The Message of Jesus-forgiveness and healing
The Message of Jesus
Forgiveness and Healing
March 1st and 2nd, 2003
-We talked last when I spoke on the law of faith and miracles.
-Jesus did miracles and He worked in an atmosphere of faith created by those who would receive.
-I spent some time talking about the way Jesus healed Wednesday night. He used different methods probably so we wouldn’t get hung up on the method itself.
-We saw from Matthew 4:23 and 9:35 that Jesus’ ministry was teaching, preaching, and healing.
-We also saw from the statistics that Jesus spent well over 1/3 of His ministry in the gospels was spent helping people’s immediate needs like healing.
-It cannot be denied that Jesus healed and told us to.
-Everyone He sent out He told them to preach, heal the sick and cast out demons.
-That is orthodox, Biblical Christianity.
-Jesus did not show us by His life and example nor His instructions to us that healing was some side issue that He could do if He wanted to but it really wasn’t important.
Matthew 9
9 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
4 /Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 And the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.[1]/
-Jesus said in other words that it is no more difficult to receive one than the other. He forgives and heals.
-His purpose and example is forgiveness and healing.
-In order to see how these two are connected we have to look back at where they came from.
1. SICKNESS CAME WHEN SIN CAME
Romans 5
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
/[2]/
Romans 6
23 /For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in a Christ Jesus our Lord.[3]/
-The wages of sin is death. Sickness is a down payment on death.
-Of course we will all die or be raptured. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
-The gospel presents an answer to your temporary problem of sickness.
-Whether you sinned or you are just part of a fallen world, forgiveness and healing are the gospel twins.
-Webster’s defines salvation as “deliverance from sin and sin’s penalty.”
-I don’t need healing when I get to heaven and receive my glorified body-I need it now!
-Religion always delays the answer to another time.
-The root of your problem has been addressed.
-Jesus dealt with the thing that caused your sickness.
-It is no more difficult to address the fruit than the root.
-Forgiveness is the release from your previous state: lock stock and barrel.
Romans 8
9 /You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. [4]/
-I remember talking to a doctor and he told me most of what he did was psychological. In other words, people were sick because of internal problems like stress or guilt.
-I saw a statistic that most mental homes could send the people home if they could deal with guilt.
-We don’t know why this man needed forgiveness but Jesus linked them and he was healed.
-Maybe there was a link or maybe he just thought there was.
-The antidote is to:
KNOW WITH EVERY OUNCE OF YOUR BEING THAT GOD LOVES YOU
GET STILL IN HIS PRESENCE AND KNOW HE FORGIVES YOU AND ACCEPTS YOU
GET ON THE SAME SIDE WITH HIM AGAINST YOUR PROBLEM (stop believing you deserve bad things)
2. JAMES THOUGHT THERE WAS A CONNECTION
James 5
10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
/[5]/
-Notice that not receiving forgiveness or unforgiveness can block what God wants to do.
-Get your heart still and receive and give forgiveness.
-Dodie Osteen example – she checked for unforgiveness.
-John Osteen used the example of humble yourself in James 4:
7 /Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. [6]/
-James was the brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem.
-He thought God wanted to forgive and heal.
3. PAUL SAW A CONNECTION
1 Corinthians 11
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
-Some of the Corinthians were weak, sick and dying young.
-Paul connected what we believed about ourselves and others with health.
-You have to receive and give forgiveness. Before you are healed physically- you need to receive forgiveness.
-Whatever you’ve done, whatever has been done to you, LET IT GO.
Psalm 103
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
/[7]/
“Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
“Get up, take your mat and go home.”
----
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Mt 9:1-8. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ro 5:12-17. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
a Or through
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ro 6:23. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ro 8:9-11. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Jas 5:10-16. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Jas 4:7-10. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ps 103:1-5. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.