Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Well, we are continuing our series Christ is all.
We revealed a couple weeks ago that that is our theme for 2026.
Christ is all from Colossians 3 verse 11.
And so in the first week we took time to really break down that
verse and why we find unity in Christ because Christ is all.
And then we asked ourselves last week, well, if Christ is all,
then what does that mean to me? And then we went through all of
that text from Colossians 3 verses 1 all the way to verse
#11 we found those three different vistas kind of getting
to the peak of Christ is all, and realized that there's some
things that we need to put in action.
For instance, the fact that Christ is our life.
And why wouldn't He be all? If he is our life and if we are
saved, he ought to be our life. He ought to be our everything.
Everything in our life ought to flow from the fact that we
belong to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ belongs to us.
Philippians 310 That I may know Him, the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto His death. You know when something is your
all, you want to know more about it because that's the way it
ought to be. If something is truly your all,
you want to know as much about it as you possibly can.
Back in 2020 when I needed a hobby and well, we all needed a
hobby back in 2020 because we couldn't go anywhere for a
while. I remember one day I got the
newspaper and for those who are young enough, that's this thing
that you open up and it's got stories and pictures and all
kinds of stuff in it. And I had a newspaper and I was
just so bored that day that I decided I was going to do the
crossword puzzle that was inside of it.
And that took me down a rabbit hole that I wasn't expecting
over the next few years. And I'm here even today.
But I started to realize that it has its own language, its own
way of being able to understand the clues and all that stuff.
So I started reading blogs about crossword puzzles.
You know, there are blogs about crossword puzzles.
Yeah. I'm weird enough and nerdy
enough to find those. I bought a book I'm on how to do
the New York Times crossword puzzle, all of those different
things. And I wanted to learn as much
about as I can. And today I can do a large size
crossword puzzle with some effort, but I can do it.
And it's because I wanted to do it.
I enjoyed doing it. I want to learn as much about it
as possible. Last summer, I had the
opportunity to captain a pontoon boat.
That's right. I captain.
You say what? I just drove it.
That's all I did. It just sounds better when you
say captain, but, you know, getting out in the water.
And I realize if I'm taking someone else's pontoon boat on
the water, I probably ought to know as much about it as I can.
And so I didn't realize how many YouTube videos there were online
to be able to take care of how to deal with it and how to do
all the different things and even tying knots because, you
know, it's one thing to take it out and bring it in.
It's another thing to find out the next day it's in the middle
of the lake because you didn't tie it up right.
And so it was my all. I was checking out YouTube
videos. I was actually on the dock tying
the knot, watching a YouTube video at the same time to make
sure I was doing it right. But you know, those are some
what trivial things that I'm talking about.
But I can go back to when I would say which was December
2nd, 1998 if you want to fill that in, which most of you
already know that date for all these years.
But December 2nd, 1998, all of a sudden, I had known about Jesus
Christ before because I grew up as a Lutheran, but all of a
sudden I knew. Jesus Christ, you.
Understand what I'm saying? You understand the differences.
Morning. I didn't just know about him.
Now I knew him and salvation. All of a sudden I wanted to know
as much about him as possible because it felt like everything
was new. I read my Bible before I'd read
my Bible. If I read my Bible, it just
seems so far away and it seems so distant.
It just seemed like it was something meant for someone
else. And now all of a sudden it all
applied to me and I wanted to go through the Bible and I want to
study the Bible. And I have notebooks back from
when I'm 17 and 18 years old of where I was writing things down
about my Bible reading because it was like.
I needed to know. Because, well, Christ was
becoming all in my life and I wanted to know more about him.
You know, if Christ is all and Christ is our life, then we need
to learn more about who Christ is.
And So what I want us to do, and I mentioned this the last few
weeks, is we're going to go through the New Testament and
look at the different attributes that we find of Jesus Christ.
The very first one that we see is in Matthew chapter #4 we're
not going chronologically through the Bible, but rather
going through the Gospels and then into the book of Acts and
the Epistles to learn more about who Jesus Christ is.
And this morning we're going to look at the fact that Christ is
healer. If Christ is old, then Christ is
healer. So would you stand please, for
the reading of God's Word? Where Matthew chapter 4 where
verse #17 then we're skip down to verse #23 and the Word says
this. From that time Jesus began to
preach and to say repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
By the way, that word repent still a good one today, Amen.
Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Verse 23 And Jesus went all about about all Galilee rather
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
Kingdom and healing, there's that word healing all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him
all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and
torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those
which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy.
And he healed them. And there followed him great
multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis, from
Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.
And I really want us to focus in on verse #23 here at first,
where it says, And Jesus went all about Galilee, teaching in
their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and
healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people. And really, we could look at
three different words that characterize Jesus in this
verse, teaching, preaching and healing.
But I would submit to you that the first two, teaching and
preaching is what he did. Healing is who he was.
And you say, well, the teaching and preaching isn't important.
Oh man, it's vitally important. And we're going to see how they
all go together here this morning in just a minute.
But this morning I want us to look at the fact that Christ is
all that means. Christ is healer.
And so why don't you be seated and we'll pray and ask the Lord
to bless this morning. Heavenly Father, we do thank you
and certainly that. There are the distractions of
the day that are before us. We think of that which is to
come with the storm that even is commencing as we speak.
And I do pray that you would just be with us.
Help us to lock in these next few moments to learn that what
you have for. Us from your word, thank you
again for this time, this place where we can meet together and
we ask it all in Jesus name, Amen.
Now Jesus began his earthly ministry by being baptized by
John the Baptist. And by the way, just to throw
this in here this morning, there are some who would call him John
the Baptizer. The name is John the Baptist.
Amen. You say, are we Baptist because
we follow John the Baptist? No, we're Baptist because we
follow the word of God and we follow Jesus Christ.
But John's name was Baptist, it wasn't Baptizer.
And it our Bible says that he was the Baptist.
And so he was baptized by John the Baptist then immediately was
tempted in the wilderness 440 days.
And when John was imprisoned a short time after that Jesus
began his earthly ministry, taking kind of the idea of what
John had said before where in John 3 verse 30, he said he must
being Jesus, he must increase and I must decrease.
And this was the process as John's ministry started to wane
and diminish, particularly as he was put in prison by the way,
just for preaching the word of God straight and true.
Here is Jesus as his ministry is increasing as it was supposed to
be. And so we we get to this place
here in Matthew chapter #4 where Jesus is beginning his earthly
ministry. And I will tell you that He is
very, very popular at this time there.
There are times in his ministry where he's not so popular,
especially as we get near the end of his ministry when they
turn upon him and the establishment turns upon him.
But here, very early on, I will tell you, people love to hear
and to see Jesus Christ. That verse #25 says they're
followed from Him. Great multitudes of people from
Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea, and from
beyond Jordan. And so as Jesus is ministering
in Galilee, which is that northern area of Israel that's
filled with the common folk, if you will, this is where Jesus
himself would have been from in Nazareth.
That is, he's going around Galilee and just preaching and
teaching. And then as we find out as well
healing that as he's doing this, people are coming from far and
wide from inside of Israel and even from the other side of
Jordan. And everybody wants to hear and
everybody wants to see Jesus Christ.
Now why was Jesus so popular? I just alluded to this a moment
ago. Why was Jesus so popular?
Well, it was His teaching and preaching to 1 extent certainly,
because in Matthew Chapter 7 verses #28 and 29 it said after
he preached the Sermon on the Mount, it said the people were
astonished at His doctrine, for He taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes.
When the people heard Jesus teach and they heard Jesus
preach, they saw something different in Him from the
Pharisees. Why?
Because He had had authority from God compared to the
Pharisees who really had the authority within themselves,
because they thought that they were the highest authority.
Oh sure, they made reference to God and talk to God and prayed
to God, but I'll tell you this, they love themselves a whole lot
more than they loved God. And so the authority of the
Pharisees lied within the Pharisees themselves.
When Jesus spoke, He spoke with true authority because He is the
living Word, because He is God. So people were coming to hear
the teaching and the preaching. But I'll be honest with you,
what people were really coming for was the show.
What people were really coming for was the healing.
It says it verse 23. It says in Jesus went about all
Galilee teaching in the synagogues and preaching the
gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness
and all manner disease among the people.
And what kind of disease was He healing?
Well, He healed all manner of sickness and disease.
He healed physical disease. He healed mental illness.
