There are some differences between the circumstances of the world at this day and the text of scripture that's open before us. One difference is that at that time in Capernaum in Galilee and its environment, that there were many diseases at work. As we're told in verse 40, all that had any sick with diverse diseases brought them unto him. Whereas today in our world, it is but one disease that people are thinking of and desperate to escape. There are other differences. For all that we know, this condition with lots of sick people was localized to Capernaum and its environment. Places that were near enough for the word to go out and then for people within the same day to come to the house where Jesus was to be healed. For all that we know, There was localized sickness in Galilee, whereas in our circumstances we have worldwide illness. There are some differences then between our circumstances and the text of scripture that's open before us, and yet the similarities should be apparent to us. We have a case with many people sick in our world, and yet It can be overwhelming to think about great numbers of people who are sick. And therefore, let us focus on one woman who was sick, Simon's wife's mother. And when it comes down to it, this is the way that we think about things. We can't really process the scale of a pandemic. And what we're thinking about is, will my family be hit by it? Will I get a great fever? We're thinking of it in personal terms. It's helpful then to think about this household that was visited with illness and then visited by Christ. As we look at these verses 38 and 39, I want to simply unfold the story that is here and then to make some applications. As we unfold the story, there are several markers along the way, and we don't need to get them all and enumerate them, but I'll state them as we go. First of all, we would consider the place where this happened. It happened in Capernaum. which was in Galilee. Capernaum, a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Verse 31 tells us that this was amongst the places that had witnessed most of Christ's mighty works. According to Matthew Chapter 11, it was a kind of base of operations for the Savior for a period of time. It was also the place to which he came after Nazareth, his own town, had rejected him. It was a place that had a visitation, a season, and an opportunity, and one that didn't last forever. Because the very day when the Savior went into Simon's house was the last day of Capernaum season. at least for them. This very long day in which the Savior went into the synagogue, he preached, he fought a spiritual battle against one of Satan's minions. He retired to Simon's house. He healed a very sick woman. The crowds came down as the sun set. He spent himself through the night, apparently, And then when day broke, he wanted to get away to pray. And they came to find him. And he said that he was leaving. Capernaum was a place that had its day, its hour, in which it experienced a lot of sickness, and an open door of grace, but a door and opportunity that closed because the Lord Jesus says of this city of Capernaum that it would be thrust down to hell. The question is for an archaeologist Which pile of ancient rubble was once the city of Capernaum? And will the question be, which barren wasteland was once the United States of America? I am not a prophet. I am not an epidemiologist, and I do not know the outcomes of what is upon us. Maybe there's too much hype. I don't know. But what I do know from Scripture is this, that we must know the day of our visitation, lest, like Capernaum, The Lord Jesus said, thou art exalted to heaven, thou shalt be thrust down to hell. In our wealthy land of America, which is lifted up to heaven in temporal things, God has sent us sickness. And he has sent to you his gospel today. Today is a day that will end like that day when Jesus went to the house of Simon. And what will you do with the word that comes to you today in the place and time in which it comes to you? Capernaum. was a place that had a prevailing character and its prevailing character was in penitence and unbelief. The Lord had at least Simon in Capernaum and that's one reason why he went there to save Simon Peter and to save the man from the devil to save the mother-in-law from the fever. The Lord Jesus had his people in Capernaum, but they lived in a time and place of prevailing unbelief, despite their afflictions and despite their opportunity. And just so, you live in a day and time of prevailing unbelief. And if we would be saved, we must not rest content with blending in. If we would enter the kingdom of God, which Jesus preached in Capernaum, we must take it by storm. We must press in to the kingdom of God. That was the place. We would also notice the day. The day was the Sabbath day. Verse 30, he taught them on the Sabbath days. It's one of the accounts that shows us that healing and works of mercy are lawful on the Sabbath. It's also important because it tells us the connection of this mighty work that the Savior did. The first thing he did that day was to teach the word and the way that he taught it. On the Sabbath days in the synagogue of Capernaum made people amazed. They were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power. And then while he was in the