Kenneth Copeland - Faith in His Goodness Brings Healing
I particularly love this. Matthew 9:2, and particularly the second part of that verse, "Behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy," or paralyzed, "lying on a bed". Lying on a bed. What? A bed. It wasn't a mat. It was a bed.
Matthew 9:2, "They brought to him a man that was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, 'Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.' And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, 'This man blasphemes.' And Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, 'Wherefore think ye evil in your heart? Whether it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or, To arise and walk, that you may know that the Son of Man has the power, has the authority and the power of the Spirit of God on earth, to forgive sins.' Then he said to the sick of the palsy, 'Arise, take up your bed and go home.' He arose, and departed to his house. And when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power and authority unto men".
The same power that forgives, heals. Isn't that good? All right. Mark chapter two, and we get a little more information here. First verse. "Again, he entered into Capernaum," right out home. Again, He came home. "And there was noise that he was in the house". He was in His house. This was His house. He moved to Capernaum after He got kicked out of Nazareth, but it had already been prophesied that He would do that. And He moved to Capernaum. That was home. That was His headquarters.
Remember now, Jairus, leader of the synagogue that the Centurion built, they were all waiting for Him to come home. He'd just been across the lake over there and delivered the Madman of Gadara and called him to preach. But He just came home and when you look at that, He'd been up all night. So, He just came home and Jairus was waiting on Him and just threw himself at His feet. "Come and heal my daughter". He said, "Okay". And He said, "I was going to leave". But the woman stopped Him with her faith. And He said, "Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you whole". Sozo. Your faith has made you saved. Your faith has made you healed. Your faith has made you prosperous. Glory to God. Thank You, Jesus.
"So now, many were gathered together insomuch there was no room to receive them. No, not so much as about the door and he preached the Word to them". Underline that if you haven't already. "And they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy," or a paralyzed, "which was borne of four". There were four friends that brought him. "And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was". Now He's at home. "And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. Jesus saw their faith and said to the sick of the palsy, 'Son.'"
And they're letting him down on that old cot, old bed or whatever the thing was. And he said, "Son"! Glory to God. "Thy sins be forgiven thee. There were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts. 'Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?' And immediately Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves. He... In their heart, whether it's easier to say to the sick of the palsy," or the paralyzed, "'Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or to say 'Arise, take up your bed and walk.' But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power and authority on earth to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy, 'I say unto thee...'" Now, he's specifically using His words: "I saith unto thee". Then what did He say to Jairus's daughter? "Daughter, I say unto thee". I saith. That's what He said Mark in 11:23. "I saith". I saith, I saith. Glory to God. And we're just about to wrap up here.
Now, I want to see this also in Luke chapter five, something I want to bring up here. I've already mentioned it some, but I want to do it again. 17. "And it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching". Well, now we find out that He was preaching and that He was teaching. Somebody said, "What is the difference between preaching and teaching"? Yeah, about an hour and a half. That's right. Well, when you preach, you declare something. Glory to God, you get loud about it. You get loud. He got loud. You can see it in the eighth chapter of Luke. And He said, He shouted with a loud voice. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear"! He gets loud.
That's the reason we get loud. You get excited and you get loud. You spit on people. That happens a lot on the front row, but anyway. Jesus did more teaching than He did anything else because it brings faith. Hallelujah. Thank You, Lord Jesus. All right. 5:17. "As he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem". This was not a hostile crowd. This was not in a synagogue. They came to His house to hear Him. They were not hostile against Him. They just, their tradition got on their mind there. And they got sidetracked a little bit.
And Jesus picked it up in the spirit. And He didn't put them down. He just said, "Now, why are you thinking like this"? Let me ask you something, which is easier to say? "Your sins be forgiven you". "Arise, take your bed, get up and go home". To show you that the Son of Man... So let's read it. Thank You, Lord Jesus, because I want to show you something here out of this one, "but that you may know," the 24th verse, "that the Son of Man hath power, authority and Holy Spirit power upon earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralyzed man, 'I say unto thee Arise, take up your couch and go to your house. And immediately, he rose up before them. He took up whereon he lay and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear and amazement, 'We've seen strange things today.'"
Now, now, now wait a minute. The power of the Lord was present to heal them. Why? Now I don't know how long He preached. He taught a while, He preached a while. Now, I mean, the place was packed out. When they excavated this, they thought it was Peter's house and then later realized it belonged to Jesus. And it was big. Big place. And they were all there. They were not hostile. They came in there to hear it. They got a little sidetrack there, but He straightened that out. But why was only one man healed? Jesus saw their faith. He saw the faith of all five of them.
