The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: There are things in life that we will never understand this side of eternity, but we do know this: that Jesus abides. He is with us to bless us regardless of the mistakes. Some will say, "Well, Pastor, I knew better." Of course you did. But you're human. You made a mistake. God's not going to hold you to that. God's going to forgive you. God's going to take you on, onward and upward in Him. This is what the Lord is going to do for you.

Announcer: Welcome to The Healing Word. Here is Pastor Jack Morris with today's message that will grow your faith in God and lead you to a closer walk with Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: Blessed and highly favored. That's the most accurate definition of grace I think that I've ever heard. And it all came about one day when I walked in the office and there was a young lady there and I had never met her before and I simply asked her, "How are you?" And she said, "I'm blessed and highly favored." Now, I hope and pray that you and I will know that we are blessed and highly favored of God. That we have that conviction, that knowledge that Christ is in us.

God's grace is unearned, undeserved, and unrepayable. You and I cannot pay God back for what He has done for us through Jesus Christ. We didn't earn it, we don't deserve it, and we can't pay him back for this great and wonderful blessing that He's given to us. How great God's blessing is. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would help you and me to grasp this truth, or this truth would reach out and grasp us: that we are blessed and highly favored of the Lord.

There's nothing more that you and I can do that would cause God to love us more. There's nothing more that we could do, absolutely nothing. And there is nothing that we can do to make God love us less. His love is a perfect love, it is a fulfilled love, it is a complete love. I'm going to go back into the Old Testament and I'm going to take an illustration from 2 Samuel that we just heard read to us. It's a man by the name of Mephibosheth and David.

Mephibosheth was the grandson of King Saul, and he received grace from David. And as he received this grace from David, I want you to think about the grace that you and I receive from God. We have received this blessing. That's the only way to get it. You can't earn it, you can't pay for it. You just have to receive it. It's a gift. And if you do not know that you are blessed and graced of God right now, I pray that you will before I'm finished with this message.

Many of God's people know that they're God's people, but they do not seem to realize that they're living under the shadow of the Almighty. That He is there overshadowing them, blessing them, keeping them, prospering them in their spirit. Now, look at this message with me, this illustration of Mephibosheth. First there was King Saul, the first king of Israel. He had a son named Jonathan. Jonathan was a prince and Jonathan was to become king of Israel, but Jonathan was never king of Israel.

David became the king. But Jonathan had a son, and his son was named Mephibosheth. Saul, Jonathan, and Mephibosheth. Now, Jonathan and David were close friends. Saul, the first king, wanted to kill David because David was a threat to Saul's throne. Jonathan continued to take messages back to David and tell David what his father was plotting against him, and David's life was spared repeatedly because of his friendship with Jonathan. Now, David is on the throne.

It was customary in that day that a king that took the throne would eliminate all of the family of the former king. It was very barbaric, I know, but that was the custom. But David, instead of eliminating the family of Saul, he inquired if there were any of Saul's family still living. He was going to bless them, not eliminate them. A complete turnaround from the custom of that day. Now, I want you to think of what God has done. God is not going to eliminate us.

That's not His plan. He's not willing that any should perish. He wants everybody to be saved. His grace is being blessed to everybody. And so here is David coming to look for one of Saul's family members, and Mephibosheth was the only one that was left. But Mephibosheth was crippled in his legs. He was permanently crippled. And he was living in a very barren desert place when he was found. But when I begin to think about how Saul was so angry with David, David in turn doesn't repay Saul evil for evil.

He repays him with goodness and kindness and gives his blessing to Saul's grandson. Grace went looking for Mephibosheth. I think of God, how God came looking for you and me. His grace pursued us even when we were in trespasses and in sins. Not looking for God, God was out there looking for us to do something good for us, not to condemn us, not to sentence us, not to judge us, but to forgive us, to love us, to take away our sin and our guilt, our pain and our agony, and to give us His blessing.

Mephibosheth wasn't aware that David was looking for him to bless him. When I was away from the Lord and didn't know the Lord, I wasn't aware that God truly loved me and was looking for me. He wanted to do something good in my life. I wasn't aware of that. And yet God kept pursuing me and little by little, I began to realize that I needed salvation, that I needed God. It was a progressive thing until I came to the place where I confessed and repented and accepted Jesus as my own personal Lord and Savior.

David searched diligently until he found Mephibosheth. David asked one of Saul's cabinet members, Ziba was his name. He was part of the administration of Saul, and now he becomes part of the administration of David. And David knew that if anybody knew where there were any members of Saul's family, this man would know about it. So he asked him this question: "Is there any members of Saul's family still living?" And Ziba came back and said, "There is still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in both feet."

