[Scripture]
[1 Peter 2: 24]
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
[Introduction]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In the last session, I explained to you God’s providence in Jesus’ being born in a stable, being laid in a manger, and suffering poverty. I also told you about the blessings that come upon us by that providence.
According to the law of the spiritual realm that dictates, “the wages of sin is death,” mankind was destined to death due to sins. Jesus was hung on a tree and shed His blood to save us.
He was hung on a tree to redeem us from the curse of the law, and He shed His blood, which is the same as His life, to redeem us from death.
But as I told you in the last session, when He was born in the stable, laid in the manger, and while He was leading a life of poverty there was no shedding of blood.
He did not have to shed His blood to redeem us from poverty because poverty itself is not a sin.
But to redeem us from our sins, there had to be the shedding of blood. He also had to shed His blood to heal us of our diseases and infirmities because these things are also caused by sins.
This is the 11th session of the message of the cross. Today I will tell you about the providence of Jesus’ shedding His precious blood for us. Through this message, I hope you will more deeply realize the love of the Lord who received sufferings and shed His blood for us, and give thanks to Him from the depth of your heart.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be freed from all diseases and infirmities by the precious blood and enjoy the blessings of health.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, viewing audiences, when the time came for the crucifixion in the providence of God, Jesus was arrested by the Jews, and He was handed over to the court of Pilate, the governor of Judea.
Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, but of the pressure from the crowd, he permitted Jesus to be scourged and to be crucified.
Crucifixion is such a harsh punishment, but being scourged is also never a light punishment. The well-trained soldiers of the Roman Empire, which was the absolute power of the world at that time, whipped Jesus. The whip wrapped around His body one and a half times. It did not only tear out the flesh but the piece of lead at the end of the whip penetrated into the body.
When the soldier snatched the whip away strongly, pieces of flesh were torn away by the whip. Jesus was scourged in this way. He was wounded to the extent that His bones were exposed, and He shed so much blood.
Why was Jesus scourged and why did He have to shed blood?
Isaiah 53:5-6 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. [6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
As said, Jesus was whipped and He shed blood to heal us. As we will see shortly in later part, Exodus 15:26 says that if we keep God’s commands and do not sin, no disease will fall upon us.
Namely, to be healed of a disease, we first have to be forgiven of our sins.
Matthew 9:2 says, “Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven.”
When Jesus commanded after this, the paralytic was made well, and he stood up and walked. Before healing of a disease, Jesus first resolved the problem of sin.
Also, John 5:14 says, “Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.'”
Even if you receive the healing after receiving the forgiveness of your sins through repentance, if you live in sins again, something worse may happen to you. As we can see from these verses, the original root of disease is sin.
Therefore, to redeem us from diseases, there had to be shedding of blood.
Jesus was whipped and shed His blood to redeem us from our sins, and suffered the pain on our behalf to set us free from all the pains of disease.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Matthew 8:17 says, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
1 Peter 2:24 says, “By his wounds you have been healed.” It does not say, “You will be healed, but you have been healed.”
Thus, those who believe that Jesus redeemed us from our diseases by being whipped and shedding His blood do not have to suffer from infirmities or diseases. But some people who profess their faith in God say, “I am weak, so I sometimes fall and commit sins. It is difficult to live according to God’s Word completely.”
If you think and confess that you are weak, you cannot but be weak. If you confess that it is difficult to cast off sins, your life in Christ will be difficult. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
If you confess, “I am healthy by the grace of God,” and “I am good” in any kind of situations, God’s grace and strength will come upon you as you confessed. So, you will be able to overcome tiredness, and something impossible will change into something possible.
When you receive prayer for healing, you should not confess, “I believe I will be healed since I received prayer.” You should confess, “I have already been healed.” Then, God will work according to your faith.
If you say, “I believe I will be healed, but I still have the pain,” then, it is not faith.
Some even say, “How can I say I am already healed while I still have the pain? Isn’t it lying?” But if you understand spiritual faith, you will not say this.
Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Here, too, it does not say, “Believe that you will receive,” but “Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Hebrews 11:1-2 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. [2] This is what the ancients were commended for.”
Faith is not to confess something when it is already accomplished. When we hope for something that is not visible with faith, it will become reality. When we look at something with faith, something out of nothing will be created.
But it does not mean that it will be accomplished just by confessing with your lips while you do not even have the faith in your heart.
When you confess your faith stemming from the depth of your heart with lips, it will be done according to your faith.
Therefore, confessing that you have already been healed and you have already received it is not a lie but a confession of spiritual faith. It is telling the truth. Let me give you an example. If you cut a branch with a flower from the tree and put it in a vase, is the flower alive or dead?
It seems that it is alive, but since it is cut off from the root, it has already lost its life.
So, if you know this fact, you will say it is dead. Likewise, about those who have not accepted the Lord, the Bible says that they are dead.
