Book of Acts
THE BOOK OF ACTS – Chapter 3
Week 7
All right, if you’ve got a Bible, go to Acts 3:1–10. It’s our sermon as we enjoy the book of Acts.
How many of you, right now, raise your hand if you’re battling an injury or an illness—OK, keep your hand up. How many of you love somebody, know somebody who’s battling an injury or an illness? Raise your hand. OK, pretty much all the hands are going to go up, right? All the hands are going to go up. We are either battling an injury or an illness or we love someone who is.
PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING
Some of you are feeling like, “Not again, what does this mean?” Some of it may be very “serious” and others not “serious” but it still nags at you or it’s a hinderance.
And some have somebody you know and love, and man, you just wish they got good news and you wish they were OK. Well, this is the world that we live in,
70% of Americans are on some sort of prescription medication for an injury or an illness.
Over half of Americans are on at least two medications for an illness or an injury.
Since sin entered the world, people are suffering, and they’re sick, and they’re struggling.
The promise, given seven hundred years before Jesus was born, was that his ministry would be two things: that he would forgive sins spiritually and that he would heal bodies physically.
I’ll read this great promise to you about Jesus’ cross in
Isaiah 53:4–5.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace”—and here’s the key phrase—“and with his wounds we are healed.”
We are healed.
See, sin affects our immaterial soul and our physical body. And Jesus comes to forgive our sin and to heal our soul but also to heal our body. So, the people of God, were awaiting the coming of Jesus. “When will this One come, who will die in our place for our sins, that he will heal our spiritual soul and he will heal our physical body?” Well, then we know that the Lord Jesus did come and he did practice healing. If you’re at all familiar with the what’s called the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—they’re sketches of Jesus’ life on earth. They don’t record everything he taught or everyone he healed. It’s a summary.
But even in that—I was doing some work this week—there are twenty-seven individuals that Jesus heals in the gospels. Twenty-seven people that are named or explained that Jesus healed. And then there are at least ten groups of people, the size of which we don’t know, but he just healed a whole group of people physically. Physically.
Now, we know that then Jesus died on the cross in our place for our sins. Three days later, he was healed. His broken body was healed. His dead body was resurrected. Over the course of forty days, we read early in Acts 1 that he went around evidencing his resurrection. And then he ascended into heaven.
The question then was,
DO WE HAVE ANY ACCESS TO JESUS NOW?
When he was here, we could walk up to him and ask him a question, or if we were sick, we could go up to him and ask for healing. But now that he has left, what does that mean for us? Are we abandoned? Are we orphaned? Are we alone? Can we have access to Jesus? Will he forgive us? Will he heal us? What relationship does Jesus have with us now?”
Then in Chapter 2 the Holy Spirit is sent to connect Jesus’ people to Jesus so that we could still talk to Jesus as if he were here among us, that we could still inquire of Jesus for healing as if he were still present as he was when he walked the earth.
We read, then, of what Jesus’ followers started doing by the power of the Holy Spirit. And one of the things that they did was healing. So, we’ll read in Acts 3:1–10.
What you’re going to see here is that in the book of Acts, there are
14 occurrences of healing—divine physical healing.
So, here’s the first healing that is recorded by Jesus’ people about the power of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. You ready? Let’s read it.
1“Now Peter and John”—all right, it’s like Batman and Robin in the Bible, right? These guys are a big deal. “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.” That’s about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. 2And a man lame from”—when? “Birth”—so this is a life condition—”was being carried,
So, he is not functional under normal capacity—whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that “is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.” He’s asking them for charity. 4And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’”
I wonder if people come to church in a condition like this beggar, and the church settles for gold and silver (glitters and flashy—spectacular buildings, talented musicians and singers, powerful speakers, programs and such) when we are called to offer the Power of Jesus.
7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up—this guy’s never stood—And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement—that’s language for worship—at what had happened to him.
Again, this is the first of fourteen physical healings recorded in the book of Acts. There are 28 chapters in the book of Acts. Twelve of the 28 chapters speak of somebody being physically healed supernaturally by Jesus’ power through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
So, what I want to do today is I want to look at this particular healing, and then I want to look at the broad category of healing.
