So y'all have good men here, Brother Nate and Brother John, and I really appreciate this man. Wonderful, wonderful brothers in the Lord, beautiful family. So be very grateful for the men that you have here and pray for them, pray for their families. So it's our doctrinally sound shepherds out there that are gonna be at the front of the line one day. I'm very grateful for the, the John McArthur's, and the Steve Lawson's, and the Bodhi Balcombe's, and the names that we all know, and the R.C. Sproul's, you know, he's in heaven now. I'm very, very, very grateful for these men. I love them, but I am equally grateful for our faithful shepherds out there that are unknown. You know, they just, they labor away in the words, shepherding their flocks, known only to their flocks, and of course, the good shepherd himself. And it's those guys, that are gonna be at the front of the line one day. They will be at the front of the line. Okay, let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer, and then we'll begin. Father, we're so very grateful for this time that you've given to us, how encouraging it's been to see the good attendance over the last few nights, and it's always encouraging to see your people, your sheep, who are hungry for truth. And I pray for each and every one who is here, I pray that you would do your work now that your Holy Spirit would do his work of illumination, of sanctification as we are sanctified in the truth of your word. We pray that we would grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that we would both teach sound doctrine and be ready to refute those who contradict, to give an answer for the hope that is within us. And so Father, I pray for all of these who are here. I pray for their families and ministries. I know there are other pastors here, I pray for them. And Lord, we just pray that we would live our lives well, that we would obey you and live lives of obedience to your glory, that we would carry Christ's name well. These things we ask in his name, amen. Amen. Okay, so our final session tonight is entitled The Hurt of Healing. Tonight, we will be looking at physical healing. What do the faith preachers teach about physical healing? And then we will look at what the Bible teaches about physical healing. We begin probably with the most obvious question. Is it always God's will for us to be physically healed? Of course, the faith preachers would say, yes, it is always God's will. This from Benny Hinn. Benny Hinn says he promises to heal all, everyone, any whatsoever, everything, all our diseases. That means not even a headache, sinus problem, not even a toothache, nothing. No sickness should come your way. God heals all your diseases. The faith preachers make no bones about it. You should never be sick. Or if you do get sick, physical healing is guaranteed as long as you have enough faith. Joseph Prince says, you are destined to reign in life. You are called by God to be a success. wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy a life of victory. When you reign in life, you reign over sin, over poverty, over every curse, and over every sickness and disease. So if we begin with the premise that it is always God's will for a person to be physically healed, and that person prays for healing for days, weeks, months, years, some people for decades, but the healing does not come, then the question must be asked, whose fault is it? By definition, it cannot be God's fault, right? Because he's perfect. So the only other one to look is the one who is sick. It's his fault or her fault, because doesn't have enough faith, has some secret unconfessed sin in his or her life, or maybe hasn't given enough money to the ministry, to the preacher, or maybe that person's not even saved. Watch this from Kenneth Copeland. Well, I don't understand why God healed them and he won't heal me. Could it be by some stretch of the imagination Probably not but could it be That is your fault not God's oh Yeah, say it oh, yeah So if you are sick it is your fault it is your fault This from Bill Johnson. There's this invitation by the God of the universe to come and meet with him and in that meeting be changed and become a transformer. It's in the dialogue with God. You're not getting answers to prayer, then change what you pray. Change how you pray. Do something because the problem isn't on his end of the equation. If it's not working, it's not him. If it's not working, it's not Him. It's not working, it's not Him. So if you're praying to be healed and it's not working, it's not God's fault. It's your fault. It is your lack of faith. It is your unconfessed sin. It is your lack of giving. The fault must always lie squarely at the foot of the sick believer. There's no other conclusion which one can draw. So are there any proof texts to which they would appeal that would substantiate their doctrine that it is always God's will for us to be healed? There are a few that they like to go to. And I'd like for us to look at a few of these. We don't have time to look at all of them, but a few of them. One of them, amazingly enough, is Ephesians 5.23. Benny Hinn writes this. He says, now the Bible says in Ephesians 5.23 that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the body. He is not only the Savior of the soul, he is the Savior of the body. Ladies and gentlemen, you can cry out, you are the Savior of my body, Lord Jesus, you are the Savior of my soul. If Jesus Christ is the Savior of the body, then your body ought to be made whole. Sounds logical, doesn't it? Does, until you actually read Ephesians 5 and 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, he himself being the Savior of the body. One need not be a Greek scholar to know that the body in Ephesians 5.23 is not talking about your flesh and blood body. It's talking about the church. And this kind of Mickey Mouse hermeneutics, Mickey Mouse Bible interpretation would be laughable, comical, if it weren't that it were leading so very many people astray. Benny Hinn ought to be embarrassed by that. Another one of their proof texts is a verse that is used not only by the prosperity preachers, but it may be one of, if not the most beloved verses in all of the Old Testament. And we all know it, don't we? Jeremiah 29, 11. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Prosperity preachers, they look at this verse and they say, see, God has plans to prosper us. Well, there you go, prosperity right there, health and wealth. We may not take that verse to those extremes, but we still really like this verse, don't we? You know, we inscribe this verse on our Bible covers. We put it out on our church signs. And a lot of people make Jeremiah 29 11 their life verse. Be very careful making Jeremiah 29 11 your life verse. The question is, what does this verse mean? Not, what does a verse mean to you? If you're ever in a Sunday school class or a Bible study class of some sort and the teacher asks that question, what does this verse mean to you? You know you're in trouble. You know that person doesn't know what he or she is talking about. Dear friends, it doesn't matter what the verse means to you. It doesn't matter what the verse means to me. What matters is, is what does it mean Every verse in the Bible has but one meaning. One meaning. Now, there are multiple verses in the Bible that may have multiple possible applications. Love your neighbor as yourself. What does it mean? It means to love your neighbor as yourself. How can we apply that? Well, we can apply it in any number of different ways, but it's only got one meaning. So what is the meaning of Jeremiah 29 11? To know the meaning of it, we need to look at it in its context. This was written to the Jews in Babylonian exile. Raise your hand if you are a Jew and you find yourself in Babylonian exile tonight. Nobody here in Babylonian exile? Well, then it wasn't written to us, then was it? Well, why were the Jews in Babylonian exile? The Jews were in Babylonian exile because God had given them instructions to leave their land fallow every seventh year, but for 490 years, the Jews had not done this. And so God's patience ran out, and he put them in exile for 70 years. 