3. Jesus: The Great Physician For Sin! Psalm 38:15-21

Text: “And she (Mary) shall bring forth a Son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:21.

          “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly form mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”

 Psalm 51:1-2.

Good morning, Christian in need of Renewal!  Like many other genuine Christian believers, you and I have occasionally allowed ourselves to stray – in word, thought, or deed - into foolish, yet dangerous, sin; willful disobedience; unChristlike talk or behaviour. 

The genuine Christian who denies having ever failed in this manner is, according to God’s Word, ‘a self-deceiver’.  Sin is natural to the natural man within each of us: we are naturally born sinners, and we have sinned; will sin; and shall undoubtedly sin until the Lord God grants us bodies that are glorified and forever free from the leprosy of sin.  Fact!

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth (Christ Himself!) is not in us...If we say we have not sinned, we make Him (God) a liar, and His Word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:8-10) 

What a sobering, self-depreciating, and totally honest statement of God’s truth!

However, here’s the good news, my Christian friend:  Christ only came into this vile world to save SINNERS.  Hallelujah!  Only self-confessed sinners can be saved!

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”         (1 Timothy 1:15)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Great Physician that heals the disease of sin.

“Twice in his biographies Jesus referred to himself as a ‘physician’ or ‘doctor,’ once in the sense of ‘spiritual healer’ and once in the sense of ‘physical healer.’

“Jesus as Spiritual Healer: His opponents once attacked him for having unsavoury characters such as tax collectors and ‘sinners’ among his disciples. Jesus reminded them that “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.”  (Mark 2:17)

“Jesus as Physical Healer: When Jesus gave his first sermon in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth, he anticipated the possessive nature of the crowd when he challenged them: "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"  

(Luke 4:23)

“Jesus’ role as ‘physician’ and healer is so pervasive in his biographies and so essential to Jesus’ mission that he cannot be understood apart from it. The crowds seemed instinctively to see Jesus as a "physician." It’s a title he clearly deserves. One has only to skim through the biographies of Jesus to note the remarkable attention he gave to healing. He was a physician, a healer whose time was consumed with encounters with people who were sick, blind, lame, deaf, leprous, paralyzed or mentally ill. Each of the biographies portrays Jesus in this way. (see Recorded Miracles of Jesus)” (Jesuscentral.com)

At one time in Great Britain & Northern Ireland (U.K.) if one was ill, one went to a doctor; he diagnosed the illness; and, in most cases, prescribed a medical remedy that would cure the patient.  Now, in this chaotic, money-grabbing 21^st Century – one gets ill, goes to a Medical Centre; is looked at for ten minutes by a ‘doctor’; given a prescription for tablets; and dismissed.  There does not seem to be many actually CURED of the illnesses they presented with at the Health Centre – it’s an assembly line, in many cases, devoid of any semblance of essential compassion or true CARE!

Verse 15. “For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope. There is only ONE CURE for the leprosy of sin: Jesus Christ is the only Physician of sinner’s souls.  Even the hypocritical Pharisees knew this much truth:  “...Who can forgive sins but God only?”  (Mark 2:7)

To prove to all forever that the Lord Jesus had the power to forgive internal sins, He healed the outward physical palsy of the man in Mark chapter 2. (Mark 10-12)

Verse 16. “For I said, Hear me... The Lord Jesus is sat right now at God the Father’s right hand, ever interceding for penitent sinners who are inspired to call upon Him for Spiritual healing from our sins.  His promise stands the test of all time and situations:

“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”  (Jeremiah 33:3)

Thought  “One of the chief objects of Christ’s coming into the world, we have in the well-known words, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

“We need to be frequently reminded, that Jesus did not come merely as a teacher, but as the Saviour of that which was utterly lost, and that those only can receive benefit from Him who will confess that they are ruined, bankrupt, hopeless, miserable sinners.

“Let us use this mighty truth, if we never used it before. Are we sensible of our own wickedness and sinfulness? Do we feel that we are unworthy of anything but wrath and condemnation? Then let us understand that we are the very persons for whose sake Jesus came into the world.” (J.C. Ryle 1816-1900)