Sickness and disease are facts of life and inevitable occurrences to many people.
But is this God’s intention, or do sickness and disease have another source?
Why do we get sick? Where does sickness come from?
In sermon one from Pastor Joe McIntyre’s series, Divine Healing, The Basics, he lays forth the biblical basis for sickness as being the result of the fall and coming exclusively from the devil.
Many in the church have been taught a concept of God’s sovereignty that’s not accurate or biblical, and actually originates in Greek philosophy, which underlines the unchangeableness of God. Yet some 17 times, the Bible says that because men prayer, God changed his mind.
As a function of God’s sovereignty, many falsely believe that “everything happens for a reason” – that any sickness is the outworking of God’s plan and purpose. God turns situations for good because he’s a good God, but this is no indication that He caused it. Time after time, the Bible tells us the opposite. John 10:10 is one example.
Listen to the episode here.
Additional Resources
Divine Healing, The Basics – full audio series (a continuation of this episode)
Healing Study and Meditation Manual
Doctors, Medicine and Faith – MP3
Don’t Blame God! Why God isn’t responsible for evil – full audio series
Healing by Faith – book
Mentioned in this Episode
J. Edwin Orr – Scholar and Preacher of True Revival
Full Transcript
All right, well, let’s pray and we’ll get started here. Father, thank you, that you love us so much. Thank you, that You’re committed to helping us, changing us, and bringing us into your truth and your truth makes us free. So we pray you bless the ministry of the Word tonight, bless our hearing. We’re believing you for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you. So we ask You to minister to us tonight by the Holy Spirit. We thank you in advance for it. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
Well, I’m beginning a new series tonight. As I prayed and asked the Lord what He would have me teach on. I felt He wanted me to revisit some basics of divine healing. And I’ve wanted to reteach this material and kind of update it a little bit for some time, and since the Healing Center is a large part of our church, these teachings are certainly relevant for what we’re called to do. But our opening verse here for tonight’s message, tonight’s message is called the Source of Sickness. And in John 10, verse 10, it says “the thief does not come, except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that you might have life, you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.” Someone has called this the dividing line of the Bible. And the more I have grown in the Lord, the more I become aware that biblical truth is quite simple and straightforward. What we’ve had… somebody said we’ve had a lot of help in making it complicated. And it’s really God’s Kingdom is simple enough that a child can grasp it. And we have to become like little children to really understand the kingdom. And so it’s not surprising that scripture really becomes more black and white and simpler, the more we study it.
And I noticed there’s a transitional phase, as we’re learning things, we move into a new area of studying the Scriptures and at first, it’s enormous and overwhelming. And as we begin to understand it, and put it into its place in the kingdom, it becomes simpler. And we began to realize that it isn’t as complex as we first thought. And I think the test of any truth in your life is whether or not you can explain it simply. If you really understand it, in the kingdom sense of understanding, you can relate it in simple terms that a child could understand. And that isn’t to say that it isn’t intellectually challenging or there isn’t a great need sometimes for scholarship. But it’s just to say that, in the final analysis, the kingdom of God is simple enough for a child to understand. And divine healing is much that way. It’s it comes right down to John 10:10. God is good. And the devil is bad. You know, it’s awfully profound, but God is good. And the devil is bad.
Sickness and disease are facts of life. To many people they are inevitable occurrences, just a part of human existence. But is this God’s intention? Or do sickness and disease have another source? Why do we get sick? Where does sickness come from? The first fact that we want to set forth is that sickness is the result of the fall and comes from the devil. And we’re going to look at some of the statements in the Bible that bring this out. But let me just say that probably one of the great paradigm shifts, changes in the way we view life that has to come to the church is we have to recognize that we have been taught a concept of God’s sovereignty that’s not accurate or biblical. It actually came from Greek philosophy. It underlines the unchangeableness of God. And yet some 17 times the Bible says, because men prayed, God changed his mind.
