Healed or Deluded? Which?

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 7, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"They have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly,
saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." Jeremiah 8:11.

"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved:
for You are my praise." Jeremiah 17:14.

THE people among whom Jeremiah dwelt had received a grievous hurt and
they felt it, for they were invaded by cruel enemies. Their goods were
plundered, their children were slain and their cities burned. Jeremiah,
with true love to his nation, warned them that the cause of all their
trouble was that they had forsaken their God. They had turned aside
from the living God and had made gods of the idols of the nations round
about them, and so had provoked Jehovah to jealousy. Therefore He
chastened them sorely and plagued them again and again, even as He had
threatened them from of old. He took up the quarrel of His Covenant and
He made them smart, indeed.

Jeremiah tried to show them that the only way to be healed of their
hurt was to be healed of their sin–that if they would give up their
idolatry and all the infamous wickedness that grew out of it–and turn
to the true God and obey His Commandments, then brighter days would
come. Their conscience must have told them that all this was true but,
alas, Jeremiah preached to them in vain! As the old classic prophetess
Cassandra was doomed forever to speak the truth and never to be
believed, so was Jeremiah–the people heard him, but they regarded him
not. Meanwhile, certain pretenders to prophecy opposed Jeremiah and
sought to win the confidence of the nation. They came with, "Thus says
the Lord," upon their lips, blasphemously pretending to be speaking in
the name of Jehovah when Jehovah had not sent them. Nor did they seek
His Glory.

These suggested to the people easier remedies than repentance–they
should make an alliance with Egypt and in that way beat off the
Assyrians. They should send a certain amount of tribute to the great
king and thus buy off his armies. They buoyed up the people's hopes
with vain confidences and took them away from repenting and returning
to God. No good came of their teachings–they did but film the wound of
the nation and left the deadly venom still within. The hopes which they
excited lasted but for a little time and then died out in blank
despair. They had not touched the root which bore the wormwood. They
had made light of the national sin. They had healed the hurt of Judah
slightly, saying, "Peace, peace," when there was no peace.

God's servants, today, who are the true successors of the Prophets,
have a task before them sterner, even, than that of the ancient Seers!
It is not ours to point to smoking ruins and the carcasses of the
unburied dead–plain evidences of a grievous hurt–but our work is to
deal with spiritual sickness and to come among a people who confess no
hurt. Great multitudes of our hearers do not welcome the news of a
heavenly remedy because they are not aware that they are sick! They are
not only sound in wind and limb, but in head and heart. From the crown
of their head to the sole of their feet they have scarcely a blemish on
them! Or if they have some little spot here and there, yet they are
much superior to the general run of mankind and need no special
spiritual surgery.

A physician who has to commence his practice by convincing his
neighbors that they are sick has not a very hopeful sphere before him.
Such is our work–we have, first of all, to declare in the name of the
God, the Truth that man is fallen; that his heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked; that he is a sinner doomed to
die–and such a sinner that there is no reclaiming him unless the
Ethiopian can change his skin and the leopard his spots! Truths so hu-

miliating to human pride are by no means popular! Men prefer to hear
the smooth periods of those who parade the dignity of human nature. The
very phrase grates on my ears–talk of the dignity of a dunghill and
you are as near the mark!

Man, viewed as fallen, descends below the level of the beast which
perishes, for the beast has not offended its Creator. Look how Adam's
proud descendants rage against this Truth of God! To persuade them of
it is a work so hard as to be utterly hopeless unless the Spirit of
God, Himself, shall undertake it! It is a divinely wise arrangement
that He has undertaken it–as it is written, "When He, the Spirit of
Truth, is come, He shall convince the world of sin." When that great
labor is accomplished, we have yet another, remaining, namely, to
excite in men a desire to seek healing! Many there are who confess
their disease, but the disease of sin has worked in them a spiritual
lethargy so that they find a horrible rest in their lost estate! They
have no longing to rise to spiritual health, of which, indeed, they
know nothing. They are guilty and willing to remain guilty–inclined to
evil and content with the inclination!