HEALING
So, let’s start with this man. Well, here’s what we know about him. He was, it says, lame from birth. He was born with a situation where he was unable to live a normal life. This is a man who had never stood up on his own two feet. This is a man who had never taken a step. He’d never gone for a walk. This is a man who while growing up would watch the other kids get up and play, but he couldn’t. The other kids go out for recess or sports or hiking or whatever the case may be. He never got to do that. He’s the kid who’s sitting there watching the other kids climb the tree during the summertime, and he never has that opportunity.
What this means as well is he’s probably never going to marry because he has no income. He had no way of providing for his family. And so he is subjected to a life of poverty. They didn’t have the kind of disability or safety net that might exist for some in our day, and so he would throw himself on the generosity of God’s people. He would sit outside of the temple where he was positioned, and his friends would have to carry him there day after day, after day, after day.
This is for a man—you men get this, right?—true or false, this is very difficult for a man? He can’t take himself anywhere. He can’t provide for himself. He can’t tend to himself. He can’t defend himself. He’s completely at the mercy of others, literally.
So, his friends take him as they have for years. We don’t know how old he is, but think every day for years. You’re living in poverty. You’re hoping that your friends or family love you enough to pick you up and carry you and leave you in front of all of God’s people as they go into worship, and you’re just hoping, trusting, and praying that God’s people would have mercy on you and give you some money so that you can exist and not starve to death. This man’s in a dire situation.
Along come Peter and John, and he says, you know, “Would you like to give?” And they say, “Silver and gold we do not have.” So, these guys are not prosperity teachers, amen?
So, they look at the man. They say, “Look at me,” so he looks at them. He says, “Look, I’ve got no money for you. “How about healing?” (pause) That we can do, by God’s grace. So, stand up, arise, walk, be well.”
God heals the man. Sometimes in the Bible you’ll see people healed slowly over time, and that is a divine healing, but here it says “immediately,” right? He got up right away.
This is a fulfillment of Isaiah 35:6, “Then shall the lame man leap like a deer.”
The promise was given: when Jesus comes, a lame man would walk like a deer, and here he is seven hundred years later.
One other thing about this story is it’s all in the name of Jesus. You get that? “In that name of Jesus of Nazareth,” right?
Now, the name of Jesus is not like a pagan mantra, but it’s inviting the living Jesus into that moment. That’s what he’s doing. What he’s doing is he’s saying, “Jesus is still alive.” You could talk to him when he was on the earth; you could still talk to him. You could go to him when he was on the earth; you could still go to him. “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”
Pebble Hill, I need you to know the strength of the name of Jesus of Nazareth. There’s a reason why people will, when they take the Lord’s name in vain, take Jesus’ name in vain.
That’s the name of power, that’s the name of authority, that’s the name of deity!
Philippians 2:9-11English Standard Version
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Acts 4:12 English Standard Version
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
There’s something unique and special about the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
This is inviting the living Jesus into that moment so that we see that, ultimately, who is it that healed this man?
Was it Peter and John? Yes or no? No, it was Jesus from heaven. Well, this is very encouraging because again, Jesus healed when he was on the earth, and now he’s ascended into heaven. Can he still heal? Yes, because he’s still alive, and now he’s ruling and reigning as sovereign Lord, and we can come to him, and he will hear us and answer us, and he can actually heal from his heavenly throne.
And then the result is that God is worshiped. So, this man goes into the temple—and this would have been the first time in his life that he was able to go into the temple. There was a restriction on those with physical disability, that they were not allowed into the temple. He’s now able to go into the temple, and here’s what we see: As soon as he is healed, he does not turn his back on God and walk away. He sets his face toward God. He goes into the temple that he might worship, he might worship, and praise and celebrate the goodness of God, and the other people are astounded and they do the same.
The ultimate goal is not healing; healing is the secondary goal. The primary goal is the glory of God. And so God is glorified and then people rejoice with singing and song and celebration. That’s this story.
SOME REASONS FOR WHY THERE’S SICKNESS AND SUFFERING
That being said, as we’ve investigated this healing, let me answer for you now a whole bunch of questions about healing. How many of you, at this point, have questions about healing?
You’re like, “Hey, if we’re into healing, I’ve got questions.” Let’s learn more about healing. Anybody interested??
