How to Be Made Whole - Part 13: How Salvation Works

REVIEW

So we have been learning how one can be made whole. No, not just the fact that He wants us healed & whole, but how we all can receive from God His will for us. 

And we’ve learned that God wants us healed & whole from our golden text for this series among many other Scriptures. First Thessalonians 5:23 saying, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And each week, we have been looking at the various examples of healing in the Gospels – knowing that they teach us how one approaches the Lord for healing and walks away whole. We’ve looked at examples such as Peter’s Mother-in-Law, the Ten Lepers, the Woman with the Issue of Blood, Jairus’ Daughter, the Woman with the Spirit of Infirmity, among a few others. And last week, we looked at the healing of the Nobleman’s Son, learning the important role that walking by faith plays in receiving our miracle.   

Now this week, I would like us to look at an example that beautifully illustrates how this being made whole works. It’s the story of the healing of the paralytic carried by his four friends. 

Now this story is told in three of the four Gospels – in Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, and Luke 5:17-26 – and I want to highlight something from all three of them. 

Notice how each Gospel writer describes the reaction of the people to this miracle: 

1. Matthew 9:8 – “…they marveled and glorified God Who had given such power to men” - The word used for “power” here is exousia which would be better translated as “authority.” Now the authority that they were referring to was what Jesus said in verse 6 – “that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” along with the authority that He exemplified through healing this paralytic man. And did you know that people still today will marvel that God uses the sons of men to do the supernatural? Why is this? It is because they just tend towards the belief that God is God and “I am just a man.” Therefore, we are not God. Well, while it is certainly true, we are not God (Thankfully!), it is also true that He has delegated His authority to us to do certain things for Him! And healing is one of those things!    
2. Mark 2:12 – “And they glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this” - Notice that this verse didn’t say anything about them glorifying God when he was still paralyzed. No, God was glorified when he took up his bed and walked! Now what they were saying was certainly true: they hadn’t seen anything like this. But do you know what our aspiration should be – for less and less people being able to say this by us bringing more and more of the healing power of God into this dark and perverse generation! Amen!  
3. Luke 5:26 – “…and were filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today!’” – Notice how they were filled with fear. That’s an interesting response, isn’t it? Why would people get into fear when seeing a crippled man getting healed? Well, the answer to this question is obviously contained in what they were saying – “We have seen strange things today!” By strange things, they were saying that this miracle was uncommon and certainly unexpected.  

So this is one of the reasons why it is important to compare the various accounts of the same healings in the Gospels. It’s called harmonizing the Gospels. It’s because each Gospel writer has a different, unique perspective, and if you combine together all three of these accounts, you get a clear picture of what the crowd was truly thinking: They were freaked out, amazed, and marveled at what took place because of how God has apparently given this kind of authority to the sons of men! And they glorified God saying things like – “We’ve never seen anything like this! We have seen strange things today!”   
Needless to say, the people were awestruck and taken aback by seeing something done that transcended natural laws. And so let’s look specifically at what took place in this story – In doing this, we will primarily camp on Mark & Luke’s Gospel. 
Now the story begins in Mark 2:1 with – “And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.”
So just like in the story that we looked at last week of the healing of the nobleman’s son, we are entering Capernaum again after some days. Then we are told that it was heard that Jesus was in the house. 
Now you thought that your kids or grandkids came up with that hip saying that such and such is in the house, didn’t you? But no, this Scripture says that Jesus was “in the house” a long time before your children ever said that! 

And I like to compare this statement with Jesus being in the boat from the example of Jesus’ disciples and Him being caught out in the middle of the sea when the storm arose. Well, just the fact that Jesus was in that boat should have assured His disciples that they weren’t going to sink & drown. No, Jesus’ presence in the boat ought to have produced in them the confidence that they were going to get to the other side. Likewise, if Jesus is in our boat – yes, if Jesus is in our house – then we are going to be okay if the Healer lives within us. Amen? 

Then in verse 2, we are told – “Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.”

Notice that this verse says, “And He preached the Word to them”: Did you know that Jesus’ ministry generally consisted of three parts—teaching, preaching, & healing? Actually, the Gospels say that He was teaching (43 times), preaching (19 times), and preaching & teaching (6 times). This shows us the pattern that we should do about twice as much teaching as we do preaching. That’s why we do so much teaching & preaching here at our Healing Schools – because just like those who came to “hear and be healed” in the Gospels, we need to spend time hearing and hearing the Word so that the faith can come to be healed. 

But let’s look over at Luke’s Gospel again and notice who it was that Jesus was preaching the Word to …

Luke 5:17 says, “Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” 

Now how many of you know that these Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come to sit and listen to His teachings were likely not there listening with open hearts. Now there might have been a “Nicodemus” or two in the bunch who sincerely were seeking the truth, but from what we see throughout the rest of the four Gospels, the likelihood is that the vast majority of these religious leaders were there to accuse and find fault. On top of that, these religious leaders were taking up seats that people with faith could’ve had!

