Matt Hagee - The Lord is My Healer

When it comes to the topic of healing, it's important for us to understand why we have to struggle with sickness. And Psalm 103 does a very clear job of helping us understand this. First and foremost, David is talking about a God who does things completely. Say that one word with me. Completely. He says, "Bless the Lord, o my soul, and all that is within me". That word "All" is a complete word. That means that David, if he is going to give God proper praise, he must give God proper praise with everything that he has. Mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, in every way, his life has to be a sacrifice of praise unto the Lord.

When you hear us take the offering here in Cornerstone, you'll hear us say, "It is time to worship the Lord with our offering". Why? Because that is financial praise. It's your way of saying, "God you gave it and I am honored to give it back to you". You'll hear pastor say, "Give the Lord a sacrifice of praise". And what he's asking you to do is take some of the life, the breath, the energy that God has given you, and offer it back to him to say, "You gave it to me: it is my honor to give it to you".

So David says, if I'm going to praise the Lord, I've got to do it with all that is within me. And sometimes we forfeit what God wants to do because we don't give him our all. We give him some but we keep something back for ourselves. And then he continues. He says, "Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all of his benefits". And the first benefit that we list that David celebrates is that he forgives all. How many? All. How many? Our iniquities. Now I for one, am thankful that God doesn't decide to keep some of my iniquities back to hold against me at a later date. He is a righteous judge: and yet, in his righteousness, he has permission to convict me of all things. And yet, in his mercy, he's forgiven me of everything. What a mighty God we serve.

And then the next benefit that David lists is he said, "Who heals you of", say it with me, "All". Who heals you of how many? "All your diseases". Now, David in this one verse, Psalm 103:3, helps us understand why we struggle with sickness. He connects some very important things that we must keep connected if we're going to understand why God is our healer. He connections the supernatural with the natural. He connects the spiritual with the physical. He does put iniquities on one line and diseases on another line, and say, "Thee two things are separate". He says that the God who heals you spiritually is the same God who heals you physically. And he puts them in proper order, because before God can heal you physically, he must heal you spiritually.

So when we read that the Lord heals us of all of our diseases and forgives us of all of our iniquities, we understand that we are dealing and struggling with sickness because of sin, not because we sinned. And there's a subtle but very powerful difference there. We struggle with sickness because of sin, not because we sinned. And it's important that we understand that, because humans are, by nature, curious. For example, if I looked the at this audience and I said, "You know what? Never mind". How many of you'd go, "Oh, no, no, no, no. Tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us"? It's just who we are. We want to know why about everything. And when it comes to the topic of sickness, we want to know why.

Why do we struggle with it? Why is it here? Why is it something that if God loves us, we have to go through? And the answer comes from the Word of God that we are struggling with sickness because of sin, not because we sin. And the reason you need to know that is because, over time, people whenever they're curious about something and they can't figure it out, they start to make stuff up. How many of you've ever met anybody that does that? Why this? Oh, well that's because... And then this happens, and then therefore, yes, verily. Amen. In science, these are called "Theories". And the thing about theories is because of curiosity, we wanted to find out certain things that God's word already answered for us. But rather than put faith in his word, we decided to make stuff up. I'll give you a case and point.

There's this theory called "Evolution". And it's based on the curiosity of humanity. Where disease man come from? What is our origin? How were we created? It's very easy. God cleared that up in Genesis. He said, "I created them male and female". Case closed. But oh, no: we've got curiosity. And so we start to decide that we want to know more. And in trying to know more, we start to make stuff up. And when we can't figure it out, we just fill in the blanks. We start down the road of, well, there was a couple of cells floating in a puddle, and the light shined on the puddle. And then the cells smashed into each other, and a tail fell out. Then the tail split and it became legs. And then it started to walk. And then it started to talk. And after it looked like E.T. for a few million years, it decided to start looking more and more like you. And congratulations: here you are.

And it's a theory. But we teach it as fact, because our curiosity needs to be satisfied. And that becomes a problem whenever we stop declaring the Word of God and we start debating the Word of God. There are a lot of people taking a lot of foolish positions these days, because they've stopped declaring truth and they're debating truth. And so when it comes to this topic of sickness, sometimes you'll here people say that sickness is what God does when he's mad at you. That's a lie. Or sickness is something you get when you don't have faith. That's a lie. Or that sickness is a curse that God is placing on you. That is a? The Bible says, "The Lord is my healer". It doesn't say he's the guy that uses sickness to get what he wants. God doesn't need anything to get what he wants. He is all-sufficient all by himself.