490 divided by seven, 70. God put them in Babylonian exile for 70 years. That's a long time. That's the vast majority of a person's life. And so what God was saying to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah basically was this, look Israel, I gave you an instruction, you've ignored it for 490 years, my patience has run out, and now you're gonna go into Babylonian exile. And you're gonna be there for 70 years. But I have not forgotten you, Israel. I still have plans for you, plans not to harm you, but to prosper you. to give you a future and a hope. So this was not written to us. So you can't make this your life verse. In fact, even if you had been a Jew in Babylonian exile in this day and time, you still could not have made this your life verse. Why? Because it wasn't an individual promise. It was a corporate promise to the nation of Israel, not to individual people. 70-year captivity. Don't you imagine that there were a whole bunch of Jews who died within that 70-year captivity? Absolutely. You could have been born five years inside the Babylonian captivity, died when you were 60, and you would have spent your entire life in Babylonian exile. So you still couldn't have made this your life verse. It was not an individual promise. It was a corporate promise to Israel. So Is there anything that we can learn from Jeremiah 29 11? Well, sure. Does God have plans for us? Of course he does. Yes. Does God have plans to prosper us? Depends on what you mean by prospering. How many times have we heard the gospel presented this way? God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. God does love us and he does have wonderful plans for our lives. God had a wonderful plan for Stephen's life. The wonderful plan that God had for Stephen's life was to be stoned. God had a wonderful plan for Peter's life. The wonderful plan that God had for Peter's life was to be crucified upside down. God had a wonderful plan for Paul's life. The wonderful plan that God had for Paul's life was to be stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and ultimately beheaded. So God does love us and he does have wonderful plans for our lives. But sometimes what God deems as wonderful may not seem so wonderful to us. Dear friends, sometimes God is most glorified in us, not when everything's going well, but when we suffer, when we are persecuted, and yes, when we are sick. And everything that God does, ultimately, is about his glory. Everything. Another one of their proof texts is 3 John 2. This is almost like the gold standard of the prosperity gospel. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in good health even as thy soul prospers. Watch this from Joyce Meyer. 3 John 2 says, Beloved, I pray that you might prosper in every way and that your body might keep well Even as I know your soul prospers and keeps well." Now that's a very wonderful scripture. I pray that you would prosper in every way. So he talks about prosperity. He says, I would that you prosper and be in health. And be in health. So we see right there that God wants us to be healthy. Can everybody say, God wants me to be healthy? Well, you can say it all day long, but that's not what that verse means. John was writing a letter to his friend Gaius, and you would see Gaius' name in the first verse of this short little book of 3 John. And John opens his letter in much the same way that you and I would open a letter or an email that we write to one of our friends today. Basically, John is just saying this, Dear Gaius, I hope that this finds you doing well. Friends, that's all in the world it is. This was a common greeting to a letter. This was not a blanket promise for guaranteed money or guaranteed healing. It was a common greeting to a letter. And the faith preachers know it, but they don't want you to know it because it just happens to fit their theology. Another one of their favorite verses is taken from Matthew chapter 18. If you have sickness, then you just need to bind your sickness because whatever you bind on earth, We'll be bound in heaven. Watch this from Joseph Prince. Are y'all ready for God's Word? Let's go right into God's Word. Remember that healing is provided for us, but until you get mad, you know, you say that, no, I'm not gonna allow the devil to, all right, don't forget what Jesus said. Jesus says, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. In the rabbinical teaching, in the rabbinical idea, the rabbis tell us that even the rabbis, they are given keys where they permit some things to happen, and they don't permit some things to happen. Well, Jesus has even greater keys, the key of David. And the thing is that that word there doesn't say what God binds, what God disallows. then you'll be disallowed on earth. No, God says what you prohibit, what you bind, what you disallow, I will disallow in heaven. Whatever you allow, I will allow in heaven. So those that believe in the doctrine, alright, God wants some of us sick and all that, usually it's not them, it's others. It's not their family, it's always others. Those who believe that God wants some of us sick, they never include themselves. So if you are sick, you just need to bind your sickness because whatever you bind on earth Will be bound in heaven. Well, where does he get this he gets it from Matthew chapter 18? Invite you to take your copy God's Word and look at it Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 20 Jesus says if your brother sins go and show him his fault in private If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth, now watch the verb tense here, shall have been bound whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Dear friends, this has absolutely nothing to do with binding sickness and disease. It has everything to do with church discipline. Church discipline, what's that? Do you know this is the very first command that Jesus gave to his church? First command he gave to his church. just as much a command as is the Lord's Supper and Believer's Baptism. And yet hardly any churches do this. If we saw a church that did not do Believer's Baptisms or the Lord's Supper, would we call that a real church? No. Rightly so. Why is this any different? Why is that any different? So if someone has sinned against you, or you know of someone who is in some habitual, unrepentant sin, then you go to that person and you confront that person privately in his sin. And if he listens to you, in other words, if he's convicted and he repents, wonderful, praise the Lord, you have won your brother. Don't talk about it anymore. Don't show up to Sunday school the next Sunday morning and the Sunday school teacher says, Well, does anybody have any prayer requests or praise reports? Ooh, ooh, me, I have a praise report. Billy Bob was in sin and I went and I confronted Billy Bob today and he repented. Let me tell you what he repented of. No, it's over, done with, covered, forget it. Don't talk about it anymore. But if Billy Bob doesn't repent, then you take one or two more with you and you go back to Billy Bob and you confront him again. And if he listens to you, Wonderful praise the Lord you have won your brother. Don't talk about it anymore But if he doesn't listen then you tell it to the church. Oh You mean you get up on Sunday morning and you tell it to the church, that's right That's what you do. And if he refuses to listen even to the church Then you treat him as a Gentile and a tax collector Jesus says, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. In other words, if Billy Bob repents, he is loosed. Whatever you loose on earth, it's already been loosed in heaven. Heaven already agrees with it. If Billy Bob does not repent, he remains bound in his sin. Whatever you bind on earth has already been bound in heaven. So whatever action you take, You know with 100% certainty that heaven agrees with you. Why? Because you follow the steps of church discipline. This has absolutely nothing to do with binding sickness and disease. Has everything to do with church discipline. And by the way, the object, the goal of church discipline is not to get somebody kicked out. What you hope and pray for is that the sinning brother or sister repents. That's what you want. That's what it's designed to do. Jesus says, again I say, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst. How many times have we heard that verse used for Wednesday night prayer meeting? I can remember growing up as a little boy in Southern Baptist Church, and Wednesday night was always prayer meeting. We'd go to church, and when you have some, you know, frozen dinner kind of meal thing that usually wasn't very good, And then we