But I want you to notice that last sentence in verse 17 – “And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” 

The Greek language indicates that the Lord’s power was in their midst (Greek en) for the purpose of (Greek eis) healing them. The “them” here implies that it was referring to those fault-finding religious leaders who were there just to criticize Him, right? So, this shows us that God’s healing power was in that house to heal even those who had assembled with wrong hearts. Wow! 

This shows us two very important things:

1. God’s healing power is available even to those who don’t deserve it. In other words, he will heal His enemies if they will just reach out and receive.
2. God’s healing power can be present and available, and no one receives it because we don’t have any record of anyone being healed before the paralyzed man shows up. This proves to us that this whole belief system that if God wants us healed, He will heal us is not 100% accurate. Yes, God’s provision of healing can be available and not received.    

But let’s move on to the one in this story who was in position to receive his wholeness …
Luke 5:18-19 says, “Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.”

Now what if these men would have been like most believers – who might have prayed before they came and said, “Lord, if it is Your will to heal Joe, we ask you to open the door, but if it’s not, then close the door”? Well, they would have shown up and seen that the house was already filled and turned around and left, believing that it wasn’t the Lord’s will to heal their friend today.

But would that have been correct? Absolutely not! No, these men did not take a closed door as evidence that it was not God’s will for their friend to be healed and they sought a way to get him in and got the healing they desired. 

I wonder how many people never received their healing because they made this kind of mistake. Maybe they were not persistent enough or they let a circumstance, or a lack of manifestation convince them of a lie. Whatever the situation, I believe that there have been more situations in our lives where we did not receive what God has graciously provided than we would care to know about. 

But not these guys! This verse says that when they saw this “closed door” they hit the roof! Amen! And when they had “broken through” they made their own door!  

You see, in Mark’s account of this story, he specifically says, “So when they had broken through …” (Mark 2:4).   

No, these guys didn’t let the situation keep them from what they came for. They “broke through” the thing keeping them from Jesus, which depending what perspective you had, was the “ceiling.” 

I wonder how many apparent “ceilings” – that is, things that limit us from going higher – have kept God’s people from that exceeding, abundantly, above all they could ever ask or think (See Ephesians 3:20)? Again, it’s more than we would care to know. But again, those ceilings /roofs are not signs from God that he doesn’t want us to go higher. They are just things that we have to determine to break through. And God is all about these break throughs! 

In fact, in Second Samuel 5:20, we see the Lord called “the Lord of the Breakthrough.” This is yet another description given to us of God: He specializes in breaking through our enemies that are before us! Therefore, we cannot let a closed door, or a seeming wall, dissuade us from getting our healing. We have to be persistent and have bulldog faith, being undaunted by the obstacles! 

However, there is an important point that we need to learn from this account in 2nd Samuel: David inquired of the Lord before he presumptuously went up against these Philistines. He asked the Lord – “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord responded to him with- “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.” (Verse 19). 

You see, hearing from God and getting a Word from Him is an important part of experiencing “break throughs” because we need to know the Lord’s manner of providing for us. 

However, the fact remains that we have no record that the four friends and the paralyzed man got a “Word from God.” They just pressed in and got what they came for, but there is certainly a place for asking the Lord and hearing from Him so that we are not spinning our wheels.    

But the fact remains that these four friends broke through the obstacle and did what they had to do to lower their friend into the house where Jesus was. 

Mark 2:5 says, and “when He saw their faith …” 

Church, true faith can be seen! James said that we can show others our faith by our works (James 2:18). It is easy for people to say that they are “in faith” but true, living faith is evidenced by her actions. 

So, how did Jesus see their faith? It was through their action of letting this man down through the roof. You only do something like this if you believe there is a reason to go through all of this. You don’t go to these kinds of extremes, lengths, etc. unless you are convinced that there is a good reason for it. This is how Jesus saw their faith. 

Now when it said that Jesus saw “their” faith, this did not exclude the paralyzed man either. How many of you know that this man had to have some faith to let His friends carry him up on the roof and then lower him down through it? 

But then a very important part of this story is the things that were said just before the miracle was performed:

Notice how after Jesus saw their faith, “He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’” Then we are told – “And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, ‘Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (See Mark 2:5-11)

To me, it is so interesting that this comparison to forgiveness and healing is being made by the Lord. And notice how He said in verse 9 – “Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk?’” 

Well, the obvious answer to this question is, it’s easier to say “your sins are forgiven you” because you cannot see it. But if we were to say, “Arise, take up your bed and walk,” we would have to see some sort of miraculous manifestation in order to know something happened. But did you know that the miraculous healing of our bodies is just as easy to “say”, and I would add, “see” as the forgiveness of one’s sins? And did you know why? Because they come from the same source and in the same package! Amen! 

