In the 9th chapter of Matthew,
in the middle of the chapter in verse 9, we read, And as Jesus
passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of custom. And he saith unto him, Follow
me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, as
Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, They that be hull need not a physician, but
they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. When Jesus heard
that, he said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Yes, they that are whole need
not a physician but they that are sick. This is set in a chapter
in which we read of several healings of the sick. The chapter opens
with Jesus going into a ship and passing over into his own
city and one being brought unto him who is sick of the palsy
lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw the faith
of those that brought this man unto him, he said unto the man,
Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And the reaction
of the scribes when they saw this was to say within themselves,
this man blasphemeth. because Christ forgave the sins
of this man. And Jesus, knowing their fault,
said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For ever is easier
to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk. But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then saith he
to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto
thine house. and he arose and departed to
his house. But when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto
men. So we see in the beginning of
the chapter the healing of one who was sick, but we see also
how Jesus here connects the forgiveness of sins with the healing of the
sick. One sick of the palsy was brought
unto him, and he said unto him, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
be forgiven thee. This offended the scribes who
said that Christ blasphemed by so saying because only God can
forgive sins. But Jesus says unto them, is
it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise
and walk? So he turns and then says, arise
and walk, and the man is healed. But his healing of the sickness
is a picture of the forgiveness of his sins. Ultimately, the
sickness is caused by his sin. There would be no sickness, there
would be no disease if it were not for the sin which is in this
world. And the real sickness which this
man had that needed to be healed, the real problem he had was not
the palsy, was not the temporal sickness he had, but the sin
in him. which would lead to his death
and lead, unforgiven, to his ultimate destruction. So Jesus'
immediate response when this sick man is brought unto him
is to forgive his sins because that's the healing he really
needs. And that's the healing that you
and I really need. if we but knew it. They that
behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. This
man knew he was sick. His friends knew he was sick. He was brought to Christ as one
with a need. He needed to be healed and he
knew it. But they that are not sick, And
they that don't think they are sick, they that are not sinners,
or they that don't think they are sinners, will never come
to Christ, because they have no need. They won't come asking
to be healed, because they don't see that they need to be healed.
But here was one who was sick, and one who was a sinner. And
Christ both healed him and forgave him. Later in the chapter we read
of the ruler whose daughter was dying, even now dead he said. And he comes to Christ and asks
him to lay his hand upon her that she should live. So Christ
goes to his house and on the way a woman with an issue of
blood comes and touches Christ. in order that she might be healed
and Christ turns unto her and says daughter be of good comfort
thy faith have made thee whole and the woman was made whole
from that hour but it wasn't just the physical issue of blood
that he healed because she came with faith in healing her he
forgave her her sins he washed her clean He then goes on to
the house of the ruler and says, give place for the maid is not
dead but sleepeth and they laughed him to scorn. But when the people
were put forth he went in and took her by the hand and the
maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad
into all that land. We see in the beginning of the
chapter a man whom Christ addresses as Son. Son, be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee. Then we see this woman with the
issue of blood come unto Christ and Christ turns unto her and
says, Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith have made thee whole.
How the sons and the daughters come unto Christ and are forgiven,
healed of all their sickness. Then in the latter part of the
chapter we read of two blind men that come unto Christ, crying
out, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. They're blind. They want to see. But these blind
men, though they cannot see physically, know that what they need goes
deeper than the physical ailment. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on us. And Jesus saith unto them, Believe
ye that I am able to do this. And they said unto him, Yea,
Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith
be it unto you. And their eyes were opened. And
Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know
it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame
in all that country. But again, how we see they come
unto him in faith, knowing they have a need and knowing and believing
that he can heal them and cure them and forgive their sins.
