Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to Luke chapter 6? Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to be preaching upon this subject, this one thing I do. Those were the words of the Apostle
Paul in Philippians chapter 3, when he said, this one thing
I do. I'm excited about bringing that
message. I've entitled this message, Hearing
and Healing. Let's begin reading in verse
17 of Luke chapter 6. This is Luke's account of what
I just read in Mark chapter 3. And he came down with them and
stood in the plain. and the company of His disciples,
and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem,
and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear
Him, and to be healed of their diseases." They came to hear,
they came to be healed. And they that were vexed with
unclean spirits, and they were healed. And the whole multitude
sought to touch Him. For there went virtue out of
Him. and healed them all." Now, we have in this passage
of Scripture a group of people who came to Christ. It says they
came to Him. And they came to Christ with
a two-fold desire, a two-fold purpose. They came to hear and
they came to be healed. And I pray that that's the reason
we're here this morning. We're here to hear. To hear what God says. To hear
the gospel. And to be healed. Hearers that need to be healed. Now that's the way I want to
hear the gospel. I don't want to hear the gospel to see whether
or not I agree with the preacher. I want to hear the gospel to
hear God's word and I want to be Now these people came to Christ. It says they came to Him, doesn't
it? They came to hear Him. They came to be healed. Now this
thing of coming to Christ is the motion of spiritual life. I want you to listen real carefully.
Coming to Christ is the motion of spiritual life. It's what
people who have spiritual life do. They come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord said to one group, you
will not come to me that you might have life. Coming to Christ is the evidence
of divine election. Now God chose who would be saved
before time began. I love election. And what is
the evidence that one has been elected? Our Lord said this,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Coming to Christ is the result
of being drawn by God and taught by God. Now, if you've been drawn
by God, remember the Lord said, no man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. It's written in the Prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh to Me. Now, if I've ever
come to Christ, I'm coming to Him right now. To whom? Coming. Not to whom
you came, not to whom you intend to come. To whom? Coming. As unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Coming to Christ
is what every believer continually does. They came to hear, the Scripture
says. They didn't wait for Him to come to them. They came to
hear Him and wanted to hear what He had to say. Now what was it
that brought this on that gave them this great desire to come
to hearing? Well, there's something they
heard previously. I read that in Mark chapter 3. Hold your
finger to Luke 6 and look once again at Mark chapter 3. Verse 8, And from Jerusalem,
and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and
Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things
he did, they came unto him. And when they heard the great
things he did, they came to hear him, They heard of the miraculous
cures and came hoping the same thing would be done for them.
Indeed, we could talk about the great things that He did in the
flesh. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He walked on the water, showing
that He was the Lord of the law of physics. He had to obey no
law. He's God. He brought matter into
existence that was not there before, creating bread that had
not been in the universe before that time. Indeed, these are great things
that demonstrate that He's very God of very God. But with the
eye of faith, let's consider some greater things He did than
these. What could be greater? Well,
what came to my mind first is that before the world began,
He stood as a surety for God's elect. Before me or you were
ever around, before there was an earth, before there was a
universe, before there was a creation, God the Father gave Him a people. And He stood as their surety. He said, I'll be responsible
for their salvation. Now that's what a surety is.
He bore all the responsibility. I love that story in Genesis
where Judah stood to be a surety for Benjamin. Jacob was afraid
to send him down into Egypt and Judah said, I will be surety
for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. Now what our Lord said is that
all that you require of them, you look to Me for that. Is that great? Is that great? That takes all the burden of
salvation off of Me. It puts it all on Him. I like
it that way. I'm happy for it to be that way.
I want Him to bear all the load, don't you? That is great. He said, of My hand shalt thou
require of Him. And if I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. Now that's what the Lord did
as my surety. That is great. Talking about
the great things He did, well, He created the universe. 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 created by Him. He created the universe. As an act of His will, He brought
the universe into existence. Now that's great. Only God can
do that. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is
controlling everything right now. Do you know He's controlling
the thoughts that are rolling through your mind? Isn't that
amazing? He's controlling the thoughts. You see, He's Lord.