And that’s what I want to talk to you about today - How Healing Works! And the answer is - it works just like forgiveness & salvation works! 

You know, I hear questions sometimes regarding this subject of healing that indicate a misunderstanding of how God works. I’ve heard people ask things like – “Why doesn’t God heal me? Why didn’t He heal them?” and I’ve heard people say things like “I’m just waiting on God to heal me.” I believe this belief system, that we are waiting on God to do it, greatly decreases our likelihood of receiving from the Lord. Why? Because that is not how God has set it up. 

If we are going to learn to receive from the Lord more consistently, we must learn how He works. I understand that people see Him as a sovereign God and that He is, therefore, all powerful, but that does not mean that He is just up in heaven picking and choosing whom He is going to heal. This is not how He works! 

Although it is true that healing originates from God and that He alone has the power to heal, He did not set it up that He is going just do whatever He wants to do and that He would have the complete control. 

You see, we don’t ask questions like - “Why didn’t God save them?” or “Why won’t God save me?” do we? No, you don’t ever hear people say that. And why? Because we understand how salvation works, right? And we know it doesn’t work that way where it is just up to God. No, we understand that those who call on the name of the Lord are the ones who are saved, not just those who are called on by the Lord. 

Saints, the healing of our bodies happens the same way as the salvation of our souls! In fact, we find Scripture after Scripture that couples together our salvation and the healing of our bodies (Examples: Isaiah 53, Psalm 103:3, the ministry of Jesus, etc.) 

The words for “saved & salvation” come from the Greek words “sozo & soterion” which actually contain the reference to healing. Therefore, the very words that refer to the salvation of our souls are also referring to the healing of our bodies. And it is important to understand that the same way we are saved is the same way in which we are healed – for the word “sozo” means both (Colossians 2:6). Therefore, healing works the same way salvation does!

So how does salvation work? There are essentially four questions that we need to ask to answer this question:

1. Is it God’s will for everyone to be saved? 

And the obvious answer is - YES! 

Second Peter 3:9 says that God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (We see this also in Matthew 23:37 where Jesus made it clear that God often wanted to gather them under His wings, but they were not willing which can be compared with Malachi 4:2 which refers to the Lord having healing in His wings) 

First Timothy 2:4-6 states that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (The context states that we are to be praying for all men including kings and all who are in authority- particularly to be saved. Now it is important for us to realize who some of these “kings” were! As ungodly as we think some of our authorities are today, they are nothing compared to the wickedness of those Paul was referring to. And I love how Paul goes on to say in verse 7- “for which I was appointed a preacher and teacher…” You see, near the end of chapter one, he describes the exceeding abundance of God’s grace in saving himself—who he says was the chief of sinners. But even this man, Saul of Tarsus, who murdered Christians, was saved and then, on top of that, was used to write 2/3rds of the New Testament.) 

So here, we have two witnesses that clearly indicate it is not God’s will for any person who walks on this planet to die in their sins, but it is His desire that all men and women receive the salvation that Jesus provided. So, it is the Lord’s will to save everyone! Therefore, we can conclude that if healing is a part of that salvation package, then it is the Lord’s will that every person be healed, and it is His desire to see all men and women to receive the healing that Jesus provided for them. Amen? (Compare the healing of the leper in Mark 1:40-45)

1. What are we saved by? 

Ephesians 2:8-9 say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Notice what is mentioned first in these verses - the grace! Paul said, “For by grace.” You could translate this phrase - “because of grace.” 

You see, as important as faith is (and we will get to this in a moment), grace is the most important – for if there was no grace provided, there would be nothing for us to have faith in. So, grace had to come. The provision had to be made. The promise had to have substance. 

Now, comes the “through faith” part. Some that move over into error concerning the grace of God begin to believe that it is all completely by grace and then begin to believe that since salvation was provided for all men on the Cross, everyone must be saved. Well, this discounts this phrase “through faith.” You see, everything in the kingdom must be received. It is not forced on us. It doesn’t happen just because God made a way for it to happen. No, God has made the provision, but that provision of grace must come through a channel or an avenue, and that way is “through faith.”  

Now notice how this process of salvation is explained in the rest of verse 8 into verse 9: “and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Now we understand how this applies to our salvation – that no number of good deeds one does can qualify them to be saved. Our salvation is completely a gift of God – meaning we can’t earn it or work to obtain it, and God’s reasoning behind this is that no one would be able to boast and say, “Hey, I did all of this and look what I’ve earned.” No, we understand that salvation is a free gift, cannot be earned and no one will be able to boast saying they earned it somehow. 

