We're probably only gonna get through the local church today, or excuse me, not the local church, but the sole authority, the Word of God, the sole authority of faith and practice. We're probably only gonna get that far today. And I may continue that next week, because I'd like to get through those marks so we can get to the history. So I may take a few weeks off of Keech's Catechism, pick it back up again, with a review of Keach's Catechism, but I kind of want to get through these marks of the New Testament also. So I may do more of that and continue that, but we'll see. We'll see how it goes. But we're definitely not done with Keach's Catechism. By God's grace, we will finish that. But it's just, We're not, by the grace of God that I know of, we're not going anywhere. So we've got time. And that's the one thing that the Lord really impressed upon me today, or this week, as I was studying through all these things. And I've probably this week, and I'm not bragging either, I'm just telling you that I probably read through, not finished, but read and consulted over 30 or 40 books this week for everything that I was doing. For Psalms, for the Acts series, you know Baptist history for you know read the Keeping the Kids and that I mean I probably probably at least 20 or 30 books probably 30 I would say you know if you counted them all up just in studying them because when Spurgeon's one volume he deals with six or seven authors at a time then I deal with another ten probably in my own in other studies and then I added a bunch of other ones that I had to take off that table because You're not gonna be able to move it. So, but anyway, so it's good though. It's good for my mind. It keeps me busy and keeps my mind where it needs to be. So anyway, but we'll keep going. Psalm 103. Amen. Psalm 103. Christian benefits series here. We're going to continue on with that in talking about that. And we will only get through half a verse today. We got through half the verse last week. We'll get through the second half of the verse this week. And I said to you, each one of these deserve its own message and meditation, and I believe that. And then to also explain this, I'm going to explain a few things about this, what this relates to, and healeth all thy diseases, okay? But Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. Amen? So we're going to talk about those diseases. Father, Lord, please be with us now. Bless us, Lord. Lord, we are not capable of doing anything without you. Lord, we must abide in you. Help me, Lord. Do for me what I cannot do for myself, Lord, and everything, and for your people. Feed them with the power of the Holy Ghost. As we minister unto your people, Lord, please help and guide and direct. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. One man said it this way, and I like the way he said it with Sir Richard Baker. All thy diseases, O my soul, consider the multitude of infirmities to which thou art subject. Thou hast many suggestions of the flesh, and thou art apt to yield unto them, and strivest not against them by earnest prayer and holy meditations. This is an infirmity. In thy prayers to God, thy thoughts are often wandering. And thou thinkest of other matters, far unworthy of that great majesty to whom thou prayest. Or if not so, yet thou art quickly weary. Thy spirits are drowsy in it, and thou hast rather be doing of something else. This is an infirmity. And indeed thou hast infirmities in all thy senses. In thy seeing thou canst see a mote in thy brother's eye, and canst not see a beam in thine own eye. In thy smelling thou thinkest that the savor of gain is sweet from whencesoever it riseth. In thy hearing thou art gladder to hear the profane and idle discourses than such as be serious and holy. These are thy infirmities. And, O my soul, if I should cut thee up into as many parts as an anatomist and examine the infirmities of every part, should I not have cause, just cause, to cry out with St. Paul, O wretched I am, who shall deliver me from the body of sin? Who shall heal me of all these infirmities? For whether we call them sins, and then God forgives them, or call them infirmities, and then He heals them, they are to us all one benefit. In God, all one kindness. That is, either of them is well worth remembering. So for both of them, we have just cause to bless Him and to praise His name. You know, he goes on, he's talking about spiritual infirmities. You and I have them. You and I will always deal with them. There are things in our lives, and God is playing the part, Christ is playing the part of the great physician. Do you see that? Before, what does it say here at the first part? Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. That's dealing with the legal matter. Right? The legal matter of your sins being forgiven. Now Christ deals with you upon his place of the great physician to heal you. So first comes the legal victory, then comes the healing, the great physician. But as long as you are on this earth, as long as you abide in this tabernacle, you will have infirmities. You will have infirmities of the flesh that you will deal with. You will battle them. But it is God that heals them. And he will not heal them all right away. God will not heal all of them. Some of thine infirmities, I'm not talking about physical, I'm talking about spiritual. God will not heal all of your spiritual infirmities right away. No. You couldn't handle them to all be made known to you right away. You know, I think, as I think about this, I think back to when I was first saved and after I was saved. God didn't make the physical or the spiritual infirmities that I had or the flaws in me or the battles in it. He didn't make them all known to me right away. He was very long suffering with me. After I was saved, he didn't, he didn't, I couldn't have handled it. God knows that we would have ran from that if God would have showed us that. But over time, he shows us and he teaches us, oh, these are there. God didn't show it to you. You say, well, I didn't know that right away. As I look back on my life, which be careful when you do, but as you look back on it, after you were saved, you start to look back and you're thinking, man, what about this? What about this? Why am I more sensitive to that now? Because God has revealed it. God has made it known to you now. Because you couldn't have handled it back then. But as he slowly, as you live your life and as you grow, well, just ask a chiropractor or a doctor, right? As you grow, your body always needs adjusting. It always needs treatment. It always needs treated. It always needs care. Well, the same is for your soul. Christ, the Great Physician, He is always working on your soul. Always working, playing the