I Am the Lord That Healeth Thee — Carter Conlon

Started last week with the word for 2009, and the word for 2009 was go forward. And for those who didn't hear that, I would encourage you perhaps, if this is your home church, to get a copy of that so you understand exactly where it is that we're going.

The Lord Who Heals in the Wilderness

Today I'd like you to turn to Exodus chapter 15, please, in the Old Testament. Message title is, I am the Lord that healeth thee. Thank you, Father. God, I praise you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

I thank you that you will overshadow the frailty of this vessel. And God, you will give me the ability to convey your heart to your people in this church at this hour. I thank you, Lord, that the desires of your heart will be satisfied.

I thank you, God, that you will quicken your word, give me the ability to say it simply, and that it may be understood by every hearer. Father, I thank you, God, that you have a word for your people in these days.

We give you praise and glory for it. In Jesus' name. Exodus chapter 15, beginning at verse 21. Now remember, this is just after they had come through the Red Sea. And Miriam answered them, sing ye to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness ashore. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

And when they came to Marah, that's verse 23 of Exodus 15, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.

And he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians.

For I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters. Now beginning in verse 21, after the children of Israel had come through a place of impossibility, and seemingly passed through death itself into life, this is where the song of Miriam, she said, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and the rider, he's thrown into the sea.

From Deliverance to the Christian Journey

Do you remember that first love song, when you came to Christ, and you first realized, and I first realized, that my sins are washed away, not by any work of my own goodness, but because of God's mercy.

When he poured his wrath out on his own son in Calvary, I had entered into everlasting life. I had passed through an impossible place, where no amount of human effort could ever take me, and I had come in, and you had come into the life of God.

And you came into a sanctuary like this, and you began to sing these incredible songs of Zion, of victory and deliverance. And you wonder in your heart, can it get any better than this? Can you imagine now, that after having seen the waters divided on both sides, going through this place, looking at all of their enemies drowned by the hand of God in the sea behind them, they begin to worship God, they begin to sing, and it just looked like this never ending glory is ahead of them.

Well it is, but there's a journey involved in it. And only three days later, they find themselves in a wilderness place. It's the new Christian, who starts to walk out. I remember when I got saved, I thought everybody's going to be so excited about what I had found.

Three days later, I found out they're not as excited about what I had found as I was. I thought my family would be happy, they weren't very happy at all. I thought my friends at work would be happy. They weren't very happy.

It comes to a point where you're looking around wondering if anybody but yourself is actually happy about what's happened to you. First time in your life you feel like telling the truth, and you don't feel like beating people up when they get in your way.

Everything around you has changed, and you've got this incredible song, but then you come into this place and begin to realize that there's a journey between earth and heaven. There's a pathway that you and I have to walk, and for some people it's a wilderness.

Remember that the call of God was to come out of Egypt and to go and sacrifice to God in the wilderness. A lot of people miss that part of the story. Just focus as it is on coming out of Egypt, going to the Red Sea, and worshiping forever.

Not realizing that the worship is in a wilderness. And I know that many of you here today, you're living in that wilderness right now. And it was to the point where they didn't know what to drink, and they came to Moses and said, look, there's nothing here that seems to satisfy.

I thought this was supposed to be all happiness and cheesecake, and it was going to be just incredibly wonderful, this whole journey. And some people do come to Christ under that kind of a message, only to face reality very shortly after the moment they've had their sins washed away.

The Cross Makes Bitter Places Sweet

And the Lord showed Moses a tree, and when that tree was thrown into the water, these bitter places, these difficult scriptures, these things that are hard for the natural mind to understand, let alone do, were made sweet.

And that tree is a type of the cross of Jesus Christ. It's a type of when you and I come to the understanding that, God, I've been called to be an extension of your goodness to this world that you came and gave your life for.

You did it as one man in one place. But remember Jesus said, there's going to be a season of greater works. And I wasn't talking about more astounding miracles. What more can you do but raise the dead and stop the wind and the sea?

No, he was talking about the fact that he was going to have a body, and he'd no longer be limited by one human vessel, the man Jesus Christ. But God was going to have a body, and this body would be in all the world, all nations, all tongues, all cultures, and this message of the gospel would be preached in all the world in every generation, as much as people are obedient to the call of Christ upon their lives.

