God's Benefit Of Healing

I've been thinking, and I know all of you because of the requests that we send out, you've been thinking about praying for others and about asking for God's healing.

And so it certainly seemed that this would be a good subject for us to cover or to think about, because every one of us need healing from God. We need that in multiple ways.

And I will discuss a little bit of that. But you find throughout the Bible that healing is described in a number of different ways. And sometimes we might not see exactly what God wants us to see whenever we are asking for healing for ourselves or for someone else, someone that we love, someone that we're close to. Because here in our congregation, you know, we're pretty close to each other in that, you know, there's not so many of us that we can't know, pretty much we do know, what others are struggling with or what they might be going through. I'd like to point out in the book of Psalms in chapter 103.

Psalms 103 is a psalm that was written by David. And whenever you read through other psalms, you see that there were times when David was ailing physically. He was in some kinds of begging for help and begging for God's mercy to be extended, for his healing to be given to him.

But you actually find here in Psalm 103, throughout this chapter, you see David describing God's mercy, his compassion, his forgiveness, and even healing as a benefit, a benefit of God or a benefit from the Lord. Now, you see this even as you read the beginning of it, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. In verse 2, bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all of his benefits. Do not forget all of his benefits or all of his favors that he is willing to extend to us. He goes on to say some of those benefits in verse 3, because God forgives us of our iniquities, and he heals us of our diseases.

He redeems our life from the grave. He crowns you with a steadfast love and mercy.

He satisfies you with good as long as you live. See, here he's describing different things that God gives us, God grants us, and he mentions not only the forgiveness of our iniquities, but of the healing of our diseases, and he calls that a benefit. So, in essence, that's the title of the sermon, God's Benefit of Healing. Now, we see throughout the scriptures that mankind is in need of various kinds of healing. We're all familiar with physical healing. You know, if we have an illness, or if we have a sickness, or if we're afflicted, you know, many of those things we commonly run into, whether it's a cold or a fever. You know, there are many things that would fit the category of a physical need for healing. And those, perhaps, they get more severe, or if they are severe, you know, then they still fit in the same category. You know, God clearly has the capacity to provide healing, to extend to us that benefit and that favor. You also find that the Bible points out that sometimes we need even emotional or mental healing. You know, whenever Jesus talks about, and it's written in Isaiah as well, that he came to to bind up the broken-hearted. What is that describing? Well, that's securing those who are struggling with some kind of an issue that is obviously breaking their heart, something that is affecting them throughout their life. And, of course, you could say, all of mankind needs spiritual healing. We all need forgiveness of our sins. We all need to be in reconciliation with God. Now, that would apply to every one of us. That would apply to all humanity, for that matter. But directly, we read the Word of God. We want to know what the Word says, not only in the Old but in the New Testament, because you have many, many examples. If you read the life of Jesus and even a few chapters out of almost any of the Gospels, you'll see one of the things that he did was heal the sick. He was able to provide that benefit to them. And he was directing them to God, directing them to know God and to understand him as the Son of God. We commonly have a couple of examples here in the New Testament that I want to quickly read through and then later focus on. You see in the book of James, James chapter 5, one of the more familiar passages that we would have that would be connected with healing. James chapter 5, in the latter part of it, it says in verse 13, are any among you suffering or is any afflicted?

He says in verse 13, what they should do is they should pray. So that's pretty simple. We can understand that. Is anyone cheerful then? We ought to sing songs of praise. And of course, we've been doing that or do that in services and we can do that. You can do that on your own. I guess you can do that in the shower. If you are happy and joyous, you can sing maybe as loud as you want there. I don't know. But it says if we're joyful or cheerful, then we should sing songs of praise. But it says, verse 14, are any among you sick? So he's making a little bit of a differentiation between an affliction and actually being sick. It says they should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous man, the fervent and effective prayer of the righteous man avails much. Now again, I'm pretty sure that's not unfamiliar to any of you. You all are very aware that this instruction is what we're just told to do.

You also find in Acts chapter 19 an example of this is in regard to the apostle Paul. And it says in chapter 19 of Acts in verse 11, and this actually is very revealing, it says God, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul.

So that when a handkerchief or apron that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, there were diseases left and the evil spirits came out of them.

