It can be difficult for us to believe the Bible’s promises regarding physical healing. Maybe we’ve been disappointed in the past or misunderstood biblical teaching on the subject. Or perhaps we simply don’t believe God will perform miracles today as He did in biblical times. Dr. Stanley teaches that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just as physical healing played a significant role in Jesus’ earthly ministry, it is still important to Him today. Dr. Stanley uses personal examples of modern-day miracles and points to numerous biblical passages that emphasize God’s willingness to supply physical restoration.
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male announcer: “In Touch”
with Dr. Charles Stanley,
celebrating 45 years
of God’s faithfulness
in sharing the gospel worldwide.
Next on “In Touch,”
“The Promise to Heal.”
Dr. Charles Stanley:
There are many promises
God has given us in His Word.
We love them because
they are for our benefit.
And so when you think
about all these promises,
I could ask you, Do
you have a favorite one?
More than likely,
you would say, I do.
But there’s one promise that is
the most difficult of all–
the one we have the most problem
with–and that is any promise
that has to do with healing.
Probably because we’ve had
disappointments or maybe because
deep down inside of us we
don’t really believe it.
Or maybe we’re just ignorant
of what the Bible
teaches about healing.
We’ve seen exaggerations.
We’ve heard about them.
We’ve seen people who have
claimed to be healed and then
the next thing you know
they’re right back
where they were before.
So lots and lots of
questions about it.
But isn’t it interesting that
being a believer and believing
that God is a healing God, that
when we get sick or something
happens to us the first
thing we do is we want
to call the doctor.
The truth is there’s
only one physician,
and that’s the Great
Physician who is God.
And I think it’s very
interesting that they say about
all these other doctors,
they’re practicing medicine.
God doesn’t practice–He
knows everything perfectly
about you and me.
And isn’t it interesting,
knowing that He’s who He is,
that we first of all
run to the doctor first?
And then when we get desperate,
then we go to prayer.
Don’t you think it ought
to be the other way around?
That we go to Him first, and
then if not–watch this–not if
He can’t heal us, but if He
delays it for some reason,
or He sends you to the doctor;
then that’s another whole story.
Not opposed to
doctors we need them.
God calls them.
And it’s interesting
that the Apostle Paul,
as godly as he was, and
the faith that he had,
one of his choice
companions was Doctor Luke;
and was with him
in prison at times.
So, where’s this
healing issue with us?
That is, if we really and truly
believe that Jesus Christ is who
He says He is; that
God is the Great Healer;
why don’t we go to Him first?
But God is still in the healing
business and He’s still in
the miracle working business.
And He does it according to His
will and in His perfect timing.
Now in this message,
I want us to see what
the Bible says about healing.
So let’s begin and I want
you to turn if you will
to the book of Genesis.
And in the book of Genesis,
we find the first mention
of healing which is with
Abraham and Abimelech
in chapter twenty of Genesis.
Turn there for just a moment.
In the seventeenth verse
of the twentieth chapter.
Look there for just a moment.
The scripture says,
“Abraham prayed to God,
and God healed Abimelech
and his wife and his maids,
so that they bore children.
For the Lord had closed fast all
the wombs of the household of
Abimelech because of
Sarah, Abraham’s wife.”
And you remember that
little incident where he said,
“Well no, she’s my sister.”
The truth is she
is his half-sister.
And so the Bible says
that God healed him.
If you look in the twenty-third
chapter of Exodus for a moment,
and I want you to look there
to look at verse twenty-five,
if you will, and, notice
what’s happening here.
And God is again in
the business of healing.
And, if you’ll notice, in this,
in this twenty-fifth verse,
here’s what he says.
He says, “But you shall
serve the Lord your God,
and He will bless your
bread and your water;
and I will remove
sickness from your midst.”
They’d been going through a
difficult time because of their
sin and God says, ”
I will remove sickness
from your midst.”
He was in the
process of healing them.
And remember in
the Old Testament,
usually they always
recognized sickness,
but they recognize it as
a result primarily of sin.
So you’ll see that, that
relationship all through
the Old Testament, that
their idea of sin,
part of the problem was that
there was sickness that usually
went along with it.
Then if you look in the hundred
and seventh Psalm for a moment,
and if you’ll notice,
what he says there.
