Kenneth Copeland - Forgive And Be Healed
Let's go to the book of Luke in the fifth chapter, again, please. Luke 5:17. "And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching". So we find out that he preached, and that he's teaching, that there were pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. Amen. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. The power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Well, how was the power present? Well, Jesus was there. The power was present. Amen. It is His will for all of them to be healed. And the word was there. So praise God. They were hearing the word. Now up until they got interrupted, we don't know how long that had been. But we do know that He was preaching and teaching. Amen. And preaching and teaching the blessing of Abraham, and not the law. Amen. So, since that was happening, we know faith was coming because they were not hostile. They had come to His home to hear Him. Amen. Oh, glory be to God. So we know faith was coming.
Now, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before Him. When they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when He saw their faith, He saw their faith... Now, this is important, what I'm talking about. He saw their faith. He said unto him, "Man, they sins are forgiven thee".
Now, we know He said, "Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you". So He said, obviously, this man had a sin burden about him. He's under condemnation, and that had to be stopped before he could receive. Very important. The scribes and the pharisees began to reason saying, "Who is this would speak of blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone"? When Jesus perceived their thoughts, He, answering saith unto them, "What reason ye in your heart, whether it is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee or to say rise up and walk"? That you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sin, He said unto the sick of the palsy, "I say unto thee, arise, take up your couch, and go to thine house". And immediately, he rose up before them, took up that whereupon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed and glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today".
Now, some things we need to get straight in our own thinking. It said the power of God was there to heal them. Now, I said this. More than once. Now, did anybody else get healed but this man? Who said so? Now wait a minute. I said that, and I heard the Lord say, "You don't know what happened while they were glorifying me". Whoa, the power was there to heal them. Faith had come before they'd gotten distracted, and when they began to... Whoa. Glory to God, hallelujah. And also, think of this... He proved to them that the power that forgives is exactly the same power that heals. It's not saving power and healing power. It's not forgiving power and healing power. It's the power of the living God! Hallelujah! And He is a forgiving God. He is a healing God. He is worthy of our praise and to glorify Him.
Faith won't work in an unforgiving heart. You can just go check out Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the ministry of Jesus, and check it all out. But Jesus Himself only talked about one thing being a hindrance to faith. Right there in Mark 11:22, 23, 24, and 25. And when you stand praying, "forgive," if you have aught against any, that your father in heaven forgive you your trespasses. Now, you remember what he prayed? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Can you see the action? As we forgive those, forgive us as we forgive those. Now he went ahead to say, if you do not forgive, then your heavenly father won't forgive you your trespasses. It's not so much that He won't. It's that He can't. Amen. Because if you're unforgiving, your faith won't work to receive forgiveness.
See, you could go over there to 1 John 1:9. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins when we confess them. But it takes faith. You have to believe that. You have to believe that. And take it by faith. There are people that just confess and confess and confess over and over and over, just keep confessing, trying to feel better. That doesn't have anything to do with feeling. This is of the heart, not the flesh. Now, the sin was of the flesh, or of the mind. But the receiving... See, that is an absolute promise. He is faithful and just. Same word translated righteous. He is faithful and He is righteous to forgive us our sins when? When we confess them.
But now, you're going to have to receive it. Yeah, but I don't feel like He heard me. He didn't. I can answer that for you. Because there wasn't any faith in what you said. You have to take that word out of the mouth of two witnesses, not just 1 John 1:9, but Romans 8:1 and 2. There's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And if you're walking after your feelings, you're walking after your flesh. But you take those two scriptures and you put them together, I mean... I see that God's not condemned me over this.
Listen, I baptized a serial killer in the Bexar County jail in San Antonio. Amen. We became very good friends. Named Stephen Morin. And I tell you what, he kidnapped a woman who was one of my partners, and he had killed a lot of women. Anyway, they had him surrounded in a motel, and he got out, and she drove up in the parking lot, so here was a car that's running, and he just, at gunpoint, took her and put her in the car, and they left town. And she kept telling him, she said, "No, you don't want to kill me". He said, "I am, too. If you don't shut up, you don't know who I am". She said, "You're not going to kill the only person that ever loved you". He said, "Woman, if you don't shut up". She said, "Well, then can I listen to my tape"? "Anything to get you to shut up"!
