PREFACE

The following transcript is taken from a  message given by Richard Jordan from our television broadcast Forgotten Truths.  However, this is an important message explaining why healing is not for today and clarifies the confusion that troubles so many believers today.

"Straight Talk About Healing”

God the Holy Spirit works in our lives through his word. Paul says that it's God that works in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13); that's not some kind of a thing that just kind of falls out of nowhere into the side of your head. It's not that kind of thing at all. It's something that comes as a response to your faith resting in an intelligent understanding of God's word to you. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 gave thanks to God for the Thessalonian believers because when they heard the word of God, they received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth, the word of God which effectually works in you that believe and that's the key. God’s word works in you when you believe it. It's the Excellency, the power of God's word working in us that really is the energizing ministry, power and working of God the Holy Spirit. And as we study together, our purpose is to help you understand the word of God for yourself. That's why we talk so often about rightly dividing the word of truth. Understanding God's word, approaching God's word, God's way. Nothing is more exciting than understanding where you are in the program and purpose of God as it's revealed in his word. Then you have your faith simply rest in that identity and then see it live and work in you.

You know, if we were going to do a sweeps week like they do on television, we wouldn't have to run all  the sexy glittery stuff that they run; we could just talk about unanswered prayer, or about tithing and why God's word says you don't have to tithe, and why we don't believe in storehouse tithing. Boy, you’d get response to that. You could  talk about unanswered prayer and unhealed bodies as that's probably two of the hottest topics because there's such confusion and people get afraid. There's fear and anxiety and worry over those topics because they affect your relationship with God and they affect your life on planet earth. In our study today, we're going to talk about  the issue of divine healing and healing in the Bible. You know it's a tremendously important issue to apply right division to.

There’s tremendous, tremendous confusion about healing. Can God heal? Absolutely. Over and over in scripture you see that he does. Does God heal and will God heal you today? Well that's a different question isn't it? And to that kind of a question, you have to go to the word of God. You see, it's easy to say Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever; what he did yesterday he can do today. Certainly he can do it today, he didn't lose any of his power, ability and capacity, but is that what he's doing today? That's the real question. If you take a sheet of paper and take a concordance and list out all the passages in the Bible that talk and teach about healing, then identify in those passages who he's talking to and whom he's talking about, you might be surprised. Rather than allow the religious system to dictate to us what God's doing, we need to go to God's word and let God himself instruct us about this important topic. 

So go with me if you will to the Bible. Let's turn to the Book of Matthew, Chapter 4. In the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ the Bible says in Luke 16:16 that the law and the prophets were until John, John the Baptist. That is, that's all there was of what we call the Old Testament , the law and the prophets, with God long ago predicting and prophesying what he was going to do for and through the nation Israel. 

Beginning with John, the  kingdom of God begins to be preached and John comes and preaches repentance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Both John and the Lord Jesus Christ preached what is called the gospel of the kingdom. That is, the kingdom that had  long been prophesied and detailed by the prophets to  Israel was now within the grasp of realization for that favored nation and for all mankind through Israel. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew  4:17 says: From that time Jesus began to preach and say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The issue is now within the grasp of the nation Israel. Verse 23: Jesus went about all  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. Notice he's healing sickness and disease and his fame went throughout  Syria. They brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments,  those that were possessed with devils, those that were lunatic, those that had palsy, and he healed them. The earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, is seen here in the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of course, John the Baptist, his forerunner, came there. When the Lord Jesus Christ came in his earthly ministry, he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. God had long promised to give to the nation of Israel a kingdom, a literal physical, visible, earthly, Davidic kingdom. He told them about the wrath of God that was going to precede that kingdom, what we call the tribulation period, when God was going to purge out the rebel and unbeliever from  Israel.

