The Power of God to Heal
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Ever since I was a little boy I have had a deep affinity for superheroes. The very concept of individuals with super powers was huge for a young boy. I think that was the beginning of me love for strength and power.
In the physical world, we can see power at work in everything. Newton’s Laws of Motion are all about power, applied power, forces acting against each other. Formulas that are fun to work with… like the formula for power; P (power) = F (force) x v (velocity/speed). Or to put it another way; P equals W over t. Power equals elapsed time divided by work done.
Physics is a wonderful field of study. It brings to the physical realm many of the things that we thought were imaginary. For instance, harnessing power from the sun, water, wind… traveling to the moon, mars, and sending spacecraft out of the Milky Way… great minds wrestling in the fields of quantum physics, plasma physics, molecular mechanics, and many other areas of study filled with wonder and asking questions like “what if?”
Have you ever seen the power of a wave? Or a rockslide? Or a hurricane? Have you ever known the power of a big block engine as you stepped onto the gas and felt your car propel forward at frightening speeds? Have you ever felt the power of a large fish at the end of a line, pulling from the depths? Have you ever felt the power of love… when you hold that baby for the first time?
Power… its a fascinating thing isn’t it?
But… I wonder… do you know of the greatest power?
The Power of God Is Over All the World
The Power of God Is Over All the World
Much more powerful than any superhero, more than any supercar, more than any creation by man… the power of God is the supreme and ultimate starting and ending point of power. Do you know of it? Do you live by it? Have you felt this power within your life?
In today’s scripture we are going to take a look at this power. It is on full display. This scripture carries with it both the supremacy of Christ on this earth and the power of God that overcomes anything in this world. Let’s look together and give praise… Read Luke 6:17-19
This section marks the place where Luke begins to record the teachings of Jesus. Many find this to be a parallel of Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. While this could be, there are a lot of similarities, but there are also some differences. Perhaps it is just Luke getting to the point… or Luke could be giving an account of a different sermon. Whichever, the point of these verses are clear.
The Power of God is sufficient for everything in our lives. It is over all of the world. In its entirety.
I am going to work backwards today. I’m going to start in verse 19 rather than 17. Let’s look at it again. Luke 6:19
And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
Two major things to understand about this verse is found within the context of that word power. In the New Testament alone, there are several different variations of the word power. In this particular instance it is the word ‘dynamis’. It means power, but more specifically it means having the possession of controlling power and often understood as a manifestation of power over reality in a supernatural manner.
Before us today is a picture of Jesus, teaching before a great crowd. The Scripture tells us that there was a great crowd of his disciples as well as a great multitude of people from the region. For these people… that was the world. For us… it is the reality of the availability of the power of God.
That’s the first thing to understand today… the availability. The desire that God has for you to know His power. Not in just small portions, but in its entirety. Through Jesus.
The truth that Jesus is both God and Man is evident here today. We see Jesus on a level place… this could be the steppes carved and cultivated into the hills around the Sea of Galilee… but, we see Jesus performing wonders, healings, removing unclean spirits, and the very power of God drawing multitudes to Him. See, this is the man Jesus… a Second Adam… not brought into this world as an adult, but conceived by the Holy Spirit and born as a helpless child. He bore a nature that was susceptible to suffering and death… God sent His son in the likeness of man. But...
Also a display of power over reality that manifest the incarnate God… in His fullness. Colossians 2:9
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Although, in His human likeness, Jesus did not fully comprehend the entirety of this fullness. We know that from Jesus himself, He only did what He heard from the Father. But.. the point for now is that in this picture, we see the availability of the power of God to all. It is in their midst. It is a real, physical, tangible presence. This power is speaking, healing, curing, exorcising, delivering… it is there.
Available. The same is true for you today. The power of God is available. Not withheld. Not hidden. Not under a secret code… available to all.
The second thing to understand it this… the power of God is almighty. Theologians use a bigger word to describe this thought; omnipotent. In our English Bible the word omnipotent is only used once and it refers to God. And there’s a reason for this. Almighty means “having an infinite and absolute plenitude of power.” When you use the words infinite and absolute you can only be talking about one person—God.
There are three major realities of this.
1.) God Has All Power - David speaks of this in Psalm 62:11
Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
God has power and whatever God has is without limit; therefore, God is omnipotent. God is absolute and whatever touches God or whatever God touches is absolute; therefore, God’s power is infinite; God is Almighty.
2.) God is the Source of All Power
There isn’t any power anywhere that doesn’t have God as its source, whether it be the power of the intellect, of the spirit, of the soul, of dynamite, of the storm or of magnetic attraction. Wherever there is any power at all, God is the author of it. And the source of anything has to be greater than that which flows out of it.
3.) God Gives Power, but Still Retains It
What a comforting concept. Looking at verse 19 again we see that power came out from Jesus and healed everyone. But, at the same time, He retained all His power. God delegates power to His creation, but He never relinquishes anything of His essential perfection. God gives power, but He doesn’t give it away. When God gives power to an archangel, He still retains that power. When God the Father gives power to the Son, He keeps that power. When God pours power upon a man, He still keeps that power. God can’t give anything of Himself away. God can’t relinquish any of His power, because if He did, He would be less powerful than He was before. And if He were less powerful than He was before, He would not be perfect, for perfection means that He has all power.
