I invite your attention to the
book of Psalms, the 147th Psalm. My text is found in verse number
three. This message is titled, Jesus
Christ Heals All Wounds. In Psalm 147 verse 3 we read
these words, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. And on the basis of that text
I declare to you that Jesus Christ heals all wounds. Wounds are of three sorts. There are physical wounds, emotional
wounds, and spiritual wounds. Now that first sort of wound
is the physical wounds. These are wounds of the body,
such as cuts, punctures, lacerations of the skin, abrasions, bruises,
and even broken bones. The second sort of wounds, emotional
wounds, are those of the feelings, such as those caused by personal
insult, death of a loved one, tragedy or catastrophe. The third
sort of wounds are spiritual wounds. Spiritual wounds are
those of the spiritual heart of man, his soul. Man is incapable of healing all
these wounds. Physicians may heal physical
wounds, but not all of them. Counselors and psychologists
and psychiatrists may heal emotional wounds, but not all of them. And no man is capable of healing
spiritual wounds. Jesus Christ is capable of healing
all three. Nor is it true that time heals
all wounds. You undoubtedly have heard that
expression. Time heals all wounds. This expression is generally
made by well-meaning people to those who have been wounded emotionally
by such things as hurt feelings, death of a loved one, or a personal
tragedy. Sometimes when we are in the
presence of one who has experienced such a thing as hurt feelings
or the death of a loved one or a personal tragedy, we are at
a loss for words. Sometimes we just do not know
what to say. We want to comfort the one that
has suffered this emotional wound, but sometimes it's difficult
to know what is best to say. Some people will say, well, you
know, time heals all wounds. I would suggest that you not
use that expression. Many of the emotionally wounded
object to being told that time heals all wounds. And they object
on the ground that their wounds will never heal and that they
will go to their graves with their wounds. I have met people,
and surely you have met people, who feel that they have emotional
wounds. They will never recover from
them. Their wounds will never heal.
And they will carry those wounds to their dying day. And they
object to being told that time heals all wounds. Time, of course, does not heal
all emotional wounds, and nor does it heal all physical wounds. Many people with physical wounds
become worse in time, and many people die of their physical
wounds because time does not heal all physical wounds. and time heals no spiritual wounds. Now this expression, time heals
all wounds, is said to be an alteration of God heals all wounds. I suppose this alteration suits
those who do not believe in God or his healing powers. If you
do not believe in God, if you do not believe that he can heal
wounds, then surely you would not say God heals all wounds. Some have taken this expression,
God heals all wounds, and since they do not believe it, they
say time heals all wounds. But I will say this to you, that
if you believe the testimony Holy Scriptures, if you believe
the testimony of God's written Word, I can assure you that indeed
God heals all wounds. But I hasten to add that God
heals all the wounds of only his people. God heals all the
wounds of of only those who believe his gospel and trust in his son
Jesus Christ and God heals their wounds through Jesus Christ who
fulfilled God's promise that to you who fear my name that
is to you who worship me Jehovah says the son of righteousness
Son, here is S-U-N, the son of righteousness shall arise with
healing in his wings. If you trust in Jehovah and believe
him, fear and worship him, he will send Jesus Christ, the son
of righteousness, who will come to you with healing in his wounds. And when he comes, Jesus Christ
assures his people that I am Jehovah Rapha the Lord who heals
you. Exodus 15 verse 26. He says that is my name. My name
is Jehovah who heals you. It therefore is with very good
reason that God's people speak of Jesus Christ as the great
physician. We sometimes sing that hymn,
the great physician now is here, the sympathizing Jesus. He speaks
the drooping heart to cheer. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Jesus comes to heal the drooping
heart, and the drooping heart is a wounded heart, and the great
physician comes to heal those who have broken hearts, because
he is the great physician. Jesus Christ heals all the wounds
of God's people, whether their wounds be physical, emotional,