synagogue, no doubt teaching, he experienced opposition to his teaching, this devil in the man just making noise. And so notice how verse 38 connects what happened at Simon's house with what happened in the synagogue. And he arose out of the synagogue and entered into Simon's house. So this one who came to preach the word of the kingdom, when he'd been preaching the word of the kingdom, after that, he came out of that place of his preaching and he did this miracle. So the miracle is to confirm his word and notice how he speaks later to those who come seeking him, begging him not to depart because they'd seen these miracles. They wanted more healing. And what does he tell them that he'd been sent to do? to preach the kingdom of God. And so thus we see it happened on the Sabbath day. This tells us that we must not rest content with simply being amazed at Jesus, the miracle worker, but we must not rest until we see that his miracles confirm his word. We must not rest content until we've believed and obeyed his word. That's the thing, his word, the word of the kingdom, which declares he himself to be king. which tells you that the kingdom of God is upon you. Therefore, you must repent and you must believe in his name and so enter his kingdom and walk in the narrow way of discipleship after him. You must not rest content with being amazed by a miracle, but you must heed his word. That's the connection. So we see the day on which this happened. We could also notice the family, the family in which this happened. a great fever had come to Simon's house. This gives us a glimpse of family relationships. It tells us, for one thing, that the apostle Simon Peter was a married man. Therefore, this is a great embarrassment, of course, to the Church of Rome, claiming their pope to be Peter's successor, and yet forbidding their priests to marry, which we say, by the way, but it's not entirely superfluous. What is the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great bridegroom of the church? How does Jesus Christ, we always want to be thinking of him, how does Jesus Christ take care of his church? Well, ordinarily, he takes care of his church through men who are married, because he is a bridegroom. And so there are certain things, yes, even an apostle with supernatural gifts, and Paul was an exception, we acknowledge that, but see, even if a man has supernatural gifts, as Simon did in the course of time, he still needs to learn things in family life and by being married and how to exercise grace and so on. So it's one of these, there's a parenthesis. But it's important. So we notice the family to which this great fever came. And in particular, we'd notice the woman who was afflicted by the great fever. It was Simon's wife's mother. We could safely conclude, at least as much as this, that Peter was not the youngest of the apostles, because you remember that Lord's Day morning? John outran Peter, and John outlived likely all the other apostles. So probably John was younger than Peter. Peter then, he wasn't the very youngest of the apostles, and he had a mother-in-law. The generation older than Peter, this woman who was afflicted was not a young woman. We don't know how old, but perhaps she had gray hair. She was a woman who was worthy of being honored. What does the law of God say about mothers? Honor thy father and thy mother. The woman who was afflicted with this great fever had born at least a daughter, perhaps more children. This woman who was afflicted by the great fever, there's a special kind of affection that's due to a mother. And there was more than one person who loved her because it says that they besought him for her. There was more than one person who didn't want her to die and who cried, save her Lord. This was the woman who was afflicted. What if our own household is stricken with serious illness? And I ask that not just to stir up fears, but in order that we might profit. Illness affects families, and it comes to particular members of a family. And if an illness visits our household, how will it find the state of our house? Will it enter a house where there is a backlog of grievances and tensions that haven't been resolved? That makes illness all the more terrible because then it has more sting and more of the smell of God's indignation on it. And then if illness comes into our house and where we have tension, and quarrels and prayerlessness. Illness comes into a house where piety isn't being practiced. When everything was well, the family wasn't seeking God, not coming to him to pray together. Now illness strikes and it's all the more terrible because we haven't been seeking God's face and now we need to seek the face of a God who seems all the more distant And we're tasting his indignation, how terrible it would be for illness to come to our house. It makes us look to our foundations. What is the present state of our families? But then what if illness comes to a house characterized by holiness, harmony, and happiness? What if illness comes to a house and to a godly mother in Israel who is a saint? What if illness comes into a house where the one whom it afflicts is Christ's gold and Christ by the illness is putting his gold into the fire? You know that Peter spoke about this later on. In this salvation, ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth. We don't know, but could Peter's mother-in-law have been one example he was thinking of, gold put through the fire. That was the family that it came to. What is the state of our families? We would also notice the providence, not only the family, but the providence, and it was a hard providence. The providence of God is described in the word taken. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever. She, we could say, was held by a great fever. This was a providence of God that she did not ask for and that in and of itself was not welcome. But she couldn't get out of the grips of it. The mighty hand of God was behind this illness that took her The same word is used, Luke uses it again in chapter eight, verse 37. For they were taken with great fear. The way that fear, unwelcomed, comes and grips the heart. So this fever, unwelcome and unasked for, gripped this woman, gripping her whole body and not letting her go. This was an all-encompassing providence for a dear woman. Sometimes the providence of God, we notice it and then we move on and we're able to do something else. Sometimes there is especially an affliction that comes that's all-encompassing and that holds us and takes us so that we can't think of anything or do anything else. We are surrounded by the trial. This woman was taken by a fever in the sovereign providence of God. God is sovereign over germs. He is sovereign over when they come and Who gets the contagion? Why was it Peter's mother-in-law and not another member of the house? God is sovereign. Simon Peter, who witnessed these things, didn't he say later? He wrote, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him, for he careth for you." God is behind our circumstances. They come to us in his providence. And if he wills that you or me be taken by the fever, we will be taken. This was the providence. There's also the fever. The fever And it's described as a great fever. And it is, Matthew and Mark recount this. But if I remember rightly, it is only Luke who says that it was a great fever. And in the fever that is going through our world, We're told that there's a spectrum of severity and that there are many cases of those infected where they have mild symptoms. But this woman didn't have a mild case. She had a severe one, a great fever. And in Greek, the word fever is a variation of the word for flame. And that's what a fever is. And maybe you've known it. Children, have you ever had a fever? Isn't it a kind of burning in your body? Your body turns up the temperature and sometimes you have hot flashes and sometimes chills and your body aches and you can't think clearly. And when you're asleep, you have strange dreams. And when you're awake, you're only halfway awake and your body is turning up the temperature to get rid of the contagion, but it's turning up the temperature and it's gripping your very life. And especially so with a great fever, great fever. So that no doubt they wondered, will she live? Peter later wrote, all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away. Perhaps this woman had once been young and beautiful. We know she was once young, maybe, and certainly to one degree or another, she was beautiful. But now to see her laid on a sickbed, her face creased with some age and made unnaturally bright with a fever or else clammy and pale. Peter was witnessing the withering of flesh. He was not witnessing a violent death, which is terrible, but he was witnessing a fading, withering, falling towards death. And so we have children here today and we have young people. And you should know that all flesh is as grass and all the glory thereof is as the flower of grass. We pray that you will live a long life, that you won't suffer accident and violence. We pray that you won't get the disease, but you must know that if you live a long time, then eventually you will wither and fall and fade and you will be brought either swiftly or slowly to the brink of eternity and to facing God. Your bodily strength will not last forever. One thing about fever is that it works inside the body. By way of comparison, think of this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless man, experienced hunger. We're told that in verse two of this chapter. He afterward hungered. Sinless Adam, Never would have fasted for 40 days. He never would have been hungry to the degree that the Lord Jesus was then. But even Adam in his sinlessness could have experienced a degree of hunger. There is a kind of suffering that an innocent man could experience. We never read of our Lord Jesus that he was sick. And that seems fitting. How did Jesus die? He died a violent death. He was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. The Lord Jesus did not die because he had a contagion within. He died because he had a burden laid upon him. He did not contract death or draw it on by sin, but he took on guilt and so died. The apostle Paul speaks of a law of sin. at work in my members." And then he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Your body, and I pray that you'll escape the disease, but your body is a body of death. And the reason that it's a body of death and must fade and fall and wither is because you have sin at work in your members. It is a body where there is an indwelling