would the pastor would get up and we'd have prayer requests, you know and I heard so many times After we talked about the prayer requests whoever was in the hospital And he said well, let's pray and we know that Jesus is here with us For where two or three are gathered together in his name He is there in their midst and we know we have more than two or three gathered here tonight So we know Jesus is with us and I can remember hearing that when I was a little boy and I always wondered What about when I'm by myself? Is Jesus not with me then? Do I have to have two or three gathered together before I know Jesus is there? If you've ever wondered that, the reason you've wondered it and the reason it doesn't make sense is because that's not what this verse is talking about. The two or three that have gathered together is the one or two that you take back with you to Billy Bob on step two of church discipline. It has nothing to do with binding sickness and disease. Now, this is a tweet from a very popular female Bible teacher, and she got into a little conversation with some, I presume it was a lady, I don't know, maybe it was a man. But anyway, this person that she was talking to had some back problems, apparently. And this popular female Bible teacher responded to this person, says, I don't take your prayers lightly, blessing back on you. P.S. I often deal with serious pain up and down my spine. Bind it in Jesus' name." So who do you think this came from? Joyce Meyer, you know, Heidi Baker, Christine Kane, Beth Moore. Beth Moore. That is straight-up Word-faith theology. Straight-up word faith Her theology is getting progressively worse. She's hanging around word faith teachers and her theology is becoming word faith Foundational to the faith preachers teaching that healing is Always God's will is their teaching that healing is provided for in the atonement The atonement, of course, is a word that we give to the work that Jesus did for us on the cross. We saw the other night, though, how the faith preachers don't believe that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. They believe he paid for our sins down in hell, but we looked at that the other night. But they would all appeal to Isaiah 53, 4, and 5. Watch this from Andrew Womack. Jesus placed your and my sickness and diseases, infirmities, upon Jesus and He bore them 2,000 years ago. If He already paid for your healing, how can you doubt that you are healed? And so the reasoning is that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, and when He was on the cross, He paid for our sins. He also paid for all the consequences of those sins, one of which is sickness and disease. So healing is provided for in the Atonement. And they all appeal to Isaiah 53, 4, and 5. It says this. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. And they look at these two words that I have highlighted here, griefs and sorrows, and they say that another way to render these two words is as sickness and pain respectively. And you know what? They're right. They're right. These two words in Hebrew do have multiple possible renderings. So how do you know which rendering is correct? You know which rendering is correct by the context of the passage. So let's look at the context of the passage. It becomes very clear just by looking at the next verse. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed." So very clearly, the primary context of Isaiah 53 is not physical healing, not healing from sickness and disease, it's healing from sin. We see that from these two words, transgressions and iniquities. So it's not physical healing that's primarily in view, it's a spiritual healing. Not healing from cancer or arthritis, it's healing from sin. We see that from these two words, transgressions and iniquities. In fact, read Isaiah 53. Go all the way back to chapter 52, read all the way through 53. And the whole thing is talking about sin, transgression, iniquity, bore the sins of many. It's not talking about cancer or arthritis. That's not the primary context. The primary context is that we are healed from our sin, not sickness and disease. So what is the answer to our question? Is physical healing provided for in the atonement? I might surprise you with the answer. Yes, yes, physical healing is provided for in the atonement. Dear friends, the reason that I'm crippled, the reason that I walk on crutches and ride this thing around for longer distances is because of sin. Not my personal sin, but the sin of Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned, when they ate that fruit, whatever that fruit was, we don't know that it was an apple. That's just what's in the coloring books, but it could have been a pomegranate for all we know. But when they ate of that fruit, sin entered the world, so did sickness and disease and ultimately death. physical and spiritual death. So yes, the reason that I'm crippled is because of sin. The reason many of you are wearing eyeglasses tonight, that's because of sin. Not your personal sin, but the sin of Adam and Eve. Next time you catch a cold, you can blame Adam and Eve for that. It's just one of the consequences of living in a fallen world. So when Jesus came and he died on the cross, he paid for our sins and He also paid for all of the consequences of those sins, one of which is sickness and disease. So yes, physical healing is provided for in the atonement. But here's where the faith preachers get it very, very wrong. Not all of the benefits of the atonement are promised to be fully realized this side of heaven, okay? Not all the benefits of the atonement are promised to be fully realized this side of heaven. Some of the benefits of Jesus' atonement we will not realize until the other side of heaven. And healing from sickness and disease is one of those benefits. To give you another example of this, a glorified body is also provided for in the atonement. Raise your hand if you've got your glorified body. Nobody here has a glorified body? Why not? It's provided for in the atonement. It's not promised to be realized here. Dear friends, when we die and go to heaven, for all of us who are in Christ, when we die and go to heaven, we're not taking our sickness and disease with us. No more cancer, no more arthritis, no more muscular dystrophy, no more multiple sclerosis, no more cerebral palsy. When we die and go to heaven, We're not taking our sickness and disease with us. Why? Because our healing has been provided for, bought and paid for with the blood, death, and bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But to be real honest with you, when we die and go to heaven, I'm not sure we're even gonna give it a second thought that we no longer have our sickness and disease. Because you know what, dear friends? We're gonna have better things to think We're gonna have better things to think about. We will be in the presence of Christ. We will be in perfect worship of, fellowship with, and service to the King of kings, the Lord of glory. We will bask in the presence of the one who spoke the universe into existence. We will be in the presence of Christ. He is the joy and the glory of heaven. He is who makes heaven heaven. