Which turn back to the fifth
chapter of the book of Luke. Now tonight we're going to consider
the last of the Beatitudes. Blessed are they who are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Blessed are the persecuted. Now I've entitled this morning's
message, Who Needs a Doctor? Who needs a doctor? A very volatile topic in our
day is healthcare and the need of healthcare reform. Should
government be involved? Should it be privatized? How
can costs be brought down? There are people who cannot afford
healthcare. And it's a problem in our society. And you can grow suspicious,
you can grow skeptical and disillusioned of the whole machinery of healthcare. And then something happens that
gives you a different point of view. You become sick. You become sick. Perhaps before your sickness
you didn't need a doctor, but when you're sick and have a disease
that can kill you, how differently you view the doctor. Before the summer of 2005, I
had never heard of Tom Rice, nor did I know what a thoracic
surgeon was, Nor did I care. I just wasn't interested. But
when I needed an esophagectomy, how grateful I was for this doctor
in my life. He was a highly respected, well-educated,
extensively experienced, and highly successful surgeon regarding
the procedure I needed. My need changed my point of view. Who needs a doctor? In Matthew chapter 5 verse 27, And after these things, he, the
Lord Jesus Christ, went forth and saw a publican, Now, a publican
was viewed as a moral reprobate. He was a Jew who worked for the
Roman government and collected taxes for the Roman government
and padded the expense to line his own pockets. He was a dishonest,
corrupt man. A publican, you know, you had
to be a dishonest person to be a publican. Kind of like if an
example would be a prostitute. Well, they're doing that to make
a living. They gotta make a living. Yeah, but you gotta be an immoral
person to be a prostitute. I don't care if you are trying
to make a living by it. You need to find something else. This
man was an immoral man. He was a publican. He made his
money dishonestly. And after these things, he went
forth, the Lord Jesus, and saw a publican named Levi. We know this was Matthew. His
name was also Levi. And he was sitting. at the receipt
of custom. He was sitting down in this lifestyle. He was sitting down in this way
of living. He was satisfied with things
the way they were. He had set in the seat of the
scornful. He was setting here. This is where he was. And the
Lord saw this publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of
customs. But notice it says he saw him. He saw a publican named Levi. Now there are some 15 different
words in the New Testament that are translated see or saw. The word here means to view attentively,
to see with admiration. to see with regard. Now, I feel quite sure that no
one else saw Levi like this, but the Lord saw something that
nobody else saw in this publican. You see, this was one of his
elect. This is one for whom he would
die. One that he loved with an everlasting
love. One he knew. One of his people. One he was eternally united to. One of his brethren. He saw something
in Matthew that nobody else did. Everybody else saw this man as
a moral reprobate, and indeed he was. But the Lord saw something
else. And he said unto him, verse 27,
follow me, be my disciple. Now this is a command. Follow
me, be my disciple, be my adherent, quit following your own thoughts.
Quit following other people and follow me. Matthew, the great
business of your life now is to follow me. Deny yourself,
take up your cross, and follow me. Believers are described as
those who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Now verse 28. And I think this is just one
of the most amazing verses of scripture in all the word of
God. If you think about what took place here, this man was sitting
satisfied with his life, probably a very wealthy man, Matthew,
the public, he was sitting and the Lord said, follow me. And
he forsook everything. He forsook his life as he knew
it. He rose up and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ. right
now now this is what is called the call of invincible irresistible
grace now one of the things i love to think about is that if the
lord calls you if the lord calls me we'll come we'll come he doesn't
take no for an answer when he says follow me we follow him
And if I don't follow him, it's because he never said follow
me, to me. Because if he says, follow me,
I'll follow. And if I don't follow, all it
means is that he's never spoken to me. I'm on my own and that's
a bad place to be. I think of Zacchaeus. Turn to
Luke 19 for a moment. Verse 1, And Jesus entered and
passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans. I guess
maybe he was Matthew's boss at one time. And he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was. Oh, what a blessed thing when
somebody wants to know who the Lord Jesus is. He sought to see
Jesus who he was. This is when salvation begins.
When someone wants to know who he is. But there was a problem. He could not. You know, when
you seek to see Jesus who he is, you know what you find out?
You find out you can't know him. You can't find out who He is.
