE OF VERY MANY—very many whom we have seen and some of whom are listening to these words. Oh, that the same miracle might be worked in them as in her! She typifies persons who are depressed in spirit, who cannot look up to Heaven and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, persons who have a hope, a good hope, too, but not a strong one—a hope which enables them to hold on as the men did in Paul's shipwreck when, on boards and broken pieces of the ship they came safe to land, but not a hope which gives them an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They are saved, like this woman, who was a true daughter of Abraham, notwithstanding all her infirmities. She was truly of the promised seed, notwithstanding that she could not lift herself up, so these are genuine Christians, truly saved, and yet constantly subject to infirmity.

In some, it takes this shape. They believe in Christ and rest on the precious blood, yet they are sometimes afraid that they have sinned the unpardonable sin. Though their better and more reasonable selves will do battle against the delusion, still they hug it to their hearts. Seeing that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a sin which is unto death—and that when a man has committed it, his spirit dies—and repentance, the desire to be saved and all good emotions cease to be when that dreadful spiritual death is ours, I say that they can thus reason with themselves in their better moments and see that their fear is a delusion, but they soon fall back again into that dreadful slough. They see no signs of Grace, but they think they see signs of reprobation.

Many have I met with—I may say that I meet with such people every week— who are afraid that they are hypocrites. When I encounter persons troubled with this fear, I cannot help smiling at them, for if they really were hypocrites, they would not be afraid of it and their fear of presumption argues very strongly that they are not living in it!

Then this infirmity will take another shape. If you drive them from the other errors, they say they are afraid that they are self-deluded. This is a very proper fear when it leads to self-examination and comes to an end. But it becomes a very improper fear when it perpetually destroys our joy, prevents our saying, "Abba, Father," with an unfaltering tongue and keeps us at a distance from the precious Savior who would have us come very near to Him and be most familiar with His brotherly heart.

Supposing this difficulty should be met, still there are tens of thousands who are very much in doubt concerning their election. What if they should not be elect, they say? This, of course results from ignorance, for if they read the Word, they would soon discover that all those who believe in Christ may be certain of their election—faith being the public mark of God's privately chosen people! If you make your calling sure, you have made your election sure! If you know yourself now to be a lover of God, resting upon the great Propitiation which He has set forth for sin, then you may know that this is a work of Grace in your soul! God never worked a work of Grace where He had not make an electionof Grace. That fear, therefore, may be easily driven away and yet thousands are in bondage to it!

Others are afflicted with the daily fear that they shall not persevere. They say, "After all our professions and prayers, we fear we shall yet be castaways." The Apostle Paul was not afflicted with this fear. He strove lest this fear should ever come near him. He so lived with holy diligence, that he might always be in a state of blessed assurance, lest, after having preached to others, he, himself, should be a castaway. But he could say, "I know that my Redeemer lives," even as Job could. And he could also say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." Still, tens of thousands are perpetually subject to that form of bondage! They cannot reach, in fact, the full assurance of faith. They have scarcely even the glimmering of Assurance. They trust—they trust as the publican did, "standing afar off," but they have never yet come with John to lean their heads upon the bosom of the Savior! They are His disciples and His servants, but they can scarcely understand how He can call them His friends and permit them to enjoy close communion with Himself.

Now, Beloved, this woman thus bowed down was very like these persons for the following reasons—

Her infirmity much marred her beauty The beauty and dignity of the human form is to walk erect, to look the sun in the face and gaze upon the heavens. This woman could do nothing of the kind. She was, no doubt, very conscious of this and shrank from the public gaze. So unbelief, distrust, mistrust, suspicion—these direful infirmities to which some are subject, spoil their spiritual beauty. They have the Divine Grace of humility. In this respect, they very often excel others, but the other graces, the noble graces of faith and holy confidence and courage—these they cannot display. The beauty of their character is marred.

Moreover, this woman had her enjoyment spoiled. It must have been a sad thing for her to go about the world bent double. She could not gaze on the beauties of Nature as others could and all her motions must have been, if not painful, yet certainly exceedingly inconvenient. Such is the case with the doubting, distrustful soul under infirmity. He can do but little. Prayer is a painful groaning out of his soul. When he sings, it is usually in a deep bass. His harp hangs upon the willows. He feels that he is in Babylon and cannot sing the songs of Zion.