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. He is the joy of heaven. And sometimes we get such an earthly view of heaven, don't we? More often than not, when we hear people talk about heaven, it's like this big family reunion. Oh, I'm gonna see grandma and grandpa. I'll walk the streets of gold. Yeah, yeah, we will. be reunited with our loved ones who preceded us in death, provided, of course, that they were in Christ when they preceded us in death. But friends, that's not the joy of heaven. The joy of heaven is Christ. And if your view of heaven is this big family reunion, I would submit to you that your view of heaven is far too small, that your view of Christ is far too small. He is who makes heaven, heaven. According to the faith preachers, Bill Johnson, for example, another one of their evidences that it's always God's will to be healed is that when we pray for thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then that should mean that we are not to be sick because there's no sickness in heaven. Watch this from Bill Johnson. The kingdom culture is how heaven functions. And when we pray this prayer on earth as it is in heaven, it's not just a prayer about eternity. It's actually a prayer for right now. It's God's intention right now to influence my circle of influence with the manifestation of His presence in such a way that it mirrors That means there's no cancer there, there's not to be cancer here. So when we pray for someone to be healed, we do it based on the example given us in that prayer. There's none there, there's not to be any here. See the logic? I would be very careful about praying, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, if I were a false teacher. Because that is actually an eschatological prayer, when Jesus is going to put an end to all of his enemies. I'd be very careful about praying for that if I were Bill Johnson. So his logic, though, is, well, there's no cancer in heaven, so there should be no cancer on earth. Well, I might point out a couple of things. Bill Johnson is married. There's no marriage in heaven, so should there be no marriage on earth? Well, he's married. You see how quickly his logic breaks down? And you know what else is not in heaven? Eyeglasses. He's wearing eyeglasses. Friends, never trust a faith healer who's wearing eyeglasses. You see why I say just a little common sense goes a long way in clearing a lot of this stuff up? A sister was showing me a female faith healer, prosperity preacher on video just right before the service and she's apparently known for praying for people to be sick and touching them and they'll fall over and all that kind of stuff. She claims to have the gift of healing and she's showing me a video of her in action and she's, guess what? Wearing eyeglasses. Physician heal thyself. What of the biblical record? Can we look through the Bible and find examples of faithful servants of God who were not healed. Absolutely. Trophimus was left sick at Miletus. Epaphroditus was sick to the point of death. The apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach and his frequent ailments. Now, I find this very interesting. Notice that when Paul heard that Timothy had some health issues, Paul did not write to Timothy and say, Timothy, go see a faith healer. and be sure you sow a seed into his ministry so you can reap a harvest. Take a little wine for your stomach and your frequent ailments. Now I find this interesting on yet another level because the apostle Paul wrote this to Timothy about the year AD 64, about the year AD 64. Let's back up 10 years to the year AD 54. What's going on in the year AD 54? the events of Acts chapter 19 are going on. What's happening in Acts chapter 19? Extraordinary miracles of healing. So extraordinary that even handkerchiefs and aprons were being taken from the Apostle Paul, delivered to sick people at distances, and God was healing the sick through the agents of these handkerchiefs and aprons from the Apostle Paul in the year AD 54. but you fast forward 10 years to the year 8064, no handkerchiefs and aprons going forth from the Apostle Paul. What changed? Something pretty significant changed, did it not? Could it be that even in that 10 year span, that the apostolic gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles, physical healing, had already begun to fade away, had already begun to pass out of operation, begun to fulfill the purpose for which they were given. Two years later, Paul's writing 2 Timothy, and he says that he left Trophimus sick at Miletus. Paul was with him. He didn't heal him. He didn't lay hands on him. He left him sick. Left him sick. Interesting internal evidence, I think, that even by this time, that the apostolic gifts had already begun to fade away. Job. Job is the 800-pound theological gorilla sitting in the living room of the prosperity preachers, none of whom want to admit is there. Job is a problem for the faith preachers because here you have a man who is upright, righteous, and yet God still allowed Satan to come and to strike from Job everything that he had. His possessions, destroyed. His family, dead. His own health, deteriorated. Job suffered horrifically. Job's a problem for the faith preachers. So what do they do with Job? It's hard to ignore an entire book out of the Bible, so you know what they do with Job? They actually turn the tables on Job, and they say the reason all these calamities fell upon Job is they were all results of his negative confessions. Job spoke negative words, and he brought all these things upon himself. Do they really teach this? Yes. This from Joyce Meyer. She says, she writes in her book, Approval Addiction. For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me and that of which I am afraid befalls me. Fear is a terrible emotion, a self-fulfilling one. Job had fears concerning his children and finally reached a place in his life where he saw his fears coming to pass. The Bible says it will be unto us as we believe. Totally takes that verse out of context. That principle works in the negative as well as the positive. So it was all Job's fault. Job tapped into the dark side of the force, brought all these calamities upon himself. Poor old Job. It was all his fault. Completely misses the point of the book of Job. I mean, misses it entirely. Dear friends, you know what the point of the book of Job is? The sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God. God can do whatever he wants to do. And sometimes that means making us sick. Do you believe that? You believe that God makes people sick? Now, if you were to tell that to a prosperity person, somebody that's been listening to Joel Osteen, they'd probably faint right on the spot. They'd probably just pass out, you know, get the vapors. They just couldn't, they couldn't handle that. But if God doesn't make people sick, then someone needs to inform him because he sure seems to think that he does. Exodus chapter four, verse 11, the Lord said unto Moses, who has made man's mouth or who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Friends, that's God talking there. I don't know how you get around that. It seems pretty clear. Deuteronomy, God speaking again. See now that I, I am he. There is no God besides me. It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal. And there is no one who can deliver from my hand." Put that verse in your prosperity pipe and smoke it. Sometimes God makes people sick. Now, why does he do that? Does God make people sick just to watch us suffer? No. Not at all. But sometimes God makes us sick to sanctify us and to glorify himself. A number of years ago, I met this man. This is Rich. Rich lived in Long Island, New York. And I say lived because Rich is now in heaven. But Rich was born completely able-bodied, Perfectly healthy, nothing wrong with him. God saved Rich when he was about 19 years old. And then just a few years later, in his early 20s, Rich had a motorcycle accident, and it left him completely paralyzed. No use of his legs at all, and very, very limited motion in his arms. But Rich could do nothing for himself. Rich lived with his brother and his brother's wife, sister-in-law. neither of whom were believers, but Rich was. But every Sunday morning, they would get Rich up, and they would bathe him, they would dress him, they would put him in his electric wheelchair, and Rich would drive his electric wheelchair five miles one way to church every single Sunday. Even when it was raining, they put a poncho over him, and he drove his electric wheelchair Five miles, one way to church in the rain. The only thing that kept Rich from going to church is if it was snowing. In his wheelchair, just wouldn't go in the snow. Other than that, he was there. The pastor told me, he said, Justin, Rich is the most faithful church member I've got. He had bumper stickers on the back of his wheelchair with Bible verses on it. He was quite literally a rolling testimony for Christ. How many people saw this man Sunday in, Sunday out, driving his electric wheelchair five miles, one way to church, sometimes in the rain, Bible verses on the back of his wheelchair, smile on his face. Friends, God is glorified in that. God is glorified in that. and yet we've got prosperity preachers today telling us that we should have our best life now. Joel Osteen literally writes in his book about this occasion in which he and his wife Victoria were looking for a good parking spot at the mall. But all the good parking spots were taken, you see, but they just kept believing God for a good parking spot, so they just kept driving around in circles, and they came down the aisle of cars, and