While we see physical sickness in scripture, we also see spiritual sickness. I believe with all my heart that our need for healing is not physical but spiritual. I had an issue with God for not healing my son with a spiritual sickness of doubt and anger.
My uncle Robert gave me a tape of a sermon I preached at Mt Sinai in May of 1998 entitled “Lessons From A Grateful Heart” taken from Luke in the story of the 10 Lepers. I listened to this sermon for the first time a few weeks ago and it did not dawn on me until the end of the message that I preached about being grateful a week or two before my son passed away. I was testifying at the end of the message of how God was answering the prayers of the members by giving my son strength to endure operation after operation and soon thereafter he’s gone.
After listening to that message I had to repent and ask God for forgiveness because God was good before my son passed and He’s still good after my son has passed. It was at that point that God healed me spiritually from doubt and anger something I suppressed over the years. I’ve realized that physical healing is temporary. You can receive healing today physically but our bodies are still aging and soon and very soon we will find ourselves back in a position of sickness facing the ultimate reality of death.
On the other hand, spiritual healing is permanent because of the work of Jesus Christ. Praise God!
Essentially, that’s what the bible is focused on our spiritual healing more than our physical healing. Yes, God is concerned with the outer condition of man but He’s more interested in the inner condition of man. I think as Christians, we spend entirely too much time pursuing non-essentials of our Christian faith like gifts of tongues, healing, prosperity, women in the pulpit, fresh anointing, and so on that we’ve missed and missing the essential truths of our Christian faith like salvation, the pursuit of holiness, and the return of Jesus Christ. We chase the temporal while forsaken the permanent.
The greatest healing ever to pursue is spiritual through the gift of salvation. Let’s think about it for a moment, Jesus asked a question in Matthew 16:26; “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or, what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Pursuing physical healing while ignoring salvation is spiritual suicide; “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23)”.
It’s not a good idea to pursue physical healing while ignoring salvation. One of the best passages of scripture I can think of that explains the spiritual condition of man is Ephesians 2:1-7:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, n which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Now, I know this passage says a lot in past tense when read at first glance. However, upon deeper study you will realize that it’s speaking not only in past tense but also in present tense reality. It speaks to both the believer who can rejoice in salvation and the unbeliever who needs to be aware of their need for salvation. The spiritual condition of man can be explained in what I call: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly…
A. The Good – “And you He made alive”
Many translations omit “And you He made alive” and go straight into “you were once dead in trespasses and sins. However, I think it’s important to not look past the opening statement in this text because it’s the beginning of the end resolve, “Only Christ can bring life to a dead man.
B. The Bad – “who were dead in trespasses and sins”
In the book, Dead Man Walking, the author describes the experiences of a man sentenced to die for a horrible crime. At the end of the story, he finally acknowledges his crime. He repents and accepts Christ, and is then led to the room where he would die by lethal injection. The thing that really struck me at that point was the cry by the jail warden as he led the man to his final appointment with death, "Dead man walking! Dead man walking!" Although he was still alive, he was legally dead. There was nothing that anybody could do at that point for this man. Every avenue possible for reprieve had been exhausted. Right up to the last minute his lawyer and his spiritual advisor waited at the phone in the hope of a miracle. But it never came. All had failed. That is the most hopeless place for any human being to be.
Apart from Christ, people are hopeless, spiritual sick, dead man walking with no hope of healing from the sickness of sin.
C. The Ugly – “…in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, [3] among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
Again, this is a passage of past tense with present tense reality, we’re messed up. Our spiritual sickness is an ugly situation that needs the help of God to fix us.
How is He able to fix us? Watch this: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Wow! What a mighty God we serve!
A few weeks ago we had two men visit our church. During the invitation, one of men raised his hand and expressed a desire to stop smoking. I acknowledged his request and asked if we could talk after church. When service was over, I was pulled in many directions and as soon as I could break away I went immediately to look for both gentlemen. One of our members explained that they were fresh out of jail and only wanted something to eat. I asked; “What did you do?” They explained; “I gave them some oatmeal and orange juice and sent them on their way”. They continued to explain; “There was need to talk to them because they didn’t want anything but food”. I bowed my head and walked away. This was a missed opportunity to offer something more than temporal gratification of a physical need. Their need was more than physical it was and still is spiritual.
Jesus never said to us in Matthew 28:19, “Go into all the world and heal all disease.” He says, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” Jesus is more concerned about the soul of a man than He is the body of a man – Matthew 10:28 (The Temporary Sign Gifts-Healing, Part a by John McArthur – pp. 3).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that God is not in the healing business physically because He is. However, I believe God is concerned with our soul and where it will spend eternity, with Him or apart from Him, is His major concern. If it wasn’t, why did Jesus come? Why the cross, burial, grave, the resurrection, and His return? Our God is powerful and healing physical sickness is easy to Him. But, the real miracle is when someone receives Christ as Lord and Savior in their life. Now…….that’s healing.
