157. Strange Things.

We have seen strange things today. - Luke 5:26.

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.

l. 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 Ghost 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, till you see the strangest of all with Christ in glory.