Jeremiah chapter eight, look
with me one more time at verse twenty-two. Is there no balm
in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Well, why then is not the health
of the daughter of my people recovered? Is there no balm in
Gilead? Why, yes, there is. We saw that
this morning. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. There is a balm, healing
balm, for sin-sick souls. Is there no physician there to
apply the remedy? Why, yes, there is, and he's
a great one. He's a great physician. Well,
the question comes, why then? Why, then, is not the health
of the daughter of my people recovered? And that question we endeavored
to answer this morning, and I believe the answer was clear. Nobody's
sick. Nobody's sick but a few blessed,
chosen, elect, called individuals. who see their desperate need
of this healing balm and this great physician. And we tried
this morning, tried. Sometimes it seems like such
an exercise in futility, but we tried this morning to show
how that sin is such a sickness, a spiritual sickness, and it's
our real problem. And how that we've got to know
something about this thing of seeing because it is the question
of all questions. Modern religion. Modern religion
is trying to treat the symptoms. Modern religion is trying to
get rid of the symptoms. And they do it by drugging people. By opiating people with sugar
coated religious sermons, sugar-coated sermons about God's love and
some sentimental savior and a utopia called heaven. And everybody's
drugged into believing they're all right. And sin is rarely
even mentioned. And Christ called these fellows
that are behind it, these fellows that are the leaders in it. He
said, you're whited sepulchers. He said, You are like walking
dead man. You appear to be good on the
outside, but within you're full of extortion and excess. Dead men's bones. And he said,
Those that listen to you are the same dead in trespasses and
sin. So that's what we tried to. The
conclusion we came to this morning is the first order of business
in salvation. By God, the Holy Spirit, John
16, is to convince, reprove the world of sin, right? That's the first work of the
Holy Spirit. And Christ said it. He said, you cleanse first
the inside, take care of the root of the problem, and the
outside take care of itself. But this world's got it the other
way around, he said. What would you think of a doctor
that you always went to And he never diagnosed the problem,
but kept drugging you, kept giving you pain pills. Well, take this
and you'll feel better. Well, it might suffice for a
while, but eventually, after the pain pills didn't work, and
you wanted to get rid of the problem, let's get to the heart
of this thing. I want the disease eradicated.
And this is what this religious generation is doing. You see,
salvation is first a heart work. It's a work in the heart and
God save it. The scripture says save us such
as be of a contract spirit. And a broken heart. A broken
heart. God saves such as be of a broken
heart. Now we preach. No missing through
what I'm about to say. We preach. A conditional salvation. We preach a conditional salvation.
Not salvation is conditioned on something you do or some qualifications
or something you live up to. But a condition that you're in.
You must be brother Scott said it, he said you cannot claim
the promise. unless you fit the character
described in the promise. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. Now, you can't claim he saved
you unless you fit the promise, or fit the character, save sinners. And Paul said, I'm the chief,
and that's who he saved. So we've got this conditional
salvation, salvation based upon us being in a pretty bad condition. You see, salvation is only for
the lost. Even the Word says so, doesn't
it? Saved means what? You're lost. And it doesn't mean
that you're looking for the way and you finally stumble across.
It doesn't mean you see the light. They talk about Paul seeing the
light. I saw the light. I saw the light.
No, the light saw Paul. The light shone. It says suddenly
from heaven there shone a light round about them. Paul wasn't
looking for the light, was he? He wasn't seeking Christ. Thank
God Christ was seeking him. But salvation is only for the
lost. Life. Christ said, I am come that they
might have life. Who might have life? Dead people. Not just sick. Not just Those
who are trying to help themselves, dead. Graveyard dead, Senator
Byard would say. Scripture talks about a promise
of mercy. Now mercy means not getting what
you deserve. It means to be spared. Who gets
mercy? Guilty people. You've got to
be guilty to get mercy, right? The Scripture talks about grace.
an unmerited gift. Who's that for? Those that work
for it? Those that struggle? No. It's
those that see that they're poor and don't have anything to buy
this with. In my hands, no price I bring.
Huh? The Scriptures talk about food,
Christ being the bread of life. Blessed are they that He said
to talk about some people being filled. Who's going to be filled?
Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, right? Scripture
talks about water. Water doesn't mean a thing to
you unless you're thirsty, right? Boy, if you're thirsty, it means
something. Scripture talks about a gospel.
Isaiah 61, Christ quoted it. He said, Spirit of the Lord has
anointed me, has anointed me to preach the gospel to who?
Who gets the gospel? Poor, poor, poor sinners. They have nothing. Can't do nothing
for themselves. The scriptures talk about comfort.
Blessed are they that they'll be comforted. Who's comfort for?
Mourners, mourners. Talks about in Isaiah 61, the
oil of joy and gladness for mourners. So these are qualifications,
conditions that a person has to be in before the gospel will
mean a thing, before the promise comes. And unless a man meets
those conditions, I don't mean he has to perfectly feel all
these things all the time, but it's there in principle, right?
Unless he meets those conditions, salvation is not for him. These
things are not for him. And Christ said it best, we read
it there in Matthew 9. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous. I don't have anything to say but harsh words to these
righteous, self-righteous, religious Pharisees. Moral, upright people. But he said, I came to call sinners
to repent. And our subject tonight, the
great physician, he said that too. He said the well don't need
a physician. There's nobody in here who goes
to the doctor unless they're sick, right? Some of you don't
go when you're sick. Right, Henry? Too stubborn. But I tell you what, you get
real good and sick, you'll go, won't you? Real good and sick. And this was the question this
morning. Are you a sinner? I don't mean you've done some
bad things, stolen a watermelon or whatever. I mean, are you
a hell deserving, rotten, no good thing from the sole of your
feet to the top of your head, no soundness in it? If God gives
you what you deserve, you'll go to hell right now with your
shoes on, without even packing a suitcase, barring what's that.
Sinner, dead dog, helpless, no good, wretched, poor, vile, miserable,
undone, man of unclean lips, sinner. Are you a sinner like
that? Well, there's healing. There's healing. There's a doctor.
There's a doctor. And Christ is that great physician. And now, we're not talking about
tonight, we're not going to deal with these physical sicknesses.
Christ, on the way, healed these sicknesses. But he says, I've
come to preach. First and foremost, he said,
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel. Number one. And in one place
he said, for this cause I came, let's go into Capernaum, let's
go into this city, because this is why I came, to preach the
gospel. But he healed, and he heals every
sin sick soul. Sin is the problem, and his blood
is the cure, and Christ is the great physician. So let's look. I've got five points in this
message, and I won't take long. Five points. We're going to look
at how Christ is called a great physician. Is there a physician? You better believe it. You better
believe it. You better believe it because
there's only one. And you better believe Him. You better look
to Him. You better seek His help and nowhere else because there's
no help to be found anywhere else. He's the great physician. Number one, how Christ is a physician. How is He a physician? a great
position. Well, Exodus chapter fifteen,
verse twenty-six, says his very title, his position. It says, I am the Lord that healeth
thee. I am the Lord that healeth thee. In Isaiah forty-five, verse seven,
it says that he wounds and he heals. He is the one who heals. If anybody's healed, God does
it. Make no mistake about it. If
there's any healing to be done, I don't care if there's any means
used, I don't care if it's medicine or surgery or whatever it may
be, if there's going to be some healing, indirectly, God's the
one that did it. He said, I'm the Lord that healeth
thee. I'm the Lord. I wound, I heal. He uses instruments, but he's
the one. He's the healer of the body.
Christ is the healer of the body and the soul. He's the healer
of the body. John, when John was in prison, you remember when
John was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to ask the Lord,
are you the Christ? Are you the one or do we look
for another? John had his doubts. He was just a man like anybody
else. I'm thankful for that passage. The greatest man born of woman
had his doubts about Christ, whether or not he was a woman.
I'm in good company. But John said, Are you the one?
Are you the one we look for, or do we look for another? And
Christ sent back word. He said, You go tell John. Tell
him this. Tell him what things you've seen.
