The Lord helping me this morning,
the scripture that I'll bring to your attention is found in
Mark chapter 2, the chapter that we read, and verse 17. Mark chapter 2, verse 17, the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ, they that are whole have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now these words,
was spoken, as I say, by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. He is the incarnate Word of God. He is the great prophet of his
people. You remember the prophecy of
Moses to the children of Israel back in Deuteronomy 18. and verse 15 the lord thy god
will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy
brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken and then the
lord himself speaks to moses in verse 18 of that chapter i
will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like
unto me and like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth,
and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto
my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it
of him. Well, we would do well then to
heed and to hearken to what he says. The Father testified of
Christ in the holy mount, as Peter calls it, when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory. And what was
it that the Father testified there in the holy mount? This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. The father sent the son, and
he sent him to preach. In the first chapter of Mark's
Gospel, verse 38, the Lord Jesus says to his disciples, let us
go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for
therefore came I forth. Therefore came I forth to preach.
In his office as prophet, He came forth from the Father in
order to preach. He came forth to preach, and
the words he preaches are the words which are given to him
by the Father. And we see this throughout the
Gospel according to John. Just to give some examples, John
7 verse 16. Jesus answered them and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man
will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be
of God, or whether I speak of myself. In chapter 8 of John,
verse 26, I have many things to say and to
judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the
world those things which I have heard of him. They understood
not that he spake to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto
them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye
know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And then in verse
38 of that eighth chapter, I speak that which I have seen with my
Father. in John chapter 12 and verse 47. And if any man hear
my words and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken
of myself, But the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment,
what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. And then in John
14 verse 10, Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. And finally here in John, John
17 verse 8. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me. This is the prayer of the Lord
Jesus to the Father. He is praying on behalf of his
people. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest
me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me. And again in that prayer he says,
I have given them thy word. I have given them thy word. The Lord Jesus Christ is himself
the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. And then
we read, don't we, there in John chapter 1, and the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The psalmist says, the Lord gave
the Word. The Lord gave the Word. And in
the last book of the Bible, the revelation of Jesus Christ, we
see that word revealed, and His name is called the Word of God. Christ then, as the great prophet
and as the true prophet of the Lord, came forth from the Father
and spake all and only that which He was commanded to speak, that
which was given to Him to speak. And the words which the Lord
Jesus Christ speaks then are of the utmost importance. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life, he says in John's Gospel. These words which we have here
then in Mark 2, verse 17, the words of our text, they are of
the utmost importance. They are the words of Him who
cannot lie. They are the words of the true
prophet of the Lord, who is Himself, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. These things sayeth the Amen,
the faithful and true witness. or hear what he says. They that
are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are
sick I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Now
these words were spoken in answer to a cavil, a frivolous objection
of the scribes and Pharisees. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, They said unto his disciples,
How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners do repentance." We note this, that if the Lord Jesus Christ
the head of the church met with camels and objections then surely
those who follow him, surely those who are the members of
his body must expect the same the disciple is not above his
master but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master again
Jesus said if the world hates you ye know that it hated me
before it hated you If ye were of the world, the world would
love his own. But because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake. because they know
not him that sent me. If there is not that open persecution,
yet do we not often find that there are those around us who
cavil at us and who raise frivolous objections, quite often ridiculous
objections against us and against the Christian religion and against
the stand that we take for the truth. They said unto his disciples,
how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
This was their objection. Matthew, or Levi, as he is named
here in Mark's Gospel, had been called by the Lord Jesus Christ
to follow him. Verse 14, And he passed by and
saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom,
and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Now here we see the sovereignty
and the freeness and the power of divine grace. We see the sovereignty
of grace in that Levi was personally called by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there were many people there
in that place, a multitude. We're told in verse 13, And he
went forth again by the seaside, and all the multitude resorted
unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and
said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Out of all the multitude that was there, it was Levi, the son
of Alphaeus, that the Son of God had respect unto. And he passed by and saw Levi,
the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and
said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Here we see the sovereignty of divine grace and we see the freeness
of grace in this, that this man Levi was a publican. We are not
to understand the word publican in the modern sense of someone
who owns or manages a public house, a pub. No. In those days, in the land of
Judea, a publican was one who worked for the Roman authorities.
