We Need A Physician

Have you been to a Physician lately? When do you go to a Physician? And why do you go to a Physician? Physicians diagnose problems and prescribe treatments. If we know something is wrong with us, we can go to them, and they will figure out what might be wrong. They have lots of neat machines and high-tech gadgets to help with the prognosis. There is One though who refers to Himself as a Physician that helps solve our greatest issue and has remedied a cure for us.

Some groups of people, such as the Pharisees in our Bible, have no inclination that something is wrong with them. Paul in his resume given in Philippians 3:6 (being once a Pharisee) states “As to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.” It does not sound like Paul believes he is sick. But in our text from Mark 2:17 Jesus says, “It is not those that are healthy that need a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This sickness we have is deadly, it is not of the body, but of the soul. We may not feel it, but it is clearly there according to our great Physician. 1 Sam.16:7, “For the Lord sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

If the physician offers you a cure, and you take it not, you may not get well. Our great Physician has the remedy. Christ came not unto a righteous people but a sinful people. If the world had been righteous, there would have been no need for Christ’s coming, either to preach repentance or to purchase the forgiveness of sins. A sinful man may see himself wise in his own eyes, but there is more hope for a fool than for him (Prov.26:12). The Apostle Paul eventually got it right, and admitted he needed a cure for His sin. In 1Tim.1:15 he states, "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all.” As we lay in the misery of our sin, we stand and rejoice as we repent, turning from sin and to God for His forgiveness.

English Puritan Thomas Manton states, “Out of this misery man is unable to deliver and recover himself. Not able to reconcile or propitiate God to himself, or himself to God, not able to redeem himself, or give a sufficient ransom or recompense to God's provoked justice.” But God, “He reconciled us in His fleshy body through death, in order to present us before Him holy, blameless, and beyond reproach.” (Col.1:22). In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1John 4:10). “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

Jesus was our reconciler, He brought two parties together that were at enmity with each other. Jesus was our propitiation; a wrath satisfying sacrifice to the Father and took our punishment on the cross which was accepted by the Father as we see He raised Him from the dead. And Jesus was our ransom, He secured a release from captivity, us, by the payment of a price, namely His blood. The Holy Spirit “has opened our eyes so that we may turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God, that we may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Him.” (Acts 26:18).

Thomas Manton again states, “Sin is not hated enough, nor God loved enough, and therefore we have so small a taste of Christianity. Groans unutterable make way for joys that are unspeakable.” Our great Physician can indeed not only cure but the common cold, but also a leprosy of the soul. He does all things well! We can indeed be declared righteous, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor.5:21). We close with a quote from the foremost of all sinners, the Apostle Paul, “He has been found in Him, not having a righteousness of His own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Phil.3:9). Praise God, Jehovah Rophe, the Lord our healer!

Elder Randy Slak