When I read that, I thought Ziba was informing David that there is somebody out there that is crippled and unproductive. He can't do anything for your administration. Yes, there is one, but he's useless. David said, "Get him. I want him." Friend, God didn't save me, nor did He save you truly for what we could give to Him, but He saved us for what He could give to us. And He continues to give and to bless us with His grace even to this very moment.

His grace is coming to us anew and fresh today. I think of David when he found out about Mephibosheth's condition being crippled in both feet. It didn't turn David off. It didn't turn him away. He said, "I want that man so that I can do something good for him. I don't want to eliminate him like the other barbaric kings. I'm not a barbaric king, I'm a man after God's own heart." Now, notice this: In verse one, David asks, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"

Grace for the sake of another. Again, God did not save you and me for what we have done, because we were good, but for Jesus' sake. For the sake of another, for the sake of Jesus, God came to us and blessed us. Mephibosheth received the grace of God not because he was able to do anything. He was not able to do anything. When the war was on, a nurse grabbed this little boy. He was about five years old, the Scripture says.

She grabbed this little boy and rushed out of the palace. Saul was about to lose his throne. He was about to be killed in the war and the palace was being stormed. And this nurse grabs Mephibosheth when he was five years old and rushes to the door. When she got to the door, she dropped him in her haste to get him out. And when she dropped him, both of his ankles were crushed and he was permanently crippled. He grew up never able to walk again in his life.

Now, we live in the achievement of another. You and I are alive today and have the hope of eternal life, and life now, because of another. Who is that other? Jesus. It's all because of Jesus. Like I said last week, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Now, when Mephibosheth was found, he was found in a place called Lo-debar. Lo-debar simply means "no pasture." Here is a crippled guy, an adult, living in a barren land, an unproductive place, unable to support himself.

The land was unable to support him. He was lost. Completely lost. Like every boy and girl and every man and woman, completely lost in a barren land. Now, this world offers much but it produces so little. People seek happiness and enjoyment. You know, it comes Friday night and the week is over. Now we're going to really kick up our heels and let our hair down and have a good time. All of that problems and all of the agony of the work week, it's over.

We're going to just have a big time Friday night and Saturday night. But come Sunday, we know Monday's coming and we're going to go back to the same old grind again. Next week, we do it all over again. Hey friend, we're living in a barren land. That land that we are living in outside of Christ does not produce life. It doesn't produce happiness or joy. It's a barren land. It's the land of Mephibosheth. It's the land of Lo-debar.

It's a land that promises everything and gives absolutely nothing in return. But we gobble it up. We eat it up with a fork and a spoon, thinking that this is life. But life sometimes will cripple us, as I think of Mephibosheth. He was part of the royal family, but he had a terrible fall. And I know that there are Christians, as I have observed in my years of ministry, Christians who have tumbled spiritually or emotionally. Something has happened and has crippled them.

They have the grace of God, but there's something in their heart that is keeping them from experiencing the blessing that God has for them. They're not in that place of peace or joy. There are a lot of troubled Christians. Now, if you're a troubled Christian today, listen to me. In Jesus' name, listen to me because I have such good news for you. Jesus heals broken hearts. He heals crippled lives. There are people who are mentally crippled by the experiences of life.

There are people who have lost a child who are now bitter. They're in Christ, they're still saved, but they're bitter. And I think of my own mother, how when my sister at age 26 was killed in a car wreck on the Baltimore Beltway, my mother lived in bitterness for years. All her life she lived and she was bitter. It was like, "Why should others live? Why should others have children?" She never said those words, but she would say to me, "Why did God do this? Why did God let this happen?"

She was blaming God. "Took my only daughter. Only had two children, you and Grace. Grace is gone. Why?" She asked, "You're a preacher, you're a minister. Why? Tell me why!" What could I say to her? But before she died, thank God, I heard her say this: "Jesus died for you and me." Do you know that, friend? That he died for you and me. I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, "Jesus died for you and me." Go ahead. Jesus died for you and me.

There are people who have experienced an injustice in their life. You know, this world isn't fair. I'll be the first to agree with you, this world is not fair. This world is a very selfish, self-centered world. And there are people who have experienced an injustice, been fired from a job or they didn't get a promotion, or they lost money. They lost a big deal, and now they are bitter over it. They think everybody's out to get them, "But before they get me, I'm going to try to get them."