So we have to realize that the idea that God has sovereignly ordained all that happens, and it’s all the outworking of his plan and purpose is not solidly biblical because it leaves out the devil and the conflict of the kingdoms, and assumes that everything that happens, God has orchestrated. And this leads to a kind of mindset that says, “Well, I don’t know why that happened, but I’m sure God has a reason for it.” Well, sometimes it isn’t God’s reason why a thing happens, it’s because of man’s sin. For example, somebody gets in a car wreck. And because the person finds God’s help, as a result of their desperation, people say, “Well, God orchestrated the car wreck so I could learn to know God and be humble and to look to God.”
But really, these kinds of things happen because of human frailty. They don’t happen because God ordained them. Now, God turns them for good, because He’s a good God. But because God turned something for Good is no indication that he caused it. And we have to get past the idea that everything that happens happens for a reason, and God allowed it for some purpose. Because some things are just plain evil. Some things have no redemptive value whatsoever. They’re just straight from hell. And the only thing that we could say about them is as they’re destroyed, God might get glory. But just to assume, and you’d be amazed, maybe you wouldn’t, how many people in the church assume that whatever happens to them, God did it and God had a reason for it. Well, that has to in my opinion, that’s one of the most destructive misunderstandings of God’s sovereignty in the church. Is God sovereign? Absolutely. But how has God chosen to work out His sovereignty?
If we understand the creation of man that God created man to be His under ruler and gave him dominion, then we understand, in fact, the 115th Psalm says, “The heavens, and the heavens are the Lord’s, but the Earth has He given to the sons of man.” And so we have to realize that God is not ruling in the earth through mankind the way He originally intended. Because of the fall, Satan usurped the authority of Adam, and began to dominate the human race. And God only intervenes now when man calls out to Him. Now He has done the ultimate intervention in sending His Son, but He worked through the faith and obedience of humans, from Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac to Jacob, to the 12 sons of Israel, to Moses, through Joshua and the judges, and then to Saul until Saul and then David and Solomon. We have the whole history of Israel, and the blessing of of Israel, or the absolute chaos of Israel depended on the obedience of their leaders. Well, you could say, well, well, God sovereignly arranged that. No, he didn’t. Their disobedience and their rebellion, arranged it. You see, they got what they sowed.
Probably the classic verse that illustrates this is in Ezekiel chapter 20, it’s not in your notes. I didn’t intend to go here tonight, but I’m sensing that the Lord would have us spend a little bit of time on this because it’s a major stronghold that creates unbelief in believers. Actually, it’s Ezekiel 22 verse 30. I’ll give you a moment to get there. But you see, anything that undermines our faith needs to be addressed, and a misconception of God’s sovereignty is the great source of much undermining of the faith of God’s people. Ezekiel 22:30. “So I sought for a man among them, who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. Therefore I’ve poured out my indignation on them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath…” And look at this, you have to see…a lot of times people say, Well, God just poured out His wrath, but notice it says, “I have recompensed their deeds upon their heads.”
You see, they had harvested what they sowed. God didn’t want them to harvest what they sowed. He was seeking for an intercessor, who could stand in the gap so He wouldn’t have to bring the judgment on their sin. So we see here, that when God can find an intercessor, they can withhold the judgment that the sin of the people deserve. Now there was a popular intercessor, who wrote a lot of books about intercession years ago, He has since gone on to be with the Lord. But he made the statement he said, “Well, if God doesn’t judge America, he should apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” And I finally heard somebody answer that with New Testament wisdom, and he said, “Well, if God judges America, he’ll have to apologize to Jesus.” Because Jesus is interceding for us, and there are millions of Christians in America interceding for America. If he could have only taken one to save the people of God under an old covenant, how much more millions of intercessors praying and interceding for America? How much more is he going to hear their intercession and withhold judgment, which is His preference according to this book, this passage. He’s actually looking for intercessors, so He doesn’t have to judge. So there’s more time for the gospel to spread, and for people to get saved. So it’s important that we understand that.