Tell him that the blind receive their sight. I'm talking about
a man who's been blind for fifty years. Not a man who's got cataracts,
not a man who's nearsighted, a man who's blind, stone blind,
can't see anything. Go tell John that the lame walker,
a man sick of cerebral palsy, born with the palsy, bedridden
for twenty-eight, thirty years, he gets up and not only gets
up and walks, picks his bed up and carries it out of the place. Now, our hobble's out of there
weakly, you know, like these fellas do. Somebody help her
out. Give the Lord a big hand. She's walking. Yeah, with the
aid of six of his helpers. Go tell John that the lame walk. Go tell John lepers are playing. I'm talking about people with
nubs for fingers, with the flesh melting off of their faces, sores
covering their body in an instant. Cleanse. Go tell John that the
deaf hear, not those who have hearing aids, the deaf, the deaf
hear. Go tell John, tell him this,
make sure you tell him this. The dead are raised. The dead are raised. And you
let one of these charlatans today do just one of these things.
Just one of them. Let one of these charlatans today
actually heal a blind man. Now, I'm talking about a blind
man. Let one of them heal a man who's been born with polio or
cerebral palsy. Let one of them heal a man who
has AIDS. Let one of them heal a man who's
deaf from birth or raise it. More importantly, go down to
a funeral home and hold a revival service there and there's a man
laying in a coffin and raise that man. I'll believe it. But they can't. Christ could. And he did. I believe him. Who
you gonna believe? Who does the healing? Christ. He's the great physician of the
body. If anybody's healed, Christ the Lord is the one who heals. He uses means, yes. But who created the herbs for
medicine? Where does man get his medicine? Where does man
get his materials for his drugs and so forth? Who created that?
God did. Who gave man the mind? to subdue
the world and come up with these concoctions. Who did that? God
did. Who controls the surgeon's hands? Who guides the hand of the surgeon?
God does. He heals. I am the Lord. I am
the great physician. But more importantly, He is the
healer of the soul. He is the healer of the soul.
Christ said, you tell John, now don't forget to tell him this.
You tell him that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the
leopards are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, but
you—and tell him this, because he'll believe this. Because if
I did all of these things without this, don't believe it. You go
tell John that the poor have the gospel preached to them.
These folks are hearing the gospel, and God's saving them. They're
here in the unsearchable riches of Christ. They're having the
truth presented. Go tell John that. And they did,
and John surely must have said in his cell, he's the one. Why,
how could I have doubted? How could I? Turn with me to
Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Here's a type
of Christ that has that great position. Luke chapter 10. Our
Lord himself gave this parable. Luke chapter 10, a well-known
passage, all of it. Luke chapter 10, verse 33. And
he gave this parable to them. He said, Now a certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came to where he was. He's talking about this
man who fell in a ditch and robbers robbed him and beat him up and
left him in a ditch for dead. And several fellows came by,
a Levite, some religious fellows, this and that and the other,
and nobody helped him but this Samaritan. This half-breed came. And it says a certain Samaritan,
as he journeyed, came to where this man was. This man was laying
in a ditch by the highway. Some people didn't even see him.
But the Samaritan came right where he was. And when he saw
him, not the man in the ditch seeing the Samaritan. and crying
out, Oh, Samaritan, would you help me? That wasn't expected
of a Samaritan. No. When the Samaritan saw him,
it said, the Samaritan had compassion on him. You see the order of
things? The Samaritan came where he journeyed,
took a long journey, came where he was looking for him, and when
he saw him, the Samaritan had compassion on him. And it says
he went to him. See who's doing all the work
here? That man just laid in a ditch. Helpless, hopeless, without strength. Dying, isn't he? Beat up, torn
up. How's God going to help that
man? Help those who help themselves?
If you just show us you're serious. Just crawl up, take one step
toward the Samaritan, he'll meet you halfway. Oh no, he's dying. He's dead for all practical purposes.
He's unconscious. And this good Samaritan came
to him. He went to him, and the scripture
says, he bound up his wounds. You reckon he had any balm with
him? He might have had a little balm with him. Best thing available.
