Sermon Archives (December  30, 2001):

Is Healing for You? - Part 7

Good afternoon church.  I have been teaching the last six sermons on “Is Healing for You?”.    We’ve sought to answer that question from the God’s Word?   What does the Bible, God’s Word say about healing?   And our finding has been this:

Having received God’s answer, that yes, healing is for you, the focus now of this sermon and the two that follow is to determine from the Bible how we as Christians obtain healing.

Beloved let us bow our heads.   Father, let every believer hear this message today and the world as well.  Teach us Father by your word your principles of healing.   Teach us Father how we may receive healing, but also how we as your instruments may pass on God’s healing to others.   And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

Having concluded in our study that healing is for us, how then do we obtain that healing?   Do we sit under a cabbage patch, or drink special teas?   Hardly.   How then do we unleash the power of the Almighty in our lives to gain that healing?   The Bible defines at least seven different ways to gain healing from God.  In today’s sermon, we are going to examine two of those seven ways to gain healing.

Method 1:  (James 5:14-16)  “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. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Note:  “Is anyone among you sick?”   “Anybody” includes everybody; good, bad, or in between.  That doesn’t leave out the Apostle Paul.  It doesn’t leave out me, and it doesn’t leave out you.  Amen.   The instruction is “confess your faults”, not to confess you sins.   We have far more faults then we have sins.   I may fail to greet everybody here at church.   That’s a “fault”, not a “sin”.   The Bible instructs us to confess our “faults”.     We are to “pray for one another”.  Why?   So that “you might be healed.”  In other words, prayers for others not only brings healing for others, it also brings healing for ourselves. 

The finish of this verse presents a problem for some.  “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  How many of you are righteous?  The apologist retorts, (Romans 3:10)  "There is none righteous, no, not one.”   Well, then if we are not righteous, what then is the value in our prayers for healing?   In answer, the issue is not our righteousness, for our righteous is as (in Isaiah 64:6) “filthy rags”.   What we do is not of importance, but what we are in is of importance:  We are in Christ Jesus, of his body, and the certainty (Jeremiah 33:16) “The Lord our righteousness.”   We receive (Romans 5:17) the “gift of righteousness” through Jesus Christ.  It is therefore through the righteousness of Christ Jesus within whom we pray that much is availed.

The sick are to be anointed by the elders with oil.  Why?  When you’re sick you’re weak; physically and spiritually.  Anointing is then a way for those weak to call in help; to bring in the first team.  When you’re weak its hard to believe in something you can’t see.   Yet we know that (Hebrews 11:1) “faith is … the evidence of things not seen.”   When you’re weak, you need to see.   The oil does not heal, but rather it releases the faith of the one who is sick in his belief that the prayers of those anointing him through Christ avail much.   The point is, even when you are weak, when you are feeble, an infant in faith, the God who loves you gives you a way to be healed.

Jesus sent his Apostles out to minister.   They anointed the sick with oil, as a point of contact for the sick person to release their faith in the power of God.  And what then was the result?  (Mark 6:13)  “And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.”  Anointing by oil is then a Scriptural method, but not the only method by which you may be healed.

Method 2:  (Mark 16:17-18)  “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Jesus said,  “they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. “   This is the second method.   The laying on of hands is not a denominational tradition, but rather ordained by Christ.  We read, (Luke 13:11-13) “There was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’” Meaning her sickness. “And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”  

Christ himself brought about healing by the laying on of hands.  (Mark 5:21-23) “Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea.  And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.’”

Christ used the laying on of hands throughout his ministry. (Mark 8:22-25)  “Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, ‘I see men like trees, walking.’ Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.”

The Bible later defines the laying on of hands as one of its doctrines, not for one denomination but for the entire Body of Christ.  (Hebrews 6:1-2)  “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands.”  Therefore Christ instructs his ministry today,  “they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. “

Beloved, will you bow your heads, close your eyes, and repeat after me, “Blessed is our Father, who gives us grace, who gives us means by which to obtain healing; by the anointing of oil and the laying on of hands.   Today we claim both God’s healing and the means to accomplish that 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!”