Who Can We Trust?
Doctor Death
Killed up to 265
One day in January I looked in my Friday newspaper and found a man looking back at me. He had
no horns and had I lived elsewhere in England he could well have been my doctor. The headline
read that he had killed up to 265 of his patients! By the evening over 300 were being spoken
of as murdered by him. I found this a very disturbing case for three reasons.
The Absence of National Shock
Twelve months previously this doctor had been convicted of fifteen murders. Now we were being
told that that might be a small as five per cent of his crimes. Yet the nation was not really
horrified. This is as disturbing as his crimes. As a nation we have grown to accept the normality
of these things. They come and go from our newspaper headlines or the television screen. People
grow to accept them as part of the kind of life that we live. Jesus Christ never accepted sin or
its consequences as normal. He made it plain that such things demand change. We read of him:
"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent
ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1.14-15) This is the urgent need. God does not view sin as
normal. His time is now upon us to address the problem of sin. We can see sin all around us.
We read about the terrible extreme cases. We need to be disturbed. We need to see how much it
is an offence against God. We need to realize that each of us are sinners. Each of us has offended
God. We need to have a real sorrow for our personal transgressions so that we turn from them to
God hating our own sins and sorrowing because of them. Jesus taught that this is the urgent
thing in life.
Who Can You Trust?
This is a disturbing question. We had a family doctor once who eventually left the practice. His
sideline sex operations of various kinds had featured in the press. We did not know anything about
them previously. Perhaps you will think do we now need to ask our doctors about their attitudes
and actions? The New Hampshire Republican in the House of Representatives was reported as saying
that nobody will ever be safe until the last cop is dead. He defended the non-disclosure of his
views during the election campaign by saying, " asked me." Jesus Christ was never like that.
There is an openness about Christ. He could honestly say at his trial, "I spake openly to the world;
I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have
I said nothing." (John 18.20) From the beginning of his ministry Christ made it plain that he was tough
on sin and Satan. When the demons wanted to get an advantage for themselves, he was quick to silence them.
Consider the following account from Mark’s Gospel. "And there was in their synagogue a man with an
unclean spirit; and he cried out saying, let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of
Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus
rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him,
and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him." (Mark 1.23-27) Jesus had come to deliver sinners
from Satan and their own sin. He would not leave them contented with the consequences of sin and in bondage
to evil. Mark wants us to understand that Jesus had come full of caring love to save and help the unclean. He
recounts an example of this. "And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and
saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his
hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately
the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed." (Mark 1.40-42) Mark wants us to understand, not
only that Jesus Christ has the answers and is able to save, but that he really loves those who come to
him and is willing to save.
Life in Old Age
The attitude to old age is the third disturbing aspect of the conduct of the doctor to whom we referred.
Many of his victims were elderly and lying behind this case and its low impact compared to the murder of
a single youngster is the idea that the quiet disposal of the aged is not too bad an idea. They have had
their lives and a bit earlier death is not too great a problem. It is disturbing that there are people who
think like that. We now debate voluntary euthanasia. But whose choice will it be? Will it be the patient’s
choice, the relatives’ choice or the doctor’s choice? Whose will is to prevail? There are those who think
that life is over when you are old. Jesus Christ never thought like that. He cared for the old as much as
for the young and for the poor as much as for the rich and he still does. Age or disabilities are not problems
to Christ. The eternal life that he gives triumphs over such things. Paul knew this. Look at what he says.
"For which cause we faint not; but though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."
(2 Corinthians 4.16) All who seek Jesus Christ are safe in his hands. O yes he requires you to quit your love
of sin and to turn from your iniquities with godly sorrow, but in turning to him you are turning to one who
can be trusted absolutely and the life that he gives triumphs not only over disabilities, ageing and all
other problems but over death itself. Christians can say with Paul, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15.55-57) That kind of assurance
is worth having and belongs to all of those who put their trust in Christ. Believe upon him and it will be
yours too.
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