They were Jews who were employed by the Roman state to collect
taxes from their fellow countrymen, and they would often line their
own pockets in the process. They were often corrupt, and
they would exhort that would extort, I should say, more than
was due. And Zacchaeus admitted as much
when he was called by grace, you remember. Behold, Lord, the
half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything
from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. The publicans were despised amongst
the Jews. They were regarded as traitors
by their own people. And they were often mentioned
in the same sentence as sinners in the New Testament as in verse
16 of this chapter. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples,
how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? They were also mentioned as being
on the same level as harlots. In chapter 21 of Matthew, the
Lord says to the chief priests and elders of the people, verily
I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom
of God before you. This indicates the very low esteem
in which the publicans were held in the eyes of the people. They
were on a par with sinners, harlots. The Pharisees, on the other hand,
were revered. They were highly esteemed, very
highly esteemed, and they were highly regarded in Jewish society
because of the strictness of their religion and their apparent
holiness. But the Lord Jesus calls a despised
publican to follow Him. and to be one of his disciples.
Now doesn't this magnify not only the sovereignty of divine
grace, but the freeness of it? For ye see, your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence."
It is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that he saves even the
vilest of sinners, the worst of sinners. Oh, see the freeness
of His grace. And do we not see here something
of the power of divine grace too? It is effectual and irresistible. And He arose and followed Him. It is written in the Psalms,
and we sang the Psalm, didn't we, just now? Psalm 29. The voice
of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. In Ecclesiastes we read, where
the word of a king is, there is power. Yes, the voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. Oh, he knows how to break the
sinner's heart and to make him whole again. The voice of the
Lord divided the flames of fire. He knows how to pierce a sinner's
heart and cut his soul asunder, as we read in Hebrews, for the
word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the divining asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Yes, the voice of the Lord shaketh
the wilderness, The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. He
knows how to make a sinner tremble and bring him to repentance.
Yes, even Gentile sinners are made to tremble at the word of
God as the gospel goes forth to all nations. For the Lord
shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh
the kinds to carve and discovereth the forests. by his word a sinner
is born again being born again not of corruptible seed but of
incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth
forever as James says of his own will begat he us with the
word of truth the forest is discovered when
it's stripped of all its leaves and so it is when the gale of
grace blows upon the sinner and the sinner is stripped of all
his righteousnesses. The fig leaves are blown away
and the sinner stands naked before God, convinced and convicted
by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God of the evil of
his nature and of his need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, this is nothing but sovereign,
free, almighty, efficacious and irresistible grace. And as he
passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt
of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed
him. And so it is in the case with
every elect sinner. He or she is made willing in
the day of Christ's power. As it is written in Psalm 110,
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Bishop
Ryle says this is a truth of deep importance. Without a divine
call, no one can be saved. We are all so sunk in sin and
so wedded to the world that we should never turn to God and
seek salvation unless he first called us by his grace. God must
speak to our hearts by his spirit before we shall ever speak to
him. If only there were bishops like that in the Church of England
today, it would be a very different church. Well, having been called by grace,
Matthew brought the Lord Jesus to his own house and held a great
feast. And to this feast he invited
all his friends and fellow publicans. Verse 15, then it came to pass.
And as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners
sat also together with Jesus and his disciples. For there
were many, and they followed him. Now we know that his house in
that verse is referring to Matthew's house. And that he did indeed
hold a great feast there. We know that from the account
that we have in Luke's gospel. This is what Luke says in Luke
chapter five, verse 27. And after these things he went
forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of
custom and said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up,
and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast
in his own house. And there was a great company
of publicans and of others that sat down with them. Such was the gratitude, you see,
of this sinner, saved by grace, See how he saw opportunity to
introduce his friends and companions to the saviour that he had found.
Or rather, who had found him. This sentiment is, I think, very
well expressed in one of Senech's hymns. Lo, glad I come, and thou
blessed lamb, shalt take me to thee as I am. Nothing but sin
I thee can give, nothing but love shall I receive. Then will
I tell to sinners round what a dear Saviour I have found.
I'll point to thy redeeming blood and say behold the way to God. You know there are some who denounce
Dr John Gill as a hyper-Calvinist. But if his detractors would only
read his comments concerning Matthew's reasons for holding
this feast, they would see just how wrong they are. This is what
Dr. Gill says. He says that Matthew
did this, and I quote, "...to testify the sense he had of the
wondrous grace which was bestowed on him, and also that other publicans
and sinners might have an opportunity of hearing Christ, and conversing
with them, whom he invited to this feast, his bowels yearning
towards them, and sincerely desiring their conversion, which is the
nature of true grace." For when a soul is made a partaker of
the grace of God, it is earnestly desirous that this might be the
case of others, especially its sinful relations, friends or
companions, and it takes every opportunity of using or bringing
them under the means of grace. So did Matthew. Now mark that. It is the nature of true grace
to sincerely desire the conversion of another. Do we have such a desire with
regards to those around us? Our families, our friends, our
colleagues at work, our fellow students at school, college or
university, our neighbours, Do we take every opportunity of
using or bringing them under the means of grace as Matthew
did? See the Apostle Paul's burden
for his own fellow countrymen. There in his epistle to the Romans,
in Romans chapter one, he says, I say the truth in Christ. I
lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart,
for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. In chapter 10 of that epistle
he says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. Well, the doctrines of grace
do not make us cold or indifferent regarding the salvation of others.