And, in the
twentieth verse, he says,
“He sent His word
and healed them,
and delivered them
from their destructions.”
Now what does he mean by that?
Simply this–that when
God wanted to heal them,
He sent His Word of Truth
to remind them of who He
was–Jehovah God–and the
process of believing Him,
God began to heal them.
He didn’t just send out
some word and they got healed.
It was the result of believing
His Word that brought
about healing.
Then in the
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah,
I want you to look at the
passage that’s oftentimes
very controversial.
Fifty-third chapter–and this is
the chapter that describes
the Messiah.
And so the scriptures says,
describing Him in verse four,
“Surely our griefs
He Himself bore,
and our sorrows He carried;
yet we ourselves esteemed Him
stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted.
But He was pierced
through for our transgression,
He was crushed
for our iniquities;
the chastening for our
well-being fell upon Him,
and by His scourging.”
Or His stripes, as
some versions are.
“By His stripes we are healed.”
And so the question is, is
there healing in the atonement?
That is, for example, in
the atonement we know that
Jesus died for our sins.
And so we would say
that the crucifixion,
the shedding of Christ’s blood,
atoned for our sins.
And therefore, when we go to,
to Him asking for salvation,
it is a result of what
He did at the cross.
So the question is, then, is
our sickness involved in that?
Remember this:
Every good thing
that comes our way,
comes by the way of the cross;
because that’s the way we have
a relationship with Him.
Otherwise, we are
separated from Him.
Our wellness is in the
atoning death of Jesus Christ.
But everything that’s wrapped
up in the atoning death of
Jesus Christ doesn’t
come in this life.
For example, all the blessings
of heaven–you have to trace
that back to the cross.
That’s how we got
right with Him.
That’s how He filled our
heart–all the promises of God.
Healing is a result of
His work on the cross,
but it does not mean that I’m
going to be healed every time
I come to Him asking because
that’s one of the blessings
of the cross.
There are many of them,
but that one,
for example, does not guarantee
me that I’m going to be healed
every time I ask Him to be
healed and at that very moment.
So if somebody says is
there healing in the atonement?
Yes there is, but not anytime I
want it and the way I want it
necessarily because that’s
not the way He operates.
And so when you go through these
scriptures and you realize that
God was very interested in
the healing process in
the nation of Israel.
He’s still interested today.
Now let’s look for just a moment
the life of Jesus and see what
He said because
it’s very important.
If I ask you, What was the
major part of Jesus’s ministry?
Was it on the Sermon on the
Mount teaching or traveling?
No.
It was healing.
Now that doesn’t mean it’s the
most important thing He did.
The most important thing He did
was to go to the cross–
that’s the most important
thing He did.
A second very important thing He
did was to teach people who He
was and how to live and how
to be saved and so forth.
So, but I want you to
notice what He had to deal with.
So if you’ll begin and let’s
turn to Matthew chapter eight
for a moment and look
beginning in verse,
verse fourteen here–chapter
eight verse fourteen–said now:
“When Jesus came
into Peter’s house,
He saw his mother-in-law
lying sick in bed with a fever.
He touched her hand,
and the fever left her;
and she got up
and waited on Him.”
Now watch this,
the scripture said He just
touched her and the fever left.
And you’ll recall that the
lady who slipped up on His blind
side–everybody was around Him,
pushing and shoving and touching
Him–and Jesus felt
something leave Him,
His divine energy, when she
touched simply the hem
of His garment.
It’d be like touching, touching
the hem or rather the cuff
of a man’s trouser or
the hem on a lady’s dress.
He felt it.
So He was in the business
of healing individuals.
But He was also in
the business of healing,
not only individuals,
but crowds of people.
And if you’ll notice in
this fourteenth chapter and,
thirty-fourth verse here,
what is says about the crowds
and what was going on.
And if you’ll notice
the scripture says,
“When they had crossed over,
they came to the
land of Gennesaret.
And when the men of
that place recognized Him,
they sent word into all that
surrounding district and brought
to Him all who were sick; And
they implored Him that they
might just touch the
fringe of His cloak;
as many as
touched it were cured.”
Over and over and over again you
find Jesus doing the same thing.
That is, wherever He’s
going, He’s got a crowd.
Now the reason it’s
so important is this:
The reason He healed people by
the singles or by multitudes is
because that was God’s
way of authenticating
who He really was.
