He Sent His Word and Healed Them — Shane Idleman

The Healing Power of God's Word

The title is, He Sent His Word and It Healed Them. He sent his word and it healed them. And as I was studying, I came across a story about George. His name is George Wishart. He arrived in Dunby, Scotland, where there was a plague raging in 1545.

And he caused quite a stir when he said he would preach on this passage. And he stood on the east gate and the infected people stayed on the other side of the gate and those who are not sick stayed within the gate.

And he brought them together and preached to them from this very important topic. He sent his word and healed them. Now, you might be thinking a spoken word, the written word, a prophetic word. I'm not sure exactly where your thoughts are here, but we're gonna go through this.

I'm gonna try to unpack it to the best of my ability, knowing that they didn't have the completion of scripture at this point, they just had the Old Testament. Psalms 107 is he's writing in that environment.

Rebellion, Affliction, and the Need for Repentance

And he said, he begins with this word in verse 11. Psalm 107, verse 11. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, they were bound in affliction and irons. So it gives this setting that is not very pleasant.

These people were sitting in darkness, the shadow of death, and the language makes you think that there was some type of sickness involved. They were close to the edge of death there. They were bound in affliction with irons.

The reason was because they rebelled against the words of God. All this happened to them because they rebelled against the words of God. And as much as pastors like to be encouraging, we also can't avoid this topic that comes out right here that rebellion against God, besetting sin, can lead to sickness.

So we don't teach that all sickness is because of sin. We know that's not scriptural. But we also don't wanna avoid it. And if we had time, we could go to James. It talks about the sickness. Go to the elders and pray a prayer of repentance and the disease that is caused by besetting sin, you would be healed.

And so we see throughout scripture that God can use sickness to get us back on course. Most of you can attest to that, amen? Some of the sickest times of my life, I said, Lord, don't take me now. I've got my work, I've got some work to do.

And many people that come back to the Lord, and I know there's people here tonight, people watching that are in recovery ministry. And you remember the worst hangover you've ever had. You probably came back to the Lord or getting off of certain addictions, you've come back to the Lord.

And sometimes God will allow that season of affliction. And that's what it is. It's a time of intense mental anguish. And anytime you rebel against the words of God, especially as a believer, there is mental anguish.

So if you're here tonight and you know there's an area maybe where you're rebelling against the words of God, and you're fighting that anxiety, you're fighting depression, there's stress in your life, you feel afflicted, I would start there.

I would start there. Lord, is there anything in my life that is causing this? And despised his counsel of the Most High. So these people rebelled against God's word, and they despised the counsel of the Most High.

What they did is what we're seeing today, especially in our nation, they're mocking God's word. They're jeering at God's word. Whether it's virginity, waiting till you're married, ha ha ha ha, or you can't do this as a Christian, or the big movement with LGBTQ and same-sex attraction and gender fluidity and all these things.

And they're actually mocking and jeering at God's word. And sometimes he will send some type of wake-up call to these people. Therefore, because of this, he brought them down. He brought down their heart with labor.

And if you were to dissect those words, especially here in the Hebrew language, it's a heaviness. It's a weighing down of the heart. They feel a heaviness. Have you ever felt that, a heaviness on your life and in your heart, and you just can't seem to go forward?

And so that's what happens. You feel this hard labor in your heart and in your mind, and they fell down as a result of this, and there was no help. And so we see that depression and hardship can be caused by sin and rebellion.

And the word of God is clear on this because it wants to wake people up. You will not see a sugar-coated word of God. You will not see a sugar-coated gospel because it presents the truth in all its facets, the good things and the bad things and the wonderful things and the questionable things and the extraordinary things and the difficult things, and it shows all of God's word for this very reason.

Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

He sent his word and healed them. The word of God can heal if people are open to that transforming power. First Samuel 15, 22, I read it this morning. I want to share it with you tonight. Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?

It's better to obey than sacrifice, and it's better to heed than the fat of rams. Now, some of you might wonder what in the world is that about? Well, the story is Saul, King Saul, was getting ahead of God.

He wasn't waiting on God. He wasn't going to follow the right procedures, whether it was an offering, whether it was waiting for Samuel. There's different things he did where God actually removed him from this position of leadership and gave it to King David.

