He died for His patients!

(William S. Plumer, "The Rock of Our Salvation" 1867)

"The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick. You are sick from head to foot--covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds!" Isaiah 1:5-6

Often in Scripture, sin is spoken of as a disease, a sickness, a hurt.

Christ, as the great Physician, has the only sovereign balm.

Sin is a dreadful disease! Yes, it is the very worst disease! It was the first, and so is the oldest malady. It infected man very soon after his creation. For six thousand years sin has committed its ravages and been gaining inveteracy. No other disease is so old.

Sin is also a universal disease! Other maladies have slain their thousands; but sin has slain its millions! The whole world is a graveyard, full of death and corruption. No person ever lived without sin. As soon as we begin to live, we begin to transgress.

Not only is every man sick, but our whole nature is diseased!
Our understanding is darkened.
Our memory is polluted.
The thoughts of our heart are only evil continually.
Our throats are open graves.
Our tongues practice deceit.
The poison of vipers is on our lips.
Our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Our feet are swift to shed blood.
Ruin and misery mark our ways, and the way of peace we do not know.
Our eyes behold vanity.
Our hands are full of bribes and of blood.
Our heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
We love darkness rather than light.

We are utterly diseased with sin!

Sin makes men spiritually blind, and deaf, and dumb, and lame, and lethargic. Sin is a terrible compilation of diseases. It is a rottenness in the bones. It is a maddening fever, a wasting consumption, a paralysis of all the powers. Human nature is wholly corrupt!

Sin is a perpetual disease. It rages day and night; on the sea and on the land; in the house of mirth and in the house of God.

Sin is a hereditary disease. We are conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity.

Sin is also contagious. Sinners are enticers, seducers, corrupters.

Sin is also the most deceitful and flattering disease. One of its strong delusions is, "You shall not die!" See the throng of ungodly people marching to perdition--the slaves of Satan, the servants of corruption, the enemies of God! Their mirth would make one think them to be the happiest of people--and not, as they really are--condemned criminals, on their way to the eternal prison-house of inflexible justice! Sin has its delusive dreams. The worse a man is, the better he thinks himself to be.

Sin is the worst disease, because it is the parent of all other diseases. But for sin, we would never have seen a human being in pain, or sicken, or die. Suffering and agony have one parent--sin!

Other diseases are calamities--but sin is a wickedness! Sin is not a misfortune--sin is a crime! It is a wicked thing to be a sinner. Transgression brings guilt. God is angry with the wicked every day. The more sinful anyone is--the more is God displeased with him.

Sin is the most loathsome of all diseases. Pride is the worst kind of malady. No heart is so vile as a hard heart. No vileness compares with an evil heart of unbelief. No sight is so appalling as a sight of vile affections. Sin is horrible and abominable to God!

Sin is also the most dolorous disease. They multiply their sorrows--who hasten after transgression. The most bitter cries that ever were heard--were extorted by sin. 

Other diseases do but kill the body--but sin kills soul and body in hell forever! Sin will rage more violently beyond the tomb than on earth. It will be followed by eternal regrets and reproaches, eternal weeping and wailing, eternal wrath and anguish!

Sin cannot be cured by any means of human devising. All reformations can never cure the heart. "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess," said the Pharisee--while spiritual wickedness reigned within. We may weep and lament over our sins--but that will neither dethrone sin nor atone for it! Our tears are nothing; our works are nothing; all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags; they are of no avail.
 
The only remedy for sin is found only in Jesus! He is the Physician of souls. None but He can cure a sin-sick soul. He makes no charge for all His cures! He died for His patients! His blood cleanses from all sin. With His stripes we are healed. Christ's death atones. By His sufferings we have remission of sin. In all cases where it is applied, the gospel remedy is sovereign and effectual. It availed for the dying thief, for the bloody Saul of Tarsus, for the cruel jailor, and for millions and millions who once esteemed themselves as vile, and as worthy of everlasting death!

And now, poor, sin-sick, dying soul--flee to this Physician, submit your case to Him, and seek for the healing remedy! If you stay away, you must die! "The wages of sin is death."

"The blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin!" 1 John 1:7