He has now the same amount of power that He had when He made the heaven and the earth and called the stars into being. He will never have any less power than He has now, nor will He ever have any more since He has all the power there is. That is the God we serve!
God contains, perpetuates, and sustains everything in all of creation. Listen to Hebrews 1:3
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
See, the truth is… there isn’t anywhere that you can go where the power of God is not. There isn’t anyone who has ever breathed who was not under this power. There is nothing in all of creation that can remove, diminish, or defeat the power of God.
And that power resides in you.
The Apostle Paul struggled mightily in life. He was beaten, scourged, jailed, shipwrecked, bitten by a snake… he also struggled with what 2 Corinthians 12 calls a thorn in his side. We don’t know what that was. But, Paul rightly believed that it was a messenger from Satan. He cried out to God to remove it, only to receive something better. Listen to 2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
He was reminded that the power of Christ… the very power of God rested upon him.
He also writes in Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
The Power to Clean the Unclean
The Power to Clean the Unclean
Its a fascinating thing isn’t it? The power of God given to all, sustaining all, but never diminishing. Even more fascinating that this power works in your life every single day. With every breath you take, every time your heart beats, every neuro impulse sent through your body, every time a cell divides… all evidence of the eternal power of God.
But, that power is also to sustain you through trials. Those things that test our faith, stretch our limits, battle against our hope… those things that grieve our hearts, bring confusion and chaos into our emotions… those things that tempt us in our weakness and lead us according to our sinfulness… those trials… those turbulent seasons… those days of despair, discouragement and devastation… dear child of God, you are not without power in those times.
Verse 18 triumphantly declares this as so. “who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.”
Please hear this truth from God’s Word. Your struggle today is not in vain, but it is also not without the power to overcome. These multitudes who gathered to hear Jesus, to be healed by Jesus… to be made clean again - much like the leper in the previous chapter - they came to the source of power. The source that could make them whole and clean. Listen again to the wording… they “to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.”
God has power over illness, disease and unclean spirits. He has power over your weakness. He has power over your mental anguish. He has power over the diseases and illnesses that ravage the earth. He has power over everything. Therefore… we should cling to Him, and we should listen to Him.
The Word That Releases Power
The Word That Releases Power
Look with me at verse 18 again. Notice the words at the beginning of the verse: “who came to hear him”.
The multitudes were there, on that hillside… to hear Jesus and then be healed.
The actual sermon that Jesus preaches starts in verse 20, but for our understanding today, we see two things are happening almost simultaneously. First, as he sits with the 12, the larger group of disciples, and this large multitude of people… they want to hear his words. They desire to listen to what Jesus tells them. They have a need within their soul that has drawn them to Jesus.
The second is this, as they are drawn near to Jesus, they are healed. Verse 19 is quite explicit in this; “The crowds sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.”
The crowds were seeking Jesus… inwardly, innately, they were drawn to him; they wanted to touch him… much like the woman with a blood disease, deemed unclean, reached out to touch Jesus; power came from him… this is as he spoke, as he taught, as he is the living word of God… his words have power; everyone who was there was healed… the word of God releases power… it is a power that heals our soul.
How powerful is the Preached Word of God?
On October 7, 1857, C. H. Spurgeon preached to his largest audience ever, some 23, 654 assembled in the mammoth Crystal Palace for a national day of fasting and prayer. A few days before the event Spurgeon had gone to the huge hall to test the acoustics. Stepping into the pulpit, he lifted up his voice like a silver trumpet and proclaimed:
"Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Then Spurgeon repeated the one verse again: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Satisfied with the acoustics, he left and went his way.
Unknown to him, there were two men working in the rafters of that large auditorium, neither one Christians. One of the men was pricked in his conscience by the verse Spurgeon quoted and became a believer later that day! Such is the penetrating power of God's eternal word!
Listen to the truth of 1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Matthew 8:17
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
Dear pilgrim… it is the word of God that holds the power to heal your soul and then sustain you through this life. It is the power of the word of God which will provide you strength and carry you through the storms. It is the word of God that is the sword that fights against the fiery darts of Satan. It is the Word of God that plucks you out of the miry pit of sin and places you upon the solid foundation of life. It is the Word of God that protects you, sustains you, guides you, changes you, sanctifies you… it is the Word of God from which the power of God is evident to all the world, but efficacious to those who draw near and obey it.
Power of God With Us
Power of God With Us
Last point I want to make today is found in verse 17. “And he came down with them...”
This is the point in which we should all recognize the love and mercy of God. The fact that God did not keep his power to himself, but moved in a breathtaking way to provide it, through Jesus, should drive us to our knees and worship without ceasing.
God did not leave us alone after the fall. He did not pack up and move to another solar system or create another universe. He did not leave us in our sin. He did not turn his back, but came to us. He dwelt with us. He became like one of us!
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus, sent by the Father, who embodied the fullness of God, came to us.
And by His power has saved us from our sin, healed our soul and restored the right image of God within.