That's how David became king because Saul rebelled against God. So Saul said, Samuel, but look, but look what I did. I took all these things and I gave an offering to the Lord. Maybe it wasn't my responsibility, it was your responsibility, but look at what I did.

I gave these offerings to God and I sacrificed these things, and Samuel rebuked him. He said, it's better to obey the Lord than do these things. And I thought of many different examples. What about those who like to fast?

They want to fast, sacrifice and fast, but they're rebelling against God's word. God says, no, just start with what I told you to do, but I go to church, I'm going to church, I go to worship mornings or Wednesday night services and I'm sacrificing for God.

God said, I'd rather have obedience, obedience to me than my sacrifices. And that's why he went on to say, to obey God is better than the sacrifice. And that's pretty interesting because a sacrifice would cover the sin of the people.

They would bring a sacrifice for the sin of the people and that sacrifice would cover the sin. But God says, it's better to obey me than go through the motions of offering a sacrifice. And that's what he meant here by the fat of rams because they would put the entire animal up on the altar, often the fat, and it would just, the fire would consume it.

And God's saying, don't do those things while neglecting obedience to me. And that's why Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. He said, oh, you give tithe, you give your cumin and your mint and your things, you give, you give, but Pharisees, you've missed the weightier things of mercy and justice and grace and things like that.

You miss these things for the sacrifice. Even Isaiah 58 talks about fasting with the right heart. And I think it's relevant because many of us sometimes run the risk of going through the motions. And we're doing things for God, we're making sacrifices, but we don't want to obey in this area.

Crying Out to the Lord in Trouble

And God says, it's better to obey than to offer a sacrifice. And then the scripture continues. Then they cried out to the Lord. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of Psalm 107.

So see, this is a wonderful thing about God. They were in distress. They were in rebellion. They were reaping the consequences of their actions. Have you ever been there? You are reaping the consequences of your actions.

And our God doesn't say, well, too bad. You're going to have to wait for another year now. Or you're going to stay in that mire and in that clay and in that dark spot. It's a very simple process. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

And that's something, especially as men, we need to get in a better habit of. It's okay to cry out to the Lord in our trouble. But many times that they know, I got this, I got this. I don't want to cry out to the Lord.

I can handle this. And often the solution is just the opposite. God, I can't handle this. I cry out in my trouble. And it's the cry I talked about last week. But when you hear that cry of a child, you know the cry where you're going to get off that couch quickly or run outside quickly.

You know that cry versus the whimpering or the complaining cry. And so when God hears that cry of his children, the Bible says he saved them out of their distresses. He pulled them up and he saved them.

He brought them out of darkness and then out of the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. And so I often ask at this point, what will it take to turn you back to the Lord? Or those listening now, listening later, what will it take to turn you back to the Lord?

God gets us at that spot sometimes of needing to turn our lives completely over to him. This word is interesting. He saved them out of their distress. And that word is sad and fearful and angry. He saves them from that.

Many of you in real estate have probably heard the term a distressed home. It's falling apart. It's like a life that is falling apart. There's a distress. He saved them from that distress. Oh, the men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness.

Think about that line. Oh, the men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness. It's sad that he has to remind us of that. Oh, the men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and a thankful heart and saying, Lord, thank you for everything we have and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

For he has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two. The reason they use that type of language is there's nothing stronger than bronze and iron. Basically saying nothing can stop God Almighty.

Nothing, no problem, no situation where God can't go and just rip the bronze apart, cut the bars of iron in two, which in that time was absolutely impossible. They couldn't pull out a welder. Right, just cut that iron with that welder.

Or they've got those real expensive saws now with diamond blade. I remember we used those in constructions, like $300 for just a saw, a blade. And they would spin and you could cut those very difficult things.

But here there's nothing, nothing could cut this. Nothing could break down bronze. But he says, but God can break these things. And so what has to happen here is an attitude shift. Give thanks to God.

Having a thankful heart, not a heart that's bitter or resentful. And just this heart of thankfulness because of what God has done in our lives. And again, we saw the awesomeness of God. But then he goes on to say fools, fools because of their transgression.