And as he went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed
with a devil. And when the devil was cast out,
the dumb spake and the multitudes marveled, saying, it was never
so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, he casteth
out devils through the prince of the devils. And Jesus went
about unto all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness
and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then
saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous,
but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. So we see how Jesus goes about
preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and
every disease among the people. The preaching of the gospel is
connected with the healing of the sickness and diseases. Because
the preaching of the gospel deals with the cause of the sickness
and diseases, the sin and death that reigns in man since the
fall. There's the problem. There was
their problem and there is your problem. The sin and the death
which reigns within us. So he preached the gospel. And
the effect of the preaching of the gospel was the forgiveness
of sins which healed them of all their sicknesses and diseases. Because those were just physical,
visible manifestations of the consequence of sin and death
which reigns in us. and when he saw the multitudes
he was moved with compassion because they fainted and were
scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd they were sick they
were dying they fainted they had a need they were like sheep
with no shepherd and his love was set upon the needy the needy,
the sick not upon the whole not upon the well, not upon the righteous,
not upon those who had no need, who had no care. He didn't go
to the scribes and the Pharisees who condemned him and railed
against him because they thought they were so righteous. And they
couldn't see their need, and they couldn't see their sin,
and they couldn't see their sickness. He wasn't moved with compassion
for them. He was moved with compassion.
for the sick, the diseased, the dying, the lost, the ones that
fainted, the ones who were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherds. Where are you? What is your response
unto Christ and His Gospel? What is your response unto those
that come with His Gospel and preach His Gospel as those whom
He has sent forth As those few labourers sent into the fields
of the harvest to preach this message, what's your reaction
to them and their message? Do you say they blaspheme? Do
you cast them out as irrelevant? Do you say we've no need of your
message? We've no need of your gospel,
we've no need of your salvation? Well Christ says unto you, They
that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go
ye, and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. What a powerful message this
is in the midst of this chapter. The events in the chapter are
there to illustrate the importance of what Christ is saying here.
To demonstrate the connection between all the ailments and
disease and suffering and death that we travel under with the
cause of these things which is sin. Why do we live and die? Why is death the end of our lives? Because we're sinners. Why is
there disease and sickness and suffering? Why do people faint
as sheep without a shepherd? Because they're sinners. Because
they've turned from God. They've turned from His ways.
They've turned from His message. They've gone astray. They've
said, we know better. and they suffer. We've brought
all of this suffering upon ourselves. When Adam and Eve in the garden
disobeyed God and went their own way, sin entered into man
and death by sin and all the disease and all the suffering
and all the terrible things that we see in this world all came
flooding in with the fall of man. but we chose it. They chose it
in the beginning and we choose it in our own lives now. Every
one of us has gone astray from Almighty God and every one of
us goes astray from Almighty God willingly, knowingly, every
day and every moment. This isn't some decision taken
by someone else a long time ago that affects you and I. This
isn't some one-off action or mistake that we maybe made some
time ago, which causes us suffering now. But this is a constant and
a resolute will and determination and decision which we make constantly,
every day and every moment, which brings upon us consequences. We are sick, we are dying. We are full of sin and rebellion
because we constantly choose to turn our back upon God and
his message. God comes unto us in the gospel
and says unto us as he said unto Matthew in this passage, follow
me. And Matthew, when he came unto
him, arose and followed Him. But those of us who are dying,
and sick, and lost, and rebellious, hear that message, and we shut
our ears, and we go another way. And when the suffering and the
trials of life come upon us, We have the audacity to shake
our fist at Almighty God, to shake our fist at the heavens
and say, why have you treated me thus? Why is my life like
this? Why do I suffer so? As though
God is the cause when we've chosen to bring it upon ourselves. And the reason we never come
unto Christ for respite The reason why when he comes unto us in
the gospel and says, follow me, that we don't follow him. The
reason we don't go unto him as a physician to be healed of our
sickness and forgiven of our sins is because we don't see
ourselves as sick. And we don't see ourselves as
sinners. And we don't recognize why there
is death in this world. Came to pass, as Jesus sat at
meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and
sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that behold, need not a physician, but they
that are sick. Are you one of them that are
sick, or one who is whole? Are you amongst the they that
are whole? Why do many in this world see
no need of Christ, no need of God, No need of the gospel. Why, if Christ in the gospel
comes unto them and says, follow me, do they go another way? Why, if Christ comes unto you
in the gospel and says unto you in particular, follow me, do
you not follow him? Why do you not arise and follow
Christ when he comes unto you? Why when you hear the gospel
do you shut your ears and go another way? Why do multitudes
in this world laugh at the gospel, laugh at Christ, ridicule God
and go another way? They do, because like those two
blind men, they are blind. But unlike those blind men, God
hasn't given them faith to recognise it. We are blind by nature to
our state. In our own eyes, we have no need. To ourselves, we think we aren't
sick. We aren't dying. And we definitely
aren't sinners. The whole have no need of a physician. We say, I'll go to a doctor when
I need a doctor, but I'm not going to Jesus Christ for salvation
because there's nothing to save me from. Why do I need to be
saved? If one said unto you, well, you
are a sinner. and the days of your life are
numbered. And if you remain in your sins
then on the day that you die, for you shall surely die, you
will have to stand before Almighty God and give an answer for your
sins and if you have no answer then He will cast you out into
outer judgment and send you into hell. If one tells you that plain
and true message and consequence of your rebellion and your sin
then you will laugh and ridicule. You'll mock it and scorn it.