I know as you see this, some of you will say, “Well, does God still do that? “And I have these questions. And what about me? “And what about my friend? “And why are certain people healed and not other people healed?” All of these questions erupt, so here’s what I want to do. I want to take some time and I want to answer them for you because I’m your pastor, because I love you, because we’re a Bible-believing church and the Bible talks a lot about healing. So, let’s work through some questions together.
First question, why is there sickness?
1. SIN AND THE FALL
Well, the Bible tells us that sin and death are radically abnormal, that when God made the world,
Genesis 1:31 English Standard Version
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
I want you to notice that God said that everything was very good. Everything was alive. There was no death
Romans 5:12 English Standard Version
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Romans 5:12 talks about the fall, the result of sin.
The first reason why there is sickness and suffering is because of SIN. God is the living God, that everything God made was perfect and good, and there was no death. And in rebellion against God, we chose to turn our back on God, and as a result, we chose death over life. The result is now that sin has infected and affected everyone and everything.
Even creation is groaning and yearning for its deliverance back into its intended state.
Romans 8:18-25 English Standard Version
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Friends, there are things that happen that simply—there is not a causal effect between this caused that, that this caused their cancer, that this caused their ailment, that this caused their miscarriage, that this caused their leukemia. There’s not always a causal connection to where we could say, “This caused this.” What we can do is go all the way back to Genesis 3 where sin first entered the world and say, well, since sin entered the world, everything is infected and affected.
Sin and sickness and suffering and death have entered into the human equation, and as a result, things are not as God intended. And we just need to accept that sometimes we don’t have a close causal connection, but the connection goes all the way back to Genesis 3.
When the Bible says,
1 Corinthians 2:16 English Standard Version
16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” …
We’re not supposed to raise our hand and say, “I do.” It’s a rhetorical question. I said, “So, I’m not going to pretend to know and explain all of this to you.
I know the Bible says
1 Corinthians 13:12 English Standard Version
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
All your questions will be answered in the kingdom of God. Here’s what I can tell you right now: God does not kill the babies in the womb of the Christian mom who’s looking forward to welcoming the child into the world. What I can tell you is that sin has infected and affected everything, and that nothing is the way that it was supposed to be.
2. PERSONAL SIN
Second cause for sickness is personal sin.
1 Corinthians 11:30 English Standard Version
30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Sometimes there’s a direct causal result, right? You’re drinking and driving, you get in a wreck, and you break your body. You say, “Well, there’s cause and effect.” Personal sin and then personal suffering. You could see that. All right, you ate very, very, very poorly, and you got diabetes, or you became obese. Or you drank too much and you damaged your liver, right? There are certain things you can say—“Well, I made a choice, and it had some effect on my health and well-being.” But sometimes, it’s not just even physically causal, it’s spiritually causal.
So, the situation in Corinthians is this: These people are getting drunk, they’re having lots of sex, they’re rebelling against God, they’re disobeying Paul. They claim to be believers, but they’re living open, defiant, rebellious lives, and they’re coming to the Communion Table, the Lord’s Supper. They’re not repenting of their sin; they’re not acknowledging their sin. They’re basically spitting in the face of Jesus.
It's like saying, “You died for my sin so I get to sin all that I want. I don’t need to put my sin to death. I can sin that grace may abound. I can do whatever I please, and you’re obligated to forgive me.”
So he says, “That is why many of you”—it’s not a little list: there’s a lot of funerals at the church at Corinth—“are weak and ill, and some have died.” Sometimes it’s spiritual and you need to not go see a doctor because ultimately, the problem is spiritual. You need to repent of your sin, and it’s God’s judgment on you for your rebellion against him. Is that you?
3. DEMONIC FORCES
Third category for sickness is demonic. And we hear of this many times in the Bible, but I’ll give you one from the ministry of Jesus.
Matthew 8:16 English Standard Version
16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.
Pebble Hill, know this: not all spirits are holy and good. There are unholy and unclean spirits called demons. They’re in rebellion against God. If you just open the door and say, “I want to be a spiritual person,” you’re saying, “I want to invite demons,” so we need to be discerning, right?
1 John 4:1-4 English Standard Version
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
“They brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word.”