He healed demon possession. This is all mentioned here in
verse #24 and people are literally bringing their sick
relatives. They're bringing their sick
loved ones. They're bringing their sick
friends. In fact, we'll see later on that
that some were so impassionate or rather passionate about
bringing someone to Jesus, they lifted a whole roof off a house
and lowered a man inside just so he could be healed by Jesus
Christ. No, no, people were coming to
hear the teaching. No doubt people were coming to
hear the preaching. But can I tell you why there
were such great crowds at the beginning is because they wanted
to be able to be a part of this healing ministry.
They thought there was something here that they hadn't seen
before. And everybody wants to see
Jesus, to see him heal the masses.
Jesus was the healer, bringing health to those who are under
great physical and mental distress.
Now I think we need to just take a moment and park here and
mention just a few things before we get too far in our message
this morning. There are great many groups
today that fly under the banner of Christianity that will tell
you that. Outward healings, understand
what I'm saying, by outward healings like we see manifested
here in Matthew chapter 4 and other places as well, that
outward healings are still part of the ministry of the church,
that the church should be healing in the same way and in
the same method as was found all of those years ago.
And many of them will point to passages like Mark chapter 16
verses 17 and 18, where it says, and these signs shall follow
them that believe in my name shall they cast out devils?
They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall, I'll take up serpents and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sink, the sick and they shall
recover. And so people will point to that
and say the church should still be a part of this healing
ministry, this outward healing ministry today and that this is
a manifestation of something that should still be done in the
church today. Now, interestingly enough, I
find that these groups often cherry pick what they find from
chapter 16, verse 17 and 18. They don't claim all the gifts,
just claim a few of them they don't claim.
Most of them the handling of snakes.
Now there are places and I want to get into that, but there are
places in Appalachia and other places where there are snake
handling churches. And you know what?
A lot of those people die. You know why?
Because the only good snakes and dead snake, all gods people said
all right, good, all right, if you like animal rights and
stuff, my right Trump's the animal's right when it comes to
snakes, all right. But you know, another one that
none of them claim drinking poison.
I've never seen a church service, even in the snake
handling churches where they'll say, all right, now, brother
Jim's going to get up here. Sorry, Jim.
All right, Brother Jim. Soon as it came out, I was like,
we got some of those. All right, bro, Jim's going to
get up and he's going to drink a bottle of Drano for us and we'll
see God's manifestation this morning.
Nobody claims that. Jim Jones.
Yeah, Jim Jones. There you go.
All right. That's the one we're looking
for, actually. All right, that worked.
All right. Thanks, Jim.
We're kind of collaborating on the sermon as we go.
Not the way we normally do it, but it's a snow day.
Things are a little bit different.
What I'm saying is nobody claims them all because even in the
minds of those groups, they have an understanding that these are
the outward manifestations of what God is doing today.
Those TV charlatans that get up, never go to the hospital and
heal anybody. They'll wave their jackets.
A Benny Hinn, a Jesse Duplantis, a Kenneth Copeland will wave
their jackets or wave their hands or everything but wave a
magic wand and say that people are being healed.
But they never go and clear out the asylums.
They never go and clear out the hospitals.
But it's always done in such a way that people have a surge of
adrenaline that people have this surge of of good feelings, but
afterwards are left all the worse from what these people do.
There's the Word of Faith and prosperity ordered groups that
preach and emphasize healing as part of Christ's atonement,
meaning this that if you aren't part of that type of healing
process, then you may not have assurance that you're actually
saved. These are difficult things, but
yet you say, pastor, what we just read in Mark is actually
there, There was actually healings that took place in the
book of Acts and of course the Gospels with Jesus.
But the church churches, individual churches, these local
churches, we see ministries of healing that that do happen at
times. What happened?
And my answer would be that if you go to 1st Corinthians 13,
don't turn there. First Corinthians 13 verse 10,
we see when that which is perfect has come, that which is
in part is done away. These gifts were to authenticate
both the message and the messenger.
These gifts were used to authenticate the message and the
messenger. Can I give you an example?
Sure, thank you. All right, in Acts chapter #28
Paul is on the beach at Malta, and he puts his hand into a pile
of sticks and onto him latches a snake.
See. Nothing good.
Paul Snakes shakes off the snake, throws it in a fire.
There you go, Paul. All right.
He shakes it off and everybody's watching and they say this guy's
going to die, he's done something wrong and he doesn't
die. And they said he's a God.
Isn't it amazing how the pendulum shifts from one side to
the other? But what was it?
It was an authentication that this man, when he preached and
he did preach Jesus Christ, he said I'm not a God.