That He wasn’t just another
preacher going through town.
This was the Son of God.
And in order to drill that into
their minds so that it would be
unmistakably clear that
Jesus Christ was the Messiah
for whom they’d been looking
for all these hundreds of years.
And so He was, He was healing
over and over and over again
in all kind of
situations and circumstances.
And, as we said, His
primary purpose was not healing.
That was a part of it; but the
primary purpose of His healing
was to authenticate
that He was the Messiah,
the Son of God, their Savior.
So when you think
about–you think,
Well how does that
apply to our life?
He’s still in the
healing business.
Because the truth is there are
many people today who are healed
that doctors have no
answer for whatsoever.
And so we should, we should be
expecting God to do the unusual.
We should be anticipating.
What do you teach your
children, for example?
Do you teach your children, Well
Jesus here’s what He used to do.
Is that where you stop?
If you’re teaching
them about Jesus,
do you simply tell
them the stories and say,
This is who He was.
This is what He used to do.
Well, what about now?
And maybe it’s because we’re
not letting Him work in our life
that we don’t encourage our
children to believe very early
in life that Jesus Christ is
who He says He is.
He is who He always has been.
He always will be because He
doesn’t change because one of
His attributes is that He is
immutable–He is God–and that
He does not need to change
because when you have absolute
total perfection and all
power, what is there to change?
All knowledge, all power,
all perfection.
Jesus is still in the business
of healing people.
First of all, their spirit,
their soul and then
their human body.
So let’s look at the
apostles for a moment.
And you remember that Peter and
John are going up to the temple
early to pray and so forth and
they meet this man lying at
the Temple entrance there.
And so, the scripture
says in the third chapter,
“a man who had been lame from
his mother’s womb was being
carried along, whom they used to
set down every day at the gate
of the temple which
is called Beautiful,
in order to beg alms of those
who were entering the temple.”
And so when he
saw them he thought,
Well here’s an opportunity
for me to get a little
something more.
They looked at Peter and he said
he wanted something and Peter
said to him, “I do not
possess silver and gold,
but what I do have I give to
you: In the name of Jesus Christ
the Nazarene–walk!”
I command walk.
Then I love this.
Naturally the guy was probably
shocked–what do you mean
“walk”; I can’t even
stand up, let alone walk.
The Bible says and Peter
seized “him by the right hand,
and he raised him up;
immediately his feet and
his ankles were strengthened.”
And he leaped up and started
dancing around and went in
the temple dancing around.
So Peter realized that at that
moment–watch this–he said
to him, Get up; stand up.
He knew what he was feeling.
All he needed was a little
encouragement, a little help.
And I think sometimes
when I read that passage,
I think about how many
people just need a little help.
Trust God, encourage them.
Encourage them to do
what God wants them to do;
to be what God wants them to be.
And this is what’s happening.
And so, when I think about the
fact that Peter’s reputation
was such they said, He’s coming
and you don’t even have
to touch him.
All you need to do is let his
shadow fall on you and
you’ll be healed.
And so healing was a major,
major issue in those days.
Philip, for example, when
he was called of the Lord,
he began to preach and to teach
and people began to be healed.
God began to work.
And so healing was God’s way
of getting the attention of
the world of that day and
focusing it upon Jesus and upon
the early church, because those
things continued to happen.
Now, it’s interesting
that the Apostle Paul,
you would think the Apostle
Paul would be the healer
of all healers.
In the book of Acts, there is
only one occurrence in which
the Apostle Paul heals anybody.
And you have to turn all
the way to the last chapter
of the book of Acts.
The twenty-eighth chapter.
And till this point,
Paul hasn’t healed anybody,
any evidence of it.
And if you’ll notice in the
twenty-eighth chapter and
the seventh
through the ninth verse.
“Now in the neighborhood of that
place were lands belonging
to the leading man of the
island, named Publius,
who welcomed us and entertained
us courteously three days.
And it happened that the father
of Publius was lying in bed
afflicted with
recurrent fever and dysentery;
and Paul went in to see
him and after he had prayed,
he laid his hands on
him and healed him.”
Watch this–only instance.
Say, Now wait a minute.
If he was following
Jesus, why wasn’t,
surely if, if he
healed this man,
why was he healing
these other people?
Well he gives us the answer in
First Corinthians chapter one.
