Embark on an enlightening journey as we explore the true essence of belief and miracles as taught by Jesus. In this episode, delve into the story of the man with the withered hand and the Pharisees’ reaction to his healing. Learn how signs and wonders were not the ultimate test of faith and how the teachings of Jesus unravel the mysteries behind genuine belief.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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Would it be easier for you to believe in God if he showed you a sign? Maybe he did some miracle for you. What would you like for him to do? Cause you to speak in tongues, maybe? Or maybe have you, when you’re in church sometime, just keel over backwards and lie immobile on the ground, unable to move for three hours with your hands sticking straight up in the air. Would that help you believe in God? Or maybe if God would do something more practical, that he would heal you of some sickness or disability or someone you love and care a great deal about, if you were able to go to them and pray for them and have them just get up and suddenly be healed, would that make it easier or would that help you believe in God? You know, I would have thought so, but when I go back and I read the Bible, there’s, well, there was a day when Jesus was in a synagogue, and he was teaching, and there was a man there that had a withered hand, all dried up like a little stick. It was drawn in against him, and I guess he couldn’t extend it. And they asked Jesus on this occasion, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? They wanted to accuse him. Now, how on earth do you get to the place to where you believe that it’s okay to actually engage in a supernatural miracle healing a man six days a week and you can’t do it on the seventh day? Well, I’m sorry, that’s beyond me, but that’s what they believed. And Jesus said, well, what man is there among you that if he has one sheep, all this guy doesn’t have two sheep, he’s only got one, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, tell me, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out? Well, I’m sure he would reach down and grab a couple of handfuls of wool and pull that sheep out of there. Well, how much better then is a man than a sheep? Wherefore, Jesus said, it’s lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. And then he said to the man standing there with his withered hand, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out and it was restored whole, just like his other hand. Now, If you’re standing there and you actually saw him extend his hand and saw it restored whole as he came out with it like the other one, I would say that’s fairly impressive, wouldn’t you? I’ve seen a withered hand like that, and I can’t think of many miracles a man might do that would impress me more, because you can’t fake this. It’s no mistakes. You get a guy who’s dying of cancer, and healing him, I might say, well, maybe the doctors were wrong, but I could see that hand, and he stuck it out. There’s no question whatsoever. Were the Pharisees impressed? Did this miracle cause them to believe and to say, oh, surely this is the Son of God. God sent this man. Well, the next verse, this is Matthew 12, verse 14, says this, Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. So, I cannot conclude from this that showing somebody a miracle, healing somebody, doing something fancy, is going to cause somebody to believe or even make it easier for them to believe. Now, just a very few verses later, in the same 12th chapter of Matthew, in verse 38, certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we want to see a sign from you. Now, wait a minute. Where were these people when he healed this man with a withered arm? Where were they when he healed a man born blind? Where were they when he healed the cripples? Because Jesus, by this time, had been healing people in their dozens, perhaps in their hundreds. Where were they? And they say, we want a sign. And he answered and said, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And there’s no sign going to be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now, mind you, they were asking for a sign from a man who had been healing sick people in droves. And it does make you wonder just a little bit, doesn’t it, where in the world their heads were. You know, we spend too much time standing around waiting for God to show us a sign. And I would say that if that generation back there was an evil and adulterous generation, that descriptor would fit us just about as well as them. And so here we are in the middle of this generation. We say, yeah, if God would just show me a sign, if he’d just do a miracle, call down fire from heaven, heal some sick person, that would make it a whole lot easier for me to believe. Well, I think we spend too much time waiting around for God to show us a sign and not enough time getting on with the things he has already shown us in the Bible. Jesus made this point in one of his really well-known parables. Actually, I don’t know if I’d call this a parable or an allegory. An allegory is a representation of spiritual, moral, or other abstract meanings through the actions of fictional characters that serve as symbols. For example, when you read a book like Pilgrim’s Progress, you’ll find characteristics like greed and avarice. that you put them into a man who has a name that’s sort of like greed or selfishness. The same thing is true of vanity and pride and ego. Each one of these is given a human being or a character in the play to play out, and they represent these. And this is how stories are often told. Pilgrim’s Progress by Bunyan and Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis are two good examples of this genre. Now, Jesus, when he comes along and speaks of Lazarus and the rich man, is actually using an allegory to make a point. Now, you can’t use allegories to make points about things the allegory isn’t teaching. And this one is commonly used as an argument about heaven and hell, but that misses the point entirely because the allegory is not about heaven and hell. So put aside your doctrinal arguments for a moment and ask, what in the world is Jesus driving at in this allegory? It’s in Luke 16 and begins in verse 19. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores. And he just desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. He’s drawing a picture here so you can understand what’s going on, the sumptuousness of the rich and the really miserable situation of the poor man. It came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and he was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment and saw Abraham a long way off. and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, saying, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son. Don’t you remember how you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus’ evil things? But now he is comforted and you’re tormented. Besides, there’s a great gulf between us, so that they who would pass from here to you cannot, and neither can they pass to us that would come from here. I’m sorry. You’re there, we’re here, and that’s all there is to it. And the rich man said, I pray you, therefore, father, that you would send Lazarus to my father’s house. For I have five brothers that he may testify unto them, lest they also come to this place of torment. That’s logical. Let’s send Lazarus. I want to warn my brothers. I don’t want them down here. And Abraham said, they don’t need that. He said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them read Moses. Let them read the prophets. Let’s hear them. Actually, he said hear them, because in most cases it would have been read to them. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, oh, they would repent then. Now why in the world would they think that? I certainly would be impressed if someone appeared to me from the dead. But listen to what Abraham responds. He said to them, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Now think about that, because that’s what this parable is about, this allegory. It’s about the fact that if you won’t believe Moses and the prophets, all the signs in the world aren’t going to help you. The reason for this is not that hard to find. Supernatural manifestations can deceive the law and the prophets. The written word of God, that will never deceive anyone, and it won’t change next week. It will still say the same thing then that it does now. Those who seek the manifestations of the Spirit in the spirit world are wide open to deception. Those who stick to the Bible have a firm and permanent line of defense. But all this raises an interesting question. If Jesus was not giving a sign with all of his miracles, what in the world was he doing? I’ll talk about that when I come back after this message.
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Will God heal the sick today? Really? We know He can heal the soul, but what about the body? And when you have prayed and have not been healed, is it because you have no faith? Write for a free copy of a presentation called Does God Heal Today? Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44.
SPEAKER 03 :
If Jesus wasn’t giving people a sign when he healed all these people and did these miracles, well, what was he doing? Healing is a particularly interesting case in point because when you think about it, using sick people as a sign to prove something to someone else is, well, isn’t it a little bit callous or maybe manipulative? And you have a big question to answer. Why didn’t Jesus heal everyone? Because he didn’t, you know. And you have to kind of find a way of understanding why did he heal this guy and not that guy? Why did he heal in this area and not heal over there? Because Jesus was kind of selective with his healing. Now, there’s a point of view that assumes that Jesus used healing as a kind of advertising. In other words, he would heal a crippled man, and it excited the crowds, and everybody came running around to see him. When we got the crowd together, well, then he could preach to them. So we use healing as a hook to bring the crowds in so that we can give them the message, and it’s the message that’s really important. The healing, well, we just use that. And once again, you are left with an idea that makes Jesus a manipulator and a user, and that’s not what he was. Now, there’s a clue as to why Jesus healed in one of his encounters. It may be, from this perspective, one of the most important of the lot. The encounter is found in the second chapter of Mark. He entered into Capernaum after some days, and word was passed all over the town that he was in the house. And straightway, all kinds of people were gathered together, insomuch that they couldn’t even get in the door. And he preached the word to them, sitting right there in the house. And there came four men, and they were carrying with them one guy who was sick of the palsy. He could not even get up. He had to be carried. And they couldn’t get close. I mean, there were people around the door. There were people standing around the place. There were people queued up, I guess, trying to get in. And so they looked around and thought, well, where there’s a will, there’s a way. They got up on the roof and started taking the roof off. And when they’d broken it up, you can imagine Jesus and everyone sitting down below and the dust starting to fall on their heads from above and looking up to say, what’s going on here? And after a moment, they had a big wide area up there, and they just lowered this poor guy right down in the middle of the crowd, lying there on his pallet. And when Jesus saw their faith, I mean, he was really apparently moved by what they had done. And he said to the sick of the palsy, son, your sins are forgiven you. Now, I don’t know if that’s what the guys who put him down the roof were looking for or not. They wanted him to be healed. And Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven you. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts saying, now, wait a minute. This is blasphemous. Nobody can forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned that way, he said, why are you thinking the way you’re thinking? Which is easier to say to the sick of palsy, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, rise, take up your bed, and walk? Doesn’t make any difference, does it? Except for one thing. So that you will know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. I want you to understand that. And then he said to the man who was lying on the pallet, the sick of palsy, he said, Get up. Take your bed. Go home. And immediately he arose and took up his bed and walked out in front of all of them. And they all were amazed and glorified God and saying, We never saw it on this fashion. And Jesus went forth again by the seas. Forgiving sins and healing the sick was what Jesus was all about. Jesus was not just a great teacher. He was a Savior. It was not merely a matter of his message, important as that was. His healing was a very important part of the message. For he was come to seek and to save that which was lost. Those who were whole, he said, need no physician. It’s those who are sick who need a physician. And that’s the people I have come to. There’s a great song in My Fair Lady where Eliza Doolittle becomes so thoroughly fed up with words. I mean, she’s being taught for months, weeks, I guess, at a time how to speak English correctly. And finally, she’s got a suitor that comes along telling her how much he loves her, and she says, don’t talk of love lasting through time. Make me no undying vows. Show me now. Jesus was not just words. He was more than doctrine. He was a Savior. And forgiving sins and rescuing sinners was what his ministry was about. Jesus healed because he was compassionate. He healed because he had the power. The only problem he faced was unbelief. And that’s what we’re talking about today. It’s unbelief. It’s what would it take for you to believe God. One wonders sometimes about the healers that are out in the public today, the so-called deliverance ministries and so forth. One of those deliverance ministries got caught up in a fraud several years ago. His meetings were really quite a performance. They would have done credit to a mind reader. He would point out people in the audience and tell them what was wrong with them and pray for them right on the spot. The whole idea was, you know, if I could tell you what’s wrong with you, I ought to be able to heal you, shouldn’t I? It was a thing to see. If you can imagine yourself seated about three rows back in one of these meetings. Imagine you’re a diabetic and you’re wearing a red dress and you’ve been to see the doctor and there’s some danger you’re going to lose your leg because of lack of circulation. Well, after an emotional song service and a lot of speaking in tongues and excitement, the evangelist looks straight at you, points at you, and says, The Holy Spirit has shown me that you, the lady in the red dress, yes, you, you have been suffering from diabetes for ten years. You may have to have your leg amputated. Come up here and be healed. It would be electrifying to have someone identify you that way and tell you something about yourself that he had no way of knowing. Now, when he did this, the television cameras would be right on the woman and register her shock about him knowing this. And by the time he’d been through several people the same way, the audience, well, it’s really on fire, and all of it’s just rolling. But it was all a fraud. You really ought to, if you’ve been watching it on television, have fallen to that, because you might have wondered, well, how did the television operator know to have the camera on that woman when he pointed at her? Well, I suppose you could assume the Holy Spirit led the camera over there. But what really happened was his wife and his helpers had worked the crowd on the way in and had gathered information, filled out little sheets and cards on people. And his wife was seated in a room or a trailer outside, sending him all that information by radio to an earpiece in his ear. She was telling him who was sick of what, what they looked like, how to identify them, and even, I think in some cases, what their names were. And he was using that to work his audience. Now, you may not know this, but faith healers have for a long time used shills. Shills are people who sometimes were planted in poker games to work for the house and keep the game rolling and help the house clean you out of your money. In religious terminology, they’d be people planted in the audience who pretend to be sick and who pretend to be healed. Now, why on earth would anybody ever do a thing like this? If you’re cynical, you’ve probably already answered. They do it for the money. And at a certain level, I’m sure you are right. But what do they tell themselves about the reason why they do it? What do they tell their workers, the people who are around them in the tent, and the people who help them day in and day out why they do it? Well, they do it so people can, to use their terminology, release their faith. You know, it’s hard to believe that you’re going to be healed. It’s hard to believe in miracles. It’s hard to actually believe that something’s really going to happen here inside this tent tonight. And because people doubt, because they don’t have the faith, that sometimes we need to help them release their faith. And if they can see one miracle or two miracles or three miracles, it will make it easier for them to believe, and then they will be more likely themselves to be healed. So you see, if you don’t believe, you can’t have a miracle. So we have to break through the unbelief. And so we fake a few miracles, which gives people the faith so that they can really be healed. I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t occur to them that they are trying to generate faith by means of a lie. Sorry, that won’t work. There is a difference between faith and credulity. In the end, the gullible are losers, and people of faith are the winners. But that brings me back to my earlier question. Would it be easier for you to believe God if he showed you a sign or a miracle? Intuitively, you would think it would. But from the Bible, you get the plain message that it would not. Why not? Why the difference? Well, I don’t have the entire answer, but I have an answer anyway. And we’ll talk about that when I come back.
