The Great Physician's House Call

All right, well I can't preach or pray like Peter and Paul either, but try to bear with me today anyway. Thanks for being here. First of all, I would like to pray, so let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this Sunday, for our lives, and for bringing us together to worship you. I pray your spirit will guide us today, open our hearts and minds to receive your word. Bless this time together.

I pray the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts will be pleasing to you, oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. So during the past several weeks, Pastor Eric completed a sermon series called The Good Contagion.

He focused on the contagious nature of Christianity and how we can spread or infect others with the gospel message with the help of the Holy Spirit. Generally, when we say contagion, initially it makes us think of something, something bad, a disease. Well, Jesus spoke about sin as a sickness for which he is the cure, and that's what we're going to talk about today.

So please stand as you're able as I read from the book of Luke, chapter 5, verses 27 to 32. This is what it says. After this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth.

And he said to him, follow me. And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with him.

And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answered them, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. This is the word of God, inspired by God, for the people of God.

Thanks be to God. Thank you. You may be seated.

So there is a sickness that affects every human being. It cannot be seen on an x-ray detected by a blood test or diagnosed by a physician. It's a sickness of the soul.

And the Bible calls it sin. Sin is more than simply doing bad things. Sin is a brokenness within us, a separation from God that affects our thoughts, desires, our choices, relationships, and ultimately our eternal destiny.

Scripture tells us in Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We don't have to be taught how to sin. It comes naturally to us.

A child doesn't need to attend a class on selfishness. We don't have to learn how to be prideful or resentful or dishonest. Something within us is bent away from God.

That is why Jesus's description of himself is so important when he said, it's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. So have any of you ever been so sick that if you wouldn't have seen a doctor, you would have surely died? Anybody? Well, about 18 years ago, I was very sick and I would have died if I would have not sought help from a doctor.

I had surgery on my knee and a few days later, it wasn't getting better. It was getting worse. My knee swelled and hurt worse than it had ever hurt before and I went to my surgeon and he thought I was just overdoing it.

I don't know why anyone would think I'd overdo it, but he thought I was overdoing it and I just needed to ice it and rest. The next day, it was worse and by evening, I ended up calling my primary care physician on the phone. He called me back and he suggested that I go to the ER.

Well, Friday evenings at emergency rooms in Wichita were always really busy and I knew this from my experience working in law enforcement, but when we got there, we went to one hospital and ended up going to another one because it was so packed and when we got to the second one, we got right in and the doctor came and saw me, the ER doctor, and said that she was going to call my surgeon and would come back and when she came back, she told me the surgeon suggested I go home and call him on Monday. You know, I knew that I needed help right then. I knew that I was in danger and couldn't just keep putting it off, so this is what I said.

How do I fire that guy because I need someone to look at this now? Well, she left the room, came back a few minutes later and she said the surgeon's on his way to the ER. So, you know, I was given an IV before he got there and it had some pretty heavy pain medication in it and I was feeling no pain by the time he got there. He examined me and told me he was taking me to surgery.

There was a serious infection in my knee. It had moved into my bloodstream. I had sepsis.

So, here's a few stats from the CDC about sepsis. Globally, sepsis causes about 11 million deaths every year, which accounts for nearly one in five deaths worldwide. In the United States alone, the condition is responsible for at least 350,000 adult deaths annually and is the leading cause of death in hospitalized patients.

I had a series of surgeries over the next five days. I was having hallucinations from being on so many drugs. Finally, I told the surgeon I couldn't do another surgery.

A couple of days later, I was discharged from the hospital and for the next three months I was on IV antibiotics, which Michelle had to administer through a PICC line twice a day. Thank you, Michelle. Fortunately, I survived.

For some reason, I was convicted of my illness. I knew I needed a doctor or surely I would have died. I think that that was the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit works the same way to convict us of our sin. And this is more important than being in danger of physical death. Our mortal soul is in danger.