Let me tell you about God. It was an authentication of His
ministry and of His message. Do you know what authentication
you need today of the ministry and of the message?
It doesn't come from me drinking something that's poisonous.
It doesn't come from a snake. It doesn't come from a healing
that I can perform here from this platform this morning.
The only authentication of the message and the messenger that
you need is when that which is perfect, the Word of God, has
come. That which is in part is done
away. The Word of God is what
authenticates the message this morning, not something that I do
up here to try to stir up the crowd.
So what is Jesus doing here? He is healing because there is
teaching and preaching that is taking place.
And this healing is doing what? It is authenticating the
messenger and the message. It is showing the people.
The Jews, by the way, love to sign First Corinthians 122.
The Jews require a sign in the Greeks after wisdom.
It is showing the Jews listen to this man and listen to this
message and that's why the healing took place.
So when we say Jesus's healer is my first priority this morning
to tell you that Jesus will heal you of all your diseases, your
ailments and other maladies, is this my priority to tell you
this? Morning.
It isn't. You know why?
Because I can't guarantee that it's a lot of people dealing
with a lot of illness, a lot of sickness, some short term, some
long term. God and his graciousness and
mercy and His wisdom heal some and not others.
Does that mean he loves some and not others?
I'd ask you, do you think that he didn't love Paul?
Because Paul had a thorn in the flesh, Second Corinthians
chapter 12 tells us. And Paul sought the Lord thrice
in prayer, the Bible says. And that wasn't just that he
dipped his head and prayed about taking this pain away as he was
praying for his meal. I believe it was 3 extended
seasons of prayer in his life. And the Lord didn't take it
away. You say, well what did the what
did the Lord give him? Grace.
My grace is sufficient for thee, the word of God says.
God gave him something much greater.
Because, he says, because of the multitude of revelations that I
had received, the Lord knew that I could be.
Boastful or proud. And so He's given me these
things to be able to keep me humble, but then gave me grace
to be able to handle that what I dealt with.
So I can't tell you this morning that God is going to heal you of
that which you are suffering from because you're a Christian.
But this is what I can tell you this morning.
And this is one thing that I can assure you of this morning.
Jesus can and will heal you from one thing in particular.
And it was really what he was most concerned about here in
Matthew chapter 4. And it's not the ailments of the
body, it's the ailment of sin that afflicts every single one
of us. This is what we need healing
from. This is what is truly afflicting
us. Isaiah 64, verse 6.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all of our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
We do fade as a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away. Listen, we're here one day and
we're gone the next. The leaf that is there and is
flourishing one day is gone the next.
We see it every fall around here, and people travel from
miles and miles around to see our leaves die.
That's what they do. And we do it too.
So I'm not saying everyone else shouldn't do it.
But what I'm saying is this. I'm saying they die and they're
gone. And this is our life.
And we have to take care of the real issue, which is our
righteousness is not righteousness before a righteous
God. And that's why Jesus is healer.
That's why he did physical healings, because it was to be
able to bring people to understand the teaching and the
preaching that they're sinners who needed a Savior.
We'll look more at that in a second.
It would be like someone who has cancer and a rash going to the
doctor. And the doctor said this, you
need some treatment. And he's expecting the doctor's
going to say, you know, start chemotherapy or to start
radiation, he says. I have some cream for your rash.
I hope you have a good day. We'd say, well, what about the,
the cancer? I can't help you with that.
I just, you know, that rash doesn't look so good.
I'll give you some some topical cream for that.
It's that doctor is crazy. Well, that's what happened.
That's what would have happened if Jesus had just healed the
body and not been the healer of the soul.
Because all of those people who were healed in verse #24 without
Jesus preaching and teaching the message would still have died in
their sins and gone straight to hell.
I'm not saying that what they had was equivalent to a rash,
but what I'm saying is that in comparison, the healing of the
body is much lower than the healing of the soul, because the
body is temporary, but you will have a life after this life.
And the question is this, where will you spend eternity?
And that's what Jesus was concerned about.
Jesus was concerned with the state of their bodies, but he
was far more concerned with the state of their soul.
And the text bears this out. Where did we start?
We started in verse #17 and it says this repent for the Kingdom
of God is at hand. To repent means what?
A change of mind that leads to a change of direction.
