Surgery for Healing
The Lord's way of healing involves tearing and bruising before binding up, but it is a sure and certain work that brings comfort and salvation to those who return unto Him.
C.H. Spurgeon emphasizes that God's process of healing often involves a necessary tearing before restoration can occur, illustrating the divine surgery that leads to true healing. He reassures believers that despite their wounds and bruises, they should not despair but return to the Lord, who is eager to bind up the brokenhearted. Spurgeon highlights the importance of recognizing our need for healing as a precursor to receiving God's grace and restoration. He encourages the faithful to bring their pain to God, trusting in His ability to heal and rebuild their lives. Ultimately, the sermon calls for immediate action in returning to the Lord for healing and wholeness.
Text
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1)
It is the Lord's way to tear before He heals. This is the honest love of His heart and the sure surgery of His hand. He also bruises before He binds up, or else it would be uncertain work. The law comes before the gospel, the sense of need before the supply of it. Is the reader now under the convincing, crushing hand of the Spirit? Has he received the spirit of bondage again to fear? This is a salutary preliminary to real gospel healing and binding up.
Do not despair, dear heart, but come to the Lord with all thy jagged wounds, black bruises, and running sores. He alone can heal, and He delights to do it.
It is our Lord's office to bind up the brokenhearted, and He is gloriously at home at it. Let us not linger but at once return unto the Lord from whom we have gone astray. Let us show Him our gaping wounds and beseech him to know His own work and complete it. Will a surgeon make an incision and then leave his patient to bleed to death? Will the Lord pull down our old house and then refuse to build us a better one? Dost Thou ever wantonly increase the misery of poor anxious souls? That be far from Thee, O Lord.
Sermon Outline
- The Lord's Way of Healing
- The Importance of Conviction
- The Lord's Office to Bind Up
- Healing the Brokenhearted
- The Lord's Delight in Healing
Key Quotes
“It is the Lord's way to tear before He heals.” — C.H. Spurgeon
“He alone can heal, and He delights to do it.” — C.H. Spurgeon
“It is our Lord's office to bind up the brokenhearted, and He is gloriously at home at it.” — C.H. Spurgeon
Application Points
- We should return unto the Lord with all our jagged wounds, black bruises, and running sores, knowing that He delights in healing and binding us up.
- The Lord's way of healing is sure and certain, and He will not leave us to bleed to death or suffer unnecessarily.
- We should show the Lord our gaping wounds and beseech Him to complete His work in our lives.