This woman, too, must have been very unfit for active service. Little of household duty could she perform, and that with pain. And as to public acts of mercy, she could take but small part in them, being subject to this constant infirmity. And so is it with you who are "Much-Afraids" or, "Fearings," you who have troubled spirits. You cannot lead the van in the day of battle. You can scarcely tell others of the Savior's preciousness. You cannot expect to be great reapers in the Master's harvest. You have to stay by the stuff while others go forth to fight. There is a special law which David made of old concerning those who tarried there, so you do get a blessing, but you miss the higher blessing of noble activity and Christian service.

I might thus enlarge and show the likeness more clearly, but I think you can draw the picture for yourselves. You see the woman come into the synagogue and your pity is at once excited. But if you love the souls of men and God has made you to be tender as a nursing mother to others, you will pity, yet more, many of the true seed of Abraham who are bowed down with infirmity.

It appears, from our Savior's words, that this woman's infirmity was coupled with Satanic influence. "Whom Satan has bound," He said, "lo, these eighteen years." We do not know how much Satan has to do with us. I do know that we often lay a great deal on his back which he does not deserve—and that we do a thousand evil things ourselves and then ascribe them to him. Still, there are gracious souls who do walk in the paths of holiness, who do hate sin, who, for all that, sometimes cannot enjoy peace. We cannot blame them. We must believe that the Satanic spirit is at work, marring their joy and spoiling their comfort. Dr. Watts says—

"He worries whom he cannot devour

With a malicious joy"— and doubtless that is true. He knows he cannot destroy you because you are in Christ and, therefore, if the dog cannot bite, he will at least bark. Like Mercy, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, you will often be alarmed by the evil ones and all the more so because these evil ones know that in a little while you will be out of gunshot of all the powers of Hell, and beyond the hearing of all the bellowing of the fiends of the Pit! Satan had much to do with this poor woman's infirmity.

It appears, very clearly, too, from reading the passage, that the woman's weakness was beyond all human art. "She could in no wise lift herself up," which implies, I think, that she had tried all ways within her reach and knowledge. "She could in no wise." Neither by those mechanical operations which have sometimes been found effective in such diseases, nor by those medicines which were much vaunted in that age, could she receive the slightest relief. She had done her best and physicians had done their worst—and yet notwithstanding all, she could by no means lift herself up—and, truly, there are many in this condition spiritually. Have you ever been, as a Christian pastor, utterly baffled in dealing with some cases of spiritual distress? Have you ever been driven to pray, feeling the blessedness of prayer all the more because you have proved the futility of your own efforts to comfort a sin-distressed, Satan-tossed spirit? Often has that been my case. There has been the promise to meet the case, but the poor soul could not lay hold of it! There has been the cheering Word of God which has been efficient enough at other times, but it seemed to be a dead letter to this poor spirit in bondage. There has been the case, in point, and the experience of somebody else just like the case in hand, which we tried to tell with sympathy. We tried to work ourselves, as it were, into the position of the sufferer with whom we were dealing. But still, for all that, we seemed to be speaking to the winds and trying to comfort one who was so conditioned to sorrow that he felt that for him to cast off the somber weeds would be a sin, and to cease to mourn would be presumption. Many a time has such a case come before us and we have thought of this woman—and could only pray that the Master would put His hand upon the person, for our hand and our voice were utterly powerless!

Poor soul, she had been a long time in this case! Eighteen years! Eighteen years! Well, that is not very long if you are in health, strength and prosperity. How the years trip along as with wings on their heels! They are scarcely here before they are fled! But 18 years of infirmity, pain and constantly-increasing weakness! Eighteen years she dragged her chain until the iron entered into her soul. Eighteen years! Two long apprenticeships to sorrow till she had become the acquaintance of grief. Yes, and some such persons, though prisoners of hope, are kept in bondage as long as that. Their disease is like an intermittent fever which comes on, sometimes, and then is relieved. They have times when they are at their worst—the ebb tide—and then they have their floods again. Now and then they have a glimpse of summer, but soon the cold chilly winter comes on them again. Sometimes they half think they have escaped and leap like the emancipated slave when his fetters are broken, but they very soon have to go back again to the jails and the manacles, having no permanent relief, still being prisoners year after year. I know I am describing a case which is known to some of you. Perhaps I am photographing you!

