JESUS
THE MENDER OF OUR WOUNDS
BREAD
1 Praise
the Lord. How good it is to sing
praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and
binds up their wounds. Psalms 147:1-3
(NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew
11:28-30 (NIV)
1 Who
has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a
root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected
by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men
hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our
infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; and the Lord
has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:1-6 (NIV)
1 The
Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on
me, because the Lord has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness
for the prisoners, 2 to
proclaim the year of the Lord's
favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who
grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil
of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of
despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his
splendor. Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)
16 He
went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went
into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The
Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll,
gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the
synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)
23 When
they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he
made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in
his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his wounds you have been healed. 1
Peter 2:23-24 (NIV)
BUTTER
“We comfort the afflicted sinner in this manner; Brother you can never be perfect in this life, but you can be holy. He will say, ‘How can I be holy when I feel my sins?’ I answer, ‘You feel sin? That is a good sign. To realize that one is ill is a step and a very necessary step, toward recovery.’ ‘But how will I get rid of my sin?’ he will ask. I answer: See the heavenly Physician, Christ, who heals the broken-hearted. Do not consult the Quack doctor, Reason. Believe in Christ and your sins will be pardoned. His righteousness will become your righteousness, and your sins will become His sins.” Martin Luther
“Can the elder son in me come home? Can I be found as the younger son was found? How can I return when I am lost in resentment, when I am caught in jealousy, when I am imprisoned in obedience and duty lived out as slavery? It is clear that alone, by myself, I cannot find myself. More daunting than healing myself as the younger son, is healing myself as the elder son. Confronted here with the impossibility of self redemption, I now understand Jesus’ words to Nicodemus: ‘Do not be surprised when I say; ‘You must be born from above.’ Indeed, something has to happen that I myself cannot cause to happen. I cannot be reborn from below; that is, with my own strength, with my own mind with my own psychological insights…I can only be healed from above, from where God reaches down. What is impossible for me is possible for God. ‘With God, everything is possible.’” Henri Nouwen
“God’s willingness to show mercy appears
by His joyfulness when sinners take hold on His mercy. God’s goodness is that He rejoices at the
salvation of sinners and is glad when His mercy is accepted. God rejoices when a poor sinner comes in and
takes hold of His mercy. What an
encouragement to believe in God! He is a
God of pardons. Mercy pleases Him. Nothing prejudices us but unbelief. Unbelief stops the current of God’s mercy
from running, shuts God’s bowels, closes the cavity of Christ’s wounds, so no
healing virtue will come out. As far as
the heavens are above the earth, so far is God’s mercy above our sins. What will tempt us to believe, if not the
mercy of God?” Thomas
Watson
HEART SAVOR
- · We are all born broken.
- · Jesus came to heal our wounds and bind up our brokenness. Our unbelief is the only thing which stops the flow of His merciful healing power.
· I cannot be reborn from below – through my own futile efforts. I must be reborn from above – I am only
healed from above - when God reached down in love.
