Christ the Great Physician

“But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

(Matthew 9:12)

Why won’t sinners come to Christ? The same reason we won’t seek out a doctor unless first we see the need. Most people believe that they are okay and that even though they perceive themselves to have faults, few are they that have ever seen themselves as sinners worthy of condemnation under the holy wrath of God. It is the Spirit of God alone Who can reveal to any their need, show them their sinfulness, reveal Christ in them and draw them to Him.

Those who suppose their souls to be without disease will not welcome the Spiritual Physician nor come to Him. This was the case with the Pharisees who despised the LORD Jesus Christ because they presumed themselves whole, Luke 18:9. But the poor publicans and sinners He drew to Himself.

The Gospel call is a call to repentance. In the Bible, repentance and faith are simultaneous, Acts 20:21. Where there is God-given repentance, there is faith toward the LORD Jesus. Where there is faith toward the LORD Jesus, repentance has also been granted by God, 2 Timothy 2:25. Repentance is always toward God, even the LORD Jesus Christ as the God Mediator. This change of heart, only the Spirit of God can produce and does in those that the LORD Jesus came to save and did save by His death on the cross. Only those do turn to God in repentance and faith, that the Spirit of God has shown them their utter lost estate, and turn to God, the offended Judge, as their only Hope. God is the offended party and His law and justice demand satisfaction for the sinner, which He as the Sovereign Judge has provided in the person and work of His Son. Those for whom He died were enemies and unwilling and unable to come to Him when Christ paid their sin debt, Romans 5:8. It’s in time, God’s appointed time, that the Spirit is given to cause them to see their sinful, helpless estate and to turn to the LORD Jesus as their Wisdom, Righteousness, Justification and Redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30.

Were we not sinners, there had been no need for Christ to come among us. Have we been made to see our sickness, by God’s Grace and graciously drawn to Christ? That is the Spirit’s work in those for whom Christ, the Great Physician and Savior of sinners came. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of ALL acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15)