You know, here, you know, this is the reference that we would use or go to to say that the use of what we would call an anointed cloth is good. You know, that's actually what it says, that there were cloths that Paul not able to go and see everybody who wanted or needed to be healed, he would send a cloth. And what it says is that God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. And so clearly that's a valid way of, in a sense, being anointed or asking God for his help, asking God for his intervention and for his healing. And again, most of the time we're thinking about people who would need physical healing. Now, again, I'm sure you're familiar with what I've just read. You know, we teach about God's power to heal, and we teach about anointing the sick with oil. I think there are probably other groups of various types that follow that instruction. There are others who do not or who do not think you need to, but we can read and we can see that's what it says. If we're actually in need of healing, then we can follow that instruction. And, of course, this in no way conflicts or is in contradiction with using the medical field. You know, today we have a lot of stuff available to us. Often that is very helpful. And certainly, you know, anyone could understand that if we had a situation with our younger son many, many years ago where he broke his arm, you know, and it was not just broken, but out of place and more or less a, you know, a bull instead of a straight arm. And, you know, clearly, you know, we wanted to pray and ask God to heal him, but we also wanted to have his arm set. You know, we need to do that. You obviously need to have it straightened out. And even though, you know, Pat didn't like to watch that, which I guess she did to some degree, because it's painful, you know, to kind of see what's going on or you hurt for your child. And yet, as I'm saying, you know, in talking about God's power to heal and being anointed whenever we're sick, you know, it's not contradicting the medical field, and yet it is talking about an additional and entirely new dimension in healing. That's what you can think of as asking God for his benefit. See, that's what we read in Psalms, that healing is one of those things that God would categorize as a benefit from him. And it can be a miraculous thing. Some of us, you know, if we've been around long enough, we may have gone through enough situations and we may have clearly seen God intervene and provide healing. We also know that at times it appears, you know, well, that hasn't been extended yet. And of course, whenever we say that, we mean that, well, God is taking too long to take care of this. And yet, you know, that doesn't mean that God can't heal. You know, God can clearly heal. And certainly, you know, I know we've got Dr. Rick here with us today. We've had other doctors, other nurses who are a part of the medical field, and we're happy for the service and the care that you can provide to others. But God is the one who, you know, we can look to for healing. He's the one that we can look to. And so, I want us to think about the question, what's the purpose of being anointed?

Besides knowing that, well, that's in the Bible and that's what it tells us to do, does that just give us a formula to be healed? Or is there more to it than that? What is the purpose of being anointed? Is it simply to be restored or healed physically? Or is it to cultivate a better relationship with God? And that's what I'm going to make a case for today.

Because we can clearly see that God describes healing as a benefit from Him, a favor that He is able to extend. We cannot demand of God any of the things that He extends. We just can't do that. We can ask in faith and we can believe that He clearly has the power, but we don't make demands of God. We are in need of following His Word and then cultivating a better relationship. See, that's really what we all need. We all need to have a closer relationship with God, a stronger belief in the power of the Creator. Because clearly He did not only create it, He designed it beforehand, a designer and Creator and life-giver and even the one who breathed into Adam the breath of life. See, I think about that as I watch Paul struggling, struggling really. He's not able to respond right now. He's pretty much sedated. He's being assisted in breathing, which is a serious thing.

And yet, you know, I think about God giving the breath of life initially to Adam. And there have been, when you read through the Bible, there have been certain circumstances where God has revived people who have died and He has restored to capacity, you know, those who are sick.

And so I want us to just think about the the purpose of anointing as being more than just simply getting help in an immediate crisis and more along the line of growing in our relationship with God.

And even as, I guess you could say, if we want to follow the Word of God, we want to do what He says.

And yet, even as we do follow His words and even regard to anointing whenever we're sick, you know, we don't normally see the type of healing that you see described in the Bible.

We don't normally see the same thing, you know, we don't normally see the same results that Jesus had.

We usually don't see what happened to Peter. We usually don't see what we just read, you know, miracles occurred when Paul sent a handkerchief or a apron to someone.

We don't normally see that today, but of course God's purpose, it's not that that could not happen, and I'm sure there have been times when someone has been healed of different things that would be hard to be able to explain any other way.

But there was a purpose why God was doing that through Jesus. What was He doing?

