The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: He will do much more than we can ever ask or think. He will bless you with a blessing that will just blow your mind. That's what the Lord will do.

Guest (Male): Psalm 107 verse 20: He sent His word and healed them. Welcome to The Healing Word, a radio ministry of the Largo Community Church. 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: Let Jesus amaze you. He does some of the most amazing things, just some of the most amazing things. Has He done something amazing for you just recently?

Well, He will this morning, and I'm believing Him to do that for you and me. Something amazing, just blow our minds completely beyond all understanding. The gift is going to be so beautiful and so wonderful. But notice how this begins. We're going to Chapter 2, verse 1.

Now notice, it says "A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home." Now, Capernaum was His headquarters. That's where Jesus' staying place was. That's where He worked out of there, and His residence was thought to have been in Peter's house.

But notice, a few days later. What happened? Jesus taught the word in the synagogue. The disciples heard it, their faith was increased. They leave the synagogue, they go back to Peter's house where they were all staying at that time.

Peter's mother-in-law was sick with a fever. The disciples had never seen a physical miracle before. Friend, you don't have to have seen it before before you see it the first time. You may never have seen a miracle, but I'm believing you're going to see one, feel one, experience one today. I really truly believe that.

Well, the disciples said Peter's mother-in-law was sick, and they took Jesus into the room. He took her by the hand, the fever left her, she got up, she was well, she began to serve them. Well, the town heard about it. The word got out. People started coming. They just flocked around the house. Jesus began to heal the sick, and He continued to do that beyond sunset.

Finally, He told them, I guess, go home, it's over, you've got to get some rest. And they all went home and He went up into the hills to pray, and He prayed there possibly all night because in the morning, when the disciples went to look for Jesus, they couldn't find Him, and they found Him up in the hills praying.

And they said, "The whole town has come out. Not only the people who were here yesterday, but they brought all their friends, and they're just mobbed around the house. The house is just full of people all around the house." And this is what Jesus said to them: "Let us go somewhere else to a nearby village so I can preach there also. That is why I came. I came to tell people about God and God's love, His forgiveness and His mercy."

Well, they left. They went to some of the nearby towns. Somewhere along the way, there was a leper that came to Him. And the leper said, "If you're willing, you can make me whole, you can make me clean." Jesus said, "I'm willing," made him clean, but Jesus said, "Now don't you go tell anybody about this. Just keep it to yourself for just a little while."

But he went out and just blabbed it everywhere. Now the reason Jesus told him to keep it to himself was Jesus knew that if he told this miracle, there'd be so many people that would come because they would want to see a miracle worker. They weren't coming to see a Messiah, they were not coming to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

They were coming to see a magician, somebody that pulls rabbits out of hats. They were coming to see a celebrity, somebody with Hollywood status. That's what they were, that's why Jesus said, "Be quiet until you know who I am. You're going to put me forth as a Santa Claus who just gives out gifts, a wish list. I'm not that. I'm the Messiah."

And this is why Jesus was holding them down, holding this leper down. But the leper went out and told everybody. Well, here it says, "A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, He came home." He went away, hoping that this enthusiasm about miracles would subside so that He could really tell the people, "I am the prophesied Messiah. I want you to know who I am."

But here come all the people, flocking around the house. There wasn't any room for anybody to even get near the house, let alone even get in the house. But it says in verse 2, "So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, but He preached the word to them. He preached the word to them." Friend, it's the word of God that we must hear, we must receive. It is the word of God.

And I'm so concerned, I really am. I'm your pastor. But there are people that are actually meddling with the word of God today. They're saying it isn't what it used to mean. Society has changed and we have to adapt the word to society. In other words, society now is speaking, society now is the god, society. And so we have to go with culture.

Friend, the word of God doesn't change. You know why it doesn't change? If the word of God changes, then Jesus changes. Jesus is the word of God, and the word of God is forever settled in heaven. Now, no matter what the government says, what Congress says, what the state says, it's what the Bible says. It's the word of God.

