I was trained as a medical doctor, you know, a DO, an osteopathic physician, and I haven't raised anybody from the dead yet, and I haven't made anybody that's blind see, and a number of problems in my success that are lacking there, and yet I have seen some. There have been people that we have prayed for as elders in our church, who have received obvious healing, many times when they have not. There are some ministries out there focusing really on spiritual problems causing much, if not all, physical disease. And they are having some degree of success. And yet, They do not have a theological paradigm that I feel comfortable with. And so someone says, well, your theology doesn't work. You better change it. And so I've tried to look at that. And so what I'm sharing with you on these things are I've seen a lot of people healed of the torment of a disease. through dealing with issues like we talked about in the last session on spiritual issues and resolving problems, bitterness, anger, frustration, stuff like that. And some people have gotten completely well, and other people have just been healed of the torment of the disease so that now they can bear it. And yet they're not physically healed. And when I look at the example of Jesus Christ in scripture and, you know, I was talking with someone at the break and I said, you know, how much do you think you could charge for raising someone from the dead? You know, this guy could have been rich. How about making someone's eyesight come back who's been blind from birth or lame from birth, and now they can walk and go back to work. And yet he never charged anybody. And yet I would like to pattern my life after his as much as possible. So the issue of gifts of healing and all kinds of things come up. And this session is an attempt to really understand this whole area of when someone's sick, what is my role as a physician and an assistant pastor helping them to a place of wholeness? And one of the things that has come to me that I'll share with you that is not part of this session really, but I just found it to be sort of a theme verse for me that has developed here in the last several months and has become the theme for our company. Our company is Redemptus Solutions, and Provident Medical Institute's been merged under that. And Redemptus Solutions comes from the Latin word for redemption and For many years I've had a focus on trying to help people to wholeness To being healed to being whole and we're going to talk about that in a moment But What this scripture speaks about is that there's more to life than wholeness, and it does so indirectly. But in 2 Corinthians chapter five, it says, for the love of Christ constrains us. The love that Jesus Christ has for us requires something of us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died and rose again. So wholeness should not ever, healing should not ever be an end in and of itself. Someone coming to you for counsel who wants to get rid of their torment of anxiety or fear, the goal should not be that they get over their fear. that should be a means unto an end so that they would be free from that which is hindering them so that they can live their lives for he who died and rose again on behalf of them. And in the next verse, wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. We don't think about Jesus, after the flesh as being the son of Joseph and Mary, a descendant of David, of the tribe of Judah and so on. Yes, those things are there and significant, but really his primary recognition is as the son of God, who's seated at the right hand of God the Father today, who died and rose again. And we think about him in those terms. It's who he is as the God, part of the Godhead, okay? And in the same way, anyone who would look at a saved person and indicate to them that they're hopeless or that they'll never amount to much or that they'll never get over their problem is essentially projecting something on them in terms of their humanity that God is saying, no, we don't look at people after the flesh any longer. Now that they are in the spirit, When someone is born again, their spirit is made alive in Christ, just like they had to be born physically once, they are now born spiritually. And that spiritual being is qualitatively a totally different creature than what they were before. And that's what the next verse says. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a qualitatively new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And in nature, I believe that God gave us the illustration of the caterpillar for that very purpose. A caterpillar, a centipede, goes into a cocoon, spins a cocoon, and dies, turns into liquid, and its DNA is even stored. Structurally changed that is fundamental at the DNA level is no longer the same being and it comes out of butterfly and that's the Greek word metamorphosis That's what's going to happen to us when we take on our body and go to heaven a new body, which is incorruptible that is what the Greek says happened to us when we were born again and All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." To what? That God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. So whatever we do, it says, hath committed unto us, it means that he has put it into our hands. this responsibility of communicating the gospel to the world that, hey, God is not holding their transgressions against them any longer, that has been nailed to the cross. There is a doctrine out there, for example, that says that God chose some people before the foundations of the world to be saved, and he chose other people to go to hell. Why? Because on the one he wanted to demonstrate his mercy, to the others he wanted to demonstrate his justice. What's wrong with that? God's justice has already been demonstrated. It was