Jesus said those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This morning we were able to witness the baptism of four of our covenant children. as a congregation. It's four children that are born into homes that will share the gospel with their children. They will lead in family worship. They will prioritize public worship in the life of the church, and time and time again, that story of their baptism will be told, and they'll be reminded why they were baptized, and for what purpose baptism was instituted. Now, as part of that discussion among the children of our church will be this. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. You see, baptism in part reminds you and your children of the testimony of the scriptures that tells us that we were born in sin and that there is a remedy provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to explore that remedy with you today. And as we think about baptism, I would encourage you all to meditate on your own baptism. Some of you will remember your baptism. Others will not remember your baptism. And that's okay, but meditate on your baptism. Know that water has touched your forehead as you have been set apart for the Lord Jesus Christ and think about this text that Jesus gives and think about what you have seen here as we explore this idea more and meditate here. We're going to begin this morning with looking at this text with Our first heading, which we will say, baptism points you to the disease of sin. Baptism points you to the disease of sin. Romans 6 tells us, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This death that has been given to you as a wage of sin is in both your mortal bodies, as you are growing older and working toward that time that we call death, and it is also something that is in your mind and in your heart and in your soul. We as a species, humanity, have fallen into sin. And as we have fallen into sin, we commit sin as individuals because we are sinners. And this is a sickness that Jesus Christ points to. This sickness, this death, is one that must be accounted for. and there is no earthly means by which you are able to remedy the sin sickness or this death that is within your members. Now for this reason, we in part point our children to the sinfulness of their lives in our baptism. And as we do that, we not only point them to sinfulness, and this is only one aspect of baptism, there's other aspects, but this one aspect of baptism is that we point them to sinfulness that is within them, and then point them to Jesus Christ, that great physician of souls. Now, you may not know that sin well enough yet where you need to look to Christ. You may not know of your own sinfulness to the depth where you say, this is a need, this is something that I must do. You may struggle with knowing both the heinousness of sin as well as the depth of sin within you as a human. So your first prayer, your loudest prayers even today, ought to be that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, make known to you the depth of the sickness of sin. You see, this is a disease that has only one remedy. A disease that has only one physician. that is able to care for this disease of sin that is within us. Now the world takes this disease, the world takes sin, and tries to self-medicate. That happens through substances, that happens through other ways. The world will seek to talk disease away in therapy and by professional priest psychologists of our age, as this disease that we call sin is attempted to be talked away. The world downplays this disease. And often the church is right there misdiagnosing and misunderstanding and mislabeling disorder for disease. But the reality is this. The disease of your soul is sin. And you are in need of a physician. you are in need of that one physician that is able to cure your souls. I'm sure you know the name John Newton. John Newton is the author of Amazing Grace. And before he was an Anglican minister, he was a slave trader, as you also may have known. And he was someone in England who became good friends with William Wilberforce and William Wilberforce's attempts to stop the slave trade in the United Kingdom. And in one of the letters that survives between John Newton and Mrs. Wilberforce, Newton says this. He writes, sin is a sickness of the soul, in itself mortal and incurable as to any power in heaven or earth but that of the Lord Jesus only. But he is the great infallible physician Have we the privilege to know His name? Have we been enabled to put ourselves into His hand? We have not then no more to do but to attend to His prescriptions, to be satisfied with His methods, and to wait in His timing. It is lawful to wish that we were well, and it is natural to groan being burdened, but still he must and will take his own course with us. And however dissatisfied with ourselves, we ought still to be thankful that he has begun a work in us and to believe that he will also make an end. See, Newton is pointing Mrs. Wilberforce to that great physician in Jesus Christ, and he's reminding her that we have this disease, we have this within us as humans, and the only thing that we need to do is to listen to our doctor, to listen to our physician, and to take his prescriptions and to do as he has called us to do. Friends, we know that this disease of the soul and this promise of the physician that can heal this disease And we need to know that even the