Yet for all this, this woman was a daughter of Abraham. The Lord Jesus knew her pedigree and assured the ruler of the synagogue of it. She was one of the true seed of Israel notwithstanding all her failings. "Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, to be loosened even on the Sabbath?" demanded the Master. Yes, and you, poor anxious spirit, though your faith is but as a grain of mustard seed, yet, if you have a simple faith in Christ, you are safe! You, troubled and tossed one, though your boat seems ready to be swallowed up by the waves, if you have taken Jesus into the vessel, you shall come safely to the land! Poor Heart, you may be brought very low, but you shall never be brought low enough to perish, for underneath there are the everlasting arms. Like Jonah, you may go to the bottoms of the mountains and think that the earth with her bars is about you forever, but you shall yet be brought up and you shall sing Jonah's song, "Salvation is of the Lord!" God does not cast off His people because of their dark frames and feelings. He does not love them because of their high enjoyments—neither will He reject them because of their deep depressions. Christian is dear. Father Honest is dear. Valiant-for-Truth, too, is dear to the King of the pilgrims! And Ready-to-Halt, upon his crutches, is equally dear, and Mr. Fearing and Miss Much-Afraid, though they may lie in Doubting Castle till they are almost starved, shall surely be brought out, for they are true pilgrims and shall at length safely reach the Celestial City!

II. But we must pass on to our second point, namely that THE EXAMPLE OF THIS WOMAN IS INSTRUCTIVE TO ALL IN HER CASE.

Observe that she did not tamely yield to her infirmity without effort. The expression, "She could in no wise l ift herself up"—an old Saxon form of saying, "She could in no ways lift herself up"—shows, as I have said before, that she had tried her best. I believe some of you might stand upright if you liked. I am quite certain that in some cases, people get into the way of surrendering to depression until at last they become powerless against it. Some stimulant is given them in the form of a sick husband, or a dying child and they grow quite cheerful. Under some real trouble, they become patient, but when this real trouble is taken away, they begin manufacturing troubles of their own. They are never happy, I might almost say, except when they are miserable—and never cheerful except when they have something to cast them down! If they have a real trouble, they get strength to bear it, but at other times, they are morbidly troubled in spirit. Now, let us imitate this woman and shake off our doubts and our unbelief as much as possible. Let us strike up the hymn—

"Begone, unbelief, my Savor is near! And for my relief will surely appear. By prayer let me wrestle, and He will perform, With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm!" Let us say, with David, "Why are you cast down, O my Soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in God, for I shall yet praise Him." Do not so soon yield to the shafts of unbelief. Hold up the shield of faith and say to your soul, "No, as the Lord lives, who is the Rock of my salvation, my castle and my high tower, my weapon of defense and my glory, I will not yield to unbelief. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. And though all things go against me, yet will I stay myself upon the mighty God of Jacob, and I will not fear." The woman, then, had done her best.

Note next, that although bent double and, therefore, having an excellent excuse for staying at home, yet she was found at the synagogue. I believe she was always found there from the fact that the length of time during which she had been sick was well known—not merely known to Christ because of His Godhead, but known as a matter of common talk and common knowledge in the synagogue, probably, during the whole of the 18 years she had been an attendant there. "Ah," she thought, "if I miss the blessing of health, yet I will not be absent from the place where God's people meet together for worship. I have had sweet enjoyments in the singing of the Psalms and in listening to the Word—and I will not be away when such Divine Grace is being dispensed."

mourners, never let Satan prevail upon you to "forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is." If you cannot get comfort, still go to the sanctuary. It is the most likely place for you to get it. One of the sweet traits of character in mourners is that they love to go to the assemblies of God's people. I knew one aged woman who had year after year been in this mournful state, and after trying long to comfort her, but in vain, I said to her, "Well, what do you go to the House of Prayer for? Why don't you stay at home?" "Why, that is my only comfort!" she said. "I thought you told me you were a hypocrite," I answered, "and that you had no right to the promises or any of the good things?" "Ah, but I could not stay away from the place where my best friends, my kindred, dwell," she replied. "And do you read your Bible?" I asked her. "I suppose you have burned that." "Burned my Bible!" she said in horror. "I'd sooner be burned myself!" "But do you read it? You say there is nothing there for you—if you were to lay hold upon the promises, it would be presumption—you are afraid to grasp any one of the good things of the Covenant!" "Ah, but I could not do without reading my Bible. That is my daily bread. It is my constant food," she responded. "But do you pray?" "Pray! Oh yes, I shall die praying!" "But you told me that you had no faith at all, that you were not one of God's people, that you were a deceiver and I know not what besides!" "Yes, I am afraid, sometimes, that I am. I am afraid now that I am, but as long as I live I'll pray." All the marks of the child of God were in her private character—and could be seen in her walk and conversation—and yet she was always bowed down and could by no means lift herself up!