wouldn't you know it, the car in the very front spot backed out and pulled away, just in time for Joel and Victoria to get that good parking spot up front. And Joel Osteen says, friends, that's the favor of God. Really? That's the favor of God, is it, Joel? Tell that to Rich. Tell that to our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who right now are being persecuted for their faith in Christ, real persecution. Tell that to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Iran. in Syria, North Korea. Tell them the favor of God is getting a good parking spot at the mall in the United States of America. Are you kidding me? The prosperity preachers have no concept of the sovereignty of God. They have no concept of suffering for the glory of God. They have no concept of the gospel. No concept of the gospel. Elisha had a double portion anointing of the great prophet Elijah, yet we read in 2 Kings 13 that Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness, whereof he died. Dear friends, it is a matter of biblical record that not everyone who loved the Lord and served him faithfully walked in perfect divine health. Elisha died of an illness. the Apostle Paul himself had an illness and you might be thinking oh yeah the thorn in the flesh I'm not convinced the thorn in the flesh was a physical illness I'm really not I don't I don't think that's what it was look at Galatians chapter 4 Galatians 4 verse 13 Paul says but you know how that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise nor loathe but you received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus himself." Paul had a bodily illness. Just a few months ago in October I was preaching at a church in Woodland Park, Colorado, and remember Andrew Womack, the guy that we saw just a few minutes ago saying that, you know, healing is in the atonement and all that? He has, that's where he is. He has this gigantic Bible college called Karis Bible College. And it's right at the foot, almost literally right at the foot of Pikes Peak and massive place. And so since I was in the area, I wanted to go see it. And there was someone in the church who was on the city council. And so long story short, he was able to just walk into this place. And so I went in, I went in on my scooter and I wanted to just go in and see this facility and just kind of get a feel for it. and talk to some people in there. And so I did. And I went in their bookstore, and they had the usual suspects, you know, Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen and, of course, Andrew Womack's stuff and all that. And I was just kind of, you know, looking around the bookstore. And as I left, it's kind of funny, as I left, there was a lady at the, a young lady who was working there at the, you know, the counter, would check people out. And she said, did you find everything OK? And I said, yeah, I was just looking around. I said, just out of curiosity, have you ever heard of a DVD called Clouds Without Water? And she said, no. And I said, you might want to look that up. That might be something good to carry in here. And she said, well, who's it by? You know, I didn't want us like me. I didn't want to say that. So I just I said, well, I've seen it. It's just you might like to look it up. And so I left. And as I look back, she was Googling it. So I seriously doubt they're going to start carrying it. But anyway, I left there and walked out of the store. And then there was I saw a young man. I talked to several of the students by this time. I invited them to come to the services we were having. None did, but I saw this young man sitting in a big chair looking out, I mean, just gigantic windows. Every bit as tall, the windows, is this ceiling, every bit that tall. Giant windows looking out onto Pikes Peak. He was sitting in this chair just by himself, and so I went over to him, and he had his Bible open, and I introduced myself. I said, hey, my name's Justin. What's your name? He said, Tom. I said, hey, Tom, young man, probably you know, early twenties. And, uh, he was, he had his Bible open. I said, well, what's your reading there, Tom? He said, reading out of first Kings. And sure enough, he was. And, and, uh, so I said, Tom, uh, let me ask you, do you believe that it's always God's will to be healed? And he said, yes, I do. Of course I knew he did. And I said, well, Tom, can you, can you read a verse of scripture for me? And he like, okay. And so I said, let's look at Exodus chapter four, verse 11. And so he flipped it open. And that's where God says to Moses, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? And so he opened it up and I just stared at it. I said, Tom, can you read that for me? And he just stared at it. He wouldn't read it. And I said, well, Tom, that's God speaking to Moses. I read the verse. I said, Tom, that's God speaking to Moses. And God says to Moses that he makes men dumb and blind, mute or blind. I said, what do you do with that? And he wouldn't say anything. He just stared at it. I said, Tom, what would you do with it? And he finally said, well, that's Old Testament. And nevermind that these people spend most of their time in the Old Testament, but I didn't belabor the point for Tom's sake. I said, okay, Tom, you don't like that well let's let's go to the New Testament and I had him open to Galatians chapter 4 verse 13 and he reluctantly flipped over there and again same thing he just stared at it I said Tom can you read that for me he just stared at it and so I read it and but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time I said Tom this is the Apostle Paul Paul wrote this book and Paul says that he had a bodily illness that he was sick. I said, Tom, what do you make of that? And he looked up at me and he said, that's what you say. And I said, no, Tom, I'm not saying that Paul had a sickness. Paul says it. Paul's the one who wrote this. Paul had an illness. That's what you say. Y'all, I literally could not get him to admit that what he was reading in the Bible was actually in the Bible, and it was his own Bible. And he literally could not admit it. That goes back to what I was saying the other night in the Q&A. If someone is not willing to have their theology corrected from Scripture, there's no other card to play. And so I gave him the gospel. I shared the gospel with him. He just sat there in stone silence. And I said, Tom, are you a student here? And he said, I'm enrolling next semester, which would be right now. And I said, Tom, I hope and pray that you don't. I hope that what I shared with you today haunts you. And that's how I left him. He was just staring out the window. But it is a matter of biblical record that not everyone who loves the Lord and serves him faithfully walks in perfect divine. health. According to the prosperity preachers, are there requirements to receive your physical healing? Yes. According to the prosperity preachers, one of the requirements you must meet is you must sow some seed. Show me the money. Sow that seed so you can reap a harvest. Watch this from Joyce Meyer. Whoops. Sometimes it just All of my presentations, at one time at least, it jumps to the wrong slide. Here we go. Do I believe that God wants to bless us? Yes. But when you go to the conferences, you ask people to give money. You say, do it cheerfully. Yep. Because? Because the Bible says, give and it shall be given unto you. So giving is a major part of the whole Christian doctrine. But do you believe that if someone gives money to the ministries, that more will come back to them? Yes. Absolutely. I think that's what they mean by prosperity. No, but you worry at all that sometimes your message will be heard by someone in the most dire circumstances. It's a sort of roulette wheel, a sort of gamble with God. Okay, well, I can't pay the rent, but I'll give it to Joyce and we'll see what happens. Do you worry at all that that happens? I totally know. I don't worry about that. No, she totally doesn't worry about that. I'm sure she doesn't. but she should because right now there are people all around the world watching quote-unquote Christian television and they are at home and they're sick or they have a sick spouse or they have a sick child and in desperation they pull out their checkbook or they pull out their credit card and they send in money, the vast majority of these people can't afford to send, but they send in their money to these