Hundreds live and die in this condition. They know that there is a
wrath to come on account of sin, but they put far from them the evil
day and amuse themselves with the mirth of the present. They do not
deny that a great change must be undergone by them before they can
enter Heaven, but then there is time enough for this, for even at the
11th hour they may be called by Divine Grace! They are willing to run
the risk of gasping out a last penitential prayer–and so they give
Mercy a denial, refusing the Good Physician because they are afraid of
being well too soon. Ah, me! We must bring them out of this. They will
perish unless they are quickened out of this indifference–they will
sleep themselves into Hell unless we can find an antidote to the
opiates of sin. Like the rich man, of whom we read that in Hell he
lifted up his eyes, being in torments, they will dream on till their
awakening will be too late. Would to God they might lift up their eyes
while there is yet a hope of their beholding Christ upon the Cross and
finding everlasting life in Him!

After these things are done, we have but stormed the outworks of the
castle, for there still remains another difficulty. Convinced that they
need healing and made, in a measure, anxious to find it, the danger
with the awakened is lest they should rest content with an apparent
cure and miss the real work of Grace! We are perilously likely to rest
satisfied with a slight healing and, by this means, to miss the great
and complete salvation which comes from God, alone. I wish to speak in
deep earnestness to everyone here present upon this subject, for I have
felt the power of it in my own soul. To deliver this message I have
made a desperate effort–quitting my sick bed without due permit–and
moved by a restless pining to warn you against the counterfeits of the
day.

I have taken two texts. First, that I may show how easy it is for us to
be deluded into a slight healing and, secondly, that I may plead with
you to seek real healing. And, lastly, that I may plainly show where
the true healing is to be had according to the teaching of our second
text, "Heal me, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved."

I. First, then, we sorrowfully assert that IT IS VERY EASY FOR US TO BE
THE SUBJECTS OF A FALSE HEALING. You will kindly understand that I am
not going to talk about the inhabitants of the Island of Laputa–I am
now speaking straight to every one of you and I am setting myself in
the middle pew that my keenest sentence may enter my own heart as well
as yours! I say, we are, all of us, in danger of being the subjects of
a false healing–ministers, deacons, elders, Church members, aged
professors and young beginners–all alike! We might infer this from the
fact that, no doubt, a large number of persons are deceived.

If a large number of persons are so, then why should not we be? The
tendency of other men is probably also in us. Why not? Are there not
many persons who consider that all is well with themselves because they
have been observant of Church ordinances from their youth up? And their
parents were observant for them before they actually came upon the
stage of responsibility? Were they not duly christened and correctly
confirmed? Have they not taken the sacrament? Have they not gone
through every form that is required by the sect to which they belong?
What more can be needed? They do not, in so many words, assert that
these ceremonies have given them perfect wholeness before God, but
secretly they pour this flattering unction upon their souls and lie
down in quietness! If they are not all right, where will you find any
who are?

On the other hand, it may be that some now present are thankful that
they never were christened nor confirmed and they think a good deal of
not having undergone those ceremonies. Let them not err in the same way
as those they are judging! They have been attentive to religion from
their own point of view–they are never absent from their pew; they
like to be at Prayer Meetings–they enjoy everything that has the stamp
of Christianity upon it and, therefore, they enquire no further, but
take their safety for granted! They are afraid of digging too deep and
so they are satisfied with hav-

ing a form of godliness. Though they have felt no change of heart and
no renewal of spirit, they, nevertheless, believe that all is well with
them–at least they hope so–and, therefore, they are at ease in Zion.