They certainly breathe, eat, and drink, but it says they are dead. It is because they do not have eternal life in them. They seem to be alive for the moment, but they will finally end up in hell. So, it can be said that they are dead considering their future.
It is the same with healing of a disease when you look at it with faith. If you believe and confess, “The germ or the cancer is already burnt by the power of God,” the Lord will work according to your faith.
It is because Jesus was already whipped and shed His blood to redeem us from our infirmities and diseases.
But if you do not either believe this or confess it with faith, your disease will not be cured. No matter how many times you receive the prayer, you will believe in your heart, “I am still sick. I am not healed yet,” so you are actually still sick.
Unless you break off these negative thoughts, you cannot experience God’s work. If you say, “I believe,” then, even paralyzed body will begin to move, stand up, and walk immediately.
When I was in 4th grade, I hurt my ribs once. Since then, when my body became weak or during summer, the pain got worse, and I had hard time breathing due to the pain.
But when I accepted the Lord, even this was healed along with all other diseases. About two years after I was healed, the ribs began to ache again when I hurt it lifting up something heavy. It was so painful that I could not even walk properly.
Then, I thought to myself. “Our God is almighty and He healed all my diseases. Why should I feel painful just because of this little thing?”
So, I laid my hand on the part and prayed earnestly. “I believe it will be healed immediately after this prayer, and that I will walk without any pain.” Then, the negative thoughts disappeared, and I gained the faith that God would work according to my faith. Right after the prayer I got up and ran, and amazingly, the pain disappeared. I almost doubted whether I really suffered the great pain for many hours.
The power of God the Creator does not only heal diseases but it shows the work of creation itself.
In the Bible, we can see even when God commanded dry bones, the tendons were attached, the flesh was made, skin covered it, and the God’s breath was put in, that they formed a great army.
Since the beginning of this church, numerous members have experienced God’s healing works. Especially during revival meetings or overseas crusades, countless people are healed at once, and they come to the stage to testify.
After they accept Jesus Christ and repent of their sins thoroughly, even severe diseases were healed.
Just by receiving the prayer from the pulpit, even final stage cancer, AIDS, and many other incurable diseases are healed. Even such infirmities as blindness, muteness, deafness, and lameness are restored to normal.
Sometimes, before I began the prayer for the sick, even during the praise or the message, healing works descend on them along with tears of repentance. Let me introduce to you one person who met the Lord of healing like this.
Deaconess Young mi Yoo in Masan felt her sight was getting worse very quickly since last January.
Her sight turned yellow. Things were crooked or bumpy in her eyes. She also had dizziness and nausea. She was diagnosed to be with ‘harada disease’ which is a very rare eye problem.
Blisters are formed inside the eyes, so she had disorder in her sight. The cause of the disease is not yet known. Even after treatment, it is very difficult to recover the normal sight.
Furthermore, if the blisters get bigger, they could cover the optic nerve and she could lose her eyesight completely. Even after hearing this diagnosis, she was neither disappointed nor discouraged, but rather gave thanks to God and rejoiced.
She believed in the Lord who redeemed us from diseases and infirmities by being whipped. Since she had seen so many works of God’s power manifested in this church, she thought it was a chance to be healed by faith and give glory to God. She first looked back on herself and began to repent her wrongdoings one by one.
Even before that, she had experienced God’s healing her son, but later when her son was ill, she went to hospitals rather than relying on God. She did not have peace when she was doing her duty in the church.
She judged and condemned brothers in faith. As she remembered these things, she repented from her deep heart.
After that, in joy and confidence, she came to Seoul and received my prayer. Soon after she received my prayer, she found out her sight was normal.
As she was diagnosed in the hospital again, the check showed all her blisters were gone. Moreover, her sight that had been 0.8 and 0.25 before became better to 1.2 in both eyes.
God healed her according to her faith, and God gave her a bonus to make her eyesight better. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus redeemed us from our diseases by being whipped, but even among those who say they believe in this fact, there are some people who still suffer from diseases.
What is the reason? It is because they did not follow the righteousness of God.
Exodus 15:26 says, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
Here, ‘Egypt’ spiritually refers to the world, and the ten plagues that came upon Egypt during the Exodus refer to all the diseases on this earth.
If we keep God’s commands, we will not have any disease. Even if we get sick, if we just repent and turn back, as God said, “I am the LORD who heals you,” the almighty God the Father will heal us.
It tells us to do what is right not in our eyes or men’s eyes but in God’s eyes. What is right is different for different persons.
It is because, while they mature from birth, they see, hear, and learn different things. Their circumstances and values are all different.
About something that one man thinks is right, another man can think it is not right. Therefore, we should take the word of God who is the truth itself as the only standard. What is right in God’s eyes is only truly ‘right’.
For example, if other children beat your children, you will all have different reactions. Some parents feel greatly distressed and go to the other parents to protest.
Some parents scold their child who is crying after getting beaten up, saying, “Why are you always beaten like a fool? You hit back, too!” Sometimes, some parents say, “If you are hit once, you hit him back two or three times.”
