I will speak this morning about the ability of our Great physician, and I will take you for a little visit to the Doctor’s Office, where we can examine some of the familiar problems that often afflict the hearts and souls of God’s people. Some time ago now, I read something that was written by a doctor, and he said that medical science recognizes that emotions are responsible for the majority of our sicknesses. Then he went on to list those emotions: fear and worry, resentment and anger and hatred, envy and jealousy, excessive condemnation and regret, and sorrow and loneliness. I looked over that list of emotions that medical science recognizes to be responsible for a lot of our illnesses, and I was surprised to see that it is a list of common illnesses of the soul, problems that the gospel and the power of God and the grace of Jesus Christ should solve and settle in any person’s life.
Fear and worry. Could that thrive in a faith-filled heart? Resentment and anger and hatred. Could that get very far in a Christ-filled life? What about envy and jealousy? What about regret and condemnation? Our faith in the cleansing and forgiving power of the blood of Christ takes that away, doesn’t it? It’s a wonderful thing to me to know that in Jesus we have got everything to make us healthy of soul, and that is again going to be reflected. to a certain extent anyway, in healthiness of mind and body. We would like to just go into the Doctor’s Office this morning and find out what medicines Our Physician might prescribe for some of these illnesses and what instructions He has to give.
We will start out by asking Him what He has to say about fear and worry. Some time ago, someone wrote in a letter a little gem thought that has meant an awful lot to me. This person had been reading about the times when Jesus used this little expression, “Be of good cheer.” He noticed that it was only used three times by Jesus, and the first time is in Matthew 9:2. That time He was talking about the past. The second is in chapter 14, and that time He was talking about the present. The last time is in John 16, and that time He was talking about the future. Here we have a little concise outline of the beautiful provision that there is in Christ to take care of our past and our present and our future so that we can be of good cheer. We do not need to be afraid; we do not need to fear. Jesus died to take care of our past, and He rose again and is a living Christ to take care of our present, and He is coming again to take care of our future. To have living fellowship with a Christ like that, doesn’t that instill confidence and trust in your heart?
So, we are going to ask this Physician what He has in His Word to help us with fear and worry. One of my companions used to tell about a lady who said this near the end of life, “I have had many, many troubles in my day, but most of them never happened.” I think we understand what that means. As she looked back over her past, she could see that so many times she had fretted and worried about what might happen and maybe looked like was going to happen, and she kept herself in a constant state of unsettledness, when most of the things she worried about, the Lord took care of before they actually happened. It’s too bad if we go through life like that.
I would like to leave with you a few thoughts about the “fear not’s” in the Bible. Someone said one time that there are 365 “fear not’s” in the Bible, one for every day of the year; and that may be so, though I haven’t yet been able to find them. But while I was searching for those, I did find a list of about 77 or 80 “be not afraid’s” and “fear not’s” that do have a definite, direct application to our Christian life today.
I’ve got the prescription in my pocket, but I don’t have eight or nine hundred of them, so please don’t expect to get one after the meeting. You could take your concordance and find your own list of “fear not’s.” I like to look at that list in this way: It’s just like a bottle of “fear not” pills, 77 of them in my list, and that is almost a three-month supply. If we were to take one every day, preferably before breakfast, memorize it, and meditate on it during the day, taking special note of the circumstances under which that “fear not” was given, and what made it possible for God to extend that assurance, and get that digested into our system, that would make a marvelous difference after three months. We were talking about this in Sri Lanka one time at the special meetings. There was a man who really took that seriously. Approximately three months later, he wrote me a letter. “I will have to admit that I could hardly believe it would have much of an effect on me, but you said to do it, and I did. Long before I got to the last pill, I noticed that I had been raised to a higher level of appreciation for the power and care and ability of God than I ever had before. I understand better now Peter’s words that we ‘have obtained like precious faith.’”
The first pill is in Genesis 15:1. “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” The important part of that little verse is the first part: “After these things.” You and I cannot take the assurance of that verse to ourselves until we first go back and find out what the things were that happened in Abraham’s experience that made it possible, finally, for God to say, Now, Abraham, fear not. He didn’t give him that assurance right at the beginning. You will find many things in the previous chapters that indicate the direction Abraham had purposed to go right from the time it says he departed from Ur of the Chaldees as God had spoken to him, through the time he
handled that strife between his and Lot’s herdsmen in such a Christian way; the time he went to rescue his brother Lot after his brother acted so foolishly; until the time he took a definite stand against the king of Sodom. Now God could say, “After these things,” if you keep this up, if you keep heading in this direction, you have absolutely nothing to fear, but I will be with you and look after your future and “be your exceeding great reward.”
