Salvation For Those Who Are Sick

Today I would like you to turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9, and let's begin reading at verse 10. Matthew 9, verse 10. And it came to pass, it came to pass by God's purpose, by God's grace, it came to pass as Jesus said at meet 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? When Jesus heard that, he said unto them, that is, he said unto the Pharisees, unto these self-righteous religious folk, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, need not a doctor, but they that are sick, go ye and learn. What that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

I want to tell you this morning about my doctor, about my physician. He's always available. I never need to make an appointment. He's always ready to make house calls. He always has the proper medicine for my problem. His practice is most successful. He has never lost a patient. He deals with the sick in a most gentle way. Do you know who He is? He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my physician. He is my doctor.

He spent His whole earthly ministry around sinners who were in need of healing. It says in Matthew 9, verse 35, that our Lord went about cities and villages, teaching in their synagogue and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. He was very much about His business, executing His office as the great physician-son of God, seeking out sinners who were sick, seeking out sinners who were in great need of healing, great need of mercy. Now from this text, I want to consider this morning our great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. God regards, let me tell you something first of all, why we need a physician.

God regards sin as a disease, an awful, horrible disease in His sight. Sin is fatal, a fatal disease of the soul when all people are infected with it. It's deforming. weakening, wasting, and killing by all human means, and by all human means completely incurable. All men, because of Adam's sin, and Adam all died, and Adam all became ruined, and Adam all received a sinful nature. Sin is an awful disease.

Now let me give you some biblical truth about our sinful, depraved nature. Sin is a hereditary disease. That is, we're born with it. It's flowing through our bodies, through our veins. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Sinners can only beget sinners.

Job, in the book of Job, we read, how can anyone be clean that's born of a woman? Sin is not only a hereditary disease, that is, we inherit that from Adam and from our parents. But sin is also a disabling disease. A sin sick person or a sick person can't work, physically a sick person can't work, walk, think or run. Even so, sin prevents us from serving God, from worshipping God. Sin has stripped us of our ability to worship and serve Him.

Men love darkness. That's our wretched nature. Men love darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. Sin is disabling. It disables us from worshiping God. Thirdly, sin is very loathsome and a terrible thing in God's sight. It's the mother of all evil. It's the egg of all mischief. It's the fountain of bitterness and a root of misery. And in God's sight, it's horrible. We read in the book of Habakkuk that God's have purer eyes than to behold iniquity. God can't behold sin. Something else about sin. Sin is incurable.

Our problem cannot be cured by human efforts and human means. Our problem can only be cured by the divine method of God, by our divine physician. We cannot cure ourselves. We may reform and we may restrain ourselves, but still the truth is still there of God.

The carnal mind is enmity against God. Something else about sin, it's not only incurable and disabling, and loathsome, sin is a mortal disease. Sin is fatal to body and soul. When sin is fully ripened, it brings forth death and eternal destruction. The wages of sin is death. When sin is finished, it brings forth death. Now, this is a humbling fact. Nevertheless, it is most certain and true, and it's a biblical fact. We're all suffering under the disease of sin. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, you see the reason we need a great physician? Thank God He's been pleased to send the Lord Jesus Christ, the great physician of sinners.

Our Lord never came into the world merely to explain what sin is. Moses and the Law exposes our problem. By the Law, sin became exceeding sinful. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't come merely to explain what sin is, He came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He came to tell us how sin is removed. We're redeemed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't come merely to save us from hell and condemnation. He came to save us from our sin. Our problem is sin, and the only remedy is the suitable, God-sent Savior and physician, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you several things about the physician of sinners. He has a proper and divine diploma. Would you like to read his diploma? It comes not from the College of Physicians, but from the God of Physicians. We read over in Luke chapter 4, verse 18. Here's his diploma. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, God has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, God has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, God has sent me to preach deliverance to the captive and recovering of sight to the blind, set at liberty them that are bruised. The Lord Jesus Christ has all the proper credentials to be our great physician.

Now, I would not trust my body to a self-appointed doctor, would you? Certainly you wouldn't. When you go in the doctor's office, I'm sure if you're like I am, I always look for those diplomas that are hanging on the wall. I wouldn't trust my body to any self-appointed doctor, yet alone would I trust my soul to no one but God-sent, God-appointed physician, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only does he have a proper diploma, but he has proper education and experience too. There's not a single disease which he does not know experimentally as the man Christ Jesus. We read in Matthew 8, verse 17, And this is quoted from Isaiah 53, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet saying, himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses in his own body. He knows not sin by practice, but he certainly knows our sin by imputation. God laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Something else about our great physician, he's the greatest specialist in his field. When you have a certain problem, you look out and try to find a specialist in that field. The Lord Jesus Christ is a specialist in saving sinners. He knows our frame. He knows our thoughts afar off. He can look upon the heart. The Lord Jesus Christ has made the whole of our human, fallen, depraved nature and our salvation His specialty. His cures are speedy. He says, look unto Me. and be ye saved.

