Healing and Suffering: Thy Will be done

0:00:01 - Speaker 1 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 0:00:10 - Speaker 2 Hey, listen, does God always heal? What about healing and suffering? And what about? Thy will be done. Stay tuned. 0:00:21 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying Amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 0:00:49 - Speaker 2 Well, everybody, we're going to be talking about healing today. Healing, it's a big topic, let's be honest. It's always been a big topic, ever since Adam and Eve stumbled in the garden. Healing has been an important issue and it's certainly something that the pagan universe, the pagan religions of the world, have always sought to do. All kinds of incantations, there's been the North American Indian witch doctor type, shaman the wise man, I mean, it just goes by all kinds of players, all kinds of things whereby man seeks healing. And of course we do, because, number one, we live in a fallen world and sickness and death is part of this fallen world. But glory be to the Lord, jesus Christ right, who has come to take care of business. And first, business was to die on the cross for our sins. Always, first things first, and then after that, the healing, not only of individuals but of nations and of the world. Ultimately and as final, in culminating act of total redemption which will transpire in eternity itself. That's going to be a glorious moment. The Bible calls it the Book of Revelation, I believe, or it could be Peter. I'm sorry I'm skipping a beat here, but it's called the day of God. We've heard about the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, the day of Christ. But the day of God is a reference to when all physical things as we know it end and eternity begins. It's one day, it's the day of God and it's forever. So let's talk about healing. First of all, let me lay some groundwork to where I'm at. I think that's a fair thing to say. I think everybody should issue their disclosure. Is that the right word? The last gamer is I believe in the Bible from cover to cover. I even believe in things in the Bible that I don't understand. But the Bible says it, and so because I don't understand, it doesn't make it true or false. I believe it because God says it. And then the second thing is I believe it because God repeats it in Scripture. It's not that he has to. God can say things once and that is done in the Scriptures. But when you have the opportunity of reading the Bible and God just repeatedly does or says things I need a healing of my tongue says things. That just strengthens the argument. So first things first. Let's just dive into this, because the controversy of healing number one should not be a controversy. Do you think God wrote about healing in the Bible to make it a controversy. The only controversy I see healing justified in being a controversy is when there's Pharisees, unbelievers, who hate the fact that God moves and God heals and God does a great work to the glory of Jesus, because the Bible tells us that they were very jealous of him. So that's the only controversy that I think should exist regarding the issue of healing. When it comes to those of us who are watch believers, I need to find out what kind of believer are you? Because there are believers that follow Jesus as long as the gold dust is falling on their head, it's a sunny day, it's 75 degrees and their Vespa works. Then God is great and awesome and all-powerful and is amazing. And then there are those who and I've known them who have suffered unspeakable pain and injury from disease and cancer and things like that, who, by the way, in my life have been the most powerful Christians I have ever experienced. So I have a biblical base to what I'm gonna talk about. At the same time as, of course, the topic demands, there's a temptation for emotion to get involved, because I'll mention one person and look, she's in heaven now, but for decades. A friend of ours, terry Vella at Calvary Chapel Coast of Mesa, suffered unspeakable sufferings and pain. But if anyone's watching this podcast and they know they knew Terry Vella they knew that she was one of, if not the most godly woman that they had ever met. No one prayed more, no one exhibited more joy, no one was thankful more. Terry has been an amazing example of how to suffer. But you might say, well, jack, that's terrible. She didn't have enough faith because she should have been healed. I understand you saying that, but you need to know why you're saying that. And the reason why you're saying that or you believe that is because you have believed and you are believing in heresy. That is heretical doctrine. Does God heal? Yes. Are there times when God chooses not to heal? Yes. Is God sovereign? Yes. Does God do what we tell him to do? No, prayer and even prayer for healing is to be done in faith, believing that God has the power to heal, thanking him for what he does. And all of it culminates in are you ready for it? Are you ready Really? Are you ready for it? Because a third grader knows this Be it according to thy will, oh God, thy will be done. That's the number one thing where the faith community often struggles with. They won't even mention this part of Thy will be