Matt 8:1-
Faith Healing
7/13/97
Intro: I realize that as I start this message today, I may offend some people. I do not mean it to be offensive, but rather for us to look at scripture and not an men’s ideas. As we go on in Matthew, we come to chapter 8.
Let’s begin reading at verse 1. Read 1-17.
The first thing I would like us to see here this morning, is seen in verse one. Jesus comes down from the mountainside. Jesus had been on the Mount of blessing. Far too often we want to stay on the mount of blessing. We want to sit and have fellowship and say Amen. But there’s work to be done. It’s always nice to have someone encourage you. But Jesus goes to work.
Large crowds follow - people are interested when they see someone living out their faith.
People are interested when they see someone having the power of God.
Our main focus this morning is on healing, healing by faith, and as it has been called today, "faith healing." We see in this passage that Jesus was a healer. We will look in a minute at what healing is. First though, let me say what it is not.
Modern Faith Healers - show examples: prayer cloths, rug, glove, etc.
I. What Jesus did in healing -
A. Leprousy - "if willing" - The leper recognized the power of God to heal. Our healing begins with an acknowledgement of the power of God.
The leper recognized the supremacy of God - he knew it was up to God to choose to heal. He asked, not demanded, that God bring healing. Far too often we demand God fit in with our plans.
God can choose NOT to heal. 2 Cor. 12:7-9 Paul had an affliction. God choose not to heal it.
Kenneth Copeland - says if you are sick it is sin, because God wants to heal everyone. That’s a lie!
"I am willling" - God has compassion for the sick. He cares about their needs.
Heb. 4:14-16 - Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
God is willing to come into contact with the unclean. As a leper, his sickness was contagious. Christ touches him. Christ shows him the level of care he has for him.
God is willing to change the sick - Be Clean - He causes the sick to be well.
"Show thyself to the priest " - Christ calls for a confirmation of cleansing: a testimony, so others may give God glory. He charges the man not to tell that he healed him, but to show himself to the priest. Far too many healers today take credit for themselves. We need to give glory to God when healing occurs today, not to the individual God uses.
Christ calls for a gift of gratitude: thanksgiving. Let us never forget to be thankful for what God does for us.
B. Centurion’s Paralyzed servant -
"I will go" - when informed of sickness, Christ desires to aid
"Do not deserve" - shows humility when considering self. Far too often we think we deserve healing. The one we love deserves to be healed because we are so important. We think about our plans, and not about God’s plans.
We see his faith in the power of Christ. He believe Christ can heal without even coming.
Christ healed in many ways: by speaking the word, by touch, by laying on his hands, by people touching his garment, by using spit and mud{Mark 8}.
"Not anyone in Israel" - sometimes those with the greatest faith don’t come from our church.
East / West - many non-Jews in the kingdom.
Subjects - many religious Jews never will make it to the kingdom.
"Go" - the servant was healed because of faith.
Peter’s mother-in-law
Demon Possessed individuals
Why does Christ heal right after the sermon on the Mount?
Isaiah 35:4-8 - "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.
Isaiah 53:4-5 - Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Christ shows he is God, the promised Messiah, by his healing ministry.
In his life he healed our sicknesses of body. By his death, he heals our sickness of soul.
1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
So, Jesus healed to fulfill prophecy, because he cared, to prove the power of God, and because the people believed.
Healing for today:
*all things are possible for those who believe - God can heal any sickness
*Faith is a key to our healing - Matt. 13:58 - not heal for lack of faith
*don’t seek healing for selfish motives -
*healing is not a test of righteousness: sometimes God chooses not to heal
*God does offer a gift of healing to certain individuals: Acts 19:11 - hankys from Paul
*Don’t wait on God and not see a doctor: Good Samaritan: rubbed oil in wounds
God heals in response to our faith
God heals in response to our action: calling for the elders
James 5:14 - Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
God heals in response to our righteousness: confession of sin is necessary for our healing. Sometimes we are sick because of sin in our life.
1 Corl 11:30 - For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
Conclusion: The healing God desires will one day be physical:
Rom. 8:18-24, Rev. 21:1-4
For now it is spiritual healing of your soul.
