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Please turn with me in your Bibles
now to Mark 2. Mark 2. And we will read the
verses 1-17 of Mark 2. The Word of the Lord. And again he entered into Capernaum
after some days. And it was noise that he, that
is Jesus, was in the house. And straightway many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
no, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word
unto them. And they come unto him, bringing
one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they
could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered
the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the
scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this
man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? And immediately, when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto
them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it
easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. But that
ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise,
and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately
he arose, he took up his bed, and went forth before them all,
insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We
never saw it on this fashion. And he went forth again by the
seaside, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught
them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Elphias,
sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many
publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples.
For there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes
and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said
unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, He saith
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." So far, the reading of the Word. Congregation, our text for the
sermon this morning comes from Mark 2, verse 17. Mark 2, verse 17, where it says,
When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners. Dear congregation, let's
say that you and a friend are out for a walk, perhaps to a
park or downtown somewhere. You're in a somewhat public place.
And as you're out for a walk, your friend suddenly collapses.
Well, what would be one of the first things that you would do?
Well, you would cry out, wouldn't you? A doctor. I need a doctor. Well, and maybe somewhere you
would hear a man cry out, well, I'm a medical doctor. And then
the small crowd that would have gathered would part way, wouldn't
it? And let this man come to you and he would look at your
friend. But now what if once he came to you and saw your friend
lying on the ground, what if he turned to you and said, oh,
I'm sorry, I'm not that kind of doctor. I don't treat sick
people. Well, you would wonder, wouldn't
you? What kind of doctor doesn't treat sick people? Well, this
is the same kind of question that the disciples might have
had this evening in our text for the Pharisees. What kind
of spiritual doctor doesn't treat people who are spiritually sick? What kind of spiritual doctor
doesn't treat the spiritually sick? The Pharisees, they were
the religious leaders of the day. They were supposed to be
the spiritual doctors. They were to lead people to God,
to the promised Messiah. But here, they disagreed with
Jesus. After all, just look at Him.
That man eats and drinks with sinners. And people call Him
a rabbi? He's not a doctor. And so the
Pharisees, they go up and they question the disciples. They
tease them, really. But notice then how Jesus replies.
In verse 16, And when the scribes and the Pharisees saw him eat
with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How
is it that he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners? And
when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now this
dispute was taking place in Capernaum. And Capernaum was a town where
we are told at the end of chapter 1 that the people had brought
unto Jesus all them that were diseased, and them that were
possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered
together at the door, and He healed many that were sick of
diverse diseases, and He cast out many devils. So Capernaum
was a town that Jesus had come to and virtually banished all
disease from. And so, His use of the words
whole and sick here in our text, it would not have been lost on
the Pharisees. Jesus is telling them, I am a physician. I am a doctor. Just look at all
these people I've healed. But I am not only a physician
of the body, but of the soul also. Jesus presents Himself here in
contrast to the Pharisees who should have been. Jesus presents
Himself as a doctor who is making His rounds among the sick. And
so, let us look at this passage under this theme. The doctor
makes His rounds. The doctor makes His rounds.
And we can see here three aspects of Jesus as a doctor. We'll see
who His patients are. those who He eats and drinks
with. We also see how He conducts His practice. And thirdly, we
will see the prescription that He hands out. So the doctor makes
his rounds, his patients, his practice, and his prescription.
First, the doctor's patients. Jesus says that there are some
who are sick and some who are whole. But He's not referring
primarily here to the body, is He? For then he continues, and
he says, I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners. So it's clear that he's talking
about spiritual health. Some are spiritually sick. Some
are spiritually whole. And so one important question
that we need to ask ourselves as we begin to look at this text
tonight is what am I? What am I? What group do I fit
in here? Am I part of the sick? Or am
I part of the whole? Would Jesus describe me as righteous
here in this text? Or would He describe me as a
sinner? What am I? Well, perhaps the best way to
help us answer this question is to further look at these two
different groups of people, the whole and the sick. Let's begin
with the whole. Who are the whole? Can anyone
be whole? Well, what Jesus is really saying
is this, that we are all sick and there is no one who is whole. Dr. Murray describes it in this
way, that the difference between the two groups is this, some
recognize they are sick. And many are deceived into thinking
that they are whole. Some recognize they are sick.