part of the healer. Amen? That's why He is called the Great Physician. You starting to get the picture that it's all about Christ? Forget what you can do. Forget worrying about what you can do. Just think on Him. Amen. But I want to cover something quickly before we get into the doctrinal and practical aspects of this. I want to, I just want to say something briefly that a rebuke is in order for the, in reference to the charismatic movement. Because they will take a verse like this and they will run with that and they will say, well see, God promises to heal all your diseases. So you should be healed. of all your infirmities. And then they liken that to physical infirmities. Well, I don't believe that's the case. I'm not going to go into depth. I'll probably do a broadcast on it in depth. I've taught on it before, but I might do a broadcast tomorrow on that in depth on the charismatic movements, healing, divine healing, or physical healing in the atonement. As they say, they say that physical healing is part of the atonement. Well, that's a lie. What does that remind you of? It reminds you of a gospel that Satan preached. that ye shall be as gods, that in this flesh you will attain godhood, and that you shall never die. Right? That's not what Christ promised us. He promised us eternal life. But that corn of wheat must fall into the earth. It must die. Thou fool. Remember what he said to us? It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. Amen. But it will be sown in corruption. Amen. Christ's ministry of healing was unique to authenticate him as being the Messiah. So let me give you a few verses here on that. John 20, verse 30 through 31. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. What were they done for? That they might believe that Jesus was the Son of God. John 10, 37 to 38, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. Again, the purpose of the works was to show that he was God. Amen. Next, how about the apostles' ministry? It was for signs of their apostleship. It was to show something. If everybody did miracles, it would have been no big deal I mean, if Simon could have got what he considered a mojo from everybody, then he wouldn't have wanted it from Peter, right? If he could have got it from any saint, he would have been like, well, pass me some of that. But no, he saw Peter and John. See, the Bible get in the way of a lot of false doctrine. Amen. What did they say here? Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. 2nd Corinthians 12 12 and he ordained 12 that they should be with him that he might send them forth to preach and have power to heal sickness and to cast out devils for purpose and Fear came upon every soul many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles acts 243 And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all It has never been God's will for all Christians to be running around performing sign miracles and healing everyone. That has never been the case and will never be the case in this age. David Cloud says, don't be deceived. Don't seek that which God has not promised and thereby leave yourself open to the deception of the devil. Jesus warned that an evil generation seeketh a sign. Let's not be identified with evil. Let us seek those humble things which God has promised and which he wants to do in and for and through us to the glory of Christ. Seek to live holy, gentle lives. Seek to preach the gospel and see souls saved and lives changed for the glory of God. Seek to be looking and longing for Christ's return. Seek to be obedient, fruitful Christians. Remember this, many were not healed in the first century. Timothy wasn't healed. Trophimus wasn't healed. Paul wasn't healed. There is a purpose in suffering. God has a reason for it. God has a purpose for it. Amen. So understand very plainly, this text deals with spiritual healing that is needed, not physical. Consider this, was it Paul's lack of faith? No. The reason he, the thorn never left? He said, my grace is sufficient for thee. I mean, I know what Paul thought. I mean, I understand it. Paul's like, Lord, I want it to go back to the way it was. I don't want this anymore. I can't serve you like this effectively. How am I ever going to serve you like this? My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Yeah, then Paul learned the glory in those infirmities, didn't he? He learned it. He didn't have it right away. That part I understand. None of the modern day healers could heal themselves. They died of diseases. People in their meetings died of their diseases as well and sickness. Consider the latest debacle at Bethel in Reading. They brought this child, this dead child, and they were trying to raise it from the dead. They had a dead child, died tragically, a two year old baby died. I think it was two, wasn't it? Yeah, a two-year-old baby died. And they all said, well, let's just pray for a week that the baby's raised from the dead. And they had rock concerts, and they're waving their arms, and they're doing all this stuff. Blaspheming God. You see, these are the ones that blaspheme the Holy Ghost. They're the ones. See, that's what witches do. Now, a lot of the people in Reading are deceived. But the leaders aren't, they know exactly, well, they're deceived, but they know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. And see, they deceive others to follow them. And all these people are saying, hey, it happened to the Jesuits, so let's pray for it. Let's just all pray that this baby is raised from the, and these parents are the ones that put the church up to it, of the child. Instead of that pastor lovingly sitting them down and saying, now listen, I'm sorry that your baby died, but your baby's with the Lord, and you've got to move on. That was God's will. And you've got to love God more, even though he took something that you love, someone you love, but you've got to continue on by faith. And we'll love you and hold your hand through it, but your baby's not coming back. That's what a pastor does. He says the hard thing, he looks at you and does what has to be done, he loves you through it, weeps with you, cries with you, puts his arm around you, and then you continue on. That's called leadership. Amen! And that's what has to be done. But that's how Satan works to deceive. He uses verses like this. Satan's a good scripture twister. Many desire to live forever in this sinful flesh rather than be delivered from the wrath to come. Their innate desire for physical healing will lead to CRISPR and the gospel of Antichrist to heal all physical infirmities while the soul is dead. The height of vanity is to heal the flesh while the soul perisheth. Right? God help us. Number two, let's talk about Christ, the great physician