He's giving the message, which by the way was the message of
John the Baptist, and the message was this repent for the
Kingdom of God over the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Isaiah 55 verses 6 and seven explain repentance when it says,
seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he
is near. Let the wicked forsake their
ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon. Repent is to forsake the old way
and to cling to the new way. It is a change of mind that
leads to a change of direction that we are to repent of our
sins. Listen, your sins aren't helping
you. Let me just say that again.
Your sins aren't helping you. Say who are you to talk about my
sin? My sins don't help me.
There's pleasure in sin, the Bible says, but it's only for a
season. And whatever pleasure that we
can find in sin is far outstripped by the fact that it
ruins anything that we have of abundance and peace and joy and
this life, not even to mention the life to come.
And so the message says, repent. Why?
The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
There's a time of reckoning. So I've got all the time in the
world, Pastor, you don't know that you have till the end of
this day. You say that.
What kind of talk is that? It's realistic talk.
We don't know what we have. We don't know how long we have.
Repent. The Kingdom of heaven is at
hand. There's a time of reckoning.
There was an agnostic. Farmer, who wrote to the editor
of his local newspaper, who was a Christian, He said In defiance
of your God, I plowed my fields this year on Sunday.
I fertilized them on Sunday. I planted them on Sunday.
I cultivated them on Sunday. I reaped them on Sunday.
This October I had the biggest crop I've ever had.
How do you explain that with your God?
The atheist wrote to the newspaper.
The editor replied, this and this alone.
God does not always settle his accounts in October, he says,
where's my reckoning? Where is it?
And the editor says, well, the reckoning may not be now.
But there is a reckoning. Be sure when the Bible says
repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, that you must make a
decision before it's everlastingly too late.
If you haven't made that decision by this morning, if
you're watching this morning and you don't know where you'll
spend eternity, there is no other decision that you can make
that will save your soul other than accepting Jesus Christ as
your Savior only. He can save you from your sins.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The most exclusive and inclusive message you'll ever find.
It's exclusive because it's only Jesus.
It's inclusive because it's for all people.
This is what Jesus was preaching.
And verse #23 not just verse #17 but verse 23 tells us He was
teaching and He was preaching. Sure, He was healing.
Healing was for the body, but teaching was for the mind.
And preaching is for the heart. Which all brings true healing,
which comes to the soul. Oh yes, Jesus was healing people
physically, but it wasn't so that he could heal the world
physically and go back to the Father.
It was healing people physically so they would hear the teaching
and the preaching and realize that real healing needed to come
to their souls. Jesus wasn't a healer who
preached and taught. He was a teacher and preacher
who healed. No, it's an important
distinction. He wasn't a healer who happened
to teach and preach. He was a teacher and a preacher
who healed to be able to make manifest his preaching and his
teaching. Luke 8 rather Luke 4 verses 18
and 19. Jesus sat at the synagogue in
Nazareth and says, it reads from the Old Testament.
It says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach
deliverance in the captives, the recovering of the site to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are brewed to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. What did he say of himself to
his own people in Nazareth? I'm really here to be able to
help the issues of the soul. Really the only thing that he
talks about physicality there is the recovering of the sight to
the blind. And honestly, you could look at
that and he made the blind to see, not just physically but
spiritually. Jesus is the healer who wants to
heal your soul today. Would you turn just a few
chapters away to Matthew Chapter 9?
We won't go back to our text this morning, Matthew Chapter 9,
verse #10 because Jesus spoke about this very issue again in a
way that I think will help illuminate this for us this
morning. EW, Chapter 9, verse 10 says,
and it came to pass that Jesus sat at meat in the house.
Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with
Him and his disciples. Just a reminder, when it says
publicans, it's talking about the tax collectors here.
So tax collectors and sinners, boy, that's a group right there,
isn't it? So April 15th on the way, folks.
Just want to mention that. All right.
Tithe reports are available in the back.
OK. Verse #11 And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto the disciples, Why Edith, your
master with publicans and sinners?
Now look what he says. But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. Now is he talking about physical
sickness? Is he talking about COVID-19?
Is he talking about cerebral palsy?
Is he talking about cancer? No, he's not talking about any
of those things when it says they that need that are sick.
Look at so he says in verse 13, But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not
sacrifice. It's a verse from Hosea chapter
6 verse 6. I will have mercy and not
sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. So when he's talking about
illness, he's not talking about illness of the body, he's
talking about illness of the soul, sickness that comes from
the sin that does so easily beset, A sickness that comes
from sin that the Bible says all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. He says I have come to be able
to give. Can we put it this way?
