02 - The Grace of Healing (Your Healer)

Intro: Exodus 15:22-26 tells how Yahweh revealed himself as his people’s healer and restorer. He did it by bringing Israel through a tough time. They went three days searching for water and found none. This week our family lost hot water for a few days, which was difficult––though I started to enjoy cold showers. But having no water is the ultimate challenge. After three days, Israel found water, but it wasn’t good water––they couldn’t drink it. The people complained and Moses cried out to God. The solution was discovered when God showed Moses a tree, and when he threw that tree in the water, the water was restored and became drinkable. Today, we will continue to focus on how Yahweh is our restorer and healer. And I want to show you what the Lord has taught me through my own health battles with Crohn’s disease. So for me, this is not theory. I need to feed on the Father’s grace of healing every day.

1) Healing flows from God’s grace, not our works (Matt. 8:16-17; Isa. 53:4a).

There’s a classic Biblical verse that says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9, NASB).

Since healing is a part of God’s saving work, we can also say, “For by grace you are healed through faith. It’s not of yourselves – it’s a gift of God. It’s not the product of your works so that you don’t boast about it” (my paraphrase).

When we look at Jesus’ ministry of healing, we see that it is all based on grace.

Jesus is not going up to people and saying, “Are you worthy to receive this healing? Are you living a sinless life? What work have you done to deserve it?”

Actually, when Jesus heals someone, only a small amount of words are exchanged. And there’s no evidence that the people healed are less sinful than others or have worked hard to prove themselves as good.

Instead, Jesus embodies grace. Jesus was––and still is––God’s living embodiment of grace. He walked around helping people in need––and he didn’t ask for a resume of good works before acting.

Let’s see this in Matthew 8:1-17.

In the story of the Leper, we see Jesus is willing to heal.

In the story of the Centurion, we see that Jesus’ healing is based on his authority and word––Jesus doesn’t even need to be physically present.

In the story of Peter’s mother-in-law, we hear no words exchanged. Rather, Jesus touches her, and she’s restored and starts serving.

In the story of Saturday evening, Jesus heals ‘all who were ill.’

Matthew reveals that this is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4: “He himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”

In all these stories, God is keeping his Word. Jesus himself is healing––he is our restorer.

It’s not based on us, but on him.

In all these stories of healing, Jesus is responding to people’s faith in him.

It’s their trust that he can do it.

And that trust is expressed in hunger, prayer and drawing near.

But in saying that they trusted Jesus, we have to be very careful.

Their trust was not self-focused––it wasn’t a self-absorbed spirituality.

Their trust shifted their focus off themselves and their work and on to Jesus and his work.

In other words, they weren’t earning their healing through their faith.

Instead, the healer––Jesus––was present, and they were receiving the gift of his healing by faith.

2) Healing springs from the grace of the cross (Exo. 15:22-27; Isa. 53:4-7)

Let’s read Exodus 15:22-25 and discover the water God healed (restored) the waters, making the bitter waters sweet.

Yahweh showed Moses a tree.

When Moses threw the tree in the water, the tree made the bitter waters sweet. Or we can say it purified the polluted waters.

Jesus and his cross is the tree.

And when you receive the work of the cross into your bitter waters, they become sweet.

All of our healing––body, soul and spirit––is based on Christ’s work on the cross.

Listen to Isaiah 53:4-7 (Inspiration Translation). It prophesies the vicarious, intercessory and substitutionary work of the cross.

Yes, the burden of

Our sicknesses,

He lifted up;

The weight of

Our soul’s sorrows,

He carried away.

We even arranged

To afflict him,

We devised

For God to strike him dead

Like a wretch.

Yet, he was struck down

For our crimes,

Crushed like powder

For our sins.

The discipline for our shalom —

Our genuine peace and wholeness —

Fell on him.

It’s by his wounds we are

Healed, restored and made whole.

All of us

Like a flock

Wandered away,

Each turned from

His way —

Yet, Yahweh moved him to

Intercede for the sins

Of us all.

The health movement (which is very popular today) focuses on yourself.

You have to do all these things to be healthy and healed.

There are lots of hoops you have to jump through and advice you need to take.

People condemn you if you’re not eating the right foods and practicing the latest exercise and diet trends. If they don’t say anything, you sense that they look down on you.

This whole self-focus and self-work seep into our beliefs about spiritual healing.

The health movement may say many good things about health, but it can also say many contradictory things.

However, the world’s views about health are often fundamentally flawed because they are based on self-absorption. In other words, ‘me, myself and I’.

