The First Title of Christ: The Physician of Souls
“But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Marr. 9: 12.
Havine in the former discourses considered the nature and method of the applicateon of Christ to sinners, it remains now that I press it upon every soul, as it expects peace and pardon from God, to apply and put on Jesus Christ, that is, to get union with him by faith while he is yet held forth in the free and gracious tenders of the gospel. Pursuing the general application of the subject as entered upon in the last chapter, in the gracious invitation to come to Christ, divers arguments will be further urged, both from the titles of Christ, and the privileges conferred by him.
The tirtes of Christ are so many motives or arguments fitted to persuade men to come to him; among which, Christ as the Physican of sowls comes under our first consideration in the text before us.
The occasion of these words of Christ was the call of Matthew the publican, who having first opened his heart, next opened his house to Christ, and entertained him there. This strange and unexpected change wrought ‘upon Matthew quickly brings in all the neighborhood, and many publicans and sinners resorted thither; at which the pride of the Pharisees began to swell. From this occasion they took offence at Christ, and in this verse Christ addressed them in a manner fitted both for their conviction and his own vindication. ‘‘He said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick.”
He gives it, says one, as a reason why he conversed so much with publicans and sinners, and so little among the Pharisees, because there was more work for him: Christ came to be a physician to sick souls; Pharisees were so well in their own conceit that Christ saw that they would have little to do with him, and so he applied himself to those who were more sensible of their sickness. In these words,
1. The secwre senner is described, both with respect to his own apprehensions of himself as one that is whole, and also by his low value and esteem for Christ: he sees no need of him; “they that be whole need not a physician.”
2. The convinced and humbled sinner is here also described, and that both by his state, he is seck; and by his valuation of Jesus Christ, he greatly needs him: they that are sick need the physician.
3. We have Christ’s treatment of both: the former he rejects and passes by, as those with whom he hath no concern; the latter he converses with in order to their cure.
The words thus opened are fruitful in observations. I shall now insist upon only this one, which suits the scope of my discourse:
The Lord Jesus Christ rs the only Physiaan for sick souls.
The world is a great hospital, full of sick and dying souls, all wounded by one and the same mortal weapon, sin. Some are without a sense of their misery, and value not a physician; others are sensible of danger, mourn under the apprehension of their condition, and sadly bewail it. The merciful God has, in his abundant compassion to the perishing world, sent a Physician from heaven, and given him his orders under the great seal of heaven for his office, Isaiah 61:1, 2, which he opened and read in the audience of the people: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18. He is the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations: he is the Lord that healeth us; and that even as he is ‘“‘the Lord our righteousness.” The brazen serpent that healed the Israelites in the wilderness was an excellent type of our great physician Christ, and is expressly applied to him, John 3:14. He rejects none that come, and heals all whom he undertakes with. But more particularly, I will point out those diseases which Christ heals in sick souls, and by what means he heals them; and show the excellence of this Physician above all others: there is none like Christ, he is the only Physician for wounded souls.
I. We will inquire into Tur piseasrs which Christ the Physician cures, and they are reducible to two — sin and Sorrow.
1. The disease of sin; in which three things are found exceeding burdensome to sick souls: the guilt, the dominion, and the inherence of sin — all cured by this Physician.
(1.) The gualt of sin; this is a mortal wound, a stab in the very heart of a poor sinner. It is a groundless distinction that papists make of snis mortal and vemal; all sin in its own nature is mortal. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:28. Yet though it be so in its own nature, Christ can and doth cure it by the sovereign balm of his own precious blood. ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Eph. 1:1. This is the deadliest wound the soul of man feels in this world. What is guilt, but the obligation of the soul to everlasting punishment and misery? It puts the soul under the sentence of God to eternal wrath; the condemning sentence of the great and terrible God; than which nothing is found more dreadful and insupportable: put all pains, all poverty, all afflictions,
-all miseries in one scale, and God’s condemnation in the other, and you weigh but so many feathers against a talent of lead.