Now we’ll mention a few things about resentment and anger and hatred. This is not medicine; this is instruction. If we follow this instruction it will help us to deal with that kind of thing. Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Matthew 18:15-17, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.” Luke 17;3-5, “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he trespasses against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a -day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him and the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”
These verses all deal with problems that could arise between brethren inside God’s family and fellowship. This is what we need to do in order to keep from developing a spirit of resentment and anger that will sour our spirit and rob us of the blessing of God. You might have noticed that in Matthew 5 it is talking about a situation where you are ready to offer something to God and then you remember that your brother has something against you: you have done something that has hurt your brother. The verses in Matthew 18 are turned the other way around; it’s a situation where your brother has done something against you. What is the teaching in both cases? Who initiates the process of reconciliation in both cases? It is you, isn’t it?
That brings into focus a little truth that we have heard often and know so well, that this Bible doesn’t tell me how you should treat me, but it is full of instruction how I should react to you regardless of how you treat me. If we can read God’s Word with the thought, not of finding how other people should treat me, but how I should react when others say and do things that hurt me, and apply it, that is a rich and wholesome way to do it. The way Jesus taught does away with any possibility of both parties waiting for the other party to make the first move. There is no misunderstanding at all about whose responsibility it is to move first, it is mine if I am involved in it.
Just before this teaching in Matthew 18, we read where Jesus said, “If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee,” and “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee”… if thy brother offend thee cut him of, no If your brother offend you, go to your brother and talk to him, and do all you possibly can to make it right. We can just boil it down to this teaching: You be very strict and hard on yourself, and you be kind and merciful to others. That is just opposite to our human nature, if we make a mistake, we’re inclined to make excuses for ourselves and let ourselves by easy, but if we see someone else making a mistake we come down hard on them. If we can learn to follow this set of rules, it is going to help us to keep our spirit right in every kind of situation.
We can go on to envy and jealousy. In I Corinthians 12, Paul paints this word picture of God’s family being like a body. There are many lessons we can learn from this chapter. I think that in fifteen verses the word “body” is mentioned eighteen times. This chapter is the most concentrated teaching about the body of Christ that we have in all the Bible. We would like to pause a little while at verses 12 and 13. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free: and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” Two verses, and the word “one” comes six times. It looks like Paul is just straining himself to get this thought clearly and definitely and indisputably across: there is just one body. If we can start out with a foundation like that, that will help us to get ourselves and our feelings and emotions sorted out about our place in the body and the place of other people in the body.
I like the illustration about the various fingers having a bit of an argument. The thumb thought it was-greatest because it’s out in front of all the others. The index finger thought it was most important because it’s the one that points. The middle finger thought it was because it stands taller than all the rest. The fourth finger thought it was most important because it’s the ring finger. The little finger just felt it was such a wonderful privilege to be in the body. That is the way every one of us should feel. It doesn’t really matter so much how big or small the place is that we have, nor how many or few talents we have; the fact that we are in the body is what opens the way for all the blessings that God has planned for His people. We should just be so thrilled with the fact that God has spoken and given us a place in the body that we don’t worry about whether somebody can speak better or gets more visits or privileges than we do.
Verse 18 tells us, “Now God has set the members in the body as it hath pleased him.” It is not hard for us to understand the meaning of that in the natural body. When God planned the natural body, he created every member with the thought in mind that there was a need that that member was going to have to help fill, and He gave every member all the ability it needed to fill the place he planned for it in the body. Turn that around to the spiritual picture Paul was painting in this chapter, and remember that the human body is the picture of the body of Christ and every member a little picture of you and me. “God has set the members,” every one of them, there are no exceptions to this rule, “as it hath pleased Him.” One of the reasons why sometimes we get a little bit dissatisfied or discouraged and feeling that things are not going as well as they should be is that we have never yet fully got settled in our heart and mind that I am going to be willing to fill the place that God planned I should fill in the body: maybe I am trying to fill another place that I have never been fitted to fill. This brings dissatisfaction and envy and strife.
I will mention something for the benefit of the young people, and the older people can get a bit from it too. There’s a verse in the Bible that gives the secret, or the key, to happiness. Most of you will know that verse in John 13:17, “If you know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Could we put it this way: If you know your place, happy are you if you fill that place. You may not feel able and you may not feel worthy, but if God gives you a conviction in your heart that there is a place in His family that He has planned for you to fill, you will never be happy as God wants you to be happy until you are willing just to fill that place.
You might forgive me if we go on a little bit of a side road for a few minutes. In the last meeting, we were talking about some of the “take heed’s” in the Bible. One was, “Take heed to yourselves,” found in Luke 21:34. In that verse, it says, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” When I read that a while ago, I have to confess that I wasn’t very clear about what the word “surfeiting” really means, and I had to look it up. It usually means an excess of eating or drinking. The first definition in the dictionary was an excess of anything. Jesus said to take heed to yourselves, lest you become overburdened with the excess that you see all around you, especially, looking ahead to the last days. We live in an age of excess of so many things, excess of money, excess spare time, excess entertainment, and excess of so many things. All of these give us a certain type of temptation that we have to take heed lest we fall prey to it.