or spiritual. Now we're going to consider here
today that Jesus Christ heals all three sorts of wounds, whether
they be physical, emotional, or spiritual. And we will consider
first that Jesus Christ heals the spiritual wounds of his people. And in doing so, we're going
to reason from the greater to the lesser. That is, if Jesus
Christ can heal spiritual wounds, which no one else can, then surely
he can heal emotional and physical wounds. If Jesus Christ can heal
your spiritual wounds, then rest assured that he can heal your
emotional and physical wounds, because God heals all wounds. We're going to consider all three
points. That Jesus Christ heals the spiritual
wounds of his people. And second, that Jesus Christ
heals the emotional wounds of his people. And third, that Jesus
Christ heals the physical wounds of his people because Jesus Christ
heals all wounds. Now consider that first major
point with me, that Jesus Christ heals the spiritual wounds of
his people. Indeed, this is the foremost
meaning of our text that declares, he heals the brokenhearted and
binds up their wounds. Now I'm going to set forth this
truth that Jesus Christ heals the spiritual wounds of his people
under eight points. Now consider these eight points
with me. First, consider that the brokenhearted
are people who are under conviction of their sins. And this is true
whether they be sinners or saints. If their hearts are broken, it
is because they are under conviction of their sins. That is to say
that they feel their sinfulness And they feel their spiritual
bankruptcy. And they feel their helplessness
to heal themselves. And they feel their need of divine
mercy and grace. And having felt all these things,
they long for help and salvation from God. Second, consider that
such a broken heart is a blessed thing. And I am happy to tell
you that if your heart is broken, then you surely are a blessed
person. We read in Psalm 51 verse 7 that
the sacrifices of God, that is, the sacrifices that God desires
and approves, are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart,
these, O God, you will not despise. What a glorious truth is that. If your heart is broken, God
does not despise your broken heart. And indeed, you are a
blessed person. We read in Psalm 34 verse 18
that Jehovah is near to those who have a broken heart and saves
such as have a contrite spirit. We read in Isaiah 57 verse 15,
for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose
name is holy, he says, I dwell in the high and holy place with
him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of
the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. If your heart is broken, your
heart has become a high and holy place And Jehovah will come to
that holy place and dwell there and heal your broken heart. God says in Isaiah 66 verse 2,
on this one I will look. on him who is poor and of a contrite
spirit and who trembles at my word. If your heart is broken,
you are indeed a blessed person because Jehovah says, I'm going
to look on you and I'm going to look on you with healing. I'm going to restore health to
you. because a broken heart is a blessed
thing. Third, consider that Jesus Christ
came to heal the brokenhearted. According to his words in Isaiah
61 verses 1 through 3, Jesus said, The Spirit of Adonai Jehovah
is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me to preach good tidings
to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion,
to give them beautiful rashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Jehovah
sent Jesus Christ to heal the brokenhearted, and Jesus Christ
came for that very purpose. And every believer in Jesus Christ
finds his promise to be true and fulfilled. Fourth, consider
that Jesus did not come to heal the wholehearted. Those who hearts
are still whole and not broken When I was a lad, I lived in
a rural area of West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains.
It was a small town. And we had, as I recall, only
one physician in the town. And oh, a busy man he was. Almost every time you would go
into his office, There would be people in the waiting room
waiting to see the doctor. This man was a very busy man,
seeing people there in his office. However, he did something that,
well, it's very hard to find today. He made house calls. If you were in a very bad state
of health and could not make it to the doctor's office, call
the doctor and he would come to see you. He made house calls.
So let's imagine. I call the doctor at his office,
and I say, Doctor, I need you to come and see me. Well, what's
your problem, he might say. Well, oh, I don't have a problem.