That's interesting because it makes you think foolish choices come from foolish people. That word fool, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. The word fool, it comes from foolish and it has to do with choices.

People are making foolish choices about their life or their lifestyle and the end result is not good. So they are foolish. And he said, because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities, they were afflicted.

Their soul abhorred all manner of food and they drew near to the gates of death. So that's why, again, I think this has to do what he's talking about here, healing them from sickness that is leading to death because he says they abhorred all manner of food.

And as you know, someone who is dying or is very sick, do they want to eat? Do they tell you, go ahead and make me some steak and potatoes? I'm on my deathbed here or I've got this virus and I'm very sick, but go ahead and make me something to eat.

No, so he says they were on the edge of death. They were no longer hungry. They drew near to the gates of death. That means there's some sickness here. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from their distress, almost repeating the last verse.

He Sent His Word and Healed Them

And then finally we get to the verse that I talked about earlier. He sent his word and healed them. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men will give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

And he's repeating that again. The pulpit commentary says this. The word intended may be of a message sent by a human messenger, like the word sent to Hezekiah in his sickness, or it may be a thought suggested to the mind either directly from God.

So we have a lot of flexibility here because he sent his word and healed them. Now in our case, we have the revealed word of God. So often sometimes God will send that word, his word, and heal them by reading the word, looking to the word.

Sometimes he allows someone to give a prophetic word, a word that God spontaneously brings to their mind and they're able to share with someone else. Or the conviction, the word of the Holy Spirit. God puts something in their mind himself and doesn't use someone else.

Or someone came to someone like preaching. So here's what we see here, a word to change course. A word to change course. A word to alter a situation or a word to heal. Basically, he sent his word. So God's word is always available.

The word of God is always available to us through preaching, through reading, and different things. How does he send his word? Well, this is where it gets interesting. He sends his word like what we're doing now, by hearing his word.

Hearing Must Lead to Obedience

But as we all know, hearing and, oh, that's way too quiet. Hearing and listening, by what I mean by listening is obeying. And what's interesting as a pastor, you realize that preaching the word and people hearing the word, that's only a part of the service.

That's only the starting point because if the person doesn't apply the word of God, think about this for a minute. This Sunday or Saturday, preaching and there's truth coming out of God's word and nobody changes.

Nobody does anything based on the word. We just had a pretty boring service then. Maybe boring's not the right word. We had a powerless service. Well, no, no, we didn't. No, I'm saying if nobody obeyed it or listens to it, they hear it, be doers of the word, James says, and not hearers, only deceiving yourself.

So you live in deception when you hear God's word, but don't apply it. So when it says he sent his word and healed them, one has to embrace that word and then back it up with application. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

You can't just hear that because how many people, my mom, before she passed away, many times she would tell me, Shane, many people, many people think just by coming into counseling or by listening to you, they hear it.

They hear it and they think they're good now. Oh yes, I've heard that. I've heard that. I know that. How many times have you heard, oh, I know that. You've tried to tell somebody, oh, I know that, especially teenagers.

Yeah, I can't even finish the sentence. Oh, I know that, I know that. But same with Christians. We know more than we know what the word says, but the power of God's word is always in the application. If you seek me, you will find me.

If you wait on God, he'll renew their strength. So many scriptures we can quote, we know, but it's the doing that releases us from that distress and that bondage. And then, of course, how else does he send his word?

By reading the word of God, by opening it up, and instead of you not only reading it, it reads you. So what happens, when you lay the word of God before you and you say, God, speak to me this morning, speak to me on these issues, or in the evening, whenever you are, I'm not a late nighter.

I'm an early morning riser. So you late nighters, you might have a different thought here, but when you're reading God's word and things begin to come out, like when I was reading 1 Samuel, where there's some things that maybe I need to start obeying and not just going through the motions, or you read Proverbs and about finances or money or different things.

And I had a note, actually, on that this morning. I took it out, maybe God's willing to bring it back in to this whole aspect, but he sent his word and healed them. Many times we get into financial trouble, too, and God sends his word by obedience to his word and heals them by obeying biblical principles.

Giving, Relationships, and Applying God's Word

And that's one of the things we don't talk about too much, and I will when I get to it, but this whole aspect of tithing and giving, it hurts a little bit, and God doesn't need the money. What it is, it's more of a gauge or a test of my own heart.

