Well, it's good to see you all
out this morning. Face masks and all, that's great.
The Heavy Bible is turning me to Matthew chapter 9, verse 12.
I'm going to read one verse of Scripture. The title of my message
this morning is The Great Physician. The Great Physician, Matthew
9-12. Our Lord said this, But when
Jesus heard that, He said unto them, They that hold need not
a physician, but they that are sick. Let us pray. Our Father
in heaven, we come in the name of Jesus Christ. We come because
of your great mercy and grace, which is bestowed upon us to
give us faith to look to and hold on to the Lord Jesus Christ
for our salvation. We thank you for that faith that
sustains us in this world, that grace and mercy that's ever present
with us. Pray for those who are sick and going through trials.
Pray for our nation, for our community, for our tribe. We
ask, Lord, that You would be pleased to give comfort and peace
in these times. Help us, Lord, to look to Thee,
knowing that these things are not happenstance. They are not
anomalies. They are part of what Your great
providence has provided for Your people and for this world. We
do bow to Your wisdom. For we are unable to know your
thoughts and your ways, for they are much higher than we are.
But help us to bow in submission and thanksgiving, knowing that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. Remember those
of our company who are sick, those who are through trials,
we ask the Lord you be with them, those who have lost loved ones.
He asks you to be with Him. Remember especially Brother Sam
as he is recovering from this heart situation. Remember Sarah. Watch over her. Watch over Debbie
as she ministers to her. Be with Chris and the kids. Be
with our congregation. Watch over them and strengthen
them in Jesus Christ. We pray these things in His precious
name. Amen. Now there are some passages in
Scripture, in the Word of God, that go straight to the heart
of the believer. And this is one of them. The words of our
Lord here are a tonic for the broken heart. They are medicine
for the sick and sickened soul. They are what the Old Testament
refers to as the balm in Gilead or the physician that is there.
For the one who has and does experience the excruciating ache
of his own sinfulness and depravity and shame and rebellion. These
words are for those who know what God requires of humanity,
and knows that they can never produce it. They are hopeful
sinners, because the gracious Lord, though they know and feel
their own sinfulness, they hear our Lord refer to them not as
rebels, not as wicked and vile, though they be, but He refers
to them as sick and needy, and points to Himself as the physician.
This is one of the many astonishing things about the grace of God.
Our Lord spoke these words in the house of a man named Matthew.
He was a publican. Now a publican was a despised
tax collector that overtaxed and took the extortion money
for himself, and he was despised among the Jews. He was the most
despised man in Israel, was a Jew who traitorously robbed his people
under the authority of foreign government. The first obvious
error according to the wisdom of religion was that the Lord
had called His publican to follow Him. He did not go to the synagogues
and call out the Pharisees and the priesthood. He called His
publican to follow Him. And after He had called Matthew
to follow Him, Matthew invited our Lord to his house to sup
with Him, to fellowship with Him, to have food and fellowship.
So here was an astonishing thing. This man who is the son of God,
called out the worst kind of sinner, the most despised man,
and went to his house to sit and have fellowship. And Matthew
evidently invited some other undesirables like himself as
guests also. Some of his comrades who were
the same sort of men that he was. They were sinners and they
were publicans. The Pharisees, who were ever
vigilant, always on the lookout for lawbreakers, spying out liberty,
always standing by, they were watching for any behavior that
they deemed not to meet their forensic standards of legal propriety. And what they saw here horrified
their moral sensibilities. They were appalled at the sight
of this Nazarene, this itinerant preacher, this wine-bibber, this
friend of sinners, this son of a carpenter, this Jesus sitting
down and eating and having fellowship with the worst of society, those
who they consider to be the off-scouring of the universe, the unholy and
the unwashed. And here He was, the Lord breaking
bread with this vile and ungodly group. Now to the religious Pharisee,
this gathering was an aberrant spectacle. an embarrassment,
a thing that revved up his righteous indignation. They were mortified
by the sight of it, yet were unable to redirect their eyes
from what they considered to be societal and ethical train
wreck. They couldn't look away from
it, but they were despised for what they saw. In truth, it whetted
their appetite. This was an opportunity to abase
Christ and those that fall ahead of them and to exalt themselves. Legalists, though seemingly appalled
by obvious evil, really need it, they thrive on it, and cannot
keep from observing it because it is the chief manner by which
they build up their own self-esteem and pad their religious reputation.