This disease our great physician Christ cures by remission, which is the dissolving of the obligation to punishment; the loosing of the soul that was bound over to the wrath and condemnation of God. Col. 1: 18,14; Heb. 6:18; Micah 7:18, 19. This remission being made, the soul is immediately cleared from all its obligation to punishment. There is no condemnation. Rom. 8:1. All bonds are cancelled, the condemnation of all sins, original and actual, great and small, is removed. ‘This cure is performed upon souls by the blood of Christ; nothing is found in heaven or earth besides his blood, that is able to heal this disease. ‘‘ Without shedding of blood there is no remission,” Heb. 9: 22; nor is it any blood that will do it, but that only which dropped from the wounds of Christ. “With his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53: 5. His blood only is innocent and precious blood, 1 Peter 1:19; blood of infinite worth and value; blood of God, Acts 20:28; blood prepared for this very purpose. Heb. 10:5. This is the blood that performs the cure; and how great a cure is it! for this cure the souls of believers shall be praising and magnifying their great Physician in heaven to all eternity. ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” Rev. 1:5, 6.
(2.) The next evil in sin cured by Christ is its domimon over the souls of sinners. Where sin is in dominion the soul is in a very sad condition; for it darkens the understanding, depraves the conscience, stiffens the will, hardens the heart, misplaces and disorders all the affections; and thus every faculty is wounded by the dominion of sin over the soul. How difficult is the cure of this disease! It passes the skill of angels or men to heal it, but Christ undertakes it and makes a perfect cure of it at last, and this he does by his Spirit. As he cures the guilt of sin by pouring out his blood for us; so he cures its dominion by pouring out his Spirit upon us. Justification is the cure of guilt, sanctification the cure of the dominion of sin.
As the dominion of sin darkens the understanding, 1 Cor. 2:14, so the Spirit of holiness which Christ sheds upon his people cures the blindness of that noble faculty and restores it again. Eph. 5:8. They that were darkness hereby become light in the Lord; the anointing of the Spirit teacheth them all things. 1 John 2: 27.
As the dominion of sin depraved and defiled the conscience, Tit. 1: 15, disabling it for the performance of all its offices and functions, so that it would neither apply nor tremble at the word; so when the Spirit of holiness is shed forth, O what a tender sense fills the renewed conscience! For what small things will it smite and rebuke! How strongly will it bind to duty and bar against sin.
As the dominion of sin stiffened the wil and made it stubborn and rebellious, so Christ, by sanctifying it, brings it to be obedient to the will of God. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9: 6.
As the power of sin hardened the feart so that nothing could affect it, or make any impression upon it; when sanctification comes upon the soul, it thaws and breaks it, as hard as it was, and makes it dissolve in the breast of a sinner in godly sorrow. “TI will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Ezek. 36:26. It will now melt ingenuously under the threatenings of the word, 2 Kings 22:19, or the strokes of the rod, Jer. 81:18, or the manifestations of grace and mercy. Luke 7:38.
As the power of sin disordered all the spetindagh so sanctification sets them right. Psalm 4:6, 7. Thus you see how sanctification becomes the rectitude, health, and due temper of the soul, so far as it prevails, curing the diseases with which sin filled the soul. True it is, this cure is not perfected in this life; there are still some remains of the old diseases in the holiest souls, notwithstanding sin is dethroned from its dominion over them; but the cure is begun, and daily advances towards perfection, and at last will be complete.