This is a poor, slovenly soul-surgery which will end in eternal death!
Beware of it, I pray you, while yet a work of Grace may be worked upon
you! Too many are reliant entirely upon external religion. If that is
attended to, carefully, they conclude that all is right. To sing a hymn
is, in their minds, a good thing, though their heart never praises God!
To join in the posture of prayer is, to them, an excellent thing,
though their heart never cries to God for mercy! Alas, that men should
dream that the hollow hypocrisy which insults God with empty forms
should have a magical virtue in it! Oh, that men should be so mad as to
conceive that the bringing of the mere husks and bran of external
devotion to God can be anything to Him but sheer mockery, provoking Him
to greater wrath!

And yet they mock God with pretended prayers and feel pleased with
their crime. They chant a heartless hymn and so vex His Spirit–and
they are pacified by their empty song! The very deeds that will be
mentioned against them, to condemnation, they quote to their darkened
mind as hopeful grounds of justification! Outward religion is a slight
and pretended healing, being, in fact, no healing at all, but a cry of,
"Peace, peace," when there is no peace! I am afraid, too, that many who
do not rely upon religious forms yet confide in doctrinal beliefs. They
are sound in the faith–Orthodox, Evangelical and Calvinistic! They
heartily detest any doctrine that is not Scriptural. I am glad to find
that it is so with them–but let them not rest in this! To cover a
wound with a royal garment is not to heal it and to conceal a sinful
disposition beneath a sound creed is not salvation! Believe what you
may, even though you should know the whole Truth of God, yet if your
faith never changes your heart nor affects your life, you will in no
way be superior to the devil who be-lieves–no, you may not be quite so
good as he, for devils believe and tremble–and to believe without
trembling is a stage lower down!

Oh, my dear Hearer, I implore you, do not rest content with such a
slight healing as this! I have heard of one who changed from a
Churchman to a Dissenter, and another who changed from a Dissenter to a
Churchman–but I long to hear of you that you have turned from sin to
righteousness, from self to Jesus! Conversions may be no better than
perversions unless they are conversions to Christ! We must know the
Truth of God in the heart or we do not know it at all. Dry doctrine may
kill–it is only the living Truth of God, worked in us by the Spirit of
God, that can make us alive! Many are the quackeries of the spiritual
world. And multiplied are the nostrums of the physicians of no
value–yielding to men a slight and transient hope.

If others are deceived, may not we be? Depend upon this, that if there
is a chance of our being deceived at all, we are always ready to aid in
the deception! As a rule, we are all inclined to think too well of
ourselves. I dare say that if any cautious flatterer will assure me
that I am a very wise person, I shall, before long, come to the
conclusion that he is a remarkably sensible and far-seeing individual!
If anyone should accuse you of a virtue which you never possessed, if
he would but persevere long enough with his pleasing insinuation, you
will begin to smile inwardly and hint to your conscience that there are
latent excellencies about you which this man with the prophetic glance
has discovered! The devil, who knows the exact bait for poor human
nature, finds it easy to pacify an anxious mind by presenting a false
salvation and persuading the heart that all is well, while in fact
nothing is well!

A little feeling of natural regret flits over the mind and the false
fiend whispers, "It is repentance." "Oh, yes," says the ready dupe, "I
am a penitent!" A little presumptuous puffing up of ourselves into
comfort is indulged and the deceiver sings, "Hail, precious faith!" How
pleased we are when we jump to the conclusion that we have passed from
death unto life and are, indeed, the servants of the living God! We do
not look back to see whether there was any new birth; whether there was
any change of heart; whether there was any giving up of sin; whether
there was any laying hold on righteousness; whether there was any
severance from self and union to Christ! Those enquiries may be
troublesome and, therefore, the irksome duty of self-examination is
cried down as unbelief and we are bid to shut our eyes and make up our
minds that all is right.

