In Health As Your Soul Prospers

IN HEALTH AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS

3 Jn. 2

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: OUTBOASTING TEXAS

1. A Texan was visiting Niagara Falls. The New York tour guide said, “I know you have a lot of big things in Texas, but I bet you haven’t got anything like that in Texas!” pointing to the Falls.

2. The Texan scratched his head and said, “No, but we have a plumber in Texas who could stop that leak!”

B. TEXT

3 John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.”

C. THESIS

1. Soul prospering is the key to health and all other forms of prospering.

2. I want to bring out 3 points in this message: 1. It’s God’s will for all to be healed; 2. Healing is hindered by sin; and 3. John’s Revelation about healing.

3. Title, “In Health As Your Soul Prospers.”

I. IT’S GOD’S WILL FOR ALL TO BE HEALED

A. GOD’S ORIGINAL INTENT: EDEN

1. The Garden of EDEN is the PATTERN of what God’s perfect will for humans is (Mt. 19:4-8;“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female….Moses permitted you to divorce…But it was not this way from the beginning”).

2. In the Garden, before their fall into sin, there was no sin, no sickness, no death, no crime, no doctors, and no taxes. They were perfectly healthy. This is God’s best will for us. It wasn’t until Adam and Eve sinned that sickness gained entrance. Sickness is an invader into God’s perfect world, through sin.

3. Sickness was not God’s will, nor did sickness originate with God; it originated with sin. So if God’s perfect will were to be restored, there would be no sickness.

B. GOD’S COVENANT OF HEALING WITH ISRAEL

1. Under Moses, God set up the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, as a way to temporarily put away the sins of the people until His permanent sacrifice in Christ was come.

2. That’s why God could dwell among them (Fire & Pillar of cloud) and they could approach God without dying, because their sins were actually removed from God’s sight.

3. When their sins were removed, then sickness, as one of those consequences, was removed from them. God said, “Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span” Ex. 23:25-26. Blessing rested on them.

4. When God brought them out of Egypt under the protection of the blood of the Passover Lamb, the Bible says, “…there was not one feeble person among their tribes” Ps. 105:37. All were made well and strong.

C. JESUS ATONED FOR ALL SICKNESS

1. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us” Gal. 3:13. Jesus not only atoned for our sins but for our sicknesses as well.

2. When Jesus healing sick bodies, Matthew said, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (8:17).

3. Matthew was quoting Isaiah 53:4, which speaks of the Messiah’s atonement, including for sickness.

4. Jesus "bore our sins" 1 Pet. 2:24 and He also "bore our sicknesses" Matt. 8:17. Jesus was “made sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21) but He was also "made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13), atoning for our sicknesses. Jesus’ blood was shed for our sins but His body was beaten for our sicknesses, "by whose stripes you were healed.” He forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases (Ps. 103:3). Jesus redeems and saves the "whole" man.

II. HEALING IS HINDERED BY…

Even though God wants us to be healed, and Christ atoned for our healing, we often do not receive healing. Why? Principally, because the conditions are not right for healing. When the conditions get right, it will rain. Similarly, when God’s conditions are met, healing can freely be experienced. What conditions for Healing?

A. FREE WILL: DO WE WANT IT?

First is involved the idea of free will - do we want it? The Lord Jesus asked the lame man if he wanted to be healed (John 5:6). The first step to receiving is to determine we want it.

B. DO WE HAVE FAITH?

1. The second step has to do with faith. Jesus asked two blind men if they believed He could heal them (Matt. 9:28). Jesus told many people that their faith had saved/healed them (Mk. 9:23; Mt. 9:22).

2. Do we have faith that Jesus will do it? Do we believe that God is a healing God and that He is still working miracles — including healing — today? Jesus Christ, the same; yesterday, today, and forever! Faith is an essential to receiving anything from God (Heb. 11:6).