Strange Things

The world is aweary, and longs for something novel.

The greatest stranger in the world is Jesus; and, alas, he is the least seen, and the least spoken of by the most of men!

If men would come and watch him, they would see strange things.

His person, his life, his death, his teaching, are full of strange things.

What he is now doing has as much as ever the element of strangeness and wonder about it.

I. MARK THE STRANGE THINGS OF THAT PARTICULAR DAY.

1. Power present to heal doctors! Verse 17.

2. Faith reaching down to the Lord from above! Verse 19.

3. Jesus pardoning sin with a word. Verse 20.

4. Jesus practicing thought-reading. Verse 22.

5. Jesus making a man carry the bed which had carried him. Verse 25.

II. MARK THE STRANGE THINGS OF CHRIST’S DAY.

1. The Maker of men born among men. The Infinite an infant.

2. The Lord of all serving all.

3. The Just One accused, condemned, and sacrificed for sin.

4. The Crucified rising from the dead.

5. Death slain by the dying of the Lord.

   • These are but incidents in a life which is all strange and marvelous.

III. MARK THE STRANGE THINGS SEEN BY BELIEVERS IN THEIR DAY WITHIN THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.

1. A self-condemned sinner justified by faith.

2. A natural heart renewed by grace.

3. A soul preserved in spiritual life amid killing evils, like the bush which burned with fire and was not consumed.

4. Evil made to work for good by providential wisdom.

5. Strength made perfect in weakness.

6. The Holy Spirit dwelling in a believer.

7. Heaven enjoyed on earth.

   • These are a small number out of a host of strange things.
   • Life never grows stale to a companion of Jesus.
   • Do you find it becoming so, and are you a believer?
   • Seek the conversion of your family, and your neighborhood.
   • Seek to know more of Jesus at work among men.
   • This will cause you to see stranger and stranger things, until you see the strangest of all with Christ in glory.

Wonders

Wonder at the work of God is natural, justifiable, commendable. He is a God of wonders. It is right to say of the Lord’s doing, “It is marvelous in our eyes.” We are to talk of all his wondrous works; but this must be in the spirit of devout admiration, not in the spirit of suspicion and doubt. A holy, grateful wonder should be indulged to the full; but a cold, skeptical wonder should be resisted as a suggestion from Satan. Faith accounts all things possible with God; it is unbelief that incredulously marvels at the work of his hand.

Guthrie, of Fenwick, a Scotch minister, once visited a dying woman. He found her anxious about her state, but very ignorant. His explanation of the gospel was joyfully received by her, and soon after she died. On his return home, Guthrie said, “I have seen a strange thing to-day—a woman whom I found in a state of nature, I saw in a state of grace, and left in a state of glory.”

In a manuscript by an old Scotch minister, in the early part of the last century, there is a remarkable account of the conversion of Lord Jeddart, who had been famous for his recklessness in sin, and of the astonishment it caused among Christian people. A little after his conversion, and before the thing was known, he came to the Lord’s table. He sat next a lady who had her hands over her face, and did not see him until he delivered the cup out of his hand. When she saw that it was Lord Jeddart, who had been so renowned for sin, she fell a-trembling terribly for very amazement that such a man should be there. He noticed it, and said, “Madam, be not troubled: the grace of God is free!” This calmed the lady; but when we consider what sort of man Lord Jeddart had been, we can account for her surprise.

When I get to Heaven, I shall see three wonders there:—the first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see; the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there.—John Newton.

Wonders of grace to God belong,

Repeat His mercies in your song.

—Dr. Watts.