Many are deceived into thinking they are whole. Everyone is sick. So the whole person here is a
person who feels no need for a doctor. And perhaps you know
somebody like this. They could have just had a terrible
injury or a bad accident, and yet they're fine. They're fine. Just help me back up on my feet
and I'll be fine. I don't need a doctor. And yet
it's clear to everyone around them that if they need one thing,
they need a doctor. Well, this is how Jesus describes
the spiritual condition of some. These are the whole, the righteous
in our text. They feel no need for a doctor. They believe that they can go
through life on their own two feet no matter what happens.
And they're not going to admit to anyone that they need help. Sin to them is just a scratch. It's just a scratch. It's nothing
I can't handle. It's nothing that a little bit
of church won't fix. It's nothing that a band-aid
won't fix. Well, if anyone in Israel was
whole, it was the Pharisees. They were righteous. They didn't
need a doctor. They were the doctors. But they
weren't living like they really were. They didn't recognize that
they were sick and that they desperately needed a cure. So I wonder, have we already
described someone here tonight? Is there anyone here who's trying
to make it through life on their own two feet like you could if
you were whole? And then, are you perhaps living
like your sin requires nothing more than a Band-Aid? Or there's
nothing like a little bit of church to get you on your feet
and on your way again? Well, my friend, Jesus says that
He has come not to call the righteous, but sinners. So if you believe that you are
whole, then what you are actually saying to Jesus is that you have
no need for Him. What does a healthy person need
a doctor for? But the reality is that we are
all sick, which is that many are deceived into thinking that
they are whole. So then what makes a sick person
sick? Well, the Bible uses many ways
to describe our spiritual sickness. First, for example, Jesus speaks
of sinners as having diseased hearts. Diseased hearts. In Mark chapter 7 he says, For
from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness."
This is not just one blood clot. This is thirteen blood clots. Who to thank? that so many sins
can be crammed into something as small as your heart. But this
is your heart. This is my heart by nature. You think that this list is exaggerated.
Well, Jesus continues and He says that all these evil things
come from within. You know, we're always so quick
to look out there for our trouble. We're out there for our problems.
And yet, this is your heart and my heart. We have diseased hearts. It's all within. It's reported that heart disease claims
more lives each year than all forms of cancer combined. Heart disease is the world's
number one killer. And the Bible says that we have
serious heart disease. There's no band-aid that can
cover up what we have. This disease is inside of us.
We don't need to look around for our troubles. It's all here
inside our hearts. But secondly, the Bible also
speaks of our spiritual sickness in terms of blinded eyes. We
have blinded eyes. It says in Isaiah 59 that we
wait for light, but behold obscurity. for brightness, but we walk in
darkness. We grope for the wall like the
blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble in noonday
as in the night." Well, you know, when a person is physically blind,
their eyes allow no light to enter into their minds. And so
when the Bible describes us as spiritually blind, it means that
by nature, Our eyes of faith allow no gospel light to enter
into our souls. We're blind to God. And we're
blind to our own sickness. And that's the gospel, isn't
it? The gospel tells us all about God. And it tells us all about
ourselves. But we're blind to it. We can't
see it. We think we're whole. The Apostle John wrote that Jesus
came in the world as the light of men, but the darkness comprehended
it not. We have blinded eyes. We're unable
by nature to see the light of the Gospel, even the light of
the Gospel. We are unable to believe. You
know, it's not by chance that Jesus would later call the Pharisees
blind leaders of the blind. But Jesus here is different. Jesus is a doctor. Notice the
number of times in the Gospels that we read of Him giving sight
to blind men. They cried out to Him, Lord,
have mercy on us. But doesn't this show us how
we should cry out to God in our blindness? Have you shouted out
like blind Bartimaeus did when he heard Jesus of Nazareth pass
by? Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." Or perhaps have you folded your
hands and closed your eyes and asked a little quieter, Lord,
that I might receive my sight? We have blinded eyes. But there
is also another way in which the Bible describes our spiritual
sickness. We also, by nature, have paralyzed
muscles. Paralyzed muscles. You know,
at the beginning of this chapter that we read, we read about four
friends. Do you know this story? This
is an amazing story. These four men, they had another
friend who was sick of the palsy, the Bible says. In other words,
he was a paralytic. He was flat on his back in bed
and unable to get up. But these four friends of his,
they're determined that they're going to bring him to Jesus.