And it's always at the expense of others. Our Lord said in Isaiah
65, for those to depart from Him, who stood by and stood alongside,
said, come not near me, for I am holier than thou. He said they
were smoking his nose. They burned his eyes. And our
Lord said over in Luke chapter 18, He was talking about the
very parable of the Pharisee. He was speaking to certain people
who had certain qualities or certain attributes about them.
And He said this in Luke chapter 18, in verse 9. He said, He spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and despised others. And that's the way it always
works. If you're trusting in yourself that you're righteous, you're
going to get that feeling about yourself and build that position
about yourself by looking at those whom you consider not to
be righteous. And this is what was going on
here at this supper at Matthew's house. Now in the verse that
follows in our text, back in Matthew chapter 9, Our Lord says, but go ye and
learn what that meaneth. Go ye and learn what that meaneth.
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the
righteous, but bring sinners to repentance. One thing that
religion cannot abide is to be ignored. To be ignored, to have
their words lightly esteemed, or as in this case, completely
disregarded. And that's what our Lord has
done for them. He said, I didn't come for you.
I came to bring sinners to repentance. He sets them aside. Our Lord
disavows their religion, their sanctimonious activities by saying
that He needs their needs. wants, cares for, nor considers
their sacrifices by which they presume to be found in God's
favor. It's their sacrifices, the things
they do. If you read Matthew chapter 23,
you'll find our Lord gave scathing words to these men because of
the things they did to be seen of men, thinking that if men
saw them, If men praised them, if men applauded them, then they
were in good standing with God. But just the opposite is true.
Our Lord counts them to be of no value at all. He categorically
proclaims that He did not come into this world in pursuit of
them. And He has not and will not call them to Himself. Now
think about this. Now these are the religious men.
fascinated by and they follow Jesus Christ. They follow him
wherever he goes. A lot of times they did it just to catch him
in something so they could get him in trouble. But they were
also fascinated by the fact that this man could heal the sick.
He could raise the dead. He could, when he spoke, multitudes
listened. And they had to go out in the
middle of a crowd and start talking to get anybody to listen to them.
Our Lord sat down on a hill and people gathered around Him. And
they were fascinated by Him. They were fascinated by Him.
And they did what they did to be seen of men. And our Lord
said, everything you do is of no value. Now you think about
that. I've actually said that to some folks before who got
on my case about preaching grace and grace alone. Some preachers
in the past, and I've actually said, well, you realize that
nothing you do matters. I say, it doesn't matter in your salvation.
It doesn't count in your righteousness before God. If you do what you
do to be righteous, then you're in trouble to start with. We
do what we do because we are righteous. We've been made righteous
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our life has been changed. Our
heart has been changed. Our mind has been renewed. Our
Lord cast them at no value at all. He didn't come to pursue
them in this world. He chose this tax collector,
this tax collecting thief and a miscreant, and disregarded
these astute religionists altogether. He just let them go. Now these
men were the ones the people looked to for religious understanding
and appreciation. They went around telling people
how to live. Telling them how to act. Giving them rules and
regulations to do. And people listened. And our
Lord discounts them. Discounts them all together.
Our blessed Savior came into this world to show mercy and
to bring sinners to repentance. That's who Christ came for. He
said He came to save sinners. He came to look for and seek
out and save the worst of fallen humanity. This is who he associates
with. This is who he brings to himself.
This is who he sits down and dines with. That was the area
of expertise which these Pharisees practice continually, often reforming
themselves and making outward changes to be broadcasted in
the streets. They broadened their phylacteries, which are little
boxes of Bible verses that they had memorized. They broadened
the borders of their garment with bigger ribbons so they would
say they were bigger, closer to heaven than other people were. They broadcasted what they did
in the streets. The Lord said, you make long prayers out in
public. You make it so people can hear
you. You can hear long prayers in the marketplace, and they
did it all according to the words of our Lord, to be seen of men. to have the praise of men, to
have men pat him on the back and say, you're really a fine
and religious fellow. Our Lord dismissed such activities
with these words. He said, I'll have mercy. I'm
going to show mercy. I'm not going to look for your sacrifice.