"Believe that you are well and you are well" seems to be the Gospel of
many, but it is not the Gospel of Jesus! But it is so easy to jump into
fancied security that many take to it. We are, almost all of us, on the
side of that which is most easy and comfortable to ourselves–the
exceptions to this rule are a few morbid spirits who habitually write
bitter things against themselves–and a few gracious souls whom the
Holy Spirit has convinced of sin who would comfort themselves if they
could, but dare not do so. They are dying for need and yet their soul
abhors all manner of meat. I do not suppose I

shall do any good this morning except to this last class–and they are
few. But the words I shall speak will reach their ears, I know, and I
pray God it may drop into their hearts to comfort them.

Take this, then, for granted, that there are many ways of being
slightly healed and we are, most of us, likely to be pleased with one
or other of them. Besides, flatterers are not yet an extinct race.
False prophets abounded in Jeremiah's day and they still may be met
with. I could indicate where they are, but I advise you not to go after
them. They are to be found in several places of worship in London, but
you had better leave them alone. There is a flatterer in your own
bosom, namely, proud Self! Another flatterer often crosses your path
and is eager to destroy your soul–I mean Satan. If by any possibility
you can be beguiled to put up with something which looks like healing,
but which is not, you shall have all the art and craft of Hell to help
you in it!

If it is possible, the very elect shall be thus deceived! Instead of
faith, they shall have presumption; for regeneration, they shall have
reformation; for holiness, morality; for purity, censoriousness; for
zeal, fanaticism; for Grace, fancy– and for Christ and His
Cross–human works and their merit. Many who profess to love you will
aid the general deceit and puff you up with the idea of being what you
are not. Slight healing is sure to be fashionable among a great many
because it requires so little thought. People will do anything but
think according to the Word of God. They will both think and speak
against the revealed will and Truth of God, but to consider what the
Lord has said is not at all to their mind. They bring forward
philosophical notions which read like passages of a comedy! He seems to
be most honored, nowadays, who will invent the most monstrous theory
and stand to it!

The more absurd it is the better, so long as it is opposed to the Bible
and to the accepted beliefs. I do not hesitate to say that any ordinary
person, who would dethrone his reason and enthrone his imagination,
could dream up as many good theories in a day as have been invented
during the last 50 years by our vain-glorious philosophers! Give him
sufficient liquor to make him half drunk and he might invent many
more–and those far more philosophical than the folly which rules the
wisdom of the present hour! The more the philosophies stagger, the more
they will suit this present age, for that which is really reasonable
and solid is rejected.

Sober thought about one's own soul and its destiny is, by no means, a
favorite occupation with men. How few sit down and answer the question,
"How much do I owe unto my Lord?" They would sooner hear a thunderclap
than be asked to consider their ways. They would sooner be flogged than
sit down and say to their soul– "How have you dealt towards your
Creator? What is your state towards your Redeemer? What of love, what
of fear, what of holy confidence, what of consecration have you ever
given to Jesus Christ, your Lord? How will it go with you when you come
to die? How will you fare in the swellings of Jordan? How will you meet
the Judge of all the earth in the Judgment Day?" Such questions as
these they put back as only fit for women and for priests! Yet were
they truly manly, they would be eager to look such enquiries in the
face. O Sirs, it is a grievous pity that men should be lost for lack of
thought! I would gladly hold you by the sleeve and beg you to remember
and consider!

Superficial religion only requires so much church-going, or attendance
at a sermon, or so many half-guineas, so much repeating of pious
phrases and listening to pious periods–it suits the thoughtless–but
as to seeking after God by meditation, prayer, confession, faith, they
cannot! Away with it! Superficial religion will always be fashionable
because it does not require self-denial. A man may be outwardly
religious and yet be a private tippler, but he cannot be a true
Christian at that rate. Such secret defilement he must abandon. That,
however, is a blow too near the root for many– they like not so sharp
an axe as that! Or perhaps he has enmity towards his brother. Now he
can go to "mass" or attend early communion and yet hate his
brother–but he cannot go to Heaven and do that! He cannot be a
regenerate man and do that! He may be following, all the while, some
secret lust and yet be a great man in his church so long as he can keep
his wantonness hidden away from prying eyes.