Or you'll simply shut your ears to it. Even if you recognise
it must be true, you don't want to listen and you'll go another
way. Because the higher will have
no need of a physician. There are a number, particularly
in our day, who would claim to be atheist or humanist who would
claim that there is no God. That we are as it were like animals
which are born and die and that's just the course of nature. There
is no life beyond this life. You're born, you live your 70
years or so, you do what you can in that time, you enjoy what
you can in that time, and when your life comes to a close, whether
it be long or short, there it is, and you're gone. There's
no more to us than what we are when we live. There are those
who essentially deny not simply that there is no God, but also
that man has no immortal soul. Our experience is just for the
hours in which we live, and when we close our eyes at the end,
that's it, we're gone. The only existence we have is
the memory that we leave of ourselves in this world. So if we do some
great thing and we're recorded in the history books, then mankind
will know of us, but otherwise we're gone. Oh what foolishness. What foolishness to deny all
the revelation and knowledge which God gives unto man. It's
in our being and in our conscience to know that we are more than
just some sort of animal or some sort of plant which grows up
one day and is gone to the next. Man has a soul. And when you
close your eyes for the last time and when you draw your last
breath, that is not it. You will continue to exist. There is life after death in
this world. There is an existence beyond
the grave. And any who have any true insight,
recognize this. But how foolish we are to try
to pretend otherwise. To try to rationalize and reason
away that which is obvious. Man is not the same as an animal. There is a distinct difference
between us and all other creatures. We have a soul. We are able to
reason and to think. and to do things and create things
that no other creature can because God has created us in his image
and given us an immortal soul and our existence does go beyond
this earthly realm. It is appointed unto men once
to die and after this the judgment. Our lives are brief. We will
die. But death is not the end. We will stand before our Creator. And don't let anyone fool you
to think otherwise. Because when you discover that
they told you a lie, and you believed a lie, it's too late. You can't go back. You can't
go back to them. and say, that book you sold me,
I want my money back. You were wrong. It's too late. But there are many who are fooled
like this. The fool says in his heart, there
is no God. The fool says in his heart, there
is no God. Oh preacher, are you calling
me a fool? If I believe there's no God.
God calls you a fool. if you believe there's no God,
because God created you and God sustains you. The ability you
have to speak unto me or to speak unto God and say, why am I thus? Why is it this? Why are you saying
that? Is an ability that God has given
you and gives you. And He's also given you the witness
of creation around you that He exists and He brought you into
being. And He continues to sustain you.