However, what does the truth say? “If somebody strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” “Follow peace,” “Love even your enemy.” This is the kind of righteousness in God’s sight. If a person is taught and raised in the righteousness of God, he would be able to embrace and understand many people. He would be able to become a great leader.
It is because, even if it seems to be losing for the moment to follow God’s righteousness, God will eventually recognize him and lift him up.
When they hear they should keep all God’s commands, they think it is hard saying, “How can I keep so many commands?” But to keep God’s commands is not something difficult.
If you believe that you can obey it since it is God’s command and that it is not you who do the work but the Holy Spirit who is helping you, and God is giving you grace and strength, so you can do it, it will be easy to practice God’s word.
Moreover, even though it seems that there are so many commands, the commands can be summarized as the Ten Commandments. Also, only if you accomplish the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of love and the Beatitudes, you can do what is right in God’s eyes. As for me, since I was a new-believer, when I came across a command of God reading the Bible, I obeyed it immediately.
I wrote it down as a note if I could not obey immediately and prayed about it. Soon, I could cast them off. You cannot obey because you do not try to obey and because you love the world more than God.
If you truly love God and have hope for heaven and if you long for the glory and rewards in heaven, it will not be difficult at all to keep God’s commands, and there is no reason for you to be unable to obey. When I was a new-believer, I did not even clearly know about the heavenly kingdom. I was just so grateful to God for healing me, and because I loved Him so much, I began to obey His words.
Compared to my situation, now you have listened and learned about the kingdom of heaven so clearly, so it should be much easier for you to obey. Even if you think, “I have so many things to cast off, so when will I be able to cast off all of them?” you do not have to worry.
Whether it be anger, hatred, or an adulterous mind, if you concentrate on and cast off the things that you find most difficult to cast away with prayers and fasting, then, you will be able to very easily cast away the remaining things. It is just like after pulling out the main root of a tree, it is very easy to pull out the remaining roots.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in 2 Chronicles 16, we see a record about King Asa of southern kingdom of Judah. Actually King Asa served God very well. But when the king of northern kingdom of Israel came up to attack the kingdom of Judah, his faith with which he had depended on God before, changed.
He gave bribe to a Gentile country to ask them to fight against the northern kingdom of Israel. About this, a foreseer came and rebuked the king.
He told the king that even when such a strong Gentile army attacked them, God drove the enemy away when the king depended on God. But now the king relied on the Gentile army, so God turned His face away from the king.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Even after this rebuke, King Asa did not repent. Rather, the king persecuted the foreseer and made up more walls of sin against God. Finally, he had a severe disease in the 39th year of his reign. Then, what should he have done?
He should have repented thoroughly and depended on God, but king Asa still did not ask God but doctors.
2 Chronicles 16:13 says, “Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers.”
God was very disappointed by his deed, and that is why God let this incident be written in the Bible. It is the same today.
Many people say, “I believe in the almighty God. I believe in God who controls the life, death, fortune, and misfortune.”
But, what do they do if something happens to them in reality? They do not rely on God but on the world. They do not ask God with prayers but they depend on hospital and medicines.
No matter how much they hear the word of God, because they do not keep God’s commands and because they do not love God from the depth of their heart, they do not gain spiritual faith with which they can be healed.
You have received the right to become the children of God by receiving the Holy Spirit. Now, if you come out from darkness and act in light and righteousness, the wall of sin between you and God will be torn down.
To the extent that this wall is torn down, you gain faith with which you can truly believe, and to the extent that you gain this kind of faith, you will be able to experience God’s works in all aspects of your life.
You will not get any disease, and even if you get one momentarily, it will be resolved if you just believe you have been healed.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, viewing audiences, to cure a serious disease in this world, how much sufferings do you have to take up?
It will cost a fortune, and you have to go through great pain in the process of treatment. Also, there is no guarantee of complete healing. But if you completely rely on God and show your faith, you will be healed perfectly without any pain or after affects.
Also, your faith will grow greatly through the experience of healing, and you give glory to God so that you can save many more souls. You can have double, triple, quadruple, or even more effects.
Of course, since the beginning of our church, I have never taught anybody not to take medicines or not to go to hospitals.
It is because, when the patient himself does not have faith, he will not be healed through prayer even if other people urge them to do so. I just tell the truth and let him choose within his own faith.
I let him know that Jesus took all our infirmities and diseases and gave us healing by being whipped, so we should depend on God. But he can experience the work of healing only when he himself shows faith and acts according to that faith.
I hope you will fully believe in the love of the Lord who has redeemed us from all diseases and infirmities by being whipped and shedding His blood. Please do not confess anything negative like, “I am still weak. I still have pain,” but make a positive confession that you are healthy, depending on the precious blood of the Lord.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will diligently keep God’s commands and rely on Him completely in all matters, so that you will always be able to give glory to God with the works of God who is able to do everything.