I'm in perfect health. I'm in good health. I'm hale
and hearty. And he's going to say, well,
I'm not coming to you. I've got more important things
to do. There are people here who are
sick, and I'm going to stay here and take care of them. I'm not
going to come to make a house call to you if you're healthy. Now, Jesus Christ, the great
physician, says the same thing. There were some who did not need
to be healed, or at least they thought that was the case. They
did not need a physician. They were healthy, hale and hearty. They were like the scribes and
Pharisees who boasted of being righteous and they denied being
sinners. And Jesus answered and said to
them, in Luke chapter 1, verses 31 and 32, those who are well,
those who are whole, those who are healthy, have no need of
a physician, but those who are sick, I have not come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Therefore, Jesus
did not come to heal the wholehearted. He came to heal the brokenhearted. Fifth, consider that Jesus breaks
hearts before he heals them. If your heart is broken, Jesus
broke it and he broke it in order to heal it. He himself declares,
I wound and I heal. Deuteronomy 32 verse 39. Before Jesus Christ heals a broken
heart, he must break that heart. Eliphaz the Temanite spoke truth
when he said, behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore
do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For he bruises,
but he binds up. He wounds, but his hands make
whole. You can read that in Job chapter
5 verses 17 and 18. And you can read in Hosea chapter
6 verse 1 that the brokenhearted are encouraged to come and let
us return to Jehovah. For he has torn but he will heal
us. He has stricken, but he will
bind us up. Oh, blessed is the man whose
heart God has broken. Number six, consider that no
heart is too hard for Jesus to wound and heal. And you can ask
Saul of Tarsus about this. No heart is too hard for Jesus
to wound and heal. You can read the account of Saul
of Tarsus in Acts chapter 9, verses 1 through 18. No heart
was hardened against Jesus more than Saul's. Oh, Saul had such
a hard heart. He had the hardest heart that
ever you could see. Saul's heart was hardened against
Jesus more than any other heart. Saul despised Jesus more than
did any other man. And we read that Saul was breathing
threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord and endeavored
to exterminate them. So hard was the heart of Saul
of Tarsus that He could do nothing else to Jesus. Jesus had already
been raised from the dead and gone home to glory. So Saul turned
his wrath on the followers of Jesus. His heart was hard against
them. Saul obtained letters from Jerusalem,
the priest there in Jerusalem and was on his way to Damascus. His heart was hard against the
disciples of the Lord and he was going to go to Damascus.
And there vent his wrath against the disciples of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Ah behold him, he's got the letter
in his hand on his way to Damascus. He has authority to bring Christians
in chains back to Jerusalem. And there, hopefully, he will
see that they are exterminated. But on that road to Damascus,
a marvelous thing happened, because Jesus broke Saul's hard
heart. And Saul, we read, fell to the
ground, and trembling and astonished, said to Jesus, Lord, what do
you want me to do? And then he obeyed his Lord.
Observe, his heart had been broken. He had been convicted of his
sin. He knew what a hard-hearted sinner
he was. But he knew now that his heart
was broken. And he begs Jesus, tell me, what
should I do? My heart needs to be mended.
I need to be whole. What should I do? And Jesus told
him, go on into Damascus and wait, and I'll show you what
you should do. So Saul obeyed his Lord. then in Damascus the Lord sent
a man by the name of the pastor of the church evidently
and he said go down there to Saul I want you to do something
for Saul And this man, Ananias by name, said, Oh Lord, you want
me to go to Saul of Tarsus? Do you not know that he has been
sent here to exterminate us? His heart is hard against us. And the Lord said, No, no, no.