here. As we did, he is the who, again, who healeth all thine infirmities. Who healeth all thine infirmities. It's him. He's the one that does it. Christ is the healer. Jeremiah 8.22, is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Matthew 9, 12, but when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick, but go and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Last week, we discussed the one who forgives all our iniquities, our sins and transgressions, that it is the Lord Jesus Christ that made the atonement for the soul. He is the one legally that the transaction took place, and it must always take place legally first in order for you to receive the other blessings. Why? Because Christ is the only advocate. That word advocate is one time in the Bible. We have an advocate. Jesus Christ, the righteous. Do you see that? Why is it only one time? Because there's only one. There isn't another one. There's no one that could stand up in God's court for you besides Christ. So then what great confidence that should give you and I when he has brought us to repentance and faith, when he has saved our souls, that we always remember that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who stood up for us, who stands in the presence of God for us today. And he ever liveth to make intercession for his saints. He ever liveth to take care of the infirmities of his people. And he stands before God, and legally you are justified in the sight of God. Legally. Because legally, you were dead. Legally, you were guilty. Legally. But now, you're justified. Now you're sanctified. Now you're washed. Now you're made clean. Amen! But now we see that the great physician's work is never done for us. Though redemption was bought and paid for with the precious blood of Christ, Christ is always working on our behalf to rid the soul of sickness. After we are converted, there will be a lifetime of sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost in us, a lifetime. No Christian has arrived until the entrance has been administered unto him abundantly into the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then you will have arrived. Right? As for now, thy soul has many sicknesses that need constant care and cleansing and practical everyday infirmities that must be cleansed from thee. Many infirmities. Christ the great physician is the who that healeth all our diseases. Never think that you have arrived to where there is no more sin, no more confirmation that must take place. What is the way in which, number three, what is the way in which he does his work? He conforms us to his image. See, the great physician, he conforms us to his image. He's a master surgeon. He's a master with a scalpel. He's a master at cutting out what is not necessary to be there. The work of saving your soul was to glorify God. That was the first and foremost reason to save you. I thought it was to save me from hell. Well, that was your benefit. But see, it's God's grace. The reason that you were saved is to glorify God. You were saved to be like Christ. Hey man, that's why you were saved. The only way to glorify God is to make you like Christ. Now you and I thought somewhere in our minds that that was going to be painless. Did we not? Did we not think that somehow being conformed to the image of Christ was going to be painless? Well sure, it can't be that big of a deal. And the closer you get to God, the worse you actually see you are. And then it's like, well, this isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. Is it? It hurts a little bit more than I thought it was going to. Boy, when I prayed that prayer for years, I didn't think it was going to hurt that bad. Right? Pray every day, Lord, make me more like Christ. Okay. Okay. You asked for it. There's a lot of molding that takes place. A lot of weeding out the you. Is there really that much of me? Oh yeah. Unfortunately, there's a lot of us in us. That's why we're commanded to live in him. Right? You and I are not lovely. But he is, his mouth is most sweet. He is altogether lovely. Romans chapter eight, verse number 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Hmm. That sounds painful. We were saved not to escape the fires of hell, but I praise God I have, through the blood of Christ. Escaped the fires of hell and damnation, but we were saved to be like Christ. You get the benefit of being saved. You say, I came to Christ because I didn't want to go to hell. Well, that's a really good reason. I don't have a problem with that, neither does God. You didn't have a problem with that. But it better be that after you have been delivered from that, you have a desire to be like God. See, that shows in your life. Right? Of course you don't want to go to hell. You shouldn't want to go to hell. I'm glad you don't want to go to hell. Amen? Because God doesn't want you to go there either. That's why he sent his only begotten son to die on the cross for your sins. Because he doesn't want you in hell. Amen? He didn't make hell for you. He made it for the devil and his angels. And only a great physician can heal you of those constant infirmities that ail you. And you have them. Oh boy, do we have them. But listen to me, can I help you? I want to encourage you with something, that God reveals our infirmities to heal our infirmities. Do you understand that? I want to say that again to you. Listen up, pay attention very closely. It's a simple theological lesson that will help you. God reveals our spiritual infirmities so that he may heal spiritual infirmities. That's the reason. It's not the same as Satan. Satan antagonizes you with your infirmities. He pokes you with your infirmities. He magnifies your infirmities. I like what William Grinnell said. I was reading it last night. I sent Jacob his bedtime story last night and kept sending him pages of William Grinnell's book, but it was good, wasn't it? And one of the things he says, how do I know that it's not God that is speaking to me, but it's Satan that is doing that? And he said very plainly this, he said, well, Satan seeks to magnify your infirmities over the grace of God. And his goal is to unsaint the saint. He is always seeking to talk you out of your salvation. That's not what God did. When God came to David and he said, thou art the man, did he say to David, but you're not my son? No. He said, bend over boy, you're gonna get it. And boy, are you gonna get it good. Isn't that what he did? But what does Satan do? He seeks to unsaint the saint. He seeks to talk him out of his sonship and say, well, surely because you have done this, or surely because of these infirmities, you are not God's child. Well, that's not of God. But I feel like it must be correct. Well, there you go, believing