Do you want to be healed?
And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to
them, just as Moses commanded.” However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.
Luke 5:12-15
In our scripture for today we read of a man full of leprosy. Leprosy is a dreadful disease that eats away at the fingers, toes, ears, nose, etc. And it causes boy parts to literally fall off. So for this man all we can see is a slow, shameful, and painful death. Now scripture does not tell us whether this man was a Jew or Gentile, but whatever the man’s origins were, he knew that Jesus was the only one that could take away the slow death that he was going through. And he knew that Jesus could do it if He wanted to, not whether He had the ability to do it, but if He wanted to: “íf you are willing”. The man is saying “Jesus, if it is your desire, you can clean me up.” To which Jesus says I will and with a single touch the man was made clean again.
Now I mentioned that leprosy was a dreadful disease that affected the body, but what I didn’t mention was that it affected more than just the man’s body. It also affected his mental state, his emotional state, his economic state, and his social state. As a leper, this man by Jewish law had to be isolated from the rest of society, wear morning clothes, leave his hair in disorder, and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” so that everyone could avoid them. So now you can see how this physical condition can also bring about a quick destruction of the person’s mental, emotional, social, and financial states as well. But we can see that with a mere touch of His hand how Jesus can bring about a full and complete healing. Not only did the leprosy go away, but also the shame was gone, his dignity was returned, and his life was restored.
(Talk about the complete healing)
Let’s face it; like the man with leprosy some of us are suffering from one thing or another that we need to be healed from:
• It could be an addiction
• It could be an emotional problem
• It could be a mental problem
• It could be a financial problem
• It could be a physical problem
• It could be a social problem
• It could be a strain on the family relationship
• It could be a lack of forgiveness
Whatever the problem may be, we need to realize, much like the man with leprosy did, is that Lord Jesus can fix it. All you have to do is ask Him “if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Do you want to be healed?
Scripture tells us that we have not because we ask not. And when we do ask, we ask for the wrong thing. Satan will try to tell us that there is no hope for our problems that we are doomed to stay in the same condition that we are. People please don’t fall for the lie because we need to know that Jesus has the power to change things in your life.
(Tell how Naaman received his healing, and how another leper sat at the gate with Elisa nearby)
By His coming to earth in the form of a man and by dying on the cross and rising from the dead again we can be healed. For Isaiah 53:5 tells us:
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.
By His stripes we are healed! And 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us:
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Like the man in our opening scripture, all we need to do is ask and know that in His time Jesus will take all the hurt away. Do you want to be healed?
In Luke 17 we can find another healing miracle by Jesus that involves men with leprosy, and we can find it in Luke 17:12-19:
Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed?
But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
Again, we see that by the word of Jesus and their faith were these men cleansed. And just so we are clear, faith also played a part in the miracle in our opening scripture. Because all these men sought out Jesus knowing that He could heal them and, in each case, they did not demand that he cleanse them, but that if He would cleanse them.
Now I wanted to point out something that is clear in both miracles…each time Jesus was praised. And we know this because in our opening scripture we read that even though Jesus told the man to not tell anyone about the healing, word seemed to spread anyway. We are let to assume that the man could not help but praise the name of Jesus to all he encountered along his way to the priest. Likewise with the ten lepers we read that as some as they were healed one of them turned back and sang nothing but praises to Jesus. Now I wanted to emphasize the faith and praise components of healing because we also need to do the same. Have you been healed by the Lord, and you never gave Him thanks? Like these people we just read about, we need to be praising Jesus for lifting us out of that pit we have fallen into. We need to come to Him with our faith that He will heal us. As Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well.” Let us praise Him for His mighty works in our lives and continue to believe that He is able.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
He is able! Do you want to be healed?
Have you been asking for a healing, and it seems as if God is not listening to you? Then, let us look at one important component involved in the healings that Jesus performed. That component is faith, or a belief that He can do it. The bible tells us that He can do it, but He asks that you believe that He can.
Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
In Matthew 13:58 we read the account of the one time that Jesus did not perform many miracles because of the unbelief of the people. In His own hometown Jesus had to leave many people unhealed, and it was not because He could not heal them, it was because that did not want to believe that He could heal them. Scripture is rich with people who believed and were healed. And it also contains instances of those that refused to be healed, because of their unbelief. And as all scripture is given by God for us to learn, we should be getting a clear message that we need to believe before we can receive. Have faith as small as a mustard seed and your prayers will be answered. Give Jesus honor and let Him perform mighty works in your life. Give Jesus praise and see how the touch of His hand can make you clean again. Confess your sins to Him for He is just and willing to forgive your sins. Like Isaiah when he said that “he was a man with unclean lips.” In this was a confession of his unworthiness to which the angel took a burning coal and put it to his lips to burn away the iniquity and make him clean once again. Let us confess our sins and humble ourselves and pray, seeking the face of the Lord then can we be healed.
There is nothing too broken that Jesus cannot fix.
There is nothing too damaged that Jesus cannot mead.
There is no issue in your life that is greater than Jesus can overcome.
What you think is impossible, Jesus says all things are possible.
Do you want to be healed?
If you do, turn to the man from Galilee; turn with all your faith and believe that He is capable, and it shall be done.
Do you want to be healed?
Then:
• Know that Jesus left His throne and came down through 42 generations to take the sin of the world upon His shoulders.
• Know that He was born of a virgin so that He could be without sin.
• Know that He came as an example of how we should live.
• Know that He was handed over to be crucified so that we may live.
• Know that He was passed from Pilate to Herod and back again.
• Know that He was the perfect Passover lamb for us, so that the dead angel will pass right on by
• Know that He was beaten and spat on for you and me
• Know that He whipped to the brink of death because of our sins
• Know that He was marched to Golgotha to be nailed to a cross
• Know that He bared the sins of the world so that you and I could be healed
• Know that He died that Friday, laid in the tomb all day Saturday, and rose again that Sunday morning so that we could have life
• Know that He has the power to heal you today
In April 2000, my son Nathan was in a near-fatal car accident while trying to avoid a deer. When he arrived at the hospital, he had a broken leg, spinal cord damage, numerous lacerations, and a collapsed lung. To stabilize him, doctors put him into a drug-induced coma.
Nathan was in a coma for four days, but when the drugs were discontinued, he didn’t come out of the coma. That night I prayed and read the Bible to Nathan, repeating the words Jesus said to Lazarus: “Come forth.” I told him, “You’ve got to fight. You’ve got to wake up.”
The next morning, he came out of the coma. We were beside ourselves with joy.
But the spinal cord damage was a major concern. Nathan had a fracture in his neck, the same vertebra that actor Christopher Reeve had injured several years ago. The doctors gave Nathan a protective neck collar to prevent further separation of the vertebrae. He was in danger of full or partial paralysis.
For two weeks Nathan prayed earnestly for healing. One night as he was falling asleep, he heard and felt a popping in his neck. The next morning physicians performed three sets of X-rays to see if the vertebrae were continuing to separate. Instead, the tests showed that the vertebrae had fused back together. The doctors were stunned; there was no medical explanation for the healing.
Three months after the accident, doctors cleared Nathan to resume his participation in athletics, including football, wrestling, and track and field.
Do you want to be healed? Believe in Him who is faithful and true, and He will heal your land.