Well, He was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God. In a sense, He was drawing a crowd, and that's, of course, what would happen if somebody had a gift of healing or whatever they did, God honored it, and people were healed, then that would draw a big crowd. I mean, there would be a lot of people, you know, trying to get to you. And yet, you know, you see, Jesus had that ability, and yet He needed to proclaim the gospel. He needed to record a belief in the Son of God. See, not only for people then, but for people today, and people down through the last 6,000 years, you know, they needed to recognize this is who is a human being and walking the earth. This is the Christ, the anointed one.

And yet, at that time, of course, proclaiming the gospel was something that was achieved through that. You see that in Matthew 4 here? We could look at several verses. Clearly, this is written for us to be clearly convinced that God has the capacity to heal. Here in Matthew 4, it says in verse 23, Jesus went through Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and curing every disease and sickness among the people. You know, that kind of went hand in hand. You know, that, in a sense, was a part of, you know, why people would listen to what he had to say. His fame spread throughout all of Syria. They brought to him all the sick who were afflicted with various diseases, with pains, those who were troubled with evil spirits, epileptics, paralytics, and he cured them all. Great crowds followed him from Galilee, and in the Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. That's a pretty wide area. That was not just in one part of Galilee, but all through Galilee, north and south, and to the sides east and west in Jordan and Syria. You know, people became to be aware of Jesus as the Son of God. You also see in Acts 9, Acts chapter 9, this is an account of Peter, and God working a miracle through Peter of actually, in this case, causing a lady named Dorkus who had died to be revived, to once again have life, and were familiar with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. He had been dead for four days, but God could give him physical life again. But here in this regard with Peter, verse 36 of Acts 9, in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, or Dorkus, and she was devoted. In verse 20, 30, well the latter part of verse 36, she was devoted to good works and to acts of charity. And at that time she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs, and since they were close to Joppa, the disciples who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with a request, please come without delay. And so Peter got up and went, and when he arrived, they took him to the upper room, and the widows there in verse 39, the widows stood beside him, and they were weeping, and they were showing tunics and other clothing that Dorkus had made while she was with them. And Peter put out all of them outside, and he knelt down, and he prayed, and he turned to her and said, Dorkus, get up. And of course she opened her eyes. See, that wasn't a power that Peter had, but it was a request that he made that God would restore her or revive her.

So clearly, you know, we have examples in the New Testament of people being healed.

But for all of us today, do we have that same type of a conviction or belief?

Well, you know, many ways we're removed from that to some degree, but it's certainly not limiting the power that God has to do that. We even read here in Matthew chapter 8, you see an example that's recorded in Matthew and over in Luke, perhaps in Mark as well.

But here in Matthew 8, in verse 14, when Peter had called Jesus, Jesus entered Peter's house, and he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a high fever.

Luke says it was high fever. He probably knew a little more about it.

Matthew just calls it a fever, and in a sense, you know, at times we might have a fever. We may feel we're concerned about it. We may not. Sometimes it'll go away. Sometimes you need to take something else. But clearly, in this case, it was a severe, severe issue that they were concerned about, and Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. And so that evening, they brought to him many who were possessed with demons, and he cast out spirits with a word, and he cured everyone who was sick. And so again, God's power, as he worked through Jesus in achieving these miracles, you know, his power is not limited.

He is able to rule over all of the physical things, but it says in verse 17, this was to fulfill what had been written in Isaiah the prophet, that he, talking about Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of man, he would take or took our infirmities, and he bore our diseases. See, now that would imply some kind of a relationship with God, some kind of a closeness. That's why I say, is being anointed more than just hoping we'll be healed or praying that we'll be healed? Or is it to create a closer relationship with God, to understand more fully what these words mean, that he took our infirmities and he bore our diseases? See, now, Jesus describes that a little more in his actions, and Peter writes about it in 1 Peter chapter 2.

