The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: God's not going to say anything else. He's said everything that needs to be said. All I need to do now is just open my heart and ears and listen and receive.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word, a radio ministry of the Largo Community Church. Here's 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's take the Bible. This is the word of God, not the word of man. God doesn't change, His word doesn't change, and let His word change us. Pray after me. Father God, I thank you for your holy word, your unchangeable word, the word that gives light and life. Come to my heart, Holy Spirit. Breathe the word of God into my heart. Let me hear your voice. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'm going to look at just a few of the verses in Hebrews chapter one talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says, or Jesus Himself says, "I, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to me." And when He draws us to Himself, He draws us to light, to life, to resurrection. He said, "I'm drawing you to life, I'm drawing you to light, I'm drawing you out of the shadows into resurrection." And so today by the power of the Holy Spirit, let's look at His word and let the Holy Spirit lift Jesus up and draw us to Jesus.

We're going to follow along in the bulletin and on the screen, and we're going to look at verses one and the first part of verse two. God speaks through Jesus. Say those words: God speaks through Jesus. And the scripture says, "In the past, God spoke by our forefathers through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His son."

In the beginning, God gave us the Old Testament. The Old Testament was given to us by inspired prophets who were inspired by God. You see, we serve a speaking God, a God who is not silent but a God who talks to us. He has eyes to see our situation, He has ears to hear our prayers, He has lips to speak truth and light into our lives.

God is not a thought just to be thought about. He's not an idea just to be thought about. He is a person who does things, who hears us, who sees us, who blesses us, and who brings good into our lives. God is not just an idea. He is a Heavenly Father who brings us into a relationship with Himself.

But in the Old Testament, when the Old Testament prophets spoke, they never finished what they had to say. When the Old Testament was written, there was a particular revelation for a specific event or a specific time. And then there was another revelation for a specific time. But there was no finality there. It never went beyond until we reached the New Testament. And Jesus is the New Testament. He is the living word of God. He is the final voice of God.

Friend, God's not going to say anything else. He's said everything that needs to be said. All I need to do now is just open my heart and ears and listen and receive what has been said. It's now forever settled. Jesus spoke, it's closed. I don't need to look for another revelation. I've got the revelation. You have the revelation. God help us now just to do and believe and receive what we already have through Jesus Christ. But God speaks through Jesus His Son.

Now in the second part of verse two, God appointed Jesus the heir of all things. Put the scripture up quickly, please. All right, read that. "When He appointed him heir of all things." God did this for Jesus. Jesus now is receiving and will receive a great inheritance. But here's the thing. Listen to this. You and I get to share in that inheritance. Isn't that marvelous? What God gives to Jesus, Jesus turns around and shares it with us.

So now I need to find out what God has given Jesus, and I'll know what Jesus is sharing with us. It says in Romans 8:17 that you and I are heirs and co-heirs with Jesus—heirs and fellow heirs, heirs and joint heirs. Everything God gives to Jesus, you and I get it also. Isn't that marvelous? That should stagger the imagination. That does stagger my mind, that God is giving me through Jesus what God has given to Jesus.

Now, I don't have all the inheritance yet, neither do you, but we have part of it. Already you and I are receiving part of that inheritance. Now what's some of the inheritance we've received? We're going to receive the greater inheritance at a later time, but already you and I are beginning to receive part of the inheritance.

What's that inheritance? Prayer. Jesus prayed to the Father. Sometimes he would pray all night. Now Jesus turns to you, He turns to me and says, "Now because I have throne room privileges, you have throne room privileges. You can go into the presence of God just like I can go into the presence of God." That's part of the inheritance. Friend, come on, use your inheritance.

Another inheritance is overcoming power. Jesus was never defeated. He overcame every temptation, every power that came against Him, He overcame. Even death, when death brought Him down, He raised the third day. He overcame it. Now when Jesus comes into my heart, guess what comes into my heart? Overcoming power. Friend, you're only defeated when you allow yourself to be defeated, when you don't allow Jesus to be your champion. Jesus will be your champion. He will be your David. He will defeat Goliath. He will bring him down.

Now I have this power within me. You have this power within me. I need to begin to think about it. I need to reflect upon it. I need to give God praise because I have overcoming power. Now I may be cast down, but I'm never going to be defeated. I may be persecuted, but I'm not going to be destroyed. There's just going to be hard times in my life and yours. There were hard times in Jesus' life, but He overcame. And thank God I have Jesus. I have part of that inheritance right now. I've got an inheritance. You have an inheritance. Say, "Praise the Lord."

Now I have the joy of obedience. Now some find it very difficult to obey God in certain areas. That's why the lady that talked to me and really laid me low, that I'm just not with the times anymore, that God has changed, that these things that pertained to life and sex and all of the other, these things have changed. This is a different day. We're not living in the Old Testament, we're not living in the New Testament. Friend, it's time that we began to live in the Old and New Testament.