She had one of my tapes in the tape player. And she put that on, and he had gotten away. He had gotten out in the countryside, and so all of a sudden he slammed on the brakes. He said, "Who said that"? And he turned around, and he looked in the back. "Who's in this car"? She said, "Steven, there ain't nobody in this car". She said, "What'd you hear"? He said, "I heard a voice". "What did he say"? "He said, 'Steven, this is your last chance, son.'" She said, "Steven, that was Jesus". He dropped his head and accepted him as Lord and Savior. Right then. Isn't that wonderful? Glory to God. And became a... I told him, I said... He's a brilliant man. I told him, I said, "Steven, you've got time, man. On death row. You can become an expert on prayer". And so he said, "Yeah, I'll do that. I'll study it".
And so he got in his Bible and started studying prayer, and he taught other inmates to praise God. He turned down his appeals. He said, "I don't have any family left or nothing". He said, "I'd rather go home and be with Jesus". And so I was the last one to visit with him, and before they executed him with lethal injection, I spent about 30 minutes with him. We talked, and I said, "Steven, let me know, man, if grace is sufficient". "Yeah," he said. So he's strapped to that gurney, and all he can do is raise his head up like that and his hands down here, and I'll read you his final prayer here in a minute. And they gave him his last words, and he got to preaching, and Warden Harvey, who's a good friend of mine, spirit-filled guy... And Warden Harvey said, "Steven, Steven, excuse me, son. But we've got business to take care of". And he said, "Yes, sir". Just a big smile on his face. "Yes, sir. Yes, sir".
Now, when you turn that thing on, it makes a loud noise. You know you're going to be dead here in just a few seconds. It clangs. It's not quiet. It's nasty. That thing... Bang! You know the stuff starts going... They've got IVs in both arms. He looked over there at me. I'm about as far as from you to me. There's a little railing there. And I'm standing there. He looked over there at me. Two thumbs up. Big smile on his face. Turned his head around, and he's gone. Right straight to Jesus. That marvelous glory to God.
Now, you know, in the state of Texas, I've spent time visiting with Warden Harvey, and also with Warden Kane over in Angola in Louisiana. And old bloody Angola turned into a revival over there. Praise God. And the last time I preached there, over 50% of the inmate population was born again and filled with the spirit. Praise God. Amen. And both these wardens told me the same thing. Warden Harvey told me, he said, "Every man that I have officiated his execution in the state of Texas, every one of them accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior". And he said, "I'm not talking about jail house religion. When you're fixing to die, it's a real thing. This is the real thing". And Warden Kane said in all the years that he's been warden at Angola, all but one.
So don't get so up and high and mighty over the death penalty. Now, the world don't know what we're talking about, but you and I know. Amen. You and I know. Praise God. So, anyway, that's between you and the Lord. Now, this needs to be done right now. It's the same spiritual force that forgives and heals. Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to this place right now, vitally important to obey you, Lord Jesus. If you, while you stand praying forgive, if you have aught against any, if there is any issues in your heart, in your mind right now, forgive. Don't hold onto it. This is not optional. It's a commandment, to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and strength. To love your neighbor as yourself, fulfilling all the law and the prophets, and love the brother and even as he loved the brethren. That's the commandment of the church. Whether you feel like it or not, do it. An act of obedience. Feelings will change later, but mean it with all your heart.
And if you're struggling with it, just say, "Jesus, you know I'm struggling with this, and I'm willing, I'm willing to be willing. Help me. But I choose to forgive, and I receive my healing". I choose to forgive, and I receive my forgiveness, of every sin in my life. And I thank you, Jesus. Now, just thank Him, and praise Him. Thank Him and praise Him. Praise God. Let that thing go! I'm telling you now, let it go. But Brother Copeland, you don't know what they did to me. Well, because you won't let it go, they're still doing it. It's still working against you. If you'll turn it loose, it's over. I said, it's over. Yeah, but I just can't forgive them. Well, stay sick, then. Your own disobedience is killing you.
I'm very serious about this, maybe I should have more tolerance of it, but I don't. I don't. Yeah, but Brother... Don't "yeah, but" me. I didn't write that. Hey, that's written in red! Amen. Get rid of it. If Gloria was here, she'd say, "Get over it". Get over it. I said that to a house full of soldiers, and they started shouting, and one of them said, "Brother Copeland, I've got it. I've got what Gloria's saying. She's saying, 'Get over it.'" Not just get finished with it. You're bigger than this. You're taller than this. You're stronger than this. You've been given supernatural power. You have the same power to forgive that Jesus had. Amen. You have it because he has authorized us to forgive and commanded us to forgive.