When Jesus was on earth, when He healed people,
He never imputed their trespasses to them.
He acted as if He was not counting their sins against them.
He treated them as if their sins were not
put to their account. Can we treat people like that?
Or do we qualify people before they are healed?
You never see Jesus saying things like:
“Okay, those of you who have unforgiveness in your heart,”
“all of you gather together. I'm going to pray for you later.”
“But you get right first. Just step aside on this”
“side of the mountain. I'm going to come to you later on.”
“And those of you who are married, but you're”
“not talking to one another, all of you get right first.”
“Stand here on the left, on My left here.”
“You get right first.”
“You better set this right before I pray for you.”
“Or else, the power of God cannot flow. And also,”
“those of you who have bad thoughts, unclean thoughts”
“and lustful thoughts, My power cannot touch you”
“unless you really get right. Make sure you get“
“right in those areas. And then I'll touch you.”
NEVER!
The Bible says:
“As many as touched Him were made whole.”
I'm sure that as many that touched Him are
sinners that have sin in their lives.
And friend, why don't we let people receive their healing?
And then the goodness of God will lead them to repentance.
The Bible says in Acts:
“repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Again, the apostle Paul says it is repentance towards God.
What does that mean?
It means: “I used to think that God was against me.”
“God was mad at me. God was not for me.”
“But now, I know the God who gave His Son to”
“die for my sins. God is for me.”
Now, that is repentance towards God! And that is what Paul preached.
“Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So that's the gospel, friend. And when you say “repent”,
it's not possible for everyone to repent of every sin
because there are more sins than they realize. But
they repent of their unbelief. They repent of the way
they think towards God as not being for them.
And now they think of God with good thoughts, instead
of with hard thoughts. And they believe that God
gave His Son. They repent and then believe.
And our life becomes a series of changing our minds
because we are learning more and more about the
ways of the kingdom of God. Praise God!
And friend, God wants you well. God wants you well.
And healing is like a dinner bell for sinners to come in,
to hear the true gospel. But even then, for God's people,
John says: “Beloved, I wish above all things.”
And John will not wish something that is not in God's heart.
And John said to Gaius in 3 John 1:2
“I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health”
“even as your soul prospers.”
Look at Luke 13 right now.
“Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues”
“on the Sabbath,” and notice it was on the Sabbath.
“And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity”
“for eighteen years.”
This woman had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years.
“She was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.”
This reminds me of people who cannot raise themselves up
because they are under depression, under the weight and load of
condemnation and they cannot seem to lift themselves up.
They try to think positive and they cannot think positive.
They try to psych themselves out of it but they cannot
because it is spiritual. It is a spirit of infirmity and
they could not in any way raise themselves up.
Notice how long she has been suffering from this.
Eighteen years.
There's no insignificant details in the Bible
and even numbers mean something in the Bible.
1 always represents unity. 2 is agreement.
3 is resurrection.
4 is the number of the earth, the four winds— North, South, East, West.
5 is the number of grace.
6 is the number of man.
7 is the number of completion. A number of perfection as well.
And numbers mean something.
When numbers have double digits, it also means something.
And when you look at the number 18,
it's actually 6 plus 6 plus 6— the number of the antichrist.
You know that her being bowed down is not God's will.
Her being bowed down and could in no way raise herself up
is not something that
God wants for her. It is a spirit of the devil
that's involved in this. So one thing we learn
from this passage is very clear. It's a spirit of infirmity.
So stop saying that when someone has a disease or a condition,
it means that God is teaching that person something.
Stop that! It's easy to say that to others
until you or your loved one becomes a victim of that.
Friend, no. Let's believe God.
And notice the Bible says this woman was bowed down
with “a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years.”
“And could in no way raise herself up.”
So she could only identify people by their toes.
“But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him”
“and said to her:"
“Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”
“And He laid His hands on her and immediately she was”
“made straight and glorified God.”
“But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation”
“because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath.”
“And he said to the crowd: there are six days on which”
“men ought to work.”
“Therefore come and be healed on them and not on the Sabbath day."
Notice he did not dare to talk to Jesus straight. He said to the crowd.
He says that “men ought to work.” Notice his mentality was?
“Men ought to work.” Notice where his “ought” is at.
His “ought” is on working. Men ought to work.
Look at where Jesus’ “ought” is. The Lord then answered him
and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath”
“loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?”
Keep that in mind. “Ox or donkey.”
These two animals. Keep that in mind.
“So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham,”
“whom Satan has bound— think of it—for eighteen years,”
“be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
So Jesus’ “ought” is this.
“Ought not this woman that Satan has bound”
“be loosed!”
The mentality of the ruler of the synagogue—
because he had a law mentality is—“men ought to work.”
Jesus’ “ought” is that woman ought to be loosed!
When the Lord looks at you, He says:
“You ought to be loosed!” “You ought to be freed!”
“You ought to be liberated!” “You ought to be healed!”
“How can you be a son of Abraham,”
“a daughter of Abraham and remain in this bondage?”
He says: “Woman, you are loosed!”
“Man, you are freed from your infirmity!”
Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.
That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not religion.
This is reality. This is a relationship
with the God of heaven. It's not man trying to reach
God with his good works. Man trying to reach God
with his own efforts. No, it's God reaching out
to man and God initiating. And friend, this is the gospel.
For Paul says in Romans 1:17—
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”
The fact that he says “I am not ashamed” means
there was a reason and cause
that people were trying to give him to be ashamed.
And usually it is the people that believe in keeping the law.
But Paul says: “I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is”
“the power of God to salvation.” “It is the power of God
to salvation.” And the word “salvation” here—
please don't think of “salvation” as just being saved from hell.
It is more than that! The word “soteria” here,
by the way, is the Greek form of “Yeshua”.
The word “salvation” is an all-encompassing word.
The noun is “soteria”. The verb is “sozo”.
“Sozo” is used in many places. When Jesus healed someone,
He will say: “Your faith has ‘sozo’-ed you.”
You will find the word “sozo” there. In other words, healing is “sozo”.
So the word “soteria” includes health, healing, your welfare,
your preservation, your protection. Your family well-being and
your own well-being It is all in that word “sozo”.
It is complete salvation. And then in the life
to come—eternal life. Which means it's not
just not going to hell, solely. A lot of people think of salvation.
as just escaping hell. No, friend.
Salvation is to bring heaven into your life!
It is to bring the Holy Spirit, who dwells in heaven,
into you, to dwell in you. So now you are the walking,
mobile, living, breathing kingdom of God,
walking on this earth. You are a temple of God
in whom the Holy Spirit dwells.
God is not just interested in bringing you to heaven.
He wants to bring heaven into you. And we will be in heaven one day.
But there's no hurry. There's work to be done here
and God wants His temple, His mobile temple to be
moving around, becoming a blessing everywhere they go.
Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.