A superficial religion suits the unclean gentleman, but genuine
godliness will not allow a darling lust to live. Do you wonder that
vital godliness is at a discount when it proclaims war to the knife
against a lifelong indulgence? It is with Christ as it might be in
surgery! Two eminent practitioners profess to deal with the disease
called polypus. The first declares that he can work an effectual cure,
but it must be understood that he uses the knife freely. He believes no
cure to be possible unless all the roots of the growth are taken away.
He will not pretend to half measures–the whole thing must be
eliminated, or he can work no cure. On the other side of the street
another surgeon of great name depends upon an outward application
which, in quite a painless manner, acts upon the diseased part and,
according to his statements, se-

cures the desired result. He says, "My friend goes too deep and makes
too much of the matter. Come in here! The disease is a mere trifle. I
will end the mischief without cutting and hacking."

You can readily guess how popular this last gentleman will be if he can
gain public confidence! But what will be the end of it? That is the
point! If the sharp and deep cut of the first surgeon ministers to
ultimate health and is absolutely necessary to a cure, is it not best?
If, in the second case, the end of all those honeyed words is but the
covering up of a foul loathsomeness which will breed corruption and
hasten death–is it not a wicked deception? Yet most men are so foolish
as to choose the worse of the two in the affairs of their souls. Slight
healing, also, is sought by men, because it does not require
spirituality. There are multitudes of men who, if the Kingdom of Heaven
were to be had by outward actions–no matter how difficult–would at
once commence the task! Say, "You must save so many hundreds of pounds
and buy Heaven," and they would starve themselves until they had
hoarded up the money! Anything that could be done by the body would be
cheerfully attempted!

But true religion is spiritual and carnal men cannot get at it–it is
high above and out of their sight. They ask us "How can we be saved?"
We tell them. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Then they reply, "But
what is this, believing?" and they try and make believing into a kind
of hard mechanical action of the understanding by which it receives
certain facts about Christ, just as it believes in Roman or Grecian
history. They do not grip at the idea that it is the heart's resting
upon Christ. When we begin to preach repentance and faith, they appear
to be in a fog–they cannot get at our meaning because they are
prejudiced by other modes of thought. Hence it is that the slight
healing which comes of formalism and ceremonies, seeing it deals with
outward manipulations, at once attracts them.

But, my dear Hearers, let me warn you with all the energy I possess
against ever being satisfied with any of the slight healings that are
cried up nowadays! They will all end in disappointment, as sure as you
are living men! I could wish that they might speedily end so you could
begin again and begin aright. Believe me, sickness is often a time when
a man is led to turn over the pages of his past life, to see whether
they will bear inspection. It will be a fearful thing when you are
racked with pain and depressed in spirit to see all your evidences
blotted and blurred–and all your hopes of Heaven cancelled by the hand
of the Truth of God before your sight! Suffering times call for
realities, solid facts, eternal verities– for then it is that dark
thoughts crowd in upon the soul and anxious questions which must and
will have an answer!

Then Conscience talks in this fashion–"You must be born again." Are
you born again? "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of
sin." Has that blood-shedding ever come near to you? Such thoughts as
these gather around the spirit in the dead of night and haunt the soul
in the weary watches, when you toss to and fro and cannot sleep. Unless
you fix your eyes upon the Cross and can answer, "I have believed in
Jesus for salvation and I still believe in Him. I have forsaken every
evil way and I am still striving against sin. I am a renewed man. I am
struggling to the Light of God and struggling up to purity and to my
God"–unless, I say, you can give such firm and solid answers, there
will be hard times for you and deep depressions far more grievous than
physical pain could possibly bring to you. I pray you, therefore, do
not put off making sure work for eternity. Remember that if you pass
through this life deceived, there will await you an awful undeceiving
in the next world!