done. So God does heal. God heals supernaturally. I know there's world-renowned pastors who will say, jack, you're wrong, because I'm a world-renowned pastor and I know better. That's too bad. I know that God heals and Jesus gets the glory. Let's jump into some of these and you can study them for your own edification. John chapter nine, verses one through five. John chapter, nine, verses one through five. Jesus is, of course, ministering Number one, always preaching the gospel, always preaching the gospel first and then ministering among the sick. And the Bible tells us that there was a man who was blind and Jesus healed him of him being blind. And, of course, the Pharisees are always following Jesus Black robes, black tablets, black hearts, just wicked little spiritual nincompoops Always trying to find fault. And those people exist today, by the way. But the Bible says that they hated Jesus for his miracles and for declaring that he was God. They wanted to stone him to death. So Jesus encounters this man and he opens his eyes. Jesus heals the man of blindness, and so the disciples and others have been conditioned to think wow, regarding this guy that's blind. Who sinned that he's blind? Is it him, or is it his mom and dad Notice this? Wow, the guy's blind. He must be a really bad sinner, right? Or his parents are really messed up. And Jesus said he didn't sin, nor did his parents sin to bring about this blindness. But this man is blind, for the glory of God. I don't understand how God does that, but I know this. I know that God doesn't dwell in my time frame of things. Now Jesus enters this world that's broken and ravaged by sin and the results of sin, and he comes in and he brings the kingdom. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, was exposing the kingdom of God's power to the power of darkness and of wickedness and of hurt, pain, sin, sorrow and illness. Jesus says the man was born blind, that for this moment the glory of God would be displayed. All right, okay. Why do some people have Down syndrome children? I don't know, but it's for the glory of God. If my left arm falls off, I don't understand that, but I know this, it's going to be for the glory of God. I don't understand that. It takes a lot of faith to understand that you want to talk about faith. It takes a lot of faith to accept from God something that is not going your way. Second Peter chapter, two verses, one through three. Second Peter two verses, one through three. Tells us that in the last days in fact it was true back in Peter's day and it's going to become even more true in our day that there will be those who will be manipulated by Satan. They're going to do signs and wonders and they're going to be involved in the ministry, because the bottom line is that their hearts are greedy. They are greedy and they will manipulate people for greed. Notice, by the way, notice this that many of the healing ministry people number one schedule their schedule, their healings, which I find incredibly hilarious. Hey, make sure you join us in two months. We're going to be at the Ding Dong Auditorium and we're going to be healing service. Really, if God heals, it's going to be His sovereign choice, but you cannot schedule a revival. You can't schedule a salvation. You can't schedule a healing. This would rob God of His sovereignty. Okay, now get to some of these other verses that you're already starting to get all sweaty about and upset about. But just know this In the last days, greed is going to be the motive for people to preach bogus messages about Christ and poor sermons, but they're going to titillate and tantalize people by demonic activity. But the bottom line for the human is greed. I want to make money. Notice how many of these really super duper rich people that are in the ministry traffic around the healing circuit, but notice how they don't go where there's no money. You don't see them in the dust fields of Ethiopia or in Uganda or Nigeria. You don't see them in the impoverished regions of Vietnam, do you? You want to know why God's not healing in those countries? Because there's no money in it for the greedy guy. I was being sarcastic. I know God heals in those terrible places, but the greedy guy, he doesn't want to go there Because there's not enough money in it for him. So that's often the case, sad to say. I'm not going to mention the name. I don't want to get sued because he's got way more money than we do and he could sue the snot out of us. But I knew somebody who at this church the church that I've honored a pastor, his main sound and lighting director for his international tours, went to our church and told me about the things that would go on and the things that would be the prerequisite for scheduling where a healing would take place and money was always the first consideration. Here's one of my favorites of all time because it happened to me Mark, chapter 7, verses 31 to 37. Mark 7, 31 to 37 is a situation there where this guy who's got some very good friends, bring him to Jesus. You kind of get the feeling the guy doesn't want to go anywhere, and I get it. But they bring him to Jesus and Jesus takes the young man I assume he's a young man, doesn't say Jesus takes the man and takes him off to