your feelings over what he said. You don't have that problem. Surely none of you have that problem, I'm sure. You wouldn't do that, would you? That would be just me that does that. Wouldn't be any of you that would have that. You wouldn't believe your feelings over a fact. Remember that God reveals our weaknesses, our shortcomings, our sins, and our failures so that he heals them. When that divine scalpel comes out and when the balm of Gilead comes out to heal whatever it is that ails us, whatever we are sick from, he does it that we might be partakers of his holiness. I've thought many times about the things that I've been through over the last couple years. I've thought many times about them, and I've also thought, you know, for all that the Lord has allowed in my mind and my heart, though there has been much turmoil and anxieties and depressions and things like that, it's never made me want to take one step closer to sin. It's never defiled my life. It's never made me weaker in that sense. Oh, I might have felt the infirmities of my weaknesses. I might have felt them more. I might have thought about them more and prayed against them more and feared them more, but it never made me walk towards the world. But it has made me a partaker of His holiness. It has made me seek Him more. It has made me be careful. What carefulness it wrought in you. What revenge. But I have feared all those things. Of course you have. But they've never made me take one step towards the world. In fact, they've made me run far away. Keep thee far from an evil matter. Run. Amen. That's the chasing rod of the Lord. That's the divine work. And I have seen, now, it doesn't appear to be to my own comfort at all, but I think that's the point. Pastor Hoggart said to me, and I understand it better now, he said to me, I don't know, a few months ago, about the infirmities, the battles, and the challenges, he goes, he said, that healing will come, those things will come through your people, they will not come, it won't be to any satisfaction of yourself. You'll gain satisfaction, you'll eventually be able to gain the satisfaction or that praise and that peace by what God does with others through you. That's good advice. Amen. And it made me realize that that's the truth. That that's the way God works. Right? That's God's hand and praise his name. It's hard to admit that you need that much correction. Right? But it's also maturity. I feel as if God took me through the school of adversity and he said, okay, you're moving up a few grades. Advanced studies. You're not going to be a kid anymore. It's time to grow up. You're going to put away childish things. Amen. Turn to Revelation 3. I want to give you an example of this, how he reveals things to heal us. In Revelation 3, he's dealing with a church. Revelation 3, verse 14. I want you to see how God works here. He gives the infirmity, then he gives the remedy. Isn't that gracious of God? He just doesn't say, man, you're messed up. You've got all this stuff wrong with you. I don't want to talk to you anymore. I'll see you later. That's not how God works. He says, this is your problem. You know, that's the same thing with your children. I know a lot of people that give up on their children. They just give up on them when they act out, when they're bad, or they let them go their own way. They give up on them. You're doing all this stuff wrong, and I'm not gonna mess with it anymore. Well, most of the time, it's you that did all this stuff wrong that allowed your children to get that way. Amen. Now, children will rebel. I understand that. But I'll tell you what, at the end of the day, God gave them to you. They're your responsibility. Amen. They're your responsibility, right? But when you have those children, you don't just tell them all they're doing wrong and say, this is how you do right. You and I have to be careful when we correct our children that we just don't correct them, but then we don't show them the right way. We just tell them that they're wrong and chastise them for it, but we don't instruct them in righteousness. Okay, so you chastened them, did you instruct them? Okay, husband, you complained about something your wife did, but did you instruct her on what she should have rather done? Right? Amen. You can run around always complaining about what people don't do right, but if you never instruct them, the people that are under your sphere of authority, if you never instruct them of how to do things right, then don't complain, just shut your mouth. Because all you're doing is just browbeating people. You're just like some cranky old cuss out there. Right? You have no desire to instruct them in righteousness, or you're too lazy to follow through. That's what happens with correction as parents. Wait, that's this afternoon, I gotta stop. But that's what happens as parents, right? We're just too lazy to follow through. Well, I told you to do it, then we don't follow through with anything, then we blame the kids for it. That's our fault. The Bible says a child left himself bringing his mother to shame. You give him a command, but then you don't follow through with it, and you don't look at it. You don't constantly teach and reteach, teach and reteach, teach and re... See, for some reason we haven't... I don't know. I don't have time to get on this. I'm sorry. But I got to move on. But here's the thing. Sometimes we think, well, I taught it once. I mean, that's... You should have got it already. What's the matter with you anyway? Isn't that... Anybody else know anything about that? Well, just remember, the Bible is full of, I will put you into remembrance. I will remind you of these things. I will put you into remembrance as long as you're in this tabernacle, because you're deaf. You're dull of hearing. Right? Stiff necked. And remember we talked about that fall in memory? Remember that? Okay, that was free, it didn't cost nothing. I do take tips though. All right, let's keep moving here. Revelation chapter three, verse number 14. And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write these things, sayeth the amen. The faithful and true witness. I like this, it says the amen. Christ is not a amen, he is the amen. Isn't that nice? I like how the Bible's written. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. Now watch, he's revealing unto them their infirmities. He's speaking spiritually, he's not speaking physically. He's talking about a church's infirmities. He's speaking to a specific church. There are seven of those churches listed in Revelation. There are seven types of churches today. Just like there were seven literal churches back then, there are seven different types of churches today. That's the model that we see here. These things say, the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works. I like, man, there's so much here. I don't have time to go through it all, but look what he says here. These things say the amen, the faithful and true witness. So he's exhorting them, he's saying, I'm the faithful and true witness. Then he's gonna go tell them, you ain't being faithful and true. Watch what he says to them. See how Christ is the answer for everything? Oh. Are you catching that? No, seriously, like, are you paying attention to that? It's right there. He's the answer for everything. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou work cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. So then because thou art lukewarm, I will spew thee. He says, because thou sayest, watch, I am rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold. Try it in the fire. Now here's his counsel. Okay. Here's the doctor. Here's the great physician. He says, this is what's wrong with you. Now, let me give you my remedy. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyes sad that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Don't forget that part. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. So, what does he show them there? Earthly gold, you need heavenly gold. You're poor, buy my gold and you'll be rich. You're naked, buy a white robe from me. You're blind, anoint your eyes with eye salve so you can see. Right? You're lukewarm, so be zealous. What does that mean? Be on fire! Why? Because lukewarm is confusing. I would that were cold or hot. Not lukewarm. That's confusing. That's hybridization. It's confusing. All the promises in Christ are what? Yay and amen. So he reveals it so he can heal it. That's what God does. The Lord heals all our diseases. Our understandings, listen to this quote. Our understandings are so bad that they understand not their own badness. Our wills, which are the queens of our souls, become the vassals of sin. Our memory, like jet, good only to draw straws and treasure up trifles of no moment. Our consciences, though errors in our own understanding, sometimes accusing us when we are innocent, sometimes acquitting us when we are guilty, our affections are all disaffected and out of order. That's why you have to have the word of God. That's why you have to have Christ. That's why you have to daily feast upon him. It's not enough that you're saved from hell and you're just like, okay. Well, I go to church and I do this, but yeah, but you need Christ. You need to feast on Christ. You need to meditate on his word. You've got to grow. It's not enough. God's not going to let that suffice you as his child. Look, if you were children of hell, then you could do that. There's a lot of churches you could go to right now, and I'm not bad-mouthing anybody. I'm just telling you, there's a lot. They don't preach the Bible that preaches sermonette to you. They'll preach something that don't make you feel guilty, that you go home feeling good about yourself all the time, right? That you think everything's okay. A lot of people do that, don't Joel Osteen. They're making millions of dollars off people. It's sad, it's just downright sad. First of all, no church should be making millions of dollars. All right, you give that money away. You don't keep it. I can say for Rosemont, for all the money they ever brought in, they gave it all back out. They didn't keep it. I mean, they had buildings and land and stuff like that, but they bought things for people. They sent it right back out. Ain't nobody rich there. Ain't nobody got rich there. They sent it all back out. All of it. Amen. They didn't keep it. They didn't keep that for themselves. They didn't keep it to get rich. But you know what? That's what's going on today. You can feel good about yourself. You don't have to worry about it. Must not that needs be a monstrous face wherein the blueness, which should be in the veins, is in the lips, the redness, which should be in the cheeks, in the nose, and the hair that should grow on the head, on the face? And must not our souls need seem ugly in the sight of God, who have grief growing there where joy should, and joy where grief should? We love what we should hate, and hate where we should love. We fear where no fear is, and fear not where we ought to fear. And all our affections either mistake their object or exceed their due measure? See, there's only Christ that can balance it out. We tend to take, especially if you ever get anxiety, you take an all or nothing approach. I mean, that's to everything. You did one thing wrong, oh, you're a reprobate. It's just the way it is. You'll mow that around your head, you'll throw that in the wheel of your brain and you'll just meditate on that for like days, oh, you're a reprobate. Yep, yep, you're done. You're done. You looked funny at that lady, you're gone. What if that person really hates me? Right? I mean, that's what anxiety and things like that, that's what happens, and you fostered your mind, and you think about it for two or three days, and you got it all, and it's all geared up in your brain, right? And you're focused on that, and boy, by the time it's done, it is the biggest monster in the world. And what can straighten it out? Only Christ. Because what is the Holy Spirit coming with? Reason? Now you know that's not true. You know that's not real. You know what the truth is. You know what God's Word says. Yeah, but I feel this. Yeah, but you know what God's Word says. You ever notice in the book of 1 John, how God says over and over again, how John says over and over again through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and we know, and we know, and we know. I'm still looking for the verses where he says, and we feel, and we feel, and we feel. Ryan, you ever seen those verses there? I haven't seen those yet. I always read it that way in my mind. Do you sometimes read that way in your mind? Josh, do you ever read that way in your mind sometimes? Dave, you ever do that? But I feel. And we feel that. And we feel that. Jacob, you ever done that? Maybe a few times? And we feel that. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. That's right. That's not accurate, is it? Your dad's gonna make you feel that. God's method of confirmation is not painless when he conforms us. We must not confuse regeneration as the work of the Lord and how it was painless with us to be conformed to the image of Christ is much different. Regeneration is all of God's work. And of course there comes repentance and sorrow with that and we know we're sinners and we fear the wrath of God and all those things. However, after that, We have that joy, and then life hits us, right? God's method is not painless. We have to understand that. Into the crucible we will go. Proverbs 17.3, the finding pot is for the silver, and the furnace for gold. But the Lord trieth the hearts. That was my memory verse a few days ago. That was my meditation verse. You know what that tells me, Dave? Ouch. That's what that tells me. Why does that tell me that, Walt? What does he do with silver? What does it say? Where does it go? The finding pot. What's the finding pot? Who knows what that is? Melts it. What's it melt? But it gets really super hot. But what never gets hurt by the heat process? The silver. Silver doesn't get hurt. What comes off? The dross. But doesn't it feel like you're gonna hurt from it all? Or you're being hurt from it all? Well, of course it does. What does that song say? My only design, what is what? thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. The flame shall not hurt thee, my only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. We all know the finding pot is hot and the furnace is hot. but only the dross, only the infirmities are melted away. When on the operating table for the divine surgeon, only the infirmities are cut away with this scalpel. He never cuts the wrong way, but exactly what is needed. If he adjusts the spiritual spine, Joshua, it's not a degree too much nor a degree too little. That's right. You know, sometimes when you go to the chiropractor, you think sometimes they might've messed up your back. And you might find it, because you're like, man, that felt bad. So it must not have done what it was supposed to do. And then a couple of days later, it's like, wow, I feel pretty good. I can move. I have more range of motion. I can, well, why is that? Well, because it had to hurt to help. Sometimes it does have to. Sometimes it has to hurt to help. Amen. And that's how God works. Sometimes it has to hurt to help. Right. Just like the rod hurts. Yeah. Yeah. He knows all about it, doesn't he? Next we find, healeth all thy diseases. The next word is an important one. and one that reproves those who have a twisted theology, the word healeth. Meaning that it is, what does that say in verse, let's look at the verse here. Who healeth all thy diseases. Doesn't say who healed all thy diseases. Yeah, that's right, one day. It says, thy word, it says the word keeleth, meaning that it is an ongoing process. Just as no man is freed the day he is born from all physical infirmities, no man has the fallen nature eradicated from him when he is regenerated. Now this is not an excuse to sin because there is no excuse for the child of God to sin, but this is the truth of the two natures of the flesh and blood that war against one another. We need ongoing healing of our infirmities because more pop out the longer we are saved, more boil to the top when afflictions and trials come. When the metal is tested, when the faith is tested by heat, more of the infirmities come out, more of the afflictions, affliction boils it to the top so we can see the mess that's there. When you are tested and things come out, it's like, Lord, forgive me, I didn't handle that well. I should have had faith. I should have trusted you. Amen. Or your faith grows through it as well. One does not exclude the other. Trials come and test the metal of our faith. So then sometimes all you see is your infirmities. Trust God with his work. He's only revealing it to heal it. Every physician wishes to know every symptom so he can deal with the problem. So then your body will reveal to you what is wrong with it. And the Lord allows the same so that he may show you and heal you. But it says healeth, ongoing, daily, needed to heal infirmities and diseases. Remember the crux of this spiritual healing is always the atonement. Legally justified. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. It's dealing with sin, not dealing with your physical health. Although sin affects your health, but he's dealing with sin. Amen. Boy, I don't think you could find another Old Testament masterful treatise on the atonement or on Christ than Isaiah chapter 53. I don't think there's a better one in there. I don't think there's one more descriptive, I should say. Isaiah 53. So what are the daily infirmities that you and I need healed? Sin. Why is sin an infirmity? Why is sin a disease? It destroys the moral beauty of the creature. Sin destroys us, makes us ugly. Sin excites pain in the spirit. I could give you verses for this, but we don't have time. But you can look them up. It's Psalm 51, verse number eight. Well, let's go there. We'll look at that one real quickly here. Psalm 51, verse eight. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Was David's bones really broken? What was David speaking spiritually? No, nobody broke David's bones. Tommy didn't come over and bash his skull in or anything or break his arm, right? That's not what happened. Nobody touched David except God. Right, that thou hast broken, right? See, so it's God that does that. It excites pain, sin brings pain. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 56. Hey man, you learn something today? I hope you are, I hope you are. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. Sting of death is sin. Sin disables us from duty, Romans 7, 19. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Sin deprives man of sound reason. Isaiah 520. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Their reason is gone. It leads to death. Romans 6.1. Sin leads to death. That's why it's a disease of the soul. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. The variety of sinful diseases to which we are subject to are found in Galatians chapter 5. They are the works of the flesh, Mark 721 also, for from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man. Kind of breaks the whole excuse the devil made me do it. Galatians 5, 16 says, This I say, then walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before. as I have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us It isn't automatic. You have to choose to do that every day. You have to choose that. That's right, it's action. That's what this Christian life is. Spurgeon talks about this, he says, "...who heals all thy diseases. When the cause is gone, namely iniquity, the effect ceases. Sickness of body and soul came into the world by sin. And as sin is eradicated, disease bodily, mentally, and spiritually will vanish till the inhabitants shall no more say, I am sick." Future tense. Many cited as the character of our Heavenly Father. For having forgiven as a judge, he then cures as a physician. He is all things to us, as our needs call for him, and our infirmities do but reveal him in new characters." Boy, is that for sure. When you go through affliction, you get to know God better. You get