And when the cross becomes a central focus of why we live on this earth as Christians, then all the bitter places are made sweet. When I begin to understand and you begin to understand that the Christian life is not a picnic, the Christian life can be a hard life.

Many places in the world, when people come to Christ, I think of Vietnam just several years ago, when men would come to Christ, they'd begin to preach the gospel, and their families would be taken away, their children would be put into a forced school system, where those who had authority would try to teach them that what their father believed or their mother believed was a fallacy, and there was no true, real, or living God.

They were forced into the jungles in many cases, and had to live daily on the provision of God. There's been hardship all over the world. Now, we've been blessed as a nation. We've known seasons where Christianity has had relatively good acceptance among the populace.

But folks, there can be times that are hard. There can be seasons that are bitter. There can be a time where it's not favorable anymore to live for Christ or to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if you and I understand that as Christ was given for the sin of this world, we ought to be given as well by the power of God within us, that men and women may come to know that there's a Savior who loves them and died for them, then even the bitter places will become sweet.

If the central focus of our being as Christians is to live for others and not for ourselves, to live to see people come to the knowledge of Christ, to live to see the naked clothed and the unsound with a sound mind, and the captive set free, and the wounded and bruised in heart healed by the power of God.

If you and I begin to move in that direction and we're abandoned to that purpose, then every bitter thing in this Bible and every bitter thing we'll ever face as Christians can become sweet. Because we know we are living for a higher purpose than ourselves.

We're living that Christ might be glorified in us and He might be understood by the ignorant masses who are without God in every generation. In verse 26, He says these incredible words, He said, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments and keep all of His statutes, I'll put none of these diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

Obedience, Healing, and Misunderstanding Scripture

If you diligently hearken, if you do what is right, if you give ear to what God has spoken and you keep on doing what God is speaking. Not enough just to live in the past. Not enough to say, I obeyed God 25 years ago.

This is an every day, all day, every week, all week, every month, all month walk with God. It's a walk of obedience. It's a walk where our instructions come from the word of God and from the Holy Spirit within us.

And you and I begin to live, as Paul said, and move and have our being in Jesus Christ. He says, I'll put none of these diseases upon you. Now this has been so misused. I've heard messages on this and people have taken this into extremes, where they say that all sickness is of the devil and nobody is to be sick anymore.

I've seen it to the point where people with cancer have had to put a sign on their door, no Christians allowed. These are Christian people in the hospital because of misguided people and just simply a lack of study, a lack of understanding.

What is the scripture really saying? None of these diseases. Now this is also translated in various other translations of the Bible these ways. I'll put upon you none of these sufferings. I'll put upon you none of these plagues.

I'll put upon you none of the evils that your eyes have seen. In the Knox translation it says it this way. Never shall they fall on thee the many woes. And so folks, this verse is not just speaking about physical affliction.

It's the accumulation of woe that comes into any society, any people who arrogantly and stubbornly resist the word and the will of God. What God was saying through Moses to the people, you have seen what happened to Egypt.

You have seen all that came upon this society. We're not talking just physical affliction here. All the woes, all the sufferings, all the ills that they endured. The Lord says, if you will listen to me, if you will follow me, I will not put these things on you.

For example, in Exodus chapter 5 and verse 2, Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? That's a stubbornness. There was an inherent stubbornness in that society from the top to the bottom.

They had cast away all folks. If ever there's a people that should have been living in the fear of God, it was that moment in time and history. It was that society. But they had cast away the fear of the Lord.

And they said, who is the Lord? That very statement comes right from Eden itself. When Satan came down into Adam and says, listen, you don't have to obey everything God says. You can take things into your own hands.

You can chart your own course. And you can do things that God doesn't want you to do. And you will become as God. You can decide yourself what is right and what is wrong, and what is good and what is evil.

And you can make your own standards of righteousness and things that are good and things that are not. That's just the very spirit that was upon Pharaoh and subsequently on many of the people. Not all, thank God, but many in his nation.

Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? God, help us if we get to that point in this country. God, help us if we get to the point of saying these words. Who is the Lord that we should obey his voice?

Scoffing, Judgment, and the Fear of God

Peter the Apostle in 2 Peter 3, verses 5 to 7, speaks of an incredible scoffing and spiritual ignorance that will grip mankind just before the final judgment of the world as you and I know it today. There will be a scoffing.

They said, all this talk about the Lord's coming. All this talk about God and God's will and God's ways. And they will scoff his coming and put far away the day of the Lord. Peter says, for this they are willingly ignorant of.