He's so far above you and beyond you that you can't see Him. You can't know Him. He could
not for the press because He was little of stature. And He ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see Him. For He was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and he saw him,
just like he saw Matthew. He saw one that he loved. He
saw one of his elect. He saw one for whom he would
die. He saw one he was eternally united
to. He saw something in this man
that nobody else saw, just like Matthew. And when Jesus came
to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus,
Don't you reckon Zacchaeus was shocked beyond belief? Me? He's talking to me? You know,
when the Lord speaks to you, he speaks to you. He doesn't
speak to somebody else. He speaks to you. Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste in obedience
to the Lord's command. And he came down just like the
Lord told him to come down and he received him joyfully. Now this is what is called the
call of irresistible, invincible grace. When God calls, you cannot
resist. If you can resist, it's because
he never called you. If he calls you, you can't resist. You'll be just like Matthew. When he said, Matthew, follow
me, he left all. He left all. He rose up and he
followed him. Verse 29. And Levi made him,
made the Lord Jesus Christ a great feast in his own house. He had
a party. A great feast. Now, this is so beautiful. Levi
made him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great
company of publicans, moral reprobates, and of others, called sinners
in the next verse, that sat down with them. They sat down with
them, with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is so beautiful. The Lord Jesus Christ is holy.
He's holy. And yet these people could sit
down with him and not feel condemned and not feel judged and not feel
threatened. Isn't that beautiful? You see, holiness is not what
men think it is. Here's the one who is holy. And
yet these moral reprobates could come into his presence and sit
down with him and feel welcomed and feel embraced. There's nobody
like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's so beautiful. Verse 30,
but their scribes and Pharisees murmured, something is wrong
with this. This is not clean. This is not
right. Something's wrong. They murmured
against his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with
publicans and sinners? Now, who made this objection? The religious people. The religious
people. Now, let me say this. I want
you to listen to this statement very carefully. Man's religion
is evil. Evil. I don't care if it's Baptist,
I don't care if it's Catholic, I don't care if it's Methodist,
I don't care if it's Buddhist. Man's religion is evil. It's anti-God and it's anti-Christ. That's man's religion. And they
murmured, they had a real problem with the Lord and his disciples
sitting down and eating and drinking with sinners. Now in making this
objection, they were actually sitting in judgment on the son
of God. Sitting in judgment. on the Son
of God. Now it's amazing how blind, deceived,
and hypocritical religious people are. And that's what I am by
nature. And that's what I will be apart from the grace of God.
But it is amazing how blind, deceived, hypocritical. These
people felt morally able to set in judgment on the Son of God. And say, we don't agree with
this. And they murmured at Him. The Lord was called the friend of publicans and sinners. Let me tell you, who doesn't
object to this? You know, publicans and sinners,
they don't object to this, do they? Oh, they're happy that
the Lord is the friend of publicans and sinners. Now look at our
Lord's answer to these people. Verse 30, but their scribes and
Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying, why do you
eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Something not right
about this. And Jesus answering said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician. but they that are sick. I came, not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Now we read of those who are
whole, those who are healthy, those who are sick, and the physician. Who needs a physician? They that are sick. It's certainly not whole people.
Another name for the whole people are the righteous. In their own
eyes, the ones the Lord said, he didn't come to call. I came
not to call the righteous. Now, listen to this statement
very carefully. If you have any personal righteousness,
if you even have the potential to be righteous, you cut your own throat. Christ
won't have anything to do with you. Now, do you hear that? He said, I did not come to call
the righteous. If you have any personal righteousness,
you cut your own throat. You're an enemy of your own mercy.
Christ didn't come to save you. If you even have the power of
free will, oh, I'm bad, but I can turn it around when I want to.
If the circumstances are right, I can be righteous. If you even
have the power of free will, Christ won't have anything to
do with you. He said, I came not to call the righteous. But sinners to repentance, the
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. And that's
the word sick here. Very important. It means evilly
sick. Your sickness is your fault.
Your sickness is because of your sin. You weren't a victim in
this thing. It's all your fault. I guess it's like getting some
kind of horrible disease because of some kind of sinful activity.
It's all your fault. Now, when I understand something
about sin, I understand that my sin is all my fault. I don't blame somebody else.
I don't blame my circumstances. I don't blame my environment.
I don't blame Adam. My sin is all my fault. Now, doesn't the scripture say,
that the sin of Adam was charged to us? And we're responsible
for what he did? Doesn't the Bible teach that?
Yes, it does. Yes, it does. But let's forget Adam for a second.
You can't take any comfort in that because just forget your
connection with Adam. How have you done on your own?
How have you done on your own? Forget Adam. You're sin. You can't blame Adam. You can't
blame God's sovereignty. Your sin is your fault. And until
a man, until I take personal responsibility for my sin, it's
all my fault. I'll never even cry for mercy.
I've never even seen what sin is. I've seen what sin is when
I see that I, I'm the problem. I'm not a victim to circumstances.
