Helping The Wounded

Look at Acts 10:38, we read, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

If you could take all the good things Jesus had done and stack them up in a pile, they would amaze us. He went about every day doing as much good as He could do that day!

His primary reason for coming was to REDEEM MANKIND, but what a wonderful example His life is to all of us for how we are to live our lives.

In our text, we see the Lord gathering outcasts, healing broken hearts and binding wounds. He looked for those who were in need.

If you were in a crowd of a thousand people where everyone was jumping with joy, and you were the only one weeping in tears, you would be the one He would seek out. He always sought out the wounded.

Illus: During the Vietnam War, a certain nurse was the subject of much discussion. After a battle, she would wander away from the medical camp onto the battlefield itself. Sometimes she would personally drag in a soldier who was in desperate need of medical attention. More than once she was reprimanded by the doctors. They told her she had no business on the battlefield. One day after a big battle, an officer saw her on the battlefield amid all the suffering and dying and death. He began to rebuke her: "What are you doing on that battlefield?" She said without hesitation, "I’m looking for the wounded. That’s what I am here for."

That nurse believed it was her solemn duty to find the wounded and bring them in where their wounds could be treated. But a question we need to address is, “WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WOUNDED?” Let me give you three reasons:

I. WOUNDED BY SELF

The misery that they are experiencing is misery they have brought upon themselves. IT IS SELF-INFLICTED! The Self-inflicted wound is the most difficult kind of wound for us to understand.

The reason that it is difficult to understand is because we know that life itself is going to inflict a certain amount of sorrow and suffering on us. Job 14:1, says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”

Suffering is not something we need to go looking for, it will find us! Most of us do everything we can to keep it from finding us, but there are some who seek it.

WHY DO THEY DO SUCH THINGS? It is believed that some do it for various reasons, such as, some inflict these wounds on themselves:

(1) BECAUSE THEY HATE THEMSELVES

Many of these do not like the way they look or anything about themselves. Many of them do not like:

• Their nose

• Their eyes

• The color of their hair

• Their size

They do not like a thing about themselves. They literally hate themselves! They are their own worst enemy! This is why they want to hurt themselves.

Illus: Speaking of enemies, did you hear about the man who felt that his enemy had done him wrong? He wanted to make life miserable for the man that did him wrong, but being a Christian he could not sock him in the nose, so he did the Christian thing and bought each of his five children a set of drums!

Those who hate themselves want to Inflict as much misery as they can on themselves.

Illus: Did you hear about the captain, during the time of war, that was attempting to rally the GIs on the eve of a big attack. He said "Out there is your enemy:

•“Out there is the man who has made your life miserable every day!”

•“Out there is the man who is working to destroy you every day!”

•“Out there is the man who has been trying to kill you day after day throughout this war."

Private Johnson jumped to his feet and shot the cook. They asked him why he did such a thing. He said, ‘Because I did not know until a few minutes ago that he was the enemy!’

We all have enemies, but some folks are their own worst enemy!

Illus: We often see television documentaries these days dealing with how many people are turning to the plastic surgeons because they hate themselves. Some of these have had as many as 20 to 25 surgeries trying to change their looks.

The documentary also pointed out that many have turned to the plastic surgeons only to discovered that after the surgery they still do not like the way they look.

Illus: This reminds us of the patient that could not stand the way he looked, and, with some skepticism, reluctantly turned to the plastic surgeon to help him look better.