That's how they live, with a crippled mentality. But God heals. Did you hear me? God heals. God restores. There was a number of years ago a lady in this congregation so long ago you wouldn't know her. She had a baby and it had Down Syndrome. Her life was just devastated by that. "How could God let us have a baby that has Down Syndrome? How did God do that?" It was God. And she stopped coming to church. She would once in a while come to my office with her husband and talk.

About the only thing they wanted to know was why. Why did this happen to us and our family? But it crippled her until finally she just stopped altogether. There was nothing that could be said that would convince her. Friend, there are things that are happening or that will happen that will cripple you if you will allow it. And it'll destroy your life and your happiness. We live in a crippled world, in a place that is very unfair. This world is not fair and it doesn't treat everybody equal.

This is a fallen world that we live in. I think of some who have had a failed marriage. It all started so well at the altar with God, with prayer, with blessing, and communion. What went wrong? Why did God allow this to happen? We prayed and we knew that we were marrying in the Lord. Friend, if you want to think that way, your mind will take you to the land of Lo-debar, the land of no pasture, the land of barrenness. It will destroy your life.

It isn't God. God comes to bless and God comes to heal, and God is here today to do just that. To bless and to do great and mighty things for His people who will allow Him to do these things for them. I ask you the question: Has some experience, some failure, some injustice crippled you? Now, if so, and you don't have that joy and that peace that God originally blessed you with, somehow it's been blocked off. Friend, come back to the Lord.

He stands ready to bless and to heal. "Ho, everyone that thirsteth," the Scripture says, "come to the water. Come, he that hath no money, come buy and eat." There's food and there's drink that He offers. There's questions that you'll never be able to answer, but there is a God that heals. A God that restores. There are things in life that we'll never understand this side of eternity, but we do know this: that Jesus abides. He is with us to bless us regardless of the mistakes.

Some will say, "Well, Pastor, I knew better." Of course you did. But you're human. You made a mistake. God's not going to hold you to that. God's going to forgive you. God's going to take you on, onward and upward in Him. This is what the Lord is going to do for you. The Scripture says, "My grace is sufficient for you." Did you hear what I just read? 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you." That word "sufficient" is in the present tense.

God is here now to do something beautiful. Listen, when you feel that you can't go any further, let the grace of God carry you. When you've tried with all your heart and it hasn't worked out, let the grace of God carry you. When you have tried and you have failed, let the grace of God carry you. God will carry you. Don't try to go back and figure it all out. No, look to the Lord, just lift up your eyes above. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace is when you abandon your crippled thinking for the presence of God. You're with me today? When you abandon your crippled mentality for the grace of God. Mephibosheth said to David, "Why do you search me out? Why do you want me?" And this is what he said. He said, "I'm a dead dog. I can't do anything. I'm crippled permanently." You know what David said? "I'm going to restore to you all the land that your grandfather had. I'm giving it back to you. I'm going to bring you to my table, and from this day forward, you're going to sit at my table."

No land of Lo-debar, no crippledness now. You're a prince. You're part of the kingdom of Israel. He brought him in. Listen, the Scripture says in the Song of Solomon chapter two, "He has taken me into His banqueting house." He has taken me in. I couldn't take myself in. I couldn't have found God if I had wanted to find God. But God found me. And God found you. And what did He do? He took us in to His banqueting room, and His banner over us is love.

That's what God does. Come on into the Father's house today. Come on in, don't stand on the outside and look in. Say, "Hey, I'm not going to be crippled anymore. I'm going to go forward in the Lord. I'm going to accept the gift that the Lord Jesus has for me. I'm going to be blessed." The Scripture says in Ephesians five, "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Listen to this, dear friend: God thought it, Christ bought it, the Bible taught it, the soul sought it, the spirit wrought it, the devil fought it, but I've got it! Amen! Praise be to the Lord. Amen. Let's bow our heads before God.

Father God, with joy and thanksgiving, we bow humbly before You to thank You for Your grace, Your love, Your mercy to us. Forgive us for going astray. Forgive us for our waywardness. Forgive us for our faulty thinking. Forgive us for our failures. Lord help us, You do not condemn us. Help us that we will not condemn ourselves or be crippled in our mentality, but we'll be yielded to You, receiving from You, blessed by You. We give You praise.

Announcer: If today's message strengthened your faith, we invite you to stand with The Healing Word through your prayers and your generous support. Every gift helps us take the gospel to more people who desperately need to hear that Jesus still saves. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.