“FOUR REASONS FOR HEALING”
Text: Acts 3:11-21; 4:1-4
Introduction: This is a beautiful story of the healing
of the lame man who had been crippled all of
his life and he was over 40 years old.
Divine healing is fascinating. We live in a
world that is plagued with disease and afflic-
tion. People are always looking for a cure, an
antidote, or something to deliver them from
their suffering and pain. We have many
questions regarding healing.
1. Why does Jesus grant healing?
2. Why does Jesus perform miracles?
3. Why does He pour out His Spirit and grace?
4. Why is one of the gifts, healing?
This lame man was no stranger to the
multitudes that came to the temple. They were
used to seeing him begging for alms. But when
he was healed,the people rushed in and were
curious. They marveled, wondered, and were
surprised.
This lame man was now holding on to
Peter and John and you can’t blame him.
Simon Peter took this opportunity to preach.
He asked a question: “Why marvel ye at this?
or Why look ye so earnestly on us?” Before, he
said to the lame man, “Look on us” and the
lame man did. Now he says, “Why are you
looking at us?” He sees in their eyes a
look of amazement, and something that is
not suppose to be there. Something that a man
of God is not to welcome or encourage. This
man was not healed because of the apostles.
Peter said, “Why look ye so earnestly on us,
as though by our own power or holiness we
made this man to walk?”
It is a divine principle that
God does the healing according to His mercy
and grace. No human being has the power
within themselves to heal. There is no
transference of power or healing!
Preachers can lay hands on you,
breathe on you, touch you, and anoint you with
oil but it is God that does the healing. No
man has the power to heal himself. Nobody is
ever holy enough or good enough to cause anyone
to be healed. It is not by our power or
holiness.
So why does God heal? There are four
reasons that God gives to us in this text.
I. TO GLORIFY THE SON
A. Peter explains in verse 13 why this man was healed.
a. “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus”
b. This same Jesus that you delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate.
B. The healing of the lame man is a divine testimony of the death of Jesus.
a. You denied Him who is just and holy.
b. You killed the prince of life.
C. It is out of weakness that we find strength.
a. Out of darkness there is light!
b. God turns it all around and brings glory.
c. What was meant for evil, God means for good!
D. He has glorified His Son!
a. He suffered to reach out and bless people who are suffering.
b. He died to give life to people who are dead in the trespasses of their sins.
c. He bore the stripes on His body to bring healing to people who look to Him and believe.
E. This is what this is all about!
a. To glorify His Son, He has brought healing and life.
F. Every time there is a healing it brings glory to Jesus Christ!
a. Every time a soul is saved it brings glory unto our Lord.
b. Every time we pray for healing, it is not just for our deliverance but so that Jesus might be glorified.
G. He is not necessarily glorified in our failure.
a. It is His power, glory and strength that glorify Him!
H. The more healings there are, the more He receives glory!
a. The more people that are saved, the more He gets glory!
b. The more people that are delivered the more He gets the glory.
c. The more works there are of the Spirit, the more He gets the glory.
I. When Paul and Barnabas were at Lystra, the people wanted to offer sacrifice to them.
a. They thought they were gods since a lame man there had been healed.
b. Anyone who is used of god must be very careful not to take the credit or receive the glory for what God has done.
c. They must bow at the feet of the Master and give Him all the glory.
J. Jesus cares about us!
a. He gets glory when deliverance comes and He manifests Himself.
K. We need a revival of Divine Healing!
a. To glorify God!
b. Until He comes down with healing in His wings!
c. Until mercies are falling everywhere!
L. Healing comes to glorify the Son!
II. BECAUSE OF THE USE OF THE NAME OF JESUS IN FAITH
A. Vs. 16 “And His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong”
a. His name is the only name!
b. A name so powerful that every knee shall bow before it and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father.
c. The recognition of the name of Jesus glorifies the Father.
B. There is authority in His name!
a. Not just a formula!
b. All power and authority is in His name!
c. Sickness, disease, and demons must respond to His name.
C. God backs up His Word!
a. That’s why He heals!
b. The authority of the name of Jesus!
c. When there is healing, somebody has used the authority of the name of Jesus.
D. What power there is in His name!
1. James 5:14-15 “Is any sick among you? 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: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up”
2. Acts 4:12 “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”
3. Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”
E. Healing comes because of the use of the Name of Jesus in faith!
III. TO LEAD PEOPLE TO THE TRUTH AND REPENTANCE
A. Peter said, “When you killed Him, you didn’t know what you were doing!”
a. Vs. 17 “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your leaders”
B. If they had known what they were doing it would have been different.
a. But God used you to fulfill the words of the prophets.
C. They were like pawns that had been used and discarded.
a. God sometimes chooses to use an enemy of the church and God’s people to suit His own purpose, whether they know it or not!
D. Satan has run a hard race at times thinking that he was going to win.
a. All the time, God was just using him to show him up for what he is and to bring a glorious victory and triumph into the lives of His people.