demonstrated when his wrath came upon his own son. And it was so that the rest of humanity would be spared from seeing his wrath, so that he could show his mercy on all. And that is an outstanding message that I can't believe anybody would want to reject. God isn't holding these things against you. Jesus Christ came not into the world to condemn the world, John 3, 17, but that the world might through him be saved. Amen? And so that is our purpose. And wholeness or health is not an end in and of itself. It is so that that person That person that comes to you for help, we should look at them just like Jesus did. They're coming to you because they think they know what their problem is, when they really don't even know what their problem is, and you're gonna help them see what their problem is, and once they find it out, that's gonna lead to newness of life in them, and they then can become equipped to accomplish this ministry of reconciliation that God has entrusted into their hands as well. That's our purpose. It's the purpose of communicating the message of redemption that God has purchased each one of us to be his own. He has rightful ownership and our life has been bought by him and we are to live it for him. Not, I'm gonna get well so I can live my life the way I want to. Okay? Now, In Mark 5, there is a story of a man who Jesus was going to heal, Jairus' daughter. And on his way there, he was being besieged by a multitude of people. And it says in verse three, and they besought him greatly, this Jairus besought him greatly, saying, my little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed and she shall live. Now this man was really under time pressure. His daughter was dying. and he needed some help and he needed it right now and it says he besought Jesus greatly, please come and heal my daughter. And so Jesus responded and he went with him and there were many, many people followed him and they fronged him. And there was a certain woman which had an issue or a hemorrhage of blood for 12 years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. It's humbling to read that as a doctor, but it's true. And when she had heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind and touched his garment. For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Now I want you to think about this woman, because this is the way so many people are today. She has been bleeding for 12 years. What happened to a Jewish woman who hemorrhaged outside of her monthly cycle? She was unclean. In fact, she was unclean during her cycle. She could not go and do everything she wanted to do. She couldn't go to the temple. She could not go worship where God was, according to their theology. She was cut off from church. She couldn't go to church, basically, like we would go to church. She couldn't go to synagogue. She was unclean. This had plagued her for 12 years, so much that she had done everything within her power to get well, and she only grew worse. And then she heard of Jesus, and she thought to herself, this guy, he could help me. And all I'd have to do is just touch the hem of his garment, and I know that I'll be whole." All right? So that's what she does. She goes, she touches the hem of his garment, and straight away it says her fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. What an incredible feeling. After 12 years to just simply touch somebody's clothes, and then to immediately know that you are healed. I mean, what an incredible thing. I don't even think that we can appreciate that. But she slowly faded back. She just faded back into the crowd. But Jesus stopped and he turns around. And immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, he turned him about in the press and he said, who touched my clothes? Now his disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude thronging thee, there's people touching you all over the place, and you say, who touched my clothes? Are you crazy? Don't you know what's up? And he says, he looks around about to see her that had done this thing. He just stood there and he waited. And the crowd is probably upset. First of all, he's on his way to heal a girl that's on her deathbed, and there's a lot of pressure to get there. And he's stopping in the middle of this crowd that's packed around him. And he's asking, who touched me? Ridiculous. But finally, the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. As if she had done something wrong. I don't know if she confessed all of her sins, but she says she told him all the truth. And he said unto her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and behold of thy plague. Now I've read that story. I don't know how many times throughout my life, but I began to think about it a little bit more and looked a little bit deeper. And it's interesting there that there are two different Greek words that are translated whole in the King James, okay? One Greek word is hagios, which means to be physically well. And the other Greek word is sozo, which means to be whole, Or it's also translated to be saved. So this is what was happening. This woman said, I'm going to touch this, just the hem of his garment. And when I do that, I'm going to be saved. I'm going to be whole. And Jesus turned around. Now, If she she got what she was looking for she got what she wanted so desperately the hemorrhaging stopped and she must have been overjoyed and she sank back into the crowd into anonymity and Was gonna go home. I'm sure tell her family go offer sacrifice go worship in the temple and Probably die and go to hell And Jesus knew what was going on and he stopped. And I believe that he cared enough for her that he was not content to let her go home with this false conception that somehow this is all that she needed in life. And so he waited until she came forward. He could have picked her out, but she came forward. and confessed, and he said, daughter, thy faith hath saved thee. Thy faith hath saved thee. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go and be healed of your plague. The same thing happened with the 10 lepers. They all cried out, Jesus, have mercy on us. And so he healed them. Well, what did he do? go and show yourself to the priest, which was according to Levitical procedure, that you are clean. And on their way, as they went, their leprosy was cleansed. And one of them, seeing that he was made whole, came back to Jesus and fell at his feet and thanked him. And Jesus said, where are the other nine? Why is it that just a stranger has come back to thank me? And He told the men, go and be healed of thy plague. Thy faith hath made thee whole. You see, all 10 men were healed of their leprosy. All 10, but only one of them was genuinely whole. And what Jesus was waiting for with that woman was to tell her that unless her relationship with God was restored, through fellowship with his son, she wasn't whole one bit. And a lot of people are walking around thinking they are well when they're actually very sick from a spiritual and eternal perspective. And that should be our objective with regard to our work with others is not to just be content with a physical result or even eliminating the torment. It goes beyond that to restore fellowship with God through Christ and having a higher purpose of sharing that truth of the gospel with other people. Now, if we look at the question of why do we get sick, we can see that sickness is not part of God's original design. When you look at Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, you see God's design for creation, it was perfect. As far as I can tell, Adam and Eve would have lived for eternity if they had not sinned, because death and disease came into the world through sin. And so, Sickness was not in the picture. It wasn't what God planned for us. In Genesis 1 31, we read, and God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. It means vehemently, wholly, exceedingly good. And man was whole, not only in body, but also in spirit and soul. Now, people are dichotomous, which they split the person into physical and immaterial, body, and then spirit, soul, slash. And then there are your trichotomists who look at it in terms of body, spirit, and soul. And I don't worry too much about that, but The point being that the blessing of a soul and spirit that is in harmony with God's spirit produces the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. In fact, one of the ways that is a key way that I see, that I can tell when the enemies at work in my life is by noticing when there is fruit contrary to the fruit of the Spirit present. So, for example, if I'm finding myself discouraged, maybe depressed, Last week I was out of town with my family and I came home from work and My wife said you're just not Something's different here. You're not just Doing the same what's going on? And I didn't know I Just and I started thinking about it. Yeah, I don't think I'm feeling too hot here. I And why do I feel this way? So I sort of put my mind on rewind, think thought back through the day. And there were some things, there was some bad news I'd heard about a family member who was really in trouble. And some other stuff and issues with regard to the ministry where I was working that were challenges that they were facing. And in every one of these cases, there were problems. And I don't like problems. I like solutions. That's why we call our company Redemptus Solutions, not Redemptus Problems. And I find that I like closure to things. And I feel good when something's being resolved, and not when it's still hanging. And so I said, I think I know why I'm feeling this way, and I let her know. So when I'm lacking the fruit of the spirit in some way, it is a red flag. that the Holy Spirit is no longer in control, if you will, of my mind, will, and emotions. And I'm no longer surrendered to him in some way. Somewhere I've lost that to an extent. And sometimes it'll be something as subtle as I hear some bad news on the radio, maybe a child gets abducted or something, and it's just a fleeting thing, And I go on to other things and I find out hours later that my spirit is depressed because I never worked through that bad news I heard. And if I just stop and just pray for the person or the situation or whatever and kind of give it back over to the Lord, then I'm OK in the majority of cases. So watch for that. to see that the spirit and soul be in harmony with the fruit of the spirit. Now, when, where, and how did sickness begin? Well, there was the commandment in Genesis 2.16, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now, most people think of that forbidden fruit as an apple, That is probably not true. I don't know that there were citrus after apples there in the Middle East at that time Just like when the scriptures use the word corn. It's not the corn we eat. That's Indian corn It was not present there at that time as far as I know this is probably referring to pastries or cakes because they're called devil's food, but Anyway We don't know exactly what that fruit is, but whatever it was God said don't eat it Okay, and I don't think it was that the fruit itself poisoned Adam and Eve and made them to develop the process of death it was the act of disobedience as far as we know and Then we have temptation deception and failure in the day you eat of it. You will surely die so now disease and death are a part of every man. Now, there is death in every sphere. There is physical depravity and death, although Adam and Eve did not physically die that day. God said, in the day ye eat of it, you shall die. So either he was referring to