We’re not talking about some crazy exorcism, holy water, and some cross. It’s just the authority of the truth of the Bible. “And he healed all who were sick.” Why were they sick? Demonic oppression.
Some of you will ask, “Can a believer be demon-possessed?” No, an unbeliever can be demon-possessed, owned, controlled, overtaken.
A believer in Jesus cannot be controlled or overtaken by a demon, but they can be oppressed by a demon. And sometimes that is with physical illness or injury. It’s torment, to use the language of the Bible.
So by commanding in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the strong name of Jesus of Nazareth, those unclean spirits away, people will be spiritually delivered from demonic oppression, and sometimes also physically healed as the spirit takes with them that injury or illness that they were causing.
So, one of my prayers when I pray over people all the time is I pray against the enemy, his servants, their works and effects, and when I command them away in the strong name of Jesus, I command that they take their works and effects with them: illness and injury, torment and oppression.
Those are the three primary categories for why people become sick. And 7 times that I found in the Gospels, Jesus heals someone by commanding an unclean spirit away from them.
SOME COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT HEALING
DOES HEALING REPLACE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE?
Do you have any more questions? We’ve probably only begun. “Does healing replace traditional medicine?” Now, there was a case in the news recently where there was a faith-healing couple that did not take their child in for medical treatment and the child died. Their second child got sick, they did not take the child in for medical treatment, and the second child died.
Pebble Hill, is that what we believe? No. We believe in natural medicine and supernatural prayer. We believe in both. The healing that is recorded in Acts 3, as well as the remainder of physical healings in Acts are written by a man named Luke who’s a doctor. Anytime the doctor’s teaching you about healing, he’s probably not anti-doctors, amen? Can you go out on the end of that limb with me? Can we do that together? Here’s Luke, the author of Acts. He is called “Luke the beloved physician.” So, who’s telling us about the healing? The doctor.
The Bible does not speak in a negative way against those who are in medicine. It doesn’t.
We are thankful for those who work in the hospice, are nurses, for those who are doctors, for those who are dentists, for those who are physical therapists, for those who are EMTs, we say, “Praise be to God.”
Praise be to God that they would study the body that God made and that they would, with discernment and wisdom, love and serve people and try to bring healing in any way they can. So, no. Because the Bible is for prayer, it’s not against medicine. It’s for both.
So our encouragement, our exhortation, would be if you are suffering from illness or injury, someone you know or love is suffering from illness or injury, pray for them and encourage them to get the best medical care that they can. Let’s do both. It’s not an either/or for us at all.
But let me say this: if you are healed through “natural means” or “supernatural means,” it’s still the grace of God. Because let’s say you’re healed through naturopathic medicine and changing your diet and eating healthy, and the body starts to recover and heal. Well, that’s from all that God created, so that’s still a gift from God.
Let’s say it’s a medical doctor who has gone to school, and they’ve been given a brilliant mind and an education, and they maybe even understand certain medications or procedures or surgeries, that’s still from general revelation and common grace. That’s still, ultimately, a gift from God.
Let’s say it’s supernatural healing that, through prayer, God just shows up as the Great Physician and does something extraordinary. That, too, is from the Lord. God will use different means—like prayer, like medicine, like nutrition, and whatever he would use—it ultimately is his way of healing us so that ultimately we praise him. That’s what we believe.
IS ALL HEALING FROM GOD?
Here’s the next question, and this one is important: is all healing from God? How many of you, maybe you’ve been here—I want to be careful with this. When people are suffering, they can become panicked, right? You could become panicked to where anything that might heal you, you’re going to avail yourself to, particularly if you have chronic pain, chronic suffering. You just want it to be over.
The result is that then some people will start chasing all kinds of other supernatural, spiritual means by which to be healed. Sometimes this might mean participating in another religion or praying with someone from another faith or going to see someone who says they have a healing gift but they’re not a Christian, getting involved in what we would call new age or integrative spirituality or some sort of eastern, non-Christian, non-biblical spiritual activities to be healed.
Matthew 24:24 ESV
For false christs and false prophets “will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Here’s the point: Satan is willing to heal you—so that he can condemn you. Satan is willing to alleviate your momentary suffering in exchange for your eternal suffering. So be careful, all right?