And He controls providence. He controls everything that happens
in time. You and I are in His hands. And anything that happens
is His will being done. By Him, all things consist. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. He's in control of profitance.
Now that's a great thing, isn't it? I love thinking about this.
It just makes me feel good. He controls everybody. and everything,
He's the Lord. That's great. He became a man. Now that's great. God! Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The Word, the eternal Word that
was, was made flesh. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." Oh, how great it is that God became a man. Isn't
that mysterious? Isn't that glorious? God became
a man. That's not something understood,
only believed. Like everything else in the Bible.
You believe. You won't understand until you
believe. In the flesh, He kept God's law perfectly. He never sinned. Now, I want you to think about
that. A man never sinning. Is that great? Oh, what greatness
that he demonstrated in perfectly keeping God's law. And in the
flesh, he died. Now, remember what he did when
he kept the law. He kept the law for somebody. He did what
he did as a representative. He kept the law for somebody.
And in the flesh, he really died. Now, that is mysterious. How
could the God-man die? He's God! How did he die? I don't know, but he did. What
was the reason for his death? The sins of God's people became
His. That perfect obedience that He
worked out became theirs, and their sin became His. He died, and what accomplishments
there were in His glorious death. Luke 9, 31 says, they spake of
the disease which He should accomplish. Well, what did He accomplish?
Hebrews 10, 14 says, for by one offering, by His death on Calvary's
tree, by one offering, He hath perfected. Have you heard that
word? He hath perfected, completely
saved them that are sanctified. Everybody he died for, all of
God's elect, were completely saved by his death. Now isn't
that great? That's great! When they heard the great things
that He did, He was raised from the dead. How great is that?
He gave Himself life from the dead. He said, no man takes my
life from me. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He raised Himself from the dead.
You know, when He died, He never saw corruption. You know, as
soon as we die, We start seeing corruption. We start going through
the process of decay. He didn't. You know why? Because
when He died, He rendered complete satisfaction to God. He paid
for the sins of all of God's people. God said, I can ask for
nothing more. Now is that great or what? He
ascended back to the Father. And right now, He's seated at
the right hand of God, representing His people. Therefore, He is
able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them." They heard of the
great things that He did. That's why they came to hear
Him. Now, who was it that came to
hear Him? Everybody who was diseased. Everybody who was vexed. Everyone
who was tormented with unclean spirits. Now, not everybody responds
to the great things He did, but I'll tell you who does respond.
People who are vexed. Vexed. Troubled. Taken with unclean
spirits. People who are diseased. Dying. Sinful. Now, you listen to this
very carefully. You're sin. And your disease will never prevent
you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to prevent you from
coming? Your health and your righteousness. That's what will
prevent you from coming to Christ, not your sin. You ever see your
sin, it'll drive you to Him. I know that. It's your righteousness
that will prevent you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
He said, Come unto Me, all ye that labor, labor unto a burden
of a fallen nature and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. If any man thirsts, Let him come
to me and drink." They came to hear him. Now, they heard about
the great things he did, and they came to hear. Now, I think of the Philippian
jailer in Acts chapter 16. When he said to Paul and Silas,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Do you reckon he listened very
carefully after that to see exactly what Paul would say? When Paul
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. There's a couple of scriptures I want us to look at in light
of this. Romans chapter 10. I want to
hear what God says. I want to be somebody just like
these people who, like Cornelius, he said, we're here to hear.
That's why we're here. We're here to hear. And I want
to be healed of my diseases through what I hear. Now look in Romans
chapter 10, verse 1. Paul says, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Now two things are real clear.
Number one, they were not saved. Ain't that so? And number two,
Paul wanted them to be saved. He said, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. Now he talks
about these people in verse two. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. They're very religious. And that's
the God of the Bible. But not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. of God's character. And his character
is righteous. Righteousness. And if I ever
see his righteousness, that's when I'm going to see my own
sinfulness. And until I see that, I'm not going to see my sinfulness.