Is there balm in Gilead? Yes, Samaritan had some right
there. Bound up his wounds, covered them. poured in oil and wine,
poured in oil and wine. Christ shed his precious blood,
the wine of his blood, and anointed us with his Holy Spirit. And
it says here, he poured in oil and wine and set him on his own
beast. and brought him to an end and took care of him, and
on the morrow when he departed, he took out some money, gave
it to the host, and said unto him, he left him in charge, somebody
in charge of him. He said, you know, you take care
of him. Take care of him, and whatever you spend, when I come
again, I'll repay you. I'm coming back to get the man.
I'll make sure he's all right. That's Christ, isn't it? A little
clearer picture of Christ, the good Samaritan, our great physician. And you know, there's several
types in the scripture. There's one over in Ezekiel.
You don't have to turn, but it talks about a tree of a healing
tree. Ezekiel 37 is a healing tree. I think it's verse chapter 37,
Ezekiel 47, verse 12. There's a tree near the temple,
and it said that its fruit was good for meat. The fruit of that
tree was good for meat. But Henry said the leaves of
that tree were good for medicine, good for healing. And Christ
said, I'm the vine. You're the branches. I'm the
tree of life. If you get any fruit, you're
going to have to get it from me. I'm the tree of life. And I'm the root you're going
to have to get the fruit from. And his leaves, his blood, his
works are healing. They're medicine for the sin
sick soul. So there's another type. So Christ
is this great physician. Secondly, let me show you why
Christ is a physician. Christ is the great physician.
But why is he a great physician? Why? Do you all remember when
Brother Ken Wymer was here? Do you remember him talking about
young men who were going into the medical profession and going
to be doctors? Do you remember him saying what
the requirements were of a young man going to be a doctor? Anybody
remember that? He said that anybody going to
be a doctor would first have to go out into the bush, go out
into a village and spend, he said, either a year or more.
Working with people out in the bush he'd have to go to where
the people are. And serve the people not be set
up in some medical advisory board or work at some major hospital
in a major city and be consulting to know that to go out to where
they're needed. That's a good thing. Wouldn't
that be a good internship for all of our doctors today? Might
make them have a little compassion on the sick and not be some money
hungry. But this is a sign of a true
physician. You want me to tell you what
a great physician is? A great physician is a man that
goes into the field of medicine because he wants to help sick
people. Not for the money, not for the prestige, not for the
title M.D., but because people need him. Wouldn't that be a
great physician? A man who made house calls? There
used to be a few around, didn't there? A few good doctors. They
made house calls, and they'd take a basket of eggs for their
work. Christ is a great physician. Why? He came to a needy people. He came because we needed him. We needed him. Christ is a great
position because he came where we were. He came where we were. We didn't have to go to him.
He comes to us. And because we needed him, he
came. And you think about this. When I said he came to where
we were. We've got to consider how far he came. What great condescension
Christ made to come to where we were. This would be like some,
this would be like some, this is a poor illustration, but like
some great and well-known physician, internationally known surgeon
and heart doctor who goes all over the world making lectures
and so forth. It'd be like that man condescending
to set up practice in Rocky Mountain and making house calls to boot. That'd be condescension, wouldn't
it? Huh? And Christ left the halls of
glory, heaven itself, to come down into this cesspool of iniquity
to set up practice, to heal sin sick sinners. He's got to be
a great physician. Why is he a great physician?
He's got to be, because we're great sinners. Psalm 25 says,
it says, Pardon mine iniquity, O Lord, because it's great. Isaiah
25 said it too. He said he's our God. We've been
waiting on him. He'll save us. It's the only
one who can. Many of us have been like that
woman with the issue of blood who tried many positions over
the years. Tried this and that and the other,
and nothing worked. There's only one great physician who could
heal the problem, and Christ is that great physician. Thirdly,
Christ, not only He is the physician, And I told you why he's a great
physician, because he came where we were. But thirdly, Christ
is the only physician. He's the only physician. Years ago, my wife had to have
major surgery. And she needed what you'd call
specialized surgery. Not any doctor would do, not
just any practical surgeon would do it required a specialist in
that field so I had to drive her all the way to Bristol Tennessee
to see this specialist this doctor. He was the only one it well he
was well known in his field for this particular type of surgery. He was a special. We have a desperate
case. We have a desperate need that
no mere general practitioner is going to help. No witch doctor
is going to be able to take care of our disease. Many try, but
it won't do. We have more than a malady of
the mind that a psychiatrist can take care of. Our problem
is not our mind, not mental. We have more. Our problem lies
a whole lot deeper, Sherry, than our environment. that a psychologist
could take care of. That won't do it. We got a heart
problem. We got a heart problem. We got
a soul problem. We got a sin problem. And we
need a specialist in that field. And not somebody that just can
feel sorry for us. Right? Not somebody that can
just pity us. But somebody that can actually
take care of the problem. Somebody that can actually get
rid of the problem. Is there such a one? The psalm
says, is there anyone that can help us? Yes, there's one, but
only one. Only one. The blessed, blessed
Lord Jesus, he's the one. The scripture says, neither is
there salvation in any other. For there's none under the name.
