The Miracles of Christ - Healing of a Demonic

[0:00] Well, let's pray together. Father, for the privilege you've given us to address you, we are grateful. We recognize the world knows not of it. But for those of us who are in Christ, we have a way of access that is open to the very throne of grace.

[0:15] We choose to use that option even now, and we ask for your understanding and direction regarding the passage of Scripture before us and the benefits thereof and the applications that might be there.

[0:26] We look to you for the wisdom we recognize we do not have. And we pray that as Sue undergoes treatment for her injury that you will give wisdom to the doctors as they examine the x-rays so that they might know the best course of action to effect a complete healing.

[0:44] Thank you most of all for the fact that you are involved in our lives in the downtimes as much as the uptimes. You are completely in charge, especially at times when it doesn't appear to be so.

[0:56] We thank you that we can rely upon you no matter what's happening in our bodies or in the world around us. Thank you for being in charge. Thank you for making every gracious provision for us through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:10] And we expect to enjoy the benefits of one of the miracles that he performed so many years ago. We thank you for it, for the meal we'll enjoy shortly in Christ's name. Amen.

[1:21] Amen. All right. While you are turning to Luke's Gospel Chapter 4, we are going to continue our content dealing with the miracles of our Lord.

[1:33] And at the outset, it would behoove us all to remember, and I'm looking at Luke Chapter 4, it would behoove us all to remember that the miracles appear to be the more definitive aspect of our Lord's earthly ministry.

[1:57] And there is so very much writing on these that it is just difficult to express. But bottom line is this.

[2:08] The miracles that Christ performed point to, indicate, and verify his claims, not only as the Messiah of Israel, but as the Son of God with power.

[2:22] And what everybody needs to understand, and I think especially Christians, is that this identity of Jesus of Nazareth is an issue that has no middle ground to it.

[2:38] Either he is or he is not who he claimed to be. And absolutely everything is wrapped up in his identity. That is so critical.

[2:50] And the three years that he was here on earth, maybe three and a half, we don't know exactly, but the burning issue then was whether or not Jesus of Nazareth was the one spoken of by Moses and the prophets sent by God.

[3:06] In the Jewish economy of that first century, absolutely everything rose or fell on that premise. And you know what? It still does.

[3:18] It still does. Because if Jesus is not who he claimed to be, you have no choice but to assign to him the greatest philanderer, the greatest con man, the greatest imposter who ever walked the earth, who successfully succeeded in hoodwinking millions of people, some of whom he even convinced to give their life, rather than disavow their connection with him.

[3:46] He is either that or he is who he claimed to be. And if he is who he claimed to be, then our only response is, you get on your knees and on your face and you ascribe to him what Thomas did after the resurrection when he saw him himself expressing my Lord and my God.

[4:09] He's one or the other. He is an imposter or he is the real deal. There's just no two ways about it. There is no middle ground. And the idea of creating your own nonsense, I realize that that's what it is.

[4:22] It's creating your own nonsense. It isn't creating your own reality, although that's what some claim to be. And it just goes to show you guys the slipshod kind of thinking that is going on in today's culture, where people talk about creating their own reality.

[4:39] And I remember reading an article about this, and it just happened to be by an article that was spoken, at least this part of it was spoken by a Jewish atheist, and we've talked about how many Jews have become atheists and the reasons for that and so on.

[4:56] But anyway, he was talking about creating his own reality, and you create your own reality. And if you believe, if you believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and he was crucified, and he rose again the third day from the grave, if you believe that, then that's true for you.

[5:16] But if you happen not to believe that, then that's true for someone else. So you create your own reality, which is just maybe a micro step away from insanity.

[5:34] You can't do that. You can't do it about that. You can't do it about anything, because it is what it is, and no amount of faith or disbelief is going to change what happens to be factual.

[5:46] And the only explanation that people can give for this creating your own reality stuff is that isn't it nice when everybody creates their own reality, and you've got all of these different opinions, and they completely contradict each other, but nobody's wrong.

