Let's turn again in our Bibles
to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15, and let me
read verses 23 through 26. So Moses brought Israel from
the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur.
And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah,
they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was
called Marah. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast
into the waters, The waters were made sweet. There he made for
them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and
said, if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord
thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt
give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I
will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought
upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that healeth
thee. We looked at these verses last
Wednesday night, but I wanted to come back again this evening
and remind us that here in verse 26, we have one of those compound
names of Jehovah. One of the eight compound names
of Jehovah that are mentioned or given to us in the Old Testament. Jehovah Ratha, I am the Lord
that healeth thee. I am, we recognize Jehovah, I
am. And then there are seven others
of these in the Old Testament besides this one. I am the Lord
that healeth thee. In Genesis chapter 22, we find
this one Jehovah Jireh. Those are the words that Abraham
said to Isaac when he asked his father about where's the lamb. The Lord himself will provide. Jehovah-Jireh. And then we have
this one. We'll come to another one, the
Lord willing, in a week or two. Jehovah-Nissi. The Lord, my banner. The Lord, my banner. And then
Jehovah-Shalom. The Lord, my peace. Then Jehovah-Raha,
the Lord, my shepherd. Jehovah-Tiskanu, remember the
poem that I read last Sunday evening, the Lord, my righteousness. And the last one is found in
the book of Ezekiel. It is Jehovah-Shan, the Lord
is there. Eight of these compound names
of Jehovah. And all of them, I might say,
are found in Psalm 23. That begins with that first,
with that one, the Lord is my shepherd, Jehovah-Rah. You can
look through that Psalm and see each and every one of these eight
names in that one Psalm. They're not literally there,
but what is said in the Psalm speaks to these names. Well,
I have three things to point out to us tonight from these
verses that I read. First of all, the Lord's commandments. The Lord's commandments in verse
26. He said, if thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which
is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments
and keep his statutes. Now this tells us that though
Israel had just come out of Egypt, remember they had just come out
through the Red Sea and come now into the wilderness, but
the fact that God tells them that if they would keep his commandments,
this reminds us and told them that God was going to give them
a law. They hadn't come to Mount Sinai
yet, but they would. They would soon come to Mount
Sinai And there, God would give them His law. And it was a covenant,
a covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. There are
only, really and truthfully, there's a number of covenants
in the scripture, but they're all one of these two covenants. They may picture one of these
two covenants, a covenant of works or a covenant of grace. A covenant of works is a covenant
that God made with Adam. And it commanded him to do what
God said, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. And there's other covenants in the word of God and the covenant
at Mount Sinai is a covenant of works, just like that covenant
was. You know, the new covenant, is
a covenant. We celebrated the Lord's Supper
last Sunday evening. You remember, and what did I
say as we partook of the wine? I said, I repeated the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ when he said, this is my blood of
the new covenant. And that new covenant, the reason
it's called new It's an everlasting covenant, we know that. But it's
called new because that covenant of works was the first covenant
revealed to man there in the garden when God created him and
placed him in the garden. He had to keep God's commandments. And you notice the word if here
in our text, here in verse 26, and said, if, if thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and will do that which
is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments
and keep all his statutes, a covenant of works I'm so thankful tonight
that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted a covenant of grace, a new covenant. Yes, there were works commanded,
but he had to perform the works, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator
of the covenant. He's the messenger of the covenant,
the mediator of the covenant. He's the surety of the covenant. He is the ratifier of the covenant. In fact, there's a scripture
in Isaiah where God said, I will give thee for a covenant to the
people. The covenant was made with Christ,
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And the if was
upon Christ, not upon us, if thou will become manifest in
the flesh, if thou will obey the law perfectly, if thou will
satisfy the justice of God. And of course, there was no if
with Christ because we know that he did. There never was a question
that he would not. But here, this is a commandment
of works and By God telling them this at this point, it revealed
to them that God was going to give them a covenant of works. And that covenant, that law,
includes the moral, the ceremonial, and the civil. It was one law,
but it included all. And this is what the Lord told
them, that if they would do these things, if they would keep these
things, then, notice God promised them, I will put none of these
diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon thee, Egyptian. For I am the Lord that healeth
thee. What if they didn't keep these
commands? What if they didn't do these
statutes? Look in Deuteronomy, look over
a few pages into Deuteronomy chapter 28. And this, this is
just before, after 40 years, they've come back to Kadesh Barnea
and they're about to cross over finally into the land of Canaan. And the Lord rehearses with them
once again, His commands. But notice here in Deuteronomy
chapter 28, verses 14 and 15, and then we'll read another verse.
