Now let us turn together to the portion we have been reading in the book of Psalms, Psalm 147, and let us look particularly at the words we find in verses 3 and 4 and seek, with God's help, to look at them in their context. Psalm 147, verses 3 and 4, He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars, he calls them all by their names. Particularly verse 3, he healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds. Spurgeon says that the flow of the broad river of God's grace in the book of Psalms ends with a cataract of praise. That is true as you come to the end of the book of Psalms. You see it particularly in Psalm 150, and we see it in this Psalm also. In the original language, it begins with the word, Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. And it ends with the same word, Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. And it is good that we should praise the Lord. It is good because it is right that we should praise the Lord. And it is good because it is acceptable to God Himself. It is good that it is beneficial to ourselves and stimulating to others that we would be found with the praise of the Lord in the lips of our hearts and our tongues. Well, you see, in this psalm he begins and he likens Jehovah to a builder. That's the way the psalms begins. And he speaks of him as the builder of Jerusalem. That was true, of course, of the natural Jerusalem. Its walls needed to be built. Not just in the days of the restoration from Babylon, but previous to that, even in David's day. But surely he is speaking here of the spiritual Jerusalem and the need for the walls to be built, stone upon living stone to be added to it, that the temple of the Lord might be built until finally the copestone is put upon it and the scaffolding of time erected against that building will then be taken away and the Lord will come to gather his people, his church, to himself. He is the great builder. And we notice that he speaks there of the building, the gathering together into that building of the outcasts of Israel. And notice how that, of course, quite naturally into then speaking of God as the healer from the builder, the gatherer of the outcasts of Israel, to the healer of sworns. He healeth the broken at heart and bindeth up their wounds. He is set before us in the metaphor of the great physician, particularly so in Christ Jesus. And it's on him that we seek to have our focus. Christ the physician, the good physician. And the psalm, as we find it, allows us to look at it in the following way. First of all, the condition of the patient, that is, spoken of throughout the psalm. And then secondly, the qualifications of Christ the good physician. And that's the way we shall look at this portion today, in that order. First of all then, the condition of the patient. He speaks of him as broken in heart. He speaks of him as wounded, having wounds. And it's quite clear that these two terms are synonymous, the woundedness and the broken heart. He's speaking of one and the same thing. You see that when you look, for example, at the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 61. where he speaks of the remit that he has received from the Father to bind up the broken in heart and those who are wounded in spirit. And you find the same words used by Jesus himself in the Gospel according to Luke and chapter 4 where he harks back to these words of the Old Testament and applies them to himself. as the one who binds up the broken in heart and the bruised in their spirits. He is speaking of one and the same thing there, the broken in heart and the bruised in spirit. Now when he is speaking of the broken in heart and the bruised in spirit, it He's speaking of a despondency of spirit. He's speaking of a distress of soul. And it's not in the first instance that distress of soul or despondency of spirit that results from the calamities of this life or the disappointments of this life. These are not what he has first of all paramount in focus when he speaks of the broken and not, they are not excluded. Let us be quite clear on it, they are certainly not excluded. And you see that when you look at Jesus himself, look at the miracles that he performed and the compassion that he showed to those who were maimed and blind and leprous and afflicted in so many ways. Look at the way that he dealt with the widow of Nain in her state of bereavement for her son. Yes, He is affected and He shows compassion to those who are bruised in heart over these natural disappointments and sorrows of this world. And many indeed have come to Him, we see in the New Testament Scriptures. They came to Him, first of all, because that was their burden. But they came to know Him, not just as a burden bearer in these temporal affairs, but the burden bearer also, the good physician in matters that bear upon the soul. And we are bidden to come to Him with our needs. But as I say, it is supremely this distress of soul that accrues from an understanding of the nature of our sin. It is a distress of soul that accrues. It is a spiritual distress of soul that is spoken of here. Not that distress that can be spoken