[6:02] Isn't that wonderful? That's called political correctness. Nobody's wrong. You have your truth, and I have my truth. And they don't agree.

[6:12] In fact, they conflict. But that's okay, because we're both right. And what that is saying is, there is no such thing as objective reality.

[6:27] And that, again, is just complete nonsense. So in connection with this subject of the miracles of our Lord, we're going to look at Luke chapter 4. We probably won't get to the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, but we'll start with verse 30.

[6:44] And I want you to realize that Jesus is still in the Galilee, and this is shortly after he had changed the water and the wine at Cana. And we read in verse 29, this is the unfortunate experience that he had in Nazareth, his hometown, when he claimed to be the fulfillment of what the prophet had spoken.

[7:06] And they rose up, verse 29, they rose up and cast him out of the city. This is very, very early in our Lord's earthly ministry. They led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff, which, of course, would have been fatal.

[7:22] But that would be an impossibility, because it had already been determined the death he would die and when he would die it. And he refers to this a number of times in his earthly ministry when he says something like, mine hour has not yet come.

[7:37] And that simply means that until the time came that he was to be crucified, he was physically indestructible, even though attempts would be made on his life, none would be successful, because it was imperative that he die on that cross at the appointed time.

[7:58] And when he is in the garden praying, his prayer changes and he says, Father, the hour is come.

[8:10] It was for that purpose that he came into the world. So here he is going to begin his ministry, continue it. Actually, he's already established somewhat of a reputation through the water and the wine.

[8:23] And we read that he came down to Capernaum, city of Galilee, and I won't ask you to turn to your map, but you could. And when it says he came down, that is topographical, because this is located, Cana, where he turned the water and the wine, is not far from the coast, the Mediterranean coast.

[8:48] And that is the higher ground. But as you move inland and go down, and you come down, for instance, to where he's talking about here, Capernaum, Bethsaida, etc.

[8:59] That's on the sea, on the coast of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, and that's much lower. So the text says he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on Sabbath days.

[9:16] I want you to pay special attention to the Sabbath, because one almost gets the impression that Jesus is not only going to perform a lot of miracles, but it's hard to escape the idea that he is deliberately performing some of these on the Sabbath.

[9:37] And that's almost like lighting a stick of dynamite, because that's exactly what he was doing, because they were considering the healing, they were considering that as the healing arts, which you would ascribe to a physician, and Jesus would be the equivalent of practicing medicine on the Sabbath, which is a no-no, big time, in accordance with the Jewish interpretation.

[10:05] So we are told that he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, teaching them on Sabbath days, multiple, and they were continually amazed at his teaching, for his message was with authority.

[10:20] And that's a little difficult to explain, because it isn't so obvious in the text. Well, if Jesus was teaching with authority, how were all of the other scribes and rabbis teaching?

[10:32] Well, they were teaching, but not with authority. And by that I mean, Jesus was teaching in such a way that revealed he had an acquaintance in a knowledge of the content from the get-go, a full knowledge of the content.

[10:53] The others, when they taught, they taught what the rabbi said about this, and what the rabbi said about that. And they had rabbis going back hundreds of years that were in the Mishnah and the Gemara.

[11:05] These are some of the holy writings among the Israelites. And they would quote them, and it was always, the teaching always came with, Rabbi so-and-so said this, but Rabbi so-and-so said that.

[11:16] And it would be contradictory, and then there'd be an argument break out among the Jews. And Jesus taught them as if he had written it. He taught them with a knowledge and a confidence that boggled their minds.

[11:33] And they're listening to his teaching. They've already been bedazzled by his miracles. And they're listening to his teaching, and they're saying, where is he getting this? How does he know this?

[11:45] And the first thing that does is it really grabs people's attention. And you know, it's just human nature. When you're listening to a public speaker in the church service or wherever it may be, and the person is speaking on a subject that interests you, and you get the impression that they really, that they do know what they're talking about, the tendency is to shut up and listen.