And I think this brings out another point that no matter how deserving of judgment of people might be, God is still looking for intercessors to withhold the judgment, because the gospel doesn’t spread well during chaos. And you look in some of the countries with oppressive tyrannical leadership like China, and the church is underground. Now the church has really spread in spite…in fact, it’s spread amazingly, in spite of tremendous persecution. And I think eventually, we’ll see China overthrown by Christianity. But at this point, martyrdom is not uncommon and being thrown in prison for your faith is a common occurrence for Chinese Christians. So we were instructed by Paul to pray for the peace of our government, so that the gospel could spread easily. And he told us to pray for our leaders that the gospel might spread.
I think there’s a larger area for us to renew our minds in this area, because so often people have the attitude that “Well, everything’s going to hell, but that’s what’s prophesied.” I think that the danger with that thought is it doesn’t give any responsibility to the church to be salt and light. And the Bible says when the church is not salt or light it’s fit for nothing but to be trampled under foot of men. So if we see the church in America being treated in a manner that would be likened to being trampled under foot or men are against the church, could it not be because we haven’t been salt and light? We’re now becoming awake, and starting to become salt and light and starting to say, “Wait a minute, we’re going to stop this downward flow of evil in our culture?”
I have a video that was written by a theologian of revival, a man named J. Edwin Orr. He started out this video talking about…describing the culture. And he said, it was dangerous to walk the streets of the city at night because of rape and murder and thievery. And he went on to describe probably what would be a fitting description of the worst inner city conflict you could find in America today. And he said it was a time of great evil. And then he explained that he was talking about America before the Great Awakening in the 18th century. And we all know that America was totally turned around by the Great Awakening. What was ironic was as he’s describing this, he’s not telling you what he’s talking about. You think he’s talking about present day America. But then he goes on to say how it was utterly turned around by a great awakening in the church. And his point is, of course, don’t close the door on on God’s potential for a great awakening, a third great awakening in America.
These issues are becoming more and more relevant. I remember hearing somebody say, “Well, I know we should work to get godly people elected, and vote and do these things. But, you know, we all know where it’s really headed.” In other words, their view of end times made them think it was inevitable, that our nation would decline and further decline. Somebody who writes the red letters in the Bible said, “According to your faith, be it unto you.” If you’re expecting calamity, so you don’t bother to get involved, then what you believe has governed your influence in the culture. And I just think we’re at a time where God is saying, “Hey, Church, wake up and be salt and be light and make a difference. And don’t be passive observers of what’s going on, but rather get involved and make a difference. And we can change things.” Anyway, that’s my little sermonette for the day.
What I want us to understand when we think when we think about that sickness and disease are not the will of God. They’re not the result of God’s sovereignty, but rather, they’re the fruit of the fall, and the dominion of Satan. Now, most of you probably know this, and have heard this before, but it’s like I’m saying on Sunday morning, if you already know this, the question you have to ask yourself is “Can I communicate this effectively to someone else? In other words, if I’m talking with a Christian who’s sick and isn’t sure God wants them to be healed, can I communicate effectively the biblical truths of divine healing to them, to hopefully impart faith to them, so that they will look to God for their healing? Because as wonderful as modern medicine is, there’s many things they can still not heal. And we really do need God regardless of the best that medicine does. And too many Christians are relying on medicine and saying, “Well, this is God’s best to use doctors.” Of course, God doesn’t use doctors that well in third world countries. Funny thing is those people look to God and they get healed.
We teach very clearly here that if you want to go to the doctor, Bless you, go to the doctor. If you’re going to have surgery, we pray for you, and believe God that the outcome will be above and beyond what the doctors would think. But at the same time we’re contending for as much divine healing as we can possibly see. And we’re encouraging people to learn the biblical doctrine of divine healing and contend for their health. When I was writing my book about E.W. Kenyon, I interviewed some folks that were in his church, and they said this interesting thing. I said, “Well, was there a lot of healing in your church?” They said, “Well, yes, there was there was a lot of healing in our church.” But the person I was talking to, without me saying anything said, but you know, we were completely free to go to the doctor if we wanted to.