No, quite the reverse. Quite the reverse. For when a
soul is made a partaker of the grace of God, it is earnestly
desirous that this might be the case of others. Then will I tell to sinners round
what a dear Saviour I have found. Have you been brought to that?
Is that your desire? to tell to sinners round what
a dear Saviour you have found. There's one thing further we
learn from the call of Matthew or Levi and it's this, that grace
can and does do wonderful things. Think of Levi. One day sitting
at the receipt of custom, the next a preacher of the gospel. For he was called to be an apostle
and he was Of course, the spirit-inspired author of the gospel that bears
his name, the Gospel According to Matthew. We can think of William
Huntington, one time coal heaver, sinner saved. Or John Newton,
one time slave trader, author of the hymn Amazing Grace. Or we can think of John Bunyan,
one time tinker, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, and so we
could go on. The Lord took these men, he called
them by his grace and he mightily used them for the glory of his
own holy name and for the blessing and for the edification of his
church. Grace can and does do wonderful
things. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. These then were the circumstances
when these words of the Lord Jesus Christ were spoken. The
scribes and Pharisees had raised this objection when they saw
the Lord eat with publicans and sinners. And when the scribes
and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said
unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he said
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Let us go on then to consider
these words of the Lord Jesus more particularly. they that
are whole have no need of the physician but they that are sick
i came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance the
lord here describes two classes of men the whole or healthy and
those that are sick and he himself as the physician well these two
classes of men or These two cases, shall we say, the whole and the
sick, were typical of the Pharisees who would not come to Christ
and the publicans who flocked to him. This comparison the Lord
often draws between these two classes or conditions or cases,
as in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican that we have
in Luke's gospel. And I'll just refer you to that
for a moment. Luke chapter 18, verse nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and
despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess, And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exhorteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exhorted. Well, as we proceed this morning,
we shall briefly consider each of these three personages. Firstly,
the Pharisee, and secondly, the publican, and then thirdly, the
physician. The Pharisee, he is whole, he
is well. He is not sick. He needs no physician. He is not a sinner. He needs
no repentance. He needs no savior. What comfort
can a saviour bring to those who never felt their woe? Says
the hymn writer. What comfort, what healing can
a doctor bring to those who never felt themselves sick and therefore
never go to him? Jesus said that there is none
good but one, that is God. But the Pharisee makes himself
good and he makes himself God. See how he prays. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee. He applauds himself. He congratulates
himself for his moral rectitude. God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. Now he was, of course, as other
men are. He was exactly as other men are,
fallen in Adam, polluted by Adam's transgression, ruined in the
fall. He was a sinner. But he didn't
feel himself to be a sinner. He did not feel sick. He wasn't sick of himself. He wasn't sick of his sins. He felt so fit and well and healthy
that he could boast of all his good works and of all his doings. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess. As far as he was concerned, he
was righteous. Now the publican, on the other
hand, feels himself to be a very sick man. That is, he feels himself
to be a very sick man in a spiritual sense. And the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. He knows and he feels the plague
of his own heart. He stands afar off, for he feels
himself to be too unfit to draw near to God, too unfit to stand
in the presence of a holy God, too unfit to stand in the congregation
of the Lord. He feels himself to be a spiritual
lepers. He cannot come near. He must
be put, as it were, outside the camp. As it is written in the
Book of Numbers, command the children of Israel that they
put out of the camp every leper and everyone that hath an issue,
and whosoever is defiled by the dead, both male and female, shall
ye put out without the camp shall ye put them, that they defile
not their camps in the midst whereof I dwell. He stands afar
off where he knows and he feels the defilement of sin. He knows that of his own self
he cannot draw near. He must be brought like the man
at the beginning of this chapter, one sick of the palsy, which
was born of four. He must be brought to the Saviour.
He must be carried, as it were, to the physician. He must be
brought to saving, justifying faith in the Redeemer. It's not
a duty which he can perform because he's sick. He must be brought,
carried in the arms of free grace, the free and irresistible grace
of God the Holy Ghost. This man is not well, he's sick
and he knows it. He feels it. This man needs the physician.