[12:14] And you're not going to be gabbing with people around you and making small talk and all the rest. You want to hang on what is being said because you have some confidence in the source. That must be the way Jesus came across.

[12:27] Because they're not only going to be amazed at his miracles, they're going to be equally amazed at his teaching. And on another occasion, I remember much later in his ministry, the temple police are going to send a squadron, I don't know how many, probably three or four temple police.

[12:46] These are not Roman soldiers. They've got nothing to do with it. These are temple police. And the high priest sends them to find Jesus and bring him to them.

[12:58] Well, they found him. But they show up empty. They come back and the guys, the priest says, Well, where is he?

[13:10] Why didn't you bring him? And the only answer these guys could give was, no man ever spake like this man. In other words, it was some kind of a major assignment.

[13:26] They just reduced it. You go find Jesus and bring him here. And they found him. And we aren't told what the conversation was that Jesus had with those men. But they were willing to leave Jesus' presence without Jesus and go back to the chief priest.

[13:43] It's almost as if they would rather take the heat from the chief priest than to contend with what Jesus was saying and talking about. No man ever spake like this man. And they were contempt.

[13:54] They held him in contempt and they said, Well, have you two been taken in by him? And it's kind of humorous. You know, God does have a sense of humor and some of these things are downright funny.

[14:04] Mark? Yes. Well, Jesus was a boy. Remember? He went to the temple and they were astonished at his knowledge and so forth. He had that same Christmas thing then. And that started at the tender age of 12 or maybe 13 somewhere.

[14:18] By the way, that was the Bar Mitzvah age also. That was at the time and still is today in the Jewish communities when a young man reaches 12 or 13 years of age he is considered a responsible adult and accountable for his own actions and that's called the Bar Mitzvah which means the son of the law.

[14:39] You are assuming your responsibility for the law and so on. So this teaching was with authority. I can just see people hanging on every word and just captivated by what this man is saying because the things that he is usually talking about are so simple but when they come from him they have a profundity to them that impacts people so that they get it in a way that they never got it before and it's just an amazing thing.

[15:13] Now we read there was a man in the synagogue possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out with a loud voice.

[15:26] This guy wasn't muttering or mumbling or whispering. This is a synagogue service and it must have been something to behold. I have more questions about this than I have answers I need to tell you and that has to do with the possession and I can only say this I believe that there is such a thing as demon possession today but it certainly is not as common as it was during the ministry of our Lord and the only thing I can conclude is that the adversary was kind of pulling out all the stops to oppose and defeat in any and every way he could beginning with the 40 days of temptation the ministry and effect of Jesus and they are going to play a tremendous role once the church is removed in the translation or referred to as the rapture and the tribulation period gets underway and there are numerous places in the book of Revelation

[16:36] I'm thinking in particular chapter 12 that refers to demonic activity afoot in a major way like we have never seen I'm satisfied that it does occur especially in some far reaching lands where missionaries come back and have informed us that they saw some things and witnessed some things for which there was no explanation apart from supernatural nefarious power and you find that in some of the more remote areas of India and Nepal and Tibet and certain places in Africa where it is tied in with some of the local worship and it's it's really it's pretty nasty stuff but here in the United States and by the way there are those who look at all of these situations with demon possession and they say well these people they were so unknowing and so uneducated and ignorant they didn't know any better and what these people were suffering from was mental illness and some of them no doubt were insane and and the normal people didn't know what to call it so they would say well he has a demon he has a devil well make no mistake about it there is severe mental illness and there are all kinds of weird odd behavior that can be engaged in by people who are mentally ill and I'm talking about a physical dysfunction of the brain or a disruption of brain chemistry over which the person has no control and no responsibility and sad to say it is just one of the many effects of the fall that expresses its way itself in all kinds of ways and that's just one more but you may be sure that when the Bible gives the description and the diagnosis as one possessed by a demon and the demon actually speaks it isn't mental illness and when Jesus was 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness with Satan it wasn't imaginary and it wasn't some kind of a lapse into some some sort of mental state it was a real situation and he was confronted with a real person and that is