If we want to have a radiant life, a radiant marriage, radiant children, then let's live according to the word of God and it'll happen to us. But this overpowering, this wonderful joy, it's not onerous, it's not laborious to obey the Lord. Jesus obeyed God and He found great joy in obeying the Lord. And when I do something that I know is God's will, it makes me feel so good. I have that same desire to obey the Father that Jesus had. That I inherited from Jesus. That didn't come by my own will or my own desires; that came by Jesus.

And I have a resurrection hope. Now the people in the world don't have this. The unsaved don't have this hope. They don't know what's going to happen to them in this life, let alone what's going to happen to them in the life to come. But I have a hope, you have a hope. That's part of the inheritance that God has put there, and it burns brightly within me today.

And I have a heavenly home. I need to remind myself that there's a mansion there, a place where I'm going to be greatly comforted. See, I have all of these thoughts, these feelings, these powers, these sensations. They're in me all because Jesus has given them to me and to you also. God has appointed Jesus heir of all things, and Jesus now has appointed us heir of all things. And then it says in the second part of verse 2B, "And through whom He made the universe."

I think of our friends over at NASA, the men and women. They are awed by a planet that is so many hundreds of light years away, way out there, knowing that God, by the hands of Jesus, flung them all into space. And those very hands that flung the planets in the space, those very hands were outstretched and nailed to a cross. You talk about being loved with a love that knows no end, how much He loves us.

So you and I are going to have universal privileges. What NASA is trying to find out now, you and I are going to demonstrate it and find out someday when Jesus comes back and when we're resurrected to be with Him. But Jesus is also the radiance. Look at verse four. Put number four on the screen. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory. Now let's read the scripture, number four, together. "The son is the radiance of God's glory." The radiance. In Christ, all the majesty of the splendor of God is manifested. That's why I cannot ignore Jesus. He is the final revelation. He is the majesty of God. It is all in Him.

Now radiance, what does radiance mean? It means brightness, it means light, it means beauty. Now in the Son, in Jesus, if you want and I want brightness in my life, if I want beauty in my life, if I want light in my life, I go to Him who is the light of the world who now indwells me. I have to, just like you friend, I have to keep reminding myself. That's why we keep coming here.

Jesus knows we're going to forget very quickly and He'll say, "This do in remembrance of me." I have to keep reminding myself of who I am and the inheritance that I have in Christ. I'll forget it. It's so easy to forget and become distracted. But as I look to the Lord Jesus, I know this inheritance is there.

The scripture says in Psalm 34:5, "Those who look to Him are radiant." And it says they'll never have a shadow cast across their face. Those who look to Him. I think I need to say that one again. I need to quote that again. Those who look to Him, because not all of those are looking to Him. We may look to Him for a time or for a season, but friends, there are things that come into our life that will distract us and cause our focus to be drawn away from Him. And when that happens, you talk about a dead, down, sad, blue person. Oh, I've seen some of the saddest Christians in all my life. Haven't you seen a sad Christian? You've never been a sad Christian? Oh friend, you're not for real.

Now, how do we look to the Lord? Well, you know there's a little chorus in our hymnbook: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." Now, how do we do this? Let me get as practical as I can possibly get. How do we do this? The scripture tells us what we're to do, but it also tells us how to do it. How do you turn your eyes upon Jesus?

Well, you lift the thoughts of your heart, the imaginations of your mind to the Lord. Now, I'm going to use just a couple illustrations, but you're going to have to pick up on the illustration that fits your need. I'll pick up the one that a loved one dies. Naturally, I'm going to be sorrowful. I'm going to miss this loved one. I'm going to have memories of good times, good memories. But if I keep focusing on that lifeless, cold corpse, if I keep focusing on the casket, if I can only see a cemetery plot, I'm going to be so sad, sadder, sadder still.

But when I see that loved one or that friend, and I think to myself—here I'm now going to lift my eyes—I think of Him who is the resurrection and the life. I think of that loved one no longer sick, no longer ill, but now living in the presence of peace, the presence of comfort, the very presence of God. And I begin to think that Jesus is going to restore us someday, that there's going to be another day, another meeting time. That this loved one now is healthy and whole and experiencing youth again.

You see, I can look at death, I can look at coldness, I can look at casket, and I can be just broken and my life be dismantled. But when I believe in Jesus, when I look to Jesus, when I'm convinced that this is not all there is, and I begin to look and focus on what is mine in Christ, I can say, "I'm going to miss you, I'm going to love you forever, but I'm going to see you again all because of Jesus." This is my inheritance in Christ. Friend, you decide what you're going to look at, what you're going to think about, who you're going to lift your eyes to. It's you, it's me.