So now, let’s apply this to healing by retranslating that one word “saved” in this verse: “For by grace you have been healed through faith, and that healing is not of yourselves; healing is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” So, first of all, we see that healing is all “because of grace” – meaning, it has been provided for us all because of the grace of God. This is the first thing we need to get our hearts established in – the grace of God has provided healing and wholeness. And we need to understand that although this healing is received through faith, it is not obtained nor walked in “of ourselves” – meaning, we do not need to see our healing as having anything to do with us. The reason I say this is because of the subtleties of our flesh to believe that we are healed because of our “great faith” or because of our dietary habits or because of our exercise routines or because of our own righteousness, etc., etc., etc. No, no, no! You must always remain sober to the fact that receiving and walking in divine health and healing “is not of yourselves.” Sure, these things might tend towards walking in health and healing, but I encourage you to incline your heart towards the truth that it is ultimately a gift of God and not a result of your own works. The reason this is so important to understand is because it is easy for our heart to be deceived and begin to believe that our own works of diets, exercise, applying spiritual principles and even our “believing” is what obtained the healing. And if that is how we believe, we are in danger of taking our eyes off of the object of our faith – the Grace of God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is not a good place to be. Then, it is imperative that we know that it is all “because of grace” that we have been and can be healed. So grace is first then faith comes next. 

1. What are we saved through? 

Let’s again look at Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Let’s address those two very important words that are involved in our salvation here - “through faith.” It is an undisputed fact, saints, the part faith plays in us receiving our salvation. Martin Luther, who was responsible for the great protestant reformation, began this movement by six very important words - “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17). This extremely important revelation shows us that it is not a bunch of religious duties and good deeds that save someone; but it is by our faith in the good deed of Jesus Christ on the Cross that wrought salvation for us. Therefore, we must now live by this faith! Amen! I don’t think I need to camp on this any further, right? We understand that we live by faith now and not by works, and that this is the only way we experience salvation! Amen? 

1. Is saving faith alone? 

The answer to this is an affirmative NO! It has been well-said that faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. The truth is: FAITH IS BOTH SEEN AND HEARD!  

The question is—Is a man justified by faith alone or is he justified by works and not by faith only? The key to understanding this is in understanding that Paul and James were referring to two different kinds of works. Notice that the apostle Paul was specifically referring to the works of the law and James never makes a reference in this passage to the works of the law. You see, there is what is called the works of faith that the Bible encourages. We see this reference in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 when Paul refers to their “work of faith.” As we’ve seen, Paul also calls these “works of faith” good works in Ephesians 2:10. 

So, what does this have to do with healing? Well, again, there is no difference between how we are saved and how we are healed, right? So, this shows that our faith for healing will contain some corresponding action! 

So, what are the works of faith? Well, one of the biggest that we see in the Word of God is the words of our mouth. You see, the Scriptures teach us that when one believes something in their heart and that truth is in there in abundance, the mouth will speak. In Second Corinthians 4:13, Paul said, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.” 

Finally, I want you to notice what Paul said in Romans 10:9-10 saves someone: Verse 9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 

This is how we received Christ Jesus … We heard the gospel of our salvation in some shape, form, or fashion and then we believed in our heart the good news that Jesus is alive! Then we respond by confessing with our mouth with others to hear that Jesus is now our Lord and we make a public acknowledgment of the faith that is in our heart. This is how we were saved. 

Well, that is the same way we are healed, since salvation also describes healing … We hear the gospel of healing – maybe through a sermon or through a testimony – and then we believe in our heart that “gospel” that healing is available and has been provided. So then we respond by confessing with our mouth things like “I’m healed by the stripes of Jesus” or “If I can just get to that altar, something is going to happen.” Whatever we say, that is the confession of our faith, and that is what comes from faith in our heart. This is how we are healed.  

But notice how Romans 10:10 says specifically that with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So do you know what this teaches me? It teaches me that you can be completely convinced and persuaded in your heart of a truth, you can believe with all your heart, and still not experience sozo – freedom, deliverance, healing, protection, and being kept safe and sound. Wow! That is so powerful! Allow that to sink in for a moment… 

You see, the belief in our heart is super important. Don’t misunderstand that. That is what brings forth the righteousness in our life. In other words, the faith in our heart is what produces that right standing with God. That is the first step! But faith in your heart is not what produces “salvation” – soterion & sozo – in our life. It is the faith in our mouth that produces salvation! Amen! 

So “sozo” occurs in our life as we, number one, believe in our heart what has transpired in our lives as a result of Jesus’ resurrection and, number two, confess with our mouth Jesus’ Lordship as a result. In other words, our hearts must be established in what was accomplished through His death, burial and resurrection, and then our mouth must declare that He is, therefore, Lord until all His enemies are made His footstool. Amen!   

Church, this is how salvation works, and if it’s like getting saved works, then it’s how getting healed and whole works. It’s as simple as salvation – by grace through faith. Receive your salvation today!