the day being their life, or he was talking about something more in terms of a type of death that didn't involve them collapsing right there. And so there was death on a different plane because Adam and Eve, or at least Adam, lived another 900 plus years before he actually physically died. But the process of death began in their bodies. And after the flood, man's lifespan became limited greatly even further from short of a thousand years to more like a hundred years on average. Then we have spiritual depravity and death, where Adam and Eve died spiritually that day. Now that doesn't mean that their spirit became non-existent. When scripture refers to something as dead, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's extinct. it means that it doesn't fulfill the purposes for which God created it. Just like we are dead to sin, we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God, okay? And yet, what we have that took place in that garden is that that relationship, that life-giving relationship that Adam and Eve had with their creator was broken, and they had committed spiritual adultery, going after another who had sought their allegiance. Then there is mental depravity and death. And you see that, for example, in Adam. Adam, instead of taking responsibility for what he had done, blamed his wife. His thinking was messed up. And he even blamed God. The woman you gave me, she gave it to me and ate instead of taking responsibility. And then emotional depravity and death. Now, in the word on health, I describe seven root causes of illness. And we're going to address one here referred to as chastisement. And in scripture, when people were struck sick because of chastisement, if there was repentance, healing often followed, okay? And then there was another kind of illness that you see in a couple of people's lives, maybe not as common, but I see it in, for example, the life of Job, where he was struck with boils from head to toe, and according to what God said, it was not due to sin in his life. It was because he was blameless, perfect in terms of his spiritual maturity, and God was allowing Job's faith to be tested severely. And it says specifically that Satan afflicted Job with boils from head to toe. And they were incredibly painful, as he describes later on in that book. And so God can use, physical illness could come on us by virtue of there being chastisement that we've sinned. And for example, Paul said that many of the Corinthians had become sick because they dishonored the Lord at communion and took it unworthily. And many had even died according to the apostle. If Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit by misrepresenting his gift to the Apostle Peter, he was struck dead right then. I haven't seen too many people struck dead in church these days, but it was written as an example to show us the connection between sin and chastisement. Now, Isaiah 53 speaks of man being healed by the work of Christ on the cross. And that seems to not only apply to the soul of man, but also to a degree to the physical body. In Matthew, I believe it's 11, there is a scripture in which, might be of Matthew 8, but it says that Jesus healed all those that came to him, that it might be fulfilled what Isaiah the prophet said, by his stripes we are healed. And so, On the question of whether or not physical healing is in the atonement, I think the answer is yes it is, but it's a qualified yes. Because not everybody who is born again experiences physical healing in this life. Eventually they will, when this corruptible body takes on the incorruptible. But we should not necessarily be expecting that every born again believer is going to achieve optimum health and wellness in this life. This is not our home, and that applies to our physical temple as well. Now, what should people do when they get sick? Let's look at a passage from James 5. And the passage reads like this. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if ye have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." There are five things that we see in this passage. with regard to healing for sickness. First of all, let me just point out that this is specifically sickness due to sin. Okay? That's the underlying presupposition. A, call for the elders, B, anoint the body, C, confess your faults to one another, receive forgiveness, and pray in faith. Now let's talk about these each briefly. In calling for the elders, that's obviously referring to the leadership in the church. And it should be the leadership in the church that is there biblically, mature leaders. And they are to pray and anoint with oil in Jesus' name. Now the emphasis on that passage is not on the anointing, it's on the elders praying. And so it's even possible that they weren't necessarily anointing the body themselves. Okay, and in looking at the word anoint, where we're to anoint the body with oil in Jesus' name, it may refer to caring for the physical body. It may refer to the application of medicine, and I'll show you why. There are two principal Greek words for the word anoint. One is creo, and it's usually used ceremonially or figuratively. Here are some scriptures where we find it. Luke 4.18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Acts 4.27, thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed. He wasn't treated with medication, he was anointed spiritually. Acts 10.38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, not with a physical remedy. 