godly, even Christians, are still in need of being reminded of this disease and still struggle with the results of this in our lives. We think of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians. He says, For this thing I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproach, in necessities, in persecution, in distress for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Congregation, we must know the sickness. We must know the weakness that is within us as humans and that our great need is this physician. And you might intellectually say, yes, Pastor Nathan, I get that, I understand that, I understand this disease that you call sin, and I understand something of how this baptism that we saw, that these baptisms point us to the cure in that that Jesus provides. But the question that may remain in your heart is maybe this. Is sin really that bad? Is sin really a disease of the soul that warrants eternal hell? That may be your question today. And the answer is yes. The Lord Jesus says, go and learn what this means. Go learn what it means that those who are well need not a physician, but those who are sick, go and learn what this means. Does it mean that there are those that do not need to be saved because they're perfectly fine, and there are those that need to be saved because they've got a problem with sin? Go and learn what this means, Jesus says. And what he's telling us and what he's causing us to do is to understand that deep within our core, as we look around the world, we must come to realize that every one of us are in need of this physician. And that those who are well, meaning those that think they're well, of course they have no need in their minds. for the Lord Jesus Christ. But when we do a proper self-evaluation and we properly diagnose our souls and our hearts and our minds, We see that need. Go and learn what this means, Jesus says. And as we learn what this means, and as we even now begin to meditate some on the depths of this, I would point secondly this morning to this. Baptism points you to the dominion of sin. Baptism points you to the dominion of sin. What does sin do? How does sin reign within? Is it merely the strike in eternity against us where God is putting things in the scale, good versus bad? Or is sin something else? It's something that is able to be seen within humanity. It's something that reigns within. And there's various ways that sin reigns within. And we need to look at that baptism, that cleansing with water that we received. And we need to be willing to plead those promises. Plead, Lord, cleanse me. Lord, wash me. Lord, make me clean within, as Psalm 51 reminds us. And baptism points us to all of that. Our need is not merely ceremonial. It's not merely a ceremonial washing that you and I are in need of. Otherwise, that baptism would have been enough. That water from Costco that was poured in there this morning, some of you saw that, that water poured in there would have been enough. That washing, that ceremony of prayer and ritual, that would have been enough, but it's not. It's not enough because the Lord instituted baptism to point us to something else. To something greater. And it reminds us of the dominion that sin has. 1 Corinthians 2 v. 14 says, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You see, the Spirit of God has to illuminate our heart and our mind, even to see the truth of the things of God. See, for some, they will look at that, and they'll see that pretty stand on which that little silver bowl was, and they'll say, wasn't that beautiful? Wasn't that beautiful? And they'll focus on the outward. They'll focus on the ritual. but spiritual things are to be discerned spiritually. We need to look beyond what we saw here and look beyond that water and look beyond that ritual and ask ourselves the question, what is the spiritual message here? What is being taught by that baptism? And part of that is that all of humanity, and that includes you, that includes these four precious children, the dominion of sin in your life, is something that needs to be illuminated that you may see and understand the Scriptures and understand the things of God and the theology of God. And all of these things remain dark until the light is turned on. You know the experience of maybe waking up in the night and not knowing where you are. Say you're in a hotel room and you wake up in the middle of the night and there's that initial confusion as to where you're sleeping. When the light is turned on and you see the things around you, you're illuminated. And this is true with the things of God as well. We can see rituals and we can see outward forms. but outward forms and rituals are intended to point us to something deeper and greater. And when the light is turned on and our hearts and minds are illuminated, we see the value, spiritually, of what is being provided for us. But sin is defiling. You see, naturally, we do not see this. Naturally, we do not understand the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. And the reason for this is that sin darkens understanding. Sin is something that darkens our understanding as people. But it is also something that defiles. Jesus says in Matthew 15, these things proceed out of the mouth, come from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man. So Jesus says these things that He mentions, adultery and theft and false witness and blaspheming God, those