That by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Peter said in those days they looked, they saw dry land, they saw the boundaries of the water and in their natural mind they said, well surely the water can't come any higher than this point. But they were ignorant of one thing.

That the world that then was overflowed with water and everyone in it in the day of Noah perished. And Peter says, but the heavens and the earth which are now are kept by the same word of God reserved for a day of fire against the judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Transformation and the True Church

Now Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. You might want to turn there in your Bibles. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Now remember at the beginning of this message the Lord said, if you diligently hearken, if you do that which is right, if you give ear to my sayings and my statutes and keep on doing them, then none of these woes, sufferings, plagues, diseases, evils, none of them shall come upon you.

Look at the Bible in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 to 11. Here's what Paul says. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators. That's people who are given to immorality.

Nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Paul says, now listen, no matter what anybody tells you in this last generation, let me set the record straight.

If anyone in any pulpit anywhere tells you, you can continue on living these kind of lifestyles and somehow inherit the kingdom of God, you have been deceived. For those who come to Christ must put away iniquity.

Those who come to Christ make a decision. I'm going with God. What God says, that's what I'm going to allow God to do in my life. I know I can't do it in my own strength. That's why the Holy Spirit has been given to me.

That as I read this word, the Holy Spirit of God will make it a living reality within my life. Praise be to God. I'm not going to walk among those who are scoffing the justice of God, scoffing this incredible mercy that has allowed us this season to come into His presence and to begin to walk with His very life being lived out within us.

And Paul goes on and says, and such were some of you. But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Paul is speaking to the Corinthian churches, you were this.

And that's the testimony of the true church of Jesus Christ. Everyone in the true body of Christ was something that they are not today. Praise be to God. I'm being continuously changed from image to image and glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Now folks, we're not perfect in ourselves and all of us have struggles. But there is change as we diligently listen, as we hearken to the things that God has spoken to us, as we allow the life of Christ to be lived out within us and through us.

Our hearts begin to change as God said to Ezekiel, we are given a new mind, we are given a new spirit, we are born again by the power of God. We become a new creation on the earth. The sole and exclusive purpose is to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

We stand as lights in the darkened generation. We are among those that Isaiah said in chapter 60, when gross darkness rolls over the earth, he said, arise, shine, for your light has come. For darkness will be on the earth and gross darkness on the people, but the Lord shall be seen upon you and His light shall be within you.

Praise be to God. Remember, if we do these things, if we walk with God, if we allow God to be God within us, if we allow Him to lead us into a life of being given for other people, folks, that's where the church went astray.

In every generation is when the focus turned from what is in the heart of God, the mission of God through Jesus Christ, when the focus turned inward, that is always the formula for deception and turning astray from what we're called to be in Jesus Christ.

The Plagues as Pictures of Spiritual Woes

Now look at the plagues that came upon. I just want to go through them very, very quickly with you. In Exodus chapter 7 and verse 17, the first woe, let me just call it woes, is that water was turned to blood.

There was a thirst came into the land. The first woe, a thirst comes and nobody can find anything to satisfy that thirst. Contrast this to John 6, 35, where Jesus said, He that believes on me shall never thirst.

There's a thirst when men have done despite to the blood of Jesus Christ. There's a thirst in our land today. There's a thirst in our churches. There's a thirst in many Christians' hearts in spite of the fact that Jesus said, If you believe on me, you will never thirst.

But if we're not doing righteousness to the blood of Jesus Christ, if we're doing despite to the blood of Christ, if we're not walking in a way that is pleasing to God, there is an unquenchable thirst comes into the heart just like those who are unsatisfied in the nation all around us.

Exodus chapter 8, verses 1 to 4, a plague of frogs came into the nation. Now these frogs, I can see them in my mind hopping up the steps to every house, climbing up the walls, going... Moses said they're going to be in your bed, they're going to be in your living room, they're going to be in your oven.

The frogs are going to be everywhere. And what it speaks about is unrestrained access by demonic powers. Revelation 16, let me read it to you, verses 13 and 14. This is what John said, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

They are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. These are demonic spirits who have unrestrained access, gathering the people to fight against God.

Gathering the people to fight against what is holy, what is true, what is righteous, what is proven, what God has said and the way He has pronounced things are to be. The third wall is lice. Lice just being released, fleas really, being released throughout the whole nation.