The Bible says in Romans 5:12: it says, "By one man did sin enter the world". Say that with me. "By one man did sin enter the world". That man was Adam. Adam was the first man. Adam did not belong to a nation. Adam did not belong to a culture. Adam did not belong to a tribe. We all go back to him. So Adam is created. And as long as Adam does it God's way, everything is great. As long as he lives according to God's plan, he has no struggle, he has no toil, he has no headache, he has no strife. The stuff that you feel when the alarm clock rings on Monday morning, Adam doesn't know nothing about that. The debate that you have with your wife about where we're going to spend Christmas, at my parents house or at the in-laws, Adam never had that. Life was good for Adam except he chose to do something his own way.

Isaiah 53 says, "We like sheep have gone astray. We have chosen our own way". Before we beat up Adam for committing sin, how many of you have ever chosen to do it your way instead of God's way? So Adam commits this sin. God tells him, "Don't touch anything from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil". He does it anyway. And when he does, he brings to God's perfect earth, the curse of sin. Now this is not your sin: this is just sin in general. And the thing about sin is that it removes man from the presence of God. It does not remove God's presence from you. Adam was driven out of the garden, but God was still working on the earth. And when Adam did this, this transgression, it affected supernatural and natural. It affected spiritual and it affected physical.

I'll give you a case and point. Go to Genesis 3:18. We see the curse that's on nature. God says that because there's sin, the ground that was perfect is now under a curse. And he says, "Thorns and thistles shall it bear for you". How many of you've ever seen dandelions growing in my asphalt parking lot? Now I can't grow dandelions in asphalt because I'm such a good farmer. There are farmers in the mid-west, who are struggling to get corn to grow. But I can grow weeds in concrete. Why? Because of the curse. When you see that out there in the parking lot, you look down, and don't go, "Oh, that's so beautiful". "I see God here". No, that's the curse. The curse was not only on the ground: the curse was on the woman. God has words with Eve. He says, here's the things that you're going to experience now that there is sin. He said, "You're going to have an increase in the pain of childbirth".

Now in this, I will speak from the experience of observation. I was in the delivery room when our four children were born. And I will tell you, it did not look quite as comfortable as you might think. But if you believe that there is indeed some fact behind these words, "An increase in the pain of childbirth," all of the ladies said... She still ain't over it. She's got grand kids and she still ain't over it. So there's one. And then he continues. He says, "And your desire shall be for your husband, but he will rule over you".

Now, I've heard a lot of preachers get real chicken when it comes to explaining this verse. This is where the battle of the sexes begins. In Genesis 3, when the curse came, that's when Adam and Eve suddenly found a difference of opinion. Prior to that, there was no struggle for who was going to lead. They were both created equal in God's eyes. And here in Genesis 3, God says to Eve, "Your desire". What he's saying is you are going to want to be in charge of him, and he is always going to be in charge of you. Now, my man, there's only so much security in here and you might not live. What I've heard preachers say is they've said, because the curse was childbirth, that what God was saying to Eve is that he was going to crank up her sex drive, and she would just continually have children, and that these children would cause her the increase in childbirth. That's just not true.

Now husbands, for your own safety, I would never ask you to show hands. But how many of you might know somebody, not you, not in your situation, not in your family. Love you baby. But you might know somebody that from time to time, there's a struggle in the house about who's going to be in charge. The single men's ministry is like, "Oh yeah: oh yeah". The young marriage ministry is like, "Uh-um. Let's go, preacher. Come on". I'm going to need healing when this is over. Then there's a curse on the man. God says to Adam: he says, when it comes to work, it's going to be hard. He says, "By the sweat of your brow, you're going to earn your bread".

Now something you need to understand about this portion of the curse is that work is not a curse. Say that with me. Work is not a curse. When God created Adam, God gave Adam a job. It was perfect earth, perfect heaven. He took the dust. He formed it into man. He breathed life into it. And when Adam woke up, he said, "Take care of the garden". In a perfect world, God blessed Adam with work. Work is a blessing. God was a working God. Six days he worked. One day he rested. When he created us, he created us in his image. And he created us to work. So anything that takes away a man's ability to work is not a blessing. But what happened when Adam sinned is that work went from being a blessing to being hard.

Now here's something to think about. If God came through his son, Jesus Christ, to redeem, not only did he redeem us spiritually, but he redeemed us physically. And when he comes to redeem, he can take work that used to be hard and turn it back into a blessing. And then there's another part of this curse. Not only did Adam's work become hard, but Adam now has to face sickness and death. It says, "By the sweat of your brow will you earn your bread. And from dust you came, and to dust you shall return".