[19:14] Satan the adversary and one of his names is Apollyon which literally means the destroyer and he is the counterpart of God in that God is the creator and he is a destroyer and God is the truth and he is the lie and the counter applies all the way through and now this demon is going to be speaking and it's commonly referred to as an angastromuthos demon and an angastromuthos demon is a demon that utilizes the speaking powers and the vocal cords of the person he is indwelling and it's called an angastromuthos because the word gastro has to do with our English word gastric we talk about the gastric juices in the stomach and a doctor may be a specialist in what's it called gastroenterology yeah intro gastrology he's a stomach and a gut specialist and this demon is an angastromuthos and he speaks through this man's vocal cords in a guttural language and by the way that's Hebrew is a guttural language and it it comes from down here that's why it's referred to as a guttural language comes from down here as opposed to other language you know we've got different ways of expressing we we use our lips and these are called labials and and see if you can say the word labial without moving your lips you can't do it and and there are gutturals that come from down here the way it is pronounced and and that's expression the way it's sound and then there are nasals and can you say nasal without utilizing your nose in any way you can't and then there are glosses glosses refers to the glossolalia which refers to the tongue can you say tongue without using your tongue you can't all of these are needed and they are part of speech and this comes from a guttural language and it's apparently in the Hebrew language and he says ah cries out with a loud voice what have we note the plural what have we to do with you

[21:50] Jesus of Nazareth he is right at the beginning indicating and acknowledging that there are two different widely representative individuals involved one is Jesus and the other is the demon and what he is saying is we have nothing in common what are you doing here why are you here and he is trying to countermand what Jesus is doing and saying and he says have you come to destroy us now that is interesting when he says Jesus of Nazareth someone said isn't it interesting that a demon gives a more open and correct identification of Jesus of Nazareth than what the leadership of Israel does quite interesting huh now we don't know what all demons know but we do know that they know a lot and we know that they have powers that we cannot imagine sometimes we're at a loss to understand exactly how they work and I've got some information

[23:08] I'd like to share with you from the pen of I forget who wrote it oh well let me read it anyway it'll come to me he says the theory that according to which demon possession has continued through the centuries and present with us today is held by many claiming that by calling on the name of Jesus and the name of martyrs demons could be driven out during the middle ages there were those who held that making the sign of the cross would be of help in expelling them many present day advocates of this theory appealed to the often quoted work by H.W.

[23:49] White entitled Demonism Verified and Analyzed and W.P. Blatty's paperback The Exorcist anybody see this movie well that is probably a gross misrepresentation of what is involved but it gives you an idea of the wildness and the weirdness with which these demons conduct themselves because remember the main objective of anyone that they indwell is to torment and to eventually kill if they can lead them to death or to suicide that's their objective because they are simply following the game plan of their master which is destruction and death he goes on to say a certain newspaper reports a demon expulsion resulting from five hours directions by telephone that superstition plays its role in at least some of these claims that superstition plays its role in at least some of these claims as evident even on the surface besides it is a question whether all those who believe in demon possession as an actual present day fact are scientifically equipped to draw the necessary distinction between certain abnormal mental conditions for example disassociation and the invasion of the human personality by one or more of Satan's underlings and be between demonic influence and demon possession in the

[25:21] Roman Catholic Church before a priest is allowed to proceed with exorcism he has to make a thorough examination to see whether he is dealing with a real case of demon possession and even then he must receive authorization from his bishop before proceeding and by the way this content is from the pen of Dr.