And I see it being an unsurrendered and unfulfilled ambition. In other words, an itch that you can't scratch. How many people today are running all over society now with an itch that can't be scratched?

An unfulfilled dream, an unfulfilled ambition, an unfulfilled vision. And it doesn't matter what they do. It doesn't matter what kind of promotion they get. It doesn't matter how many relationships they have.

It doesn't matter what kind of substance they put into their body. It doesn't matter what they listen to or what kind of a positive message they try to build their lives on. There's an unsurrendered ambition in them and an itch that cannot be scratched.

Contrast this to the life of a Christian, a dedicated Christian. The Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 7. He said, I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course and I've kept the faith.

There was no unsurrendered itch in that man. He knew that he had lived a life pleasing to God, to the natural eye. He had few friends left at the end and he was himself imprisoned. And the natural man would look at this and say, what a waste of a life.

But who are those natural men that said these things? Do you know who they are? Have you ever heard their names? But the Apostle Paul for over 2 ,000 years, we've been reading the words that God penned through his hand under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The man that says, no, I found what I was looking for in Christ. I counted everything in this world that I had achieved and could achieve but done. Offscouring, refuse, worthless, that I may win Christ and be found in Him.

Paul said, I'm being changed from image to image and glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul said, if God be for us, who can be against us?

Paul said, I'm persuaded. Neither angels nor principalities nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul knew something that you and I would be wise to know today.

Paul was a given man for the good of other people. Paul was willing to walk into an arena and climb out from under a pile of stones and walk into the next town and tell the next group of people what Christ had done, what Christ was in him and what Christ could do for them.

Praise be to God. Paul had an abundant life. Paul had the life that you and I long for. Paul was not a man with unsurrendered ambition. Paul could say at the end of his days, though perhaps confined in a room, maybe even chained to a centurion or two, I have fought a good fight.

I have finished what I was called to do. I have kept the faith that God entrusted unto me. Praise be to God. Paul could write unto Timothy, Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind.

Therefore, be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Timothy, I've found what life is all about.

Timothy, it's being given for the good of other people. It's walking through this world not expecting it to be easy, not expecting to be loved by every man, not expecting that everybody is going to clap their hands and hear you preach.

Some are going to grind their teeth, and others are going to pick up stones, and some are going to chain you and put you into jail. Others are going to mock the very testimony of Christ's life within you.

But I know what I've been called to be. I know what I've been called to do. Exodus 8, 21, there was a plague of flies that came into all of Egypt. Now, if you know anything about flies, the very first evidence you have that they're there, there's the noise they make around your head.

And for whatever reason, they seem to like to dominate people's, the airspace around people's heads. It's what makes them so annoying. That's why you're always swatting at them, but you can't get rid of them.

And it speaks to me about whisperings, a plague of whisperings, a plague of voices, a plague of opinions, a plague of directions, a plague of accusations. Whisperings, whisperings, whisperings, whisperings.

The inability to put these voices away in the morning. The inability to escape them in the daytime. The inability to drown them out with alcohol at night. Going to bed with these whisperings still around your head.

Contrast this to the children of Israel. God said, I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, and there no swarms of flies shall be there. And I will put a division between my people and thy people.

He said, tomorrow this sign will be. Praise be to God. I don't go to bed with whisperings in my head. If there is a whispering, it's simply this voice saying, I love you, I'm going to keep you, I'll be with you through the night, I'll be there when you get up in the morning.

I will be that voice that says, this is the way, walk in it. I will be the one bringing back to your remembrance all things that you've learned. I'll whisper promises to you throughout the day. You'll be strengthened with might by my Spirit in your inner man.

You will have a sure word. Your steps will be ordered of the Lord. You will know which way to go. You will know what to say, what not to say. You'll know what to do, what not to do. I will be with you.

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Praise be to God. Exodus 9, 16. Next sign is dead cattle all over Egypt. The loss of security and provision. And folks, I think we're living at a moment like this.

A loss of security, a loss of provision, a loss of what people felt was going to give them a sure tomorrow. Suddenly, in a moment, it's gone. Everything. You imagine the people of Egypt rising up in the morning and their cattle are all dead.

Now, this is their beef in the kitchen. These are the animals that pulled the plow and gave them the ability to make a living. It was a status symbol to own cattle in that generation. And we're speaking about a loss of security and provision.