I want to read through all of this because it's too long. But
notice in verse 14, and thou shalt not go aside from any of
the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand or
to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall
come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the
Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his
statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses
shall come upon thee and overtake thee." And then look down to
verse 27. The Lord will smite thee with
the botch of Egypt. He will smite thee with the botch
of Egypt, and with the hemrods, and with the scab, and with the
itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. So God here in our
text tonight reveals himself by this name, Jehovah-Raha, the
Lord that heals, but he tells Israel at this time, that if
they would keep all these commandments, then he would put none of these
diseases upon them. And if they fail to keep, which
we know they did, then he would put these curses upon them, the
botch that was upon Egypt. Thank God, as I said just a moment
ago, for the new covenant. that the Lord Jesus Christ ratified
by the shedding of his blood, which promises you and I, those
of us who trust in him, those of us who know him, in this new
covenant, we are promised blessing upon blessing upon blessing.
We think often of the fact he has promised their sins and their
iniquities, will I remember no more. They shall all know me. I will be their God. I mean,
just one benefit, blessing after the other, and they're all yours
if you are a child of God tonight. All because of Jesus Christ,
what he has done for you and for me. Second, the Lord's use of means. This is the second thing I wanted
to mention tonight. The Lord's use of means. You
know, there are those who have taken these words, I am the Lord
that healeth thee. And they have taught that for
believers, for God's children, it is a lack of faith to take
any medicine. It's a lack of faith. If you
are a child of God, you just need to believe God and trust
God. He is the Lord that healeth thee.
In fact, they go so far, some of them, as teaching it's dishonoring
the Lord. If you're sick and you go to
a doctor and he prescribes a prescription for you and you take that, that's
dishonoring to the Lord because your Lord is the Lord that healeth
thee. We should just pray, they say,
just pray and trust the Lord, just trust Him. and He'll heal
thee. Anything else is a lack of faith
on our part. Well, this is another reason
why we always, when reading the scripture, we need to pay attention
to the context. We don't just take a word here
out of its context and teach something that the scriptures
do not teach. Some people do, but that's a
mistake. Those that teach it's a lack
of faith to go to doctors and take medicine, they take this
scripture out of context and teach something that the word
of God does not teach. The bitter waters here were made
sweet, not by word of command. You know, the second time when
they were in the wilderness and needed water and they had no
water, And God told Moses, speak to the rock. Speak to the rock. Well, we know Moses failed, didn't
he? He didn't just speak to the rock,
he struck the rock. The same thing could have been
true here. The Lord could have told Moses,
speak to the waters. They're bitter, Mara, just speak
to the waters, a word of command. But he didn't do that, did he?
He showed him a tree, and he said, now put that tree, cast
that tree into the waters. Actually, to me, this shows that
God is a God of means, that God uses means in healing his people,
just like he used this tree. Now Moses put the tree into the
waters, but who healed the waters? Did the tree? Did this tree heal
the waters or did the Lord heal the waters? Well, I think every
one of us would say tonight that the Lord, he healed the waters. Yes, he may have used the tree,
but the Lord did the healing. This verse doesn't teach that
we shouldn't seek medical help if there's medical help to be
found. I wanted to bring that out to
us tonight, just in case you ever run into someone like that,
that teaches that it's a lack of faith for you to go to the
doctor or to seek any kind of medical help. But here's my third
point. Thank the Lord that He is Jehovah
Rapha. He is the Lord that heals His
people. and his people, you and I, we're
made up of both soul and body. He heals our soul and he also
heals our body. He is the Lord that healeth thee. Let's think of these two things,
the soul and then the body. The Lord heals the soul, the
Lord heals the body. First of all, let's think of
the soul. The Lord, the Lord Jesus, turn
with me in the New Testament, if you will, to Matthew chapter
nine. The Lord Jesus here refers to
himself as a physician of souls. Matthew chapter nine. Verse 10, Matthew chapter nine
and verse 10. And it came to pass, as Jesus
said it made 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? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. What kind of sickness is he talking
about there? He's not talking about bodily
sickness, is he? He's talking about these that
came to where he was, publicans and sinners. They need a physician. Notice the next verse. But go
you and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. The Lord, he here refers to himself
as a physician, a soul physician for sinners and for publicans. You know, in the first chapter
of Isaiah, God uses the diseases of the body, the physical body,
to picture the disease of the soul. He describes Israel, their
spiritual condition, not their physical condition. Their spiritual
condition, but he uses the physical to picture the spiritual. In
Isaiah chapter one and verse six, from the sole of the foot,
sorry, from the very bottom, from the sole of the foot even
unto the head. There's no soundness in it, but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. What is he talking about? He's talking about the soul,
sin, what sin has done to the soul. He's just using this, the
physical to picture the spiritual need of a person. Nothing in
it but, no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. They've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The picture here is
