Healing through the Gift of Righteousness

(Summary of sermon with same title) by David Youngren

Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Luke 5:17

Reading stories in the Bible usually have more than one meaning. Most often stories have deeper spiritual connotations by which we understand the covenants of God.

As I share this story from the Gospel of Luke, I want to look at the deeper meaning that helps us better understand the blessings of what Christ has given us.

In this scripture, we see that the POWER of the Lord was present to heal all that gathered to hear Jesus.

What is the power of the Lord?

According to Romans 1:16, the Gospel is the power of God. And the Gospel is the Good NEWS of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross.

When Jesus died on the cross, He carried away our pains, sicknesses and diseases. All the sicknesses of humankind were placed upon Jesus, and He carried them to Calvary where health was released on our behalf.

Today, the power of the Lord is present when we preach the Gospel. That’s why the Bible declares that signs and wonders followed the preaching of Christ. Miracles manifest as we preach the goodness of Christ.

The Importance of Faith

As we continue to read the story in Luke 5, we learn that a man who was paralyzed was lowered through the roof in front of Jesus, and then it says in verse 20, “When He saw their faith…”

Although the power of the Lord was present to heal all of them, we know of only one man who experienced healing. Jesus tells us that it was because of faith that the man was healed. It is not enough for the power of the Lord to be present, but faith must also be present.

Often when we think about faith, we think that there is a faith for salvation and another faith for healing. But I don’t find many scriptures that support it. I do find that after Jesus death and resurrection, faith is presented different than in the Gospels or the Old Testament. Rather than levels of faith, it talks about being established in the faith. The emphasis of OUR faith has been replaced with “I live by the faith OF the Son of God.” It’s not so much about having faith as being in the faith.

I have come to the conclusion that faith in the New Covenant (after Jesus death & resurrection) is about how we are justified before God. Paul said we believe in Christ Jesus unto righteousness. We are either justified through the law or through faith. And if we believe in Jesus Christ, we have entered into the faith where our justification is based upon Him.

Healing and Righteousness

Whenever we see any healing promises in the Old Covenant, it is connected to the righteousness of the person receiving it. For example, God revealed Himself to Israel as “I AM the LORD who heals you.” But it was linked to a condition of diligently heeding to the voice of God and keeping all the statues and laws of God.

I’m sorry to tell you but that rules me out. And I think you too. In fact, I know none of us qualify. There is no healing for any of us if it depends on our righteousness. If we fail even in one of the smallest commands, we have failed them all.

But here is the Good News. Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the entire law. There was no fault in Him. He legally inherited all the blessings of God including healing. And in Him, we have qualified.

Once we accept Jesus as our ONLY righteousness and cease from self-effort, we enter into the faith of the Son of God. Christ Jesus is completely righteous, and because He is in us, we are righteous through Him. Since we are righteous in Christ Jesus, we are qualified to be partakers of the promises of God. He qualified us for healing and every promise of God, because in Him all of our sins have been forgiven. “For all the promises in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen…” (2 Cor. 1:20)

Receiving Healing…

So how do we receive healing that God has already provided? Paul said about Israel that “they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” Rom. 10:3

Paul asked the Galatians who had bewitched them because they again sought to establish their own righteousness by the law and their good deeds. He admonishes them to submit to the Gift of Righteousness – Jesus Christ.

So if sickness attacks our bodies, the key to healing is not impressing God with our fervor and great deeds. Rather it is to submit to His righteousness, which is true faith. When we seek to establish our own righteousness, we will always fall short.

For example, when we list all the reasons why we should be healed, we are seeking to establish our own righteousness. We pray something like, “Lord heal me…I have prayed for many people. I have prayed and I have given much.” Such words only reveal our difficulty with submitting to the Gift of Righteousness.

Others say “I’m so unworthy. I know I have sin. Perhaps I don’t have enough faith.” Such words reveal that they don’t trust that the Gift of Righteousness is enough. They think they don’t qualify because they are focused on self rather than on what Christ has accomplished. It is a form of self-righteousness.

Paul said he counts his perfect record of righteousness as rubbish in order to know Christ and the POWER of His resurrection. It’s that power that raised Jesus from the dead and that heals our mortal bodies. Paul knew that the secret was Jesus. It was his confidence.

As we submit to the free gift of His righteousness, we have confidence. We are not worried about whether we’ve done enough, said enough, prayed enough, given enough, or even had enough faith. Our confidence is no longer in my greatest spiritual deeds, but in the all sufficient works of Christ on the cross. Jesus qualified us for healing, and therefore it flows freely into our bodies.

Personal Story of Healing

A number of years ago I experienced such excruciating migraines that I was unable to work for long periods of time. I would get in the car to drive and then have to pull over and cover my eye, and scream because the pain was so severe. Even pain killers could not subdue the ache.

I would pray, and do everything I knew how to do in order to be healed. I rebuked the sickness, the devil and everything else I could think about (I tried not to rebuke my wife, but I may have covered that one too). I confessed any and all sin that I could possible think I had ever committed (I got a bit tired after awhile – I just could not remember them all). I “warred” against principalities, and broke generational curses (I’m not quite sure how many generations back was necessary, but I could go no further back than Adam). At the end of it, I got worse. So much for all that I had been taught and fervently had taught others.

The pain became so severe that I found myself locked up in my bedroom with all the curtains closed, lights off and with my eye covered with a wet towel to somewhat reduce the pain. I began to think about death. Why live in such pain?

It was not hard for me to think of the reasons why God would not heal me. While others held me in esteem, I knew I was far from perfect. The more focused I became on me and fixing what was wrong with me, the more condemned, unworthy and disillusioned I felt.

One morning I walked out to my car after having had a horrible painful and sleepless night. The pain would sometimes subside for a couple of hours, so during one of these moments I thought I would quickly do some errands. While walking to the car, I heard the small voice of the Holy Spirit in my heart – just meditate on how much Jesus loves you.

I sat in the car and for the next few moments, a picture of what Christ did for me was formed in my mind. In spite of my sin, shame and guilt, He loved me so much that He even bore my sickness and disease.

I suddenly saw it. The qualifications for healing had nothing to do with me. I mean NOTHING - not my prayers, not my rebuking, not my amount of faith, or even personal holiness. Healing had all to do with what Jesus accomplished. He loved me so much that He qualified me for healing. He became sin so that I may become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and that qualifies me for all the promises of God including healing.

For a moment, I asked myself how long I had to meditate on the love of God. And then I began to laugh. That very thought was another attempt by my flesh to again try to establish my own righteousness. With tears rolling down my cheeks and with laughter in my heart, I cried out something like “THANK YOU, LORD! I receive healing because in YOU I am righteous.” Since that moment, I have not suffered any migraine. I’m totally healed.

My prayer today is that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened to His exceeding power in you. He qualified you for every promise of God. Healing is available to you right now.


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