are things that live within the heart of man. They're already there. Those beautiful children, none of which cried. Did you catch that? My kids cried. These kids did not cry. They did not cry when the waters were applied to them, but within their hearts, their precious hearts, are these things that defile. And they need to be cleansed. The heart is that biblical core of the human person and at the core of the human person is this nest egg of sin, and from that nest egg pours forth sin. And you can think on that. From the dominion of sin proceeds from original sin and actual sin. Hearts and minds, they're defiled. And then as sin grows within the human person, whether that's bitterness or envy or hatred or lust of various kinds, the heart grows more and more hardened against sin. And what comes out is this defilement, as Jesus mentions in Matthew 15. but the heart grows hardened. That's what the scriptures teach us. You can think about this by way of illustration in that different fruit rots differently. If you go and you see an apple tree and there's a rotten apple on that tree, If you go to pick that apple, it just kind of turned to mush in your hands because it's rotten as an apple. But the heart doesn't rot in that way. It doesn't turn to mush. We don't become soft in heart when we sin. The heart is more like citrus. It's more like an orange in that it loses its softness and it becomes hard. Maybe you've reached for an orange that has sat on your counter a while and you pull it open and you realize that all of the juices from that orange are gone. And that's the way it's rotted, it's hardened, it's become something solid rather than something soft. And friends, this is what sin does to the human heart. When one is under the dominion of sin, whether that's in the world or in the church, it may not appear that the dominion of sin is having ill effect on the person. Outwardly, they don't look like the rotten apple hanging on the tree, they look more like the rotten orange hanging on the tree. You don't really tell, you can't really tell unless you pick that and hold it and realize that this is hardened Friends, that is the route our hearts go outside of Jesus Christ. This ill effect of the dominion of sin on the person, and again, even the churchgoer who's not in Christ, they may appear to be fine on the outside, but like that orange, the heart is hardened. Sin's dominion reigns. outside of Christ's redemptive grace. And baptism points you, in part, to that great physician, the one who says that he redeems lost sinners. He seeks lost sinners. And you are called to look to Christ. These children are called to look to Christ. a vow that we will support their parents in pointing those children to Christ and reminding them of their need for Jesus Christ. Jesus says those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, go and learn what this means. So we've seen disease, we've seen dominion, and thirdly, this morning, baptism points you to the doctor over sin. the doctor over sin. Jesus Christ is this one who calls himself the doctor, the physician of souls. And Jesus calls men and women, boys and girls everywhere to come to him and to live with him. And I want to remind you that baptism reminds us that our children are never too young to come to Jesus Christ. So often we make excuses. We say, oh, well, they're just teens and they're trying to figure it out. Or he's just in his 20s and he's still trying to figure it out. Or they're tweens and they're naughty. That's what tweens do. And friends, you can categorize all of the people. We could take all of us and categorize us into different ages. And what we would understand is that disease of sin and that dominion of sin is something that is there within all of us and every one of us, no matter what the age is, are called to come to Jesus Christ. There's a very famous story about our mission in China when a young girl named Jeanette Lee came to the elders in that Chinese mission. She was a Chinese girl and she was about seven years old and she was someone who knew the word of God and she was someone that knew the theology of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and she knew what it meant that she was a Christian, and she knew what it meant that she desired to be with Jesus, and she sat before the elders asking that she could be admitted to the table at age seven. That's super young. I get that. And the elders, they heard her out. They were perfect answers. Everything was great. And they said, we just think that you are too young. And Jeanette Lee said to her elders, in respect, Jesus said, suffer the children to come to me. and they admitted her at a young age. She was one that understood the disease of sin and the dominion of sin and the doctor over sin. That Jesus Christ was the one that needed to cure her soul. That Jesus Christ was the one to whom she needed to look that she may be saved. And friends, this Jesus is the great physician of souls that calls you to repent, that calls you to come to Him that you may live. You remember in John 3 when Nicodemus has a conversation with Jesus, and Jesus calls himself that bronze serpent who was lifted up in the desert, the one to which Israel looked that they may be healed. He equates himself with that bronze serpent, for he is the great physician. Friends, Jesus has the wisdom to heal sin. And He has the ability to heal sin. And He has the