blot and contagion of sin and therefore it must necessarily be a mortal body that will fall into the grave. And so look at the difference. The difference between this daughter of Adam, who lay upon her sickbed, and the one who came to visit her in the house of her son-in-law. Here, this laid low daughter of Adam, who had the contagion of sin within, and then yes, She caught the fever from without somehow, but she had the contagion within that she drew on herself. And then the one who came to visit her, who was he? The spotless lamb of God, the one in whose mouth there was no guile. And he, the spotless one, had the sins of his elect laid upon him. And so he died, not this withering, consuming death, but he was cut off out of the land of the living. We need to know it and God help us that we learn it from his word rather than being compelled through the experience of a great fever taking our bodies. But God grant you to know it and grant me to know it, that you are a wretched man, woman, child, because you're a sinner and must die. And there is but one escape for fevered people. But the spotless lamb of God, behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Believe upon him. Have you believed upon him? Can you afford to not believe upon him? the fever, and also the petition. We find that she was taken with a great fever and they besought him for her. They prayed and they were more concerned for the woman who was actually sick and very sick. than for what would become of themselves. By all means, let's use precautions and guard our own lives. That's a sixth commandment duty, to take reasonable measures to preserve our own lives. but should not our preoccupation of thought and our prayers be with those who are actually sick rather than preoccupation with ourselves if we are well? Well, in any case, they loved her and they prayed for her. They besought the Lord Jesus on her behalf. So pray for those stricken with fever and especially for Christian brethren. Pray for their recovery. and pray and call upon the Lord for the root to be removed. Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ to cry that the malady, the root of the malady, which is sin, be healed in you. This is the petition with his stripes, we are healed. How else can we be healed but by the stripes of Jesus Christ? We find then the petition and we find proceeding along, we find the healer. What did Jesus do? And he stood over her and rebuked the fever. Matthew and Mark agree in their accounts. but they tell us different details. So Matthew and Mark tell us that he touched her hand or took her hand and raised her up. Now this communicates tender compassion and that the way by which he healed was by a touch. And now Luke agreeing with them, but telling us things that they didn't tell us and emphasizes more the commanding authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. tender and compassionate, and also authoritative and powerful. So Luke tells us that he stood over her and rebuked the fever. He stood over her. Where Adam's daughter was fallen, here was the second Adam standing, and he was standing over her. The same word that's used in John 3. He that is from above is above all or over all. He stood over her, above her. This is a posture of lordship. But why would he be pleased to exercise lordship over dust? and to come into a Galilean fishing town to a gray haired sick woman and stand over her. It's because it's how he exercises his Lordship. The Lord Jesus came into the world to seek and to save the lost. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. A sickbed is a terrible place, especially when there's reason to think that it might be a deathbed. But how terrible beyond terrors to be on a sickbed without Christ. And yet to be on a sickbed or even a deathbed and to have standing over your withering fallen frame, him who says, I have the keys of hell and of death. The poor saint who by faith sees the Savior need not fear death because standing over the believer on his deathbed is the Savior. He stood over her and rebuked the fever. He spoke a word of authority with an edge of holy indignation. Mine, mine, redeemed. And he would, at great cost to himself, make the word good. In his costly suffering and death, going on to death's own territory in order to defeat it, being pleased to have the cords and sorrows of death, bind about himself so that he, with a word of command, might loose this poor woman from those bands of death. He rebuked the fever. Ah, and that's a preview of the last day. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of an archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall be raised first. With a word of command over the grave, he shall raise his saints. He shall rebuke the destroyer, the healer and the cure. The cure, how immediate it was, how complete it was. It left her, the fever left her. Capernaum virus was gone at the word of the Lord. And when we recover from a fever, we're usually pretty weak. First, we have to be strong enough to eat something in order to build ourselves up. And it's days before we can get back to our normal things. Here, this woman, he rebuked the fever had left her and she and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. She started doing some housework to make her guests. serving Simon, especially serving the Lord Jesus, welcoming the Lord and helping him in what would come next from her house. He would go forth and preach to other cities also. So she had strength immediately. And now hear this. This passage of scripture confronts you with an objective fact. that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the house of Simon where there was an older woman who was very, very sick children and that he spoke a word. He stood over her and spoke a word and she was healed and she got up and started doing things like getting some food ready for the Lord. The Lord Jesus did that and that it is true. And I'm telling you of it today. I, with a living voice, am telling you that this is the truth of God. We know who the witnesses were. At least one of them is named. Simon saw it himself, and others saw it too. We have three ancient records, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which attest to the truth of what happened there. And now it is preached unto you so that you might know that it is true. And what will you do with the truth of God that has come to you today? We can distinguish between the true and the false. We can look over here. I don't even know their names, but there are religious charlatans who amass people to themselves by saying, I can heal. Where are they now? and let them go to the hospitals and let them go to China and let them heal the disease. They can't. But I tell you that the Lord Jesus is able and that he did so. His true word comes to you today and you must respond. Look how immediately this woman responded. Immediately she arose and ministered unto them. She didn't say, let me think about it a while longer. I'm not really sure if I'm healed. I can't really be sure that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord and maybe it wouldn't be right to serve him. I think I would like to Give it a little longer. And so we have people today who will say, that's a very nice message from the Bible, but I think I need a little more evidence before I'm satisfied. I'm not ready yet. And I think I'd like to live my life for me a little longer. But I tell you that that is not humility to say, Oh, I need some better evidence. That is pride. Because Luke, the evangelist, he went and interviewed the eyewitnesses and he was convinced and he wrote it down. And will you say that you can do better than he did by interviewing eyewitnesses? No, if you today, as the word of God comes to you, will say, I'm going to delay. I'm going to avoid it. I'm going to shift it off. Your problem is a wicked heart that is refusing to believe the word of the Lord. The problem is not that the evidence isn't good enough. The problem is you and your wicked heart. and you must repent. Mark the words that today you hear the voice of the Lord. You dare not refuse to repent. You dare not refuse to believe. You dare not refuse now to come and follow the Lord Jesus and be his disciple. lest you end up on a sickbed with no one to heal you. And then we say, ah, Lord Jesus, it is true. It is true. You healed this woman. We cry out with Thomas, my Lord and my God. That's what the believing heart cries. Yes, Lord Jesus, you are Lord, you are God. The cure and also the servant and immediately she arose and ministered Unto them, this is what this woman did after the fever was gone. She got busy in serving the Lord Jesus Christ in some practical ways, hospitality. Now, this was after the fever went away. So we can look around us and see before the fever calms, what are people doing? there's a certain amount of earnestness in people before the fever comes. So earnest endeavors to stockpile food and other supplies, earnest endeavors to make sure I don't get sick, and that's good, we should do that very well. Perhaps some crying to God, perhaps some level of spiritual interest that wasn't there before, Yes, before the fever comes, people, we do see some earnestness, but what about after the fever is gone? When the word goes out all clear, what will we find in the lives of people? Will we find them with eagerness, ministering and serving? What about you? When the word goes forth, all clear, what will your life look like? Will we find that when the all clear goes forth, people will say, oh good, now I can reschedule my cruise. Now I can follow my favorite team. Yes, there are lawful ways to take a relaxing trip on a boat. There are lawful ways to play a game of baseball. But here's what I'm pointing out. We live in a society that is self-absorbed. That is, the idols of our society are shaking. Ah, the stock market's going down. The cruise ships aren't running. The games aren't being played. God is shaking our idols. And then, will we be found healed and we'll say, give us back our idols? God forbid. Remember this word of the Lord Jesus. After there were 10 lepers cleansed, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? Where are the nine? Be asking that when coronavirus is gone, where are the nine? Where are they? Are they in church on the Lord's day? Are they at the prayer meeting? Are they showing Christian hospitality, serving, giving, loving, forbearing, promoting and helping forward the word of the kingdom, which is the only hope for this perishing world? Where are the nine? And where will you and I be after the