Now, I like that, because it’s not making divine healing and faith, a law with which to bring people under condemnation. You see, we don’t want to do that. We want to minister life to them, and grace to them. I won’t spend a lot of time on that. But it’s just an important thing. You can become legalistic about anything. Faith, Grace, prophetic, the kingdom, any truth you can hold it with a with a legalistic heart, and you can exclude everybody else who doesn’t see it the way you do. And what we want to do is be free of all kinds of legalism and be gracious people that extend the goodness of God to others, regardless of where they differ from us. There’s room for a lot of diversity in the body of Christ.
The church I was in when I first got saved, I was getting light on divine healing. I was working closely with the head of the music department because I was playing in the music group. And I remember sharing with him…he got sick, and I called him up to encourage him. And I started talking about healing that was purchased, I had just read Kenyon’s book, Jesus the Healer, and I was all excited. I called him up and I was sharing with him, and finally after a little while, he said, “Well, Joe, you know, I just don’t see it that way.” And I said, “Oh.” It never occurred to me that he might not see it that way. I said, “Well, you know, God loves you, and I’m praying for you. I just wanted to encourage you.” See, he didn’t want to hear my perspective on it. So I just blessed him and released him and didn’t try to convince him I was right and he was wrong, because that’s usually pointless.
And after that, I got a word of knowledge in one of our music meetings, and I went to him and I said, “You know, I’m feeling like God wants to heal some people.” And I thought he would do something with it. He said, “Well, Joe’s feeling God wants to heal some people. So if you want prayer, have Joe pray for you.” And I ended up praying for people and God ended up healing some people. My point in all of that is that we want to carry the truth that we carry with humility, and we want to bless people with it. If they don’t receive it, then we just want to bless them and move on. But we don’t want to make it an issue of conflict.
The first thing I want you to notice about healing and the source of sickness is that Jesus was the Father’s will expressed. I did touch on this Sunday morning, but I just want you to really think this through. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” So I know when I was a young believer, I thought Jesus was really cool, but I was afraid of the Father. You see, I saw them as different. Jesus had saved me, He’d forgiven my sins, and I’d seen some misguided Christian literature that said, God and His wrath were on this side, and we were sinners over here, and Jesus laid his cross across that gulf so that we could come across to God’s side. But it was still a wrathful God that was over there. And so I was uncomfortable with the Father. Well, I came to understand, through through Kenyons writings, particularly as I read them about the father heart of God, that the Father and the Son are identical in character and nature. Now, theologically, we all believe that, but a lot of believers don’t believe it practically.
A friend of mine ministers to a pretty rough section of the culture in drug and alcohol recovery. He was telling me that he was ministering to a lesbian woman. They went to get prayer. She decided she was open to getting prayer from a counselor that we both know who ministers in the Holy Spirit. And they didn’t say anything to her about trying to, you know… she asked the counselor, “Well, do you think homosexuality is wrong?” And he said, “Well, you know, this is what the Bible says about it, and this is what I believe.” She later commented to my friend, “Well, you know, he told me what the Bible believes, but he wasn’t putting me down.” In other words, he spoke the truth in love. But anyway, she received ministry from him. And she could not talk about God as He. She was just so wounded and broken that God couldn’t even be a he. And she couldn’t talk about the male, anything male with a healthy attitude. So in the car on the way home, she says, “Tom, I found a dad.” She’d had a revelation of the Lord, and she’d realized that he was a father. And now it’s healing that womb that’s in her, you see. And they’re not preaching at her that she needs to come out of that lifestyle. They’re trusting God to work in her heart, and bring her out.
So after her prayer session, she said, “Well, what do you think I should do? Should I change changed my living arrangement?” He said, “Well, why don’t you just press into God and dO what He tells you to do?” You see, because she could come right back under the opinion of man and religion, or she can encounter the Lord more fully, learn God’s heart, and then be healed up on the inside, and no longer want to be in an ungodly lifestyle.
Now, the point of all of that is that Jesus is the Father revealed. If you want to know what Jesus is like, what the Father is like, read the four Gospels. Everything Jesus does is an expression of the Father. If you look at those other verses there, Jesus says He doesn’t speak his own words, He speaks the words of the Father, and He doesn’t do his own works. He does the works of the Father. So we find in Jesus a perfect revelation of the Father’s will. And taking that a step further, Jesus healed all who were sick.
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