I am the problem. My sin is all my fault. I'm evilly
sick. My sickness and I'm sick and
it's all my fault. That person, needs a physician. That person desperately needs
a doctor who can do something for him. The whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick and in sin is compared to
a disease. Hereditary. I was born with this
disease. In sin, David said, did my mother
conceive me. The wicked are estranged from
the womb, the scripture says. They go about as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. Well, how can they speak lies
when they can't even speak? I like what Bruce Crabtree said.
He said, well, when you're crying, you're lying. I believe there's
a lot of truth to that. But I have a hereditary disease. I was born bad, born evil. And it's a disabling disease.
Our Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which
has sent me. Draw him. It's a loathsome disease. It's
contagious. I infect others by my disease.
I bring down others with me. And it's humanly incurable. There's
nothing I can do to cure myself of this disease. And it's deadly.
The wages of sin is death. That's the kind of disease I
have. I'm sick. Oh, I'm sick and I
need a physician. My sin's all my fault. All the
more reason why I need somebody who can do something for me that
I can't do for myself. Now, who are the sick? Look in
verse 32. The Lord said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners. Well, what's a sinner? Well, the first question we ask
is, what is sin? The Lord said sin is the transgression of the
law. 1 John 3, verse 4. Sin is the transgression of God's
holy law. A sinner is somebody who doesn't
love God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength. And
he doesn't love his neighbors himself. A sinner is somebody
who's put everything before God. Remember, thou shalt have no
other gods before me. A sinner's put everything before God. A
sinner's an idolater. He's been guilty of practicing
idolatry. A sinner's a reverent. Every
time he takes the Lord's name in his mouth, it's in vain. A
sinner never rests. A sinner is disobedient to his
parents and disrespects all God-given authority and never bows to authority
and doesn't honor authority. A sinner is someone who's a murderer. If he hadn't murdered somebody
physically, he's murdered their character. He's been angry with
them without a cause, and that's the same thing in God's sight.
A sinner is a sex offender. A sinner is a thief. A sinner
is a liar. A sinner is a greedy, covetous
person. Is that you? Well, no, I'm not
going to say that. So you're not a sinner then.
That's what you mean by it. You're not a sinner. A sinner is someone
who all they do is break God's holy law all the time. Now that's what a sinner is. What are you? What am I? Now would that describe
you? Beloved, if it does, then you're
one of those sick sinners that need the great physician. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. evilly sick. Now let me say a
few things about the great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't
you love the way he calls himself a physician? He calls himself
a shepherd. He calls himself the light of
the world. He calls himself the door. Oh, I love all the names
of our Lord that he gives himself because it's exactly what I need.
And here's how I need him. I need him as a physician. Now
you want to talk about qualifications. He's God. Do I need to say anything
else? Being God, he is able to save
the sickest. I'm so thankful for that. And
what compassion he has. Everybody's been around a doctor
that doesn't have any compassion. Not this one. I think of the leper. how he
dealt with him. Scripture says, when that leper
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Scripture
says, and Jesus moved with compassion. Now, is there someone who's just,
you're a lawbreaker. evil, a sinful person. Oh, the Lord is so compassionate
toward you. And what experience he has. I want an experienced doctor.
Well, his experience goes all the way back before the foundation
of the world. He's the lamb slain from the very foundation of the
world. What experience he has and what
a success rate. Everybody that he operates on,
he heals. He's never been unsuccessful. Not even once. Now that's our
great physician. Now, how does he heal? Let me
show you this in the scripture. Turn to first Peter chapter one. Verse 24. who his own self bear our sins. 1 Peter 2.24, who his own self
bear our sins. You know, that absolutely crushes
me to think that my sin was born by Him in His own body. The filth of my sin, the stench
of my sickness, He was made to bear. Who His own self bear our
sins in His own body on the tree while He was hanging on that
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes By whose stripes, what are his stripes? Oh, that's
the stroke of God's justice against him. Because my sin was his sin
and God smote him. By whose stripes you, what's
that next word? Not will be healed. By whose
stripes you were healed. How's he healed? By his stripes. Now listen real carefully. It's
our need that brings us to the great physician, and brings the
great physician to us. This physician is not interested
in the whole. He's not interested in the healthy.
He's interested in the sick, the evilly sick. You come to
the great physician as a sick person, evilly sick. Your sin is all your fault, knowing
you can't heal yourself, believing he can. And you place yourself
in his hands for him to heal you. You've come to the great
physician. Now, turn with me for a moment
to Luke chapter nine. Verse 11, and the people When they knew, followed him. And he received them and spake
unto them of the kingdom of God. And healed them that had need
of healing. Who needs a physician? Those
who have need of healing. Those who are sick. Now, I need, I'm gonna give my
personal testimony as much as I can right now. I need the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know this, I need him. I need Him because I am sick. And I need grace. I need unmerited favor because
if there's anything about me that could merit grace, there's
no hope for me. I need free grace. I need sovereign grace. Because I am evilly sick. Because I'm totally depraved.