2 Corinthians 1.21, now he which hath anointed us is God. And then Hebrews 1.9, thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. It's referring to spiritual concepts in the vast majority of cases, or ceremonial. Then you look at the second Greek word, which is elipho, and it means It may refer to the caring for the physical body or the application of medicine. Here are some scriptural references to its use. In Matthew 6, 17, when thou fast, anoint thine head and wash thy face. Put oil on your head, I guess this was Jewish frill cream, and wash your face. Don't make it look like you're fasting, okay? And Mark 6, 13, and they anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. And then in Mark 16, 1, and the women had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint Elipho, the body of Jesus. And then in Luke 7, 38, Mary began to wash Jesus' feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And Jesus said, my head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. And that's the Greek word, elipho. Why is that important? Because that is the Greek word that's used in James 5. It's not the ceremonial, it's not the spiritual, it's the physical. And it always refers to an application of an oil to the body, which may or may not have medicinal value. It may mean to make the sick comfortable, to care for their immediate needs of their body, to reach out to them and minister to them and provide for whatever they really need in that time of sickness. And that would make sense, would it not? And then in Jesus' name would be to do this in the spirit and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means to do something in his name. It means to do it like he would do it, okay? With the same attitude, the same care, compassion, and concern. And so, It's interesting when I read, for example, Brian English's book, The History of Medicine. As far as I know, he was never saved. I don't think he's still living. But he said, Jesus Christ was the most influential figure in all of the history of medicine. And I thought, I mean, I read that and I thought, why would you say that? I mean, he didn't organize any medical system. teach on why we get sick and so on and things like we would think of as physicians, why was he the most significant? And he pointed out because he taught his followers to care for the sick and the poor. And in fact, that compassion that he exemplified toward the sick and poor was really unique amongst the religions of the world. Most prophets sit in a cave or on a stone, and they don't care anything about the sick, or at least they don't do anything for them. Healing and sickness, this guy mentions, is mentioned only like once. in the Islamic writings, just not something that Muhammad focused on. And if you go over to India, there is a caste system there. And if you're belonging to the untouchables, you don't get care by physicians and so on, because it's your bad karma that puts you there. It does not promote compassion for the sick. That's why people like Mother Teresa stood out so much because she was willing to touch the untouchable and reach out to them and have compassion. It's an application clearly of the teaching and character of Christ. In fact, his teaching is what Historically, according to English, led to the founding of the first hospitals. It was Christians who invented the idea of a hospital where you would have people who were too sick or too poor to care for themselves come to a building where people who had committed their lives to caring for the sick would do so. And it was Christians who did that. And it became such a threat to the Roman Empire that Julian the Apostate is quoted as saying, And he proposed as a propaganda measure that the Romans would build their own hospitals to compete with the Christians so that people would go there instead of going to the Christian hospitals where they would hear about the love of Christ and turn away from the Roman gods. So Jesus Christ had a powerful impact on the practice of medicine because he taught compassion for the sick. And we see still evidence of that today with regard to the healing professions in so many of our hospitals, which may be very distinctly for-profit entities, but they have on their names Methodist Hospital or Baptist, you know, and many of the Catholic hospitals and so on. So anointing the body with oil very well may mean just simply caring for the body's physical needs, not necessarily a ceremonial sticking some oil on the forehead. The third step is confessing your faults, one to another, and praying for one another. Now, the sick may not be the only one confessing faults, according to this. It says, confess your faults one to another. There have been times when the elders have gathered to pray for someone at the request of that individual in our church, and it's been the deacons and elders confessing toward one another. For one thing, it's a time of self-examination for everyone. It's not that we're so holy and this person's not, and that's why they're sick and they come in here. We are all to stand before the throne and examine ourselves and search our hearts. And we wouldn't want anything to interfere with God answering our prayer that this person would be made well. And confessing our faults is a prerequisite to experiencing forgiveness. In 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, I don't believe that God requires that we confess any and every sin that we have ever committed in order to be forgiven by him and to enjoy salvation and eternity with him. Because if that were the case, most of us would be in real trouble. Not because we wouldn't be willing to confess those things, But good grief, how many of you remember everything that you've ever done before you got saved? And even afterwards, you didn't even realize that you did something wrong. I remember one time when I got up one morning years ago, and I was going to really minister to my wife that day. And in a very unusual manner, I walked into the kitchen and all the dirty dishes were still sitting there in the sink. My wife is impeccable at housekeeping. And she