[25:42] William Hendrickson who's written a series of commentaries and they are among my best friends on my shelf and I feel to them a number of times so there's still a great deal that we don't know about demon possession I cannot honestly say that to my knowledge I have never encountered anyone that I even suspected was demon possessed and I do remember years ago as a much younger person when I was hired by Clark County as a welfare worker for the county of Clark state of Ohio and one of our training exercises we had to go to the hospital in Lima Ohio it was called the hospital for the criminally insane and just witnessed some of the things that went on there and boy I'll tell you I can't say that any of it that we saw was actually demon possession although

[26:48] I would not have been in a position to diagnose it anyway or be able to identify it but see some really sad weird inexpressible behavior it's just remarkable Dave I'm sorry Mark I can't help but go in here would not the purpose of the devil be in his deception of all of humanity to find a rattle that is as loud as a rattle can be which would be all of these demonic indicators that you speak of so that we pay attention to that and we don't look at the democrat politicians who are just as possessed as the evil ones have killed more people than any person that is possessed okay okay okay okay now you got that out of your system

[27:56] I would well the only the only one the only contention that I would make to what you said is there is something that is you may find this hard to believe but there is an element that's a lot worse than that and I'm talking about the evils of communism and the untold tens of millions for whom they are responsible in killing and I'm talking about not only Stalin but Mao and Pol Pol and others and fellas this comes back again to what we were talking about Sunday world view world view if you are operating under the premise that there is no God then you're hard pressed to argue with the logic of Stalin who said I think he

[28:57] I think he made the phrase famous he might have been the first one to say it that if you want to make an omelet you've got to crack a few eggs and the communist philosophy of collectivism never regards or thinks of the individual the individual is out all that matters is collectivism all that matters is the state everything serves the state and in order to improve the state and get the state thinking right if you have to eliminate a significant number of people who are out of step with the state and you can't bring them in step eliminate them and you do that for the good of the whole is that the way it was in Egypt well absolutely absolutely and it was for the welfare and the benefit of the whole of Egypt as far as they were concerned and it is very you know fellas

[30:05] I've often made the point that in our fallenness we think and reason with a skewed logic these are perfect examples of it man's thinking has gone astray that's part of the fall and that's the that's the fallenness of humanity that plus the fact that Satan blinds the minds of those who believe somebody's pointed out look man is fallen in his nature that's one strike against him Satan is interested in blinding him and keeping him blind that's two strikes against him fallen humanity has got two strikes against it to start with really and the gospel is the only panacea and that's the only answer we've got but it's the only answer we need if it is propagated and there is some breakdown well let's get on let's get on with this he cries out with a loud voice and he's saying in fact in some translations render it this way we have nothing in common what are you here for have you come to destroy us

[31:16] I know who you are now it isn't recorded here but you'll find it in Matthew 8 29 I think it is let me see where another statement is made that is a little more definitive let's see if I can find it real quick holy one of God my translation yeah there's Jesus is different this is in the Gadarenes the Gadarene the maniac it's in Matthew's account and they cried out they're multiple and they cried out saying what have we to do with you son of God and they admit who he is they identify him have you come here to torment us before the time that is an indication that these demons know they are on borrowed time that they have that there is an end game and they are going to be subjects of it and it is not going to be good because they are going to be incarcerated and in second

[32:18] I'm not going to take time to turn there because if you want to write down the references some of you are taking notes second Peter chapter two and verse four and Jude six second Peter two and verse four and then Jude six it's just verse six there's only one chapter in Jude and these both indicate that there is a place where these demonic spirits will be incarcerated where some of them are there now and they are not free to roam about there are some who are free to roam about I don't understand the distinction or what what accounts for one or the other but there is a certain amount of demonic activity today and that is going to proliferate during the tribulation period because this pit where these are confined now is going to be opened in revelation 12 and these demonic beings are going to cover the earth they are going to be in every venue and they are going to be evil spirits that will wreak havoc and death and disease and deception and it's going to be part of the tribulation content and he says to them

