Did Christ Redeem Us From Our Diseases?-- Part 4

There is a grossly perverted emphasis of physical healing by deceived religionists. Many are ignorantly deceived, but some are willfully deceived. The distortion of Scripture is unbelievable to sincere Christians who have some Biblical understanding of basic truths. The human heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity. Wickedness is often attributed to bad examples, or bad persons with whom people keep company. However, the human heart is the source from which every sin under heaven has its beginning. The seeds of all wickedness, including false doctrine, are in the heart of every person. At the head of the black list of our heart’s contents stand “evil thoughts” which are the parents not only of deeds but works. Jeremiah was led by the Spirit of inspiration to say, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds” (Jer. 17:9, 10 NASB).

Christ said, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits…” (Matt. 7:15, 16a NASB). False professors are in error concerning understanding, repentance, and the striving of the flesh against the Spirit.

First, they are ignorant of true grace, because they have only a natural understanding of spiritual things. Peter said, “For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them” (II Pet. 2:20, 21 NASB). Such knowledge always falls short of the true effect which always accompanies those who have been spiritually enlightened by the grace of the Sovereign God. Professors are taught by men, but possessors are taught by God. Christ said, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” (John 6:44, 45 NASB). It is important to know that God’s truth cannot be made relevant to human faith. That is why Paul said, “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:11 NASB).

Second, they are ignorant of true repentance. The natural man judges some light sorrows for sin to be true repentance and hopes he shall be saved. Paul said, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (II Cor. 7:10 NASB).

Third, they think the striving of the conscience against sin is the striving of the Spirit against the flesh. Think of those who confessed their sin but were not saved. Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, “I have sinned this time; the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. Make supplication to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer” (Ex. 9:27, 28 NASB). (See Saul—I Sam. 26:21, and Simon—Acts 8:12-24.)

False prophets or teachers betray themselves as soon as they open their mouths. They are not capable of speaking like sheep. False teachers have no spiritual understanding of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Not only are false teachers exposed, but true sheep are revealed (John 10). The weakest sheep are capable of distinguishing things that differ when it comes to either Christ’s Person or His work. The reason for this is that they have an “anointing from God” (I John 2:20, 27).

The anointing from God is not oil on the head but the gift of the Holy Spirit in the heart. The Greek word chrisma means anointing. It is the Holy Spirit in the heart of the redeemed and regenerated. His permanent presence in the saints keeps God and eternal principles before us. The teaching is all-comprehensive; therefore, there is no picking and choosing. This teaching is different from being taught by providence. It is heart cleansing, which results in the mortifying of the deeds of the body (Rom. 8:13), thus proving the inward cleansing of ourselves “from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Cor. 7:1 NASB).

At this point, it must be understood that there is as much difference as night and day between the anointing, as taught by the charismatics, and what the Bible portrays. What charismatics call “greater works” (John 14:10-12) in their testimonies are greater manifestations of the flesh. Anyone with a thimble full of spirituality can see that their emphasis is on “me,” “my experience,” “my healing,” “my vision,” “my ministry,” “my baptism in the Spirit,” “my speaking in tongues,” “my prayers,” etc.

In John 14, Christ goes out of the sphere of sight, but only as an unseen Person. He would have His sheep linked to Himself in faith and love. He said to His disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper [parakletos, one who appears in another’s behalf, Mediator, Intercessor, or Helper], that He may be with you forever” (John 14:16 NASB). Christ also said to His disciples, “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, Where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you…I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you” (John 16:5-7; 12-15 NASB).

The coming of the Holy Spirit secures the success of Christ’s sheep. The three Divine Persons, though equal in dignity and power, have been pleased to establish a method of procedure which corresponds to the mode of Divine existence. The Father is not of the Son or Spirit, and He is never said to be sent or given. The Son is of the Father and can be sent or given. The Holy Spirit is never said to give or send. Therefore, He proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son.

The work of Christ and the Spirit differ. Christ died to put away the sins of the elect, and He lives to put away sins in us. The Spirit convicts of sin, both the nature of sin and the sins of nature.