never would do that. I thought, you know, she must not have really been feeling well or something because even when she's feeling terrible, she would wash these dishes. And so I went ahead and I washed all the dishes and I put them all away. And I thought, I'm going to show my wife today how much I love her and really reach out to her and really be nice. And I tried to do that. through several different things throughout the day. But as the day progressed, my wife seemed to get more and more depressed. And I didn't know what was going on. And it got worse and worse and worse to the point that she was near tears. And my wife does not cry very often. And I am as baffled as can be. I mean, totally baffled. And after dinner, it's like we couldn't hardly even speak to each other. And fortunately, God gave me grace. And I just humbled myself. And I said, honey, what's wrong? And she said, I'm not saying. And I said, please tell me. And she said, no, I'm not saying. And you should know. And finally, I convinced her that I was really sincerely wanting to know where I had fallen short so that I could make it right with her because I had no clue whatsoever. And through tears, she shared with me, she said, today is the 25th anniversary of my mom's death and you totally forgot. And I just remember standing there feeling like I'd just been bludgeoned and thinking, I can't defend myself on this one And suddenly something dawned on me. I had been, it was not intentional. But I had deeply, deeply hurt my wife. And the Lord just really helped me see through that situation the difference between sin and iniquity. Sin is, the Greek word hamartia, right? It comes from an archer's term, and it says, I'm gonna do my best, I'm gonna try my hardest, and I'm gonna hit that bullseye, and you aim carefully, and you train, and you fire, and you miss. That's sin. And I had done my best to love my wife that day, really tried, but I'd missed the mark. And iniquity is more reflected by this attitude. I know you want me to shoot at that target over there. I know I'm supposed to try to hit that bullseye, but I don't give a rip about that target. I'm going to shoot at whatever I want to. That's iniquity. It's lawlessness. It's self-will. It's I'm going to make my own rules, and I'm going to play by them, and you don't have anything to say about it. And Jesus told the goats, you know, and I think it's Matthew 7, where he says, depart from me, ye workers of lawlessness, or ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And you know who he was talking to? He was talking to people who he said had done great things in his name, had even cast out demons in his name, and performed many great miracles in his name. But he says, depart from me, I never knew you. you workers of iniquity, you were doing everything for your own gain, and so on, and not, and had no relationship with me. You didn't even know who I was. And I never knew you. And as I was standing there, in response to my wife, I realized that I had spent the majority of my marriage defending myself for not hitting the bullseye because I was trying, thinking that somehow I could defend sin because it wasn't iniquity, because it wasn't intentional. And if that's how blind I can be toward sin in my own life, then You know, I hope to God that he doesn't hold me completely responsible for remembering everything that I have done that falls short of his glory of perfection. And I'm so grateful that Jesus didn't only die for our iniquities, but for our sins as well. This idea of needing to confess our sins, I believe, is critical to us experiencing forgiveness and being able to walk in it. And one ministry teaches, for example, that as they're helping their clients to walk through issues in their life and discover through the proper application of God's word where they have fallen short and sinned, that when God points something out, they should say hallelujah. Because even though they may not have been aware that that was going on in their life, it still was hindering their fellowship, in many cases, with God. And by being able to identify it, they can confess it and agree with God and experience fellowship with him in a new and greater way than they had before. You know, isn't it true that if someone hurts you, let's say a family member, and you try to maybe even talk to them and they don't see it, and so there's no agreement on it, that's what confession means, to agree with, that you don't feel like you really have a 100% relationship with them? You feel like they just don't understand this part of me. And I can't really share that with them because we don't agree. And when they come to a place where they really see as if it's through your eyes what you're trying to express, you find fellowship there that you didn't have before. And it's kind of like that in a way, I think. enjoy that fellowship as we agree with God about those things in our life that have been hindering us. Now, confess comes from a Greek word, exomo logio. It means out of and homo, together. And then logio means to reason or speak intelligently. Here are some definitions, to acknowledge or to agree fully, out of the strong. Zodiatis says, to agree together with God or with one's conscience and to externalize that which is inside oneself, to profess, express in agreement with, confess, and to promise. I think that scriptural confession characteristically involves a public confession. Now that doesn't mean that everything that you ever do needs to be announced in front of the church. But if you look at confession in scripture where someone had been wrong and they were confronted with their sin, they were always confessing it to somebody else. At least one person like David to Nathan, if not like Achan, Joshua said, give glory to God and confess