Here is why we struggle with sickness, not because we sin, but because of sin. Before Adam had the breath of God breathed into his nostrils, he was nothing more than dust. And with sin, the Spirit of God left him, and he returned back to dust. When man fell, I came under a curse. But by the grace of God, through the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, I have been set free. And whom the son sets free is free indeed. The curse of sin is broken. The curse of sickness is broken. The curse of poverty is broken. The curse of sorrow is broken.

Isaiah said it this way, "Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows". That's my emotional healing. "He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace was upon him". That's my spiritual healing. And then it says, "And by his stripes, I am healed". That's my physical healing. Church, I'm here to declare today that whom the son sets free is free indeed! I'm free spiritually! I'm free emotionally! I'm free physically! I'm free financially! What sin came to do, Jesus Christ destroyed! When he conquered death, hell and the grave, he arose and he gave me the keys! And he said, "With what I bind on this earth, I can bind in heaven. And what I loose on this earth, I can loose in heaven". So today I stand in this sanctuary, not only set free, but I stand here and declare, "If God be for me, who can be against me"? Give the Lord a shout of praise!

You need to know that God expects us to expect healing. It is his intention for you to be expecting his power in your life. Let me illustrate that this way: I don't know about you, but in my house, it bothers me when my kids doubt me. It bothers me. And it's not that they want to do it on purpose. It's just kind of human nature. The same way we're curious, we're also skeptical. And my kids will doubt me. They'll say things like, "Dad, are we going to have lunch today"? Have we ever missed lunch? I mean we might skip a bath but we're not going to miss lunch. I mean I believe that I've been consistent enough in my performance to demonstrate to them, I'm going to feed you. But as good, and as consistent, and as faithful as I've been to feed them, every now and again they just kind of doubt that I'm going to do it.

"Dad, are we going to have dinner"? And the other day when this was happening, just before I went into my sulking dad mood, the Lord kind of whispered, "Do you ever doubt me? Do you ever walk into my house and wonder if I'm going to show up? Do you ever come to church and think that maybe this week it's not going to be good? Do you ever stand in my sanctuary and wonder if what I meant I said when I told you that if two or three are going to be there, I'd be in your midst"? And then I thought to myself: you know what would change the way my kids behave is if whenever they said, "Dad, are we going to have lunch"? I'd be like, "Not today, huh-uh". Because the Bible says that, "He who doubts", this is James 1, "He who doubts, he shall receive nothing". That would make my kids declare lunch. "Dad, we are going to eat today. We are going to have lunch. We're going to Ruth Chris. We're going to go to Maggiano's, las Palapas. We're going, dad. Chama gaucha, red, green: I'm all about it".

But what would happen if God's kids would start expecting him when we came into church? What would happen if when we walked through the doors rather than wonder what was going to happen today, we already came believing that good things were on the way? We walked into the sanctuary knowing that no matter what need we had, he was going to meet it. No matter what problem was there, he was going to solve it. No matter what mountain needed to be moved, he already had his hand on it. He's just waiting for us to get up there so he can show us what a mighty God we serve. Church, do you have any idea how good God can be whenever his children simply believe that he is able! He is able to deliver! He is able to heal! He's able to make new! He's able to restore! He's mighty to save! He's able to conquer! He will not fail you! If you believe he can, give the Lord a handclap of praise!

1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So I want to end this service this way: if you would, please stand to your feet. I want us to take a moment and thank God for his promises. And I want us to take a moment and ask him to cleanse us of any iniquity, any unrighteousness. This is not a corporate prayer: this is your personal prayer. This is your opportunity to say, "Lord, prepare me. Prepare me for what you're about to do".

Heavenly Father, we are in this place because we are your children. We are in this place because you sent your son, and he redeemed us, and he set us free. We are in this place because we believe that all things are possible to a God who cannot fail. So Lord, here this morning in this sanctuary, we give you thanks for what you have done. We give you thanks for the times that you have provided. We give you thanks for the days that you have protected. We give you thanks for the way that you have led us, and guided us, and enabled us to overcome every challenge of the past. We give you thanks, Father, for what you're doing, for how you're moving mountains, for how you're making a way, for how you're opening doors that no man could open. But Lord, we also give you thanks in expectation of what you're going to do. We believe that you are a God who heals, because you are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And so I ask you, Father, in Jesus' name, as we lift our hands and we raise our voice in this sanctuary: that you would send a fresh anointing upon this congregation: that every sin, every iniquity, every bondage, every chain: that it would be broken. That every snare and every hindrance that the enemy would use: that it would be dissolved: that everything that would separate us from the power of God being demonstrated in this place, it would be purged with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Lord, that we might see you in the beauty of holiness: that we might feel you in the touch of your mighty hand: that we might know the same God who healed, who delivered, who restored is the same God who is on his throne and in this place, in Jesus' mighty name. We thank you for these things.