John the Baptist, in Matthew 3,  preaches and warns them to flee from the wrath to come. In time past in the Bible, the ministry looked forward to the ages to come in the future when the wrath of God would be poured out against the unbeliever and the believers would be saved into that kingdom i.e., the kingdom to come. Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. So they were looking for the wrath of God to come and then Israel, and the believers would be delivered into that kingdom. And in that kingdom,  Isaiah had told them (Isaiah 33:24) that the inhabitance of that kingdom would no more say that I'm sick. Jeremiah 30 had told them that in that kingdom the Lord would heal them and there would be the removing of the curse of sickness and disease from people. Satan will then to be bound in the bottomless pit  and there will be the removing of demonic activity in the earth, satanic oppression, and captivity. And, the desert would blossom like a rose and sorrow and sighing would flee away. So in the word, Jesus Christ in the gospel accounts, came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And as he preaches the gospel of the kingdom he came with a healing ministry and a demon casting out ministry and he 1) heals the sick 2) he cast out  demons.

Come with me to Matthew 9. And folks, this stuff about the healing program here is really clear. Matthew 9: 35: Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. This wasn't like some healing line you see today where they set up a tent, get you down to this church and put you in a healing line where maybe somebody, occasionally, possibly might look like they got healed. You know, Hard Copy the TV program, comes along behind one of the big TV faith healers and a guy writes a book about 10 people who got healed in this ministry. Hard Copy comes along, follows behind him and then what happens? They find out that not one of the people in that book really got healed. That's not what Jesus was doing. That's religious tomfoolery you see going on in current electronic media, the current evangelicalism.

I was impressed recently by a Roman Catholic Cardinal who was dying of cancer and six months before he died went and held a healing service. The greatest healing organization on the face of the earth is the Roman Catholic Church. Who did he have this healing service for? People with cancer. Now here's a guy with cancer trying to heal people who have cancer. And you know what? None of them got healed despite of all the power of their religious organization. Do you know why? Well, we ought to ask that question shouldn't we? When Jesus Christ came along and was doing these things, it was God in the flesh doing these things; he healed every sickness and every disease among the people. There weren't any misfires and there weren't any hesitations and there weren't any “almosts”. They all got healed. It wasn't like Peter Pop off or that the Amazing Randy who goes on Johnny Carson where people say they’ve got the word of knowledge. It turns out his wife is talking to him through the little receiver that he's got in his ear. That’s just a vaudeville trick you know. 

Now the church of Jesus Christ didn't expose this charlatan. It took an unbelieving man on a secular television show to expose him. I wonder why that is? The  church of Jesus Christ ought to be ashamed of itself. There are television stations running that guy's program,  knowing the real truth. Yeah that gets involved, doesn't it. And you see that presents an abomination of Almighty God and it brings the word of God into reproach in the minds of lost people in the world out there. You know, friend, it isn't worth sacrificing the truth of God for an illusionary hope that you might get over something that you aren't going to get over anyway. You know what the bottom line is? With all the so called healers the death rate is still one a piece. That isn't the way it happened during the gospel accounts. Christ was doing something with a healing ministry that had a place in the program of God, and  the folks during the kingdom age are not going to die again. They're going to get healed.

Now come with me to Matthew  10. Not only did Christ heal and cast out demons, but verse 1 of Matthew 10 tells us when he called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Verse 5: these twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city the Samaritans enter you not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of  Israel and as you go preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, cast out devils; freely you've received, freely give. That's a powerful passage. Did you listen to what it said? Maybe you read it on the screen. Jesus sends his apostles out and he says go not into the way of the Gentiles. When they went out healing the sick and cleansing the leper, they were not healing sick Gentiles, they were just healing sick Israelis. Now you’ve never heard of a healing ministry doing that. It's cheap to pull out a piece of a verse to get a person all excited about getting something done for them that can't be done in any other way and having them think if they could just hold out, strive, have faith and believe it enough, they can get a healing from God when they don't believe the verses in their text. You see, before you can believe part of a verse, you've got to believe all of it. And don't give me this run around about well I believe God can heal me because he said heal the sick, when you refuse to believe the fact that he said don't preach that to Gentiles. I mean you need to grow up. You need to quit letting people use you. Paul said they zealously affect you but not well, and he also said am I to become your enemy because I tell you the truth.