(8.) The znherence of sin in the soul is a sore disease, the very root of all our other complaints. This made the holy apostle bemoan himself and wail so bitterly because of sin that dwelt in him. Rom. 7:17. And the same misery is bewailed by sanctified persons all the world over. It is a wonderful mercy to have the guilt and dominion of sin cured, but we shall never be perfectly sound and well till the existence or indwelling of sin in our natures be also cured: when that is done we shall feel no more pain nor sorrow for sin; and this our great Physician will at last perform in us. But as the cure of guilt was by our justification, the cure of the dominion of sin by our sanctification, so the third and last, which perfects the whole cure, will be by our glorificatzon; and till then it is not to be expected. For sin, like ivy in the old walls, will never be gotten out till the wall be pulled down, and it is then pulled up by the roots. This cure Christ will perform in a moment, upon our dissolution. For it is plain that none but perfect souls, freed from all sin, are admitted into heaven. Eph. 5:27; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 21:27. And it is as plain that no such perfection is found in any man on this side death, 1 John 1:8; 1 Kings 8:46; Phil. 3:12; a truth sealed by the sad experience of all the saints on earth. And if such perfection must be before the saints can be perfectly happy, and no such thing is done in this life, it remains that it must be done immediately upon their dissolution, and at the very time of their glorification. As sin came in at the time of the union of their souls and bodies, so it will go ont at the time of their separation by death; then will Christ complete this glorious work, and perfect that cure which hath been so long under his hand in this world; and thenceforth sin shall have ne power upon them. It shall never tempt them more, it shall never defile them more, it shall never grieve and sadden their hearts any more; henceforth it shall never cloud their evidences, darken their understandings, or give the least interruption to their communion with God. When sin is gone, all these its mischievous effects will be gone with it. While you are under Christ’s cure upon earth, but not perfectly healed, your understandings mistake, your thoughts wander, your affections are dead, and your communion with God is daily interrupted; but it shall not be so in heaven, where the cure is perfect; you shall not there know, love, or delight in God in the manner you do this day, for you are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you.
2. As sin is the disease of the saints, so also is sorrow; the best saints must pass through the valley of Bacha to heaven. How many tears fall from the eyes of the saints on account of outward as well as inward troubles, even after their reconciliation with God. Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22. Whatever distress or trouble any poor soul is in upon any account whatsoever, if that soul belongs to Jesus Christ he will take care of it for the present, and deliver it at last by a complete cure.
Christ cures troubles by sanctifying them to the souls of his people, and makes their very troubles medicinal and healing to them. Trouble is a scorpion, and has a deadly sting, but Christ is a wise physician, and extracts a sovereign oil out of this scorpion that heals the wound it makes. By afflictions our wise Physician prevents or cures greater troubles by lesser — inward sorrows by outward ones. “By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin.” Isaiah QTD
Christ also cures outward troubles by inward consolations, which are made to rise in the inner man as high as the waters of affliction do upon the outward man. 2 Cor. 1:5. One drop of spiritual comfort is sufficient to sweeten a whole ocean of outward trouble. It was a high expression of an afflicted father, whom God comforted, just upon the death of his dear and only son, with some clearer manifestations of his love than usual: ‘Oh, might I but have such consolations as these, I could be willing, were it possible, to lay an only son into the grave every day I have to live in the world.” Thus all the troubles of the world are cured by Christ. ‘‘ In the world ye shall have tribulation; but in me ye shall have peace.”
Christ cures all outward troubles in his people dy death, which is their removal from the place of sorrows to peace and rest for evermore. Then God wipes all tears from their eyes, and the days of their mourning are at an end; they then put off the garments and spirit of mourning, and enter into peace. Isa. 57:2. They come to that place and state where tears and sighs are unknown: one step beyond the state of this mortality brings us quite out of the sight and hearing of all troubles and lamentations.
II. I shall show that Jesus Christ is the onty Puysr cian of souls, and this will be evident in divers respects.
1. None so wise and judicious as Jesus Christ to understand and comprehend the nature, depth, and danger of soul diseases. O how ignorant and unacquainted are men with the state and case of afflicted souls! But Christ haths“the tongue of the learned, that he should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” Isa, 50:4. He only understands the weight of sin, and the depth of inward troubles for sin.