But if I ever see his true character, and this is what they were ignorant
of. They being ignorant of God's righteousness. And because of
that ignorance, they go about to establish their own righteousness,
something that they think will obligate God. They've not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. From Moses. described with the
righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth
those things shall live by them. Now if you're going to go the
law route, here's what you got to do. Keep the law of God perfectly
without ever slipping. That's what God's law demands. But, verse 6, the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart,
who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Don't say in your heart, what can I do to get Him
to come down here and save me? Don't say that. Seven, or who
shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring Christ again
from the dead. Don't say, what can I do to get His death to
work for me? That's works. But what saith
it? The Word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the Word of faith which
we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord
Jesus. Do you confess that He's the
Lord? Do you confess He's Jesus? Thou
shalt call His name Jesus? He shall save His people from
their sins, the Lord, the Savior. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised Him from the dead. Do you believe God raised Him
from the dead? Do you believe that He was dead
and all of a sudden He just opened His eyes in that tomb? And He
walked out of that tomb because He liveth? Because God accepted
what He did because He put away sin? Do you believe that? Do
you believe that God actually raised Him from the dead because
full satisfaction was made? Well, if you do, you'll be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture
says, Whosoever believeth on Him, shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between
Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that
call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, this verse of Scripture
is one of those Scriptures that I just keep going back to in
my own personal experience. It's all I got. Whosoever. I'm one of them. I'm a whosoever. Whosoever shall call, Lord, save
me! Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, that's who He is. That's His attributes. I'm calling on His sovereignty.
Lord, as an act of Your will, save me! Save me by Your justice. Save me by Your grace. Save me
by Your wisdom. Save me by Your mercy. I'm asking
all of His attributes to come in and save me. Now, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do you hear that? Do you hear? They came to hear. What must
I do to be saved? Well, you just heard. Call on
the name of the Lord. This is what God's elect do. I know an unregenerate person
will never do this, but God's elect do this. They called upon
the name of the Lord. They came to hear and they came
to be healed. They wanted to hear so they could
be healed. That was their great desire. They were diseased by
sin, vexed with unclean spirits like the gathering demonic. Would
you turn with me to Mark chapter 5? Verse 1, And they came over unto the other
side of the sea, unto the country of the Gadarenes, And when he
was come out of the ship, immediately there met him a man, met him
out of the tombs, out of death, a man with an unclean spirit. Remember how people who were
vexed with unclean spirits came to him? Well, this man was a
man with an unclean spirit. Verse 3, "...who had his dwelling
among the tombs, and no man could bind him, no, not with chains. Because that he had been often
bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could
any man tame him." Now that's what religion does. Religion
binds a man up with fetters and chains, but it never works. When sin calls, He obeys. No man could tame Him. Verse 5, And always, night and
day, He was in the mountains and the tombs, crying and cutting
Himself with stones. All of His sin was His fault
and He was hurting Himself. But when He saw Jesus, Here's where all salvation begins,
right here. When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him. Now this I know. If I ever see
the Lord Jesus Christ, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going
to fall down before him and I'm going to worship. He ran and
he worshipped him. And he cried, verse 7, with a
loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou
Son of the Most High God? What connection is there between
me and you? You're holy. I'm unholy. You're
light. I'm darkness. You're good. I'm
bad. You're righteous. I'm evil. There's no connection. What have
I to do with thee? What do we have in common? Absolutely
nothing. All he thought is, have you come
to torment me? Have you come to cast me down
into hell? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. That's
all. He didn't even suspect mercy,
did he? Verse 8, For he saith unto him, Come out of the man,
thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy
name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are
many. Now when the Lord asks you your
name, Here it is, a legion of demons, a legion of devils. We are many. Verse 10, And he
besought him much that he would not send them away out of the
country. Now there was nigh into the mountains a great herd of
swine feeding. And all the devils besought him,
saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
You know, I love this verse of Scripture. This tells us that
a devil can't move until he gets permission from the Lord Jesus
Christ. That shows us something of His power. Verse 13, And forthwith
Jesus gave them leave, and the unclean spirits went out, and
they entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the sea. There were about two thousand,
and they were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled,
and told it to the city and the country, and they went out to
see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus, and see
Him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in His right
mind. Now isn't that what the Lord
does when He saves somebody? The sitting at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The one thing that's needful.