the side and away from the people and Jesus does a series of actions that are quite remarkable. Because the man cannot speak. He can only make what the Bible says in the Greek language very strange sounds. So he can't hear and he can't speak. Think about how embarrassing that is. I stuttered terribly up until like about the age of 23, I think it was. So I understand the embarrassment of all of that. It was bad. I didn't stutter sometimes, I stuttered all the time. Very embarrassing, so you'd rather avoid people and you'd rather not say anything at all. So Jesus spits on his fingers. Jesus grabs this man's tongue Okay. Then Jesus puts his fingers in the man's ears, looks up to heaven sighs the word in Greek as he heaves his chest with grief and, looking up to heaven, says Epaphratha, be open, be loosed. Maybe the man read his lips, because Jesus spoke Aramaic and the Bible says that immediately the man could hear and he could speak plainly. The Bible says Jesus told him don't tell anybody, I just did this miracle, just keep this between us. And the man went probably went anything you say and then took off and was shouting and telling everybody what had happened. And the Bible says the more the man was told not to say anything, the more he proclaimed it. The conclusion of the crowd was Jesus does all things well. Isn't that beautiful? I find that gorgeous, beautiful, thrilling. And he did that to me one night On one night on Leto Island in Newport Beach, california. God touched my tongue and healed me in a second. It was awesome. He does all things well. Matthew 13, verses 57 and 58. The Bible tells us that Jesus could not do any miracles in his hometown of Nazareth because the people did not have faith in him. They didn't believe in him, and so he wanted to do miracles there, but the people didn't believe in him. I find that interesting. Jesus doesn't just roll into town and do anything against the will of people. Notice there are people that Jesus healed who had fears and doubts. Remember he even said to many only believe. So that is a very, very important thing. But know this that if God just rolls into town and performs healings, then what about his own town of Nazareth, where he said he couldn't heal there because of unbelief? You need to process that, you need to think that, you need to file that in your doctrine of healing. Again, I believe God heals and I've seen God heal. I remember praying for a woman by the name of Judy and she had breast cancer. I didn't know that she was in the crowd. It was a Wednesday night, we were having an afterglow service and I just felt led by God to say this, and so I had to exercise this in faith because I didn't know. There's a couple thousand people sitting there quiet. We're just waiting upon the Lord. And I said this might apply to somebody here if I'm hearing from God. But this thought just entered my head and the Lord is desiring to heal you right now of breast cancer. And I made that statement. And I found out on Sunday, the following Sunday, that Judy came up to me crying at church. She's crying and she said you won't believe what happened on Wednesday night. When you said what you said, I felt my right breast. It felt like there was a blow torch of fire on my right breast that's where I have the cancer and I felt like I caught fire. And then I went to the doctor, to my scheduled appointment on Tuesday, and the cancer is completely gone, pastor Jack, I was healed. Hey, that's awesome. And we gave God the glory. I believe that. I believe that Does God always heal? He doesn't always heal, but he does according to His will and it's always good. When you go to Israel, there's the pools of Bethesda in John, chapter 5, verses 1 through 8. And at the pools of Bethesda is an amazing situation that takes place and you can read about it in detail. But the Jews believe that an angel or angels descended from heaven and stirred up the pool, and when the water began to move the people, the infirm, the sick, those that are in need of healing, they would gather around the pool and wait and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait and wait. And there was no pattern or consistency to this. But their belief was when the angel stirs up the water. The first guy in wins the prize, and the prize was healing. Really a weird thinking, right, but that's what they believed. And so Jesus walks by and he says to this guy that's crippled and he's got his little bed, his little homeless mat kind of a thing right. Jesus says do you want to be healed? And the guy's probably looking at Jesus like what are you crazy? Of course I do. And Jesus tells him why don't you stand up? And he said well, I can't get healed because I start making my way to the water when the angel moves the water. So I start making my way there and people cut in front of me, they take cuts and I never make it in time. Can you get me to the water? And Jesus tells him I want you to take up your bed and walk. And the man begins to stand up and he walks and of course the Pharisees are foaming at the mouth, freaking out. They're just all upset about this. And he's healed. But here's a great, here's a great challenge that was pointed out to me. The Bible says there were a multitude gathered