Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19. Let's read the first two verses
together. And it came to pass that when
Jesus had finished these sayings, He departed from Galilee and
came into the coast of Judea beyond Jordan, and great multitudes
followed Him. And He healed them there. Do we want to know what the gospel
is? We just had a Bible study on what is the gospel. Do we
want to get to the heart of it? Do we want to know what the gospel
is? Look at the end of verse 2. And He healed them. That's it. healed them. Think about how simple that is.
Honestly. Just think about how simple that
is. Think about how finished that
is. Doesn't that sound so finished? Think about how happy that is. Think about the peace and the
rest that is in that. And He healed them. Even though it's not officially
written here, from that statement we can conclude that they were
sick. You can't be healed if you're
not sick. They that are whole, meaning
well, need not a physician, but the sick do. Those are the only people Christ
came into this world to heal. Do you know that? The sick. Sick with sin. Sick from sin. Sick from the effects of sin. Sinners. Sinners. Sometimes people get it in their
minds that sinners are really good people who have fallen into
a bad category. No. No. What does the scripture say?
There's none good. No? No. Not one. Back in the day when it was a
common disease, it's not as common anymore, but a long time ago
when it was a common disease, do you know why men and women
were called lepers? Do you know why they were called
lepers? It's because they had leprosy. They were infected with a disease
called leprosy. And today, because it is still
such a very common disease, do you know why men and women are
called sinners? It's because they are infected
with a loathsome disease called sin. Now even though all men and women
are infected with this disease called sin, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. All men and women are sinners,
alright? But even though all men and women
are infected with this loathsome disease, The diagnosis is really only
given to God's people. I'm going to say that again because
this is the truth. Even though all men and women
are infected with this loathsome disease called sin, the diagnosis
of it is really only given to God's people. That's the first
thing that the Spirit of God does when He comes to His own.
He gives that soul the diagnosis of his or her disease. That's
the first work of God's Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, when
He comes, He will reprove. That means He will convince of
sin. First thing He'll do. He comes
to His soul. And he gives that soul the diagnosis
of his or her sin. And for the first time, that
soul realizes, wait a minute. There's not just sickness in
the land. There's sickness in me. I'm sick. I'm sick. Now I asked Brother Tony and
Brother Chris if they would mind me mentioning this, and they
both said yes, but Tony and Chris's mother, Dwight's wife, our sister,
Irene, was given the diagnosis that she had cancer. Okay? The moment that diagnosis was
given to her, and I wasn't there at that appointment, but I know,
the moment that diagnosis was given to her, she said within
herself, I'm sick. Wait a minute, I'm sick. Now, I, okay, me, I may know
that cancer is in the land. I may know that. And I may believe in my heart
that I'm just as capable of getting it as she was. And I do. I believe that. I believe I'm
just flesh and I may believe that there's no difference in
either one of us. There's no difference in me or
her. But I have not received a diagnosis. I may have cancer in my body
right now. But I have still not received
a diagnosis. Therefore, I am not going to
go to Knoxville. And I am not going to seek out
a physician who can cut it out of me. Because in my mind, I'm
not sick. I have no need of that. Is anybody
in here going to run down to Knoxville and ask a physician
to go to work on them? We have no need of that, do we? I may say, but for the grace
of God, there go I. I may say that, but for the grace
of God, I know anything's possible. I know, believe me, I know. But
I still have not received a diagnosis. Therefore, in my mind, I'm not
sick. I have no need of that. Who will seek out a physician?
A person who is sick. A person who's sick. A person
who says, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick and I'm going. I need it. I have to have it. Tony, Chris, their sisters, Pam
and Debbie, Dwight and obviously Irene. met here in the parking
lot of this church building many times to all leave their cars
here. They would all come from different
directions and they would leave all their cars there and all
ride down to Knoxville together to take Irene to her appointments. And in seeing that, I couldn't
help but think about how many times in the scripture men and
women went to great lengths to get their loved ones to Christ. They all came together to bring
their loved ones to the Lord Jesus Christ. Like when those
four men climbed up on the roof. Don't you, when you think about
some of these stories, doesn't it just, I think about those
four men, they carried their friend who was laying there in
a bed up on a roof and they ripped a hole in the roof. so they could
let their friend down by ropes. They couldn't get in. They wanted
to go in the front door, but they couldn't get to the master.