And it's the word of God that brings life. It's the word of God that brings light. It's not the philosophies of men. Men are going to die. Some of these men are putting themselves, and women, above the authority of the word. But the word of God stands forever and we must be disciples of the word.

Jesus said, "So I can preach the word there also. That is why I came," to preach the infallible, inerrant, unchanging word of God. This is what He said: "We are living in dangerous times." God said if anybody adds to the word of God, the plagues will be added to their life. If anyone takes away from the word of God, their name will be taken out of the book of life.

Friend, you don't mess with the word of God. Now I've been reading the posts like you have been reading the posts, and we see some great changes going on. But God is the same. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the Christ.

And this leper was misrepresenting Jesus, and this is what Jesus told the leper: "Just be quiet. Let me tell the people who I am so I can give them the very best that God has for them." Friend, no wonder our country and this world is in a mess like it is. Too long we've been listening to the philosophies of men and to a society that culture has so influenced and has so changed.

And then we're saying, "God, why don't you come and help us?" God said, "You're not listening to me, why should I listen to you? You're changing my word, you're changing my message." But it hasn't changed, no matter what they say. It's still the truth, isn't it? It's still the truth. It's still the word of God.

Well, there were so many people that gathered around the house of Peter that there wasn't room enough to receive those people. And then comes now, this is the story in the Bible that amuses me the most. I don't know how else to put it, but every time I read it, I have to smile.

And if I've ever seen a miracle or heard a miracle or could have seen one of the miracles of the New Testament, this would have been the one that I would have liked to have been there to see. I think Norman Rockwell could have done a job on this one, too.

Here come four fellows, four men, with another man, a fifth man on a cot. They were carrying him. The man on the cot was paralyzed. He couldn't help himself. But he had four good friends who were real truly men, friends, buddies. Friend, the best friend you'll ever have is the friend that leads you to Jesus. The best friend you ever have is the person that will tell you the truth about the word of God.

These men believed. I don't know where they heard, but they believed. That man on the cot believed also, and they came bringing him to Jesus. Now, also, if I said if you have a best friend, that best friend will lead you to Jesus. But conversely, if you are somebody's best friend, you will lead that friend of yours to Jesus.

There are people who are needing saved, needing their sins forgiven, needing to get away from their condemnation and their feelings of guilt, and you know the truth how it can be done. Don't be silent about it now. Tell it, share it, live the life before them, and when you have an opportunity, share with them the opportunity.

I've been praying for my community that I'm living in. Crena and I have prayer in the morning, and we've been praying for the community that God would open doors and give us opportunity to speak to people, to get them ready so that they will open the door to us so that we can tell them about Jesus.

We've had just very brief opportunities, but I'm looking forward to having more opportunities because I want to truly be their friend. I want to bring them to Jesus if I can, and God's going to help me to do that. So you be a friend and tell somebody about Jesus and help them. You'll never help them more so than at that time.

Now look at verse 5. It says when they let down that man, verse 5 says, "When Jesus saw their faith." Now, after a while, come on read that with me. Say it, read it: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" Faith after a while can be seen. You've got to put it out there where the Lord can see it, where the Lord can hear it.

You've got to consistently pray. After a while, God says, "That's a believing man. That's a persistent man. That's a persistent woman. That's a believing woman. They're sincere. I'm going to answer their prayer." And the prayer answer comes through. The scripture says, "When Jesus saw their faith."

James 2:20 says, "Faith without works is dead." Didn't it say that? Faith without works is dead. Friend, if you don't pray about it or have faith enough to pray about it and can keep on praying about it, it might not happen. Eighteen years Aldo kept bringing this young man to church. Eighteen years. And he wanted to come. Isn't that great?