But the children of Israel, the scripture says, not one of their cattle died. All of their cattle, God says, I will provide. You seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Now, either that's true or that's not true. But you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Exodus chapter 9 boils, broke out upon all of the Egyptians. And it speaks of unprecedented weakness and hardship.

The inability to find a resolution. The scripture says the magicians couldn't stand. There was nobody found in the nation who had a solution. The hardship had come. And there were people who had influence and sway because they were influential speakers.

And some of them even claimed to speak for God. But now the hardship and the weakness was so severe that they couldn't stand. And I pray not, but it's possible that we're moving into a season like this, where there'd be no natural solutions anymore.

Where everything just keeps spinning out more and more and more. And more and more society is losing control of its own direction. But contrast this to Colossians 1 .11 where Paul says, I'm strengthened with all might according to His glorious power.

Praise be to God. You don't have to live among those who have no solution for tomorrow. You have the God who created the universe by the word of His mouth living inside of you. You have the one who's already in tomorrow living in you.

You have the one who already won the victory. You are more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. Exodus 9 verses 20 and 21. Hail came onto the land. And this particular judgment speaks of a loss of any fear of God.

The people were warned in Egypt, Get your cattle, whatever's remaining, get it inside your house. Get your servants inside the house. Whatever kind of livestock you have remaining, get it away because there's going to be hail and thunderstorms like you've never seen.

But there was a loss of the fear of God in that society. And even when His judgments are so clearly evident, people left their servants in the field and they left whatever they had left in the field. But just as God had said, the hail came.

And there was fire, lightning as it was on the ground. And everyone who had lost the fear of God lost their life that day. Proverbs 22 verse 3 says,. A prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself.

If ever there was a time to get right with God, it's now. Folks, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month. Now is the time to get right with God. If you are not living right for God, now is the time to get right.

If you are doing things you shouldn't do, now is the time. To ask God for the strength to turn away from your sin and turn to Him. If you are in relationships that you shouldn't be in, now is the time to get out.

If you are doing things financially you shouldn't be doing, now is the time to set the record straight. Folks, I'm telling you, don't play with this truth that you're hearing today. Don't play with the mercy of God.

Don't play with these things. Exodus chapter 10, now you see the judgments really increasing. The last three, a plague of locusts. Exodus 10, 5 came into the land. And the scripture says the locusts were so thick that they covered all of the earth.

And it speaks about a loss of all hope. Everything that was or is good is now hidden from the eyes. And folks, it's happened throughout history. It could be happening again in our generation. It will happen at one time in the future according to the scriptures.

That apart from Christ, there will be a loss of all hope. Everything that seems to be good is now hidden from the eyes. Exodus chapter 10, verses 21 to 23. A darkness came on the land for three days. The Bible says it was so thick it could be felt.

I believe with all my heart it was a foretaste of hell. A darkness so thick you could touch it. A sense of what it's going to be like for many for eternity to live in the absence of God. It's amazing.

Whether or not you are living for God today, you are living in the presence of God. Because He is omnipresent in this world. That means He's everywhere. You have testimony of God. Every day when the sun comes up and every night when it goes down.

When you look and see the stars that have been set in the heavens. As signs of the majesty and power of God. Paul said in the book of Romans that everyone stands before God one day without excuse. Because the testimony of His presence in life was everywhere.

And all a reasonable person had to do was ask and say, Lord, are you there? Will you reveal yourself to me? And He would have done so. A felt darkness. And lastly in Exodus chapter 11, verses 5 and 6.

God passed over the nation. And all the firstborn in every house died. And in that society it meant a loss of all sense of strength and future. Because the firstborn was your retirement plan, folks. The firstborn was quite often given the charge of looking after you and I when we would get old.

The firstborn was the continuation of your name. The firstborn was where many men would focus their strength. Because that was the man as it is in the case of a man that would carry your name and your strength into the future.

The firstborn. God passed over the nation. And all hope of the future. All sense of strength. All sense of the future was gone. And that is the end of any person who lives apart from Jesus Christ. No matter what anybody tries to tell you.

If you are not living a life that is surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that is your future. That is where you're going to go. That is where every nation goes. That is not living according to the word of God and has not surrendered their hearts to Christ.

Passover Provision, Protection, and New Beginnings

But contrast this now to the children of Israel. They had light in their dwellings. Exodus 10 .23 says,. And all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Exodus chapter 12. Verses 2 and 3.