Be Concerned - The Word is Medicine and Wealth

Psalm 107 gives us four vivid pictures of what it’s like to be lost and what it’s like to be saved. In Psalm 107:1-9 you have travelers out in the desert, and there’s no city to dwell in. They’re hungry, they’re thirsty, and God comes and leads them by the right way and brings them into the city of habitation. Salvation is like being lost and then being found by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Savior.

In Psalm 107:10-16, it’s pictured as a prisoner being delivered from the dungeon. Those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in affliction and iron. Why? Because they rebelled against the words of the Lord. And here they are down in the dark dungeon, in the shadow of death, and He brought them out, and He broke their chains, and He set them free. That’s salvation.

In Psalm 107:23-32, you have a vivid picture of people on a ship. They’re out there on the deep, and then the stormy wind comes up and the waves come up. They go up to heaven, they go down into the depths. They reel to and fro, they stagger like drunken men. They’re at their wit’s end out there in the storm. And then along comes the Lord. They cry out to the Lord, and He calms the storm, the waves are still, and He guides them to the haven of rest.

But the section I want us to focus on, Psalm 107:17-22, here is a picture of people in a hospital who are dying because of their foolishness. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Now he’s talking here about physical sin and he’s talking here about physical consequences to sin. There’s no need to go into detail. Their soul abhorred all manner of food. When you’re sick, you don’t have an appetite. They drew near to the gates of death.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

Now I’d like to talk about the Word of God as medicine. Here we have a patient in the hospital. And of course, the real basic meaning here is not so much the healing of the physical body as the healing of the inner person. In the Bible, sin is compared to disease. And the Word of God is the only medicine that can heal sin sickness. Let’s take three important considerations as we look at Psalm 107:20. He sent His word and healed them.

First of all, consider the medicine itself. This medicine is the Word of God. It’s the oldest medicine that’s ever been around. Far older than anything else that we have. The Word of God all through history has been bringing spiritual healing to the hearts of sinners.

It’s guaranteed. Not every medicine is guaranteed, but this Word is guaranteed. It’s universal. It’s the one medicine that everybody can take, and everybody who trusts in the Lord can find spiritual healing for the heart.

This is a unique medicine. It cannot be duplicated. Whenever a pharmaceutical house brings out some new medicine, all the other houses try to figure out how to duplicate it. How can they make one that does the same thing? No one can duplicate the Word of God. Oh, they’ve tried.

You go down to the bookstore or to the library, you’ll find all kinds of religious books written by people who claim to have some new revelation from God. They have something better than the Bible. There’s nothing better than the Bible. There’s no medicine in all the world that is like the medicine of the Word of God. It’s unique. Don’t try substitutes.

This Word is available. Wherever you go, you’re going to find the Word of God available. And this Word is certainly needed. Oh, how people need the Word of God today. That’s why I’m grateful for a ministry like Back to the Bible and the other radio ministries that give people the medicine of the Word of God.

Now let’s look at the physician who administers this medicine. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. He compared Himself to a physician. He said those that are well don’t need the physician, but those that are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, I’ve come to call sinners to repentance. He is the great physician.

Now he’s the only one. It’s so tragic that there are false physicians in this world today. There are those who claim to have something to give you, but what they have certainly does not solve the problem. He is the only true spiritual physician. Now he can use people. He can use us to share the Word of God, but ultimately we have to introduce people to the great physician, the Lord Jesus.

He comes when you call Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He knows your case perfectly. He sympathizes with you completely. He understands you intimately, and He never gives a false diagnosis. He knows exactly what’s wrong.

He can cleanse all the wounds down inside. He can heal all of the sickness that’s down inside, no matter what it may be, and He uses His Word. And the amazing thing is this: He pays the bill.

The Lord Jesus Christ never sends us a bill. He has paid for us. He has borne our sins and carried our sorrows, and the price that we should have paid, He paid. He paid that price on the cross. Oh, what grace this physician has.