Christ’s advocacy is based on His propitiation (I John 2:1, 2). His death destroyed sin’s penalty in us, and His life destroys its power over us (Rom. 5:10). The Spirit convinces us of Christ’s righteousness, not ours. Notice the order of the Spirit’s work. No one will desire righteousness until convinced of sin—both sins of root and fruit.

The following are blessings derived from the presence of the Holy Spirit:

1. The believer is not left as an orphan. Christ said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18 NASB). The Spirit does not obscure Christ, but He enables the believer to understand Christ’s Person and work. That takes in Christology and soteriology.

2. The Spirit enables the believer to see the unseen Christ. Peter said, “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (I Pet. 1:8, 9 NASB). God-given faith can see what the unbeliever can never see. Jonathan Edwards wrote a book on the basis of this text and entitled it Religious Affections.

3. The Spirit of God is the pledge or guarantee (arrabon, pledge, guarantee, earnest) of what is yet to come. Christ has made the life of the believer as certain as it is certain that he lives. Christ said, “After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you [the disciples] will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19 NASB).

4. The Spirit dispels the ignorance concerning the essential union between the Father and the Son. Christ said to His disciples, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20 NASB). That is a union that will never be disunited.

The love poured out in the elect reciprocates. Christ said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, what then has happened that you are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me” (John 14:21-24 NASB). There is no lawless liberty in grace. Christ’s love is not manifested by empty compliments, because they are real manifestations. True love submits to what honors Christ, because love begets love. Such love is not driven by fear.

The Spirit taught the apostles all that they needed to know and all that we need to know. Christ said, “These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:25, 26 NASB). This kind of language reproves all who say, “We have a prophecy, a word, or a message,” because instead of sheep they are goats who are not able to speak from the completed message. “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The word faith (pistis) is used in three major ways in the Bible: (1) It is used to refer to our personal faith in the Lord. (2) It is used to refer to the faithfulness of Christ. (3) It is used to refer to the system of truth that God has given to us (Jude 3). Charismatics will leave “God’s completed message” if they have had a dream or if they think God has given them a message. Religionists prefer something “new” more than a message inspired by God thousands of years ago. We have in our possession a completed Bible. It has been “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

The sheep have peace because they know the only One who gives peace. Christ said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27 NASB). There is no peace in the world today. The Christian is the only one with peace. Christ did not come the first time to bring peace. He came to bring a sword, the truth that divides.

Pentecost was an objective fact as well as a subjective experience. It concerned the future of the entire assembly that Christ is building (Matt. 16:18). The Holy Spirit, who had been over and among His people, was subsequently dwelling in His people following Pentecost. Therefore, Paul was inspired to tell those who were in Christ, “However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you” (Rom. 8:9-11 NASB).

Pentecost did not give the unrestrained privilege of emotional hysteria. Pentecost gave power to Christ’s assembly that He is building (Matt. 16:18, “I will build”—progressive future active indicative of the verb oikodomeo). Paul also used the progressive future tense in his letter to the Romans when he said, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live [“keep on living”—progressive future active indicative of dzao, meaning to live] in it” (Rom. 6:1, 2 NASB). Paul also added something to this when he was inspired to write to the Philippians, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect [progressive future active of the verb epiteleo, meaning bring to an end or finish] it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6 NASB). (Study I Thess. 1:1-10.)

Most exegetes begin their discussion of Pentecost at the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. However, the basis of the subject begins with Luke 9. Acts 2 gives what followed in the actions of the Christ-centered and Spirit-filled disciples, who sought to manifest an uplifted Christ, who drew three thousand of God’s sheep that were marked by unwavering steadfastness. In Luke 9, it is interesting to note that there were “two men,” Moses and Elijah, (v. 30) who spoke of Christ’s departure (Luke 9:28-36); in Luke 24, “two men” (v. 4) who stood by on the morning of the resurrection (Luke 24:1-12); and in Acts 1, “two men” (v. 10) who stood by when Christ ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11).