All the ends of the earth, I am God and there is none else." His medicine never fails because His medicine and His cure is Himself. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and we are complete in Him. We read in Isaiah 53, by His stripes we are healed. By His substitutionary atonement in His blood we are healed. His healings are eternal, certain and sure. He gives us a new nature, a new heart, a right spirit.

If any man be in Christ, he's complete and he is a new creature. What a blessed physician for our awful disease we have. You see, great sinners need a great Savior. And my friend, the good news of the gospel is we have a great Savior and a great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, let me give you this. That which moves our great physician to come to our aid is our need. Our need.

We read here in our text, in Matthew 9, verse 12, they that behold don't need a physician. Our Lord said those who are not sick don't need a physician, but those who are in need. But the sick need a physician. He said in this same chapter, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He said in Luke 19, verse 10, He's come to seek and to save that which is lost. Lost.

We read over in the book of Romans, you see, He comes because of our need. We read in book of Romans, chapter 5, verse 6, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. God commended His love toward us in it while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sin. He quickened us together with Himself.

Now listen to me carefully. Would there be a need for our Redeemer and our Savior and our Physician to come and undertake for us had We not been sinful? Would there be a need for Him to come had we not been sinners? Well, absolutely not. He is our Savior because we're sinners.

Why did He shed His blood? Because we were righteous or because we were sinners? Now, you know the answer. The reason that He died is because we're sinners. Why did He suffer the wrath of God? Because of our goodness or because of our iniquity? Well, certainly He didn't die because of our goodness. We don't need for Him to suffer the wrath of God.

He suffers the wrath of God because of our iniquity. He dies as the sinner's substitute because of our sin. He suffered once the just for the unjust that He might bring us unto God. He'd bear our sin in His own body on the tree. And the reason that He does is because of our need. We need to have sin put away.

Even now that he's exalted at the right hand of God, he's making intercession for who? He's making intercession not for the righteous. The righteous don't need an intercessor. He's making intercession for transgressors. We read in the book of Acts, God exalted him to his right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sin. He's exalted.

Right now with God's right hand and making intercession for who? Sinners. The gospel of God's mercy and grace is for sinners. We read in 1 Timothy 1 15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.

Now listen to me carefully. Your sin will never keep you from Christ. Now you heard me right. Your sin will never keep you from Christ." He said, all of you that are laboring and heavy laden, he said, come. But I tell you what will keep you from Christ. Your phony, plastic, religious self-righteousness will keep you from seeking mercy where mercy is found.

You remember what he said to those Pharisees? He said, you are those which you think you're highly esteemed among men, but that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination." He said, you justify yourselves. And he said, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Those, my friend, in closing, let me give you this, those who are sick and sinful shall be saved, shall be saved by Him. We never read in the Scripture where the Lord turned a beggar away. He dealt harshly with the Pharisees and the self-righteous. We read in the book of Luke 9, verse 11, He healed all them that had need of healing. We read in Philippians 4, verse 19, But our God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you sinful? Are you guilty? I've got good news for you. Christ died for the ungodly. In closing, let me give you this. I pray that God will show you your need. Now, we're in great need whether we realize it or not. We're terribly sinful and depraved before God, fallen with a sinful nature, a sinful principle in our heart. I pray God will show us our need of a proper physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, the right, suitable Savior. Our problem is that we think too highly of ourselves. Something else, take heed that you don't delay seeking Him. The best way to have good success against cancer is early detection and early treatment. If you're thirsty, seek Him who is the water of life. Take heed that you make use of no other physician. Don't look for a cure anywhere else. Don't look for a remedy. Don't look for atonement. Don't look for pardon and cleansing and forgiveness anywhere but in Christ. Dr. Law will only curse you. Dr. Ceremony will only smooth your problem and ease your pain and gloss over. He's an imposter. Dr. Good Works will never cure your soul. He'll only mock you because he's a quack.

Listen to me, there's no other physician but Jesus Christ for sin sick souls to apply unto. There's no other Savior but Christ. There's no other mediator between God and man but the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other fountain but His blood that will cleanse us from sin. There's no other refuge, no other foundation, no other salvation, no other righteousness. whereby guilty sinners can stand before God, holy, complete, unblameable in His sight, but Jesus Christ.

Salvation For Those Who Are Sick

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