In 1 Peter chapter 2, you have a description that we often read because it's talking about the example of Jesus, and we go over that during the Passover. We're commonly thinking about that as a part of the body of Jesus being broken for us. Here it talks about 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 21, for to this you have been called because Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth, even when he was abused. He didn't retaliate, he didn't return abuse. When he suffered, he didn't threaten, but he simply entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. See, that's the example that Jesus set of trusting, entrusting himself to the one who judges justly or judges rightly. He entrusted himself to his Heavenly Father, and he went on to say in verse 24, Peter said, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that free from sin we might live for righteousness because by his stripes, again quoting from Isaiah 53, by his stripes you have been healed for you are going astray like sheep, but now you've returned to the shepherd and guardian in your soul. See, I think we could say that healing is clearly a thing God wants us to seek. He wants us to understand it to be a benefit that he provides, that he has the capacity to provide, but it also is tied together with what we see the example of Jesus was, which was one of being very close to the Father. And see, that's something that all of us seek. That's all something we want, but it's something we need to cultivate. And so, whenever he says he bore our sins, he did that as our Savior, ultimately offering forgiveness of all of our sins, but also as our rescuer. He rescues us from the problems we get ourselves in or sometimes the things that we are afflicted by. I want to go back to James chapter 5, and again, this section is one that we commonly go over, but I want to kind of go through and break it down to explain James 5 or 13 through 16. It's not simply a formula that we should follow but, as an interaction with God, an act of dependence upon God, because I think that's what we can clearly see that it is. Starting again in verse 13, verse 13 says, is any among you afflicted, then we should pray. Now, that kind of goes to, in a sense, the sense of severity. He's talking about being afflicted. A little bit later, he's going to talk about is any sick, and so not everything is exactly the same. Some things, and of course, unfortunately, with many of us today, we drive cars. If you're in a car accident, you may be in a much bigger problem than you would have ever imagined, one that was quite sudden. One that came upon you, maybe even without warning, and maybe there were all different factors of that happening. That wouldn't be perhaps the same thing as if you're afflicted.

Being afflicted here, the word just simply means if we are enduring hardship.

Almost all of us endure some kind of hardship at times, and it tells us, well, we should pray. Then it says, if we're joyous, then we ought to sing praises to God. That, again, points out a different level of...that's almost the opposite. If we're afflicted, then we're seeking relief. If we're joyous, then we're praising God and worshiping God. But then in verse 14, it says, is any sick among you? Is any sick? That's a different level of need that we could say that we're asking for. Again, we're concerned about others here in our congregation right now. I know Paul's need is great. I know his need is critical and very severe. Maybe beyond, we might even know.

But clearly, we want to be asking for God's mercy and for his intervention for him.

And yet we're told, if we're sick, that we should, and this is a direction as far as what we should do, call for the elders of the church. Now, why would you want to do that? Why would any of us do that? Well, in thinking that being anointed is really creating an interaction with God, it's expressing an act of dependence. If we're calling for the elders of the church, we're simply obeying God. We're asking for help. We're doing what he says. And see, Mr. Hudson and Mr. Crosby and Mr. New and I right here in this area are designated to, if people call or ask, to be anointed to anoint them. Now, once you call and ask, it's up to us to figure out how to do that. Now, I know most of you are incredibly nice, and you don't usually call me at two o'clock in the morning. That's, I mean, if you do, that's okay. But I'm just saying, most of you don't do that. You wait until it's convenient, or you wait until maybe we're at church, or we, and that's okay too. That's up to you. But see, an elder, when we get a call that someone wants to be anointed for whatever it is, well then, I want to figure out how do I do that? How do, do I need to get in the car and go see them? Do I, am I on the way? Because sometimes that's the case. And, you know, you, what do you do? Or is it a situation, as far as the way it's set up, that, well, sending an anointed cloth would be the best way to achieve that anointing? That's what the elder needs to figure out. That's actually not what I need to figure out for myself. I need, if I'm calling for anointing, I need to figure, let them figure it out, because I'm the one who's sick. I don't have to figure out how am I going to be anointing. But see, as we obey God and ask for his help and call for the elders, what we're doing is acknowledging God's rule in his church. We're acknowledging that God works through a body, that body, the body of Jesus Christ. We're acknowledging that. We're recognizing that. And it goes on to say that the elders are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And so there are several components. You know, we're obviously going to have a prayer. We are going to use a small amount of oil. We're not going to pour the whole bottle on someone. Usually we'll use a very small amount. And yet that oil is symbolized in the Bible as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, of God working through our desire to draw close to him, our desire to ask for help, our desire to follow his instructions.

And so we're anointing someone with oil in the name of the Lord. And it says in verse 15, the prayer of faith, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. And so, again, that's why I say, I think anointing is more than just wanting to get help. It's creating a closer relationship with God. We are looking to God in faith. Now, the Elder should be praying in faith that God would be merciful and provide healing, but each of us, if we're being anointed, we ought to be in faith and actually growing in faith and growing in closeness to God and growing even in hope. I mean, we're told to grow in love and faith and hope.

