Sermon Archives (November  18, 2001):

Is Healing for You? – Part  4

Is healing for you?   There are those among us today who are drug addicts.  There are those here today who are alcoholics.   There are those here today who are HIV positive and are homosexual.  There are those here today who practice prostitution daily.   There are those here today who are wife beaters.  There are those here today who have spent years in jail for criminal acts against society.   Do these people qualify for healing?  I want to know.  Inquiring minds want to know.   I want to know; because you see folks I am a sinner too.   I require forgiveness, a savior just as much as you do.  Do I qualify and do you qualify for healing?

Our focus today is (Matthew 4:23) which reads,  “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

Beloved let us bow our heads.  Father, let every believer hear this message today and the world as well.  Help us Father.  Teach us Father.   Could we who are sinners be healed?   Father, will you touch us?   Will you heal us?   Come among us now.   And all God’s people said, “Amen”.

This is the fourth in a series of teachings on healing.  Let us suppose that God is a respecter of persons, that he is choosey whom he heals.   Let us suppose that it is His divine decree to heal only the good people, and not everybody.  How then did the people of Jesus day know which people so qualified and which one to bring to Jesus for healing?   Do you think they had a dividing line?   “You qualify for healing, get into the healing line.  You don’t qualify for healing, therefore get out of the healing line.”   You and I have to know, do we qualify for the healing line?  Will Jesus today heal us?

What does God’s word say on these questions?  Let the Bible speak for itself.  So “Jesus went about all Galille” …. “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”    He did not heal only some manner of sickness, or some manner of disease, but rather he healed all manner.

Let us read more:  (Matthew 8:16-17) “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed”   Some of the sick?  A few of sick?  The worst cases?  No!   He healed “all who were sick.”   Repeat those words after me, “He healed all who were sick.”

Why?   Why heal anybody?  The same verse goes on to tell us.  He healed “ all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’”  The word “infirmities” means sicknesses.  It means diseases.

Notice beloved, they brought everybody.  Not just the good people, but we who are not so good.  Despite their shortcoming, Jesus healed everybody.   Poor Jesus.  Nobody told him – not even the theologians.  They didn’t tell Jesus - that God only wanted some to be healed.  Jesus, just blundering along, went and healed everybody.   And yet, he took no credit for these healings.   Rather he claimed this that healing all pleased His Father.  He said that it wasn’t even Him doing the work, but (John 14:11) “the Father in Me.”

Do you think God didn’t know that He wasn’t supposed to heal everybody?  Because, in that crowd, they all got healed, and we are told that was God’s will.  Wasn’t God supposed to leave some sick for His glory?  No! Praise God!   God healed them all.

(Matthew 9:35-37)  “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’”  Going on into the next chapter, (Matthew 10:1)  “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”    This promise is as well for us today.

We see in verse 35 again, that He “every sickness and every disease among the people.”  Since it reads that he healed every sickness and every disease, then we may conclude that he healed everybody, both the good and the sinners.

(Matthew 12:15)  “But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.”  Skipping down further to (Matthew 14:14)  “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”   Apparently, once again we see Jesus healing all the sick people – the good, the bad, and even people like us – within the multitude.

Staying in the same chapter, (Matthew 14:34-36)  “When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.”

Everyone who came to Jesus was healed.  (Luke 6:17-19)  “And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.”

You see Jesus followers did not bother to separate the good from the bad, to determine who should be healed.  Rather it was God’s will even to heal ones such as us.   Healing is for all, including we sinners.  (Matthew 8:17)  “Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses."

(Isaiah 53:5) promises “by His stripes we are healed.”   Are you not part of the “we”?  We then are healed, all of us.

(James 5:14-15) “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.”  

Healing is for all, and healing is for you.  (John 8:31-32) "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  What does “abide” mean?  To stand fast, to reside, to submit.  If you abide, stand fast, reside within, submit to Christ’s word, the Bible, the word of God, indeed you shall know God’s truth, and the truth of God s shall make you free.

Beloved, will you bow your heads, close your eyes, and repeat after me, “Blessed is the Father, who heals us this day.  Blessed is his Son who by his stripes has taken away our diseases.   Forgive us for believing Satan’s lies that even we sinners should be sick.   We accept your Word.  We accept your sun.  We bind you Satan for you have no power here.   For today we accept and claim God’s healing. Forgive me my sins. Come into my life. I believe you are the Son of God, and that You died on the cross for me.  I repent of all the works of the Devil.  Cover me with your blood.  Create by God’s Holy Spirit a clean heart, and the strength to reject Satan’s world.   Heal me and renew my spirit so that I can hear Your voice, and be used by you as your child to bring many to salvation.   I accept you as my Savior!   Your are my Lord!  Amen!”