The healing prescription, which is only found through the blood
of Jesus Christ. He came to heal through the
precious blood that was found in his veins that flowed freely
there on Mount Calvary. That is the prescription and the
only prescription to heal a soul.
But he says I've not come to the Pharisees.
He says I've not come to you because you've got all the
answers. You don't need me.
So I've come to the sinners and the publicans because they're
the ones that will listen to the message.
They're the ones that will listen to the fact that they
that they're in the wrong. And usually they're the ones
that will admit they're a Sinner.
So like, when I talk to people about salvation, often times I
get to the place where I have to tell people they're a Sinner.
And, you know, I don't find many people pushed back against that.
The ones that say I don't sin, they're the ones I'm really
worried about. Well, no, I don't, I don't
really sin. It's like, could I ask your
wife, Sir, because she might feel differently?
Could I ask your kids? Could I ask your parents?
I mean, you see what I'm saying? Oh, we we know we're sinners,
but those Pharisees had no idea they were even sick.
He says I can't heal. Someone doesn't even know
they're sick, he said. But the Pharisees and the
publicans, they're coming to me because they realize they need
me. They need.
And this is the healing that he's talking about, this type of
healing. But you know, interestingly
enough, from that place. From that point on, Jesus in
Matthew Chapter 9 will continue to heal.
Later on, he physically heals a girl who was dead and then came
back to life. There was a woman with an
incurable blood flow. There were two blind men.
There was a demon possessed man. That all happens in this chapter
after Jesus says what's about to happen.
So sure, he continues to heal physically.
But if you go through, you find in verse #22 here's this woman
of the issue of blood. It says in the middle of that
verse, daughter, be of good comfort.
Thy faith had made thee whole. It's still about faith in
regards to that woman, that that girl who was alive.
Verse #26 the fame of him went abroad into all that were in the
land that the word spread of who Jesus was.
Verse #29 Those blind men, it says, according to your faith,
be it unto you. Verse #33 The devil was cast
out. They said it was never so seen
in Israel. And all of this took place.
But it all brought them, all of these healings brought them to a
place where it said in verse #35 And Jesus went about all the
cities and villages doing what? Teaching in the synagogues and
preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and healing every
sickness and every disease among the people.
What did all those physical healings do?
It all went back to what he said at the beginning of the chapter.
I'm trying to heal the soul and not just the body.
And it's what he manifested at the end of the chapter that he
was trying to teach and preach the message of true healing for
the soul and not the body. So why did Jesus heal?
Why did He do it? I can give you 3 reasons very
quickly. The first was it was His
authentication. It was authentication.
Remember the Jews required a sign.
John 2 verse 11. It says this beginning of
miracles to Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His
glory and His disciples believed on him.
It was an authentication that Jesus was who He said He was.
The people who were truly paying attention, the people who really
understood what the message was about understood.
This is authenticating who Jesus was and the people that just
wanted the healings, the people that just wanted the free food
or anything like that. Once they got to the message, a
lot of them went away. Everybody loved him when he's
giving away free food, but who doesn't love someone giving away
free food? Amen.
But once they got to the message, a lot of them didn't
like him anymore. You get to John 6 verse 66,
which was ironic in its numbering where it says that
many fall away and followed him no longer.
Why? Because I didn't get to the
place where they believed that he was the authentic Messiah.
They didn't want to, but everything he was doing was
about authentication. It was also to show his
authority. His authority was both over sin
and death, and he showed that in what he did in his miracles.
Mark, Mark 2, verses 9 through 11.
He asked whether it's easier to say to the sick of the palsy,
thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say arise and take up thy bed
and walk. Remember that man who is lowered
into the house. This is what it's Speaking of
here, but that ye may know. That the Son of man has power on
earth to forgive sins. He said to the sick of the
palsy, I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy bed, and go thy
way into thine house. He says I will do this
physically, so you know what I can can do for you spiritually.
Amen. John 11 verses 25 and 26.
Remember John 11 is where his friend Lazarus had died.
And he said I am the resurrection of the life, he the
believeth in me. Though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
It also showed his great agape love look at verse #36.
We just read verse 35. He was teaching and preaching
verse 36 when he saw the multitudes he was moved with.
Compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered
abroad as sheep, having no shepherd.