1 remember a Brother minister who was the means, in God's hands, of comforting a woman when she lay dying in this plight. He said to her, "Well, Sarah, you tell me you do not love Christ at all. Are you sure you do not?" "Yes, Sir. I am sure I do not." He went up to the window and wrote on a piece of paper, "I do not love the Lord Jesus Christ.'" "Now, Sarah," he said "just put your name at the bottom of that." "What is it, Sir? I do not know what it is." When she read it, she said, "No, I'd rather be torn in pieces than I'd put my name to such a thing as that!" "Well," he said, "but if it is true, you may as well write it as say it." And this was the means of convincing and persuading her that there really was love to Christ in her soul, after all! But in many cases you cannot comfort these poor souls at all. They will still say that they are not the Lord's people, yet they cling to the means of Grace and, by-and-by, we trust they will get deliverance.

Observe another thing, that though we are not told it in so many words in the narrative, we may be sure it is true, when the Lord Jesus called her, she came at once. She was called and there was no hesitation in her answer. Such speed as she could make in her poor, pitiable plight, she made. She did not say, as another said, "Lord, if You will, you can." She did not doubt His will. Nor did she imitate another and say, "If You can do anything." She doubted not His power. She said nothing, but we know what she felt. There is not a trace of unbelief! There is every sign of obedience. Now, Soul, when Christ does call you, by His Grace, make haste to run to Him! When, under the preaching of the Lord, you feel as though the iceberg is beginning to melt, do not get away from the sunlight and go back to the old winter gloom! "Make hay while the sun shines," says the old proverb—take care that you do the same. When God gives you a little light, prize it. Thank Him for it and ask for more. If you have got starlight, ask for moonlight. When you have got moonlight, do not sit down and weep because it is only moonlight, but ask Him for more, and He will give you sunlight, and when you have got that, be grateful, and He will give you yet more! He will make your day to be as the light of seven days, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. Think much of little mercies since you deserve none. Do not throw away these pearls because they are not the greatest that were ever found, but keep them, thank God for them, and then soon He will send you the best treasures from the treasury of His Grace.

As soon as this woman was healed, she was, in another respect, an example to us, namely, that she glorified God. Her face did it. With what luster was it lit up! Her whole gait did it. How erect she stood! And then I am sure her tongue did it. The woman might well be pardoned for speaking this once in the midst of the assembly. Restored as she was, all of a sudden, she could not help telling out the joy she felt within! The bells of her heart were ringing merry peals! She must give glory to God who had worked the cure. Some of you profess to have been cured, but have you given glory to God? Some of you profess to be Christians, and yet you have never come forward to avow it! You have been afraid to unite yourselves with the Christian Church! Your Master bids you confess Him. The mode of confession which He prescribes is that you be baptized in His name—and yet, though He has saved you, you stand back and are disobedient. Take care! "That servant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."

I was, this week, by the bedside of a dying man, an heir of Heaven, washed in the precious blood of Jesus, I believe, and rejoicing in that fact, too, but yet he could not help saying, "I ought, years ago, to have taken my stand with God's people. You have often given me many hard blows in the Tabernacle, but never too hard. Tell the people, when you speak to them again, when they know anything is a duty, never to postpone it, for that Word of God is true, 'That servant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.' I am not condemned, I am not cast away, for I am in Christ. I am resting on His precious blood and I am saved. But, though saved, I am being chastened." And he was sorely chastened with many doubts, fears and troubles of soul. If you are God's child, any duty neglected will bring upon your soul some chastisement. If you are not God's child, you may do very much as you like and your punishmentwill, perhaps, not come upon you until the next world. But if you are one of the King's favorites, you must walk very tenderly and very attentively, or else, as surely as you are dear to the heart of God, you shall feel the rod upon you to chasten you and to bring you back into the path of obedience!

This woman glorified God. Brothers and Sisters, can we not do something more to glorify God than we have yet done? If we have done that which seemed to be our duty on certain occasions, may there not be yet more for us to do? There is very much land yet to be possessed for King Jesus! This wicked city is given over to sin and we are doing so little! Ah, some of you do what you can, but we who do what we can, might do more if we had more strength with which to do it—and more strength is to be had for the asking! Oh, that we could enlarge our desires for the glory of King Jesus! Oh, to set Him upon a glorious high throne and to crown Him with many crowns, to prostrate ourselves at His feet and to bring others, too, to lie prostrate at His feet, that He might be King in Jeshurun, King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning in our souls forever and ever! Imitate this woman. If you have been bowed down and yet restored to comfort! See that, like she did, you instantly fall to glorifying God.