of as remorse Sometimes we can have that, a distress of soul concerning sin because of the effect that it has upon ourselves, like the drunkard can be full of romance the morning after because of its effect upon himself. No, it is a distress of soul over sin as being against God that is spoken of here. is a distress of soul concerning the sin that is with me that is against God in His goodness, against God in His holiness, against God in His attributes and in His majesty, contrary to His goodness, contrary to His justice, contrary to His truth, contrary to His holiness. It is Sin as raising the fist of defiance in the face of the Almighty and saying we will not have Him to reign over us. It is the nature of sin as that which is rebellion against the one who is holy good. It is sin as that which is theft of the glory of the one to whom who says my glory I will not give to another. It is sin as that which would take to ourselves the glory that belongs to Himself. It is sin as that which would exalt self in the citadel of our hearts to take the place that supremely and exclusively belongs to Him. It is that distress of soul, it is that bruisedness of heart and spirit that is spoken of. Not just, however, sin against the holiness of God, but in the case of the Lord's own people, they also have this burden, and they have it not just as against the holiness of God, but their sin as against the grace of God. sin against the God whose name they profess as the One who has given His own Son, as the One who as the second person has given Himself in all nature to stand and to bear the crushed death of the cross that ought to be mine, to bear the damnation that ought to be mine, who has taken the sting out of death for me, who has destroyed death who has destroyed the power of sin in my Roman place. And when I see sin against that God, oh, when there ought to be so much of gratitude in my heart, when there ought to be so much of consecration to Him, when there ought to be so much of submission to His holy will, and I find that which is contrary, that causes the believer to cry out concerning that which he finds within him, O wretched man that I am, who shalt deliver me from the body of this death. He comes to know something of his wounds, the wounds of sin stinking. He comes to know something of the ugliness of that sin that is within. And to know it is a burden. Not just against the holiness then, but against the grace of God. And there is a sense where there is a sense in which there is a more ugly side to it, even than the sin of the unbeliever. Not that we would diminish in your sight the sin of the unbeliever. But when you think of the sin of the believer as against the grace of God, when he is in the province of mercy, and when sin is found against the God of mercy, There is a particular crimsonness about it. And when that is experienced, there is this brokenness of heart over it. Now that doesn't take place, that distress of soul does not take place without a work of the Holy Spirit in the soul. That distress of soul over The nature of sin as against the holiness of God, the goodness of God, the truth of God, or against the mercy of God, or grace of God, cannot take place, but as the Spirit of the Lord applies the gospel and the law in our experience in such a way as to evoke this reaction within us. It does not. occur naturally. It is a miracle of grace when this conviction of sin, and it can vary in its intensities person to person, but this conviction of sin, when it is there, it is a miracle of grace. It is the work of the Spirit of God within us, applying the gospel and the truth and the law in our experience. left to ourselves. We wouldn't know much of this distress. We wouldn't know anything of this distress. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. There is no prophet in the flesh, and it is particularly true in this area. There is such a power of deception in sin in the heart. It hides itself. It identifies so closely with our passions that we deceive ourselves concerning its nature. Even when we acknowledge something with maybe a metallic confession, something of the nature of the sin that is with us, even when there is that Acknowledgement of it in words. The felt burden of it is not there unless the Spirit of the Lord is dealing with us in His truth. It hides itself. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And a minister of another day has said, has been known to speak of it as being so deceitful that we deceitfully acknowledge our own deceit. And yet, we don't feel the burden of it. And we are not exercised concerning it. The Spirit of the Lord must apply the truth convictingly in the soul before this burden is experienced. And the burden, as I say, can vary in its intensity from passion to passion, but it will be such that there will be a seeking for There will be such that there will be a seeking for forgiveness and pardon. And to know the good physician more fully. This distress of soul, this conviction of sin, is an expression of the goodness of God to the sinner. when he comes to experience it. It's one of the greatest expressions of the