THE LORD IS THY HEALER.

A SERMON

PREACHED AT

St. Mary's Church, Clarence-street, Old Kent-road, London, on Wednesday evening, January 31, 1883, by the

REV. J. BATTERSBY,

(OF SHEFFIELD,) ON BEHALF OF

THE PROTESTANT

BLIND PENSION SOCIETY.

IN

N the 15th chapter of the Book of Exodus, and the latter part of the 26th verse, you will read these words: "For I am the Lord that healeth thee." This chapter gives us an account of Israel having passed safely through the Red Sea, of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts, and of how Moses, Miriam, and the children of Israel joined in a song of praise to God having triumphed gloriously over their foes. After this we read that Moses led Israel three days' journey into the wilderness, where they were in want of water to drink. "And when they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter, therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?" In the next verse we have an account of how these bitter waters were made sweet. A tree is cast into the waters. waters which the children of God come to. taste them, but at other times they have to drink them, and the only Tree that makes them sweet and palatable is the Lord Jesus Christ, the sweet Tree of Life. I think that the tree spoken of in this verse is a very apt emblem of the Saviour, who sweetens all the bitter waters of Marah to the Christian. The Lord having proved Israel, takes the

There are many bitter Sometimes they have to

credit to Himself for all that had been done for them, saying, "I am the Lord that healeth thee, Jehovah Rophi." The Lord bears many beautiful titles in the Scriptures, but we have to deal only with one of them this evening. In bringing our subject before you, I shall ask you to look at it in the following order. I am very fond of having two or three heads in a sermon. I know that some preachers begin and end without any order at all, but it is very difficult both for the preacher and for the hearer. I shall, therefore, ask you to consider (1) "The persons diseased and in need of healing; and, (2) “ The healing," What is it? and (3)" The Healer”. "I am the Lord that healeth thee."

Now to begin with the first of these: The persons diseased and in need of healing. What is the nature of the disease that these persons are suffering from? What is it that has got into the whole system of man that makes him so out of repair, so disorganised, and so ill-affected towards God? I know only of one thing which is the great cause of all, and which is expressed in a word of three letters, S IN. And this word of three letters has made sad work of another word of three letters, LA W. SIN is the transgression of the LAW. The mark has been missed which is the idea connected with sin.

Sin is likened to many things in the Scripture in order that our finite minds may grasp what God thinks and says about it. He calls sin a thief. What has this thief done? It has stolen the human heart, and drawn it away from God. Sin is likened to a debt, and a debt, too, which man can never pay. It is compared to a burden which is heavier than man can carry. Job knew this, and so cried out to God to pardon, or to lift off his transgression, and to take away his iniquity (viii. 20, 21). He wanted someone else to bear his burden for him. A sensible old man! Sin is also described as a sting. "The sting of death is sin." When sin is destroyed, death has no sting. Again, sin is described as a festering wound, a plague, the leprosy of the soul; and so we might go on, for it is a loathsome disease, a sickness unto death; and such is natural man. It is very hard, and very difficult sometimes to tell persons plainly the real truth, but we may venture to do so when we have God's word for it; then it is God who speaks, and not man. We are no better ourselves than other persons as we come into the world. You know what David says, that we "are shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin." This is the disease. It may sound very hard to say that that little baby, so beautiful to look upon, so caressed by, and so pleasing to its parents, that that sweet looking little thing is a little sinner. It is diseased, friends, and will die as the

result. This is the corruption, or sin, which has got into the whole family of Adam. You know what our Lord says about the human heart in Mark vii.: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders," and such like; "All these things come from within and defile the man." This sinful disease affects a man all over, within and without, for the words of Isaiah are true of every person, "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores" (ver. 5, 6). Man is corrupted, and corrupting. Sinners naturally are hateful and hating "one another." This is the teaching of the Holy Ghost with regard to man in his depraved and lost condition. With all the science, and with all the education, and with all the philosophy of the present day, there is no improvement made in the human heart. This is not always pleasing to the refined and developed intellect, but, it is nevertheless true. Natural man is the same now that he ever was. If you read the description of man in the time of Noah, as given in Gen. vi., you will find, "That every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." God destroyed the old world, but mankind grew no better for it. Man naturally is like the woman who spent all that she had upon physicians, and was no better, but rather grew worse. David takes a survey of human nature in his days, and says, "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek after God." And what was the result? "They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy." He could not find one; all flesh had corrupted its way, there was not one that did good, no, not one. What a picture! Was it any better in St. Paul's time? If any person thinks so, let him read his Epistle to the Romans, and compare chap. i. and iii. together. The corrupted, the depraved, and the diseased nature of man cannot be more fully described than by the Apostle. Is man any better in our own day? Alas! alas! Then comes the great question, How is man that is so diseased to be healed? This is the question. I wish to speak simply and plainly upon this all important point. Let us proceed.