None other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. He's only one. Only one we can
appeal to. Jesus Christ is the great physician,
and he's the only physician, the only one that can cure this
sin that we have. Fourthly, let me show you a little
bit of how Christ heals his patients, how he heals all of his patients.
Years ago, there was a deadly disease called smallpox that
was ravishing our country. It's killing people like flies,
like so many other plagues that plagued this country and the
world. The smallpox was ravaging the
world, the then-known world, until a doctor came along named
Jenner, a man named Jenner. He started experimenting. He
started working with various drugs and so forth in his laboratory. trying to come up with something
that would cure smallpox, and he thought he had it, Henry.
One day, he came up with something he thought would work. Do you
know what he did to find out? He injected himself. He took
his own medicine. The physician injected himself
with the medicine that cured us. And Christ said. When Christ came, he said the
cup which my father had given me. That is, the cup of God's
wrath against our sin. Christ said, shall I not drink
it? Can you drink it? No, you can't. I've got to drink
it for you. I've got to drink it for you.
If sin was to be eradicated, if sin is to be punished, God's
justice must be satisfied. And Jesus Christ walked, the
scripture says, the winepress of God's wrath alone. He suffered
the equivalent of all the hell that all of God's people deserve
on that cross. I was listening to a message
about A man the other day, a man you just mentioned tonight, a
great preacher. And he said, why did Christ have
to suffer on the cross for six hours? Why did it take six hours? Magnitude of our sins was so
great. The magnitude of our sins was
so great, and the sacrifice that it took to put away our sins
was so great. that it took even the Son of
God six full hours of agony and hell on the cross to put away,
to exhaust every bit of God Almighty's wrath against him. So great. So great. He had to hang there
for six hours and endure that punishment and then for three
days go someplace and do something about it. And Christ walked that winepress
of God's wrath alone, alone. He worked out through his life
a perfect righteousness. Then he took the cup of God's
indignation against sin. This winepress that he worked
out, pressed the wine out with his own feet under the wrath
of God, and then took that sin and that iniquity and drank it
down. to the bitter end, the whole
cup, the whole cup. And that's good news. There's not one drop of God's
wrath left for you and me. Not one. Christ drank it all.
He exhausted the cup. He fulfilled it, the law, perfectly. Isaiah 53 says this. This is
great. Isaiah 53, verse 4, it says that,
surely he hath borne our grief. and carried our sorrow. Yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, that word should
be for, the chastisement for our peace, that is to gain our
peace, was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord God of
heaven hath laid on him the iniquity, or all of the iniquity, of us
all. God made him to be sin for us,
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, him who knew no
sin, that we might be made the very righteousness of God in
him. He's the only—Christ is a great
physician because he's the only one who ever died in the process
of healing his patient. There's no surgeon ever died
in the surgery room. And a lot of patients have died
on the operating table, right? But no surgeon has ever died
in order to heal his patient until now. A great physician. He poured out his soul unto death. He died that we may live, the
Scripture says. He took the sting out of death. He took the poison. You know
where snake bite venom comes from? Sure, you do. You take the very poison from
the snake itself and make a venom out of it, right? Christ himself
was bitten by the fiery serpent of sin, wasn't he? He took the
sting out of death. He said, I've overcome the world.
