Talk on Healing — Hans R. Waldvogel

Faith for Healing and the Authority of Scripture

When I came to God for healing, I had a hard time because I had been indoctrinated in the Baptist way. And so I needed help, I needed healing. And I said, well, I'm going to find out whether it's in the Bible.

And I found the Bible chock full of it, chock full of healing from one page to the other. And never one word against it, not a single word to inspire unbelief. But everywhere the call of God to believe, to hope against hope.

And I found out that it is impossible to please God excepting as I believe Him. He that cometh to God must believe. Well, what shall I believe? I said, I'm going to believe the Bible. I'm going to believe this book.

I told you about the preacher I dealt with who didn't believe in divine healing. And one day I visited him and he said, my goodness, I never knew how sick I was until I read the doctor book. He had a doctor book that described all the sicknesses in the calendar.

And so when he saw something described that he thought he had, why then he thought, my goodness, I didn't know how sick I was. I thought I was sick, but now this doctor book tells me how sick I am. But here's a doctor book that tells me how well I am.

Glory to God. Shows me the unsearchable riches of Christ. Glory to God. And I said, I'm going to find out whether it's in the Bible. And if it's in the Bible, I'm going to stand on it and I'm going to believe God and I'm going to take it and consider it settled forever.

And I found out not only that the Bible was chock full of promises, but here was provision. Here was a fountain. Here was a limitless ocean of life. Glory to God. And when he says without faith, it is impossible to please him.

Faith as Substance and Resurrection Life

He says, faith is substance. It isn't reaching up into the air where there's nothing. It's substance. It's a substance that's more substantial than the things you feel and the things you see. Because that substance is the resurrected son of God, his resurrection life.

When Thomas came and reached his fingers and put them in the nail prints of Jesus, my, wasn't that wonderful? If this morning we could have advertised that Jesus was going to be here in person, visibly, and that everybody that wanted help could come and put his fingers in his nail prints, why we couldn't hold the people in all the United States.

People would come from everywhere to do that. And Jesus says, I've got something far better for you. Thomas, he says, you believe because you see. Stupid boy. Blessed are they that have not seen. There's something unseen that is substance.

It's Christ, resurrected from the dead. Christ, who was delivered for our offenses and who himself took our infirmities upon himself. Now, if Jesus Christ had pointed to Gabriel or to Michael, one of the archangels, and said, now, you foolish boy, I'm going to make him suffer with your corns and your mumps and your measles, then you'd have faith, wouldn't you?

But instead of that, Jesus Christ took all our infirmities upon himself. And in order to make the healing available to us, he had to destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and bring life and immortality to light through the gospel.

The Report of Isaiah 53 and Personal Faith

But who has believed our report? That's always the question. Who has believed what God says? We believe what the doctor says. All right, you should, if he happens to tell the truth. But God says all men are liars.

And you believe what the doctor book says. OK. But who has believed our report? What is your report, my God? Well, read Isaiah 53 and you have it. Oh, how we ought to study about faith, how we ought to study Jesus.

That Isaiah 53 is written directly and personally for you. Never mind all the others, but for you, it's written for you. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Why God desires to manifest his power.

The arm of the Lord refers to that wonderful power of salvation for body, soul, and spirit. We have often quoted this text. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. And what are they looking for?

They're looking for you. When Jesus came from heaven, he constantly looked for people that needed him. And then he offered himself to them. And when that woman at Samaria's Wells said, oh, when Christ comes, he'll help us.

Oh, how we need him. He said, why, here I am. I'm here, right here. And if you knew me, you'd ask me and I'd give you without question. I'd give you living fountain of water, not just a few drops to quench your thirst now, but I'd put a well inside of you.

How wonderful Jesus is. Beloved, faith would lift us out of all the mighty clay and all the horrible pit and put our feet upon the rock. And that's my job, to study faith, to study Christ, to get acquainted with these unsearchable riches of Christ.

Jesus Heals the Man at Bethesda

And when Jesus came to Bethesda, you remember how the Bible tells us that there was a certain place in Bethesda. Let me just refer to it a minute. There was at Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five parts.

In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of Baptists, of Methodists, of Presbyterians, of Pentecostal people, of Catholics, waiting for the moving of the water. You go to these divine healing meetings and you see that's the same gang in every meeting, the same noses.