E. He has used kings!
a. Habakuk wrestled with God, questioning Him because he couldn’t understand why God allowed the Caldeans to beat up on His people.
b. God told Habakuk, “I’m doing a work that you can’t understand and you wouldn’t believe”
c. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was so great but God was moving him around like a checker on a checker board, and he didn’t even know it.
F. Vs. 19 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
G. God sends healing, not just to bless you and me, but he wants to get some mileage out of what He is doing.
a. He wants us to share it with others.
b. He wants others to be convicted and repent of their sins and turn to Him!
ILLUSTRATION:
Milton Green owned a carpet cleaning company in Cleveland, Tennessee. He was a good born-again Baptist. One day he got sick and went to the doctor. After running many tests, the doctor told him the bad news: “Your blood veins are rotten as old wood. You have an incurable disease and those veins could rupture at any time and you would bleed to death internally.”
Milton was only in his forties and he was wondering how this could be. He was driving home, depressed but remembered reading something in the Bible about healing. He got home and started searching through his Bible for every scripture that he could find on healing. He came to the book of James and read: “If there be any sick among you 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: And the pray of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up”
He went to the store and bought a bottle of oil and went to the church where he was a member and told his pastor to call the staff in. He told them that he was a dying man but the Word of God says to call for the elders and to have them to anoint you and pray. He said, “I’m a tithe paying member in good standing and I want you to do this” But the pastor said, “I’m sorry, we don’t believe that and we won’t do that”
Milton left even more discouraged but the decided that he would round up some of his Christian friends and have them to come to his boat for a meal. He did this and then told them that he was dying. He told them that he wanted them to anoint him with oil and to pray for him and they did.
God healed Milton Green. He went back to the doctor and they couldn’t find a thing wrong with him. He told the doctor, “I knew that you wouldn’t find anything, I just wanted you to confirm it.” The doctor said, “I don’t know what has happened but you have a brand new circulatory system”
But that is not the end of the story. He got to thinking that if his preacher could be wrong about divine healing, he might be wrong about some other things. He got to reading about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and got excited. He believed the Word of God and he received the Holy Ghost.
Churches began to invite him to come and give his testimony. He went to the 1st Baptist Church in Jeffersonville, Indiana to testify. Revival broke out that lasted for 3 months. The sick were healed, devils were cast out and Baptist were baptized in the Holy Ghost.
He moved to Texas and there he met James Robison, the number one evangelist in the Baptist church. James Robison tells how Milton Green laid hands on him and delivered him from a spirit of lust. Milton Green then instructed this great evangelist on receiving the Holy Ghost. James Robison received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and came out of there praying for the sick, rejoicing in the Lord, and worshipping and shouting.
H. God had a purpose in healing Milton Green.
a. When God sends healing, He wants us to testify and when we testify, hard-hearted sinners break down as they see the power of God and the hand of the Lord.
I. When we come into the presence of a miracle working God, it has a powerful effect.
J. Healing comes to lead people to the truth and to repentance.
IV. IT POINTS PEOPLE TO THE LORD AND THE FINAL RESURRECTION AND RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS
A. Vs. 20-21 “And He shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began”
B. Every time a person is healed, it is a testimony and witness to the fact that the Lord is going to restore all things into a righteous, holy, and perfect order.
a. Everything that got out of order because of the curse will get set in order.
b. Everything contaminated will be cleansed.
c. Everything evil will be purged!
C. If God can do the work of creation in this man’s life, who had never walked, think what He can do when He comes back in power and glory!
a. If just by faith in His name brings healing here…
b. If just a group of saints can pray and God answers and moves….
c. What WILL happen when He comes in clouds of glory through the air to establish His kingdom?
d. The RESTORATION of all things!
D. God does so many things now that points to what He’s going to do for us in the future.
a. We see through a glass darkly.
b. We are limited in our vision.
E. He has given us the Holy Ghost, which is the guarantee, the surety, the earnest of our inheritance.
a. It is not only a foretaste but proof!
b. When you live in the power of the Holy Ghost, you have the day by day witness of the kingdom, power and glory that is coming.
c. It is a small taste of what God has in store for us when this life is over.
F. It is a witness of the restoration acts He will perform when he gets it all straight!
a. No deformities!
No sickness, disease or
dying!
No tears or heartache!
b. The lion and the lamb will lie down together and a child shall lead them.
c. A baby will play by the nest of a snake and not be harmed.
d. Bears will eat straw like an ox.
e. Streams will burst forth in the desert.
G. Simon Peter and all the apostles included in their writings, the coming of Jesus Christ in power and glory.
H. We are exposed everyday to a deluge of bad news!
a. The air we breathe is poisoning us.
b. The food we eat causes cancer.
c. The water we drink causes disease.
I. When He comes it will all be purged, cleansed, and the curse will be removed!
a. No more corruption or chaos!
b. Only purity and the glory of God.
Conclusion: I’m looking for a city
that hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. We
have no continuing city here
but we seek one to come.
Why does healing come?
1. To Glorify the Son
2. The Name of Jesus in faith
3. To lead to truth and repentance
4. To point people to the Lord and the final resurrection and restoration of all things.