multi-millionaire preachers flying around the world on private jets, living in 35,000 square foot parsnages. I'm sure she doesn't worry about it, but she ought to. She ought to. The fact that she doesn't shows you how seared her conscience is. Rod Parsley wants you to sow a seed into his ministry. Very specific seed, though. He wants you to sow $54.17 into his ministry. Why $54.17, you ask? Well, based off of Isaiah 54, verse 17, of course. You didn't know that? Silly goose. Watch this. There's a battle raging and it's raging right now, a fierce all out attack against you, against everything of great value in your life. But my dear, dear friend, your commander-in-chief has full supremacy, absolute authority, and he's decreed and declared that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. On this broadcast, you're about to discover how to receive for yourself his miraculous anointing of provision and protection. Stay right where you are. I'm Rod Parsley. And I'm gonna take you at your word. I'm going to stand up in faith and I'm going to sow an Isaiah 5417 seed of $54.17. Let's go to the phone. Do it right now. Go to the phone right now. This is a moment of faith that may never, ever, ever be repeated again. But God is saying, if you're hearing this word, take hold of it. Seize this moment. Claim This word right now is your own word and say, God, that's me. That's my family. That's my business. That's my ministry. That's my church. God, those are my children. That's my marriage. So I feel the adversary releasing your stranglehold. Are you going to your phone? $54.17. Are you going to your phone right now? Are you going to your phone? Are you going to your phone right now? You know why they want you to hurry up and go to your phone? Ooh, I've never felt the anointing as strongly as I do. Ooh, there's an anointing right here, and you've got to go to your phone. Hurry up, go to your phone. This anointing may never come again. You know why they want you to hurry up and go to your phone? Because they know that if you actually stop and think a little bit, you might not go to your phone. And you might not sow your $54.17 seed into Rod Parsley's ministry. But let's be fair to Rod Parsley, shall we? Let's look at Isaiah 54, 17. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. Wow, well, it does say that, doesn't it? In every tongue that accuses you in judgment, you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from me, declares the Lord. Well, it does say that. So what do we make of this? Well, there is a sense in which, again, this was written to Israel, not us. But it does seem to say this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Well, aren't we servants of the Lord, of Yahweh? Yes, we are. So is it true that no weapon that is formed against us will prosper? Well, it's kind of like healing in the atonement. Is this a promise? Yes. Is it promised to be realized here? No. No, it's not. It seemed to me that the weapon, the sword that was formed in the blacksmith's shop that lopped off the head of John the Baptist, that weapon seemed to prosper. Sword that lopped off the head of the Apostle Paul, that weapon seemed to prosper. But you know what's really interesting about this? Is verse 17 is the last verse of Isaiah 54. Now, why didn't Rod Parsley ask you to sow an Isaiah 55 verse 1 seed? You know, if he had just dropped down just one more verse, one more little verse, just one more line, and asked you to sow an Isaiah 55 verse 1 seed, he could have 84 more cents per sower. I'll show you why he didn't want you to sow an Isaiah 55 verse 1 seed, because here it is. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come. Buy and eat, come. Buy wine and milk without money. and without cost. That's why I didn't want you to look at the very next verse, because it totally obliterates everything he was just saying. You think he doesn't know that that's the next verse? Oh, he knows. Of course he does. He just doesn't want you to know it. This from Mike Murdoch. Watch this from Mike Murdoch. And the audio on this clip is, for some reason, lower. So if y'all wouldn't mind just, at least for this clip, bumping up the volume Watch this from Mike Murdock. There is a widow who is watching Daystar, watching this right now, and you're sitting there and your thoughts are, wow, I wish I was young again and I wish I had a business, but I'm on a fixed income and I don't know where I would get the $58. That's what makes it faith. That's what makes it faith. He actually targets widows. And do you know where a lot of the money comes from that comes into these ministries, these false ministries and false preachers? It comes from widows. Little old ladies who can no longer get out, go to church, they're homebound or they're retirement home or something like that and their only church, tragically, is this garbage they see on Christian television. They target widows. The Bible has a lot to say about how we are to care for the poor and the orphans and the widows. They exploit them. They exploit them. Dear friends, Don't misunderstand me. Don't get the idea that I'm saying that there is something inherently wrong with being wealthy. There's not. There is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy, nor is there anything inherently honorable in being poor. And if you have worked hard and God has been gracious to you, allowed you to keep some of the fruits of your labors and you have some things and some material goods Money, you know, wonderful. Praise the Lord. Use it for the glory of God. Praise God for that. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, I'm, not to get political here, but I'm a capitalist. You know, it is, that system, flawed though it may be, is risen as, well, I'm getting off in the weeds. I mean, it's elevated more people out of poverty than anything else. Socialism puts in poverty, people in poverty. Okay, I digress. I'm not going political. But if your wealth is gained off of praying upon the poor, the sick, the desperate, and the widows, there's a lot wrong with that. And one day, these false teachers will have to stand before a thrice holy God, and they will have to give an account for what they are doing to the poor, to the sick, to the desperate, and the widows. And one day, they will have to give an account before God of what they are doing to His gospel. I would submit to you that the deepest, darkest, hottest part of hell is not populated with people like Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein and Jack the Ripper, Mussolini. Oh, they're in hell. No doubt, they're in hell. But the deepest, darkest, hottest part of hell will be reserved for those people who had the most exposure to the truth and yet rejected it. and yet distorted it. And these people have the same Bibles that you and I have got. They have a lot of exposure to an awful lot of truth. And they will have to give an account. They are exploiting the poor, the sick, the desperate, the widows for personal financial gain, and they are distorting the gospel of Jesus Christ itself, bringing reproach on the name of Christ and leading people to hell. It does not get worse than that. It does not get worse than that. According to the faith preachers, if you need to be healed, then you need to have a right heart. Your heart must be right with God. Benny Hinn says this. This was the first miracle crusade audience or crusade that I went to. He said this. Benny Hinn says, you cannot receive healing unless your heart is right with God. Healing is easily attained when your walk with God is right. So put yourself in the shoes, and you're there, and you're someone who is sick. You're in a wheelchair. You have cancer. You have a sick child. And friends, I've been to 18 of these things. I've been to 18 different Benny Hinn crusades. And I've seen what the television cameras won't show you, that on the floor in the back are dozens and dozens and dozens of sick people, people in wheelchairs. I've seen people laying on the floor on a blanket, so sick with cancer they can't lift their heads. I've seen parents cradling sick and dying children in their arms. The Benny Hinn crusade I went to about three years ago, I talked to a lady who was there with her little son and her son's head was grossly misshapen, hydrocephalus. and she's there weeping, that God would give her a miracle, would heal her little boy. And when the show