[33:40] I'm in Matthew I need to get back to Luke where we're working from and Jesus rebuked him saying be quiet and come out of him verse 35 and when the demon had thrown him down in their midst he went out of him without doing him any harm and amazement well I guess what else could there be amazement came upon them all and they began discussing with one another saying what is this message for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out reminds me a little bit of what Peter said with the stilling of the storm what manner of man is this who talks to the wind and the waves and quiets them who have we here in this boat and Peter and the others as well are just completely beside themselves they're dumbfounded and this and certain others are going to buttress what we are saying here and it comes down once again to that singular vital question that they ask who is this who really is this and he is going to be described as the son of

[35:07] God and the Jews knew the expression of that they knew what that meant and they took up stones to stone him and Jesus said for what deed do you stone me and they said well we're not stoning you for any good work what good work do you stone we're not stoning you for any good work that you did but we're stoning you for blasphemy because you make yourself to be the son of God and making yourself equal with God you get that equal with God they understood what sonship involved sonship in the Jewish economy means one who is made up of the same essence character nature and quality as the father and this is exactly what Jesus was talking about when he says I and my father are one there's no separating them in essence they are both comprised of the same as is the spirit and

[36:09] I don't want to go there because I can't I don't understand that either all I know is the father and son relationship is not to be confused with the human father son relationship which requires the father comes first and the son is produced as a result not so in the trinity doesn't work that way it is an entirely different modus altogether our problem is we insist on applying our understanding to the trinity and our conclusion is doesn't make sense well fellas I'm here to tell you in case you haven't discovered it there are a whole lot of things about God that do not make sense to us human beings a lot of things he simply lives and functions on an entirely different plane question is can you give him that it has been expressed and I don't know that even this is adequate but trying to explain the nature and character of the omniscient omnipresent omnipotent

[37:31] God to a mere mortal would be more difficult than for you to try to explain yourself to an insect the difference is monumental this is this is an appeal to let God be God are we willing to take a humble position beneath him way way beneath him and just thank him for who and what he is it's just mind boggling well the report about him was getting out into every locality in the surrounding district and goes on to say in Luke 4 that many are going to be healed well of course people are hearing about this and they don't know what to make of it but they hear it from multiple authoritative sources and people are saying things like

[38:38] I'm telling you I was there I saw it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it otherwise but I'm telling you that's exactly what happened and he elbowed the guy next to him isn't that right Joe and Joe said yes sir re it's just like he said we were there and I can't explain it I don't know how he did it but he did it and everybody saw it and nobody disputed it and nobody considered it a trick nobody considered it unreal it was undeniable I'm telling you know you know so and so and so and so yeah you know how he's been crippled hasn't been able to walk for years and years I'm telling you he was walking around with two good legs just as normal as anybody you mean so yes sir re that's what you talk about gathering a crowd you better believe you're going to gather a crowd people with every kind of illness people are going to bring their relatives are going to bring children and we'll see later on this is a beautiful thing where it says people come with all kinds of diseases and the text says and he healed them all

[39:49] I bring you back to our original question who is this who is this and fellas the answer to that question and what you do with it matters more than anything in all your past life or all your future life that's how important it is I wish there was some way to communicate this to the person on the street because there is so much misinformation out there wrong information out there I was so burdened about this this was the basis for Christianity clarified that's all I'm trying to do is clarify Christianity because the nonsense and the error that is attributed to Christianity that is believed by millions of people who've got it all wrong and most of those people have never picked up a

[40:54] Bible in their life but they've heard this and they've heard that and they've heard something else and it causes them to discount the whole thing that's tragic but that's what we're dealing with that's that's the disinformation that's out there and it's it's stunning so report about him was getting out into every locality in the surrounding district and we'll take up in our next session I'm reluctant to delve into it now because I know we won't get through it but I'll be glad to entertain any comments or questions you may have anybody what Dan yeah that's me yeah God, but He rebuked that for saying it.

[41:54] Yeah. That's something that is going to surface time and again, and all I can tell you is I'm working on it at the present. I've been working on it for the last 40 years.