He took the sting out of death by being made sin, by taking
the brunt of Satan's assault, and his very blood became the
venom. became the serum for our healing. And Christ heals us. He heals
us by drinking a cup of God's wrath against our sin, by applying
that healing balm of his own blood to each sinner. And like
I said, he's the only doctor who ever donated all of his blood
for the cause of his There's been a lot of people who've donated
blood, you know, for a sick person. Nobody ever donated off. You
ever heard of that? A man going down to the blood
bank and say, I got a friend who's dying. He needs a blood
transfusion. Take all my blood. Take it off. I want to die that
he may live. Christ did just that. Poured
out his soul unto death. And lastly, let me dwell here
a few minutes, and this will be a blessing to you. Lastly,
let me show you how Christ is the best physician. Christ is
the best physician. Not only is he the great physician,
and I showed you why he's the great physician, and how he's
the great physician, and how he heals his patients, but let
me tell you how he's the best. He's the only, he's the best.
Let me tell you. Because there's no disease too
hard for him. Not one. It doesn't matter how
bad the case. There's no disease too hard for
him. Talked a while ago about a specialist.
Had to go to a specialist in the field. There's no man on
earth who's a specialist in every field. Christ is. Every field. Everyone. Saul of
Tarsus, and there's no disease too hard for him. Nobody ever
gets in such a bad shape that this great physician can't take
care of it. Saul of Tarsus said this. He said, I was a blasphemer.
I was injurious. I was a persecutor. I was the
worst one of the bunch. I was the chief of sinners, but
I obtained mercy. A great physician came to where
I was. I obtained mercy. And he said
this, here in 1 Timothy that in me Christ Jesus might show
forth a pattern unto them which should believe after me." To
show everybody, hey, he saves the worst. It doesn't matter
how bad your case is. Christ came into the country
one day, and those two ladies that he loved so dearly, Martha
and Mary, were crying. The people were crying. Their
brother Lazarus had died. And Christ said, show me where
you've laid him. Show me where you've laid him." And they said,
but Lord, he's been dead for four days. He stinks by now. Show me where you laid him. I
don't care if he's been dead for forty-four days. Show me
where he's at. And they took him to where he
was, and he called out, Lazarus, you go on out there. You see,
he saved to the uttermost, to the guttermost, to the stinking
most. The stinking most. the gutter most. No case is ever
too bad for him. The blood of God's Son cleanses
deeper than the stain has ever gone, deeper than the stain ever
went. Secondly, Christ is the best
physician, the best physician, because he feels our infirmities. He feels, he actually feels our
infirmity. What physician have you ever
known that would make himself sick so he'd know how you feel? Huh? We have a faithful high priest,
Paul said to the Hebrew, who is touched with the feeling of
our infirmity, being tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. We don't have a high priest who
cannot be touched. Terry, he was touched. He made
himself sick. Yeah, he did. He troubled himself. He did it all on purpose so that
he would know the feeling of our firmness. Think about that.
Think about that. He made himself sin for us who
knew no sin. He made himself mourn. So, he'd
know how we felt. He made himself troubled. He
made himself sorrowful, so he'd know how we felt. He made himself
lonely. Vicki, he separated himself from
the Father, so he'd know how we feel. He made himself hungry. He went without food. He could
have made the stones bread, but he went without. Why? Because
we get hungry. He made himself thirsty. Why? We get thirsty. He had to be
touched. He had to know how to deal with
it. He made himself homeless. He
made himself poor. He made himself a servant. He
made himself all these things. He didn't have to. He made himself
so that he could be touched with the feeling of our infirmity.
I'm telling you, he's the best physician you'll ever have because
he knows exactly every case. He's been there. When you like
to go to a physician who's been there, I know exactly where it
hurts. It hurts right here. Yeah, I
know. I've had that very problem right down here. Yeah, right
here. I've been there. I know. I know what to do about
it. He's the faithful high priest.