And so if I know this biblical principle, but I don't apply it, I could live in distress financially. Do you ever meet those people, they just cannot get ahead? It just, or maybe yourself, I don't know.

We've been there, and you just can't get ahead. There's distress, there's chaos. It's because, often, of this area of not giving. Because the word of God is pretty clear, and for those thinking, oh, here goes the church asking for money, we're not asking for money.

We don't need any money, we don't want you to give. I'm just teaching you a biblical principle, that God loves a cheerful giver, and that once you give, it will release you. I don't know how it works, but when you find the room to give, even when you can't, that's why we, many times throughout our marriage, a couple times we didn't give because we didn't have it.

And you wonder why you don't have it. It's kind of like, and then once we started giving, God began to open other doors, and we're stayed in that financial bondage. So he sent his word to be a giver, and to, even if it's a little amount, God sees the heart, not the amount.

What about other areas of obeying God's word? Relationships. Well, I know I shouldn't have a root of bitterness. I know I shouldn't do this, or I know I should forgive, or I know, we know it, but actually doing it is what sets us free.

So hearing and listening, reading, looking to God's word, and I would encourage you to put some time aside. Get a journal out, or get some post-it notes, or something, and as you go through, you're saying, where is God speaking to me in this area?

Prayer, Worship, and Fellowship as Means of Healing

And then obviously, he sent his word and healed them in the area of praying. Praying. Because as you're praying, sometimes God will send that word, have you ever been praying, and God just brings something to your mind, and your prayer changes, and you begin to be healed in certain areas of maybe, of hurt and pain, and that prayer life just begins to change, and he sent his word, because as you're communicating with God, he begins to heal your mind, he begins to heal your spirit, he begins to heal your soul.

And if we never have that time for him, we never knit that relationship together, we never make that connection. And that time of prayer is so important. And then that's why we have worship mornings, or worship nights that are coming up, because I put down here, worship as well.

He sent his word and healed them as we're worshiping. How many times have you seen the lyrics, like that last song, Mercy? You see the lyrics as you're worshiping, and that word begins to heal you, the penetrating word of God begins to heal you, you come in here in a bad mood and grumpy.

Anyone out there? And then that word, that praise begins to change you. And there's something about worship that, especially for men, it's hard to break into, because we think it's not manly to worship.

We're not really wired to do that, even though we're wired to express every other emotion, including anger, we have a problem sometimes with worship. Why? Because it's a heart issue. It's a heart engagement.

It's a humbling of self. And as we humble ourselves and worship God, it begins to minister to our own hearts through brokenness and pain. And then, believe it or not, I believe that God uses fellowship.

He sent his word and healed them. How many times in small group meetings, or times of prayer with others, or in the prayer room, or getting together, that word fitly spoken, you know those people you want to be around, the encouragers, and the people you avoid like COVID.

And I believe that's what has to do with the verse that a lot of people love to quote, but don't quite understand the application that life and death are in the power of the tongue. It's talking about bringing life to people, the power of life and death.

And even studying and preparing for Sunday's message, I don't know how much will be Father's Day, how much will be just a normal message, but just looking at focus on the family, looking at statistics, and realizing the power of our words.

The power of our words. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. And there's many men now that were hurt as boys because of words spoken into their life. I mean, I still remember, you know, being called certain words.

My dad would say, lead britches, because I was overweight, had lead in my britches. You know, or chubby, or, you know, just things that, they don't mean to do it, but those words carry weight. Or why can't you, why aren't you smarter?

You know, why don't you, you know, just, and just things that people say. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Words that moms maybe have spoken to you. Words of regret, words of disappointment.

Parents, let me encourage you, be careful with your words. Be very careful with your words. Because children are just forming, they're growing, and we speak life or death into them. And I believe this can apply to overreaching, overarching principle applies that God sent his word and healed them, can it be applied to our families?

Can you imagine families being healed if there was less yelling? Uh-oh, rubber's meeting the road. Yes, less yelling and more thanking, more praising. Less anger, less anger and more love. And building people up with our words.