It says the greatest of those are love. But say we should have faith in God, and we should have hope expectation. See, if we have a closer relationship with God, then we have greater hope that he's going to help us in this life, whatever help we eventually might need throughout our lives.

And we certainly have hope beyond the grave, because that hope extends to a resurrection and to the eternal life that he even holds out before us. And so it is a matter, as we appreciate this benefit from God of healing, that we not only are aware of what he asked us to do, but that we follow his instructions. And we look to God in faith and in hope that he will help us in this situation. We might look at Matthew 8.

Matthew 8, I can tell you. If you want to read just one chapter about healing, you can read Matthew 8, because there are numerous examples of Jesus healing multiple people here in Matthew 8. But in Matthew 8, starting in verse 5, you see an example, and this is one that I tie together with, you know, if the elder is able to anoint us right then, or if he's able to plan to do it later, or if he needs to send an anointed clock. You know, if we do our job of contacting the elder, then you know, God can answer that request at any time, no matter what the physical circumstances are of actually being anointed. Here in verse 5, when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying at home, paralyzed in terrible distress. And he said to him, he told him, I'll come and cure him. And so the centurion said, Lord, I'm not even worthy to have you come under my roof, but I want you to please just speak the word. Speak the word and my servant will be healed. For I realize I'm a man. He was, of course, a Roman centurion. He had bosses. He had bigger bosses. He knew what the ranks of his order was as far as the organization. He says, I'm a man under authority, and I've got soldiers unto me. And I say, one go, and he goes, and another come, and he comes. And my servant do this, and the servant does it. See, he described to Jesus a situation that he realized, well, you don't really need to come and do anything. You just need to say the word.

I've asked you for help, and all you got to do when you're talking to God is please say the word. And what Jesus says when he heard this, he was amazed. See, he was amazed at the request that this man was making. I'm needing help from God, and I have a servant that is very ill and is in need of healing. But I don't want you to have to come. Just say the word. When Jesus heard him, he was amazed, and he said, truly, I tell you, no one in Israel, in no one in Israel, have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from the east and west.

Believe with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom of God, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. He made that statement just that, you know, this was not an Israelite who was talking to him. This was a Roman centurion. And the Jews, who he basically dealt with, you know, that's what's referred to here as those who have knowledge of the Bible and heirs of the kingdom, you know, they're not accepting of even who I am. They don't even want to know who I am. And to the centurion in verse 13, he said, Go, let it be done for you according to your faith. And the servant was healed in that same hour. You know, apparently Jesus didn't even need to go. He just needed to say the word. He needed to extend, you know, that blessing, that benefit from God in this particular case. In another account here in Mark 5, Mark chapter 5, and this is in connection with if we're anointed, then we want to have faith that God will help us. We want to have our faith strengthen. You know, you see in other cases where the Bible tells us to increase our faith. So we want to grow in faith. We want our faith to be stronger. But here in Mark chapter 5, starting in verse 24, you actually have two different examples here of Jesus healing. But in verse 24, a crowd followed him and pressed in on Jesus. And so Jesus and his disciples would walk along and others were around him and, you know, was pretty much a mob that was all kind of going along. And there was a woman who'd been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years, and she had endured much for many physicians and had spent all she had. And she was no better, simply grew worse. She'd heard about Jesus and she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes.

And she said, if I only can touch his clothes, I will be made well. See, what was she representing there? She had come to believe who he was. She had come to believe he had extraordinary power from God and that he was able to provide the benefits of God.

And he says, all I need to do is touch him. She was exemplifying faith, is what this is saying.

She had faith in God, and of course she was kind of ashamed to even show up in the group of people that were around Jesus. But it says she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, knowing that if I just touch his clothes, I'll be made well. I'm looking to the source of all power in heaven and earth. And immediately, in verse 29, her emory stopped, and she knew it. So apparently she knew what was wrong, and she had been experiencing that for a long time, and she was now healed. Immediately, verse 30, immediately aware that power the power of God had gone forth from him. Jesus turned and said, who touched my clothes? And of course the disciples looked at each other and, ah, we're going to tell who touched you. You know, we are going to complain about this a little. The disciples said, look at the crowd pressing in on you, and you say, who touched me? You know, they were kind of bewildered by why he was asking. But Jesus said he looked around, and to who he had done, and the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell before him and told him the whole truth. She just told him everything. I heard about you. I knew I needed to be close to you. I needed, if I just could touch you, I would receive help. And certainly Jesus understood, and again, he uses this and has it recorded in the Bible as an example of her faith, because he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you whole. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

And so, you know, whenever we are desiring to be healed, whenever we are desiring to be anointed, we want to do that, asking God to increase our faith, asking God to strengthen our closeness to him.