Then sayeth he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is
plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray therefore the Lord the harvest, that he will send forth
laborers into his harvest. Was he talking about the harvest
of sick people that needed doctors?
You know, he's talking about the harvest of souls that needed to
be saved. He was moved with compassion.
You know, if I was God and I oversaw all of mankind, I would
be very, very annoyed most of the time because mankind annoys
me now and I'm part of mankind. But if I was perfect like he is,
and I would look at mankind, say.
Why do you keep doing that the same thing over and over and
over again like a baby that you keep trying to turn away?
Like they want to go to the light socket and they want to
put their fingers in and you turn them away and then they go
back a few minutes later and you turn them away and you turn them
away over and over again. And maybe heaven forbid they put
their fingers near it and something happens.
It's not so great. And guess what happens a day or
two later? Hey, maybe it was something
different will happen this time. You say what a what a baby.
Well. We're just babies walking in
adults bodies. Sometimes when it comes to sin,
because we know over and over and over again, don't do it and
we still do it when it comes to sin.
And if I was God, I'd say I'm done with all of you.
And Jesus looks at those people, some of whom may have been in
the crowd consenting to his death years later, that Jesus
would know because he knows all things.
And he looked at that same crowd and was moved with compassion.
John 11, I just mentioned Lazarus is dead.
It says twice that Jesus wept. But Jesus didn't weep because
Lazarus is dead, because Lazarus is about to be alive again.
He didn't weep because Lazarus stunk.
He knew Lazarus stunk. You know, he's, that's one of my
favorite verse of the Bible. They pull Lazarus out and they
say, but we, we can't pull him out.
He stinketh. Don't tell me he can't love the
King James. All right, He stinketh.
Come on, people, He wasn't crying because of that.
He was weeping because he saw the unbelief of a multitude of
people who didn't believe in his ability or his authentication
truly as they should. But it was his agape love, You
say? Why would you that term agape
love? Because it was the greatest,
deepest form of love, that he's not just fond of mankind.
He doesn't just have affection or care for mankind, but that He
loves you as deeply as anyone could ever love you.
And that's why He's Healer. And we see it here, even in the
teaching and preaching, His great love for ma'am.
So where does this bring us all to this morning?
What do we need to understand? Because our time is growing
short, I got a better look out that window than some of you do.
What? What does this bring us to?
If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need a
healing within your soul that can only come through the blood
of Jesus Christ. You are a Sinner.
And I say that with no disrespect to you.
I say it because it's biblical and true that you're a Sinner
and I'm a Sinner and that our sin will send us directly to a
devil's hell. The Bible says that lake of fire
for all eternity, but yet Jesus came, preached, repent for the
Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why?
Because He wants you to be saved today.
Realize if you were the only person ever walked the face of
the earth, Jesus Christ that would have died for you, He
would have died for you because he wants you to be saved.
Will you accept him as your Savior today?
Will you repent of your sin and call upon him to save you?
Isaiah 53 verse five. He was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed.
Physical healing, spiritual healing is what it's talking
about. Psalm 34, verse 18.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and
saveth, such as of a contrite spirit.
That's true healing. Friend, I would say this to you
if you're a believer this morning.
I know that sometimes physical healing is very often very high
on the list of things we desire. We live in a sin cursed world
that is stricken with cancer. It's stricken, stricken with
ailments and maladies, many of which the doctors can identify
but yet know nothing about. It's amazing with all of the
information that we have and all the knowledge that we have, how
helpless we are against many of these diseases.
Still, the doctors will say nothing.
They'll be glad. To collect your copay.
But then tell you they don't know what to do and send you on
your way. I just talked to a dear friend
of mine from Tampa. Just yesterday.
I had a chance to tell my wife about this who called me because
he has cancer near his jaw and had a question Mervule, and said
what was your surgery like? Now, I didn't have cancer for
those of you who don't know, but I'd have a tumor in my jaw and
he needed to know what the surgery be like and the recovery
and all those things. A man who was very instrumental
in my life for many years at Westgate Christian School,
Westgate Baptist Church. And I just hear that in my heart
sinks when someone tells you I have cancer, when someone tells
you they're sick. And it's such a difficult thing
for us to deal with, and it's difficult for us to deal with
ourselves. So you've been suffering for a
long time. So you've been suffering with
physical ailments. So you've been struggling with
disease. So you've been struggling with
things that the doctors don't. They can't even tell you what it
is. In fact, you're at the point
where you feel like maybe I'm going crazy because the doctors
can't find it. But I know something's wrong and
you're in a place where it just seems like, what am I going to
do? I'll give you a couple
admonitions here very quickly. The 1st of this don't get
involved in lines of theology. That teacher healing is
guaranteed because you believe in Christ.