I'm going to show mercy. I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
And our Lord will bring sinners to true repentance that was not
based on a change of behavior, but rather the catalyst for the
change of behavior. The radical change of mind born
of God-given faith. That's what the word repentance
is in the New Testament. It's metanoia. It means a radical
change of mind. A change in attitude and behavior
is not the true evangelical repentance. People do that all the time.
That's why we have these ex-people. You know, at these big religious
rallies and religious conferences, they stand up and they say they
used to be a prostitute, and they used to be a drug addict,
and they used to be a drug addict. They're ex-people. They've reformed,
and I'm thankful they have. I'm glad they're no longer drugs
and no longer prostitutes. I'm glad that they're no longer
drug addicts. But that's not salvation, that's reformation.
Salvation is regeneration, a new life, a life that did not exist
before. True evangelical repentance,
which is as hard as a radical change of mind, is about what
recommends you to God. Because everybody believes something
they do recommends them to God. We're born that way. Adam believed
that. Adam believed if he sewed the
fig leaves together, that would settle his issue. It didn't.
He decided to hide. And that didn't work. Then he
decided to blame his wife for all his troubles, and that didn't
work. But he had something, an idea that he said, I didn't do
it, she did it. So they try to recommend himself
to God. What recommends people to God? One thing. Jesus Christ. That's who God looks to. That's
who he sees his people in. He's impressed with Christ and
with no other human being at all. In our text, our Lord declares
himself to be a physician. He is the great physician. However,
the subject being addressed, and the area in which his medical
prowess is, is here declared to be not a physical illness.
The waiting room in this physician's office is filled with sin-sick
souls. The people who see themselves as well and whole are not in
this office, but standing outside, looking in. They are not, and
are deluded by and suffering the affliction of those inside,
and therefore have no need to enter into the Savior's clinic.
In truth, they believe that any contact with those inside would
be a virulent, contagious contaminant to them. They themselves are
an incurable disease. Our Lord said over Matthew chapter
23, talking to these very same fellows, in Matthew chapter 23 verse 25, He said, Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, for you make clean the outside of the cup and the
platter, but within you are full of excesses and extortion. You blind Pharisees, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside
of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
for you are like whited grays or sepulchers. which indeed appear
beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and
full of uncleanness." They are the problem. They are vile and
unclean. And they do it in the guise of
being holy. They do not need the services
of the physician. They don't see no need for Christ.
I hear preachers say a lot of times, you need Christ. I don't
know whether you do or not. You know. Because need is a personally
felt thing. Like thirst. You know when you're
thirsty. I don't know when you're thirsty. But you know when you're
thirsty. I don't know when you're hungry,
but you know when you're hungry. And I might say you're hungry,
and you just had a meal, and you say, you're crazy. You don't
know what you're talking about. But these folks didn't need Christ. They were not hungry. They were
not thirsty. And they didn't want anything
to do with Him. They rather delight to stand outside, viewing the
infected group and reveling in their own personal lack of infirmity.
These whole folk are described throughout scripture as bystanders
and watchers and accusers who all have no need or desire of
Jesus Christ. And the remarks of our Lord are
directed toward them and spoken in reply to their remarks about
those who gathered around him. In verse 11 it says, when the
Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your
master with publicans and sinners? Often a printed phrase. does
not suggest the tenor in which it is spoken. These words of
those standing by might seem to be innocuous, however all
they spoke was truth. He was a friend of sinners. He
eats with sinners. Those who had come to this dinner
were indeed sinners and publicans. The translators wished to convey
the calumny, the libelous motive in their statements, so they
interjected the little word, it, when they saw it. What were they seeing? They were
seeing a gathering of Jesus Christ and a bunch of sinners. And when
they saw it. Sometimes I would visit Wayne.
He'll ask about Debbie. And he uses a definitive word
to define her. He says, how's that Debbie? That
Debbie. This is the kind of thing that
was going on. They looked at it and said, look at that. It. They were appalled by this. This word reveals that what they
saw was to their holy mind an insidious pageant of putrefaction
and was totally repulsive to their sanctified sensibilities.