So they climbed up on the roof and ripped a hole in it to let
their friends down so they could lower their friend right to the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you rip a hole in a roof
for your mother? Sure we would, wouldn't we? Do you know what the end of that
story was? And he healed him. You remember the great lengths
that that centurion traveled on behalf of his servant who
was at his house lying on a bed sick of the palsy. And when the
centurion got there, he said, Lord, my servant is so sick. But if you will just speak the
Word. Lord, I'm asking you to just
speak the Word. I believe in your ability. I
believe in your power. I believe in your might so much,
I don't even need for you to come to my house. Lord, just speak the Word. You know what the end of that
story was? And He healed him. Martha and Mary finally had to
tell the Lord, Lazarus died. He's dead. You know what the end of that
story was? And he healed him. Those are the accounts of the
loving concern of others. But don't we love the accounts
directly between the sick soul and the Lord Himself? Don't we
love hearing about that woman who had an issue of blood for
12 years? She had an issue within herself
for 12 years. Some people can relate to that,
seeking and desiring to know the answer. from a salvation
point of view. But this woman had a, had an
issue within herself for 12 years and she'd been to everybody about
it and nobody could help her. And then she heard about the
Lord of glory and she believed what she heard. So much so, she was willing to
crawl on the ground through a crowd of people because she said within
herself, if I could just touch the hem of his garment. I think
about that. Wouldn't you love to touch the
hem of his garment? If I could just touch the hem
of, I don't even need to touch, if I could just touch his clothes. She said, I'll be made whole.
You know what the end of that story was? And he healed her. That leper came to him that time
in a crowd of people. Think about that statement, a
leper. You remember what they did to lepers? You remember what
they had to cry every time they saw somebody coming down the
street? You better get away from me, I'm unclean. That leper came
to him in a great crowd of people, and you know nobody wanted that
leper there. They hated him. Get that sinful,
filthy thing out of my sight. That leper came kneeling down
and beseeching him. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. Oh, if you will. Oh, if it is
in your heart to do this. If it's in your heart to do this.
Please, Lord, please. You know what happened? I love
the first thing that's said about it. It says, the Lord touched
him. You don't touch a leper. You
know why? Whatever they have is transferred
to you. You know what that represents? I will." And he healed him. We could recall story after story,
but I'm telling you, my heart burns within me every time I
hear about blind Bartimaeus. Poor old blind Bartimaeus, the
son of Timaeus, sitting on the highway side begging when he
heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. I just loved the thought of it. He heard all the commotion, he
heard all the noise, and he's wondering, what's going on? And
somebody said, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And he said within himself, oh,
I want to reach out and touch the Lord as he passeth by. Oh, I hope he's not too busy
to hear my heart's cry. They all said, hush Bartimaeus,
he's passing by this moment. He cried, Lord, my needs supply. And do you know what happened?
The Lord Jesus Christ. I love this. I mean, this is
God Almighty manifest in the flesh. This is the eternal, high,
holy, heavenly God come down. He cried, Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me. And it says, God Almighty stood
still. God stopped. He heard a cry for mercy. Does that encourage you to cry
for mercy? Mercy, Lord, mercy, I need mercy.
God stopped. He said, bring him to me. And
he healed him. He healed him right then and
there. Are you sick? Not many people are. Are you in need of healing? Do
you need the great physician? Listen to this. He is passing
by this moment. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, I'm right there in the midst of you. He is right here, right now,
in heart, in spirit, and if your diagnosis has been revealed to
you, and that's the key. The only way a diagnosis can
be revealed is if the Spirit of God comes and declares it
to a sinner. This begins with God. But if your diagnosis has been
revealed to you, to every soul, he reveals that sickness
and that disease of sin to, this is what he says, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest." He didn't say, come to the front
of the church. He didn't say, come to the preacher.