III. And this brings us to the last point—THE WOMAN'S CURE IS EXCEEDINGLY INSTRUCTIVE TO PERSONS IN A LIKE CASE.

She went to the synagogue, but she did not get her cure alone by going there. Means and ordinances are nothing in themselves! They are to be used, but they are only dry skin bottles, without water, unless there is something more than these. This woman met with Christ in the synagogue—and then came the healing! May we, too, meet with Jesus! That great encounter is possible here, or anywhere, for—

"Wherever we seek Him, He is found, And everyplace is hallowed ground." The great matter is to meet with Him! And if we meet with Him, we meet with all we need!

Now, observe the woman's cure. In the first place, it was a complete cure. No part of the infirmity remained. She was not left a little crooked, but still much restored. No, "she was made straight." When Jesus heals, He heals not by halves. His works of Grace may have it said of each one of them, "It is finished." Salvation is a finished work throughout.

In the next place, the woman's cure was a perpetual and permanent one. She did not return, by-and-by, by a terrible relapse, to her former posture. Once made to walk upright, she remained so. When Jesus sheds abroad life, love and joy in the soul, it is ours for a perpetual inheritance and we may hold it till we die, nor lose it even then!

Notice, too, that the woman was healed immediately. That is a point which Luke takes care to mention. The cure did not take days, or weeks, or months, or years, as physicians cures do—but she was cured immediately! Here is encouragement for you who have been depressed for years. There is yet a possibility that you may be perfectly and speedily restored. Yet may the dust be taken from your eyes! Yet may your face be anointed with fresh oil! Yet may you glow and glisten in the light of Jesus' Countenance while you reflect the light that shines upon you from Him! It may happen tonight—at this moment! Gates may be taken from off their hinges, for the mighty Samson, whom we serve, can tear up Gaza's gates, posts and bars and all if He wills to set His captives free! If you are bound by all the fetters that self can forge, yet at one emancipating word from Christ, you shall be entirely free! Doubting Castle may be very strong, but He who comes to fight with Giant Despair is stronger, still. He who has kept you beneath his power is mighty, but the All Mighty is He who conquered at Bozrah and who will conquer everywhere else when He comes forth for the deliverance of His people! Take down your harps from the willows! Be encouraged! Jesus Christ loosens the prisoners! He is the Lord, the Liberator. He comes to set the captives free and to glorify Himself in them!

I remind you of the thought with which we commenced this third point, namely, that the woman's restoration was effected by Jesus Christ, by His laying His hands upon her. Many of His cures were worked in this way, by bringing His own Personality into contact with human infirmity. "He laid His hands upon her." O Soul, Christ came in human flesh and that contact with humanity is the source of all salvation! If you believe in Christ, He comes a second time into contact with you! Oh, that your soul might get a touch of Him tonight! He is a Man like yourself, though He is also "very God of very God."

In order to save us, He suffered unutterable pangs. The whole weight of our sin was laid upon Him, till He was bruised as beneath the wheels of the car of vengeance. Beneath the upper and the nether millstones of Divine Vengeance, the Savior was ground like fine flour! God knows, and God alone knows, what agonies He bore. All this was substitutionary for sinners. Let not your sins, then, depress you. Had you no sin, you would not need a Savior. Come with your sin and trust in Him! Let not your weakness distress you. Had you no weakness, you would not need a mighty Savior. Come and take hold upon His strength, for all His strength is meant for the weak, the hopeless and the helpless. Sitting on the dunghill of your sin, yet trust in Jesus and you shall be lifted up to dwell among the princes of the blood-royal! There must be power to save in God when He becomes Man to bleed and die. Nothing can be impossible to Him who built the world and who bears the pillars thereof upon His shoulders—and yet gives His hands to the nails and His heart to the spear! Nothing can be impossible to Immanuel, God With Us, when He smarts, and groans, and submits to the bloody sweat, and then empties out His heart's blood that He might redeem men from their iniquities—

"O come all you in whom are fixed The deadly stains of sin!"

Draw near to the Crucified! Let your souls contemplate Christ. Let your faith look to Him. Let your love embrace Him. Cast away all other confidences as mere vanities that will delude you. Away with them! Trust in nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ—His Person, His work, His life, His death, His Resurrection, His Ascension, His glorious pleading before the Throne of God for sinners such as we are! Ah, when you come to die, you who are strong and you who are depressed, will be very much alike in this matter—that you will have to come back where Wesley was when he said—

Hangs my helpless soul on Thee." Look to the wounds of Christ, they will heal your wounds! Look to the death of Christ, it will be the death of your doubts! Look to the life of Christ, it shall be the life of your hopes! Look to the glory of Christ, it shall be the glory of your souls here, and the glory of your souls forever and ever!

May God add His blessing and bring many of His bondaged ones out of prison! This shall be to His eternal praise! Amen.