I will not try to depict the man who finds himself lost forever, though
he died in the odor of sanctity. What will be his horror, when he finds
himself cast out and hears the Lord Jesus say, "I never knew you." Your
minister knew you! The deacons knew you! The members knew you, but the
Lord Jesus never did, for you had no heart-fellowship with Him and were
not in heart a believer in Him! O Brothers and Sisters, if there is any
error about your profession, get it right at once! Do not go on under a
delusion! Surely you cannot wish to be puffed up with vain imaginations
of hopes which are fallacious! Search, then, and see. Beg the Lord to
search you and let your state before Him be in all things according to
His Truth. Time flies, and so does my strength, and therefore we must
hasten to the second point.

II. BE IT OURS TO SEEK TRUE HEALING. But then, as we have already said,
this true healing must be radical.

Oh, pray to have it so! The healing which we need must go to the root
of the business and work a thorough change. Such a work is described in
Scripture as a creation–"created anew in Christ Jesus"–it must be a
resurrection. "And you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses
and sins." Now I ask you, my dear Brothers and Sisters, whether you can
undertake this? Creation and resurrection–do these lie in your power?
You can do nothing of the kind! And so you are driven to my second
text, "O Lord, heal me, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be
saved."

Be it known unto every one of you, men and women, that you must be the
subjects of a Divine Power by which you must be as totally changed as
if you had been annihilated and then created anew! By this Divine
agency you must be as

really changed as if you were dead and buried and then were raised
again from the dead. There is no soul-healing, no soul-saving apart
from this! Does this strike you with despair? I am glad of it, for this
kind of despair is next door to eternal hope. When a man despairs of
himself, he will begin to trust in his God, Oh that we might each one
lie at Christ's feet as dead till He shall touch us and say, "Live."
Truly, I desire no life but that which He gives. I would be quickened
by His Spirit and find in Him my life, my all!

Now go a step further. The healing we need must be a healing from the
guilt of sin. My anxious Friend, you must no longer be guilty–you must
be free from fault. Every offense you have ever committed must be
washed right out, even the least stain of it must vanish and it must be
as though it had never been! And you must be as though you never had
offended at all! "How can that be?" you ask. It is clear it cannot be
by anything that you can do and this, again, drives you to the prayer
of my text, "Heal me, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be
saved." How can it be? Only by the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
our Savior! He took the sin of His people upon Him. He became their
Substitute and Representative. He bore their iniquity and was made a
curse for them–and in consequence they are set free, cleared and
justified!

What a word was that, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against
the Man that is My Fellow, says the Lord of Hosts." Beneath that sword,
our Shepherd offered up His life, a ransom for the flock! By one
tremendous Sacrifice which He offered unto the Father, the Lord Jesus
delivered all His redeemed! Look to Jesus Christ and in a moment your
sins have ceased to be! "With His stripes we are healed." Hallelujah!
The day comes when the sins of Jacob shall be sought for and they shall
not be found! Yes, they shall not be, says the Lord. Blessed healing
this! Who but a Divine Physician could work such a cure? This is pardon
worthy of a God!

But you must not only be free from sin, you must be freed from
sinfulness–a work must be worked in you, my dear Brothers and Sisters,
and in me, by which we shall be clean rid of every tendency to do evil.
We cannot enter into Heaven with sinful tendencies–corruption and
depravity cannot be endured before the Throne of the thrice holy
Jehovah! The very roots and rootlets of sin must come out of the nature
which is to share the abode of God. Does not this drive you to despair?
Does not this make you cry, "Heal me, O God, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved"? It ought to do so and, in doing so it
will work your safety! In answer to your cry, the eternal Spirit shall
come upon you, creating you anew in Christ Jesus! He shall come and
dwell in you and shall break down the reigning power of sin, putting it
beneath your feet.