Faith hangs in there. Faith doesn't give up. Faith doesn't quit. Faith keeps knocking, faith keeps asking, faith keeps seeking. Keep on, keep on, keep on, because God is hearing that prayer, and when the time is right, God's going to come through and bless you and answer that prayer that you have.

James also says, "Show me your faith. I want to see it." Those men were showing Jesus their faith. There comes their friend down right in the front of Jesus, and when Jesus saw their faith. Oh, if I could just get that into you and me today. When Jesus saw their faith, when Jesus saw their faith. Friend, act faithfully, live faithfully, let God see your faithful living, and then God's going to hear that faithful prayer.

When Jesus saw their faith. Faith, we sing about it, we talk about it, we preach about it, but after a while, faith has to become more than verbal. It's got to become a life. It's got to become action. It's because you and your relationship with the Lord.

Look what happened. Jesus responds to their faith. Look at verse 5. Can we put verse 5 up again? Can we see that again? All right. "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" Now the man certainly needed healing. He was paralyzed. That meant he couldn't move. He was paralyzed.

But he had some friends that got him to church anyway. Some friends who got him to Jesus. He couldn't get himself there, but he had some true, true godly friends who got him to the presence of Jesus. And the very first thing Jesus said to that man: "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

Now we all have a past. And sometimes our friends that you know, you know some people who are unhappy, unhappy in their marriage, unhappy as parents, unhappy as children, you know people like that. You may be here, you're like that right here now. But I want to tell you there's somebody that can change things and make things so much different.

It's Jesus is His name. Can you say Jesus? Jesus is His name. And He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Now that's the greatest gift of all gifts. Not healing, not the physical miracle. Now, a physical miracle is a miracle indeed, and Jesus is a miracle worker and He answers prayer and He heals sick bodies.

But after a while, the body's going to get sick again, and in a few years, the body is going to grow old, and no matter how many times the body is healed, it's appointed unto man once to die. That body's going to die. But inside that body is a soul that's going to live forever. It will never die.

And when Jesus said, "Your sins are forgiven you," Jesus gave him an eternal gift. Now the giving of the miracle of healing was only temporary. The man's going to end up dying. He did die. That's been 2,000 years ago, he's been dead a long, long time. But his soul is with God. He's more alive now than he was when he was here than the day when he came down before Jesus and Jesus healed him.

So when Jesus gives the gift, He gives the best gift, the lasting gift, the eternal gift. He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Everything in the past is wiped out. Clean slate. A new beginning. Isn't that a gift? Where can you get a gift like that? Have a clean slate, everything new. No place, only Jesus.

Only Jesus. And that's the gift that Jesus gives, that's the greatest of all gifts. Oh, I think of that song I heard it so many years ago. "Now they are gone, gone evermore, into the sea and far from the shore. No more remembered, hidden each one. Oh, how I praise Him, my sins are all gone."

Are your sins gone? Have you confessed them? Have you repented of them? Then they're gone. And He's cast them into a place where He'll never see them or remember them against you again. But if you haven't confessed your sins to the Lord, then your sins are still in your heart.

But there is Jesus who can get to that hidden place inside you where no one no physician, no surgeon, no one can touch that place but the great physician. And He will go in there and He will find that place where that sin is lurking, where that cancer is eating the happiness and joy out of your life, and Jesus will extract it.

He'll take it away. When you confess it, it's gone. Confess another one, it's gone. Confess again, it's gone. And when you can't think of any more, just thank Him for cleansing you from all your sin, and they're all gone, and you're a new person in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if you make a mistake along the way and you sin again, not because you want to, but because you're human, then confess that to Him. He's a Savior that understands that we're human, that we're in the flesh. He's not going to excuse it, He forgives. He never excuses sin, He always forgives. He'll put you right back in that relationship with the Lord and you can go on with the prayers that you need to pray and He'll answer those prayers.

I read this story some time ago. It happened in 1988. This woman was a novelist and she told it on television, on a popular television show. She wasn't a Christian. You know there are some people who are not Christians who know the joy, happiness, and forgiveness of sins that God gives to Christians.