He sends His Word and heals. Rather interesting: three times in our Lord’s earthly ministry, He sent His Word and healed people. Matthew 8, the servant of a centurion was ill. And the centurion said, "Don’t come to my house. I’m not worthy that you should do that. Just speak the word and my servant will be healed." That’s great faith, isn’t it? And so the Lord Jesus sent His Word and healed that little Gentile boy.

There was a Gentile girl that He healed, Matthew 15. This mother came and said, "My daughter is at home and she’s grievously vexed by a demon." And the Lord Jesus Christ spoke the word and that girl was healed. He sent His Word and healed her.

In John 4, one of the members of Herod’s court came and said that his son was very ill, near unto death. And Jesus spoke the word, and miles away that boy was completely healed.

Well, we’ve considered the medicine itself and the physician who administers that medicine. Let’s look now at the patients who need this medicine. Who needs the Word of God? He sent His word and healed them. Well, lost sinners need it. You’ll notice in Psalm 107:17, fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquity were afflicted. By the way, there are certain kinds of sins that people commit that do bring physical suffering. Ah, here we have sinners.

The lost sinner needs the healing of the Word of God. And then they cry out to the Lord. They cried out to the Lord and He saved them. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The lost sinner needs the medicine of the Word of God. If you’ve never called out to the Lord, if you’ve never trusted Him, do so right now.

The backslider also needs the medicine of the Word of God. Jeremiah 3:22 reminds us that backsliding in the life of a Christian is just like sickness. He says in Jeremiah 3:22, "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." Now, what is backsliding? Well, it’s getting away from the Lord. It’s like sickness. It begins secretly. A disease germ gets into your body, and then there’s a gradual decline.

You lose your energy when you’re starting to get sick, lose your appetite. You get kind of irritable, and then you just quit. You just get sick and you have to go to bed, call the doctor, perhaps go to the hospital. You might even be at the very gate of death. We read in the Word of God, Hosea 14:4, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely." And that’s what God wants to do for us. Just confess our sins to the Lord. He’ll heal that backslider. He’ll cleanse us. He’ll restore us. And then we’ll be able to serve and glorify Him.

Somebody else who needs the medicine of the Word of God is that person who’s brokenhearted. Luke 4:18. The Lord Jesus speaks and says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted." I like that statement. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. And how does God heal the brokenhearted? Well, people are brokenhearted because of sorrow.

Death has come into their home, or disappointment. Their plans have not worked out. Maybe you’ve lost your job, or somebody’s broken your heart. Discouragement, unanswered prayer, bills that have to be paid. And here we are, desperately needing the healing of the broken heart. How does God heal the broken heart? He does it through His Word.

Psalm 147:3, "He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds." The Hebrew says their sorrows. Bindeth up their sorrows. He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by name. Isn’t that amazing?

The God of the galaxies, who has named and numbered every star, knows you. He knows your needs. Open your Bible and just read the Word of God and say to the great physician, "Come and heal my broken heart."

But you know, this Word does not do us any good unless we receive it. Medicine in the bottle doesn’t heal you. Medicine in the medicine chest does not help you. It’s when you take the medicine. I would beg of you today to claim Psalm 107:20. Just say to the great physician, "Send your word. Show me what I should read in the Bible. And then help me to receive it by faith."

I want you to think with me today about the Bible as God’s treasure. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 19:7-11: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold." That’s Psalm 19, and the Psalmist said if you want a real treasure, you want the Word of God.

Well, we have three responsibilities with reference to this priceless treasure. You know, you can’t have a treasure in your home or in your hand or in your heart without having some responsibilities involved. Our first responsibility, of course, is to appreciate it. Appreciate the Word of God.

Perhaps you can recall when you were converted. The new life came into you through faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s look at Ephesians 1 and find out how rich we are because of this treasure. Ephesians 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

How about Ephesians 1:18? The Word of God says this: "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." Not only do we have the riches of His grace, we have the riches of His glory. And the riches of His glory is a part—all of this is a part of His inheritance in the saints. Not our inheritance in Christ, His inheritance in us.