goodness of God to us, that we should be made awake to the nature of what is within us. To that cancer that would hide itself, but that would destroy us, and more, that would destroy God. But although it is an expression of the goodness of God to us, we must never assume that that conviction of sin, this bruisedness of spirit, this brokenness of heart over sin, is in itself the blessing. It is not in itself the blessing of salvation. That brokenness of heart did not die on the cross in my Roman place. That bruisedness of spirit didn't. That conviction of sin didn't. And it is not the great blessing in itself. But it is a pathway to it. It is not the healing of soul in itself. But it is a necessary part of the process towards that healing. You see in Psalm 42, like as the heart for water brooks in thirst doth hunt and bray, the picture there is that of a deer that has been shot. And once that deer has been shot, what it will always seek to do is to head for the water brooks to slake its thirst. Its energy is diminishing through the loss of blood, but nevertheless that is where it is heading, seeking for the water brooks that it might allay its thirst. When there is the shock of conviction by the power of the Spirit through the truth into the soul of the sinner, whether it is that initial conviction or whether it is the ongoing conviction in the life of the believer, this must be defect. That we seek after mercy. That we seek after the water brooks. That we seek after the knowledge of Him whom to know is life eternal. That we seek after Christ. That we seek mercy in the covenant God. And so, this brokenness of heart is something to be prized, to be sought from the Lord, that He would keep us watchful, that He would keep us awake, lest the spirit of complacency, the spirit of pride, the spirit of worldliness creep in so strongly upon us that we lose sight of what we are, that the devil would have us to believe that we are righteous in ourselves, that we need not that grace of God, that we need not that balm of Gilead. So it is of the Lord's mercies that we should know something of it in our souls. Second thing that I said that we would look at would be the qualifications of the good physician that is Christ. There are two things you look for in a doctor. You look for in a doctor somebody who has ability to diagnose your condition and to prescribe a remedy that will efficiently and sufficiently deal with your need. No use going to a doctor if he doesn't understand, if he doesn't have the ability to deal with your problem. But you look also in a doctor or a physician not just for ability, but you look for someone who has compassion. Not just somebody who will deal with you coldly, efficiently, but somebody who will deal with you gently and with an understanding of your frame. You need both. The efficiency by itself, it could be so cold. The compassion by itself, it could have a lot of kind words, but not the ability to deal. But when you have both going together, well, yes, you have a good doctor, you have a good physician. Well, I'm going to suggest that that is what the Scripture says before us in Christ. Not only one who is able to heal the broken heart, but one who is willing to heal the broken heart. One who is able and willing and who is the good physician that our souls need, every one of us without exception here today. First of all, he has the power to heal the broken heart. All power, all authority is given to him in earth and in heaven. Indeed, the psalm would bring before us that he has infinite power It's amazing when you look at this Psalm that the one who deals with the broken in heart, that He is the one who tells or counts the number of the stars. Who can do that? Who can name them every one but one who has a particular knowledge of them? He is infinite in knowledge. He is infinite in wisdom. He is infinite in power. a meter of understanding that's beyond our comprehension. But there is that with them that feeds into this ability to save to the uttermost all the wisdom and knowledge and power that is necessary. an abyss of wisdom and a particular rising wisdom that is there particularly mentioned in the Psalms concerning the stars, the whole galaxy of the universe. He names them everyone and that can be applied to him spiritually as the good physician also. He knows the spiritual anatomy of the soul and of sin so thoroughly. And that gives him the ability to deal with this bruised heart. You hear of him in the New Testament sometimes not committing himself to people because he knew what was in their heart. He knew sin. He knows all the ways A sin will hide itself in the crevices of our hearts. He knows the deception that is in it. He knows the absurdity that is there. He knows the rebellion. He knows it inside out. He is able to deal with it. And it has pleased the Father also And this is something that deals with His ability. It has pleased the Father that in Him there should be found all fullness should dwell, all fullness of pardon should be with Him. Isn't that what the soul needs? That fullness of pardon. And it flows from particularly the fact that He, as the