To this our Lord answers, they that are whole, need not a physician,
but they that are sick, they that are sick." The physician's
words were an indictment against those who had no need of him
and were a melody of mercy to those who sat at his feet. Matthew
was the one lost sheep. The Pharisees were the ninety-nine
standing by that needed no repentance. How blessed it is that our healer
categorizes the condition of these publicans and sinners as
sickness and infirmity. Sin, we know, is rebellion against
God. It is the heart of enmity against
God. Yet in the elect of God, it is
reviewed by our Lord as that which induces compassion. We look at those who are in the
hospitals today with this COVID. 19 virus. We don't want them to go to hell.
We don't want them punished. We don't want that for them.
We don't look at them and say, oh, what an awful thing. What horrible people they surely
are. We don't do that. What do we do? We want to help
them. We want them to be healed. And this is how our Lord looks
at sin sick souls of His people, though they are rebels. Oh, they
are infected with the virus of sin. He said they're sick. The whole don't need a physician,
but those that are sick. Every malady our Lord healed
pointed to a particular aspect of the debilitating nature of
sin. Our Lord healed many. Whether
it was blindness, deafness, insanity, withered limbs, or even death,
none of those conditions give rise to anger and indignation
except in the mind of religion. But with the Lord it's pity,
as the Father pitieth His children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear Him. He knows their frame. He remembers
that they are dust. Those who were whole looked on
these gathered around Christ with disdain and saw them as
pariahs. Our Lord saw them as patients,
for He was the great Healer. In this statement, our Lord states
very plainly why sinners and publicans come to Him and also
why the whole don't come to Him. It's a matter of need. The whole
do not need Christ, the sick do need Christ. How plain this
is, how simple to understand. The reason men and women do not
come to Christ is not answered with a theological treatise on
the will or the nature of understanding or readiness, but is reduced
to a common denominator. All who come to Christ, come
because they need to. They're needy. They're needy. All who refrain from coming,
refrain from coming because they don't need to. This is what our
Lord is saying. The whole don't need a physician,
but them that are sick do. The sick come to Christ, the
well stand by and look. The sick are profited by coming
to Christ. Christ is no profit at all to
those who have no need of Him. The whole mocked the believer
is weak and is needing a crutch to lean on. The sick, the healed
believer agrees and gladly so. I do need a crutch to lean on.
I do need to lean on Christ. Some have said the word whole
here employed here to describe the self-righteous is called
a homomonic. That's a tool of language. It
replaces a word with another word that sounds the same but
is metaphorically derisive. Such would describe the word
whole as actually, instead of W-H-O-L-E, H-O-L-E. And that certainly describes
the Pharisee. They are an empty pit. Their righteousness is nothing
but vacuous, vapid vanity. They are vessels made to destroy
according to Romans 9 into which no mercy will ever be introduced. They are black holes that suck
the life out of men and women needing help. For they stand
at the very gates of heaven and will not go in themselves but
will not allow others to go in either. They do not need Christ
because they believe that they are in themselves full. When in fact they are straight
as a shotgun barrel and just as empty. To Christ they are
a bottomless pit, to the believer they are a pitfall. But when
Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that are whole need
not a physician, but them that are sick. The believer is a resident
patient in the hospital ICU of mercy. He offers no sacrifice
to shroud his infirmity. His prescription is always the
same, and it always comforts and consoles and heals his heart.
The sick are administered the gospel. not in small increments
or mixed with some other ingredient. Pure and powerful doses administered
by the great physician himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. No other
doctor attends the believer. The believer has long since given
up trusting Dr. Law and Dr. Self and Dr. Feel
Good and Dr. Works and Dr. Band-Aid and Dr.
Tithes and doctor attendants. He lives because he's been touched
by the one who heals the sick. Now our Lord said it plainly.
Plain enough for a person who can understand it. A person who
has a need understands it. A person who doesn't have a need
understands it. The whole need, not a position.
But then they're sick. Father, bless us through our
understanding, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Hey guys, how are you? Good,
how are you? Good, fine. Do you have some time to go home? No, he said no. They all have
masks, I don't want to put them on. What's it called? Self-distance myself. Go to the
bathroom. Oh, it's snappy.