So what do they do? Well, they pick him up, bed and
all, and out the door they go. Down the street, they're going
to Jesus. Imagine what a sight he must
have been on the street. And of course, the house where
Jesus is in is packed, and there's no one who's going to let five
men and a whole bed in through the house. But these men don't
give up, do they? No. They go up the stairs on
the outside of the roof, and they start tearing off the roof,
and they lower this man to the very feet of Jesus. But then
notice, what is the first thing that Jesus says to this paralyzed
man? What is the first thing He says?
Verse 5, "'Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.'" Thy sins be forgiven
thee. What a strange thing for Jesus
to say. Here's this paralyzed man on
his bed. And Jesus said, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Well, what was Jesus doing here?
Well, Jesus was making an important connection between paralysis
and our sinful state. How this man was physically is
how we all are spiritually by nature. We are unable to move. We have paralyzed muscles. Now,
I realize that this might be hard and difficult for some of
us to try and picture, especially for our younger people who can
have so much energy. But while we may have the power
to keep our bodies moving all day long, our souls are paralyzed. We're flat on our back. You know
that we're unable to even lift one finger of faith on our own. We're unable to go to Christ
on our own, even if we wanted to. Paul says in Romans 7, For
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. We have paralyzed
muscles. Then fourthly, our sickness is
described as having putrefying sores. Again in Isaiah, from the sole
of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it,
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointments. What a description. What a description. This is how
we lie in our sins. We have a leprosy of the soul.
Our sins, they keep eating away at us. They keep battering us
and bruising us. They're leaving us with open
and oozing sores. We are covered from head to foot.
We have, as David says in Psalm 38, sores that stink. He says,
I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go
mourning all the day long, for my loins are filled with a loathsome
disease and there is no soundness in my flesh." What a state we are in spiritually. We have diseased hearts, blinded
eyes, paralyzed muscles, putrefying sores, I wonder how much we'd
pity a person if he lay before us on a bed with all these diseases. And yet the Bible describes us
as having every one of them. Is it no wonder that archaism
begins by speaking of the greatness of our sins and our misery? Well, these are the sick, as
the Bible describes them. These are the very people The
publicans and the sinners whom Jesus came to call, these are
His patients. Well, I wonder if there is anyone
here tonight who still thinks that they are whole. Is there
anyone here tonight who thinks that they are righteous? Let us in the second place then
consider the doctor's practice. His practice. Imagine how happy a person who
is confined to their bed, blinds and covered in sores would be
to hear that a doctor was coming who could heal him. Well, my
friends, Jesus says here in our text that He is such a doctor. You know, we try in so many different
ways, don't we, to heal our spiritual sickness. We turn to so many
different ways Christ alone is the only doctor who can successfully
treat the sickness of our souls. Christ alone is able to help
us. I come, He says, not to call the righteous, but sinners. Well, we should notice two things
about how He conducts His doctor's practice. First, He comes qualified. The Bible presents Jesus as preeminently
qualified. to be our physician. And Jesus
comes qualified precisely because He alone has a cure for our disease. Now why do you think that Christ
alone has a cure for our disease? It's because the cure is nothing
less than the blood of the Son of God. Christ's very own blood
is the only cure for our disease. This is why the sick have need
of Him. You know, contrary to much contemporary preaching in
America, we don't need Jesus because He can make us more successful.
And we don't need Jesus because He can make us rich. We don't
even need Jesus because He can make us feel better. We need
Jesus precisely because we are spiritually sick and He alone,
His blood alone can cleanse us from our sins. In 1893, there was held in Chicago
the first annual event known as the World's Parliament of
Religions. And this parliament was represented
by almost every known religion in the world. During one of the
sessions, the Reverend Dr. Joseph Cook, who was there representing
Christianity, he suddenly rose up and he said, gentlemen, I
beg to introduce you to a woman with great sorrow. She has been
driven to desperation in her distress. Is there anything in
any of your religions that will remove her sin and give her peace?" Well, a hush fell upon the gathering. Not a soul stirred. No one replied. And then raising
his eyes heavenward, Dr. Cook then cried out, Can you
tell us and tell this woman how she can get rid of her awful
sin?" Then the preacher waited as if he was listening for a
reply. And then he cried again, Listen! John speaks. And he proceeded to quote from
1 John 1. And it goes like this. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Well, not a soul broke the silence. The representatives of all the
other religions sat dumb. You know, in the face of our
sin, in the face of our spiritual sickness, the blood of Christ
alone can meet our need. Jesus alone is qualified to be
our Physician. This is why all the Old Testament
sacrifices point to Jesus. This is why God the Father sent
Him. This is why God the Father anointed Him with the Spirit.