2. None so able to cure and heal the wounds of afflicted souls as Christ is; he only has the medicines that can cure a sick soul. The blood of Christ, and nothing else in heaven or earth, is able to cure the wounds which guilt inflicts upon a trembling conscience; let men try all other receipts, and costly experience shall convince them of their insufficiency. Conscience may be benumbed, but pacified it can never be but by the blood of Christ. Heb. 10: 2.
3. None so tender-hearted and sympathizing with sick souls as Jesus Christ; he can have compassion, because he has had experience. Heb. 5:2. If 1 must come into the surgeon’s hands with brcken bones, give me one whose own bones have been broken, who hath felt the anguish in himself. Christ knows by experience the anguish of inward troubles, the weight of God’s wrath, and the terrors of a forsaking God, more than any or all the sons of men; this makes him tender over distressed. souls. ‘‘A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.” Isa. 42:3.
4, None cures in so wonderful a method as Christ; he heals us by his stripes. Isa. 53:5. The physician dies, that the patient may live; his wounds must bleed, that ours may be healed; he feels the smart and pain, that we may have ease and comfort. No physician but Christ can cure others in this way.
5. None so ready to relieve a sick soul as Christ; he is within the call of a distressed soul at all times. Art thou sick for sin, weary of sin, and made truly willing to part with sin? lift up but thy sincere ery to the Lord Jesus for help, and he will quickly be with thee.. When the prodigal, the emblem of a convinced, humbled sinner, said in himself, I will return to my father, the father ran to meet him. Luke 15: 20.
6. None so willing to receive and undertake for all distressed and afflicted souls as Jesus Christ is; he refuses none that come to him. ‘‘ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6: 87. Whatever their sins have been, or their sorrows are; however they have wounded their own souls with the deepest gashes of guilt; how desperate and helpless soever their case appears in their own or others’ eyes, he never puts them off or discourages them, if they are but willing to come. — Isa. 1:18, 19.
7. None so successful as Christ: he never fails of performing a perfect cure upon those he undertakes; never was it known that any soul failed of cure in his hands. John 3:15, 16. Christ suffers none to perish that commit themselves to him.
8. None so free and generous as Christ: he doeth all gratis; he sells not his medicines, though they are of infinite value, but freely gives them. ‘Ho that hath no money, let him come.” Isa.55:1. If any are sent away,. it is the rich, Luke 1: 58, not the poor and needy: those only fail that will not accept the remedy as a free gift, but seek to purchase it at a price.
9. None rejorce zn the recovery of souls more than Christ. Oh, it is unspeakably delightful to him to see the efficacy of his blood upon our souls. He shall see the travail of his soul, that is, the success of his death and sufferings, and shall be satisfied. Isa. 53:11. When he foresaw the success of the gospel in the world, it is said, “in that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit.” Luke 10: 21.
Inrerence 1. How wexpressible is the grace of God in providing such a physiaan as Christ, for the sick and dying souls of sinners! Oh, blessed be God, that there is balm in Gilead, and a Physieian there! that our case is not desperate, forlorn, and remediless, as that of the devils and the damned is. There is but one case exempted from cure, and that such as is not incident to any sensible, afflicted soul, Matt. 12:31; and this only excepted, all manner of sins and diseases are susceptible of a cure. Though there be a disease which is incurable, yet take this for thy comfort, that never any soul was sick or sensibly burdened with it, who was yet willing to come to
Jesus Christ for healing; for under that sin the will is so wounded that they have no desire to Christ. O inestimable mercy, that the worst sinner may have a perfect eure! There are thousands and ten thousands now in heaven and earth who said once, Never was any case like mine; so dangerous, so hopeless. The greatest of sinners have been perfectly recovered by Christ. 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 Cor. 6:11. O mercy never to be duly estimated!