And it is free grace that has brought him to fill this need.
It is free grace that has brought him to fill his lost and loathsome
condition. It is free grace that has brought
him to fill his sinfulness before a holy God. And it is to such
a man as this that the heavenly physician is sent. To understand
these things are right, this grand distinction should be known,
that all are sinners in God's sight, but there are but few
so in their own. To such as these, our Lord was
said, there are only sinners who repent. To quote again J.C. Ryle, to
feel our sins and know our sickness is the beginning of real Christianity. To be sensible of our corruption
and abhor our own transgressions is the first symptom of spiritual
health. Happy indeed are they who have
found out their soul's disease. Or have you found out your soul's
disease? This is the gracious work of
the Spirit of God in your heart. As Joseph Hart says, a sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
And it is that gracious work of the Spirit of God in your
heart that draws you to the Savior. And so let us consider thirdly
and finally the physician. The physician is, of course,
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For I am the Lord that healeth
thee, Jehovah Rapha. As he said to the children of
Israel, the healing properties of sunlight are widely recognised,
aren't they? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Son of Righteousness. But unto you that fear my name
shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. he is that tree of life that
john saw in the revelation the tree of life which bared twelve
manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations remember how he preached in the
synagogue there in Nazareth And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. and he closed the book and gave
it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of all
them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began
to say unto them this day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears yes he is the Christ of God and
he was sent to heal the brokenhearted Those who are broken-hearted
because of their sin and because they stand convicted of breaking
the law of God. How is it with our souls, I wonder
this morning? How is it with your soul? How
is it with my soul? We must examine ourselves. Perhaps
we feel there's no relief. no remedy for us, that our sickness
is too far advanced, that our illness is terminal. The devil accuses us and our
sins testify against us. As the psalmist says, many there
be that which say of my soul there is no help for him in God. Well in answer to these objections,
which might arise in our hearts, Let me just quote the good bishop
once more. He says, No sin-sick soul is
too far gone for him. It is his glory to heal and restore
to life the most desperate cases. For unfailing skill, for unwearied
tenderness, for long experience of man's spiritual ailments,
the great physician of souls stands alone. There is none like
him. There is none like him. we would add our amen to that
there is none like him and yet there are those who would send
us to Moses just take Moses two tablets you've been justified
under the gospel but you must be sanctified under the law the
law is the believers rule of life they say but the apostle
tells me that the law is the ministration of death How then
can it be the believer's rule of life? But if the ministration of death,
written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for
the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away,
how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? No, there is better medicine
in the Gospel. Much better medicine in the Gospel. The Gospel, you see, is the ministration
of the Spirit. The Gospel, the ministration
of the Spirit, is that balm in Gilead. It is the oil and wine
which is poured into the wounds that sin has made. Our sanctification is in Christ
as well as our justification. We do not go to Moses for our
sanctification any more than we go to him for our justification.
We go to the great physician, the ever-blessed physician of
our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ. What medicine is it that Jesus
gives us? Why, he gives us himself. Surely
he hath borne our griefs. and carried our sorrows. Yet
we did extreme him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. He gives us himself and he gives
us his word. We read in the Proverbs, in Proverbs
4, verse 20, my son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto
my sayings. Let them not depart from thine
eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are
life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. The word health there in verse
22 of Proverbs 4 is literally medicine. As we see in the margin,
if you have a margin in your Bible, we see the word is literally
medicine. My words, says Christ, are life
unto those that find them and medicine to all their flesh. I like that hymn of Newton's
which we sang at the oak as we commenced our service this morning.
Precious Bible. What a treasure does the word
of God afford. All I want for life or pleasure,
food and medicine, shield and sword, is revealed in Jehovah's
sacred word. And the third verse of that hymn,
when my faith is faint and sickly or when Satan wounds my mind,
cordials to revive me quickly, healing medicines here I find,
when my Jesus shines therein into my mind. The word of God, the word of
God is as medicine to our souls, given by the great physician
of our souls. No appointment is necessary.
No appointment is necessary. The appointment has already been
made. It was made before the foundation of the world. Jesus
Christ is the appointed saviour of an appointed people. Who are
those people? They are sinners. They are sinsick souls who are
brought to fill their need of him. All the fitness he requireth
is to fill your need of him. This he gives you, tis the Spirit's
rising beam. May the Lord then bless his word
to each of our souls, and may we indeed know him to be the
physician of our souls. They that are whole have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Amen.