I know that you don't hear this kind of stuff on the television very much and that's a crying shame. But you're hearing it today, you're hearing it here. Someone says, well I'm going to call the station and tell them to take you off. Well if you don't like what's just been said, you raise the money, get on TV yourself and say something different. You don't have to believe this. But there's some of you sitting out there that wonder why it is you pray and ask God to heal you and you never get it. For those of you faking it and thinking you got it, well just you know, just hang on, somebody else will be on in a few minutes and you can happy again. But I'm talking to you people that don't get a healing and you've got an honesty of heart before God and you really want to know what the answer is. There is an answer here; do you know what the answer is? That was God's program for the nation of Israel; it hasn’t got anything to do about with what God is doing today in the dispensation of grace. 

Now go with me if you will to Luke 8. What was  this healing ministry all about anyway? Luke 8:1: It came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him. Notice he preaches, but he preaches the gospel of the kingdom and he then shows the gospel, he shows it by demonstrating it and putting it on display. The two great signs of that kingdom are  1) physical healing, the curse removed, sickness removed and 2) Satan is cast out. I'm going to say something to you ~ you listen to me very carefully. On the authority of God's word, you've never seen, never even experienced either one of those things happening today. Everything you see that passes for it is just religious tomfoolery. Now that's not unbelief saying that, that's the Bible as to where they stand, and the way they are in the King James Bible that’s been around 400 years.

You see, I'm not mad at anybody, I'm not mad at you; I want to liberate you. As I said, maybe you can't receive this and you‘re just not willing to believe what the verses say. But there's somebody out there wondering why their kid didn't get healed. Maybe you’re like that little lady I visited in the hospital right after her pastor was there. She had a little, little baby just hours old, born with an open spine. And there she is, she's crying and begging God to help that, to help her. Her pastor had just been in there, and said you know if you'd been tithing, that baby would have been born whole and if you'd have been in the will of God, he'd be healed. Somebody ought to take that guy and, well you can't string him up anymore, but you get the idea. What an abomination! what an abomination! If you want to be free, if you want to be able to understand what God's doing, learn to rightly divide the word of truth and you won't have to be the victim of the tyranny of religious bondage and you won't have to live under the tyranny of your fleshly desire. I understand that your flesh wants it, but you know what's going to happen to your flesh if the Lord tarries? All the healing campaigns and lines you stand in, not withstanding, you're going to become a carnival for the maggots. You see there is a healing campaign for the body of Christ; but it's called the resurrection, the rapture.

Look at this: Jesus Christ dies on Calvary's cross, he ascends into heaven, then the Holy Spirit comes in the Book of Acts. And you know what? That healing campaign that he carried on there, goes on in the early Acts period. Come with me to the Book of Mark 16 and Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2:3  How should we escape if, we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. There it is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God bearing them witness. What's that?  He trains the twelve, they carry on his ministry , they confirm; the twelve are confirming what Christ taught them. God also bears them witness with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. You see friend,  in the Book of Acts, the apostles are carrying on that healing ministry. Why? Mark 16:15; he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. These signs shall follow them that believe, in my name they should cast out devils, they should speak with new tongues, they should take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. And they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. It's cheap to take one or two things out of that passage; like talking in tongues and laying hands on the sick. How about drinking that deadly thing?  Listen, in my briefcase over there I’ve a can of Drano. You want to come try it? You say I’m now tempting God. No, I'm tempting you. I'm not going to tempt God. I didn't ask you to tempt him, I asked you to believe the verse. You know there are people that try to believe that verse. They handle snakes, drink deadly things, and you know what happens? Yeah, just what would happen to you if you did it. And that doesn't have anything to do with unbelief; that has to do with just looking at the verses and living in the real world. Well these verses don't work today. Why? Because they have to do with God's program for the nation Israel in time past, looking to his purpose for them in the ages to come. Yeah, that's why.

The nation of Israel rejects the Lord Jesus Christ; John the Baptist calls them to repentance: they reject God the Father. God the Son calls them to repentance, they reject God the Son. God the Holy Spirit calls them to repentance, they reject God the Holy Spirit and God sets them aside. Strike one, strike two, strike three. God sets the nation of Israel aside; Jesus Christ from heaven's glory calls Saul of Tarsus and  reveals to Saul (who becomes Paul the apostle) the dispensation of the grace of God. He calls it a mystery, a secret. That's the way it's revealed. It has to do with something that God didn't talk about and kept secret since the world began but now is made known and it has to do with the forming of the church, the body of Christ.