And now, of course, I'm just thinking about this and I'm thinking about Him and I'm thinking about the woman with the issue of blood and people have been bringing Him all these messages. They've been... And He lives right here. I mean, He's right here in town, man. I mean, come on. "I need to get over there. I need to get over to His house. I need to get over there".
Now, you guys are going to have to get me there because I've had this stroke and I can't walk. I just drag around and can't do anything. You're going to have to help me. You're going to have to get me over there. So let's figure out something. They said, "All right, let's go". And they got over there. And the place is jammed full. Finest donkeys in the land, parked right out there in front. I got that from Keith Moore. I wasn't smart enough to get that on my own. I mean, Hey! The place is covered up. Doctors, scribes, people place is packed out. It's so important that you could see their faith. You could see it. And he said, "You boys are going to have to get me in there. Now, I don't care what you had to do". They got over there and he said, "Okay, what are we going to do"?
And so Bobo said, "I'm going to tell you what, this is Jesus' house. And He's not going to care. We're going to put you down through the roof". He said, "If that's the only way we can do it, why don't you drop me, you understand? Now come on, boys. Get me up there. Glory to... I don't care what you have to do. I'm going in that house today and I'm going to be healed today and I'm going home well! I am going home well! All I have to do is get in there where He is because the power of God is present to heal". Why didn't the others get it? They didn't mix it with faith.
Now, I can't prove this, but you keep prove that it didn't. So let's see what happened here. "Immediately, he arose up before them and took up whereupon he lay and departed to his own house glorifying God". He left there and said, Whew-ooh-ooh! Glory to God, hallelujah, glory to God! I'm done with this thing. Hallelujah. He came in there on his bed and the bed left on him. Hallelujah, glory! I got that from Keith Moore. I get a lot from Keith Moore. Then I text him to say, "I'm going to preach this, now you're going to hear it coming back at you". Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord Jesus. He left glorifying God. "They were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, 'We've seen strange things today'". They glorified God.
Now this is just me, you understand? I know Jesus. And I just cannot help but believe there were a lot of them got healed right then. And I don't believe I'm adding to the scripture because they all... He left there glorifying God, and it got off on all them. That same praise, that same worship, he left there glorifying God. And it got on them. And I can just see them coming down, and listen, "Hey, look at this"! Hallelujah. And now let's go to the 103rd Psalm. How many partners in here? Your partners of this ministry? You'll notice that's always on the bottom of the letter and that now, I pray for you not just every day. I pray for you every meal. "We receive the blessing of the Lord on this food and I bless my partners all over the world beyond measures". You hear that? Big in our lives. Amen.
So the 103rd Psalm. Do you notice my Bible just fell open there too? I'm going to read this from Proverbs 18:14. Don't look it up. The Amplified, "The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble". That's good, isn't it? I just realized, and let me read this to you. Of course, it'll be on the screen, and that's good. Let me just read it to you. "Bless affectionately, gratefully. Praise the Lord, O my soul". David is talking to himself. He's talking to his intellectual part of himself and his inner man. "In all that is deepest within me, bless his holy name. Bless affectionately, gratefully, praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not one of all his benefits".
Here's the benefits: "Who forgives every one of all your iniquities, who heals each one of all your diseases". Everyone. Didn't leave anybody out. Everyone. "Satisfies your mouth. Your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation". Oh, isn't that interesting? So that's for us 84-year-olds. Oh, okay. Good. Yes. I'm glad I read that today. "...with goods so that your youth is renewed like the eagle is strong, overcoming and soaring. The Lord executes righteousness and justice," not for me only, but for all who are oppressed.
"He made known his ways of righteousness and justice to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. Oh, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness". That word is "hesed" right there, loving-kindness. "He will not always chide or be contending, neither will he keep his anger forever or hold a grudge. He's not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our inequities". Thank God that's so. "For as the heavens are high above the Earth, so great are his mercy and," hesed, "his loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear and reverence him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions far from us. As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear him with reverence and worship with awe, for he knows our frame. He earnestly, remembers and imprints on his heart..."
He imprints it on his heart, that we're just dust. I mean, we're made out of dirt. This body, originally made out of dirt. But it works. Thank You, Lord Jesus. "As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower in the field, so he flourishes. The wind passes over" and it's gone "and its place shall know it no more. But the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord are from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverently and worshipfully fear him and his righteousness is to his children's children, to such as keep his covenant.
Hearing, receiving, loving, obeying it, and those who earnestly remember his commandments to do them imprinting them on their hearts. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all blessed. Affectionately, gratefully, praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his Word". Your ministry angel will hear the Word of God coming out of your mouth declaring, "Thank God I'm healed! Thank God I prosper! Thank God I'm well! Thank God, oh! Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. And I saw in Hebrews, the first chapter. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Ooh, praise God".