I love what my kids say when I talk to them about this, but I don't feel like saying something nice. Well, neither do I sometimes, but you just do it anyway. You know, if you wait till you feel like it, if you wait till you feel like forgiving someone, good luck.

If you feel like, if you want to wait till you feel good about amending a broken relationship, or if you want to wait till you feel good about going to church or coming to some of the events, the feelings, feelings, they have to follow you.

Discipline, Feelings, and Spiritual Maturity

I'm not going to talk a lot about that because I have a lot of sermons. So many Christians, well, I didn't feel like going to church or my favorite, I didn't feel much in worship today. I didn't feel too much from the sermon.

I didn't, and we rate things by how we feel. Hey, I'm all for feeling powerful worship. I'm all for God-given feelings and thank God for those. But sometimes you have to discipline yourself. Paul said, I discipline myself and I bring myself into subjection.

And when discipline means I don't like doing this, but I need to do it because the outcome far outweighs the challenge that I'm going through, the feeling of not wanting to do this. And I used to say, you either encounter the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

Let that sink in, you can tweet it. You either experience the pain of discipline or the pain of regret, especially in this area of amending relationships. So I believe that's what I want to share with you tonight is hearing and then obeying the word of God, reading, praying, worshiping, fellowshipping, and allowing the word of God to change you.

Repentance and Times of Refreshing

But it's interesting here what he said. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them, but twice it talks about, and they cried out to God. They cried out to God. So the key that unlocks the door often is repentance.

Acknowledging, Lord, I've been wrong in this area. Lord, I've been holding in certain things. I've been allowing this in my home. I've been allowing this in my life, and I repent of it. And then the healing, cleansing power of God's word comes over us.

Like in the book of Acts, the writer talked about that repentance and experience, the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Do you know, I think that verse, it's applicable mainly to salvation for the first time.

But how many Christians still need to feel that overwhelming power and presence of the Lord? Times of refreshing to come over them and guide them through life, and get them through a difficult marriage, and get them through a difficult and challenging situation.

Prayer for Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Healing

Those times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord are vital. So what we want to do tonight is something a little bit different. We're gonna actually open the prayer room for a Wednesday night. We've got some prayer team members here.

And we want to pray over you in this area. We believe that God sent his word and healed them. Physical healings, we believe if you're challenged tonight with something physical, the doctor told you something, or things are happening in your life, your physical body, we want to pray with you next door.

I don't believe that God answers every request that we have, but we do know that if you don't ask, you don't receive. And we do know that many people don't contend more, and they don't press in more. So we want to pray with you next door.

We also want to pray with you if healing needs to take place mentally, not just physically, but what about mentally? The statistics on suicide, and depression, and anxiety are out of epidemic. Well, that's kind of what I was looking for.

But they are skyrocketing. And so we want to pray for mental issues as well, physical issues, marriage issues. We believe this is a time, not just come to Wednesday night, do a few songs, but actually press in and pray for these areas of deliverance, for your marriage, for your spouse, for your son, for your daughter.

We're going to be available over there. And if you need prayer for direction, direction. So many people I've been hearing from lately are telling me, Shane, I want that revival atmosphere in my own heart, in my own home.

I want to experience God reviving me spiritually. I want to feel that passion and power that you talk about. I want the filling of the Holy Spirit. Dare we pray for you on that? We believe that. Listen, there's something to it, because Paul said, don't forget, Timothy, the gift that was given to you on the laying on of hands.

Jesus laid hands. If gather the elders and lay hands on this, I mean, there's something, it's not some mystical like type of, you know, if I don't touch you, I touch you. It has to do with agreeing with that person and showing like Jesus touched the leper.

You don't do that. And he would touch and the laying on of hands, agreeing with and allowing God to work through the prayer team and to just pray over you. Possibly somebody might have a word to share with you that I believe God has put this in my heart for you.

I'm sensing this, I'm feeling this. I want to pray this over you. We're not afraid of those things because the Bible teaches it. The Bible says that those things are still available for us today. He sent his word and healed them.

I can't tell you how many times, maybe a dozen times over the last 15 years where people spoke prophetically into my life that were right on the money and it served an enormous purpose and got me back on track because I knew God was confirming his will for me in my life.