around the pool, but Jesus only healed one guy. How come? That was his will. I don't understand it. I don't know why he didn't walk around and clear the entire area out. By the way, those of you who believe that God always heals and has to heal because you say so, then why are you sitting down right now watching this podcast? Why aren't you at your local children's hospital raising kids from sickness? Why aren't you down at the old folks home praying over all those people and raising them up? Mark, chapter 16, verses 15 through 18,. You got to remember that when Jesus launched the kingdom of God this is the order in which it goes the gospel is preached and then people were healed or the gifts were manifested. Always in that order the gospel is preached, people are saved, and then signs or miracles follow the preaching of the gospel, always in that order. By the way, that is still happening today in what we call the unknown parts of the world. Now, obviously, they're known because they're missionaries that are sent there, but we have missionaries in some countries. We have missionaries in many countries, but I was just told not too long ago by one of our missionaries I'm not going to name the country because it's a very violent, anti-christian country. They kill Christians, they're like it's nothing, but he prayed for a young Muslim man, 13 year old Muslim man, that had a absolute mangled, birth defect foot. His foot was completely like, not fully formed at the end of his leg, and on a busy street they were sitting down having coffee at a cafe in this Muslim country and the man's foot was healed in an instant. This is only 10, 12 months ago. So God does this stuff. He said well, how come I prayed and you know he didn't do it. Listen, the number one thing is the gospel first, and then the signs and miracles follow. Okay, and the other thing is this there's times when God, even as the kingdom, is introduced. There's times when God uses suffering because it's the best thing for the time, best thing for the season. Now, that takes a lot of faith. And don't write me and tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about, because I suffered for years with something called Crohn's disease. You can look it up later. I asked God to heal me. I had people pray for me and it went on for years and he didn't. But I tell you what he did do. I had no idea that the day that it hit and it hit, by the way, like a lightning strike, that's how it comes it just boom, it happened. It just so happened that it was our Monday night Bible studies desire to have an Easter sunrise service. We had a sunrise service and hundreds and hundreds of people came and it was an amazing day and we were all shocked, we couldn't believe it, and God did an amazing thing, and then that night I got whacked by this thing and now I look back years later, decades later, and I thank him for it. I praise him for it, because I think God used it to keep my head on the ground, because our Monday night group went from 50 people to 300 people on a Sunday Easter morning, you know. So, god, I think God used what the enemy. Maybe the enemy wanted to do it, I don't know, I don't care. It worked, it gutted me, so to speak, and so, but keep that in mind that when the gospel goes out, it often goes out in power, and you can expect God to move in power and gifts of the Holy Spirit will be manifested in power according to the will of God. So also this. Philippians 3-10,. This is great because during that time that I was suffering with Crohn's disease, this was the verse that became part of the fiber of my life. Paul in Philippians 3-10 announces that I want to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, if I might be conformed into the image of Christ. Did you hear what Paul prayed in Philippians 3-10? Lord, give me the power and give me the sufferings. I want to have the power to preach and to proclaim and to do whatever you want me to do, but I also know that I cannot be a mature believer without suffering. So give me that too. That takes a huge amount of faith to receive from God what is best for you, even if it hurts. Paul knows this. 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 9 through 11, paul rejoices in the fact that I'd rather hang on to my infirmities and my sicknesses any day to have the power of God. I'd rather have God's strength exhibited in my life and be weak Alright. John 11, verses 3 and 4, John 11, verses 3 and 4. Remember, jesus is, it seems. I mean I can't prove this exactly, but if Jesus had a best friend, it's not Peter, james or John, it appears. When you read the Gospels, it seems that Jesus' best friend was Lazarus. Remember him. He had two sisters, martha and Mary Lazarus. Their brother just seemed him and Jesus seemed to have a tight relationship. But remember, jesus was down at the Jordan River when news came to him that his good friend Lazarus was really sick, bad, and Jesus didn't go, he didn't go to heal him. It was asked of him Lord, will you come and heal? And Jesus waited and waited. And the disciples said are you going to go, are we going to go? And he waited and he waited. And then the word came Lazarus is dead. And Jesus turns to the disciples and he says to them I'm glad for your