Healing in the Atonement?

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So my point is, for the most part, in the world today, the love of God is assumed. The grace of God is assumed.

The Compassion of Christ and the Meaning of Compassion

So much so that people think, I don't even have to believe in Jesus. I'm golden no matter what. But we still talk about it, right? Because God is love. That is what the Bible says. And without the love, why is Christ so compassionate?

Why? Why did Christ show compassion on the Roman, on his servant, and on the leper? It truly is because of the love of God. Everything comes from God's love. So he is compassionate because he is loving.

The word compassion is defined this way, a strong feeling of sympathy and concern for the suffering of others. Do you have compassion on people? Some? There's an honest man.

Yes.

So some of you probably said, oh, yes. But then maybe you didn't want to say that because you know you don't always have compassion, right? But compassion is a strong feeling of sympathy and concern for the suffering of others.

But just as the love of God is more than a feeling, right? The true love of God contains some action. So compassion, it calls for action. Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve people's suffering, whether it's physical, mental, or emotional.

Jesus Heals Peter's Mother-in-Law

Jesus did this. We see it. He healed these men. And we see another example of this in verses 14 and 15, where Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law. Now, some of you, did you know that Peter had a mother-in-law?

Who has a mother-in-law? Yeah. Yeah, so Peter had one, too. I'll tell you why that's significant in a moment. But it says, now, when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.

So he touched her hand. Again, that touch, it shows compassion, tenderness. So Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them. So we see that Jesus showed compassion, not just on strangers, but also he showed compassion for his friends.

But just a side note, why the mother-in-law thing is important. Some of you know where I'm going with this. Some of you don't know. The mother-in-law's here, maybe nervous where I'm going with this.

But it's believed by many religions, some Christian churches believe that church leaders should not be married. That's a pretty common belief in the world today, that pastors, priests, bishops, church leaders should not be married.

You're aware of this, right? In Catholicism, they teach that Peter was the first pope. And one thing that everybody knows about the popes, they're not allowed to be married. And of course, you know, the popes claim to be infallible.

And the joke is, well, if they were married, they would know they're not infallible because their wife would tell them. But Peter, if he were the first pope, which he's not, okay, that's fiction. But if Peter were the first pope, hey, he has a mother-in-law, right?

I've never met a person who has a mother-in-law but not the wife. I mean, how would you get the mother-in-law but not the wife? What kind of deal is that, right? I have a great mother-in-law, okay?

But you want the wife too. But I digress. Hey, let's get back on track. I got to pull you back in, you know? But this is the heart of the Savior. When he saw someone suffering, he wanted to relieve that suffering.

And that should be the same for us. When we see someone going through a hard time, we see someone in pain, someone dealing with it, we want to help. We should want to help. So if your heart is heavy this morning, I have a word for you.

If you're in pain this morning, whether your pain is physical, emotional, or psychological, if you turn to Christ. If you depend on Christ, the scripture says, cast all your care upon him for he cares for you.

Jesus has compassion on you. You say, yeah, but they were healed and I haven't been healed. We're going to get to that. There is healing. But there's no more clear example of that care and compassion than what we see here in the Gospels.

Sin as Spiritual Leprosy and Redemption by Christ's Blood

God took on human flesh to walk among us lepers. Let me repeat that. God took upon human flesh to walk among us lepers. I'm not a leper.

Yeah, you are.

You have a spiritual leprosy called sin.

We all do.

And it's contagious. And it's spread to all men. Romans 5 .12 says, therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned.

So not only do we have this spiritual leprosy, if you will, we're also Gentiles, like the Roman. We are Gentiles. Now, I'm pretty sure all of us, most all of us, are Gentiles according to the flesh. You know, we're not Jewish.

We're not descended from Abraham. But even if you were, you know, every person is born a Gentile in this sense that we're born separated from God. We are only brought near by what? The precious blood of Christ.

That's what the Scripture says. We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. The blood that was shed was shed because the Lord had compassion. We know the verse. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So the only question is, have you, like the leper, called upon the name of Jesus? Have you, like the leper and like the Roman, turned to Jesus for help? Have you, like them, like the Roman, have you humbled yourself to seek the Savior?