I have broken his heart and you go so that his heart can be healed. And so this man, this minister
of the gospel, did as the Lord told him to do. He went to where
Saul was and said, Brother Saul, and observe what he called him,
Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me that you may receive your
sight. not only your physical sight,
because the Lord had blinded Saul of Tarsus on the road to
Damascus, but also that you may receive spiritual sight and see
the healing of the hand of the Lord upon you. And there As Ananias
declared the gospel to Saul of Tarsus, Jesus healed Saul's broken
heart, his sight was restored, and he was baptized in water
and filled with the Holy Spirit, and Saul of Tarsus, that hard-hearted
sinner, became Paul the Apostle. This lion against the Lord's
children, became a shepherd to lead them and a lamb among them. Oh, I say to you, my friend,
that if you are hard-hearted against Jesus, I pray that Jesus
may bless you by breaking your heart. Seventh, consider that
no heart is too sinful for Jesus to wound and heal. We just observed
that no heart is too hard for Jesus to wound and heal. Now consider that no heart is
too sinful for Jesus to wound and heal. Ask David. the adulterer and murderer. You undoubtedly know of his adultery,
how that he put his eyes upon a certain woman, had her brought
to him, committed adultery with her, and then had her husband
killed so that David could have his wife. Oh, what a sinful man
was David. What a sinful heart he had. But Jesus broke that sinful heart. Jesus broke that sinful heart
so that the psalmist confessed that day and night, your hand
was heavy upon me. Psalm 32 verse 4. David, this
man of the sinful heart, spoke of the bones that you have broken. Psalm 51 verse 8. And he was
not referring to physical bones, but by extension, these bones
meant his very essence and substance. Oh Lord, my heart is broken. I am sinful. I have sinned against
heaven. I have sinned against you. And
you have broken my sinful heart. And then he learned that the
sacrifices of God, that is, the sacrifices that God desires and
approves are a broken heart, a broken and a contrite heart. These, oh God, you will not despise. Psalm 51 verse 7, David had a
sinful heart. Jesus broke David's sinful heart
and then did not despise that broken heart. Then Jesus healed
David's broken heart. For the psalmist testified, I
acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions
to Jehovah and you forgave the iniquity of my sins. Psalm 32 verse 5. And when David
said, you healed my iniquity, he declared that his sinful heart
that had been broken had now been healed by Jesus. Oh, my
friend, I say to you that if you have a broken heart, surely
Jesus has broken it. And if Jesus has broken your
heart, surely He can heal it, regardless of how sinful you
are. Number eight, consider Jesus
Christ heals a believer's wounds through his own wounds, suffered
in their place instead. Isaiah 53 verse 5, we read, He
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. the chastisement for our peace
was upon him and by his stripes or by his wounds we are healed. Note very well that Jesus Christ
heals a believer's wounds through his own wounds suffered in their
place instead. Now we have considered the first
major point. Jesus Christ heals the spiritual
wounds of his people and we have noted that we're considering
from the greater to the lesser that if he can heal spiritual
wounds, then surely he can heal emotional wounds and physical
wounds. So we're going to go to this
second point that Jesus Christ heals the emotional wounds of
his people. As we earlier observed, emotional
wounds are such as those caused by tragedy, catastrophe, hurt
feelings, or the death of a loved one. Now, someone may object,
ah, but preacher, you do not know how many and how deep are
my emotional wounds. Well, now, that may be true,
but I would reply to you that you, if you still have those
emotional wounds, If you have not recovered from them, then
evidently you have not trusted the healing efficacy of him who
says, Jehovah has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. I say
to you that it matters not how many are your emotional wounds. It matters not how deep are your
emotional wounds. It matters not how terrible are
your emotional wounds. Jesus Christ will heal them if
you trust in Him. I want you to consider for a
moment the case of Job in this regard. You can read about this
in the first and second and third chapters of the book of Job. Consider the case of Job. In
God's will and by Satan's hand, Job suffered catastrophe after
catastrophe. He knew what it was to experience
what Solomon said when he said, the clouds return after the rain. Job experienced one catastrophe
and as soon as that one was over, here came another one. And when
that one was over, here came another one. Catastrophe after
catastrophe after catastrophe. And these catastrophes resulted
in the loss of all his seven sons and three daughters. Job