Look there for a moment.
First Corinthians
chapter one and,
as Paul writes these and
explains to them what’s going
on, here’s what he said.
He said in verse thirteen,
let’s go to fourteen,
“I thank God that I baptized
none of you except Crispus
and Gaius, so that no one
would say you were baptized
in my name.
Now I did baptize also
the household of Stephanas;
beyond that, I do not know
whether I baptized any other.
For Christ did not
send me to baptize,
but to preach the gospel,
not in cleverness of speech,
so that the cross of Christ
would not be made void.”
So, here’s what
he’s really saying:
God didn’t call him to baptize.
He called him to teach the
truth of the Word of God.
He, neither did He
call him to heal.
Imagine what would have
happened if Paul had
had a healing ministry.
Well, first of all, he probably
would have stayed out of jail.
If he’d have stayed
out of jail, number one;
number two, we probably
wouldn’t have the epistles.
Paul began to teach the truth.
Listen, Paul’s ministry to
the world was–watch this,
Paul explained the
life of Jesus Christ,
the purpose of Jesus Christ,
the plan of Jesus Christ.
We know more about God as a
result and how He works in
the human heart through the
Apostle Paul than anyone else
or everybody else put together.
In other words, his
ex, in other words,
he explained the life of Jesus.
Jesus did many things,
but Paul’s explanation,
his theology; the whole idea
of predestination and the whole
idea of salvation
and sanctification.
The whole idea of the
indwelling Christ and the work
of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, if you
eliminate the epistles,
from the New Testament, we
would be lacking greatly.
And so when I look at the
Apostle Paul and how God worked
in his life.
Listen, the only time
He talks about healing,
if you’ll turn to
First Corinthians again,
and go to the twelfth chapter.
And here’s what you’ll discover
in this twelfth chapter.
The twelfth chapter is Paul’s
explanation about
spiritual gifts.
And He talks about
gifts for example,
ministry gifts of different,
of different sorts–knowledge,
and faith and so forth.
But look if you will
in this ninth verse,
“And to another faith
by the same Spirit,
and to another gifts of
healing by one Spirit.”
Now watch this carefully.
Are you listening?
Say amen.
Watch this.
He speaks of gifts of healing.
No one has the gift of healing.
God gives gifts of healing.
For example, let’s say that you
pray for one of your friends
and God heals them.
Did God give you
the gift of healing?
No, He gave that other person
a gift of healing through you.
Not one of us is adequate within
ourselves to do what God
has called us to do.
We need other people’s prayers.
And that’s why, and I’m going to
come to this next time in James,
that fifth chapter about calling
for the elders of the church and
praying for them and so forth.
We all need
people praying for us.
And if you look at
the Apostle Paul,
he didn’t spend
his time healing.
In fact, he says, for example,
in Second Timothy chapter four,
that, he left one
of his friends.
Listen, here’s what he says,
“Greet Prisca and Aquila,
and the household
of Onesiphorus.
Erastus, listen,
“remained in Corinth,
but Trophimus I
left sick at Miletus.”
If he’d have had a gift
of healing in some sort,
he wouldn’t have left him sick.
And besides that, how
does Paul describe Luke?
He describes “Beloved Luke”.
Luke was a physician and
on one occasion he’s
with him in prison.
Why do you think Luke went
along with the Apostle Paul?
Because he knew the
Apostle Paul had some ailments.
And of course, you remember that
the Apostle Paul talked about
this thorn in his flesh.
And everybody’s brother, and
everybody in the theological
world’s tried to
figure out what that was.
Let’s say it was some
physical thing and God
didn’t heal that either.
Now watch this.
This is the key.
You don’t stop praying because
God doesn’t heal something
when you ask Him to.
You ask Him what
does he have in mind?
Why aren’t you healing me?
What’s the issue here?
And here’s what Paul said.
Paul said many times he went
to the Lord and fasted and
prayed–God didn’t heal him.
He said, Here’s the reason.
Maybe you should turn to this,
because maybe you’re dealing
with something like that.
Look at that passage in
Second Corinthians twelve,
listen to what he says.
Now, I wanted you to read it
because he says he asked
the Lord several times.
Verse seven, “Because of the
surpassing greatness of the
revelations, for this reason,
to keep me from exalting myself,
there was given me a
thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to
torment me–to keep me
from exalting myself!
