THE MOUNT/ CH 8 - HEALING

Thomas Hanks

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Pray

It was a phone call one never wants to get. A friend called from Ohio to say that our mutual friend, Debbie, was dying of leukemia and was at a cancer center in Seattle.

Later, Debbie's husband called, telling me that Debbie had slipped into a coma. The doctors had given her two to three days to live. Debbie's two adult children had flown in to say their good-byes. He invited me to come and pray.

I admit that this was a huge stretch for my faith. But I asked a friend to go with me, and we set out for Seattle. As we drove, John 14:12–14 ran through my mind: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Now was my chance to prove that I really believed those verses. Could we really do the things Jesus did? Would he really do the things we asked in his name?

At the hospital, we introduced ourselves to Debbie's family and then approached her bed. I silently asked the Lord what to pray. Luke's account of Jesus rebuking a fever came to mind (4:38–39). Debbie, however, was a sad sight. By all outward appearances, what I was about to pray seemed impossible.

Nevertheless, I prayed, "Lord, I come to you based on the authority and power you have given me because of Jesus. Jesus, you said we would do even greater things because of your power in us. You told me in John 15 that if I abide in you and your words abide in me, I can ask anything, and it will be granted. So, right now, in the name and authority of Jesus in me, I rebuke the cancer and death. In Jesus' name, I pronounce healing and abundant life."

My prayer was simple, based on Scripture, and spoken in faith and in the authority of Jesus' name. Nothing happened at the moment, though, so my friend and I said good-bye.

Debbie continued to be on my mind, but I also knew the Lord had heard my prayer. It was all in his hands. A week later, my phone rang. It was Debbie. She had awoken from her coma and asked the medical team to unhook her life support! She had heard that I had visited her several days before and had prayed for her. "Would you please come back?" she asked. So, the next day, I drove back to Seattle to see with my own eyes what the Lord had done.

What an amazing time that was. Debbie—alert and smiling—told me the story. For three days after we prayed for her, while still in a coma, she sensed that an angel was standing by her bed. On the third day she woke up and knew in her heart that the Lord had completely healed her. The doctors' tests showed no sign of any cancer whatsoever. We rejoiced!

We were then able to share the gospel with her family. As a result of Debbie's healing, her son and his wife received Christ and are now joyfully serving him. And, to this day four years later, no cancer has returned.

We read this story this morning and depending on where you sit. Your perspective on this story may be different from the person next to you. For some of us this morning, we hear this story, and we’re reminded of our own story of how God showed up in a miraculous way and healed us personally or perhaps healed someone we know.

For others of us this morning, perhaps we struggle with this story. This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard of such healing. But in our past, with our own sickness or injury or with perhaps someone that we’ve prayed for… They weren’t healed… and so, we wrestle with the idea that God is still in the business of healing.

But My encouragement for us this morning is to be open to the fact that God has been and will always be the great Physician, and that ultimately, he heals according to his will.

If you have your bible with you this morning turn with me to the book of Matthew 8. And as you’re turning there, we have just 2 points this morning. By the way, we really could talk about healing for through an entire sermon series and break down different parts… but for today I want us to focus on 2 key ideas. 1. Jesus took up our infirmities and bore our diseases at calvary. 2. God empathizes with us in our sickness.

1. The purpose of healing is to take away our sickness

In Matthew 8 we recall that Jesus has recently preached the sermon on the mount. He spoke to the multitudes about loving others, caring for others needs and ultimately being a follower of Christ, but then we get to this section in Matthew 8 and 9 , Jesus goes from a place of teaching the crowd… to now meeting their physical and spiritual needs... One by one, from cleansing the leper, healing two paralytics, cooling a fever, calming the storm, casting out demons, raising a girl from the dead, giving sight to two blind men, restoring the speech of a man affected by demons, and healing every other kind of disease and sickness as we’re told. We see that Jesus shows that he is truly the Messiah, as only the Messiah has the power to forgive sin and heal.

In Matthew 8:14 we read: 14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

As We stop, we see that Jesus came into Peter’s house and heals his mother who has a fever.But then the key verse which stands out to me is that he not only drives out the demonic spirits from people brought to him but that he healed all the sick. By the way, we’re not told exactly how many people healed that day, or during his earthly ministry

But John 21:25 does tell us:“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” But I want us to focus for a moment on the last part of verse 17 that says: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” You see on a practical level; Jesus met the needs of the people. He didn’t just talk the talk. He also walked the walked and met people where they were only a daily basis.

But when we read verse 17 here, Matthew is quoting Isaiah 53:4 which states: “ 4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, and our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, struck down by God, and humiliated. 5 But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our [d]well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. NASB

You see, for a second, I want us to realize that when Jesus came… he not only came and conquered sin… the bible also tells “it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, and our pains that He carried.” A.B Simpson the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance writes about this and states “this does not imply: “ having mere sympathy, but an actual substitution and the removal utterly of the thing borne. Therefore, in the same full sense as He has borne our sins, Jesus Christ has SURELY BORNE AWAY and CARRIED OFF our sicknesses; yes, and even our PAINS, so that abiding in Him, we may be fully delivered from both sickness and pain.”