had 10 children, but because of these catastrophes, all 10
of them died. These catastrophes resulted also
in the loss of all Job's earthly possessions. These included his
7,000 sheep, His 3,000 camels, his 500 yoke of oxen, or 1,000
oxen in all, and 500 female donkeys. I mean, this man had livestock,
great numbers of livestock, lost every one of them. Catastrophe
took them from him. These catastrophes included also
the loss of Job's health. For Satan struck Job with painful
boils so that Job was covered with painful boils from the crown
of his head to the sole of his feet. What catastrophes! Job had lost everything except his broken heart. All
that Job had was a broken heart, and we're speaking about a heart
that was broken emotionally. Jesus Christ healed Job's emotional
wounds, healed every one of them. Because Job, despite all his
emotional wounds, never ceased to trust in Jesus Christ. He said in Job 19 verse 5, I
know that my Redeemer lives and even though the earthworms devour
my body, yet in my flesh I shall see God. And he knew that he
would see God in seeing Jesus Christ. Despite all these emotional
wounds, Job still kept his faith and trust and hope in the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. And I'm happy to report to you
that Jesus Christ healed all Job's wounds. This we know because
of Job's testimony. In Job chapter 1, verse 21, he
said, And Jehovah has taken away. Blessed
be the name of Jehovah. Oh my friend, those are the words
of a man whose broken heart has been healed. We read furthermore
that in all this Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrong. Job chapter 1 verse 23. We read
furthermore that in all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job chapter 2 verse 10. I'm saying
to you, my friend, that it matters not how many are your emotional
wounds, it matters not how deep are your emotional wounds, Jesus
Christ can heal them. We have considered the first
major point. Jesus Christ heals the spiritual
wounds of his people. Second, we have observed that
Jesus Christ heals the emotional wounds of his people. And now,
third and last, consider this, that Jesus Christ heals the physical
wounds of his people. Jesus, of course, has this power. You probably know how that he
healed the severed ear of Malchus, the servant of the priest, in
Luke chapter 22, verses 50 and 51. In a certain circumstance,
someone drew a sword and just cut off the ear of this man named
Malchus. Jesus picked the ear off the
ground and put it back onto the head of Malchus and that physical
wound was perfectly healed. Now if Jesus could heal the physical
wound of Malchus then surely he can heal your physical wounds. Now Jesus may not heal your physical
wounds in this life He will not necessarily do so
because He may have something better in store for you. He may
want to demonstrate to you His superabounding grace, and He
may want to teach to you to boast in Him when you are afflicted
and infirm. Saul of Tarsus. whom we now know
as Paul the Apostle, learned of this in 2 Corinthians 12,
verses 7-10. Saul of Tarsus had a certain
physical wound. We're not absolutely sure what
it was. He said, I prayed thrice that
the Lord would remove this thorn in the flesh from me. Something
was affecting Paul's flesh. It was a wound and it could not
be healed. No physician could heal it. He
said, I prayed to the Lord thrice that he would heal it. And the
Lord said, no, I'm not going to heal it yet. But I'm going
to show to you that my grace is sufficient for you, that my
strength is made perfect in your weakness. However, even though
Jesus Christ may not heal your physical wounds in this present
earthly life, he will eventually heal every one of them. Because
at the last day, all his people will be glorified. They're going
to have glorified bodies. No physical wounds. No wounds
of any sort. Their bodies will be glorified.
And that will be the happy state of every child of God eventually. It may not be so in this present
life, but eventually all of the physical wounds of Jesus' people
will be healed and the only wounds that ever will be visible in
heaven are those of Jesus Christ by whose wounds we are healed. Now we are not surprised that
unbelievers lament their wounds that will never heal and if you
remain in unbelief then you should not expect your wounds to be
healed. You may go to your grave with
your wounds if you want to keep them. Time will not heal them, but
I would say to you that if you trust in Jesus Christ, He will
heal your wounds, regardless of what kind they are, whether
they be spiritual, emotional, or physical. Because believers
find great consolation in knowing that Jesus Christ heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds. The great physician. Now is here
the sympathizing Jesus. He speaks the drooping heart
to cheer. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus and
call upon him. Trust in him and I assure you
that Jesus Christ will heal all your wounds.