availability to heal sin. And He has the desire to heal sin. The baptisms of our children point them to their need and to the sufficiency of the work of Jesus Christ. Christ is able to forgive and able to restore, and he has that wisdom to heal sin. He knows how to do this, for he is in the business of healing sin. I've used the phrase before, but the Puritans were fond of calling Jesus the cardionostician, the knower of hearts. And as the knower of hearts, he has the ability to see within your hearts and to cure that sin. Each of these babies baptized today are called to believe the gospel. Each one of them are called to faith in Christ, and they're called to walk in Christ and to come to Jesus, who knows their hearts. Our catechism calls this justifying faith Justifying faith, according to our catechism, is a saving grace wrought in the heart of sinners by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of sin and misery and the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only ascends to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth for pardon of sin and for accepting and accounting of His person as righteous in the sight of God for salvation. So that begins with a renunciation of self. See, you cannot be your own physician. If you needed open heart surgery, if you were the most talented physician in all of Orlando, you would not lay on that table and give yourself open heart surgery. You must know that you have to renounce self. There's nothing within you that can make you right with God. And then there's reliance upon Christ. Only Jesus is sufficient. and able and willing. Only Jesus. The world is filled with all sorts of false ideas as to what it means to have your soul saved. Or what the greatest need of humanity is. But only Jesus is sufficient and able and willing as a physician And then we must have appropriation of Christ to ourselves. See, it's one thing to say, I cannot heal myself. And it's another thing to say that Jesus is sufficient and able and willing. And it's quite another thing to say that Jesus Christ is my physician. Jesus Christ cures my soul. Jesus Christ has saved me from sin. Thomas Watson said, a medicine, though it be ever so sovereign, if not applied, will do no good. Though the medicine is made of Christ's own blood, it will not heal unless it's applied by faith. The blood of God without faith will not save. This applying of Christ is called receiving Him. The hand of receiving gold enriches. Just so, the hand of faith receiving Christ's golden merits enriches us. Friends, each one of us, in those four children here, we are called to believe the Gospel. We're called to look to Jesus, that Great Physician of our souls, and say, not only do I have a need for Him, not only is He able to save, but the promise of salvation, by that hand of faith, we reach out and we hold on to what Jesus Christ provides. For He is the doctor over sin. And in His death, He paid the penalty of sin. Remember Isaiah 53. Isaiah says, by His stripes, You were healed. The blood in his lashes is healing. And even after the healing of his stripes, you remember he was raised from the dead. And he ascended into heaven, and we're told that from his place in heaven, which we call his session, from that place in heaven, he ever lives to make intercession for you. Christ says those who are well have no need of a physician. but those who are sick, go and learn what this means. Friends, He calls you to repentance. And as He calls you to repentance, I want you to go back in your mind to Exodus 15, where the Lord Himself tells the people of God that he is the Lord who heals. He is Jehovah-Rophi. Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord who heals, or Jehovah heals. Remember, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do which is right, and give ear to his commands, and keep his statutes, I will put none of these diseases that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord your healer. And friends, the psalmist uses that language too. Psalm 103 that we sang, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all thy iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. Friends, Christ is the God who heals. In John 3, I've told you earthly things and you do not believe. How will you believe heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man may be lifted up that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And then the verse that every one of you knows, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This is Jesus. This is Jehovah Rophe. The God who heals. The doctor over sin. The one with wisdom and ability and availability and desire to save. He is the God who heals. We've seen dominion. We've seen disease. We've seen dominion. And we've seen doctor. And I would again draw your attention to the water of baptism, water that is cleansing and cleaning and refreshing in each of These children that were baptized today, by the grace of God, they have been born into families that will not excuse their natures, but instead will point them to Jesus Christ, the one who is the great physician of souls. Jesus said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, go and learn what this means. I'll end with a quote from John Flavel who said, wait on God. in the way of faith, and in a tender spirit towards sin, and your wounds will be healed at last by the great physician. Friends, for Jesus is able. Amen.