Clothed in the very righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ. and in the right mind. You see,
a lost man's crazy. A lost man thinks he can be saved
by his works. It's crazy! It's crazy! But now he's in his
right mind. And what was the response? And
they were afraid. And they that saw it told them
how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and
also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coast. They asked the Lord to leave.
You know, they liked it as long as they could tame the guy and
put chains on him, but when they see what the Lord does, they
ask him to leave. And when he was come into the ship, he that
had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with
him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home
to thy friends, and tell them how great things. There's that
word. How great things the Lord hath
done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great
things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. They heard of the great things
that he did, and they thought, why not me? We did it for them. Why not me? And they came to hear. Now back
to our text in Luke chapter 6. We read in verse 19. And the whole multitude, everyone
that was sick, vexed with unclean spirits, the whole multitude
sought to touch Him. For there went virtue out of
Him and healed them all." Mark's account says they pressed upon
Him to touch Him. They wanted to come into contact
with Him. You know when you'll do this, when you have no other options. That's when you'll do this. That's
when I'll do this. We'll go through the press to
touch him when we have no other options. When we're like that
woman with the issue of blood who spent all on many physicians
and was nothing bettered, but rather worse. That's when she came to Him,
when the only hope you have is for Him to do something for you,
when you know that He's the only one who can help you. He's the
only one. You'll come in the press to touch
Him. Now this touch was the touch
of faith. The Scripture says, virtue or power went out of him,
and it was his virtuous power that healed them. Everyone who
came and touched him and came into contact with him, they were
healed. Now, I think it's interesting
in the Scriptures that sin is aptly compared to a disease and
to a sickness. Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew chapter 8. Now, sickness. Have you ever
been sick? Diseased? You're in pain? You can't even think? You're
nauseous? Sickness is a horrible, horrible
trial. And sin is compared to sickness. Look at Matthew chapter 8, beginning
in verse 16. And when the evening was come, they brought unto him
many that were possessed with devils. And he cast out the spirits
with his word, and he healed all that were sick, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
Himself took our infirmities. and bear our sicknesses. Now when Peter quotes that he
says who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. But here Matthew calls it he
bear our sicknesses. A sickness. A lot of times when
people think of sin being imputed to Christ, they think, well,
He was charged with the guilt of it. And that's true. And there's
so much about this we don't understand. I realize that. But sickness
is not so much imputed, is it? If I impute sickness to you,
you don't get sick, do you? I'm just saying it's charged
to your account. Well, that doesn't make any sense, does it? No,
if sin, He bore our sicknesses. He bore our sin. Now, you know
the Lord Jesus Christ never sinned. He never, ever sinned. Even when He was on the cross,
He never sinned. But He experienced everything
about sin with the commission of it. He experienced the utter
darkness, the being forsaken by His Father, the horror, the
guilt, the shame, the humiliation. He experienced everything about
sin. And that's why it shows He bore
our sicknesses. You know what sickness is when
you feel sick. It's a horrible thing. He felt the sickness. But just as truly as He bore
my sin, my sin was lifted off me and became His. His perfect
righteousness, His obedience is mine. According to verse 19, how many
people were healed? Every one of them. Everyone who
came to Christ was healed The Lord never makes healing available. He heals. He doesn't make salvation
available or offer it. He saves. Now, I want to state
two great facts regarding the Gospel. Listen to them very carefully. Here's the first great fact.