Mediator, as the One who has taken our nature, that He has stood in the Roman place of the sinner, that He has borne the claims of the law upon Him, preceptually and penally, that He has satisfied the claims of the law, that the pardon that flows out of the atoning sacrifice of the cross, the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing from all sin and all iniquity, And it's not just that He cleanses initially, but the census goes on cleansing. If we confess our sins, when we are enabled to confess our sins with this confession of Spirit, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our demerit. There is a fullness of pardon with Him. that the sinner needs. And it has pleased the Father that there should be with them a fullness of comfort. A fullness of comfort. While it is there in what we have been saying, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin and from all iniquity. Not only the fullness of comfort, but the fullness of strength. Not just mercy, but grace to go on. Grace to be more prayerful. Grace to be more watchful. Grace to be more alert spiritually. Grace to be living in the shadow of the constraining love of God in Christ. Grace to see things as they are. Grace that we might know the motivation of that love of God channeling us into paths of obedience and watchfulness. And there is with them not just the ability to heal, but there is with them the willingness to heal. And maybe that's your burden. I know He's able, but is He willing to apply that balm of Gilead to my soul. Yes, Scripture speaks to us and we can speak it with authority. Whosoever comes unto Him, he will in no wise cast out. He is willing to heal the broken heart. It is willing to heal out of obedience and reverence to the Father. It was the Father's love that is It is the Father's love that is the cause of the mercy of God being revealed. He so loved that He gave His own Son. The love of the Father is not consequent to the cross. The love of the Father is the cause of the cross. And He that spared not His own Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? And that is the purpose of the Lord to the sinner in Christ. That he might know mercy. That he might know forgiveness. And the Son is willing to apply that balm of Gilead out of reverence for the Father. And He is willing to apply that balm of Gilead to your soul, burdened sinner too, because of His love for the sinners, those whom the Father has given to Him. His delights were with the sons of men. And He is willing also to show compassion because as one who has taken our nature and has met all the difficulties and greater that His people can ever meet, He is One who has spoken of us, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. One who can not only show compassion, but who can empathize with us in our burden and our need. And you might say, ah, well, yes, but how can He understand my particular burden and my particular sin? Was He not sinless? How can the sinless One enter into my burden concerning my sin that I find with myself. You must remember that the sinless one was made to be sinned. That he stood in the presence of God in our nature with a consciousness of the sin of his people laid to his charge, identifying so closely with it that he speaks of it as my sin. in the presence of Jehovah and that the Scripture speaks of him as becoming much amazed. Yes, he knows the burden. The sinless one knows. The sinless one can meet you at your point of need. He has met the intensity and greater than you can ever meet. You can ever meet. And he is able and willing to meet you at your point of need. more willing than you are to come unto Him with your need. And so there you have it. One who is able to heal, one who is willing to heal, one who has all the efficiency that is necessary for the remedy of your soul's burden, one who is compassionate and gracious to the othermost. And Scripture gives you every encouragement to come with that burden. Maybe your burden is that you don't feel your burden as you ought to feel it. Add that itself. Come with that burden. Come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. one who is able to meet you and speak to your soul as none else can, my peace I give unto you. And what does the world give I unto you? Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid. The words of Scripture again and again and again from the Lord Jesus Christ are unto me, and I can only commend you unto Him. Let us pray. O Lord, we pray that Thou would cause Thy Word to return to Thee full, that it would be as the good seed that would germinate in the womb of our souls, that would cause us to know our need and cause us to know thee in our need as the one who is all sufficient and as the one who is altogether suitable. That arise would be to the physician, the covenant physician in whom there is guarantee, covenant that is guaranteed that is rectified in the blood of God in all nature to us. One who is saying there to the needy sinner, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Take away all blemishes. In our speaking and in our hearing, and receive us in Jesus' name alone. Amen.