And this is why God the Father publicly declared of Him, This
is My Son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus comes as a qualified Physician. But second, we see that He also
comes to us. He comes to us. You know, most
doctors have their medical practice in a building somewhere, don't
they? And when we have an appointment, we need to get into our cars
and we need to drive over to them, to wherever they are. But
Jesus tells us that He is willing to come to us. Just look where
He was when the Pharisees found Him here in our text. He was
eating with sinners and publicans in the very house of a publican. You know, all their sins combined
could not keep Jesus from eating and drinking with them that day.
I wonder if you've ever thought about this as you sat to eat
and drink at the Lord's Supper table. That not only has Christ
died and paid for your sin, He's also done it for his sin over
there. In his sin. In her sin. In her sin. Everyone's sin combined who believes
in Him. Christ has bought and paid. He
came as a physician to the sick. But He continues to come to the
sick today, doesn't He, through His Gospel. There's no one who
is too sick for this doctor. There's no need to apply to see
if you qualify. Every sinner qualifies. There's
no need to check to see if he's accepting new patients. He's
always looking for new patients. There's no long waiting lines
in order to see this doctor. He's willing to come to you and
to me, right to the very footsteps of our heart, so to speak. And
he says to us, I have come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Well, if you've ever spent some
time looking over the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels, you'll
know just what kind of doctor He is. You'll know how He conducts
His doctors' practice. It's almost like in the Gospels,
in the miracles, He's putting His doctor's resume on display
for us. He's like saying, right in our
faces, go look at any other doctor. Compare. Is there any doctor
compared with me? Notice in his miracles how tender
he is with hurting people. How he accepted all who came.
There was not one person whom he turned away. He never refused
anyone. He didn't charge. He never asked
for a single penny for any of his services. He never set up
certain conditions that you needed to meet before you could come
to Him. People came to Him and they were cured, no matter what
their sickness, no matter what their trouble. His miracles,
they show His approachability, don't they? They show His amiability. They show His love. Is there
anyone like unto Him? J.C. Ryle writes that the Lord
Jesus came into the world to be a physician. No sin-sick soul
is too far gone for Him. It is His glory to heal and to
restore to life the most desperate cases. For unfailing skill, for
unweary tenderness, for long experience of man's spiritual
ailments, The great physician of souls stands alone. There
is none like unto Him. Well, do you recognize this doctor? Do you know this doctor? Do you
see his cure as the very thing that you must have? Do you trust
him enough to throw away any band-aid that you've been using?
Do you trust Him enough to place yourself under His care? To throw
yourself completely upon Him? You know, it will not help to
pretend that you're still whole. There is no one who is whole,
who has not been made whole by Him. Call out to Him while He's
still making His rounds, seeking patience. It's the same today
for you as it was for blind Bartimaeus. Jesus of Nazareth is passing
by. Won't you call out to Him? Pass
me not, O gentle Saviour. Hear my humble cry. While in
others Thou art calling, do not pass me by." Well, we have looked
at the doctor's patience and at his practice. But thirdly
now, let us look at his prescription. His prescription. Jesus says
again in verse 17, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. We might compare repentance here
to the prescription which a medical doctor uses to treat his patients. Christ's blood is the cure, but
repentance is the prescription. But this prescription of repentance
is a difficult medicine to take for some people. There are a
number of reasons for this. One is due to the fact that we
often have a view of sin that is too low. You have a view of
sin that is too low. You don't see sin as a sickness
that is destroying both your body and your soul. Oh, you're
willing to admit in general, I'm a sinner, but yet you're
not overly concerned by it. Well, then you're not likely
to take this prescribed medicine of repentance, are you? Because
it hurts and it often doesn't taste good. It attacks our self-confidence
and it cuts our pride down right at the root. It's a difficult
medicine to take. But will you not consider the
reputation of the doctor who's prescribing this repentance?