Though this defeated foe shall strive and struggle like a serpent with
his back broken, yet it has its death wound and cannot regain its
former dominion. It will struggle so long as you are in this life, but
it must ultimately die, and you shall attain perfection–

"Sin, my worst enemy before,

Shall vex my eyes and ears no more!

My inward foes shall all be slain,

Nor Satan break my peace again." No tendency to sin, no affection
towards evil, no fear of relapse, nor danger of apostasy shall remain,
but there shall be in us the living and incorruptible Seed and we shall
be the members of Christ's body! We shall be as pure as Adam when he
was first created–we shall have about us a purity superior to that of
mere creation–a purity produced by the infusion of the Divine life. We
came into this world defiled by original sin, but every trace of this
will vanish through the work of the Spirit of God and the washing in
the precious blood! This is a work which can only be worked in us by
God, Himself. Oh to be so saved that we can survive Divine inspection,
a Divine inspection by which every spot would be revealed if spots were
there–but we shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing! It
is most desirable to be so healed in soul as to stand the test of this
present life.

I have known friends discharged from the hospital as healed of disease
who were bitterly disappointed when they came into everyday life–a
little exertion made them as ill as ever. A person had a piece of
diseased bone in her wrist. It was taken out by the hospital surgeon
and the arm seemed perfectly healed. But when she began to work, the
old pain returned and it was evident that the old mischief was still
there and that a part of the decayed bone remained. Thus some are
saved, so they think, but it is only in seeming, for when they get into
the world and are tried with temptation, they are just the same as they
used to be. They have not received a practical salvation–and nothing
but practical salvation is worth having.

A sham cure is worse than none. If a bone is ill set it is often
necessary to break it, again, and it sometimes seems to me that certain
converts need their hearts to be broken again, that they may be truly
comforted. If any man here has been healed, but his arm will not work
for Jesus and for righteousness, it needs breaking again! And I should
not mind if my sermon should break it, so long as he was driven to
Christ to get it set in the right fashion. If you cannot resist the
temptations of this life, depend upon it, your salvation is a mere
myth! We need a salvation that will bear the test of sickness and the
strain of death, so that a man may lie back on his bed and say, "I do
not fear to die. Jesus Christ has made me perfectly whole and among the
healed ones before His Throne I shall shortly stand and sing His
praises world without end."

Oh, my dear Hearers, could you die like that? Have you a hope which
will bear the light of your last hours? If you have not, do not let
this day close until you have found it! I beseech you, cry to Jesus, at
once to save you in His own effectual way.

III. I close by saying, LET US GO WHERE TRUE HEALING IS TO BE HAD. It
is quite certain that God is able to heal us of all our sins, for He
who created can restore. Whatever our diseases, nothing can surpass the
power of Omnipotent Love. Blessed be the name of the Lord, no work of
Grace can be beyond His will, for He delights in mercy. His name is
Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord That Heals You, and He has given us a sweet
word, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely." You
remember how David sang, "He sent His word and healed them, and
delivered them from their destructions"? The Lord is so fond of healing
sin-sick souls that He had but one Son and He made a Physician of Him
that He might come and heal mankind of their deadly wounds!

And He, being made a Physician, came down among us, and sought out for
His patients, not the good and excellent, but the most guilty, for He
said, "The whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Jesus,
then, the Beloved Physician, is able and willing to meet the case of
every one of us! His wounds are an unfailing remedy. Oh, that you were
willing to come to Him and spread your case before Him! Come at once!
Even at this instant! Jesus certainly can meet your condition, though
apart from Him it may be utterly hopeless.

As I turned over my text while coming here, I was charmed with the
encouragement which it offers to the very chief of sinners, for these
may say to themselves, "Is it, after all, God's work to save? Well,
then, He can save a great sinner as well as a little sinner!" If
salvation were of works or of merits, then many persons would evidently
be excluded from hope. But if it is entirely of Grace, then none are
excluded! And if the power is found in God, and not in us, then the
same power which can save the most moral young man can save the most
dissolute and debauched person–and the same Grace which can save the
godly matron can save the impious harlot! The power of God is equal to
any miracle! The mercy of God can go any length!