Pray to Jesus of Nazareth. Invite God the Holy Spirit, not just any spirit. Seek counsel and prayer from those who love Jesus, not just those who say they can heal.
If you read the Bible, you will see that there are certain people who are empowered to do miraculous feats, right?
In the days of Moses, when he’s coming up against the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh’s magicians do some pretty amazing, supernatural things, but it’s demonic in origin, and it can deceive people into thinking that God is the one who healed them, when, in fact, it was Satan who healed them, and it’s leading them away from God.
Our goal is not necessarily healing. Our goal is to love Jesus. And so if we go to Jesus and he heals us, we receive that. If we go to Jesus and he chooses not to heal us or not to heal us yet, we still love Jesus. We don’t abandon Jesus because healing is now above Jesus in our priorities. Do you understand that?
I want to warn some of you, because again, when you’re struggling, when you’re sick, when you’re hurting, when you’ve exhausted your options, when you’re panicked, you’re just thinking, “Well, if they can heal me, then that’s—I’ll go to them.” No, no, no, no, be careful you don’t chase demonic sources of potential healing.
WHY DOES GOD HEAL?
Why does God heal? Well, there’s a long list, but I’ll give you five, and we can take all of these from Acts 3 in our case study.
1. IT’S AN ACT OF LOVE AND MERCY TO THE PERSON WHO’S SUFFERING
I mean, you look at this guy, right? We kind of get a picture of him in your mind. That God would love and heal him, what a great act of mercy. For the rest of his life, this man is a trophy of God’s grace. As he walks around, everybody’s like, “Hey, do you know who that is? “God really loved that guy, and had mercy on him “and healed him. Look at that. Isn’t that amazing? Look at what God did.”
How loved do you think that man felt when he stood up for the first time, and he knew he was loved, because where did he go? He walked right into the temple. He was walking toward the presence of God where it had previously dwelt on the earth, and he’s going in to praise God. It’s a sign of love, it’s a sign of mercy, it’s a sign of affection, it’s a sign of compassion for the afflicted person. God does love people.
2. IT VALIDATES GOD’S SERVANT
True or false, do you think as a result of this, Peter and John sort of got a little more credibility? “Who are Peter and John?” “Oh, they’re those guys who healed that other guy.” “Oh, I heard about that.” Sometimes God will allow a supernatural healing to come through one of his servants to validate their spiritual authority—they are representatives of Jesus. You’re going to see that in the book of Acts. You’re going to see God work through his servants and then their credibility is established because of God’s authority at work through them.
3. IT REVEALS THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Here’s what I need you to know: God will heal everyone eventually in the kingdom. And the kingdom of God is not yet fully unveiled, but it has breakthroughs, right? It has occurrences where the kingdom of God intersects with the kingdoms of men, and the kingdom of God makes these cameo appearances and shows up and shows us what’s to come and shows us what Jesus ultimately has planned for us, and it causes our hearts to yearn and long for his perfect kingdom.
A guy’s walking around who was lame from birth. And God’s people—”Whoa, OK, the kingdom of God must be something amazing!” And they start longing for the coming of the kingdom, which is ultimately the coming of the King, the Lord Jesus.
4. IT EVANGELIZES TO NON-CHRISTIANS
If someone is suffering and God heals them, the non-Christians tend to ask, right? Now, let me say this: oftentimes, non-Christians don’t ask a lot of questions about Christians or to Christians, but if one of them gets healed, that changes, amen? You got a co-worker, oh, they’ve been given two months to live. No, they’re healed! They’re all better! No deductible! All right, the non-Christian co-workers would be like, “What happened?” You say, “Let me tell you about Jesus. At my church, they prayed over me, and God healed me, and I’m all better.” It evangelizes, right? All of a sudden, non-Christians are curious about Jesus because they’re seeing him at work in someone’s life in a powerful way.
5. IT MOTIVATES CHRISTIANS TO PRAISE & WORSHIP
OK, what it says is that when this man was healed, he praised God, and he went into the temple, and others were filled with amazement, and they’re all praising God. It increases the worship of God’s people. “Oh, God does love us. God is good. “God is alive. God is powerful. His name is Jesus of Nazareth.” Those are the reasons why God heals.