Don't get involved in lines of theology that teacher healing is
guaranteed because you believe in Christ.
Listen, you'll find them online, you'll find them on social
media, you'll find it on TikTok, you'll find in all these
different places. Listen, you see that on TikTok,
swipe left or swipe right, whatever direction is, I don't
know, swipe it away, swipe down, swipe up.
All right, put your put your phone in a bucket of water.
All right, that's probably the best thing to do.
All right, that's that's 40 year old acts like an 80 year old,
but that's OK. I don't know.
Don't be involved in that. Interestingly enough, everyone
someday is going to die. Does that mean at some point
your faith just lapsed to 0? Unless Jesus comes back before
we pass, which by the way would be OK, but we're going to go the
way of this world. And that our lives supposed to
be extended forever because as our faith grows older, that we
should grow larger in the faith and more understanding the faith
and then nothing's ever going to happen.
To us, it seems like it's quite the opposite.
Just practically speaking, it's a line of theology that does not
make sense. Don't get involved in it because
you're grasping, because you're grasping for for something.
Listen. Don't be involved in that.
But I also say this, don't get caught in lines of theology that
teach you that healing is guaranteed because you're
Christ. But don't get caught in lines of
thinking where you question who God is because you don't have
the healing you desire. Now, I want you to listen to me,
and I want you to listen to me carefully.
Look at me and my beady eyes here for just a moment.
You can zoom in if you want to. Well guys, I don't encourage
that. Whether you are healed or not of
that which beset your body, God is no less good.
Remind yourself that whether you are healed of what you are
dealing with or not, that God is no less good.
God's goodness is based on His unchanging character, not your
changing situation. God is good because he never
changes and every one of his attributes are good, people say.
I got a raise. God is good.
Hey, I feel better. God is good.
I got money in the bank. God is good by the way.
He is good in all those things. We always also good when he got
laid off, when the doctor said the tests are positive, when the
numbers on the online banking are red instead of black.
He is no less good in your life because if you're changing
situation. He is the unchanging God and
Christ is Healer does not mean that you are going to get the
healing you believe you deserve in this life.
It does mean that God is good and will heal your soul even in
the midst of great turmoil and difficulty within your life.
You can have peace and your body be broken.
I'll say that again. You can have peace and your body
be broken. You can have peace and have
turmoil swirling around you. Why?
Because our peace isn't found in our situation or in our health.
Our peace is found in Jesus Christ.
That's why He is the Healer. In fact, if he was just the
healer of diseases, then, well, he's not much of A savior.
You know, I'm not sure to be flippant about that.
I'm saying if that was all that he was, he wouldn't be much of A
savior because he would be healing the rash of the body
without healing the cancer of the soul.
He would miss the mark. But while he is very concerned
of healing of the body, he is still the healer of the soul,
not just through salvation, but also in our day-to-day life.
The pastor, you don't believe God can do miracles anymore?
Did I ever say that today? I don't believe it's the
church's ministry to have an outward manifestation of miracle
making. But God does miracles every day.
God's done miracles in some of your health where you don't even
understand. How you got better?
The doctor doesn't understand how you got better, but you know
that there was something on the imaging that was there before
and it's not there now. Amen.
Listen, glory goes to God for that.
That's a miracle. It's a miracle when they tell
you that everything's going to downsize it.
All of a sudden it's not downsized and now you have.
More work than you thought you had before.
That's a miracle of God. It's a miracle when any of these
things take place. God does great miracles.
We have a prayer list full of miracles from 12 years that we
can attest to. So I'm not saying that God
doesn't do miracles anymore. Please don't get that from what
I've said this morning. But the greatest miracle of all
is it. A dirty, rotten, wretched Sinner
like Adam Rivero could have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to
his soul and can live forever in eternity with Jesus Christ and
be called part of God's family. If that's my testimony, that
needs to be your testimony. And if it is your testimony,
believe that that same healer will continue to bring peace
into your life and healing in your life, even if you don't get
the physical healing you desire. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.