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For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, Try the Spirits, number 3. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Back to our question. Would it be easier for you to believe God if he showed you a sign or a miracle? Well, like I said, intuitively, you would think it would. But in fact, it really doesn’t work out that way. And I’d like to know the difference, wouldn’t you? Maybe we can think it through together. The problem is that there are two kinds of power in the spirit world, either of which is quite capable of giving you a sign. There’s a remarkable passage in Deuteronomy that underlines what I’m saying. It’s in Deuteronomy, the 13th chapter, and in verse 1. Israel is in the wilderness. They’re on their way to the promised land. And Moses speaks to them the word of God, saying this. If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass. Now, mind you here, we’re not talking about some fool who comes along with a sign on saying flee from the wrath to come and gives you a date and says God’s coming back next Thursday. Next Thursday comes, next Thursday goes, nothing happens. We’re not talking about that guy. We’re talking about a prophet or a dreamer of dreams who gives you a sign or a wonder, and it comes to pass. If the sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spoke to you, saying, Let’s go after other gods whom you have not known, and let us serve them. Now note this well. We’re not talking about some smooth-talking evangelist who can persuade people by his personal charisma. We’re talking about someone who can actually deliver the goods, He can give you a real sign, a real sign that comes to pass. But he suggests that because we have seen this miracle, he has divine authority, and we should follow him no matter what, even if it means worshiping other gods, because the truth is that he’s got the power, and we should follow the power. The response, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is proving you and testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Now that’s fascinating. It says that God would allow that miracle to take place as a test to see if you really loved him or not. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and serve him and cleave to him. And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God. Now, we aren’t authorized as Christians to kill anyone. And that part of it, we can’t deal with that. But the message is still clear. Miracles and signs are not enough. This thing about God proving us ought to make us think. How does that work? How does God prove us? Well, by determining whether we will keep His commandments and obey His voice or whether we’ll go chasing off after whoever did the latest miracle. Now, seeing a sign or miracle will not help your faith. Actually, it may increase your gullibility. It may make you vulnerable to deception. Okay, so what will help your faith? How can you recognize the power of the Spirit of God as against earthly or even devilish powers? Now, let me draw you a little analogy. If you’re called for jury duty, they’re going to explain to you that you are there to determine the facts of the case. And everything having to do with the facts of the case is going to be presented to you by the testimony of witnesses. And you’re going to hear witnesses who will give you testimony that will be diametrically opposed to the testimony of other witnesses. And as a member of the jury, you’re going to have to decide who you believe and who you don’t believe. And you believe them on the basis of any signs. You believe them on the basis of the evidence and whether or not they’re believable witnesses. It’s as simple as that. In the Bible, you are presented with a set of witnesses. You have to read the statements of these witnesses, and you have to decide if you believe them or not. If you don’t believe the witnesses, there is no point in showing you a sign. Because the truth is, if you don’t believe the witnesses, and you see a sign, and you follow that, well, then you’ll see another sign, and you’ll follow that, and a sign after that, and you’ll follow that one. You’ll just follow the signs all over the place, and you’ll never know where you are. On the other hand, if you do believe the witnesses, you don’t need a sign. You see, God wants the basis of your faith to be in the fact of your belief in Him through the witnesses He has given you. If you can’t get it there, it doesn’t amount to anything. If you believe on the basis of miracles and signs, you can be deceived on the basis of miracles and signs. There was a day when Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, and His disciples came to Him and said, Tell us, what’s going to be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world? And He said… Take heed that no man deceive you. Many will come in my name and deceive you. For many shall say, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. He says many false prophets later in verse 11 will rise and deceive many. Now how can they do this? He said, Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, don’t believe it. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were impossible, they should deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Do you see what I’m trying to tell you? That relying on miracles and signs can lead you straight down the garden path. It can get you into a lot of trouble. Well, what do you do then? The answer is really deceptively simple. What you do is you read the Bible, and you keep on reading the Bible, and you pray, and you talk to God. For when your heart and mind are educated in the Word of God,
SPEAKER 02 :
You don’t need a sign to believe. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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