sake that he is dead, because you're not about to I'm paraphrasing you're not about to believe what's about to happen. Unless it happens this way, jesus gets there and Lazarus is already entombed, he's already wrapped with grave cloth, he's placed in the tomb, he is dead. And Jesus waits extra long. He shows up and they're all everybody's crying and everybody's crying and Jesus says Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus comes out of the ground and is resurrected from the dead. And it's beautiful because Lazarus' sickness, it says also was used for the glory of God. God was going to be honored in that. See, jack, how can God be honored in my 11-year-old getting sick and having to go through all this suffering? I don't know, but I see it all the time. Why do some kids get healed and my kids don't? I don't know, but I see it all the time. Why do some kids die and other kids recover? I don't know, but I see it all the time. And I know this that every time people's eyes are focused on Jesus or people don't know Jesus, people hear about Jesus. It's remarkable. God wastes nothing. I've never seen him waste a thing. See, jack, I don't believe in what you're saying. I believe that wherever the Christian goes, people should be healed. It's too bad Paul didn't know that, because in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 20, paul says that he has left triphemus at myelitus sick, so people take care of him. I got to go. I left him there, sick at myelitus. I got to hit the road. I got ministry to do. Why didn't Paul just heal him? Why didn't Paul just snap his fingers in Jesus' name, get up Triphemus. We've got a lot of work to do. Stop goofing around. I need you, let's go. What's the deal? God is sovereign. God heals when he wants. We pray always for a healing and we pray believing, but we leave the outcome to God. I could go on and on about this, but I need to end. I'll leave you with this when or how are you going to go to heaven? When are you going to go to heaven? You don't know, neither do I, and you can't tell me when, because you don't know. I don't know how. Listen, when are you going to go to heaven as a believer, and how are you going to die? You have to die to go to heaven. Or the rapture interrupts death. How and why? Until the rapture happens, you got to get sick to go to heaven. Or you got to get hit by a truck or fall off a ladder. You got to have a heart attack. Right, billy Graham died of sickness. Right, j Vernon McGee died of cancer. Wow, I was in Oxford not too long ago and I literally stood on the spot where William Tyndale was martyred to death. You got to die, son. How are you going to get to heaven? We pray for the sick. We pray believing. Sometimes God heals, sometimes he doesn't. He's sovereign, he's got all power. But don't walk around thinking that you can snap your finger and heal people. You know you don't believe it, because if you believed it, you would make sure that everybody that you saw that was sick or hurting would be healed in a moment. But you know that doesn't happen, and the reason why it doesn't is because God is sovereign. We leave the results with God. We pray believing, we trust Him, we pray according to the Word of God and we pray thankful, and we pray Thy will be done, and Jesus is the one who epitomizes that. Ultimately, lord, if this cup can be passed from me, if you can remove this cup, that's the cup of the salvation, of man's redemption. If this cup can pass from me, let it pass. Nevertheless, thy will be done. That's the prayer that we are to pray. But by all means, friends, be praying, anointing them with oil, and praying for God to heal and expect God to heal. And if he doesn't heal in that second, in that hour, in the week or in the next six months, let God be God. Will you still walk with him when the days are hard and difficult or you have cancer? You know, my sister would not accept the gospel. She had her new age crystal crystals, she had her pyramids and all of her weird new age junk until she got cancer and none of her new age isms could help. So then she asked me to share the Lord with her again, and I did. She accepted Christ and she suffered for seven years and she got close, close, close, closer. Every year she got closer to Jesus until she went home to see him. My mom was a Catholic, not born again. Through her suffering with cancer she accepted Christ four weeks before she died she went to heaven. My dad accepted Christ and seven days later died and went to heaven. Cancer in my family has been the greatest evangelist. It couldn't do what Billy Graham did. It couldn't do what Greg Laurie did. It couldn't do what Louis Palau did. It couldn't do what I did. Cancer God used as an evangelist to save the stubborn. Think about it. So listen. The greatest thing you can do for us, you guys, is to hit the subscribe button. Stay up to date on what's going on as we bring more and more podcasts your way If you're blessed by it. Write a review if you would. That helps us. It communicates to the podcast world that what we're saying matters. Share it, of course, as always, but, as we do love to say, it's time for you to live out what you believe in. It's time for real life. God bless you, guys, until next time.