what? That man's condition, man's spiritual
condition is as bad as it possibly can be. The natural man. His condition spiritually, is
as bad as it can be, yea, even dead, even dead, the apostle
tells us, dead in trespasses and sins. Is the Lord able? Is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
physician, the spiritual physician of the soul, is he able to heal? Well, no matter what sin, the
scripture said, all manner of sin and iniquity shall be forgiven
unto men. He's such a physician that can
heal the soul's disease no matter what that disease is. He has
a medicine that can heal every spiritual need. You know, C.H. Spurgeon, I speak
of him or quote him quite often, Charles Spurgeon, but he made
up a word one time, and it is the word Catholicon. You see the word Catholic in
it, Catholicon. The word Catholic means universal,
and he made this word Speaking of the blood of Jesus Christ,
it is a universal cure, the blood of Jesus Christ. All sin, the
scripture tells us, all sin, all diseases, spiritual diseases,
the blood of Jesus Christ cures, but it's the only cure. In Psalm
103, David spoke about this. when he said, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Forget not all his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. You know that text there, that
verb tense, who forgiveth, E-T-H, who healeth. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth. You know, These modern translations,
they don't use that tense, that verb tense, but that tells us
it's ongoing. When a person trusts in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ cleanses us today, tomorrow,
the next day, and every day until it cleanseth us. It never quits
cleansing us until we have no more sin. It never stops healing
us. He never stops healing us of
our spiritual needs until we have no more sin. No wonder the
psalmist said, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
his benefits, who forgiveth, continues to forgive all thine
iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. When we used to go
out to the television studio years ago to make television
tapes. I remember one time bringing
a message, and the cameraman, he disagreed with me. He's just
shaking his head. No, no, no, no. But you see,
what he believed and what they teach is that there's healing
in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there's spiritual
healing, right? But if, think of it like this,
if a person has diabetes and the Lord saves him, yes, he's
healed spiritually, but the next day he's probably going to continue
taking his medicine for diabetes. That verse, by his stripes we
are healed, is not speaking about physical healing, not healing
of the body. It's healing of our spiritual
necessities. A few days ago, there was one
of the great gems, the great physician, Thomas Watson, one
of the Puritans, and he's mentioned these six things about Christ
as a physician, the great physician. Number one, Christ is the least
expensive physician. He takes no fee. He desires us
to bring nothing to him but broken hearts. And when he has cured
us, he desires us to bestow nothing on him but our love. Number two,
Christ heals with more ease than any other. Christ makes the devil
go out with a word, and he quotes Mark 9, 25. Nay, he can cure
with a look. Christ's look melted Peter into
repentance. It was a healing look. If Christ
does but cast a look upon the soul, he will heal it. Number three, Christ is the most
tenderhearted physician. He is not more full of skill
than sympathy. He heals the broken heart, binds
up their wounds. They've grown. Every groan of
the patient goes to the heart of this physician. Number four,
Christ never fails of success. Christ never undertakes to heal
any, but he makes a full cure. Number five, other physicians
can cure those who are sick. But Christ cures those that are
dead. Amen. And you have a quickened
who were dead. Christ is a physician for the
dead. Of everyone whom Christ cures,
it may be said, he was dead and is alive again. That's what the
father of the prodigal son said, wasn't it, when his son came
home? He was dead and he is alive. And number six, Christ is the
most bountiful physician. Other patients enrich their physicians,
but here the physician enriches the patient. Christ elevates
all his patients. He not only cures them, but crowns
them. Christ does not only raise them
from the bed, but to the throne. He gives the sick man not only
health, but also heaven. Thank the Lord for the great
physician, right? So Christ is a physician that
heals the soul. I'm the Lord that healeth thee.
All right, the body. Let's think some, just a few
things about the body. How many times, those of us here
tonight, how many times in our lifetime Have we experienced
physical healing? Maybe it was just a headache.
We took an aspirin, got better. Maybe we didn't take anything
and got better. Someone breaks an arm or a leg,
they put a cast on it and bone bends and person takes the cast
off and they're healed. We're healed. We've been healed
so many times of sicknesses. Who healed us? Wouldn't every one of us here
tonight say the Lord? The Lord healed me. Jehovah Raha,
the Lord is my healer. Yes. We're healed. Did he use means? Sometimes. Sometimes he uses
means, sometimes he doesn't. He's the one who does the healing. Sometimes with means, sometimes
without means. And to illustrate this, think
of this. Here's two men, both have the
same disease, both go to the same doctor, both are prescribed
the same medicine, and both take the same medicine, and one man
is healed, and the other man continues on his course of going
down to the grave. Who makes the difference? The
Lord, I believe, you know, the scripture says he makes his son
to shine on the just and on the unjust, sends the rain on the
just and on the unjust. I believe we could say the same
thing about healing, physical healing. That man who cursed
used his name, the name of Jesus, in a way of cursing. And yet,
many times he is the one who heals them. And he said, well,
all healing comes from the Lord. That's my thought. That's my opinion. All healing. Jehovah-Raha, the Lord that healeth
thee. May the Lord bless His word to
us here this evening.