And so, you know, this is another lesson that we learn as we recognize that seeking God's healing is seeking his benefit, seeking his favor, and again, not something that we demand, but something that we believe he has the ability to do. To go on here with what we're reading in James, it says, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. See, another part of what we see in this description here, we're in a sense devoting ourselves to God. We're asking God for help. We're asking for his healing. And yet, as we perhaps have seen, or maybe we see with others at times, well, God hasn't fulfilled that request yet. You know, we're allowed to wait. And so we are wanting to do that according to his will, according to whatever his will is for us. You see this again in a couple of examples, Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8 again. This is in the beginning of Matthew 8. Jesus had come down from the mountain in verse 1. Great crowds followed him.

There was a leper who came to him and knelt down saying, Lord, if you choose, if it is your will, or if you will, you can make me clean. Apparently, this man had come to believe that he had that power, that ability. And he said in verse 3, he stretched out his hand. Excuse me. Let me back up to verse 2. He came to him, knelt down, Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean. Stretched out his hand and touched him. Jesus did. I'm sorry. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said, I will. That's my will. It is what I want for you. Be made clean. And immediately the leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said, See, you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priests in order to offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. So he had described to him what he needed to continue to do. But just the question, if you choose or if you will, and of course, Jesus' answer was, of course I will. That is what I want. Although we do find at times, and we have other examples, that show that sometimes it's a little later. In this case, it looks like it was immediate. Other times you see healing almost being a progressive thing whenever he's healing someone's eyes, and it kind of gradually gets better, and then a little more. It could have gotten completely better immediately, but again, that was according to the will of God. Here in chapter 9, chapter 9 of Matthew, getting into the boat, he crossed the sea and came to his own town, and just sent some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on the bed, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, take heart, son, your sins are forgiven. See, here he is, in a sense, explaining that there is a connection between healing and the forgiveness of sin. And so, you know, this is a part of what I wanted to also continue in when we read James, chapter 5, because it says, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. This is in James 5, 15. The Lord shall raise him up.

The will of God needs to be sought in our life, and if he has committed sins, then they shall be forgiven him. You know, again, Jesus is the one who ties forgiveness of sin and healing together.

Now, he also shows that not all sickness or not all illness or disease comes from sin, because he uses the example of the blind man and the disciple. Well, who sinned? Did the man sin, or did his parents sin? How did this come about? Nobody sinned, he said. This isn't involving sin, and that is sometimes an assumption that we take. And yet, what we read here in James is if he has committed sins, then they are forgiven. And so we want to consider that. See, that's another part of cultivating a closer relationship with God.

You know, I look to God in faith, I obey what he says. I need his help. I ask for help. I ask for mercy. I ask for forgiveness. And in a sense, I want to be repentant. This is really what Jesus is saying here in Matthew 9. Whenever this man was brought to him, and he says, take heart, son, your sins are forgiven. And of course, then he's going to enter into a discussion with the scribes because they're complaining about him forgiving people's sins.

They said only God can do that. You've got to be blaspheming. Matthew 9, Jesus says, verse 5, for which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or stand up and walk? He says, it makes no difference to me. I understand what's happening here because this individual, having been brought to me in faith, wants to be healed. And I'm willing to forgive his sin and heal him. And so repentance is a part of the attitude that God would expect us to have to be close to God.

And that's something that every one of us, you know, need to seek and be able to be appreciative of. To go on here in verse 6, so that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin, he said to the paralytic, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. He stood up and went to his home and when the crowd saw it, they were filled with awe.

They glorified God who had given such authority to man. Clearly they could see Jesus was a flesh and blood human being, but God was able to work through him with his power. And he, of course, was the Son of God and so he could forgive sin. So to continue here in James 5, you know, we want to be repentant, we want to be obedient, we want to be faithful, we want to be repentant.

