Healing Power of Christ
Growing Your Relationship with Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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· 834 viewsHealing Power of Christ Manifested in me.
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Transcript
What does it mean to be healed?
What does it mean to be healed?
Old Testament
Old Testament
In the Old Testament, God is the healer of His people.
‘See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
It is I who put to death and give life.
I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
The people of God needed Him to sustain them. The needed to be in a relationship with God, which God desired even though His people did not at times.
The Psalmist wrote
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away;
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed.
As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Isaiah wrote
The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
Speaking of Jesus, Zechariah wrote
“For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.
New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament emphasizes Jesus as the healer.
Mark introduces Jesus healing power in Mark 1:21-45 where he heals a man with a demon in the synagogue, Peter’s mother-in-law and then the whole city gathered at the door with the sick and demon possessed.
In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus heals the paralytic; in 3:1-6, the man with a withered hand; in 3:7-12, multitudes by the sea.
Jesus then commissions the twelve to proclaim repentance, to drive out demons and to heal the sick
And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;
and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—
but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.”
And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town.
“Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that men should repent.
And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.
The healing expressed Jesus’ compassion for those suffering and provided a revelation of His true nature.
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”
And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
Matthew also documented the healing power of Jesus:
Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
He paralleled the healings in Mark as well.
Luke also portrayed Jesus as preaching and healing.
And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.
And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
In these verses, Luke tells us the the healings are to be understood not only as a sign of the compassion of Jesus, but as a sign of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. In Luke 10, Jesus commissions the Disciples and sends them out:
Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
“Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
“Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.
“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’
“If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
“Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.
“Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you;
and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
“But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say,
‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’
“I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
The first three Gospels take up the theme of God as the healer of his people from the Old Testament and see this fulfilled in Jesus.
John’s Gospel has only 4 healings: the official’s son in John 4:46-54, the man ill for 38 years in John 5:1-18, the man born blind in John 9, and the raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-44. John indicates these are signs revealing the person of Jesus.
The Acts of the Apostles continues the ministry of Jesus through the Spirit at work in the Apostles. Acts 3:1-16 shows how the disciples were able to exercise healing in the name of Jesus:
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.
And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.
But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!”
And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”
And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.
With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God;
and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.
But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.
“But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
“And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
In Acts 4:29-31 the prayers of the Apostles clearly indicate the two fold ministry of the Holy Spirit: to proclaim and to heal:
“And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,
while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
In the Epistles, there is little about healing, but what is there indicates that some have a gift of healing, but not all. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 states
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
Continuing in verse 27
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?
All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
And I show you a still more excellent way.
James tells us in James 5:13-16
Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
God is willing and able to minister to His people today through healing. Paul indicates that sometimes the healing is not total. God allows some infirmities to remind us that He can strengthen us to live with them.
2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (NASB95)
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Through all of this, I am confident that Jesus has healed me. Maybe not completely, but enough to let me know that through His power I have survived this ordeal and through His power I will live with A-Fib as long as He intends me to be on this earth.
And with the healing comes a responsibility to Proclaim His name and the Power of knowing Him.