saved by the grace of God, you know him as Savior, but you don't know him as anything else yet. You'll learn to know him as Lord, and you'll learn to know him as shepherd, and you'll learn to know him as, you'll learn to know him as the physician that healeth. You'll learn to know him as that as time goes by. You'll learn to know him as the advocate. You'll learn to know him as the high priest that ever liveth to make intercession for them. You'll learn to know him as that the longer you're saved. God gives efficacy. to medicine for the body, and his grace sanctifies the soul. Spiritually, we are all daily under his care, and he visits us as the surgeon does his patient. Healing still, for that is the healing still, which is that is the exact word, each malady as it arises. No disease of our soul baffles his skill. He goes on healing all, and he will do so till the last trace of taint has gone from our nature. The two alls of this verse are further reasons for all that is within us, praising the Lord. The two blessings of this verse the psalmist was personally enjoying. He sang not of others, but of himself, or rather of his Lord, who is daily forgiving and healing him. He must have known that it was so, so he could not have sung of it. He had no doubt about it, he felt it in his soul that it was so, and therefore he bade his pardoned and restored soul bless the Lord with all his might. This is after David had sinned against God. Now see, I think this was at the end of David's life, after some maturity set in. Let me give you this thought here. David was a man that battled lust. Lust was a giant of sin in his life. You know, he fought with Goliath in his youth, chopped off the head of the giant, destroyed him. He subdued nations and kings and armies, yet the sweet psalmist of Israel, the man after God's own heart, was taken down by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He was taken down what was in his own heart. Psalm 51 records David's bitter cry of repentance. And who can forget his cry after chastisement? Absalom, Absalom, oh my son Absalom. Would to God I would have died for thee, Absalom. Oh my son, what was that? The bitter cry of a chastened heart. See, it ain't funny to sin. You understand that? It ain't funny to sin against God as a Christian. You know all these people out there and they talk their trash, this sinless perfection nonsense and all this other stuff. And well, you think God's just gonna, you know, let you go to heaven after you sinned or whatever and then it's like this. I'm like, do you understand even who God is? I mean, you get the fact that Christians, that as a child of God, you just don't go off and live in wickedness and vileness and there not be an effect. that there not be a judgment on that. God's gonna deal with you. You don't just get away with it. Lee, did you ever get away with sin? Right, and then what happened? I guarantee you, he knows this, and he would testify to this, that he still deals with the effects of that in his mind today. You don't forget that. You can't erase that when you sinned against God. I mean, as a child of God, You can't forget that. You can't. It doesn't go away. It doesn't just disappear. So David's inordinate love for women cost him dearly. But you know what, I believe in the end of his life, he actually got the victory over that. I believe that's when he wrote that psalm right there. who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." I think David's saying that because it happened to him. Turn to 1 Kings 1. I want to show you something. 1 Kings 1. I think David got the victory over that lust. I think he did, and I think it's right here. I think this, otherwise, why is this even mentioned to us? It really has no basis of any importance as far as anything else goes, but it's the Holy Ghost's way of saying, hey, guess what? David got the victory. I gave it to him in the end. David learned through chastening that he was made a partaker of my holiness. Look at it. 1 Kings 1, Now King David was old and stricken in years, and they covered him with claws, but he got no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king, a young virgin, and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag of Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, that means she was beautiful. In other words, she was a knockout. And she was a young lady. And she was probably like 16 to 20. All right? That's probably where she was in age. Now everyone knows if you're an old man, that would be attractive. I'm just telling you the truth, it would be. 20 year old girl, it would be. For somebody that was thinking in the flesh. Especially somebody who had the problems David did. Because he dealt with it. He dealt with that lustful heart. But look at what the Bible says here. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coast. And the damsel was very fair and cherished the king and ministered to him. But the king knew her not. She slept in the same bed to keep him warm. Nothing happened. Why is that? I think he learned. I think he saw what was important. I think the chasing of the Lord taught him. It taught him. He learned from it. God gave him victory. Now, I'm not saying set yourself up into positions like that and do things like that. The point is that David was the king, that's the way they did things. But you'll notice him, he had nothing to do with that, her. Why is that? Because I believe that God revealed it, God dealt with his sin, God chastened him, and he learned from it, and he got the victory over it. I believe there's a lot of things in this life, I've seen things that God has revealed unto me from my, ever since I've been saved, that the Lord has said, nope, don't do that. And it's bothered me, I've said, you know what, I'm not gonna fall in that trap. I'm gonna stay far away from that trap. That doesn't mean that we can not have our armor on. What it means is that that's what the divine physician does. That's how he heals us. What are the remedies he uses? And we're done here. Number one, he uses his pardoning mercy through the redemption of Christ. It's all based on the legal justification, Christ's merit. The atonement is Christ's merit. Amen. That's what he uses. He uses the merit of Christ. That's how the divine physician works. Why? Because nothing you and I do is good enough. For all who have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so he uses the atonement. Isaiah 53 verse number five talks about that. We already talked about that. He healeth why by his stripes we are healed. I had a charismatic guy tell me that when I had a sore back or something, he was like, he told me that. He used that verse. He said, they're healing. He said, I saw somebody heal the PTSD in