2. What a powerful restraint from sin is the method ordammed by God for the cwre of it! “With his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:5. The Physician must die that the patient may live; nothing but the blood, the precious blood of Christ is found in heaven or earth able to heal us. Heb. 9: 22, 26. This blood of Christ must be freshly applied to every new wound sin makes upon our souls, 1 John, 2:1, 2; every new sin wounds him afresh. O think of this again and again, you that so easily yield to the solicitations of Satan. Is it so easy and so cheap to sin, as you seem to make it? Does the cure of souls cost nothing? ‘True, it is free to us, but was it so to Christ? No, it was not; he knows the price of it, though you do not. Have you forgot also your own sick days and nights for sin, that you are so careless in resisting and preventing it? Surely it is not easy for saints to wound Christ and their own souls at one stroke. If you renew your sins, you must also renew your sorrows and repentance, like David, Psa. 51; 2 Sam. 12:13; you must feel again the anguish and pain of a troubled spirit with which the saints are not unacquainted; of which they may say, as the church, “‘ Remembering mine affliction and my misery. the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance.” Lam. 3: 19, 20.
3. If Christ be the only physician of sick souls, what sin and folly is wt for men to take Christ’s work out of has hands and attempt to be ther own physician.
Thus do those that superstitiously endeavor to heal their souls by afflicting their bodies — not Christ’s blood, but their own must be the remedy; and as blind papists, so many carnal and ignorant Protestants strive, by confession, restitution, reformation, and a stricter course of life, to heal the wounds that sin hath made upon their souls, without respect to the blood of Christ; but this course shall not profit them at all. It may for a time divert, but can never heal them: the wounds so skinned over will open and bleed again. God grant it be not when our souls shall be out of the reach of the true and only remedy.
4. How sad is the case of those souls to whom Christ has not yet been a physican. They are mortally wounded by sin, and are likely to die of their sickness; no healing applications have hitherto been made unto their souls: and this is the case of the greatest part of mankind, yea, of them that live under the discoveries of Christ in the gospel. This appears in that their eyes have not yet been opened to see ther sin and misery, in which illumination the cure of souls begins. Acts 26:18. To this day he hath not given them eyes to see, Deut. 29:4, but that terrible stroke of God which blinds and hardens, mentioned Isa. 6:9, 10, is too visibly upon them — no hope of healing till the sinner’s eyes be opened to see his sin and misery. Again, nothing will separate them from their lusts; a sure sign they are not under Christ’s cure, nor were ever made sick of sin. Oh, if ever Christ be a physician to thy soul, he will make thee loathe what now thou lovest, and say to thy most pleasant and most profitable lusts, “Get ye hence.” Isa. 80: 22. Till then, there is no ground to think that Christ is a physician to you. They have no sensible need of Christ, nor make any earnest inquiry after him, as most certainly they would do if they were in the way of healing and recovery. These, and many other sad symptoms, too plainly show the disease of sin to be in its full strength upon their souls; and if it so continue, how dreadful will be the issue! Isa. Gor 40,
5. What cause have they to be glad who are wnder the hand and care of Christ in order to a cure, and who find ther souls in a hopeful way of recovery. Can we rejoice when the strength of a natural disease is broken, and nature begins to recover ease and vigor again? And shall we not much more rejoice when our souls begin to mend and recover sensibly, and comfortable signs of health and life appear upon them; particularly when the understanding, which was ignorant and dark, has the light of life beginning to dawn into it, 1 John, 2:27; when the will, which was rebellious and inflexible to the will of God, is brought to comply with that holy will, saying, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9: 6; when the heart, which was harder than adamant, is brought to contrition for sin, and can mourn as heartily over it as ever a father did for a beloved and only son; when its aversion from God is. gone, and the thoughts are fixed upon God, and spiritual things begin to grow pleasant to the soul; when times of duty are longed for, and the soul never more pleased than in such seasons; when the hypocrisy of the heart is purged out, so that we begin to do all that we do heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men, Col. 3:23; 1 Thess. 2:4; when we begin to make conscience of secret sins, Psa. 119: 1183, and of secret duties, Mat. 6:5, 6; when “we have an equal respect to all God’s commandments, Psa, 119: 8, and our hearts are under the holy and awful eye of God, which overawes our souls. Gen. 17:1. Oh, what sweet signs of a recovering soul are these. Surely such are in the skilful hand of the great Physician, who will perfect what yet remains to be done.
