Untitled Sermon (2)

What is the Will of God Concerning Healing

You have probably eaten steak and potatoes before, but you’re not going in the strength of a steak and potato that you ate in 1969. If some people ate their physical food like they hear the Word of God, they would have starved to death a long time ago. It would be like taking a tray to the cafeteria, setting things on it, and saying, “Oh, salad–I had that in 1972. Oh, beans—I had them in 1965.”

If you’re not going to eat the same things you’ve eaten before, you’re going to starve. Jesus said, (NASB) 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"

Matthew 4:4 NASB95

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”

Food is essential to life. So is the Word of God. Those who don’t feed on God’s Word cannot be spiritually healthy.

Do you know why you’re supposed to hear the same thing again? It feeds your spirit, and as you grow, you get more out of it than you did the last time. As you grow and develop, you see things you didn’t see in a verse before.

You need to feed your spirit. It feeds you even more than you realize, because there are things on a level that’s above and beyond your conscience.

Genesis one is the beginning of what we know about. The Bible says in “ (NASB) 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:3–4 NASB95

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

(NASB) says 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:10 NASB95

God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.

Verse 18 says that He gave these lights (NASB) 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. that it was good.”

Genesis 1:18 NASB95

and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

Verse 21 says, (NASB) 20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:20–21 NASB95

Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Are you seeing a recurring theme here? God made something, and what? It was good. He made something else, and it was good. Then He made some more things, and they were good.

Verse 25 says, (NASB) 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:25 NASB95

God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

God made man, and then verse 28 says, (NASB) 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

and in verse 31 it says, (NASB) 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31 NASB95

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

If you look up the word translated “very,” it is the word for “mighty.” So, I guess we’re accurate in the southern United States when we say, “That was mighty good.” We’re correct with the original Hebrew language. “Mighty” meaning “powerful good,” which is another way of saying “very.” “Very” is great, but I like “mighty.” It might even be more accurate. “Mighty good.”

God saw everything that He made, and it was mighty good. How about God? God is mighty. He’s powerful good. He is mighty good, and everything He made was good.

When did He make the bad things? When did God create cancer? On the first day? On the third day? When did God create AIDS? On what day? What part of the creation? When did that come into being during His creation? First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth day? On what day did He create arthritis? He didn’t! Sickness and disease are not part of God’s original creation. You can’t look at cancer and say, “Behold, it is very good.” You can’t look at AIDS, abscesses, tumors, growths, and inflammation, and say, “Behold, those tumors are very good.

Behold, those abscesses and growths are mighty good.” No. They are not good. Sickness is not good.

I know this sounds simplistic, but there are still millions of Christians who will tell you, “Well, maybe God had some kind of purpose in it. I know it’s an awful thing, but really, I think maybe it was a blessing in disguise.”

It’s either good or it’s bad, and God did not confuse us. Everything that God made was mighty good—mighty fine and mighty good.

Everything was good, including Adam and Eve. Do you believe Adam was “defect-free”? Eve was “deformity-free”? They had no flaws or deformities. They had no disease in them at all. They were brilliant. They were magnificent, weren’t they? Their bodies were perfect, and their minds were amazing. They talked with God in the afternoon about things He wanted to talk about, and they understood them.

I’m sorry, but I don’t accept the version of them sitting in a cave naked going, “Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.” I don’t believe it. There may be some people who fell to near animalistic states centuries after creation, but no, Adam and Eve were brilliant and perfect. In their brilliant state, if you would have told them, “I have a headache,” they would have looked at you puzzled and said, “A what?”

“A headache. I have a headache, a migraine.”

“A what? What is that?”

“My head hurts. It’s pounding.”

They’d look at you like… “What?” They had nothing with which to reference it. Nothing. They didn’t know what it was like to have an “off” day. “I just feel a little off today. I don’t know… I’m a little bit slow, a little bit weak.”

They wouldn’t even understand what you were talking about, because when God made them, He made them perfect, whole, and strong. If disease pleased the Father, He would have made them

with diseases.