a meeting. Well, let me tell you something. First of all, you don't know if that person's healed the PTSD instantly like that. All right? There's permanent effects on the mind. Let me share something with you. There are permanent effects on the mind that you will never take away. Doesn't matter if you're saved or not. Now, they don't have dominion over you. You have to fight them. But once a mind has traumatic experience, once a mind has something like anxiety or PTSD, that doesn't just disappear. Yes, could God come down and touch your brains and heal it? Yes, but he doesn't operate that way now. Will that ever go away? No, because the brain is permanently damaged that way. That's how it is. People don't understand mental illness. They don't understand it at all. So they think, well, it's not that, because it's not a broken arm. Well, then it's not real. But it is real, and you can't change that. You can't heal that, but you can surrender it to Christ. So he uses number two, the sanctifying influences of grace, Hebrews chapter 10. Verse number 16, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, sayeth the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. He says, I'll sanctify them and write my law on their hearts. So it's a sanctifying presence. How about this? He uses the means of grace. He uses his church, Ephesians chapter 4. By the way, that's not a bad word, the means of grace, if you understand it scripturally. No, we don't believe in sacraments. We believe in ordinances. Ephesians chapter 4. Let's look at this. Here's what God uses. This is God's way. You're sitting in it right now. Amen? This is how God uses to heal the infirmities of his people. The local New Testament church. Look what it says here. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. for your perfection, what does that mean? Sinless perfection? No, I can't make you sinlessly perfect. I can't make me sinlessly perfect. What does it mean? Your maturity, for you to grow. You know, some of the things you're going through as a Christian, I'm going through right now, they're growth problems. They really are. You think they're like the problems that are gonna cast you into hell, but they're really not. Okay? They're growth problems. There's spiritual growth problems. Some of the things, we're gonna look back and be like, man, were we ever immature about that? But you'll have a greater patience with your brethren. When you look at it, and you can walk up to them and you can say, no, don't worry, it's okay. Don't lose it here, it's fine. You're gonna get through it. There are some growth things. When you learn to trust God through things. Amen. He says, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. You can't do that in a universal invisible church, out there on the internet. Doesn't work. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Does anybody here think they've obtained that? I didn't ask you if you were saved. I'm asking if you believe that you've obtained the knowledge of the Son of God. No. No. You haven't. You haven't. We haven't. We have it. That's why we come together according to God's order, and that's why we do what God has commanded us to do, and that's why. So we grow and we mature into that perfect man, as a church, as a people together, and our infirmities are healed, our weaknesses. Right? Do we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man? Is that sinless? No, but you should want to be. But that's not, what does perfect mean? Mature, complete, whole. Let patience have her perfect work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That one verse, verse number 13, verse number 13, you could literally break that down and there's probably five sermons in that verse right there. Under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So then the existence of our church is to glorify God, is to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to perfect the saints, so we all come unto a perfect man under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. It's gonna take a long time. It is a lifelong work. So then, I want you to match that with what Paul said in other places, that I may know him. and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. He uses his church to do that. Number four is the resurrection of the body. There is a final healing that will take place when we are resurrected and perfected completely in spirit and in body. I'll leave you with this. A man named Gypsy Smith, at one of his missions meetings, he recently told a story. Now this was a hundred years ago, so it's not recent, but a couple hundred years ago. At one of his, probably 150 years ago. At one of his missions meetings, Gypsy Smith recently told a story about his own little ones who had played truant. And in trying to be stern, he sent them to bed without any supper. He passed the rest of the evening tiptoeing about, listening and wondering what the effect of the punishment would be. Finally, not hearing any sound, he made his way to the bedchamber. As he leaned over the bed, one of the little fellows said, is that you, father? And sobbed out, father, will you forgive me? Yes, my son, yes, I will forgive you, for I love you. Then father, take me down to supper. This was used by Gypsy Smith to point the lesson that once we are forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we have the blessedness of sharing intimate communion with Him. After the kiss of reconciliation, the erstwhile prodigal breaks again the breading of and despair of his father's house. That's the healing work of the physician. That's the work of God. That's the work that He does in us. Amen? That's His continual work, and it is a continual work. You and I will never be able to be comfortable as children of God. We will never be able to be comfortable in believing that we have arrived. God will always be showing us things that we must work on, and Satan will always be antagonizing you with those things, so you have an overabundance of focus on those things. That is not what God wants you to do. What he wants you to do is go to him and get the healing that you need in all areas of your life. And he will give it to you because he is faithful. And he ever liveth to make intercession for his people. Father, Lord, thank you. Thank you for the truth of the scriptures. May we embrace them and we believe them with our whole hearts. And we turn to Christ alone and always, for every infirmity, every fear, every doubt, every sin, every transgression, every failure in our character, every flaw. And may the grace of God be magnified over them all. That Christ may be praised. In Jesus' name, we ask and we pray for the food, the fellowship, the time, the teaching. In Jesus' name, amen.