September 25, 2016
Morning Worship
Text: Isaiah 53:1-12
Subject: Healing
Title: Who Has Believed Our Report
One of the things that we claim to believe as a Bible Believing church is that God still heals today. It’s not something that Jesus did and then the early apostles just to jump start a fledgling church. You know, that’s what some believe – that the gifts of the Spirit and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and power and authority and casting out demons – those things are not needed today; they were only for the early church. Oh but listen to me, if those things were ever needed today is the day, now is the time. For the enemy of the church is rising up in the world – his domain – like never before and is trying to bring the church to its knees so that it becomes a paralyzed entity that has no effect on the society around it. But we are not that church. We are the church of the Living God, established in power through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and through His ascension and subsequent sending of the Holy Spirit. We are that church!
And healing is part of that church!
Now since we believe that, then why do we to see more people healed? Well that’s where we are going to be headed in the next few weeks. We just want to refresh you in your thinking so that your faith is increased.
Before we get started hold your bibles up with me…
I believe this is God’s word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I will appropriate it to my life today…
Isaiah 53:1-12 (NKJV)
1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Now we have to be careful when we read the word, because we have become so familiar with it that we tend to skip by some verse in order to get to others. Our natural tendency would be to jump down to verse 5, by His stripes we are healed.
But if we do that we miss out on some important information. There are at least a couple of places in the New Testament where this verse is mentioned and we need to turn there. Keep your finger in Isaiah and then turn to John 12 and Romans 10.
Have I ever preached on healing before? Yes I have. And there have been times when people have gotten excited about it and healing was all over the place and there have been other times when it just seemed like the words were hitting a brick wall and nothing was happening. So what was the difference? Is it the same word or not? Sometimes the difference comes in the hearing.
John 12:37-38 (NKJV)
37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him,
38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"
John uses this reference to Isaiah in context with miracles that Jesus had done.
John 12:39-40 (NKJV)
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them."
41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
Now John, writing under the anointing of the Holy Spirit says that Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, said these things about Jesus hundreds of years before they happened and John specifically mentions miracles and healings.
Now in Romans chapter 10…
Romans 10:13-15 (NKJV)
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
Stop there! Not every preacher or evangelist or missionary is sent… oh they may have gone with the permission of church leadership or a board but don’t you know that it is not people who send….
Acts 13:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
If the Holy Spirit is not in the mix I don’t care how much education you have, or how eloquent of speech you might be, you can stand up and speak words but you can’t preach or teach…
15 …As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"
All this is in connection with Isaiah’s prophecy from Chapter 53… 1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Do you understand that you can read a passage or think about a doctrinal truth over and over again and still not believe the report? The word believe in Isaiah 53 means to build up or support… Who is building up our report or supporting what we say? In Romans the Greek word means to have faith in… Paul sees the two words as the same and the answer is the same…
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Hearing includes the intent of understanding… Did you know that there is such a close connection between Romans 10:17 and Isaiah 53?
Isaiah is asking questions here.
1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
When the Old Testament talks about the “arm of the Lord” it is referring to the manifest power of God. The bible talks about the hand of the Lord coming upon various people or the finger of God… Luke 11:20 (NKJV)
20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. And you get a picture of Jesus speaking to demons and the Holy Spirit pointing His finger and demons tucking their tails between their legs and running… And yet in so many peoples mind there is this tremendous struggle between the power of God at work within you and these demonic spirits… and it just shouldn’t be so. There is only struggle when we allow doubt to rise up in our minds and we refuse to believe his report…
Now look at the progressive nature of God’s power that is mentioned here…
1. Jesus only needed the finger of God to cast out demons…
2. The prophets and the judges who worked in God’s power needed only the hand of God upon them…
3. But to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? In the form of a question God shows us the extreme power that is referred to by the arm of the Lord… Ephesians 1:17-23 (NIV2011)
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
It did not take the same amount of power to cast out a demon as it did to raise Jesus from the dead.
It did not take the same amount of power to raise Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter or the son of the widow of Nain as to raise Jesus from the dead…
To raise Jesus from the dead God’s arm was revealed –because in order for Jesus to be raised from the dead He had to be raised incorruptible, without the sin that was upon us all so that we too could be raised with Him incorruptible and at the same time He was seated with the Father in the heavenly realms we were seated there with Him as well… it took the arm of God!
to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NKJV)
9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
Deuteronomy 29:29 (NKJV)
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
The arm of God is revealed to those who believe the good report…
I want to close this first in this series with this…
Why do I keep preaching about healing? Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God…
But you know this healing thing has to go beyond being able to quote scriptures and claiming God’s promises. We need to be able to do that and stand I agreement with God’s word, but in itself it’s not enough.
So let’s begin to close by asking this question:
When the word of the Lord was revealed to you for salvation and you accepted God’s grace, was there a change in you. Yes, I know the word says that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation – but was there a change in the way you acted, in the way you saw things, in the way you felt? I can’t answer for you but I know that when I received that word of salvation, I knew without a doubt that something had changed. I believed the good report!
It was the same way with the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I knew there was a change in me that went beyond speaking in other tongues
So what would believing God’s good report for healing look like? There are people who stand in healing lines at healing crusades and know every scripture for healing and they are desperate for a touch from God and they are sad, and in distress, and the preacher prays for them and they agree with the Word but when its all done, there is no joy, there’s no anticipation, no expectation. The good report has not been believed.
Let me share this story about myself… Years ago I had an uncle in Arkansas who passed away. My two older sisters asked if I would drive them down for the funeral – a quick one day trip. It was a 4½ hour drive one way in a Chevy Celebrity. Not a car built for comfort. I drove the whole distance and by the time we got back home I had such a stiff neck that I literally could not move my head. If I wanted to look one way or the other I had to turn my whole body. The next morning I had to go to work. I was working construction back then. I remember getting in my truck and praying, “Lord, Your word says that by Your stripes I am healed and that You will provide all my needs… Lord You also provided this job for me to provide for my family. I ask that you heal me cause I can’t work the way I am.” Conventional wisdom would have said say home, but faith said go to work. WE lived right along highway 61 near Troy at that time and I had to go north .6 miles to turn around and go south. When I went back south and was going by our house I turned my head… I said I turned my head something I couldn’t do 2 minutes before. Nobody laid hands on me… nobody prayed over me… but God instantly healed me.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
God’s plan is to reveal His arm to you.
God’s plan is to reveal His plan for you.
God’s plan is to reveal His thoughts to you.
I have been sent to preach. God wants you to receive these words.
He wants your faith to increase so that you can receive any promise that has been made for you.