He didn't say, come to the other side of that leaf. Why don't
you just turn over that leaf? He said, you come to me in heart,
in soul. You come to me. And here's the
commandment of the gospel. Go to Him. Go to Him. some people after having their
true condition revealed to them. I mean their true condition revealed
to them. And you know how it is whenever
you think there's something going on with you first. There's a
reason you go to a doctor at first, because something's not
right. Maybe, I don't know, a little something going on. Some people
experience that, spiritually speaking. I don't know, maybe
I'm not quite right. I should probably get myself
in a little bit better shape before God, spiritually speaking. But some people, after having
that true diagnosis revealed to them, some hesitate to come
to Christ. Some hesitate to come to the
house of the Lord. And here's the reason why. It's
because they believe they're just too sinful. Some people
do. They believe they're just too
sinful. Years ago, I remember, I was
young, I was a kid, but I remember, it's just stuck with me all these
years. I remember hearing a pastor tell the story of a woman who
called him on the phone because after hearing him preach, I believe
it was on the radio, I believe he had a radio broadcast, and
after hearing him preach, she had some questions. And the pastor
gathered that she was concerned for her soul. So the pastor said,
why don't you come down and worship with us sometime? And the woman
said, oh, I couldn't do that. And he said, why not? She said,
I'm a sinner. She said, I'm a sinner. And he
said, well, we're all sinners. She said, no, you don't understand.
I'm the greatest sinner I've ever known in my life. And he
said, I think you'd fit in real nicely down here. Our Lord said, you come unto
me. Are you a sinner? Are you sick
with sin? You come to me. All you that
labor over it and are heavy laden over it, come to me. for a soul
to believe that he or she is too sinful to come to Christ
or the house of Christ. That's like a man or woman who
has a physical disease believing that he or she is too sick to
go to the hospital. I'm just too sick to see a doctor. That's not the case at all, is
it? A hospital may not admit us Some
people go wanting to be admitted. But a hospital may not admit
us if they can't find anything wrong with us. If we're not really sick. But they won't turn us away from
being sick. Our self-righteousness, any goodness,
any perfection, anything that we have within ourselves that
we think is good and healthy before God, our self-righteousness
may keep us away from Christ every time we come to Him in
that. He may turn us away for self-righteousness. He may say, depart from me, I
never knew you. But He'll never turn us away
if we come to Him in our sin. Never. Never, never. As a matter of fact, if we have
a desire to come to Him at all, that's Him drawing us to Himself. Do you know the Scripture says
no man can come to Christ except the Father who sent Christ draw
that man or woman. If we have a will to come, that's
God who made us willing. If we have the ability to come,
if we hear and say, I want to do that, that's the father drawing
us to Christ. If God has given us a heart for
Christ, go to him. He said, come to me. I'll give
you rest. You come to me, I'll give you
rest. Every soul who does come to Christ
will find this to be so. Every soul who does will find
this to be so. Look at the end of verse 2. It says, And He healed them there. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. And He healed them there. Every soul will say,
He healed me there. He healed me right there. He,
by Himself. Let's break that down just for
a second here. By Himself. He, not He and me. Him alone. Think about this word. Healed. He didn't try to heal. He tried
to heal me. He didn't put a cast on it. And
say, well, let's just kind of wait and see. You may not need
surgery. And then a month later, say,
no, yeah, you need surgery. It'll probably only take you
a month to heal. And then a month later, say, no, I think it's
going to be another month. Listen, he healed. He healed them. Finished. Done. Good as new. You're free
to run. Healed. He healed them. Them. All of His chosen, loved,
covered in the blood of His mercy sinners. Them. He healed them
there, right there. Where is there? Look at verse
1. And it came to pass that when
Jesus had finished these sayings, He departed from Galilee and
came into the coast of Judea, look at those last two words,
beyond Jordan. Right there in the coast of Judea,
beyond Jordan. What's significant about that
place? I'll show you in closing, alright? I'm going to close with
this. Go to John chapter 1. John 1, verse 26, it says, John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you
know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I am not worthy
to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara."
Look at those two words, beyond Jordan. where John was baptizing. Verse 29 says, The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Behold the One
who will endure the cross for the sin of His people. Right
there He healed him. Right there on the cross of Calvary.
Right there where all of God's people were immersed into Christ
and God dealt with them and judged them on the cross of Calvary. Right there. He healed them. And all of His people are right
now in remission. All of them right now in remission.
And there's no possibility of that disease ever returning again.
I love how it says in glory, sin is not coming in. Anything
that defiles, anything that sins is not coming in. There is no
possibility of that disease ever returning again. Now let me tell
you what I call that. Good news. Good news. That's the gospel. Our sister
Irene, after her surgery, she got the report that there is
no cancer in her body. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think that was good news
to her? Oh, do you think she enjoyed
hearing that? Do you think she had great confidence in her physician?
So thankful for that physician. Do you think she took credit
for it? It's gone. It's gone. What glorious news it is, in
Christ, no sin. No sin. It's gone. Thank God
for the great physician.