Concerning this I implored the
Lord three times that it
might leave me.
And He has said to me, ‘My
grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected
in weakness.’
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast about
my weaknesses, so that the
power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am content
with weaknesses,
insults, distresses,
persecutions, difficulties,
for Christ’s sake;
for when I am weak,
then I am strong.”
You and I would not have
the epistles we have
if Paul had been healed
instantly by Jesus.
He says, I’ve learned
to be content in
whatever state I’m in.
And he was in a bad situation,
circumstances,
physical body,
many different ways.
So, when sickness comes
and there’s no healing,
then what we have to ask is,
God, what are You up to?
Doesn’t mean God
doesn’t love us?
No.
Does it mean that
there’s sin in your life?
Not necessarily.
It means that God has something
He want to do–something He
wants to say, something He
wants to change in our life
or whatever it might be.
We have to be open to that.
And so when you look at
the life of the Apostle Paul,
he was God’s choice servant
to explain who God is and
what He is like; and his
whole redemptive plan.
What about justification
and sanctifications?
What about the atonement?
What about reconciliation?
All these big words
that Paul described and,
and there’s the essence of
our whole redemptive plan.
He wasn’t a man who
was healing anybody.
He was a man who was suffering.
And the Great Healer
strengthened him,
enlightened him,
blessed him, lifted him up,
exalted him and made every
single one of us blessed
as a result of it.
So you might ask
the question,
Well, how does that affect me?
Well, first of all,
I’d simply say this.
Next time you have a little
something come along that
bothers you physically,
first response ought to be,
Father, show me how
I’m to respond to this.
He may say to you, I
want you to trust Me.
Or He may say, You, I want
you to go to the doctor.
I would never tell anybody
what to do about going
to the doctor, not going.
Not opposed to doctors; that’s
God called them and many of them
I’m sure.
And so the issue is I
want to be God-conscious.
I want to be conscious that the
Christ who saved me is still
in the business of helping me
walk through this life in
the presence and the
power of the Holy Spirit.
I want my mind to be
oriented toward Him.
And whatever He does is fine,
but we need to get our mind out
of this worldly attitude; we
run to the doctor quickly,
or we just, just help
me–we’re not helpless.
We’re depending upon God.
Jesus is my Savior, my Lord,
my Master, and my Healer.
He hasn’t changed.
It’s an expression of His love.
So ask yourself the question,
Do you trust Him?
Watch this:
You’re willing to trust Him
for something maybe material.
I don’t know of any anything
more material than this…
I know that’s material.
Can I trust Him for that?
Yes, because He’s God.
He’s your heavenly father.
So I pray the Holy Spirit will
speak to your heart and get
your mind on Him.
If you watch the television and
all the ads about this solution
and that solution and this
medicine and that medicine,
this tablet and that capsule.
And after they give you two
reasons why you should take it
and thirteen reasons
why it could kill you.
You know it’s true, don’t you?
Absolutely.
Don’t you think it’s
wiser to go to God first?
And you see we’re getting
we’re being indoctrinated
and don’t even realize it.
Our Heavenly Father
has not changed.
He’s still in the
healing business.
Now if you’re one of those
persons who’s never trusted
Jesus as your Savior, you say,
Well, how do I fit in all that?
You don’t.
You have no right to claim
anything from Almighty God.
He is a holy God.
You only have a right to claim
something from Him when first
of all you accept Jesus Christ,
His only begotten Son,
as your Savior.
His death on the cross
paying your sin debt in full.
Once you’re willing to ask Him
to forgive you of your sins,
surrender your life to Him,
yield your life to Him,
then you have the privilege, the
authority and the right to ask
Him to heal you or
whatever else may be going on.
Watch this, and He will do in
answer to your prayer what
He knows is best for you
and His will in your life.
It’s the wisest decision
you ever make in life.
I pray that you’ll do it.
Father, how grateful we
are that You really
make things simple.
We make them complicated.
We say we love You.
We sometimes we
don’t act like it.
We would tell others
that we trust You,
but yet our faith often wavers.
And so I pray the Holy Spirit
will just begin to open our
minds and hearts to recognize
that our first thoughts
should always be toward You
for whatever that need may be.
And we pray this in
Jesus’s name, amen.
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