Okay, let me pick another one. How about our temporal needs? We have financial needs. We have various relationship needs. We have all of these needs that come into our life, and there's a variety of needs. People have come to me, and I'm so glad that they have, and they tell me, "Pastor, I've lost my job," or "I have been demoted, I still have a job but I've been demoted," or "I still have a job but my salary has been decreased and I don't deserve any of this but this is what's happened to me." And the sadness, the unfairness, the anger, the feelings of revenge, they start coming as long as I keep my eyes on what I have lost or what I am losing.

But when I think I have Jesus, I have Him. And as the Psalmist said, "I've never seen the children of God ever go hungry." When I think of Him who supplies all my need, and Jesus said that I'm to just take a lesson from the little birds, the little sparrows. They don't spin, they don't plant, they don't harvest, they don't store in barns, but your Father takes care of them. He takes care of them. And then He says, and then Jesus says, Jesus says, "You are of much more value than they."

"You're talking to me, Jesus? You're saying I'm more valuable than the sparrows and you're going to take care of the sparrows but I'm more valuable than they are?" And Jesus says, "You're much more value." Jesus says look at the lilies of the field. They're clothed with splendor and glory, more so than Solomon in all of his splendor and glory was clothed. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to minister to you. I'm going to keep you. Friend, you're not going to lose when you turn your eyes on Jesus. You're going to win. You're going to overcome. You're going to be victorious.

And then I meet a person, or I have it or you have a physical problem. Our health is wasting away, our life is wasting away. We're praying for healing. Now I believe in healing and we may get healed; Jesus may do that. And then, but even if He does, sooner or later my body's going to waste away again and I'm going to die. There's no way to get around it.

But I know this: that my body is only a temple, a temporary temple. And so when this life is over, I have a home in Heaven. He has prepared a place with many mansions. And that's for me. So I'm not going to look at "I've lost my youth, I've lost my health, I'm sick, I'm dying." No, I can keep looking at that and die earlier.

But if I say I've got a Savior, I've got another life that's beyond this life, I have an inheritance in the Lord Jesus. Friend, what I'm trying to say: you decide what you're going to look at. Look to Jesus. He's the Savior. So you decide. If you'll turn your eyes on Jesus, the things of earth then will grow strangely dim. Looking unto Jesus, the scripture says in Hebrews 12:2. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He not only started this thing, He's going to finish it. He's going to take you all the way to glory. His blessing is going to be upon you.

Now friend, listen to me. When the dog of hell begins to snarl at you, begins to pursue you, growl at you, show his teeth at you—that dog may be sickness, that dog may be finances, that dog may be broken relationships—that dog is there pursuing you. What to do? Run to the Savior. Run to the Shepherd. When a sheep is molested, the sheep go to the shepherd.

Friend, stop complaining about that job. Stop complaining about that brokenness, whatever it is in that relationship, that financial situation. Flee to Jesus. Flee to Jesus. You know that dog is afraid of Jesus? That dog's afraid of Jesus because Jesus is going to slay that dog with the breath of His mouth. The scripture says, "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Friend, there is help. There is help. But there's no help for a complainer or a whiner. There's no help. Don't tell your friends, don't get on the phone and say "poor me, look at what happened to me." Get on the phone and say "let's rejoice in the Lord, let's pray together, let's believe together." Where two or three are united together, come on, let's talk about Jesus. Let's focus on Jesus. Jesus is the Savior that keeps us.

And then number five: Jesus' word sustains all things. Sustaining all things. There is nothing that is excluded here in your life. Anything that comes against you, wherever that dog comes snarling and barking, you have a Savior that you can flee to. So then flee to Him, and He will caress you, He will bless you. You are valuable to God, valuable to God. There you have it. Amen.

Now look at the screen and read the conclusion. Look to Jesus and your life will become radiant with light and joy. He will sustain you and keep you by His powerful word. Is that true? Is that the word of God? Are you going to do it? Amen. Your life will be radiant. Let's bow before Him.

Father God, thank you for your radiant love, your radiant power. That love and power now radiates in my life and in the life of every believer. We give you praise and we give you glory. You have done, you are doing, and you will yet do great things as we trust your word, the word that Jesus speaks, the word that He speaks now will sustain us in every and in all situations. The word of God, that we will be people of the word, people of the book. We give you praise and we give you thanks.

Now friend, just bow with me now. Don't rush out real quick, but listen to what the Lord has said. Let it sink deep into your heart. Now think about it. What have you been talking about, complaining about? What has cast a shadow? If you keep looking at it, the shadow won't go.

But when you look at the light, the light of Him who is the light of the world, light will come, glory will come, brightness will come, beauty will come. The Lord will do this for you. So I'm going to wait for just a moment and let you pray and talk to the Lord about your particular situation today. This moment, you're turning your eyes on Jesus, away from the mundane to Jesus.

To you, oh God, we give praise, we give honor, we give glory. We commit ourselves to following you and doing your will and serving you. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In Jesus' name, let us all say amen. Amen.

Guest (Male): 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.