fever is gone? So this woman as a servant tells us something. Immediately she arose and ministered unto them. What should we be found doing when the fever is gone? Well, as we've gone along this morning, we many thoughts that the Lord has given here, but we could come with a few concluding applications in view of the word of God and our present circumstances in this world. One. is the sinfulness of sin. Why is it that God has inflicted our planet with the scourge of this disease? He has done it in righteousness, and it is an infliction for our sin. Now, saying that, so the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, for the believer there's no condemnation in Christ Jesus, which takes away the sting of afflictions, and the believer doesn't have the condemning wrath of God upon him in his afflictions, praise the Lord. Yet nonetheless, these things wouldn't be if it weren't for sin. And sin is the ultimate root cause. And so they are justly inflicted by a sin-hating God. And they won't be anymore when sin is no more in the saints. They won't even be necessary as corrections anymore, loving fatherly chastisement. because of sin won't even be necessary anymore for the Saints. So it tells us something of God's displeasure with sin. It tells us of the universality of sin. So how much how many people in this world are sinners? It seems a lot of people I've spoken to don't think they are. And yes, I've done once upon a time. I lied once, but I'm not a sinner. I'm a very good person. Well, to find out how many people in the world are sinners, just look at the global map of coronavirus and see how many nations of the world are colored blue because the virus is there. Well, some places hasn't reached yet, but we're all sinners. All have sin. and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none that is righteous, no, not one." So this circumstance is teaching us the sinfulness of sin. This circumstance, secondly, is giving us an opportunity to prepare for death. We should use illness as a dress rehearsal for death if we're ill. But see, the best thing is to be prepared for death even before we get sick. Because if a great fever takes us, then we can't think very clearly even. And it's hard to pray or to concentrate on a promise from the word of God by which we might gain the knowledge of salvation. The time to be prepared for death is now. See, what is your habitual walk before God? Is it a humble walk so that you, uh, if God afflicts you? If you're habitually walking humble by the grace of God, then God afflicts you. And it's now you're more in a frame to bear it when he does. What's your constant habitual frame? Is it a covetous frame holding the world so tightly, making it your idol? Then if God afflicts you with illness, it will be all the harder to bear. But if by the grace of God, you're walking and being content with such things as you have, this makes it easier to bear when and if God afflicts. Are you walking constantly exercising communion with God in Christ? So do you imagine that if you get gravely ill, you will think about your soul? Do you imagine that if you get gravely ill and possibly brought to the gates of death, you will think of eternity and pray? Well, and now do you pray today? What do you do in the morning? Do you pray or whatever other time it is? Are you seeking God? When's the last time you prayed when no one else could see you? And when you went yourself before God to seek his face in Jesus Christ, when's the last time that you with no one else watching you opened your Bible? to find out what God's promises and precepts are. Are you walking in communion with God? And see if we think, well, do it when illness comes, we're deceiving ourselves. So habitual preparedness for death is one of the lessons. Another lesson is the providence of God, that he is able to protect and he does protect his people whom he loves. And we sang of it, our hearts thrilled at it. I was, I wondered at it when we sang it, about protection from the pestilence. He will give his angels charge over you. And so a Christian, the faith of a Christian is to look to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, and so to know that God is not against him. But for him, the faith of a Christian looks to God as a father. Therefore, the testimony of a Christian is confidence and quietness and trust. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Providence of God is one lesson. And also the blessedness of the life giver The Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world and found it such as this, found gray-haired women very sick. And why did he come? Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He did not come simply to heal here and there, but by his death at Calvary to take away the root of the problem. Do you know him? Have you come to him, believe upon him and walk by faith in him? Well, may the Lord bless that word to us. And would you stand with me as we pray? Oh Lord, our God and our father in heaven. We bless thee for thy holy scriptures and for the light and help of thy Holy Spirit, for the timeliness and relevance of thy living and active word. And so help us to take home to ourselves what we've heard, and even he who has preached, help him also to remember and apply. And we ask it for Jesus' sake, amen.