In this Bob Enyart Live episode, we explore the historical context of miraculous healings as recorded in both the Old and New Testaments. Our discussion raises questions about the current absence of such miracles and the importance of confession for personal health and spiritual growth. We also examine King David’s heartfelt reflections in the Psalms on the burden of concealed sin and his path to genuine healing through confession.
Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Bob Enyart Live. Today we are getting into an Agape Kingdom Fellowship sermon series that Will gave at Agape Kingdom Fellowship on the truth, specifically what Jesus said, the truth will set you free. That is way more applicable than we perhaps realize. That’s not just talking about in a courtroom, you know, speak the truth and that will set you free. It’s not just a salvific. The truth will set you free. Of course, both of those are true. However, that truth goes so, so much deeper. The truth will set you free in so many different ways that you have never before considered. With that said, let’s jump right in. This is part three.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome AKF. We have been taking a deep dive and we’ve been looking at the words that Jesus uttered in John 8 32. The truth will set you free. And we also started to look at scripture that talks about sin and the effects that sin have on our lives. Last message, we looked at James 5.16, which instructs us to confess our sins to one another that we may be healed. And then we also discussed how church has become the least safe place to talk about our sin. Church, sadly, has become a place where we intentionally hide the reality of what is going on in our lives, in our families. We come to church on Sunday, we put on our Sunday best, making everyone think everything is fine, when in reality, we are struggling. We are hurting. We’re lost. We’re lost. We’re confused and we’re in need. This is the most important. We’re in need of the community that church is supposed to be. And I mentioned the church has played a massive role in all of this. keeping the sins of leaders in the congregation under wraps, sweeping things under the rug, making excuses for sin, and all of that creates an environment where it’s only expected for the congregation to be quiet in dealing with sin in their lives. And I also think that Christians in mass are not following what the Bible teaches concerning sin, concerning confessing our sin, and also, as we will see today, not exposing the sins of others who are unwilling to confess their own sins. So today I want to cover a few more passages in Scripture that touch on these issues. We’re going to look at more Scripture that implies sin actually does affect our physical health. We’re going to look at passages where we are told to confess our sin and to bring it to the light. And also we’re going to look at where we are told to expose the sins of others, which is diametrically opposed to concealing sin. Now before we do this, I need to mention something which can be a stumbling block. And this can be a stumbling block to both Christians and even unbelievers. And that’s this. The Bible is full, literally full, of historical events which simply do not happen today. They do not happen today. Whether it’s the global flood, whether it’s the ten plagues, the sun standing still, or even just all of the miraculous healings that we see throughout the Bible, these things don’t happen today. They don’t. Now, I believe there’s a really good reason for this, and that’s something we’re going to have to discuss in a future sermon. But since these things don’t happen today, Christians often struggle to why that is the case and they struggle with what to make of it what do I make of this that what I read in the Bible I don’t see and so what happens is you get some Christians and they try to argue that the things in the Bible like the miraculous healings that those still do happen today and And usually you’ll hear, well, we don’t see them because they’re happening in other countries. But it is happening today, we just don’t see it. Or they argue that certain people’s experiences, which are very dissimilar to what we see in the Bible in regards to biblical healing, are in fact today’s version of of biblical healing. That doesn’t make sense to me. Now, personally, I am not prepared at all to say that God does not heal anyone miraculously today. No way am I going to say that. I don’t think I could ever come to a point in my life where I have the ability to examine every single case out there and feel comfortable after doing that to rule God out every single time. But I can say this. When we look at examples in the Old Testament, such as Numbers 21, We read this. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. Notice it says everyone. Everyone who looks at it shall live. We just don’t have examples today where everyone, where something works for everyone. We don’t. This example here in Numbers 21, this is a miraculous healing that God offered His people that He no longer offers to us. That’s what this is. And again, You’ve got to trust me on this. There is a really good reason for this, which we will have to discuss in the future as it’s off topic. And by the way, in case you’re thinking this, this is not a New Testament-Old Testament dichotomy either. Please don’t think that that’s what my argument will be. It’s not. We see very similar miraculous things as we see in the Old Testament. We see those in the New Testament as well. In Matthew 4… We read this, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all. sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. Notice, in one small geographic area, the Galilee, in that one small area, all kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases were being healed. Even demon possession, epileptics, paralytics, that’s who was being healed. We don’t see this kind of mass healing today in a small area, such as a city or a county, where all kinds of ailments are being healed at the same time. We don’t see that. And again, in case you think this is my argument, it’s not just Jesus that we see these mass healings with in the New Testament. It’s not just Jesus. Matthew 10 verse 1 says this, And when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. The 12 apostles were given power to heal and to cast out demons as well. And if you’re thinking that this only happened while Jesus was on earth, that’s not the case either. When we get to the book of Acts, and you’ll remember that Jesus ascended back to heaven at the very beginning of the book of Acts, chapter 1. And as we read about those who followed Jesus after Jesus ascended, we see that these healing powers continued even after he left the earth. For example, in Acts chapter 5, we see this, starting in verse 14. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, and So that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Notice these key words in these passages we’ve looked at just now. Numbers 21 said, “…everyone.” Matthew 4 said all sick people. Matthew 10 said all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. And then here in Acts 5 it says they were all healed. Isn’t this pretty extraordinary? This example here in Acts 5. This is extraordinary. They brought people out in droves. And they went so far as to put their beds and their couches out on the streets with the hopes that maybe just the shadow of Peter would fall upon them. This type of healing is simply not happening today. So I just want to make sure that I’m not being misunderstood here. And I especially want to be sure that I’m not going to say something and that I haven’t said something that is going to disappoint you. God has changed how He interacts with mankind throughout history. And so we need to keep that in mind when we read in the Bible. We actually have to keep that in mind if we read anywhere in the Bible. Old Testament, Gospels, Acts, even the Epistles. And so, when we discuss, and when I talk about James 5.16, saying that if we confess our trespasses, we will be healed, I am not saying that that is going to be a miraculous, divine intervention, just like we’ve seen so many times throughout the Bible. This is not going to happen instantaneously. Like the men we read about who had never walked, getting their legs back. Or men who had never seen in their entire life getting their sight back. But these principles, they still hold true today, just in a different way. Consider this. Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 7, verse 7. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. This is another every one verse. And this does not happen exactly like this anymore. It just doesn’t. But the principle, the principle still holds true. We should still ask. We should still seek. And we should still knock. And sometimes… we will receive sometimes we will find and sometimes doors will be opened and what I’ve come to believe only recently in my life meaning the last few years is that sin absolutely affects our physical health and if we confess our sins if we bring our sin to the light and deal with our sin, that will allow our bodies to fully heal, to physically heal. Again, not immediately, not miraculously, but I no longer have any doubt that our undealt-with sin affects our physical health And that dealing with sin is a key component if we are looking for total and complete healing. So now I want to look at a few more passages in the Bible that talk about sin, that talk about sin’s connection to our physical health, and finally, the need to expose our sin instead of concealing it. If we go all the way back to the Ten Commandments, if we go back to the Ten Commandments, there’s something very interesting that’s in the Ten Commandments that is very easy to miss. Open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, and the fifth commandment of the Ten Commandments contains a promise. Verse 12 of Exodus 20 says this, Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Isn’t that interesting? Notice it says that if you honor your father and mother, your days may be long. Paul actually draws our attention to this promise in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 6. Starting with verse 1, we read this. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth. So Paul here is reminding children, I hope you’re all hearing this in the front, that if you obey your parents, you will live long on the earth. But what does this exactly mean? My whole life, I’ve always thought that this meant if you obey your parents, then you won’t get into trouble. And if you stay out of trouble, you won’t end up doing something that causes you to die prematurely. That’s just kind of what I’ve always thought this meant. And that could be. That could be all this means. But in light of the idea that sin actually affects our physical health, I actually now think this has a deeper meaning. I believe it has an additional meaning. Getting involved in sin, especially serious sin, at a young age, that’s going to wreak havoc on your life. And since it starts at such a young age, it’s going to have time, more time, to grow and more time to affect you, to affect all of us physically. So possibly, this promise that we get with the fifth commandment actually has a deeper meaning, a warning, if you will, To avoid the physical effects of sin in your life and prolong that as long as you possibly can. And this makes sense, right? Who wants to be diagnosed with a disease, a serious disease, early on in life? You don’t, right? Because that’s something you’re just going to have to deal with and battle and fight against for the rest of your life. If you could choose, you’d rather be diagnosed, if you had to, with a serious disease much later on in life, right? Moving on, David… David is such a serious character in the Bible, he has things to say on the topic. And by the way, isn’t David just an incredible human being? I’m blown away. Now, obviously, he was still a sinner, so I’m not downplaying that. And he was actually a wicked sinner. When I think about the sins he committed, they’re hard to fathom. But he was also just a very neat individual. The more I read David, the more I’m fascinated about who he was as a person. So let’s open up our Bibles to the center, to the book of Psalms. And let’s look at Psalm 32. In this Psalm, David is talking about the weight of his sin. The toll that keeping silent on sin had on him. Let’s start in verse 1. A Psalm of David, a contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. The deceit that he’s talking about here is the man who has not made his sin known. That is what he’s talking about. The deceit here is concealing sin and making those around you not believe that anything is wrong. Making those around you not believe you have committed this sin. And then David tells us what happened to him when he kept silent on his sin. Verse 3. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer, Selah. My bones grew old. My vitality was like a drought. When David kept silent about his sin, it affected him physically. He felt it. through his groaning, his bones grew old. So what did David do about this? Well, he acknowledged his sin. He confessed his sin, first and foremost, to God. Verse 5. I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden, I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Forgiveness from God purifies the soul, and that’s the most important. But it also feels incredible to have this weight lifted off of us here on this earth as well. David talks about the weight of his sin on him in Psalm 38 as well. Let’s start with verse 4. We read this. For my iniquities have gone over my head like a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me. My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. A heavy burden. Too heavy for me. I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning. These are the effects that sin has on our lives. And guess what? They’re not just going to go away. That doesn’t happen. This is why people run. This is why people medicate. This is why people distract themselves. The effects of sin either have to be dealt with Or you have to choose, or you have to spend the rest of your life trying to mask the effects that sin has on you. Or escape the effects. Or run away from the effects, only to have them right back there as soon as you stop to catch your breath. This is tiring. So what did David conclude? We read in verse 18, he decided the very best plan of action was to declare his sin. Verse 18, for I will declare my iniquity. I will be in anguish over my sin. What does this mean? Declaring your sin is not easy either. it will be painful as well. Declaring your sin, that will hurt others. Undoubtedly, that will hurt other people. But guess what? The anguish he’s referring to here, that is temporary. That is temporary. Once this is done, you can start to be real with people. No more having to be fake. you can begin to actually heal from the inside out. No more running, no more medicating. You can then begin to work through the hurt that you’ve caused other people. Your relationships will actually grow stronger through this. David learned that the pain and hurt that comes from declaring one’s sin is far better Then the heavy burden, which must be tended to, day in and day out for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stop the tape. Stop the tape. Hey, we are out of time. If you want the rest of this sermon, you can get this sermon and all of Will Duffy’s sermons and all of my sermons, Dominic Enyart, and all of Bob Enyart’s sermons by going to enyart.shop. That’s E-N-Y-A-R-T dot S-H-O-P. Click on these sermons. You do not want to miss it. Hey, may God bless you guys.
In this Bob Enyart Live episode, we explore the historical context of miraculous healings as recorded in both the Old and New Testaments. Our discussion raises questions about the current absence of such miracles and the importance of confession for personal health and spiritual growth. We also examine King David’s heartfelt reflections in the Psalms on the burden of concealed sin and his path to genuine healing through confession.