That's why we need Jesus as the great physician. You know, some people want to avoid the doctor. And avoiding the doctor, it never cures disease.

Refusing the diagnosis doesn't change reality. And we do have a couple of doctors in here, so I appreciate all that you do. So healing begins when we're honest enough to admit we need help.

And that is precisely the picture that Jesus paints in today's passage. These words were spoken during a dinner party hosted by Levi, better known as Matthew, the tax collector. A couple of things about tax collectors.

They were despised by their fellow Jews. They worked for Rome, often enriching themselves by overcharging their own people. To many, Matthew represented everything that was wrong with society.

After Jesus called him, Matthew did something really remarkable. He didn't keep Jesus to himself. He invited his friends, other tax collectors and sinners, to meet the Savior who had changed his life.

The religious leaders were scandalized. They asked the disciples, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered with one of the greatest summaries of his earthly mission. It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

They have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Those words still define the mission of Jesus and his mission of this church. One reason Jesus was opposed by the Pharisees is that they believe the problem existed somewhere out there.

The sinners were the problem. The tax collectors were the problem. The immoral people, and I'm not pointing at you, were the problem.

Jesus gently but firmly exposes a different reality. The greatest problem is found inside of every human heart. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things.

Isaiah says all we like sheep have gone astray. Paul concludes in Romans that all have sinned. No one escapes this diagnosis.

Years ago, physicians discovered that high blood pressure earned the nickname the silent killer. A person could feel perfectly healthy while serious damage was taking place inside of their body. Sin operates much the same way.

A person may appear successful. They may have a career, wealth, reputation, and influence, yet pride, bitterness, greed, lust, selfishness, or unforgiveness quietly destroy the soul. The greatest danger is not knowing you're sick.

That is exactly where the Pharisees were. They needed the great physician as desperately as Matthew did, but they could not see it. John Wesley taught that before anyone seeks Christ, God is already seeking them.

We call this prevenient grace. Long before we pray, God is calling us. Long before we repent, God is drawing us toward him.

Long before we understand the gospel, the Holy Spirit is awakening our conscience. Every conviction of sin is evidence that God has not abandoned us. When you feel the weight of your sin, that guilt, that's not God's rejection.

That's his invitation. It is the great physician saying, I can heal that. So imagine visiting a hospital where every doctor refused to see sick patients.

It wouldn't make any sense, would it? Doctors exist because people are sick. Likewise, Jesus did not come looking for perfect people. He came searching for broken people.

He touched lepers. He welcomed prostitutes. He forgave adulterers.

He restored Peter after failure. He even prayed for those crucifying him. That is the heart of God.

When Jesus called Matthew, he did not first say, you need to straighten out your finances or repair your reputation or earn your forgiveness. He simply said, follow me. Grace always comes before transformation.

Christ accepts us where we are. He simply refuses to leave us there. John Wesley taught when we place our faith in Christ, God does something marvelous.

He forgives our sins. He declares us righteous through faith. He adopts us into his family.

You know, it's not earned, it's received. Salvation is entirely by grace through faith. No amount of religious activity can purchase forgiveness.

Only Christ can. Jesus says he came to call sinners to repentance. Well, in this day and age, in this culture, and in many churches, repentance has become a very unpopular word.

Many imagine an angry creature shouting condemnation, but biblical repentance is actually hopeful. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It means to change one's mind.

It's a turning, turning away from our sin, giving it up. Instead of running from God, we turn toward him. Instead of trusting ourselves, we trust Christ.

Instead of loving sin, we begin to love holiness. So imagine yourself driving toward a bridge that has been washed away, and someone comes out waving their arms frantically telling you to stop. Turning around is not punishment.

Turning around saves your life. That is repentance. God warns us because he loves us.

He calls us to himself because he desires our salvation. Many Christians, they kind of stop at forgiveness. You know, they pray a prayer, and they're forgiven, and now they're good.

But Jesus intends something greater. He desires transformation. John Wesley often said that salvation is not only about escaping hell.