your sin. And he told the whole nation because it affected the whole nation for one thing. And it bothers me to see Christians trying to retain all sense of self-dignity by going forth to the altar in conviction of sin under the preaching of God's word, quietly repent of something, don't tell a soul, go back to their pew and then carry on with their life and nobody has any idea what they went there for. And my experience has been that I experience the freedom that Christ wants to give me, not necessarily the forgiveness, but certainly the freedom when I share with some other human being with skin on what it is that's been plaguing me. And confession is professing the truth out loud to somebody else. And I'm not saying that it has to be 100% of the time, but it sure needs to probably be a lot more than what I see today. And encourage your people. That's perhaps why someone sitting in an auditorium like this can hear the truth and God put his finger on something and may even pray about it but still continue to be plagued by it. And then they sit down with a counselor. The counselor helps them identify it and pray through it and it's gone. And then I need to point out the difference between regret and repentance. There are two words for repentance in the Greek. One Greek word is metamelomai, which means to care for or care afterwards and to regret. It comes from melo, which means to be of interest or concern. In Matthew 27, we read this very interesting passage. Then Judas, that's Iscariot, which had betrayed Jesus, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned and that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. Even Judas repented. But it wasn't a repentance that brought forgiveness. It was Greek, metamelomai, He regretted what he had done, but was he repentant? No. That's a different word. Zodiatis says this, that metamelemia is to regret, to express the mere desire that what is done may be undone, accompanied with regrets or even remorse, but with no effective change of heart. So it's like, I'm disappointed that things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to go. This is characteristic of someone who is caught in the act and says, oh, I'm sorry. Shouldn't have done that. Feel really bad about it. But they didn't respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in bringing to them a place of voluntary confession, and they're the ones that brought it to light. When they get exposed, it rarely produces genuine repentance. He goes on, an ineffective repentance, metameleia, which nowhere occurs in the New Testament, to which forgiveness of sins is not promised, as it is for metanoia, repentance. Metameleia means little or nothing more than a selfish dread of the consequence of what one has done. A critical distinction. When you're trying to help people resolve spiritual warfare issues in their life, They need to come to genuine repentance. And sometimes people can be so programmed throughout their life, they don't even know what that is. The other Greek word is metanoio. It means to think differently or afterwards, to reconsider. It comes from a couple of words, to exercise the mind, to comprehend, to heed, And also now it's the intellect. In other words, the mind and thought, feeling, or will. And also that comes from gnosko, which means to know. Versus mellow, which means to be of interest to or concern. This one implies the meaning of someone really understanding. Okay? Isn't it true when you've really been deeply hurt, What you really want more than anything is the other person to understand how they've hurt you. And if you don't feel that they really get it, you don't want to release forgiveness. Until you see that they understand, you have a tendency to want to hold back. Because you're looking for real repentance. Here's what he says. To repent with regret accompanied by a true change of heart toward God, metanoia, repentance, is retrospection. It signifies a change of mind consequent to retrospection, indicating regret for the course pursued and resulting in a wiser view of the past and future. Most importantly, it is distinguished from metamelomai to regret because of the consequences of one's actions. It really You know what I think it does? I think it looks at the offense through the perspective of someone else's eyes, hopefully the human being that you have hurt, like my wife that night, and secondly, through the eyes of God. And God helps us to see the offense through his eyes by looking at it through the perspective of the person who is offended. And that's why we need one another. So we're not looking so much at consequences and how shallow our understanding is so often of what we've done. But when we can grasp that to at least some extent, that's when real repentance occurs. Remember in Peter's sermon in Acts 2 at Pentecost, where he says, he goes through all this history leading up to the coming of Christ, and then he says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were cut in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? They were so confronted with their sin, the Holy Spirit had spoken so clearly through Peter, they were cut to the heart, and it's like, what can we do? They were so convicted, and there's nothing they could do to change what had been done. And he said, about the gospel, but we don't want to confront people on their sin. And so they pray a prayer to receive Jesus so they can be reconciled to God and have spent eternity in heaven. And who wouldn't want that? But do I want to agree with you about my bitterness towards my mother-in-law? Or do I want to agree with you that I need to stop this pattern of behavior in my life that is ruining other people or whatever it is? And the answer so many times is no. And remember