Now in the dispensation of grace,  you come to the ministry of the Apostle Paul in Romans through Philemon in the Bible. The first thing you begin to notice is the stuff that was going on back there changes. For example, (go with me if you will to Galatians 4). Paul is talking about his ministry among the Galatians. Galatians 4:3 You know how through infirmity of the flesh, I preach the gospel unto you at the first. I bear you record that if it'd been possible you'd have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. This apostle of Jesus Christ comes as the messenger of Christ and he's sick. Apostles could heal people. You know what happened to Paul? He became sick. What do you do with a sick Apostle? Well, you better believe him when he says the healing program is being withdrawn, that’s what you better do. 

Come with me to 1 Timothy 5. So what do you do with a sick Apostle? Well, 1 Timothy 5:23: Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Every guy in a rescue mission knows that verse and says, yeah the Bible says I'm supposed to drink a little wine. It didn't say drink wine, it says use it. He's prescribing medicine for Timothy. In 2 Timothy 4:20 he says, Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. He has to leave sick people; he can't heal them anymore so he prescribes medicine. You know, Paul in Colossians 4, says only Luke is with me. You know who Luke is? He's the beloved physician. You know what's happened? Things have changed. That healing ministry isn't there anymore. It's passing away, it passed away, finally it's gone. The healing ministry today for the body of Christ is an event called the rapture, when Christ comes and takes us to himself and gives us a new glorified body, it's all brand new.

You need to understand something, friend. When God withdrew the healing program, (come with me to Romans 8), He introduced the dispensation of grace. He changed from Israel's earthly kingdom program to the dispensation of grace, the body of Christ that we're a part of today and our ministry today in the heavenly places. He changed  Israel's program. The healing program went the way of  Israel. It’s fallen, it’s diminished, its been done away with. At the beginning of Paul’s ministry he did all these signs and wonders to demonstrate to you that the God of Israel was with him; later on he loses those abilities. God withdrew those abilities not because of any unbelief or sin or lethargy on Paul's part, but because God had changed from  Israel's program.

The God of Israel is now among the Gentiles and forming the church, the body of Christ, and there's a different program there. Romans chapter 8:18: For I reckon that the suffering of this present time (notice this a present time suffering) is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Verse 22: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Here's what you know when you study the Bible. The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Why does the whole creation groan and travail? Because the time of release is the kingdom. But the kingdom hasn't come yet, why? Because the dispensation of grace is extended this one more day. To extend the dispensation of grace one more day, God has to postpone the deliverance of creation unto the glorious liberty of the sons of God. So we know why we suffer it. It isn't cause God doesn't love us or God isn't for us; it's because he's extending the day of grace one more day so one more person can get into the church of the Body of Christ and be saved from the devil's hell and become a member of his body.

And as God in his mercy extends that day of grace another day it means that those of us who are left here to serve him have to experience the extenuating circumstances of life. And you say well, verse 23 says , and not only the world, not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of our body. You know what's going to happen to the believer? If the Lord tarries, you’re going to get old, you're going to get sick, you're going to hurt and you're going to die. That's what the passage says; it isn't because God doesn't love you or God can't do for you; it's because God's extending his day of grace one more day and you know what he's done? Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day because the Excellency, the power of God's word working in our inner man strengthens us and gives us the capacity to stand no matter what the circumstance is. He strengthens us by his spirit in the inner man with might and with long suffering and patience, and with joyfulness so we can endure no matter what the circumstances of life brings. No matter what the extremities of life, we can endure for his glory because we rest in an intelligent understanding of who God has made us in Christ and what God is really doing today. Don't be deceived by the religious system trying to make you like Israel where your flesh desires to get free from something that it doesn't like. Just stand in the identity God's given you in Christ and the liberty that his grace gives you and the power of his word working in you for his glory.