You see, friends when we talk about sickness, we must consider that this was not what God had in mind when he first created the world. Genesis 1:31 says that: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” Therefore, the sickness and the disease that we are discussing this morning were not God’s initial plans rather, they were the effect of the fall.

Yet God sent his only begotten son… to live on this earth… to be perfect, and to not only bear our sins… but also… to carry away our sickness and disease…

ROMANS 8:9-11 talks more about this and states 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life 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 because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

You see for a moment; I think it’s appropriate to discuss the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. You see, (and I get fired up about this) but there are some churches, and some denominations… that recognize that Jesus came, and was crucified, was raised on the 3rddayso that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life… We of course as Christians know this be true this morning… but there are some that will talk about God, and Jesus… but when you get to the Holy Spirit, it’s almost like he’s someone to be afraid of… or timid about…

Friends, the spirit of Christ, as Paul writes in Romans 8:9 ultimately lives within us “he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies (that is our earthly body) because of his spirit who lives in you.”

The point is friend, that God Ultimately conquered sin on the cross and the effects of sin… and therefore if he chooses to… he can absolutely heal you. And while we read a story initially of God’s miraculous healing… and there are many like it… sometimes God heals in different ways then we expect.

An article I read this week in preparing for this sermon was written by Jeffrey H. Boyd, a medical doctor from Waterbury, Connecticut, writes:

My first wife, Pat, had diabetes, two heart attacks, bypass surgery, two strokes, went on dialysis, went blind, and had both legs amputated above the knee. She and I went every week to a healing service at our church. The clergy would lay hands on us and pray, while Pat and I cried uncontrollably. She was never healed. There was no evidence that healing prayer had any positive effect in terms of miraculous cures. But every week this intimate prayer gave us enough spiritual strength to endure another week. Thus, my own experience was that healing prayer was like manna for Pat and me. Every Sunday we were given enough to get us through. We were not given more nor less manna than we needed to survive. It was exactly like Exodus 16, and like the Lord's Prayer, "Give us today our daily bread."

In other words, Pat and I experienced healing prayer to have a curative power not in terms of a change in medical outcome, but in terms of keeping us in touch with the Lord, who spiritually sustained us. Furthermore, other people from our church were more in touch with us by virtue of us all praying for Pat's healing.

You see Friends You see; the reality is That sometimes God chooses to heal us, and sometimes he doesn’t. But make no mistake, he certainly he has the power to. But yet, ultimately it comes down to his will and what will bring him the most glory.

You see “We often look at the temporary state of our bodies and we get frustrated if God doesn’t heal us the way we want, and when we want… but may we never forget that the Ultimate healing for us a Christian is resurrection.” That ultimately, we have an eternity in Heaven.

2. The purpose of healing is to show us God’s compassion.

I want us to focus on the compassion of Jesus for a moment as we consider the leper who Jesus encountered after he came down the mountainside. We’re told: 8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

What’s interesting is often when Jesus healed, He did so just by speaking a word. Yet here, the bible says that Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, “be clean” You see, Jesus didn’t have to touch this man, but I think if we pause for a second and realize that Jesus was very intention about this act, we see ultimately his love and compassion...

In verse 4 Jesus tells the man: “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” You see at the time, the Jewish culture had certain customs that must be followed in the event that there was a skin disease present. Here, Jesus tells the man to go to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded.

Which if we turn to Leviticus 13 and 14, we’re given insight to the very topic of leprosy and the demands the culture would have from any skin disease. Leviticus 13:1 says: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a shiny spot on their skin that may be a defiling skin disease,[a] they must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest. 3 The priest is to examine the sore on the skin, and if the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it is a defiling skin disease. When the priest examines that person, he shall pronounce them ceremonially unclean.

Then for nearly 50 verses in Leviticus 13 and most of Leviticus 14 we see how the priest are to handle such people. It was a very serious thing.

You see, ultimately anyone with Leprosy was viewed as an outcast by society. Like there was something wrong with them. We see that God gave strict and specific regulations to Moses regarding leprosy. A person suspected of having the disease was taken to a priest for examination. If he showed signs of having more than a superficial skin problem, he was isolated for seven days. If the symptoms became worse, the person was isolated for seven more days. If at that time the rash had not spread further, the person was pronounced clean. If, however the rash had become worse, he was pronounced unclean. Regarding those that are unclean, Leviticus 13:45-46 explains

45 “Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as they have the disease, they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.

By the way, to be outside the camp was considered to be separated from the presence of God. Ultimately, the tabernacle (or the equivalent of their church) and courtyard were inside the camp, and so anyone with and so anyone with Leprosy not only felt the pain physically, they not only felt the rejection emotional, but spiritually they were not allowed into the tabernacle as they were viewed as unclean and unworthy to enter the presence of God by the society.