He knows every aspect of every disease, and he's able to apply
a perfect remedy. I know just what you need. Thirdly,
he's the best physician because he shows more love and compassion
than any other, than any other. None like him. Greater love hath
no man than this. Greater love. How'd you like
to go to a physician who was real, I mean really, tender and
kind and merciful and gracious? patient with you treated you
like you knew something not condescending gave you all the medical medical
terminology but. Actually listen to you seem interested
in your case and patient kind loving caring feeling when there
be a great position. Scripture says we've got. And
he says to you by Lisa where does it hurt. Tell me where it
hurts. He's the best physician because,
boy, you're like this. He's the cheapest. He's cheapest. Come without money, without price. I don't care if you've got cancer
and it's going to take the rest of your life to treat you. I
won't charge you a dime. Won't charge you a dime. Takes
all comers and doesn't ask And he's the best, lastly, he's
the best, he's the best because he never
lost a patient, never lost one single patient. Now, would you go to a doctor
like that? What? Henry, you'd go, wouldn't
you? There'd be no stopping you. If
you knew that there was a man out there to treat you like he
knew where you were, and he's the best one, he's the only one,
and he could really get rid of your problem, once and for all,
would you go to him? Would you? Get that in writing? What if he had never lost a patient? Every single one that came to
him, he healed every one of them. Every one of them. Oh boy, we've
got such a want. And let me ask you this, how
would a man, if you went to a man, went to a great physician like
this, had an incurable disease, that's what the scripture says
about our sin, it says it four or five times, a wound is incurable,
that is by any earthly remedy. What if you went to a physician
and had this incurable disease, this AIDS, and a man healed you? What if he spent all that he
had to treat you? What if he took all of his savings,
his unsearchable riches, and exhausted it for you? Spent it all. Spent forty years. Sixty years curing you, and exhausted
his unsearchable riches to take care of a maggot like you, and
put you in intensive care for how many years? You know how
much that cost. Whatever it took, he went, he did it for you. He
did it for you, and finally one day you were healed. And you
came to him, trembling. You came to him after it was
all over, and you were healed and ready to go home. And you
say, uh, sixty years now he's been treating you. How much do
I owe you? How much? Wouldn't that be a
foolish question? Huh? How much I've got here? I've got a hundred dollars. Man,
I've spent my life savings on you. I've worked with you for
60 years. 30 of it in intensive care. $100? You owe me your life. Don't you? And I tell you what,
you wouldn't balk at that, would you, Henry? You'd say, well,
yeah, that's my reasonable service. I'd be delighted to. I tell you
what, you'd be so grateful. that you'd want to donate your
body to science, wouldn't you? Take me. Donate my eyes. I want to give my eyes to use
for the blind. I want to give my mouth. I want
to give my ears. I want to give my feet. I want to be a servant
to this great doctor. I'll sweep the floor. I'll sweep
the office floor for you. I'll take care of your patients.
I'll go outside and serve coffee to all your patients in the waiting
room. It's my reasonable service. I want to serve you forever."
Why? Because the good doctor, all that he did for me. And this
morning, I hope we didn't give the impression this morning,
that sin, that sin, when God eradicates sin and forgives it,
past, present, and future, it doesn't make a man want to go
out and sin again. Free grace doesn't make a man
want to sin, give him a license to sin any more than health makes
a man want to get sick again. Roberta, you're feeling well
right now. Does that make you want to have another headache? Huh?
Oh, you want to be done with that, don't you? And you're sure
mighty grateful for that woman who prescribed what's helping
you out, right? Well, grace doesn't make a man want to sin. Oh, doesn't
want to make him get back in that condition again. It makes
him want to serve the one who healed him. Oh great physician,
great physician, I want to do for you the least that I can
do, the most that I can do, for your great service to me. The
great physician, hymn number fifty-nine, now is near the sympathizing
Jesus, he speaks the drooping heart to cheer, oh hear the voice
of Jesus. Your many sins are all forgiven.
Oh, hear the voice of Jesus Christ. Go on your way in peace to heaven,
and wear a crown with Jesus." So much like that. But he's the
great physician. Oh, glory. Let's sing the third
and the fourth verses. as our benediction here. Stand
with me. Let's sing the third and fourth verses of this psalm. All glory to the dying Lamb,
I now believe in Jesus. I love the blessed Navior's name,
I love the name of Jesus. Sweetest note in seraph's song,
Sweetest name on mortal tongue, Sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus,
bless Jesus. Last verse. And when to that
bright world above we rise, Jesus, we'll sing around the throne
of love His name.