And He's also given you the witness of your conscience in your soul
that says that you are a created being answerable unto your Maker. And to think any other thing
is to bury that witness and bury that knowledge that God has graciously
given unto you. It's to bury it in unbelief and
rebellion. It's the greatest wickedness
of actions. To take that witness that God
has given unto us and to say it is not so. And to say that
God is a liar. when God has spoken the truth
unto us. He's spoken it unto us in creation,
He's spoken it unto us in His soul, and He's spoken it unto
us in the Scriptures and the Gospel. And when a preacher comes
with this message to you or to I and says, these things are
so, that preacher is repeating what God already tells you in
creation and in your soul and in your conscience. We reaffirm
what you already know. And you only refuse to know it
and accept it because you rebel in your blindness and depravity
of sin. Because you say, I have no sin. There is no sin. There is no
God to whom I'm answerable. I am not sick. I am not dying. I have no need of the gospel.
Oh, what foolishness. But how many there are who say
they are whole and they have no need of a physician. But there are those who are sick. There are those who were taught
that they are sick. There are those who know they
are dying and know they are dead in trespasses and sins. There
are those who go about as sheep without a shepherd, fainting,
scattered abroad, and in need of the gospel. There are those
who perhaps once thought they were whole, once thought they
were well, once thought they had no need, but God teaches
them their need. and God brings them to an end
of themselves. There are those who were once
strong. They had no sickness. They had
no need. They were strong. They stood
in the power of their own will and the power of their own intellect
and the assuredness of their own beliefs and ideals. They
were so certain of what they thought. They were so certain
of what is. But there comes a time when their
certainty And their props of assurance in their own will and
their own intellect and their own wisdom come crashing down. And they're broken. And they're
lost. And they realize that they are
without strength. They realize that they are sick
and dying. They realize that their life
is brief and that death is approaching. And there is something after
death. And there is someone to whom
they are accountable. They realise this. And the reason
they realise it is because God has opened their eyes. They were
blind but God comes unto them in the Gospel and begins to open
their eyes. The Spirit of God comes unto
them in the circumstances of life and begins to break them. He sends a bitter wind and storms
and tempest and he begins to break them down. He begins to
break you down and me down and bring us to an end of ourselves
and all that we stood in, all our own wisdom, all our own knowledge,
all our own convictions of what we think is right about this
world and mankind is broken down. and we discover what we are we
begin to discover inwardly that we are sinners and we have gone
astray from Almighty God and we are dying and we realise that
we will stand before Him we realise we're sick we realise we need
righteousness and we have no righteousness and we're brought
to fate And He scatters us. He scatters us. He takes us out
of the crowds and the multitudes with whom we once walked. Who
told us this is the right way and this is the right thinking
and all will be well. He scatters us. And we find ourselves
alone and weak and needy. And then He comes unto us wherever
we are in the Gospel. and finds us broken and bruised
and dying and comes unto us and we when we meet him when he says
unto us follow me we arise and we follow him or when he comes
our way like he came the way of the two blind men We're brought
to cry out, Jesus, our son of David, have mercy on us. And he turns and says, do you
believe that I can heal you? And we say, yes, Lord. And he'll
say unto us, according to your faith, be it unto you. or he'll
come our way like he came past that woman with an issue of blood
who's at an end of all things she's gone to every doctor and
every physician and no one can heal her and she's dying and
she's lost and when Jesus comes her way she stretches out and
touches his garment in the hope that he might have mercy on her
and he says daughter be of good comfort thy faith have made thee
whole Or perhaps we're so broken and bruised that we're, as it
were, sick of the palsy. And we're lying on a bed and
we can't move, we can't go to Jesus and touch his garment.
But there are those who will lift us up and bring us to him. There are those who will lead
us to him. There are those preachers of
the gospel who come unto us and say, here is Christ. And when
we cry out unto Him, He says, unto us, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Yes, there comes a time when
God shows the whole that they are indeed sick. He shows them
their sickness. He shows them their disease.