But there is one thing there is not really an excess of: If you just look over to the rows on this side where the brother workers are supposed to be, there are quite a few empty spots there, aren’t there? No, excess there yet, why do you suppose those seats are not all filled? Is it because the Lord is not much concerned about calling brother workers? or sister workers either? We all know there is an awesome need in the world today, and that there is no one more concerned about that need than God Himself. If there are vacancies there, I feel it must be that there are some young men and young women on whose life God is putting His finger and showing them where their place should be, and they are not willing for that. We just say once again, if you want to be truly happy, if you know your place, happy are you if you fill it.
We will think for a little while about the next one: excessive regret and condemnation. That takes our minds to what we have already heard about, the wonderful provision that God has made through the sacrifice and the blood of His only Son. In I Corinthians 11 we read about the emblems that the Lord gave to His disciples. Beginning with verse 27, “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this because many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” There seemed to be a virus running through that Corinthian church that was making them weak and sickly and even putting a lot of them to sleep altogether. It had to do with their attitude toward the emblems, which in turn reflected their attitude toward the sacrifice of Jesus.
At one of the other conventions, one of the brother workers gave us a whole meeting on the benefits that come from the blood of Christ, a long list of verses and benefits that we derive knowingly or unknowingly from the sacrifice of Jesus. I have enjoyed feeding in that pasture since that time, and I tried to get it down in size where I could comprehend it a little better, some of the benefits that have been opened up to us through the blood of Jesus. I’ll give you a little list of them this morning that it might enhance your appreciation for that sacrifice: Acts 20:28, we were purchased. Hebrews 9:16-20, through the blood of Christ the New Testament covenant was dedicated; it became valid and sealed. Hebrews 9:26, sin was put away, and there is the possibility of having all our sins put away. Hebrews 10:18-22, the new and living way was opened up and we have the privilege of coming into the holy presence of God. Hebrews 2:14, “through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.” Revelation 12:11, the power of the devil to discourage us and condemn us was annulled.
How do we take advantage of that provision? First of all, we have been purchased; but even though a price has been paid for something, that cannot be used by the person who bought it until it is handed over unconditionally to the one who paid the price. That is how we begin to become a partaker of the provision that is in the blood of Christ. Secondly, it’s like God putting His signature in blood upon that covenant. But we know that a covenant is not of any value until the second person puts his signature on it. A covenant is something involving at least two people. All the promises of that covenant and the provisions of that covenant, through the blood of Christ, God has clearly shown that He is prepared to stand behind it. He is waiting for us to put our signature there too, to indicate our willingness to fulfill our side of the covenant. Then all the provisions of the blood of Christ become ours. You can go on to the fact that the blood of Christ redeems us, it delivers us, it purges us, it sanctifies and justifies us, and so many other things.
I think the problem in the Corinthian church was they had the idea that just the taking of that bread and wine alone was what made them partakers of that vast and wonderful provision. They kept drifting on the way they were, not so much concerned whether their life was in the hand of the One who had purchased them and sealed that covenant, thinking that in some magical way by the taking of that bread and wine they were going to receive all the benefits. We don’t believe in magic but we believe in miracles. As we look out over the faces of the Lord’s people here, we know you are here because of miracles that have taken place in your heart and have changed your desires and goals, and have brought you out of various kinds of horrible pits and set your feet in the pathway of God and amongst His people. When we take the bread and wine, we take the bread first. That helps me to understand that if I am going to have the-benefits of the cup that comes afterwards, I have to be willing to take my place in the body of Christ, because all the benefits of the blood are for the members that are in the body. When we are willing to put our life completely into the hands of the One who purchased us and to fill our place in the body, that load of sin and guilt that burdens the hearts of many people can be taken away.
Excessive sorrow and loneliness. Many times, during the convention it has been mentioned what a sobering way this convention started when our brother John, whom so many knew so well, was laid to rest. We had the funeral service, in the first meeting, and even though there has been sorrow in one sense, it has been wonderful to talk with the members of the family that knew him best and to see evidence of a resignation to God’s will, and even a peace and a joy at the thought that this one whom they loved so well kept faithful and true to the very end so that now he is beyond the reach of the devil and of temptation, and the journey is finished. When Jesus began to tell His disciples clearly that He was going to have to leave them, that disturbed their peace; and He said to them, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” In that way Jesus comforted those disciples.
Aren’t we so thankful for this gospel that introduced us to Jesus and to a
relationship with Him that will never pass away. Those disciples earned a vivid lesson, a lesson that all of us will learn one day if we don’t already know it: that is, every human relationship is going to someday come to an end. No matter how much we love someone, no matter how much we need someone, no matter how much we depend on someone, no matter how beautiful the human relationship might be, always in the back of a person’s mind there is this nagging truth that this will not last very long. We come to this conclusion that there is no human relationship we can develop that will last for very long, no relationship at all, except our relationship with Jesus.
We have enjoyed so many wonderful things that already we are beginning to see the value of that relationship, and as every new storm arises and every new loss occurs we become more and more conscious of how precious it is that we now have a relationship with someone who will never leave us and never forsake us and will always be there to help us through all the experiences of life.
Truth Archive 