He has enriched us through the riches of His grace and the riches of His glory. Ephesians 2:7, "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." We’ll never know how rich we are until we get to heaven. But oh, today, let’s just believe what it says. The riches of His grace. The exceeding riches of His grace. The riches of His glory. Why do we live like paupers spiritually when all of these riches are available to us?

Ephesians 3:8, Paul writes: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." That word unsearchable means untraceable. You can’t track it down. It’s impossible to take inventory of the riches that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. The riches of His wisdom. My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God has given to us in the Bible a great treasure.

Well, you know, its value never changes. The Bible doesn’t act like stocks and bonds and even money. There’s no inflation, there’s no devaluation. It doesn’t lose its value. It’s just as precious today as when the Holy Spirit wrote it through men of God.

That’s why the Psalmist said, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." That word hid means to treasure up. Thy word have I treasured up in my heart. My heart is like a bank, and I’m investing the treasures of the Word in my heart, and it’s paying dividends. Oh, the dividends that are coming when you study the Word of God, read the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God, memorize the Word of God, and most of all, obey the Word of God.

The Psalmist said he’d rather have God’s Word than have money. "I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil." You see, if we put God first, we always get what we need and we always end up with God’s perfect blessing. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Would you rather have God’s Word than have money? Oh, how important it is for you and me to seek first the kingdom of God. To put God first. I rejoice at your Word as one that finds great spoil. Now, how do we show our appreciation for the Word of God? We read it. We read it faithfully. We study it, we memorize it, we obey it, we love it, we share it, we treat it lovingly. Appreciate this treasure.

Secondly, appropriate the treasure. I mean by that, God’s Word is a treasury. Now let’s draw upon it. Let’s claim our inheritance. Psalm 119:111, "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart." That word heritage means an inheritance. Let’s suppose that you get a letter from a bank or a lawyer saying that somebody died and left you an inheritance. What would you do? Why, you’d go claim it.

You’d go to that lawyer’s office and say, "Well, what’s involved in this inheritance? What did my aunt or uncle or whoever leave me?" Now, God’s Word is a heritage. Just think of what it cost Moses and David and Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and Paul to write the Word of God. Oh, what they had to go through to give us the Bible.

Now claim your inheritance. When you open your Bible, you’re opening your spiritual bankbook. All of the treasures that God has for you are there. We have to mine this treasure.

The Word of God is like gold and silver and precious stones, and we have to dig, dig, dig. We have to mine the Word of God. Because if we don’t, it’s not going to come to us any other way. I know there are many people who get their spiritual treasure secondhand. But don’t be like that. Dig into the Word of God. Mine the Word of God. And claim the spoils after you’ve fought the battle. Appropriate the wealth.

And finally, we should apply the wealth. We should administrate the wealth. Wealth is not given to us to be hidden someplace and forgotten. No, no. You put wealth to work. We invest it in our lives. We invest it in the lives of other people. We mint the truth of the Word of God into coins that we can give to our children and our grandchildren. We share the truth of the Word of God.

This is how we build the church. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3 we should build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. That’s the Word of God. The wisdom of God. Proverbs 3:13, "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies." There you have it. Gold, silver, precious stones, just like in 1 Corinthians 3.

We build the church with the Word of God, the wisdom of God. We build our lives with the Word of God. My, how many churches are being built around entertainment instead of enrichment. They’re being built with wood, hay, and stubble. The temporary, cheap things you can get on the surface.

Ah, but if you want to build with gold, silver, and precious stones, you have to dig. And that means a pastor digs into the Word of God and gives to his people the riches of the Word of God. The Word of God is indeed a treasury. The Word of God is a treasure. Oh, let’s not ignore it. Let’s appreciate it, and let’s appropriate it, and let’s administrate it. Let’s put the Word of God to work in our lives and in the lives of others.