In verse 16 of James 5, he says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another. And so here, you know, he kind of brings all of us into a group together. Pray for one another that you may be healed because the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much.

So he wants us to share in prayers for one another, even as we do right now for Paul, for Kathleen, for Denise. We have people right close here that we are aware of. We are probably not aware of some of the names that we see of people who are sick in other parts of the world, and yet we can still pray for them because God tells us to do that.

If we take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, you see how it is that the body of Christ is one body, but there are many members. And this whole section here is, of course, just showing that all of the members need one another. You know, just like with our physical body, if I smash my finger, then I can't just ignore my finger and think that that doesn't hurt.

And it doesn't affect all the rest of me. Or if I stub my toe, you know, it's going to bother the rest of my walking around, or if my knees don't work right, like they don't, I better watch out because that's going to tip my whole body over. And yet he uses that as an illustration about how the body of Christ should be working together.

He says in verse 14, indeed the body does not consist of one member but many. So he even describes a number of different body parts and hearing and smell and sight. And then in verse 18, he says, but as it is, God has arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chooses. See, did God put me?

Did God put you in the body of Christ in a place that he wants me to be in?

I fully believe that, and I hope certainly that you do as well. But in talking about how the body and the members of the body are to be caring for one another, he talks about different body parts, some more obvious, the eye, the hearing, the smelling, some weaker, some stronger.

If we drop down to verse 24, it says, God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the weaker or inferior member, that there should be no division within the body, but that the members have the same care, one for another. See, we should, as we see in James, pray for one another. We should ask for God's mercy, his benefit, his favor for someone else. And he goes ahead to say, the members should have care for one another. In verse 26, if one member suffers, all suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. See, that's what, you know, that's what we're told to, you know, use as a pattern for our care for one another and our praying for one another. So all of this, of course, is a part of what we read here, and just the short few verses there in James chapter 5. And all of them tie together with our need for healing, our need for concern for others, and our need for a stronger and closer relationship with God. And that's why he allows us to understand something about anointing and something about healing. And you even see, you have an example of the Apostle Paul I read you one earlier, where obviously God performed miracles as Paul sent anointed handkerchiefs or whatever they were to others. But you also find that Paul seems to have been afflicted with a ailment of some kind that God just didn't take away. He said it's okay. Here in 2 Corinthians 12, and I will just briefly read this to you, it's an important reminder that we always want the will of God in our lives.

Now Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 talks about having visions and revelations that he wouldn't even write about. He had been given by God some incredible perspective. He understood something that others might not, and certainly others would not believe, about the throne of God, about the visions and revelations that he says he was given. But he also says, starting in verse 7, even considering the exceptional character of these revelations, therefore to keep me from being too elated. To keep my head from getting too big is what he was saying.

A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, and to keep me from being too elated. Now he describes it in that way, and of course there's lots of speculation about what was this, and I don't have any idea. It appears to be some kind of a physical ailment, and perhaps his vision, because it seems that he was having a hard time seeing at times. And I don't really know that, and it really doesn't matter, because what he says three times, verse 8, I appeal to the Lord about this, that you would take it away. And he said in verse 9, my grace is sufficient for you, for power, my power is made perfect in weakness. So Paul says I will boast of the more gladly of my weakness as the power of Christ, so that the power of Christ can dwell in me. Therefore I'm content with my weakness for the sake of Christ, for whenever I'm weak, then I am strong.

See, he was describing God being asked to take something away, and God chose not to do it. God said, no, you're okay. You know, as you realize your limitations, as you understand, you are physical, as you understand, you need me, you need me very much. He says that's really good for you. And that, of course, is also good for us as we think about how it is, you know, that we seek God's help, we seek His healing, we seek a closer relationship with Him, and we seek the benefits that God provides. You know, there are many other verses you could read about healing, and yet I think it is good for us to think about them, to think about what God says, to think about how He has created us. You know, we're in this physical existence in this temporary life in order to grow in a divine nature, in order to grow in a relationship with God, that is not static, it's not already grown up, it needs to expand. And so He allows us, even at times when we're seeking help, and we pray for one another, you know, that we are learning to have a closer walk with God, even through the things that He allows us to endure.

So we want to recognize healing as truly a benefit that God extends, not one that we can demand, but one that we can clearly request and know, you know, that God will cause His will to be done in our lives.