But because they are of another faith or another religion, somehow their mind is twisted that they'll still hang on to that religion instead of turning to Jesus and finding that peace that passeth all understanding. Well, this lady, not of the Christian faith, a good lady, popular lady, well-liked in America, and this is what she said.

I couldn't believe it. She said, "The thing I admire most about Christians, the things I admire most about you Christians is your forgiveness. I don't have anybody to forgive me." And that's how she died. Friend, tell me something. Why are people ready to die in their sin instead of confessing it and repenting of it and turning to the Lord and being forgiven of it?

She would rather hold on to her faith, that non-Christian faith, knowing that there's no one to forgive her, and she confessed it. "You Christians have somebody to forgive you, but I don't have anybody to forgive me." But she did, but she wouldn't turn to Him.

Friend, what's holding some of us back today? We're not locked into a situation. Jesus opens the prison houses and lets us go free and makes new people out of us. This is the gift that He gives to all who will call upon Him. So when Jesus said to this man, "Son, your sins are forgiven you," that was the greatest gift that Jesus could possibly give to that man.

Now there were some people there, some scribes that said, "Oh, who can forgive sins but God only?" Well, they were right. That one time the scribes were right. No one can forgive sins but God. And here was the incarnate God, Jesus, standing right there. And the title "Son of Man" emerges at that time.

Who can forgive sins? And Jesus speaks of Himself as the Son of Man. Simply meaning He is the one who leaves heaven, comes to earth, takes hold of man, reaches up and takes hold of God, and brings the two of us together, the Son of Man.

This is Jesus dying on the cross and doing everything that heaven can possibly inform Him to get you and me into the kingdom of God, into the throne of grace. Friends, even God can't think of anything else to do to help us. And that's why Jesus said, "I've got to preach the word. I've got to tell the word."

Forgiveness is the most important thing of living. And here it is, free, absolutely free, you can't earn it, you can't buy it. It's free to all who will call upon Jesus. Today, He's blessed us with forgiveness if we'll call upon Him and ask Him, He'll help us.

And then look at verse 11. Jesus said to the man, "I tell you, get up, take up your mat and go home." Now friend, it just might be, listen to me for just a minute, I'm closing now, it just might be that your prayer haven't been answered because you've been hiding a sin, you've been putting a blanket over it, you've been covering it, you've been pushing it out of your mind.

Notice the healing came after the sin was forgiven. So ask the Lord, is there something that's holding my prayer back? Is there a sin that I need to confess and repent of? You may not have indulged in that sin for years, but you have not yet confessed it and turned from it.

So I don't know, I'm just putting this out. But I want you to know the order: the Lord dealt with the sin question first, and secondly He dealt with the miracle of the physical healing second. Then He says to the man, "I tell you, get up, take up your mat and go home."

And the man got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God saying, "We have never seen anything like it." It amazed everyone. The word "amaze" simply means out of your mind.

He will do much more than we can ever ask or think. He will bless you with a blessing that will just blow your mind. That's what the Lord will do for those who come clean with Him and who are honest with Him. He's there to bless. They were amazed.

That's why I said in the beginning of the service: let God amaze you today. Let God do something that'll just take you out of your mind and will astonish you beyond words to describe or explain. This is what Jesus does. This is what He wants to do. This is what He will do.

I don't know what else to say. I'm going to have to stop the sermon. I think I've repeated myself several times already. This is the word of God that never changes, and this is the merciful and Savior who loves us and His love will never change. He loves you, friend.

Guest (Male): If today's message has blessed you and strengthened your faith in God, would you consider partnering with Pastor Morris and supporting The Healing Word ministry with your prayers and donating to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ reaching thousands? Go to thehealingword.com and click the donate button to pledge your support. And remember, the faith-building message you heard today is our gift to you. Your donation is your gift to God. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.