Have you, with humility, recognized who you are compared to who he is? You know, there's a great hymn. We're going to sing this after the message. One of my favorite hymns. It's called No, Not One. Remember the first time I heard it?

It's one of those songs that just has that sound. It just sticks with you. No, not one. I think one of the lines really applies here. It says, there's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one.

None else could heal all our souls' diseases. No, not one. No, not one. This is what Jesus did. He healed our souls' diseases. That spiritual leprosy. Even when we were estranged from him, dead in trespasses and sins, he was a friend to us.

Isn't that amazing? He was a friend to us. So Jesus healed all our souls' diseases. That's what the gospel does. But someone might ask, if Jesus did that for them, if he did that for the leper and healed him right away, if Jesus healed the servant of the Roman soldier, you say he has compassion for me, but will he heal me as well?

Or will Jesus heal the physical infirmity of my loved one? You know, the answer is yes. It's the same answer. If we turn to Christ, the answer is yes. The only question is when. We don't have to ask the question, is Jesus willing?

We already see he's willing.

Amen?

He will heal all our souls' diseases. Actually, he's going to heal all of our diseases. The only question is when. Look at verse 16. I think we get the answer. It's in the text. Verse 16, when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out the spirits with the word, and he healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, he himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness.

What's that a quote from? What chapter? Some of you know. Isaiah 53, one of those well-known Old Testament chapters. If you were to keep reading, the prophet says, by his wounds, by Christ's stripes, we are healed.

You realize what that means? When Jesus died on the cross, there was healing in the atonement. This is kind of a controversial subject, but there is healing in the atonement. You say, well, is there full healing in the atonement?

Yes.

Yes, there is. The only question is, when do we get that healing? You know, our sins are washed away the moment we believe. That's the promise. But our physical infirmities, your aches and pains and diseases and ailments, many people think that Jesus should heal me today.

I should be healed today. I should be healed right now. And that's a normal desire. I mean, anyone who's sick, you want to be healed when? Five minutes ago, probably. Just remember those who think that, yes, that we say there is healing in the atonement, but it should be now.

Why don't I get it right now? Just remember, presumably, the leper suffered for quite some time before he was healed. Don't miss this. He suffered for a while. We don't know how long, maybe months, maybe years.

When was he healed? When he met Jesus. That's when he was healed, when he met the Lord. The Roman soldier, his servant, when was he healed? When the Roman met the Lord, right? It's all about when we meet the Lord.

So when are we going to receive full healing? When we meet the Lord. Now, he could do it sooner, and there are many testimonies all over the world that Christ heals people sooner than that, and he can do that.

But during the earthly ministry of Jesus, we see all these miracles as sort of a foretaste of heaven. It's sort of a foretaste of what's to come. We see Jesus healing the sick.

Why?

People saw it so that they might believe. And we read about it.

Why?

So that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ. And not just that. We see his great mercy. We see his great compassion. And it gives us hope that he actually has compassion on us as well. So I just want to ask you, do you believe that this morning?

Do you believe that Jesus, do you believe that Christ has compassion for you? And finally, it's true. The greatest compassion ever displayed was on Calvary's cross. The payment has been made. He lived for us, he died for us, and he rose again for us.

He himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness. So in conclusion, Christ showed compassion on the leper. He showed compassion on the centurion and his servant. Christ showed compassion on Peter and his mother-in-law.

And if you would simply call upon his name and look to Christ, you will experience that same compassion. And he will heal all our diseases and all our souls' diseases. This is what the gospel does.

Amen?

Let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this promise. We thank you that by his wounds we are healed. And, Lord, most of all, we're thankful that you love this world so much. You had such great compassion that you sent your only begotten son to suffer and die for us.

Lord, would we show that same kind of compassion? Would we give our child for that? I don't think our compassion even comes close to the compassion you have. But, Lord, we're thankful that you have poured it out in abundance.

So, Lord, if there's anyone here, anyone listening later on, who has never trusted in Jesus, maybe they're weighed down by their conscience, maybe they're weighed down by illness and disease, but, Lord, I just pray that you would lift that burden by saving their soul today.

And I ask it all in Christ's name.

Amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.