It's about becoming holy. God wants his children to resemble Jesus. The Holy Spirit gradually changes our attitudes, our speech, our marriages, our priorities, our generosity, our compassion, our character.

This is what Wesley called entire sanctification. A heart so filled with God's love that love becomes the ruling motive of life does not mean sinless perfection or that Christians never make mistakes. Rather, it means yielding to every area of our lives to Christ so that his love increasingly governs our thoughts, our words, and our actions.

Holiness isn't legalism. Holiness is love perfected. The holiest people are not the most judgmental.

They are truly the most loving. You know, a doctor may correctly diagnose an illness. He may write the perfect prescription, but if the patient never fills it, never takes the medicine, never follows the treatment, the disease continues.

Many admire Jesus. Many attend church. Many own bibles.

But Christ calls us not to merely admire him. He calls us to follow him. Discipleship requires surrender.

So what kind of church should we become? Certainly not a museum displaying perfect people because we're not that. We should be a hospital serving broken people. Hospitals welcome emergencies.

They don't shame patients. Hospitals, well, they celebrate healing. The church should be the safest place for honest confession because it is a place where grace is proclaimed.

This does not mean ignoring sin. Hospitals, they don't ignore the disease. They treat it.

Likewise, the church must lovingly speak the truth while extending the mercy of Christ. Truth without grace wounds. Grace without truth leaves people enslaved.

Jesus offers both. Now, I'm a hospice chaplain. I'm not a preacher.

You can probably tell that. Those who have walked with dying people know something profound though. Near the end of life, careers no longer matter.

Awards lose their importance. Bank accounts become irrelevant. People long for forgiveness.

They long for reconciliation. They long for peace with God. I've seen anxious hearts become peaceful after confessing Christ.

I've watched families reconciled around a bedside. I've witnessed the quiet confidence of believers who knew the great physician had healed the deepest wound of all, the wound of sin. Even when the body could not be restored, the soul found peace in Christ.

That is the greatest healing of all. Suppose Jesus walked into this room today and asked, where does it hurt? What would you say? Perhaps your wound is guilt. Perhaps it's a hidden addiction.

Perhaps it's bitterness or fear. Maybe it's pride disguised as self-sufficiency. Nothing surprises him.

Nothing overwhelms him. Nothing is beyond his grace. So perhaps today you spent years pretending everything's fine.

You know the language of faith. You know the songs. You know the scriptures.

But deep inside you may know your heart is far from God. Well, today the great physician is calling your name. Don't wait for another opportunity.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Come to Christ. Confess your sin.

Receive his forgiveness. Trust completely in his finished work on the cross. So if you're already a believer, hear his call to deeper surrender.

Is there an area in your life you have withheld from him? An unforgiven offense? A cherished sin? A neglected calling? Today lay at his feet. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh. Pray that the love of Christ would reign fully in your heart, shaping every thought, every word, and every action.

Jesus took our sin upon himself so that we could receive his righteousness. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 21, for our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The cross is God's answer to the sickness of sin.

And the resurrection is God's declaration that sin, death, and the grave do not have the final word. The physician is still making house calls. His grace still reaches the broken.

His mercy is still available. His invitation is still open. Come to him today.

Because the good news of the gospel is wonderfully simple. We are sick with sin, but Jesus is the cure. And the physician is calling.

Matthew 11 28 says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So let's pray. Merciful Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus, the great physician of our souls.

We confess that we have all sinned and stand in need of your grace. Thank you that you seek us before we ever seek you. You awaken us by your spirit, forgive us through the cross, and transform us by your power.

Today we repent of our sin and place our trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. For those who have never surrendered to him, draw them to yourself even now. For those who already belong to Christ, deepen our holiness.

Fill us with your perfect love. Make us people whose lives reflect the character of Jesus. Let this church be a place where the wounded find healing, the guilty find forgiveness, the lonely find family, and the lost find their savior.

We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord and healer. Amen.