when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and he said, what must I do to be saved? And Jesus said, keep the commandments. And he lists several of them for him. And he says, all of these I've done for my youth up. And Jesus, what do I lack? And he said, go and sell everything that you have, give it to the poor, and then you come and follow me. And to my understanding, that was an invitation to be a part of the inner circle of Jesus Christ. It says in one account, Jesus looked upon that young man and loved him, and then told him that. And the man went away very sorrowful. Why? He was challenged at where his heart was. And until his heart was right, which Jesus knew would take him getting rid of all of his earthly possessions, He was not qualified for the kingdom of God. And oh, how we don't want to offend somebody with their sin for fear that they might not come to Christ and confess Him. And then we wonder why we have such carnal Christians who still live in their sin, but profess to know Christ. Maybe they've never been asked to truly repent. never been confronted. The word false is from the Greek periptoma, which means a side slip, a lapse or deviation. In other words, an unintentional error or willful transgression. It's derived from another Greek word, peripypto, which means to fall aside, and it's also used to mean apostasize. And I thought that's kind of interesting. There's a question of whether or not then people who have faults and they've never repented, never confessed them, could these be a block to healing in their life? In other words, maybe Jesus is just as ready to heal today as he was 2,000 years ago, but there is something interfering with that healing becoming a reality. It's a possibility. And if you look at this, sickness is a disease of the body, yes. Sin is a disease of the soul, is it not? It's like a sick soul. And the two are inseparably related to one another. You can't separate them. You gotta have a physical body for the soul to be present. And we are integrated beings of spirit, soul, and body. And Jesus tells us, through James here, we are to externalize, confess, to one another that which is inside, in the soul, and to express agreement with God as to who we are or what we've done. That's confession. And the two can be inseparably linked so that one has an effect on the other. And we're then finally, or fourthly, to pray for one another that we may be healed. The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. Now the Greek word for faith is pisteo. It means to be fully persuaded or convinced. And it must have as its basis to be rooted in the promise of God, as opposed to presumption. Okay. Now there are some people that might say, well, I think that if I have enough faith, God is going to give me a Mercedes Benz, even though I'm on welfare. Okay. So the, so they pray and, uh, uh, and I'm, and I'm believing for God, God for a miracle. I'm believing him for a miracle. Well, the question is, did God say he was going to do that? Because if he did not say, I'm going to give you a Mercedes Benz, that's not faith, that's presumption. Because faith has got to have its object. And that person's object is not God, it's themself. If I believe enough, then I'll receive it. Faith is dependent upon its object. That's why it can be as small as a mustard seed and still move mountains. Because if you're really convinced of who God is, then he can do incredible things just through a small measure of faith. It's not the quantity of it, it's the quality. Is it real? Is it genuine? It's like Corrie Ten Boom when she was told, you know, my, you have such great faith. And she said, no, I have such a big God. It's not my faith, it's who he is. It's simple. Then, the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and again, the Greek word sozo, which in 94 occurrences means save, 11 whole, and three healed. Jesus came, and again, this is Matthew 8 that we read earlier. When the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying himself, took our infirmities, and bear our sicknesses." And finally then, receiving forgiveness of sins is this last step. And if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him, according to James 5. This implies several things. One is, it implies that at least some who are sick are not sick because of personal sin. Because it says, if he could have committed sins, So some of the time, they must not have, or would have said, mandated it, okay? On the other hand, it does imply that at least some people who are sick have committed sin, and that may be why they are sick, okay? And then it also implies that these people who have committed sins and are sick are believers, not unbelievers. They are Christian. Okay, despite having sinned and in need of forgiveness. All right? And in such cases, healing of the body flows from healing of the soul, just like Jesus said, thy sins are forgiven thee, rise up and walk. Or, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, as we read in James 5. And so, God's plan for the sick involves mature church leadership, calling for the elders, And by the way, that responsibility is on the part of the sick, okay? Or maybe their family. But if there's any sick among you, let him call for the elders, all right? And then guiding the sick in self-examination, helping them bring them to confession, repentance, anointing with oil, which may be medicinal, and caring for the physical needs of the body, and praying in the spirit of Christ. So there's an important role for the church, for Christian counsel, in people who are sick. And it's not that you walk in and you say, I think you're sick because you've got sin in your life. It's that you ask them if they want to evaluate, see if there's anything there that God may want to use this illness to address in their life.