The cross teaches us that healing is not our work but Jesus’ work.

Jesus lifted up and carried away our sicknesses and sorrows.

Even though we crucified him, he was crushed like powder for our sins.

It’s by his wounds we are healed, restored and made whole.

On the cross, Jesus’ interceded for our forgiveness and restoration.

3) Healing happens through the grace of God’s Word (Exo. 15:26).

We need a fundament shift about how we think about God’s Word.

When it comes to Scripture, we often think about how we need to work hard to please God.

But what pleases God is his work.

What the Father wants from us is to receive his Word by grace.

God’s word is living and active––its words bring health and healing.

God’s Word is his grace.

God’s living voice is creative and restores us.

“A honeycomb overflowing are kind, gracious and pleasant words––they’re sweet to the soul and heal the body, even strengthening the bones” (Prov. 16:24, Inspiration Translation).

In the New Covenant, our healing is based on Jesus’ obedience. He kept the ‘If’ of Exodus 15:26 so that we can all receive the ‘Then’ of Yahweh’s healing.

This doesn’t mean that our obedience is not important. Instead, it means that we obey in Christ’s grace, not to earn Christ’s grace.

Conclusion: Let’s sum up this message. First, healing flows from God’s grace, not our works. Second, and at the heart of everything, healing springs from the work of the cross. Last, healing happens through the grace of God’s Word, which is living, active and creative.

ENDNOTES

The promise of Yahweh’s healing doesn’t mean you won’t get attacked by sickness. Instead, Yahweh’s healing means sickness will not master you (Exo. 15:26).

What are some of the bad thoughts that Christians have about healing?

Some think, “If God is my healer, I can never get sick.”

This thinking is one of the significant errors in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles.

People think, “If a believer gets sick, it's because of their lack of faith or personal sin.”

And if they don’t fully embrace these thoughts, they tend to look down on the sick––as if sickness disqualifies you from ministry.

So why do we get sick?

We get sick because we live in a fallen world.

It’s a world that has been corrupted by Adam and Eve’s sin.

None of our DNA is perfect––it’s flawed.

Perfection will not come until Christ returns and we receive our resurrected bodies.

In the meantime, while you are in this fallen age, you need to rely daily on Yahweh Rophekha, the Lord, your Healer.

Sickness and lack are always opportunities for God to be glorified (John 9:1-5).

Our goal should not be searching for sin but seeking him.

I think most Christians make the mistake that once they’ve been healed, they never need to be healed again.

It’s a ‘been there, done that’ mentality. “I’ve checked that off my list. I don’t need to rely on God as my healer anymore.”

Or, “If I get sick, it means that he must’ve not healed me in the first place.”

The other trap we can fall into is thinking that if Jesus doesn’t instantly heal us, he is not healing us at all.

No, the right attitude to have is that we have to abide in the vine of Jesus' healing and restoration.

In this life, we will have battles with sickness. But we continually fight and also rest in his restoration.

Healing is like the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem. It happens one stone at a time.

In other words, throughout this journey on earth, you will continually need Yahweh to be your healer.

And that’s what Yahweh was teaching Israel as they embarked on their wilderness journey.

Yahweh didn’t say they wouldn’t get sick. Instead, he said he would not set (fix) sickness on them. It wouldn’t be a part of their essential nature if they lived in a covenant relationship with him.

One of the last errors we must stay clear from is “If God is my healer, I don’t need medicine or doctors.”

See Sirach 38.

Jesus is our living water, yet we still drink water. Jesus is our bread of life, yet we still eat bread. Jesus is our rest yet we still sleep. Jesus is our healer, yet he may choose to use his creation to restore us.

The Lord’s way to healing and restoration is his living Word (Exo. 15:26).

Notice how God begins this verse on healing by saying, “If you actively listen” (‘If to listen, you listen’).

Why?

Because it was through his Word that God created everything in the first place.

All created things came from his Word and he still upholds them by his Word (Gen. 1; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:3).

And since God’s word created everything, he will also use natural means to heal us. Because many of the natural things he created, he made for our healing––like water, plants and trees.

Living by his Word is living in a covenant relationship with God.

In his, Word is life and restoration.

That’s why our church will always put the Word and worship first.

Ten lepers were made clean, but only one returned to give thanks. So who was the one truly healed? (Luke 17:11-19)

God’s will is that we depend on his Word as our life source every day.

This truth brings us back to Psalm 29: The Power of Yahweh’s Voice.

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