What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
O, how precious is that flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fountain I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
My uncle Robert gave me a tape of a sermon I preached at Mt Sinai in May of 1998 entitled “Lessons From A Grateful Heart” taken from Luke in the story of the 10 Lepers. I listened to this sermon for the first time a few weeks ago and it did not dawn on me until the end of the message that I preached about being grateful a week or two before my son passed away. I was testifying at the end of the message of how God was answering the prayers of the members by giving my son strength to endure operation after operation and soon thereafter he’s gone.
After listening to that message I had to repent and ask God for forgiveness because God was good before my son passed and He’s still good after my son has passed. It was at that point that God healed me spiritually from doubt and anger something I suppressed over the years. I’ve realized that physical healing is temporary. You can receive healing today physically but our bodies are still aging and soon and very soon we will find ourselves back in a position of sickness facing the ultimate reality of death.
On the other hand, spiritual healing is permanent because of the work of Jesus Christ. Praise God!
Essentially, that’s what the bible is focused on our spiritual healing more than our physical healing. Yes, God is concerned with the outer condition of man but He’s more interested in the inner condition of man. I think as Christians, we spend entirely too much time pursuing non-essentials of our Christian faith like gifts of tongues, healing, prosperity, women in the pulpit, fresh anointing, and so on that we’ve missed and missing the essential truths of our Christian faith like salvation, the pursuit of holiness, and the return of Jesus Christ. We chase the temporal while forsaken the permanent.
The greatest healing ever to pursue is spiritual through the gift of salvation. Let’s think about it for a moment, Jesus asked a question in Matthew 16:26; “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or, what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Pursuing physical healing while ignoring salvation is spiritual suicide; “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23)”.
It’s not a good idea to pursue physical healing while ignoring salvation. One of the best passages of scripture I can think of that explains the spiritual condition of man is Ephesians 2:1-7:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, n which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Now, I know this passage says a lot in past tense when read at first glance. However, upon deeper study you will realize that it’s speaking not only in past tense but also in present tense reality. It speaks to both the believer who can rejoice in salvation and the unbeliever who needs to be aware of their need for salvation. The spiritual condition of man can be explained in what I call: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly…
A. The Good – “And you He made alive”
Many translations omit “And you He made alive” and go straight into “you were once dead in trespasses and sins. However, I think it’s important to not look past the opening statement in this text because it’s the beginning of the end resolve, “Only Christ can bring life to a dead man.
B. The Bad – “who were dead in trespasses and sins”
In the book, Dead Man Walking, the author describes the experiences of a man sentenced to die for a horrible crime. At the end of the story, he finally acknowledges his crime. He repents and accepts Christ, and is then led to the room where he would die by lethal injection. The thing that really struck me at that point was the cry by the jail warden as he led the man to his final appointment with death, "Dead man walking! Dead man walking!" Although he was still alive, he was legally dead. There was nothing that anybody could do at that point for this man. Every avenue possible for reprieve had been exhausted. Right up to the last minute his lawyer and his spiritual advisor waited at the phone in the hope of a miracle. But it never came. All had failed. That is the most hopeless place for any human being to be.
Apart from Christ, people are hopeless, spiritual sick, dead man walking with no hope of healing from the sickness of sin.
C. The Ugly – “…in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, [3] among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”
Again, this is a passage of past tense with present tense reality, we’re messed up. Our spiritual sickness is an ugly situation that needs the help of God to fix us.
How is He able to fix us? Watch this: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Wow! What a mighty God we serve!
A few weeks ago we had two men visit our church. During the invitation, one of men raised his hand and expressed a desire to stop smoking. I acknowledged his request and asked if we could talk after church. When service was over, I was pulled in many directions and as soon as I could break away I went immediately to look for both gentlemen. One of our members explained that they were fresh out of jail and only wanted something to eat. I asked; “What did you do?” They explained; “I gave them some oatmeal and orange juice and sent them on their way”. They continued to explain; “There was need to talk to them because they didn’t want anything but food”. I bowed my head and walked away. This was a missed opportunity to offer something more than temporal gratification of a physical need. Their need was more than physical it was and still is spiritual.
Jesus never said to us in Matthew 28:19, “Go into all the world and heal all disease.” He says, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” Jesus is more concerned about the soul of a man than He is the body of a man – Matthew 10:28 (The Temporary Sign Gifts-Healing, Part a by John McArthur – pp. 3).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that God is not in the healing business physically because He is. However, I believe God is concerned with our soul and where it will spend eternity, with Him or apart from Him, is His major concern. If it wasn’t, why did Jesus come? Why the cross, burial, grave, the resurrection, and His return? Our God is powerful and healing physical sickness is easy to Him. But, the real miracle is when someone receives Christ as Lord and Savior in their life. Now…….that’s healing.
What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
O, how precious is that flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fountain I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
To be continued...next week...Chapter 2 "Where Does healing come from?
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