And yet, Jesus shows up and crushes the thinking. You see, we were told: 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” and in these moments, Jesus has the option to heal the man or not… but so true to the character and love of Christ, we see that not only does he heal this man.. but he touches the man and shows that he’s not afraid of meeting people where they are… If you’re dirty… he’s okay getting dirty with you… If your unclean… he’ll wash you… if you feel betrayed, he was betrayed first and is able to sympathize with you this morning…

You see, 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

Jesus completely came in and challenged the culture of the time… He challenged the legalistic views of the pharisees and Sadducees, he ate with the sinners and the tax collectors, and he died not only for the prominent, or the well of in society… but he died for everyone.

Luke 5:31-32 tell us 31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

You see in my studies I found that the form of picture Leprosy that was present was likely what we now know as Hansen’s Disease. Which at the time this Severe form of leprosy was the most feared disease of the ancient world, and even today it cannot be totally cured. One author writes the disease which we today call leprosy generally begins with pain in certain areas of the body. Numbness follows. Soon the skin in such spots loses its original color. It gets to be thick, glossy, and scaly… As the sickness progresses, the thickened spots become dirty sores, and ulcers due to poor blood supply. The skin, especially around the eyes and ears, begins to bunch, with deep furrows between the swellings, so that the face of the afflicted individuals begins to resemble that of a lion. Fingers drop off or are absorbed; toes are affected similarly. Eyebrows and eyelashes drop out. By this time one can see the person in this pitiable condition is a leper. By a touch of the finger one can also feel it. One can even smell it, for the leper emits a very unpleasant odor. Moreover, in view of the fact that the disease- producing agent frequently also attacks the larynx, the leper’s voice acquires a grating quality. His throat becomes hoarse, and you can now only see, feel, and smell the leper, but you can hear his rasping voice. And if you stay with him for some time, you can even imagine a peculiar taste in your mouth, probably due to the odor.

You see friends The law would prevent a leper from coming more than 6 feet from anyone, and if the wind was blowing, the limit was 150 feet. Almost like covid in modern times… This was a despised disease...

And yet friends, Jesus has compassion. He not only frees this man from the physical pain and the humiliation of this disease, but he shows that he’s okay getting dirty. You see, this man probably hadn’t been touched in years. He was rejected by society, his family was probably labeled and laughed at, he was amounted to nothing… and yet Jesus came in and said you’re of great worth to me.

John Macarthur explains that “Leprosy is a graphic illustration of sin. Like leprosy, sin infects the whole person, and it is ugly, loathsome, corrupting, contaminating, alienating, and incurable by man. Lepers in ancient Israel were vivid object lessons of sin.”

And yet… Jesus came in… Jesus came in and showed that he had power not only over sin, but over every impurity. Jesus touched this man and changed his life.

You see when Jesus heals this leper, he not only heals the physical condition, he not only changes this lepers outlook on life… but I think one of the greatest parts of this miracle was that Jesus showed love. This leper had probably gone years without being touched. Probably gone years while others, walked by and hurled insults and laughed, and mocked at him… and rejected him… and yes Jesus, gets on his level… You see, Jesus knew that the day and the hour would come, where others would turn their back on Him. Jesus knew that he would be laughed at, insulted, mocked, and beaten… That even those who loved him and had followed him all those years would in time, become ashamed by him… and yet, in these moments, Jesus meets this leper where he’s at.

You see we turn back to Isaiah 53 for a moment and we recall that Jesus himself had nothing from a physical standpoint that was desired, Jesus himself was rejected, Jesus himself was cut off from the land of the living… and so as he meets the leper that day… there’s a sense that he can empathize and relate with this man, who had been rejected by society yet meant everything to God…

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Friends at this time I’m going to call the elders forward as we transition to a time of communion and afterwards a time of healing and prayer for anyone that would desire that this morning.

But as they come forward, I’m reminded of the words of Jesus to the pharisees in Matthew 23:26 where he says: “Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”Friends this morning, God is concerned with our whole being…

In a moment, we’ll take communion together…and then afterwards have a time of prayer for anyone that would want it… and so as the elements come by, if you have accepted Christ as your lord and savior. We welcome you to take the elements as they pass by. But the bible tells us 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

Friends, be encouraged to spend time this morning with God. Ask him to reveal the areas in your life that need correcting and spend time in prayer as the elements are passed out. (pray)

The bible tells us

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.” (take / pray)

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.

READ ONE LAST VERSE THIS MORNING… AS YOU GO LEAVE…. I WANT TO READ TO US THE WORDS OF JAMES 5:14-16 and then we will have a time of prayer… but if I could encourage you with one thing… I would just say that since I’ve been here… we haven’t officially had the elders available for pray after service, granted they always are… but we want to be intentional this morning about giving you time to spend with the Lord… be encouraged to take advantage of these moments… Let me read to us the words of James 5:14-16 which states 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them 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 them up. If they have sinned, they 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 person is powerful and effective.

We would love to pray with you after service for any reason at all. But if your sick and you need prayer, we as a symbol of healing will anoint your head with oil and ask God to heal you this morning.