Tell it! Tell it that Jesus Christ is able to have compassion on the
ignorant and to save those who are out of the way! Out of the way
sinners, outrageous sinners, black sinners, scarlet sinners–they, too,
may pray the prayer, "Heal me, and I shall be healed; save me, and I
shall be saved." If it is of Grace, then surely hope is encouraged
where otherwise despair might reign supreme! If it is of pure mercy,
then the utmost guilt need not shut out a soul from Heaven. Would God,
dear Friends, you would come and try the unfailing Grace of God in
Christ Jesus, which is unto all and upon all them that believe!

I know that while I am preaching, certain of you say, "He does not mean
me: I am too great a sinner." On the other hand, another class imagines
that they are not sinful enough, so they, also, fancy that the
discourse is not meant for them. Oh that you would give up this wicked
perversity and know that all the Truth of God that applies to you is
meant for you! I have heard of Robert Burns, that, on one occasion when
at church, he sat in a pew with a young lady whom he observed to be
much affected by certain terrible passages of Scripture which the
minister quoted in his sermon. The wicked wag scribbled on a piece of
paper a verse which he passed to her. I fear that the substance of that
verse has been whispered into many of your ears full often–

"Fair maid, you need not take the hint, Nor idle texts pursue; 'Twas
only sinners that he meant, Not angels such as you."

This sermon is meant for those who think themselves angels as well as
for those who know themselves to be sinners! Cease from all dreamy
confidences! Awaken yourselves from proud self-content and come to
Jesus, the Savior, who alone can save from sin and death!

I love my text because it gives security for the future. "Heal me, and
I shall be healed." Certain theologians appear to doubt the lasting
nature of the Divine cure and fancy that Christ's patients may die,
after all. Would they have us pray, "Lord, heal me, and I shall not be
healed"? Yet that would be the way to pray if we may fall from Grace
and perish! We do not believe in this questionable healing, but we
pray, "Heal me, and I shall be healed." If you are saved by a priest or
by yourself, you may be lost–but if God saves you–you never will be
lost! That which God does, He does forever. The Lord never puts His
hand to a creation which He leaves unfinished. He that is born again
cannot be unborn! We may unravel all that is of Nature's weaving, but
that which is God's workmanship defies the infernal powers! There
stands the promise, sure forever– "I give unto My sheep eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My
hand."

Dear Friends, if you are saved, pray the Lord that you may be saved,
indeed! And if you are not saved, get to Him and pray Him to begin His
good work within your souls. I am often anxious about this
congregation. I do not want to build up, in this place, a host of hopes
that are ill-founded. I felt that I must come and deliver this message
at this time, though I am quite unfit to be among you. I have not
delivered it as I hoped to–still there it is–and unto God I commend
it. I was told if I preached, this morning, I should suffer a month's
relapse as the consequence of it. But I ran the risk because I could
not be quiet till I had delivered my soul! Oh that the careless might
be disquieted! Oh that the penitent might be encouraged! Let none of us
excuse ourselves from self-examination!

Do not let the preacher, or the deacons, or the workers in this Church
deceive themselves! Let us get on the Rock and know that we are on it!
Let us be true men–true to the core–sincere right through and
through. Let us pray God that there may be a work of Grace in us and
not the mere outgrowth of human will, fancy and self-flattery! If there
are any who have not even felt the slight healing, I am glad they have
not. May their wounds never be bound up till Jesus binds them! May none
of us ever think of health unless it comes from beneath the wings of
the Sun of Righteousness! May we all stand together and gaze with
tearful eyes upon the Cross of our Lord! He is all my salvation, all my
desire and all my praise! If I perish, it shall be at His feet! If I
live, it shall be in His service. Amen!
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A Feast for the Upright