I've been there. They'll let Bosworth pray for them, and if they don't get healed, then they go to Wigglesworth. And if they don't get healed there, then they go to Oral Roberts, and then they get healed there, and then they go to Osborne.

Why don't you just come to Jesus Christ? Why don't you? Well, here they were waiting for the moving of the water. I don't blame them. But mine, they had to wait a long time because that angel didn't come, just because they rang the bell.

He came when he felt like it. We don't know much about that. We don't know how he stirred that water. Colored woman said, the Lord am going to stir his people, and he am going to use me for the spoon.

Well, here was this angel stirring the water. And why did Jesus Christ pick out the man that was sick 38 years? Well, he couldn't do anything with the others. They weren't looking for him. They were not looking for him.

They didn't want to bother about him. They wanted something visible. And Jesus asked a wonderful question, which he asks of you too. You want to be made whole? Well, that's what God Almighty sent me down from heaven for, and I'm always looking for somebody that I can prove my power, that I can prove the faithfulness of God.

I'm just looking for somebody that has no more health anywhere else, and I will glorify the Father by, come on, get up, run. It was Sabbath, and how he jumped over the beds of the others, and their couches, and over the Pharisees, and scribes, and priests, and leaped over them with his bed dangling behind him.

Must have been a show. Must have been a happy day. Listen, wilt thou be made whole, Almighty God, and his eyes run to and through throughout the whole earth, what for? To manifest his power. Why, I said, Jesus Christ, what good does it do you to have power if you can't help me?

That's what you got the power for, to help me. What good would it do you to hang out a shingle and say, I'm the Lord, thy physician, if you can't heal me? Wouldn't do him any good, wouldn't honor him.

That's why he put that in the Bible. Wilt thou be made whole? Now it's up to you. I'm here. And then he says, I don't have anybody to help me. Nobody. All the doctors have given me up. And all my relatives, they don't hang around me anymore.

They're tired of me. They prayed for me. They anointed me with oil, and nothing happened. Oh, I tell you, Jesus Christ says, listen, you've got the Almighty God. He says in that chapter, I work hitherto, and my Father works too.

We're always working. Always working for the salvation of humanity. Always working to manifest the exceeding greatness of my power toward what? Those who believe. But we fool around. I tell you, we fool around with the Word of God.

Faith Appropriates Christ's Finished Victory

We ought to recognize that faith is substance. You're dealing with a victory that's already accomplished. You're dealing with a Christ who has already borne your affliction and has been raised from the dead by the power of God, that now he might fill your body with resurrection life.

But only faith appropriates it. And that's where our trouble comes in. That's where the fight comes in. You read your doctor book, and presently you're sick. You are. When I was a young fellow and I thought I had consumption, I tried to book the thing.

I went to work. And a man came to me and said, how do you feel? Oh, I said, I feel better. I said, never mind better. Never mind better. You go to the doctor. You have him x-ray you and see how many holes you got in your lungs.

Well, I just collapsed. Then I was sick. Then I went to the boss and asked him, let me go home. Then I was sick. Sure. And you don't have to go very far to get that kind of help. Get it in this meeting.

Boy, you look bad. Man in Germany said, to cease, I was so ailing down. I just shaved myself, you know, and put a little powder on your face. This is so ailing down. You look so miserable. What's the matter with you?

Oh, beloved faith is substance. Faith is Christ. Waiting to glorify himself. He says the body is dead because of sin. Don't be surprised if you catch a cold once in a while. And don't be surprised if you got a kink in the back, but don't run.

And wait for the angel to stir you up. Here is God almighty. He says the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. What does he want? What does he want? I couldn't live without him. They call me an old man.

And I look around and say, who in the world do you call old? No. Beloved, we're dealing with facts because we're dealing with a Christ who died and rose again and is coming again. And he asks us, please, let me heal you.

Come on, please. Please come on. Let me be your health. Let me be your life. Let me be your righteousness. Let me be your all and in all. And while it doesn't come overnight, the Bible talks about our faith growing exceedingly and it grows in conflict.

Strength in Weakness and Victory Through Conflict

The Bible says out of weakness they were made strong and they waxed valiant in fight. And they turned to flight the armies of the aliens. And faith has always had that characteristic that it gets stronger in conflict.

And so let us learn our lessons, beloved. Come on. Let's please Jesus. Will thou be made whole?