Because I'm a sinner. I need Him to choose me. I need Christ to die for me and
put away my sins. I need God's grace to be invincible
and irresistible with me. I need. This isn't a creed. This isn't what I believe. This
is what I need. I need Him to save me. Now, how differently we feel
when we are in need. How differently we view the doctor
when we are sick. Now look back at our text in
Luke chapter 5. Now the Lord identifies His mission
in verse 32. Here's the mission of the Son
of Man. If you want to know what the Lord came to do, Here it
is. He said, I came not to call the
righteous. Now, once again, if you have
any personal righteousness, the Lord won't have anything to do
with you. Now, do you believe that? It doesn't matter whether
you believe it or not, it's so. As long as you have any personal
righteousness, you can forget mercy. It ain't gonna happen.
He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, evil
people, Lawbreakers, those who don't have the moral ability
to set in judgment on anybody because of their own sin. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. What's repentance mean? It means
a change of mind. Change of mind. Every one of
us have had a change of mind before. Maybe not the repentance
that's a gift of God, but there's something we felt strongly about
that we no longer feel strongly about. Our mind has been changed. There's something that we perhaps
believed at one time that we no longer believe. How come?
We've changed our mind. It's that simple. A change of
mind. Now repentance. He said, I came
not to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance,
to a change of mind. And I tell you what, I have changed
my mind about myself. I used to thought, or I used
to think that somehow, If the circumstances were right, I could
turn things around. I used to think that. And I don't
think that anymore. I've repented. I used to think God to be too
harsh, too demanding. I don't think that anymore. I'm
the problem. You see, repentance owns God's
holiness and my own personal sinfulness. Repentance acknowledges
God's sovereign right to pass me by if he so pleases to do
it. Just and right is he in whatever
he does. Repentance justifies God. It doesn't set in judgment on
God. Well, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with him
electing a people or Christ. I don't agree with that. Repentance
justifies God and no longer sits as his judge. You know, we judge
one another. What about when we judge God?
You want to talk about a precarious position to sit in judgment on
the God of the earth, the God of heaven, the God of holiness.
Nay, but old man, who are you to reply against God? Repentance
gives God all the glory. True repentance continues to
repent. And it looks solely to Christ
for salvation. And it claims no past, no present,
and no future merit. It looks to Christ only. Now that's what repentance does.
You know how I can tell if somebody's totally repentant or truly repentant?
Is if they believe the gospel. If they believe the gospel, they've
repented. If they don't believe the gospel,
no, they've not repented. Christ said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now I used to think
that my sins being forgiven, had something to do with me doing
the right stuff. Would you turn with me to, I'm
gonna close with Isaiah chapter 43. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 18. God is speaking through the prophet
and says, Remember ye not the former things? Neither consider
the things of old. You know, that's where we get
in trouble. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall
you not know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field
shall honor me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters
in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to
my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. Now these very same people that
he's talking about, look what he says now. But thou hast not called upon me,
O Jacob. But thou hast been weary of me,
O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the
small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored me
with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve
with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou has bought
me no sweet cane with money, neither has Thou filled me with
the fat of Thy sacrifices, but Thou has made me to serve with
Thy sins. Thou has wearied me with Thine
iniquities. I, even I, am He that blotteth
out Thy transgressions for my own sake. That's the only reason that's
needed. And that's the only reason there is. And will not remember
thy sins. How come? Because they've been
blotted out. Now these people, described in
Isaiah 43, we sure can't commend them as someone, well, they did
everything they needed to do for forgiveness. No, the opposite
is true concerning these people. God did it for his own sake. Be ye kind. Oh, listen to this
scripture. Be ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Who needs a physician Somebody
that needs what I just quoted. You need God to forgive you for
Christ's sake. You need that and there is no
other reason. That's the person who needs the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now we're going to have a baptism
right now. Delina Wilson is going to confess
the Lord and believers baptism. And what a glorious thing for
us to remember. Salvation comes through what
baptism typifies. Here's my hope of being accepted
by God. Right here. This is all my hope.
This is it, right here. And what baptism shows us. When Christ lived and kept the
law, I was in Him, and I did too. When Christ died, I was
in Him, and I did too. And when He was raised, I was
in Him, and I was raised too. And this is all my salvation,
and all my desire, though He make it not to grow. Now, Dwayne,
could you lead us in a closing hymn?