Christ is my burden-bearer

Rev Enoch Thompson | March 9, 2023 | Matthew 8:14-17

KEY VERSE: This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases" Matthew 8:17 (NIV)

MESSAGE: From the Fall of the human race into sin by the deception of the Devil, the human story has been a painful sad one. Sin brought with it hardship, toil, sickness, hatred, and physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death is the immediate separation of the human soul, every human soul since Adam, from the loving living relationship we were meant to have with God, and physical death is the eventual separation of the human soul from the human body.

When the Lord Jesus, as God in human form came on earth, He was on a mission to take away the curse of the Fall and restore us to Himself. This mission He demonstrated in His teachings which redirected His immediate hearers to new ways of thinking and behaving which correspond to the way God intended and desired for His human creation. Those who received His message and believed in Him were spiritually raised from their spiritual death, just as succeeding generations of Christ-believers are born again into the new life by which our spirits are born again, resurrected, and given life when we believe.

Along with the restoration of the human spirit Christ the Lord also dealt with the physical consequences of the Fall. In our text, Matthew 8:14-17, we see all the wards of the human clinic opened for the visit of the Great Healer. The Lord Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, she is immediately healthy enough to set about preparing and serving food to Jesus and His entourage. Consequently, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick” Matt 8:16-17 (NIV). Jesus came “to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found.” The Lord Jesus is the Master of our spiritual infirmities as well as of our physical infirmities. He heals today as He healed when He was on earth. And if for His own purposes and in His excellent loving wisdom He allows a painful state to remain He does so for our benefit and to His glory (reflect on 2 Cor. 12:7-12)

FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Do you have a burden of body, mind or of spirit? Come to the Saviour, the Master-healer. There’s GRACE at the throne of God for our healing. And if He permits anything that hurts us to remain, there is still SPECIAL GRACE to bear the cross and to follow Him. Even in this latter case, He heals us by giving us the peace of God which surpasses human understanding. Go to the willing Saviour with your burden and cares. Lift your afflicted loved ones also before the Lord.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that burdens are lifted at Calvary. I come to you this moment believing in your saving healing power. Lord heal me, of all that troubles body, soul, and spirit. Lord heal me of the effect of the curse of this fallen world. Lord, heal me. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being my Healer. For your dear Name’s sake. Amen!

THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!