was over, they left in the same situation, except that she had given money to Benny Hinn, because I saw her writing out a check. And they hear a statement like this. that healing is easily attained when your walk with God is right. So you leave in the same wheelchair, with the same cancer, with the same sick child, now not only do you have your illness with which to deal, now you also have to worry about your own spiritual deficiencies. That there's something wrong with your walk with God simply because you're sick. Now I do want to be careful and precise here. If somebody is at a Benny Hinn crusade, that is an indication that something's not right. You're either dealing with a false convert, someone who thinks they're a believer and they're not, or you could be dealing with a baby, you know, immature believer who hasn't yet been taught right and they don't yet understand these things. The point though is this, is that being sick is not a reason in and of itself to doubt your relationship with God. It is not. If that were true, then we would have to ask, well, what was wrong with Paul's relationship with God? He was sick. Watch this from John Hagee. That's what that means. Let me tell you, sickness comes from the devil. And when you walk into a hospital room and your friend is there, a member of your family is there, you have the power to say in the name of Jesus, I rebuke that disease and the God of heaven will heal that disease when you are right with God in heaven. So if you have a friend or a family member who's in the hospital, you have the authority to go into that hospital room and command that sickness to leave. And as long as you're right with God in heaven, that sickness must leave. I find that very interesting because this was aired in March of 2010. Guess where John Hagee was about a year and a half before this in October of 2008. You know where John Hagee was? He was in the hospital. He was lying flat on his back on an operating table with his chest cracked open having quadruple bypass surgery. Why didn't he just command his arteries to clear up? What was wrong with his walk with God? would have saved himself an awful lot of time and heartache, pardon the pun, if he had just commanded his arteries to clear up. I take no joy that John Hagee had quadruple bypass surgery. I take no joy in that. But I do find it interesting that what the faith preachers preach doesn't seem to work for them. And if what the faith preachers preach doesn't work for them, it ought to be a clue to them. There just might be something wrong with what they're preaching. Why are they sick? Essek W. Kenyon, the grandfather of this movement, died from a tumor. Kenneth Hagen, father of the modern word-faith movement, died from heart disease. Oral Roberts, next to Benny Hinn, world's most famous or infamous faith healer, died from heart disease. Rod Parsley, treated for throat cancer a few years ago. Jan Crouch, She's the co-founder and co-president of TBN. She died of a stroke about three years ago. And Nora Lamb, this is a faith healer that I went to see when I was a teenager. She suffered a massive stroke in 2003, died early the next year. Friends, the faith healers get sick just like us common folk do. And if what the faith preachers preach doesn't work for them, there ought to be a clue to them. There just might be something wrong with what they're preaching. Watch this from George Pearsons. one of the leaders at Kenneth Copeland's church, George Pearsons and Gloria Copeland, watch this. We've been talking about living in God's circle of protection. That protection belongs to us. We have a covenant of protection. We have a circle. Yep, we do. And we have scriptures after scripture after scripture that guarantee us that no matter where we are and no matter where we go, we are redeemed from the curse of the law. We are redeemed from the curse of destruction. So this is one of their lines of reasoning. We're redeemed from the curse of the law, and therefore we should not be sick, because one of the effects of living in a fallen world, of course, is sickness and disease. They say we've been redeemed from that, so therefore we should not have sickness and disease. A couple of points to point out here. Number one, notice what he has on his face. But also, what is the one What is the one physical malady that the Bible is very specific about that is a direct result of a fall that affects one of the two genders? What is it? Pain in what? Pain in childbearing. The Bible says it's a direct result of the fall that it hurts a woman when she gives birth. So if we've been completely delivered from all the effects of the curse, if you have a friend, lady friend or lady family member who's in this movement, ask her. Assuming she's had children, ask her, hey, did it hurt when you had your child? I bet it did. Why? I thought we'd been delivered from all that. You see? It's just common sense. And another thing. When someone tells you this or you're dealing with someone in this movement, you might ask them this question. If we've been delivered from all the effects of the curse, have you stopped aging? Because the reason we age is the same reason we get sick. We live in a fallen world and slowly but surely, day by day, this fallen world is taking its toll on our bodies. The reason we cannot physically do at age 80 what we could do when we were 20, is because we live in a fallen world. In this fallen world, the curse takes its toll on our bodies. So ask someone that who's in this movement or is listening to one of these preachers, have you stopped aging? Take out a picture of yourself from 15 years ago. Let's take a look. And you know what? Until they stop aging, they've got nothing to say to us. Nothing to say to us. Well, if you're not healed, it's probably because you just don't have enough faith. You don't have enough faith to be healed. This from Benny Hinn. My friend, hear this well. The reason people lose their healing is because they begin questioning if God really did it. We receive it by faith. We keep it by faith. Say by faith. hind and touched his garment." Now, before she touched, verse 1 to 8 says, "...for she said..." "...for she said..." "...for she said..." Say that with me. In other words, she knew. She knew that she knew that she knew she's going to get a miracle. First key, she heard. Second key, she came. Third key, she knew. When you know, you're on the way. But if you sit there and say, I'm not sure, you just lost it. What does laying your hands on a human have to do with healing? Well, really nothing. We touch people all the time, they feel sick. What he's looking for is permission. The power to heal is always present. But having permission to heal, is held up by humanity and their lack of faith. Having permission to heal is held up by humanity and their lack of faith. Is faith required for us to receive physical healing from God? Dear friends, let me put it in these terms. If you are here tonight and you know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, don't let anybody tell you that you don't have enough faith to be healed. Because if you have been granted the faith to be saved, you have certainly got faith to be healed. Because being saved is by far the greatest miracle. The greatest miracle is not when the blind see. It's not when the lame walk. The greatest miracle is when the dead are raised. And not physically dead, spiritually dead. dead in trespasses and sins raised to newness of life in Christ. That is the greatest miracle. Dear friends, God could heal me of my cerebral palsy right now in front of your witness. He could do it and he could make me run like a deer. But as great as that miracle would be, that miracle would pale in comparison to what God did for me when he saved me from my sins. That is the greatest miracle. If you know Christ, don't let anybody ever tell you that you don't have enough faith to be healed. As we close, I just want to close with the gospel. And then, Pastor John, I guess we're gonna do Q&A after. Okay, good. Okay, so we'll, John will come after. I just wanna close with, with the gospel. Sorry. Is there anything? Oh, the screen's blank. Okay. Has there been a time in your life when you have been convicted by the Holy Spirit of God that you are a sinner? that you have broken God's laws. Inference, all of us have broken God's laws. Thou shalt not lie. Every single one of us have told lies. All of us have. Many of them were liars. Thou shalt not steal. I dare say probably all of us in this room have stolen something. We've taken something that does not belong to us and the value of that item is irrelevant. If you've taken something that does not belong to you, You're a thief. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Don't let yourself off the hook too quickly. Jesus says, if you look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery already in your heart. If you've looked at another person with lust, you're an adulterer. We are liars, thieves. We are blasphemers. We have blasphemed God's name and word and deed. We're adulterers at heart at least. We have broken God's laws thousands of times. And just like when we break laws here on earth, there is a penalty to be paid. How much more so when we break the laws of God. But because we have sinned against God who is eternal, the punishment of that sin is also eternal. And if we die in our sins, we will very rightly and very justly go to a very real place that the Bible calls hell. The worm will not die and the fire will not be quenched. And dear friends, let's not soft pedal hell. So many times I hear hell described by preachers this way. If you die in your sins, you'll be eternally separated from God. That's not entirely true. Do you know what the most terrifying thing about hell is? God. because he's there. He is there in his wrath. Read Revelation chapter 14, 9, 10, and 11. It says that those who are in the lake of fire, says they will be tormented day and night in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. In the presence of the lamb. God is there in his fury, in his wrath, in the full undiluted fury of God's wrath will be poured out on the wicked for all of eternity. Day and night forever and ever and ever. It will be eternal conscious suffering and torment. Let's not soft pedal him. That's what you deserve. That is what I deserve. That is what our sins have earned us. And if we die with our sins, being unforgiven, that is what awaits us. There's no escape. That's the bad news. But there is good news. And the good news of the gospel is this, is that God loves and God has made a way for you to escape His wrath. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth, who lived a perfect life, never broke any of God's laws. He lived a life of perfect obedience and perfect pleasure to the Father. He was fully God, fully man. And as the God-man, Jesus willingly laid down his life on the cross. His life was not taken, he gave it. And as the God-man on the cross, the full undiluted fury of God's wrath that burns against the sins of his people, he drank in every last drop of it. He represented us and God's fury poured out on the sun. A perfect sacrifice. of a perfect person, satisfied perfectly, perfect wrath. And he died on the cross. Three days later, bodily raised from the dead, proving himself to be who he said he was, God in human flesh. And the only way to be forgiven of sins, to have that wrath removed, is to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us. We have no righteousness on our own. We must have the righteousness of someone else. We must have the righteousness of Christ. How do we get the righteousness of Christ? The righteousness of Christ comes when God grants repentance and saving faith. When we repent of our sins and place our trust in Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. Our works will not save us. Our works are as filthy rags before our thrice-holy God. Lay your works down. Repent of your sin. Turn to Christ. And I want to say something about repentance. How do I know if I've repented? What is repentance? We talked about this Sunday morning. Repentance is not just a change in mind. It's more than that. It includes that, but it's more than that. Genuine repentance comes, number one, when God grants it, when God grants repentance. And when God grants that repentance, yes, our minds are changed, but everything about us is changed. Our affections are changed. Our desires are changed. We begin to love what God loves and we hate what God hates. And one of the things that we should hate, the thing that we should hate our sin. The Bible speaks of two different kinds of sorrow over sin. In 2nd Corinthians 7, Paul talks about a worldly sorrow and a godly sorrow. He says that a worldly sorrow leads to death, but a godly sorrow leads to repentance unto salvation. So what is a worldly sorrow? A worldly sorrow is nothing more than than a guilty conscience. A worldly sorrow is the kind of sorrow that says this, what would happen to me if my sins were exposed? What would be the consequences to me? And so we try to cover up our sin, not because we grieve over it, but because we don't want the consequences of our sin. So we try to cover it up. But if we could get away with it, you see, if nobody else would know about it, we'd run right back to it. Why? Because that's really what we love. That's a worldly sorrow. And Paul says that a worldly sorrow leads to death. But there's another kind of sorrow, and that is a godly sorrow. What is a godly sorrow? A godly sorrow over sin is that sorrow that is vertically oriented. A godly sorrow over sin is the kind of sorrow grieves over our sin. We grieve over our sin because we understand that our sin grieves God, and we do not want to grieve Him. He has been so good, so kind, so generous, so faithful, so merciful to us, and when we sin against Him, the Bible says that we grieve God. We grieve His Spirit. And so we grieve over our sin because we understand that our sin is against him and it grieves God. It's the kind of sorrow that David had in Psalm chapter 51. When he cried out, he said, against you and you alone, O Lord, have I sinned. My sin is ever before me. He grieved over his sin. Do you grieve over your sin? There are a lot of people who want a Savior from hell. Lots of people want a savior from hell because their conscious accuses them. They know they're guilty. Deep down, they know they're guilty. And so they want a savior from hell. They want to get out of hell free card. Lots of people want that. Few people want a savior from sin. It is good and it is right to warn people to flee from the wrath to come. It is good and it is right to warn people to flee God's wrath. But just as much as we should want a savior from hell, we should want a Savior from sin. And anybody who wants a Savior from hell but does not want a Savior from sin has a Savior from neither. Do you grieve over your sin? It's not that Christians can't sin. We do. Christians stumble into sin. We don't swim in it. We don't enjoy sin. We don't relish it. We don't look for opportunities to sin. When we do sin, it grieves us. Does your sin grieve you? Has there been a change in your life? Do you love the Lord Jesus? Do you love His Word? Do you desire to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? These are all fruits in keeping with repentance. If you're not certain of where you are in your relationship with Christ tonight, I would implore you, go to the Lord. Confess your sins before Him. Ask Him for forgiveness. Ask him to grant you repentance. Place your trust in Christ. And Jesus says, the one who comes to me, if you come to Christ in godly sorrow, the one who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. He will save you. Let's close in a word of prayer and then Pastor John I think will come and say a word for us. Father, so very grateful that you were under no obligation on our behalf to save us. You saved us simply because it pleases you to do so. You gave us your son to live a perfect life and offer himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy your perfect wrath. I pray, Father, that as your gospel has been preached tonight, that your Holy Spirit would do what only he can do, that he would convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment, would convict of the truth of the gospel. And if there is someone here who has not yet been called to the shepherd, a lost sheep who has not been called to the shepherd, we pray, God, by your mercies, that you would do so. For your glory, for your namesake. And it is in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. Well, we wanted to be warned against error, but I think we grow to love our brother from Montana for the proclamation of the truth, even doubly so. So thank you for that, Justin.