Physician

Only Sinners Can Be Saved

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Many religions place importance on doing something to gain God’s favor. Let me at the beginning just say; there is nothing you or I can do to gain God’s favor. There is no sacrifice, there is no sacrament, there is no good deed to your neighbor or the world which will gain you or me eternal life and/or the favor of Holy God.

This very mentality is what Jesus is addressing in the following verses:

“And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them,
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ ” Matthew 9:10-13 (KJV)

When Jesus was ministering to the publicans (tax collectors) and sinners the religious leaders began questioning Jesus’s purpose, power, and ministry. “What kind of man would sit with tax collectors and sinners?” they were asking themselves, and the disciples.

There is only one sacrifice which God the Father accepts; and that is the sacrifice, the death of His only begotten Son. Still the religious; the self-righteous try to gain the favor; the grace; of God through sacrifice and sacrament.

God shows grace and mercy to the sinner who will come to Him through the cross of His Son Jesus with a repentant heart. Through the act of repentance on the part of the sinner, trusting Christ Jesus, God clothes the sinner in the righteousness of God the Son.

You may be a righteous person today. You cannot be saved. Until you see yourself as the sinner your really are you will remain lost, condemned, dying, guilty, and spiritually dead.

Come to the Father through the cross of Jesus. Sinner hear Him and be saved. He came to save the sinner.

The Rejects of Society

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“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He saith unto him,
‘Follow Me.’
And he arose, and followed Him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples,
‘Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?’
But when Jesus heard that, He said unto them,
‘They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ ” Matthew 9:9-13

I am so grateful to the Lord for His bountiful love, mercy, and grace. He accepts those who are rejected by the elite, the powerful, and the popular, and saves all those who will come to Him and follow Him. I am grateful for that because I am one of those rejects of society.

The religious elite would not accept these tax collectors and sinners into their midst, but Jesus did. Jesus still does. He did not come to save those who are secure in themselves and their power and prestige. He came to save those who need Him. He came to save the sin sick, the lost, the dying the hurting.

If you fit into the category of one who is sin sick, lost, dying and hurting then there is forgiveness, there is healing, there is resurrection for you by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins, our sins, and He was buried, and He rose again.

Will you call on the name of the Lord Jesus today?

The Sick and The Sinner

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“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He saith unto him, ‘Follow Me.’ And he arose, and followed Him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, ‘Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?’
But when Jesus heard, He said unto them, ‘They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” Matthew 9:9-13  (KJB)

What do the sick and the sinner have in common?  When the sick know they are sick they will; at least in most cases; seek out a physician or someone who can help them.  When the sinner realizes they are a sinner they will seek for a savior; for someone who can and will deliver them from their sin.

In the above verses Jesus had just called a publican [tax collector] to Himself.  His name is Matthew.  Mark and Luke call him Levi.  He is a Hebrew collecting taxes from his own people.  Many of the Hebrew people; especially the Pharisees despised the Jewish men who did such a thing.

The Pharisees also rejected and despised Jesus.  Many of the people who came to Jesus were those who were rejected by the religious hierarchy, sick, weak, hungry, fearful, despised, and rejected by many others.

My summation of the above is this: When you know you are sick you will seek for help; when you know you are lost you will seek help; when you know you are a sinner you will seek for a savior.  There is no help or savior for those who are safe and secure within themselves.

Before you can be delivered from your sin you must realize you are a sinner.  Jesus Christ is the only one who bled and died on the cross for your sins and mine; He was buried, and He rose again.  Trust in Him and His work on the cross; believe Him and be saved.

After His Passion

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“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen: to whom also He shewed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but Wait for the promise of the Father, which, ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Acts 1:1-5 (KJV)

A great many people are familiar people are familiar with the movie called “The Passion” made for the movie screen several years ago; but not everyone is very familiar with the Person of the Passion; and that is Jesus Christ.

The Acts are the continuing accounts of the Physician named Luke who also penned down the Gospel account of Luke.  Luke was not only a physician, but a historian as well.  The verses above show us that continuing account of the crucified, buried and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

I just want to leave you with some thoughts on phrases and words through this first chapter;

  1. “Taken up”  and “As He went up”  verses 2, 9, 10, 11;
  2.   “After His passion”  v. 3;
  3.   The continuing of the Gospel of Christ… “But ye shall receive power…” verses 7-8;
  4.   “These all continued with one accord in prayer…”  v. 14;

In verse 11 it should be noted that the admonition is to be telling people about Jesus, His passion, and that He is alive, and one day, soon, returning; and not to be gazing at the skies, and enamored with the signs.

Of course there is much more for chapter one. This will not be a …

Elijah, Elisha and Jesus

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“Ye will surely say unto Me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Thy country.'”  And He said, “Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.”  ~Jesus (Luke 4:23-27)

Repentance Is for the Afflicted

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“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.  But go ye and learn what that meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:’ for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  ~Jesus (Matthew 9:12-13)

Rains of Repentance

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The following devotional is from Dr. David Jeremiah and Turning Point.

Rains of Repentance
No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Hebrews 12:11

Recommended Reading — Hebrews 12:7-11
Dr. Paul White, a missionary physician in East Africa, described a drought threatening his area. Day after day, the blazing sun beat down and the plants withered. The regular rains were months late. One day the chief visited the local clergyman, and Dr. White joined them. “Bwana, we have sinned,” said the chief. “We must ask God’s forgiveness and His help. Can we have next Sunday as a day of repentance and prayer for rain?”
The word went out and large numbers gathered. The African pastor preached a powerful sermon on repentance, and everyone united in earnest prayer. Within an hour, gentle rain was falling, and three inches followed within three days. 1
Every affliction isn’t necessarily an act of divine chastening, but we should bear this in mind — very often the Lord uses difficulty to discipline and deepen us. When facing a problem, ask, “What is the Lord trying to teach me?” Sometimes we think of discipline as being hurtful, but God’s discipline is helpful. It offers eternal benefits.

The godly have some good in them; therefore the devil afflicts them; and some evil in them, therefore God afflicts them.
Thomas Watson, Puritan writer

1Dr. Paul White, Doctor of Tanganyika (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), 177-178.