Everybody Jesus Christ died for is saved. Now, He didn't die for everybody. If he died for everybody, everybody
would be saved. He did not die for everybody. And if somebody
says, why are you saying that? Well, the Bible points it out.
That's why. He said, I'd lay down my life
for the sheep. And he looked at some fellows and said, the
reason you don't believe is because you're not my sheep, as I say to you.
They're goats and they're sheep. He didn't die for the goats.
He died for the sheep. And everybody he died for must
be saved. If He died for you, you don't
run the risk of the hazard or the possibility of being anything
but saved, because you are saved. If He died for you, you are saved.
You're plumb saved. All your sins are gone. You stand
perfect before God. Everybody that He died for must
be saved. Amen? Amen. Now here's the second fact of
the Gospel. All who come to Him are received
by Him. He said, Him that cometh to Me,
I will in no wise, for no reason whatsoever, cast out. Now that's the promise of the
Lord. Everybody He died for must be saved and everybody, I don't
care who you are, what if I'm not one of the elect? Don't worry
about that. You come to Christ, you'll be
received. That is His promise. You come to Christ, you will
be received. Now, you'll find out, I know,
that if you came, it's because He chose you to be saved. I realize
that. But you don't need to worry about
whether or not He died for you. You don't need to worry about
whether or not you're one of the elect. I mean, what you need to do is
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He promises, All who come to
Me, I will in no wise cast out. You come, you'll be received.
He will receive you. Now those are the two great facts
of the gospel. Now I would like to draw from
the scriptures some encouragements for me and you to come to Christ
right now. Not waiting for anything. Not
waiting for an experience. Not waiting to get better. Not
waiting to understand more. I want to give us some encouragement
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ right now. And don't wait to
come in a kind of wicked orthodoxy saying, I can't come unless He
draws me, so I'll just wait. No. Come to Christ right now. Now, His very name encourages
me to come. He's the Lord. That means He's
got the power to cause me to come. And I come saying, you're
the Lord that caused me to come. His name is Jesus. And Jesus
means Savior. Savior. Thou should call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Lord,
I need saved. Save me. Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is His officers, His prophet,
priest, and king. He's God's prophet. He brings
me the Word of God. He's God's priest. That means
He can represent me before God and God accept me. He's God's
king to rule and reign over me and cause me to do His will.
His very name is of glorious encouragement. for me to come
to Him. His name, oh I love His name,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any name like that name?
Oh, that's the name at which every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess that He is the Lord. And this
one has a promise for all comers, Him that cometh to me. I will,
in no wise, cast away. You come, you'll be received. He said, come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Now the only requirement
to come is need. That's the only requirement.
The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Luke 9 11 says he healed them
that had need of healing. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. Do you need him? Do you need
Him to do something for you that you can't do for yourself? That's
the only fitness He requires, is a need of Him. Now, in closing, how do I come? He's in heaven, seated at the
right hand of the Father, and I'm floundering here on earth,
not even knowing how to come to Him. I mean, how do I get
there? How do I come? Let me say, first of all, coming to
Him is not a long journey. You're there as soon as you come.
You really are. But turn with me to John chapter
6. Verse 35. And Jesus saith unto them, I
am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Coming and believing are the
same thing. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Now
notice what he does not say. He does not say, he that believes
he's a Christian shall never thirst. He does not say, he that
believes he's one of the elect shall never thirst. He does not
say, he that knows that Christ died for him shall never thirst.
He says, he that believeth on me. shall never thirst. In Acts chapter 8, the Ethiopian eunuch said, See, here's
water. What doth hinder me from being
baptized? I want to know. Philip answered,
If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he replied,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the uncreated
God of glory, the only Savior of sinners. Do you believe that? Beloved, that is coming to Him.
Do you believe that? You're coming. And in coming,
you are received. They came to hear. And they came
to be healed. And when you hear, you know what
you do? You come to Him. That's what you do when you hear. And
you know what? When you come to Him, you're
healed. By whose stripes you were healed. May God bless this to His glory
and our good. Let's pray together.