CAN EVERYONE RECEIVE HEALING IN THIS LIFE?
There’s a lot that is happening in the healing. I’m sure it leads to more questions. Can everyone receive healing in this life? How many of you have seen a false teaching that says, “Everyone can be healed, and you need to have faith, and if you have enough faith, you can be healed, which means if you’re not healed, it’s because you’ve failed and you don’t have enough faith”?
As a pastor, might I submit to you that that is horrific. It’s the way that a false teacher says, “If it doesn’t work, it’s your fault, not mine.”
I want you to believe that you can be healed. I want you to ask for healing, but I want you to know that not every one of you will be healed. Now, I don’t know who will be healed, so we’re going to pray and see. But it’s a horrible thing to tell people one of two things:
“God used to heal. He doesn’t heal anymore. Don’t get your hopes up.”
Or
“God has to heal. He heals everyone, and if he doesn’t heal you, it’s your fault. You don’t have enough faith. God’s in heaven, and if you just had enough faith to move his hand, his hand would rest upon you. And if his hand does not rest upon you, it’s because your faith is too weak.”
What a demonic thing to tell a pregnant mom with cancer, as if she doesn’t have enough burden.
I’ll give you two examples from the Bible.
2 Timothy 4:20, Paul says, “I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.”
OK, he’s traveling with a guy and he leaves the guy because the guy is sick. Do you think Paul had faith? He wrote thirteen, maybe fourteen books of the New Testament. If you keep reading the book of Acts, he’s in there a lot, including with some healings. But he couldn’t heal that guy, so you know what he did? Dropped him off to be tended to.
How about Paul himself?
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 English Standard Version
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh,
Nobody knows what this is. Everybody’s debated it forever. When we get to heaven, we’ll ask Paul. Until then, we’ll just put it in the “I don’t know” bucket, OK?
a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this,--
Did he pray about it?—that it should leave me. —he wanted to be healed—“
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Paul said, “I have an injury or an illness. I asked Jesus to heal me. He said, ‘You’ll be fine. Suck it up. Go with it.’” That’s my translation of the Greek.
OK, did Paul lack faith? No. Did Paul not believe in healing? He believed in healing. Was Paul used of others to heal them? Yeah. Did he heal himself? No. He says, “You know what? It kept me from being conceited.” That would do it. It’s very humbling. All right, here’s the faith healer with the flu, right? Everybody’s like, “Really? How come you can’t heal yourself?” “It keeps me humble.”
Sometimes God won’t heal us for our good. Sometimes God won’t heal us because he loves us. Sometimes God won’t heal us because even though it might be good for our body, it may not be good for our soul, and that’s what Paul says. He says, “You know, if everything was great and I was always fine, I might just become a really arrogant guy, and this really keeps me humble and dependent on the Lord and his grace.” So no, not everybody will be healed in this life.
WHEN WILL ALL OF GOD’S PEOPLE RECEIVE HEALING?
When will all of God’s people receive healing? Here’s what we do believe: all of God’s people will receive healing. The question is, when? When will this happen? Well, in the kingdom of God, friends. See, just as Jesus suffered and he died and was buried, so God’s people will suffer, will die, and be buried. And just as Jesus rose, conquering sin and death, so Jesus’ people will rise in victory over sin and death. We’ll get a glorified resurrected body.
You can read in 1 Corinthians 15. It details this. And this resurrected body will be as God intended, and the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem will be as God created, and there will be no more curse and no more sickness and no more sin and no more Satan and no more demons and no more death.
Revelation 21:4 says when that day comes, “He”—who’s he? Jesus. I want you to get this picture: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Have you ever done a hospital visit? If not, you should. Have you ever been to a children’s hospital? You need to go. Have you ever been with someone when they died? It’s a gift to be there.
As someone is suffering, it’s a wonderful gift to be able to literally just put your hands on their face, tell them you love them, and wipe the tears from their eyes
And you know when we’ll cry again? Never. Those will be the last tears we ever cry. That’s the kingdom of God.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be”—what, Pebble Hill? NO MORE. It’s over. “Neither shall there be mourning.” No more funerals, no more crying, no more prayer meetings, no more prayer chains. We need it all, but one day it’ll be over, and we’ll be fine with that.
“Nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
So what you are going through, it won’t be like that forever. For the Christian, this is as close to hell as we get. For the non-Christian, this is as close to heaven as they get. The kingdom of God is a beautiful thing, and God’s people will be there together, resurrected forever.
HOW SHOULD WE MINISTER TO THE SICK?
In the meantime, friends, here’s the last question: how should we minister to the sick? If Jesus were alive on the earth today and you were sick, would you try to get to him? Would you? How many of you would be like, “I would book that flight and I would stand in that line”? How many of you, if it was somebody you really loved, and Jesus was alive on the earth today, you’d say, “You know what? I’m taking them with me. I’m healthy, I’m going to do like Acts 3. This guy’s buddies would bring him to the temple. I’m going to be one of those buddies who takes somebody to Jesus”? How many of you would do that right now, and even as I say this, you could think of somebody, like, right now, you would grab your phone, book the flight, and you’d leave early because you would go see Jesus right now?
Here’s the good news: you can go see Jesus and you can take your friends to go see Jesus because he’s alive and he’s not confined to one place: he’s sovereign and can work in every place. That’s the big idea of Acts 3.
So, what do we do in the meantime? How do we minister to those who are sick?
1. PRAY FROM A DISTANCE
I saw in the gospels at least three times that Jesus didn’t go to someone who was sick, he just prayed from a distance and healed them. How many of you, you can’t be with the person, but you can pray from a distance?
This means as well, in the age of technology, this is where social media posts and blog posts and group texts and phone calls and texts, they really matter, right suffering people? Even if somebody’s far away and they’re praying for you, that’s a real gift, amen?
2. LAY HANDS ON AND PRAY
We see this repeatedly in Jesus’ ministry and in the ministry of the early Christians, where they lay hands on somebody. The Holy Spirit lives in the person, and the Holy Spirit’s going to work through that person and is going to hear and answer that prayer for the person who is sick. And here’s what it also does: it shows affection and companionship.
What’s worse than suffering is suffering alone. What’s worse than suffering is suffering alone. I mean, sometimes if you go do a hospital visit and somebody’s there, the only people that have touched them are doctors. And the doctors and the nurses are doing their job and we praise God for them, but it’s not affection, it’s not warmth, it’s not a kiss on the head, it’s not an embrace, it’s not that life-giving, personal touch because they’re in a professional role, which is good and godly, but that’s different than a personal role or a pastoral role. And so physically touching someone is an act of identifying with them and having compassion on them and love for them and being there for them and friendship toward them.
3. ANOINT WITH OIL
There are times in the Bible when Jesus anoints people with oil.
Mark 6:14 is one occasion. He takes oil, anoints somebody, prays for them, and they’re healed. You’re going to read of this.
James 5:14 English Standard Version
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
The oil is a symbol in the Bible of the Holy Spirit. When oil is poured out, it’s symbolic of the Holy Spirit being poured out. When oil is placed on someone, it’s an indication that the Holy Spirit has been placed on them. Sometimes God will use physical symbols to reveal spiritual truths, and he does that with oil. And it’s usually olive oil probably in the Bible.
So when we anoint someone with oil, what we’re doing is we’re welcoming, we’re inviting the Holy Spirit. We’re saying, “Holy Spirit, I love this person, “and they are suffering, and Holy Spirit, “we welcome you to come and be with them, to comfort them, and if you choose, to heal them.”
By anointing with oil or laying hands and praying on someone, it is an act of faith. It’s an outward demonstration of an inward commitment, a belief.
4. MINISTER IN FAITH
And it often is said in the gospels with Jesus and the book of Acts with others that so-and-so had faith and was healed. Sometimes it says that the sick person had faith and they were healed. Sometimes it says that the friends who brought them had faith and the sick person was healed. So, whether you’re the sick person or you’re the family or friends of the person who is sick, God wants you to act in faith. And faith is trusting that Jesus is alive. Faith is trusting that the name of Jesus of Nazareth is strong. Faith is believing that God hears and answers prayer. And faith is trusting that God can heal, and we’re asking him to, amen? That’s what faith is and that’s what faith does.