If deformities and sickness was His will, He would have created Adam and Eve with them built right in from the start. Anything that came along later, because of sin, death, and curse, is not an improvement on God’s original creation, and it is not good.

God hates sickness. That’s a big statement, but I want you to think about it now. He hates sin, and death is His enemy. You hear some preachers standing over caskets talking about how God took this one in death and healed them through death because He loved them and wanted them to be with Him more than anyone else. They say that talking about a 20-year-old who died in a car crash.

Death is the enemy of God. says that death is the last enemy that shall be put under foot. It was not a part of His original creation. When God created everything, nothing died. Nothing. Flowers didn’t die. Trees didn’t die. Animals didn’t die, and men and women did not die.

1 Corinthians 15:26–27 NASB95

The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

We need to be reminded of this. Everything that you and I have known since we came into this world is warped. It’s twisted. It’s distorted from the way God made it. Even in its fallen condition, this planet is amazing, but we need to remind ourselves that it’s messed up. The Bible says that it is groaning and travailing. ()

Romans 8:22 NASB95

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Why? It’s dying. The planet is dying just like we are. It’s been cursed. That’s why the plates are shifting, causing volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. This is not the will of God. This is not what God created; it’s been messed up. It’s off. Why? Sin messed it all up.

Oh, but He’s going to fix it. He already has the plan in operation. It’s just a matter of time.

What we need to know right here and now in this life, though, is what is good and what is evil, what is of God and what is not of God. We need to know what we are to receive and bear patiently, and what we are to resist with everything that is in us.

Christians have been lied to because they’ve been told from pulpits that God is teaching them something through sickness. God sent it on them to develop some kind of piety or some kind of spirituality, and they’re supposed to bear it with meekness and patience. It’s a lie. Sickness is evil. I’m going to prove it to you, if you’ll receive scriptures.

If God had wanted man sick, He would have created man that way. On what day did God create sickness and disease? He didn’t. Sickness is not a part of God’s original creation. God created things according to His perfect will, and that’s one reason we know it’s not God’s will for us to be sick.

If God didn’t create sickness and disease, it is not part of His original plan, will, or purpose for us. When everything is fixed, it will be gone again.

So how did sickness get here? Where did it come from? tells us. He said, (NASB) 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Romans 5:11–12 NASB95

And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Romans 5:11–12 NASB95

And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

How did death get in? Was there death in God’s original creation? No. But this is all we’ve ever known: thorns and briars, viciousness of nature, storms, and aging. That’s all we’ve known since we’ve been here. People think this is normal, but it is not normal to God.

When everything is restored, Isaiah said, the lion is going to lie down with the lamb. A little baby is going to play at the snake’s den, and nobody is going to get hurt. () There will be nothing to step on and get hurt. The animals are not going to kill each other anymore.

You ask, “How will that work?” Carnivores will be vegetarians. The Bible says that the lion will eat straw like an ox. All of this violence of animals tearing each other apart was never meant to be. It’s not God’s plan and will, and neither is men killing each other. How did this terrible death get in here? Sin. We should not make light of sin. People sometimes just sin and sin, and you try to talk to them about the seriousness of it and the repercussions of it, and they say, “I’ll just apply (“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”) to it. What’s the big deal?” The big deal is what sin has done to us, and what it took to get sin off of us, the price that had to be paid. Sin is serious.

We should not take sin lightly. We live in a society where the church belittles sin. They don’t even want to use the word anymore. People don’t have sins, they just have problems in today’s society. They have problems that they’re working on, which means “leave me alone, and I’ll change if and when I get good and ready.” It’s a big problem.

Did you know it pays to sin? says, “For the wages of sin is death…” What are wages? Wages are “pay.”

Romans 6:23 NASB95

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You ask, “Did I read that right? It pays to sin?”

You read it right. It pays to sin. What does it mean? “The wages,” the pay, “of sin is death.” It pays to sin, but the pay is death.

You say, “Yes, but I’m in the new covenant, and we’re under grace today, so I can just sin.”