6. This point yields advice and direction to souls that are under the disease of sin; and they are of two classes, to each of which I will distinctly speak.
. (1.) To those that are in their first troubles for sin, and know not what course to take for ease and safety, I would say,
Shut your ears against the dangerous cownsels of carnal persons or relations; for as they themselves are unacquainted with these troubles, so also are they with all proper remedies; and it is very usual with the devil to convey his temptations to distressed souls by such hands, because by them he can do it with least suspicion. It was Augustine’s complaint that his own father took little care for his soul; and many parents act, in this case, as if they were employed by Satan.
Be not too eager to get out of trouble, but be content to take God’s way, and wait upon him. Its true, times of trouble are apt to seem tedious, but a false peace will endanger you more than a long trouble; a man may lengthen. his own troubles to the loss of his own peace, and may shorten them to the hazard of his own soul.
Open your case to wise and experienced Christians, and especially the ministers of Christ, whose office it is to direct you in these difficulties; and let not your troubles lic, like a smothering fire, always in your own breasts. I know men are more ashamed to open their sins under conviction, than they were to commit them before conviction; but this is your interest, and the true way to your rest and peace. If there be with you, or near you, an interpreter, one of a thousand, to show you your righteous: ness and remedy, as it lies in Christ, neglect not your own souls in a sinful concealment of your case: it will be the joy of their hearts to be employed in such work as this.
Be much wth God im secret, open your hearts to him, and pour your complaints into his bosom. The 102d Psalm bears a title very suitable to your case and duty; yea, you will find, if God intend a cure upon your souls, that nothing will be able to keep God and your souls asunder: whatever your incumbrances in the world be, some time will be daily redeemed, to be spent between God and you.
Plead hard with God in prayer for help and healing. “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee,” Psa. 41: 4. Tell him Christ has his commission sealed for such as you are: he was sent to “bind up the broken-hearted.” Isa. 61:1. Tell him he came into the world ‘to seek and save that which was lost,” and such are you now, in your own apprehension. Lord, what profit is there in my blood? And why is my heart wounded with the sense of sin, and mine eyes open to see my danger and misery? Are not these the first dawnings of mercy upon sinners? O let it appear that the time of mercy, even the set time, is now come.
Understand your peace to be im Christ only, and faith to be the only way to Christ and rest; let the great inquiry of your soul be after Christ and faith; study the nature and necessity of these, and cry to God day and night for strength to carry you to Christ in the way of faith.
(2.) Yo those that have been longer wnder the hands of Christ, and are still in trouble, whose wounds bleed still, and all they do will not bring rest, to such I only add a few words.
Consider whether you have rightly closed with Christ since your first awakening, and whether there be not some way of sin in which you still live; if so, no wonder your wounds are kept open and your souls are strangers to peace.
If you are conscious of no such defect in the foundation, consider how much of this trouble may arise from your natural constitution and temper, which, being melancholy, will be distrustful; you may find it so in other cases of less moment, and be sure Satarf will not be wanting to improve it.
Acquaint yourselves more with the nature of true justifying faith; a mistake in this has prolonged the troubles of many; if you look for it in no other act but assurance, you may easily overlook it as’ it lies in the mean time in your acceptance. A proper conception of saving faith would go far in the cure of many troubled souls.
Be more careful to shun sin than to get yourselves clear of trouble: it is sad to walk in darkness, but worse to lie under guilt. Say, Lord, I would rather be grieved myself than be a grief to thy Spirit. O keep me from sin, how long soever thou keep me under sorrow. Wait on God in the way of faith, and thy wounds shall be healed by thy great Physician.
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.