He shows them their sin. Has He come unto you and shown
you your sin? and your want of righteousness,
the desperate strait in which you are by nature, that you have
a need, that you are dead in trespasses and sins. They that be whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick Go ye and learn what that
mean if I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am not come
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. These sick, lost,
dying sinners learnt what that meant. At one point in time they
didn't know. They thought that God could be
appeased through sacrifice. They thought if they believed
in God and believed in salvation, they thought they could save
themselves by coming unto God with their own works and their
own sacrifice. That they could make a decision
to follow Him and they could make a decision to live their
life like this and do this and do that and God would be pleased
with them. The scribes and the Pharisees
believed in God. The scribes and the Pharisees
were very religious, but they thought they would stand before
God in their own self-righteousness. They thought their works would
please Him. They thought their religion was
good enough. They thought all of their sacrifices
and all of their scripture reading and all of their prayers and
all of their attendance at worship were what would please God and
that in which their salvation would stand. But God says unto
them, you have no need. You are as those who are righteous. as those who bring your own sacrifices
unto God, and as those who think that you will be saved because
of something you have done, or something you have fought, or
some decision you have made, something to do with you. You've
not been broken. You're not lost. You're not sick
of the palsy, or sick with an issue of blood. You're not blind. You're not dying, you're not
faked and scattered abroad. You're so strong and so sure
in your religion. There are those who are whole
and those who are lost who have no thought of God. Who deny God. But there are those who say there's
a God. Those who are religious. who
are as far off from him as the atheist is. They come unto him
with their lips, but their hearts are afar off. They come unto
him addressing him as master, but they reject him in their
hearts. The scribes and the Pharisees
spoke to the disciples and spake of their master. But he was not
their master, not in their eyes. They thought he blasphemed. They
thought he made himself equal with God and they rejected him
as being equal with God. They saw him as this carpenter,
this man from Nazareth. Who does he think he is? They
didn't recognize him. Yet they were full of religion.
But their religion had made them whole in their own eyes. Their
religion was the answer to all their problems. They didn't come
under him, faint and weak and sick and blind, crying out for
mercy. They came under him wagging the
finger and saying it's not according to our tradition and our knowledge.
They came under him, rejecting the gospel he preached. He comes
unto us today, in the gospel, as preached by those whom he
sends. He sends a gospel preacher unto
you and I. And that gospel preacher says,
this is the gospel, and this is salvation, and this is Christ,
by the free and elective grace of God, we're saved by mercy
alone. By the mercy of God alone, not
by our sacrifice, not by our works, not by our will. It's
entirely the grace and the mercy of God. A preacher comes unto
us and says that, and we say, no, you've got your gospel wrong.
No, that's not the gospel we believe. No, we don't think you've
interpreted this right or got that right, brother. We find
fault and we question it, just like the scribes and the Pharisees
did with Jesus. He came preaching the Gospel.
He came preaching mercy and not sacrifice. He came saying, I'm
not come to call the righteous, but sinners the repentance. And
we reject the message. And we say that's not the Gospel
that we know. and that's not the God that we
know and that's not the Saviour that we know and we will go another
way and we will receive another Gospel and another Jesus and
another message we'll go another way we'll follow this other Gospel
and this other Jesus but we won't follow Him but when Jesus comes
unto us in the Gospel saying I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. They that are whole need not
a physician but they that are sick. When he comes unto us with
this gospel and says unto us, follow me, we will either hear
as the sick heard, as the blind heard, as the dead heard, as
the lost herd, as the faint herd, we will either hear as Matthew
heard and follow him or we will reject as the Pharisees did and
as the fools of this world did and go another way. What is our
response? Today, at this hour, At this
moment, Jesus goes forth in the gospel. He comes about all the
cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom. He comes healing every sickness
and every disease among the people because he comes preaching the
forgiveness of sins. He comes unto us in the gospel,
he comes unto us at this hour and he says unto you and me today
I will have mercy and not sacrifice and he comes unto us in the gospel
and he says follow me and we react one way or another you
will either arise and follow him as one who has been taught
that you are sick, that you are dead, that you are a lost sinner
or you will go another way it's not based upon something in the
past and it won't wait until a day in the future. But God
comes in the Gospel today, at this hour, to us all, and he
says, with authority, follow me. Jesus said, they that behold
me, not a physician, but they that are sick, But go ye and
learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. And as Jesus came forth from
thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom.
And he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed
him. And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every
disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. He comes. in his Gospel and says,
follow me.