(Reed LUKE 5.)
On find in this chapter four men brought into contact with Christ, all of them alike in being sinners, but all different as to their state when, the Lord, meets them yet tall perfectly and divinely met by Christ and therefore all of them afterward witnesses of the grace of Christ.
In the first three you have the direct effects of sin on the conscience and on the body. In the last, it is more a question of the heart. But whether it be conscience, body, or heart, Christ meets every one of them perfectly. And, my reader, whatever the state of your conscience or your heart, Christ is more than able to meet that state. The body, as a rule, he does not touch now.
When the Lord first came to earth he did heal the body, as an attestation of His divine power, but the man who only believes in Christ because of miracles has not soul-saving faith. You must get down before Christ in the sense of what Christ is personally, as the Saviour of your soul, the Saviour of man.
Christ is a perfect Saviour, the one who meats every need, and to whom the Holy Ghost would direct each heart. Let us see the way in which the Lord meets these four men.
1.— the Convicted Man Calmed
First we have Peter. This is not Rapes conversion. He was a converted man at this time, but he did not know personally the One who converted him. He was like many souls who are not at home with Christ, not happy with Him, though they have been touched by the word of God.
Do you ask, When was Peter converted?
In John 1 you get his conversion. The Lord meets Peter there, and shows He knows all about him, changes his name, too, that is, asserts His authority over him. You belong to me, the Lord says, as it were. Peter did not learn his lesson though; and now in this fifth chapter of Luke, the Lord emancipates and brings out this man on His side.
The Lord does not say to Peter, Lend me your boat. He is Lord of all. He has bought the world, as well as created it. Men may deny Him, but He is the master., I do not say all are redeemed, but all are bought, and the price was His own blood.
The Lord, Himself, then from Peter's boat preached to men; and then he pays Peter for the use of his boat. He is beholden to no man. "Launch out," He says, “and let down your nets for a draft." “Master," says Peter, “we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word (that was faith), I will, let down the net.”
Have you, my reader, ever let down your net for a draft? Do you say, I have toiled and striven to get peace, to know that I am forgiven, and I am anxious still. Now then, at His word, let down your net; at "thy word,” that is the link between God and the soul.
Peter acted on Christ's word, and the net was so full, it brake, i.e., the blessing was too great for the vessel. You are sire to be blessed when you obey Christ; when you let down at His command.
When Peter saw it, he said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." What was his sin? Was it sin to lend the Lord his boat? Was it sin to say he had toiled, all night and taken nothing? Was it wrong to let down the net? No! What then had raised the question of sin in his conscience'? Ah, when he saw the fish fining up his net' that day, after his night of fruitless toil, he found out it was more than &man he had in his boat that day; he found...out he was in tile presence of God.
The divine glory of the blessed Lord had shone into the recesses of Peter's guilty heart, and in a moment he goes down and judges himself to be, as he was, sinful man. Not merely a sinner, but a sinful man. “Born in sin and shapen in iniquity." Sinful, and the sins of every day running over from a nature irretrievably bad. This is always the case when the soul gets into the presence of the Lord; and yet notice, where does Peter fall?
At the feet of Jesus! For at the very moment when I discover that I am not fit for Christ, that is the moment when I feel I must have Him. I am not fit for the Lord, he says, as it were, but I cannot do without Him; and I believe that, had the Lord moved one step from him, Peter would have clutched Him.
Have you, my reader, ever known in your history a, moment like this? If not do not delude yourself with the thought that you are converted. For there comes a moment when you, in the presence of the Lord, find out you are a ruined, undone sinner; and then you also find nothing but Christ will do for you.
You may not have known this in the vivid way Peter did; but if you have not known it, depend upon it you and the Lord have never met. What does Jesus say? "Fear not.”
He loves to say this to the trembling soul.
Have you ever heard His voice saying to you, “Fear not?" It is thus Christ speaks to souls; and if you say I have never heard Him say, "Fear not," I expect He has never heard you say, "Depart from me." You have never taken your true place as a ruined sinner, and, therefore, you have never met Him as the peace- giving Saviour. The two go together.
When a man learns what he is before God, he does not incriminate his neighbors; he says, "I have sinned," not "we." When a soul gets before God every other living being is left out, and the soul and God are alone. Have you, I ask, known this moment?
It is a moment of blessing; for when I learn what I am, I learn also what God is. If I learn that ' I am full of guilt, I learn Jana dud God is full of grace.
Peter from this time left all to follow Christ, He had an object, now in Christ that eclipsed all down here. And notice this, he left his business when it was at its best and brightest.
I suppose he had never had such a draft of fish as that day.
2.—the Defiled Man Cleansed
Look now at the next man; a “full of leprosy. Here we have the outbreak of sin. Sin does not only give me a guilty conscience, and make me know I am unfit for the presence of God, but there is also the sense of defilement. "Lord, if thou wilt," the leper says. He knew His power, but he doubted His willingness. Are, you my reader, conscious of your sin, knowing you are defiled by it, and do you know Jesus could remove it, and yet do you doubt His willingness? Oh, prove Him! Come to Him, and know this very day the touch of His hand! "I will, be thou clean,”
He says, and touches the leper. Here His divinity is proved again. Had any mere man touched a leper, he would have been, defiled; but when Jesus touched the leper, his leprosy was healed. This man had just enough faith to come to Christ, and just enough unbelief to make him doubt Christ; but he got blessing, for it was Christ he came to. You come to Him, too, my reader. He is enough. His blood is enough to wash your sins away, and nothing but the blood of Christ is enough.
3.—the Palsied Man Pardoned
Look at the next scene: the palsied man brought by the faith of others. Paralyzed, the fruit of sin. They cannot come in by the dam here, because Satan has that blocked up to keep these four and their sick friend from Christ, What do they do? They break up the roof.
It is one of the most magnificent flights of faith. What do you think the people round about said when they saw the bottom of the bed coming down through the roof. No doubt many thought it impudent, audacious. What did Jesus think of it? He was DELIGHTED!
“When he saw their faith, he said unto him, Mari, thy sins are forgiven thee.”
Faith and forgiveness are joined together by the Lord in such a way that nothing can rend them apart. The moment there is faith, there is forgiveness. We have had, then, a man to whom sin has given a guilty conscience, and Jesus says when he draws near to Him, "'Fear not." We have had a defiled man in his guilt, and He says, "Be thou clean." We have had one in his sins, and He says to him, “Thy sins are forgiven thee." This is the Christ for you, my friend, for He is the same to-day as He was then; you come and try Him.
4.— the Rich Man Satisfied
Now comes the fourth man, “a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom; Jesus passes by and speaks two words, “Follow Me." There the man was with bags of gold, but he was not happy; for money never made a man happy yet. Two words fall on his ear, "Follow Me," and what happens? All goes, he leaves all, rises up, and follows Jesus. He does not stay to gather up his money or anything. 'Two words from Christ changed the whole current of that man's life.
“Follow Me;" and he left all and followed Him. He dropped into the feelings of the heart of Christ, and this hitherto unsatisfied man gets his heart satisfied, and goes along full of Christ! What a conversion! What a grand conversion! He had a portion in this blessed Saviour, an object to fill, his heart for time and for eternity.
Rob me of, Christ, I am poor indeed; but give me Jesus, and I have everything my heart can want. Will not you, my reader, come to Him, listen to Him, hear His own voice, and henceforward follow Him.
W. T. P. W.