[42:07] And that is there are times there are times in Jesus' healing ministry in particular, when He will tell the recipient, go and tell others what great things the Lord has done for you. And then there are others when He says you keep quiet about this.

[42:26] Don't tell anybody. And then when He heals the lepers, He doesn't tell them to go and tell them who did this for you. He says you go.

[42:43] This cleansed lepers, He says go and show yourself to the priest. Because this is what Leviticus required when someone came down with leprosy.

[42:55] Actually, there was leprosy, which was real and deadly, for which there was no cure. But then there were other numerous ailments and skin deficiencies and problems and rashes and things like that.

[43:14] And whenever somebody broke out with some kind of a rash or unexplained, first thing everybody thought of was leprosy. And that means you've got to isolate them. And they would go to the priest and the priest would perform a certain diagnostic routine to determine whether it was actually leprosy or not.

[43:34] More often than not, it wasn't. And the person would be free to circulate with others because it would be just a skin rash or something that could be treated or something that would go away. But if it was leprosy, the priest had the ability to identify that and require that the person be isolated from everybody else.

[43:53] And the man that Jesus is talking about, he says, you go and show yourself to the priest because that was a standard procedure and let him examine. Because it had been the priest earlier who had already diagnosed him as a leper.

[44:10] And he was living with that diagnosis. And now Jesus is saying, you go back and find the priest and have him look at you again. And the idea that I get from it is the priest is going to look at it and this man is going to have the flesh of a child clean and leprosy free.

[44:32] And he's going to look at that and say, you know, I could have sworn that was leprosy when I diagnosed that. I was sure that was leprosy. And then, of course, he's going to say, what happened?

[44:44] How did you get rid of that? What did you use? Some special, well, maybe he told him that, you know, well, it was the man called Jesus. So his reputation is going to precede him. And you're going to run into this time and again when he's going to tell others, hush up about it, don't tell anybody.

[45:00] And then there's going to be times when, and there's one interpretation that I just don't buy at all. Not at all. Because I consider it duplicitous on the part of our Lord.

[45:13] And some commentators say that, that Jesus told certain ones not to tell anyone because he knew that was the best way to get them to tell everyone.

[45:26] Knowing human nature, he said, now don't you breathe a word of this to anybody knowing full well that they're going to go out and blab it to everyone. But that, like I said, that assigns an unsaverry kind of attitude to our Lord.

[45:40] He just doesn't deal in that kind of nonsense. What, Jim? This book that you gave is shows of miracles that happen very much the same way. Doctors would predict or would diagnose a leaky valve or a hole in the heart.

[45:54] Yeah. And then the next day, the next two, they felt good, they were well and everything and they'd go to the doctor and the doctor would swear that he saw it differently than that. They had to even sign papers so they wouldn't get sued for malpractice that they actually did and there was two or three of us that looked at the lab reports and we saw it.

[46:15] But there was nothing there. It was all healed. And they're scratching their head and saying, I don't know what happened. I guess, I don't know. It must be some kind of a miracle because I can't explain it medically.

[46:25] Yeah. And that's happened a number of times. And you know what, I'll tell you what, I don't want to take anything away from God's ability to heal because we all know God can do anything he wants to, anytime he wants to.

[46:40] But we need to recognize that miraculous healing today is not SOP.

[46:50] It is not standard operating procedure. And that means it is out of the norm. But when Jesus was here, it was SOP.

[47:01] And it was during the time of the apostles and their miracles. Why? Why? And here's the reason. Kingdom, kingdom, kingdom.

[47:12] That was the thing that was looming so large. And what would characterize the kingdom and demonstrate the kingdom? The miraculous. Because actually, all the miracles we're doing, all that a miracle of healing is doing is restoring the individual to normal, to the way it's supposed to be.

[47:34] And fellas, that's the message of the kingdom. That's what's going to happen when the kingdom comes. Things are going to return to a normalcy that they have not had since the fall.

[47:44] And that makes all the difference in the world. So, hey, thanks for being here this morning.