Secondly-What is the healing which has to take place in the human heart? What can man do towards healing himself? There are many who think that they can do a great deal; I meet with many of this sort, both in my own town and elsewhere. Job found out that, let him do what he would he got no better. He said, "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt Thou

plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me" (ix. 30, 31). Now you have heard what Job says, and he was an enlightened man; let him do what he would God rolled him over again into the mire of his corruptions, and made him feel his disease, his filthiness, and his sinfulness. The Lord speaks by Jeremiah to the Jews, and says, "Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God" (ii. 22). They could not wash it out. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" If they can, then may they who are accustomed to do evil learn to do well. But there are those who are about to do part themselves, and then leave it with the Lord to make up the difference. Now, my beloved friends, all the doings of the creature, all this soap work, all this self-washing work, and all this nitre-work, you may depend upon it, amounts to nothing more than trying to get into heaven by the back door. What do I mean? Why, the back door to heaven is by man's own doings. It is by the door of the law. We read respecting this door, that when God turned Adam out of Paradise, He locked, bolted, and barred this back door for ever, so that man can never enter heaven thereby. If persons wish to cleanse and save themselves by their own doings, they are only aiming at the back door, which is shut, never to be opened again. There is a door, but it is the front door, which the Lord has opened, and which no person can shut, and which, when the Lord shall shut it, no person will be able to open it. Jesus says, "I am the Door!

But how is the healing effected? How is the cure wrought in a man's soul? Coming to the A B C of religion, how is the diseased soul healed? Now, a man does not want a physician unless he feels his need of healing. So it is with the awakened sinner. Very well; now what is the healing medicine for curing the diseased soul? I only read of one medicine, and that is " the Balm of Gilead," and which, in other words, is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it is said of this blood-for this is the only healing medicine, after all-that "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." There is a fountain opened in Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness, and it is being plunged into this fountain that heals the sinner of his sins. There is nothing done without it. I have no doubt but that you all like to sing:

"There is a fountain fill'd with blood,

Drawn from Emmanuel's veins ;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."

we

Yes, all sins go in the flood and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is indeed a healing power in the blood of the Saviour. All those poor creatures, whether lame, blind, or maimed, or whatever their infirmity was, if they were touched by the Lord Jesus Christ, were made perfectly whole; the cure was complete. And so it is as regards a poor sinner whom the Lord Jesus Christ heals-the cure is complete. Is it? Yes, the Psalmist says so: "He healeth all our diseases," and there are many diseases in the soul, arising from sin; but He healeth them all. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He healeth the backsliding sinner, and loves him freely. A healed sinner is a sinner saved, cleansed, justified, and sanctified by the blood of the Lamb. When we speak of a person being perfectly healed, know that corruption remains even in those who are regenerated; but then we mean that he is healed before God, and appears as perfect in Christ as if he had never sinned. How is this expressed in the Scriptures? "As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." Do you think that the East and the West will ever meet? Never! Nor will the sinner and his sins. "His iniquity shall be sought for, but there shall be none." Yes, the devil will search for the believer's sins, there is no doubt about it; but he shall not be able to find any. If he could find one sin to charge the child of God with, the whole work of Christ would be upset, and the believer must perish. Satan will be foiled, but the Church will be saved. Then, again, the blotting out of transgression, the non-imputation of iniquity, the casting of all our sins behind His back, the throwing of them into the depths of the sea, never to rise again, and the revelation of these blessed truths to our souls by the Holy Spirit, is indeed the experimental healing of our souls. This is the Lord's marvellous work, and blessed are all they whose eyes have been anointed with the spiritual eyesalve of the Gospel, for they see and understand the things which are freely given to us of God.

Let us now notice, thirdly, "The Healer." "I am the Lord that healeth thee." The minister, however learned and eloquent, has no power to heal the soul; neither can the sinner heal himself. The Lord alone is the Healer. There is one Physician of souls, and only one. He is often mentioned in the Scriptures. Our Physician is Jehovah-Rophi, who is Jehovah-Jesus. Those who are whole think nothing of this Physician, but those who are sick do, and often cry unto Him, saying, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed."

Now, it is very important to have a wise and well-skilled Physician.