Psalms 103:1-5
Part 4 of a 4 Part Series
TEXT: Psalms 103:1-5 NKJV Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
We are on part 4 of a series out of Psalms 103 where it says to not forget all the benefits of serving the Lord. The way it is worded, the chapter goes on to list some of those benefits and we are looking at some of them in this series.
Today we are taking a look at verse three where is says God heals all our diseases.
In light of all this, I want to take you to the book of Matthew.
Matt 10:5-8 NLT “Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: "Don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, 6 but only to the people of Israel—God's lost sheep. 7 Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!”
I want you to notice that in verse 8, Jesus commands his disciples -- that's us -- to heal the sick.
Divine Healing is our right, part of our inheritance in Christ, and is even called "the Children's Bread" in Mt. 15:26.
Many large corporations and most governmental jobs offer "Fringe Benefits" that are worth almost as much as the salary.
Examples of these Benefits are:
Health Insurance e. Company Car
Workers Comp. f. Retirement
Paid Vacation g. Profit Sharing
Sick Pay
Listen as the Psalmist begins to recount some of the Lord's fringe benefits: “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” Ps. 103:1-3.
For Christians, our main benefit or reward is eternal life; but there are many fringe benefits such as physical healing, guidance, material provision, doors being opened for us, etc.
God wants us to have confidence and think it normal, to pray for the sick and expect them to be healed.
Why should we think that it is possible for the Lord to heal our diseases and injuries? God is by nature a healing God. Satan, on the other hand, has come to kill, steal, and destroy; but Jesus says, “I have come that you might have life, abundantly.”
In Ex. 15:26, God says, “I am the Lord that heals you.”
Just days before, the Israelites ate the Passover Lamb which was equivalent to SALVATION. They then crossed the Red Sea, in which Paul declared they were BAPTIZED (1 Cor. 10:2).
1 Cor 10:1-5 NLT “I don't want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.”
Their very first experience after salvation and baptism was to know God as their HEALER (Exodus 15:26).
God called himself by a Compound Name – Jehovah Rapha. It is translated in the King James version as "healed." Compound names represent God's character, the kind of God that He is.
Rapha is the only word for "heal" in the O.T. (except Ezekiel 30:21). Rapha is used 58X in the O.T.
Rapha in the Hebrew language also is the technical word for "Physician."
THE COVENANT OF HEALING
It was part of God’s Covenant with the people of Israel, that if they obeyed Him, He would take away sickness from them. “Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you” Ex. 23:25
“He will bless the babies from your womb and the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil from your fields; he’ll bless the calves from your herds and lambs from your flocks in the country he promised your ancestors that he’d give you. You’ll be blessed beyond all other peoples: no sterility or barrenness in you or your animals. God will get rid of all sickness. And all the evil afflictions you experienced in Egypt he’ll put not on you but on those who hate you” Deut. 7:13-
15 Msg. Version.
GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GOD WHO HEALED
5X in O.T. God healed barren women;
4X God healed plagues brought on by sin;
Healed Moses, Miriam, and Naaman the leper;
3X raised the dead;
At least 6 other instances, two of them 1,000s of people;
Total: 16 individual healings, 7 mass healings; 23 separate accounts.
GOD’S ALWAYS FELT LOVE/COMPASSION TO US
“God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” Ex. 2:24-25.
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick” Matt. 14:14.
Before Adam and Eve sinned, they lived in a perfect world; there was no sickness.
But the fall of man and woman brought about all the problems of society that we see today:
Broken homes
Addictions
Crime
Hate,
prejudice
Lust,
Pride
Slavery,
abuse
War,
violence
Sickness
But the source of it all, what caused it all -- was SIN! If somehow we could turn back the clock to where sin would be eradicated, so also would these other evils -- including sickness.
THE CURSE OF THE LAW
The violation of God's law automatically brings a curse, part of which involves sickness and disease.
Now, not every illness is a direct result of a rebellious act so don’t get out of balanced about things, sometimes things just happen.
In Deut. 28:15-61, God lays out the "Curse of the Law," many of which are sicknesses: wasting diseases, madness, fever, blindness, inflammation, fearful plagues, painful boils, severe & lingering illnesses, the itch, and festering sores.
Deut. 28:61 says the Curse of the Law also includes not only the diseases and sicknesses just mentioned, but ALL the other diseases/ sicknesses that exist!
The point is, if the Curse of the Law could be lifted, so would be lifted all the effects of that Curse!
WHAT DID CHRIST DO WITH THE ‘CURSE OF THE LAW’?
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Gal. 3:13-14 ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross”
CHRIST’S ATONEMENT FOR SICKNESS
Some try to say that Jesus’ atonement only extends to the soul and doesn’t include the body. That is not true to the Word of God.
Matt. 8:16-17 settles it; “And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” (NKJV).
ILLUSTRATION: When God did a U-Turn
Norma Gardner sat quietly on the crude, worn bench in the sweltering African church listening to her missionary husband, Andy inform his congregation that soon he & his 29-year-old wife back had to go to the States. She had been diagnosed with cancer.
German doctors had confirmed it, she had three months to live. She stood to face her African friends, people she had taught, loved, cared for and won to Christ.
Opening her Bible, she said, "God has given me two verses in Psalm 118:17,18: "I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death."In her heart, she knew their work was not finished; indeed, it had barely begun.
Ultimately, her choices were two: accept the verdict of the German doctors or place her faith in the timeless Word of God. She chose the latter. She would stand on the promises of her Lord.
Arriving in New York, examinations revealed indeed she was full of malignant tumors. Doctors discussed the necessity of a hysterectomy. For years she had been praying for children.
But six weeks later, the New York specialists were stunned. They could detect nothing. The malignant tumors had virtually disappeared. There was no trace whatsoever of cancer.
God directed their return to Africa seven months later to continue the ministry to which He called them, a ministry that extended over 30 years.
Two years to the day from Norma’s arrival in America with Andy, their first daughter was born. In the six years following, two sons were added to the family of this dedicated couple.
Two of the children returned as missionaries to Africa and a third, also a seminary graduate, is on the staff of an upstate New York church.
THE CALL
God wants to heal the sick.
Jesus has taken away the occasion for sickness.
FINAL EXHORTATIONS
Don't look at symptoms, but to the promise of God the unwavering. Remember Peter walking on the water: while he looked to Jesus he stayed afloat; but when he looked to the senses (the wind, waves, lightning), he sank.