No, you’re going to get paid. You cannot just sin and sin and sin. What people don’t understand is that crying because you got caught is not repenting. What does repentance mean? “Repent” means “to change.” You can cry all night, and if you don’t change the next day, you didn’t repent; nothing has changed. Since you didn’t repent, you’re going to keep getting paid, with death.

This is something I think a lot of people don’t understand. They want the blessings of God, but they want to do what they want to do. Can you just yield to your flesh, have all kinds of affairs, hurt people left and right, steal, and lie, and then live a long time, stay healthy, and prosper in God’s best?

Some say, “God will forgive me.” He will, and He loves you, but it will cost you. Even though God loves you and forgives you, you can still disqualify yourself from His best in your life.

Don’t belittle sin. Sin is serious. Sin is why this world is in a mess, and it irritates me that people blame God. Religious people do it all of the time. “Well, we just don’t know what God is doing with all of these wars and shortages and famines...”

Maybe they’re trying to couch it in nice tones, but they’re saying that God is behind these little children dying from AIDS. They’re saying God has some mystical purpose in whole nations of innocent people being wiped out because they’re a different religion from someone else. They’re saying God has all of this in control, and we don’t know why, but He’s got some purpose in it. No! No! A thousand times NO!

God is a good God. He made everything perfect, and sin messed it up.

Why are all of these terrible things happening today? Because man has a free choice, and man has chosen to sin and disobey. But even in the middle of it, you can choose to believe, submit, and obey, and you can be blessed. In the midst of an ugly, mean world, you can be protected. In the midst of a germ-ridden, disease-filled planet, you can be healed. In the midst of shortage and economic upheaval in the world, you can be prosperous. Yes, you can! You can if you’ll obey, listen, and believe.

Where did sickness come from? God didn’t create it. It’s not part of His plan. Sickness is a part of death. 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

You say, “It doesn’t say ‘sickness.’” Yes, it does. It also says poverty. It also says every kind of harassment and confusion and any form of death. If you get enough poverty in your life, you’re dead.

Enough poverty means you don’t even have enough food and drink to keep your body alive. If you get enough sickness in your body, you’re dead, right? It’s just different degrees of death.

None of it would be here if it hadn’t been for sin, and to say that sickness—which is a product of sin—is the will of God, is tantamount to saying that what caused it is the will of God. You might as well say, “Sin is the will of God.” If there had never been any sin, there would never have been any death, sickness, or poverty.

John Alexander Dowie said this: “Sickness is the foul offspring of its father Satan and its mother sin.” He said that at the turn of the century. “Sickness is the foul offspring…” and it is foul, “of its father Satan and its mother sin.” To say sickness is the will of God is equal to saying sin is the will of God, because sickness is the product of sin. I know that’s a strong statement, but disprove it.

We’re sure it’s God’s will for all of us to be healed today because if there had never been any sin, there wouldn’t have been any sickness or death or any such thing. So the products of sin cannot be the will of God. Now don’t take that and twist it into something that I didn’t say.

Some would say, “Are you saying I’m sick because I’ve sinned?”

Well, you have sinned—that’s a given. The Bible says, “Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.” () Death is on the planet because sin is here, and whether you knowingly violated laws or whether you just ignorantly didn’t resist death, it is here because of sin. You can’t say, “Well, Adam, you and Eve messed this whole thing up for us. You messed it up!” No, you sinned too. Death passed upon all men because all have sinned.

Romans 5:12 NASB95

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

But glory to God, there’s been a cure for sin, and if there’s been a cure for sin, then why can’t you be healed? If sickness is the result of sin, and sin has been taken care of, then why couldn’t a man be healed? Well, you can. You’ve got just as much right to be healed as you do to be forgiven; it’s based on the same work of Jesus.

Remember in when he said, (NASB) 14 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; 15 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.

James 5:14–15 NASB95

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.

Forgiven and healed, in the same prayer.

Jesus looked at the person and said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk,” after He said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Why? He asked, “Which one is easier to say?” They’re the same, because the fix for sin is the fix for everything that came as a result of sin. Glory to God.