Is he not trustworthy? Is he not reliable? You know, so often we run to
every kind of source just to find the answer that we're looking
for. Every source, it seems, but Christ. We more readily trust our family
doctor. You know, if he gives us a prescription, then we take
it. No questions asked. But the Word
of God, from front to back, clearly and repeatedly describes our
sickness of sin over and over again. And we have every symptom
on the list, yet so many people don't see the need to repent. Well, what you're really saying
to Christ is, I don't trust you. I don't trust you. I trust myself
more than I trust you. I trust my works more than I
trust you. I'll trust anything and anyone
more than you. Well, to say that to God is damnable,
isn't it? To go up to God and to say to
Him, I don't trust you. It's worthy of damnation. To say to Him, I won't repent. But others perhaps find repentance
to be difficult because it's a prescription that we need to
take for the rest of our lives. We can never stop taking repentance.
It's not like it's a daily pill or a simple prayer that we repeat
at lunchtime. Repentance is a complete lifestyle
change. If you were to go in and have
heart surgery, and after your operation, your doctor will not
say to you, okay, now you can go and enjoy your life exactly
how you did before. No, he won't, will he? But along
with various medications, he's going to prescribe to you a new
diet. He'll want to change your eating habits. Out with the fatty
foods and the artery-clogging calories. He'll also give you
some exercises to do, perhaps two or three times a week, if
not daily. Your doctor will give you a complete
new lifestyle. Well, so too Jesus as a doctor
prescribes a dramatic lifestyle change. Repentance means no more
doing, no more watching, no more listening to. the very things
that worsened your heart disease in the first place. You need
to get rid of everything that clogged the arteries of your
heart. Yes, we even need to get rid
of those sins that we like so much. And they're there, aren't
they? Well, there is no one whom the
Lord has given a new heart to, to whom He has not also prescribed
the medicine of repentance. Repentance is not optional. We
must take it. We must leave our sinful habits
and turn to Christ. But no matter how difficult it
is to repent, and I'm sure that our sinful hearts can find many
more ways to add to this list for why it's too hard to repent.
Christ could not have made it any easier for us, could He have?
He's listed our symptoms for us. He's diagnosed our sickness. He's shown to us that we need
major surgery. But then Christ went and did
something that no other doctor would think of doing for His
patients. Christ went and He took that operation for us in
our place. He let Himself be cut. so that
we wouldn't have to be. He went under the knife for us. What kind of doctor does this
for His patients? Christ paid the penalty of sin
so that He might purchase for Himself a people. He was crucified
so that He might give to His people a new heart. so that he
might be given the right to open blinded eyes and to say to one
who puts their faith in him, arise, pick up your bed, and
walk. What kind of doctor does this
for his patients? What a contrast he is here to
the Pharisees, isn't he? You know, the Pharisees, they
drove sinners away. But Christ in His grace, He draws
us to Him. You'll never inconvenience this
doctor by calling on him. Morning, afternoon, evening,
middle of the night, he's looking for patients and there are none
whom he cannot cure. My friend, the doctor is making
his rounds. Do not turn from one in the Bible
who is willing to fellowship with such sinners as the Bible
describes you and me to be. Do not turn from this doctor. And I was not here this morning,
but I understand that you had the Lord's Supper administered
among you. So you were able to witness and
experience firsthand that Jesus Christ is still willing to eat
and to drink with sinners and publicans. The question is for
you, were you a Pharisee this morning? Did you look from afar
and judge who it is that Christ should be fellowshipping with? Or did you see yourself as whole
and in no need to come and accept His invitation to dine? Or perhaps you did attend, but
did you attend because you thought that just a little bit of this
church would keep you going on your own two feet and on your
way again? Or were you with the sinners
and publicans this morning? Were you able to publicly confess
to sinners around you that you too are a sinner and that you
need the care of a doctor such as Jesus is? Well, I pray that God may give
to everyone here the blessing and the ability to see their
sin as it really is. And this is a blessing. but also
to see God and to know the Doctor as He really is. Amen. To repentance.
The Doctor Makes His Rounds
| Sermon ID | 62208231230 |
| Duration | 39:55 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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