MLJ Trust Logo Image
Search
Sermon #5707

Discussion on Healing

Share Share on Twitter Share on Facebook
Play Sermon
btn-play
Download Sermon Add to Queue Add to Playlist

Scripture

Various

Sermon Description

In this sermon titled “Discussion on Healing,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones leads a conversation of the topic of healing. As the session begins, questions and various reflections are given that explore healing in the Bible, along with questions that arise out of the modern-day charismatic movement. The miracle of healing, according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, could simply be understood as God acting in a different way than usual. Miraculous healing, therefore, should not be explained on natural terms. Miraculous healing is something only God can do, not something people can conjure. As the discussion leads to a brief lecture on the subject, Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that humanity has been witnessing things not seen for a long time. The rising evidence of demonic possession and witchcraft is a sign that the Christian church’s witness is waning. God may be permitting some of this in order to remind humanity of the supernatural. Christians must never take the supernatural for granted, but instead pray for the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. While they may be rightly concerned about the spiritual excesses of the Pentecostal movement, might they be in danger of quenching the Holy Spirit? As the world is demonstrating proofs of demonic influence, there must be proofs of the Holy Spirit’s influence.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. Faith healing should be instantaneous and absolute to be considered apostolic. Gradual healings or improvements are not biblical examples of apostolic healing.
  2. The gift of healing was never withdrawn from the church but the church has allowed it to lapse. If it was still in operation, faith healers should show evidence of instantaneous and absolute healings.
  3. In over 40 years of experience, Dr. Lloyd-Jones has never seen or heard of an instantaneous and absolute healing from cancer or other diseases. The cases presented were not the result of prayer.
  4. All cases of remarkable healing Dr. Lloyd-Jones has seen were not instantaneous and absolute. His own healing of a fractured radius was gradual over 10 years.
  5. It is important to remember that apostolic healing must be instantaneous and absolute, not gradual. Gradual healing can happen through natural means.
  6. The cases of healing in the New Testament by Jesus and the apostles were instantaneous and absolute, with one exception of the man who saw men as trees walking. That case is explainable.
  7. Faith healing and miraculous healing should be distinguished. Miraculous healing implies the breaking of natural laws but faith healing can be gradual and still supernatural.
  8. God is in control of the whole of creation so every act of God is involved in what happens, even if it appears natural or supernatural. It is hard to separate the natural and supernatural.
  9. Assuming spontaneous remission of disease is natural limits God and our knowledge of mechanisms of disease which are expanding.
  10. We should not try to find natural explanations for healing and then attribute what's left to God. We should be glad for any cure and not try to prove its miraculous.
  11. Natural healing processes are complex and it is by Jesus Christ that all things consist and hang together. The fact we can live at all is supernatural.
  12. We are in danger of thinking of the natural as having nothing to do with God and the supernatural as God acting. God is equally active in sustaining what He created.
  13. It may be wrong to speak of God's intervention as it suggests He is not usually as present as in that instance. God can act in different ways, through natural law or directly. This is not intervention but God acting differently.
  14. We are entitled to say God normally acts one way but at times determines to act differently. This is intervention to us, something that would not happen naturally. God acted to produce a result that would not come to pass otherwise.
  15. Jesus' healing miracles were always successful but no one today claims that. This shows Jesus' special relationship with the Father. Does this make healing depend on the healer's faith, which can be dangerous to say? These are problems between Jesus' healings and today.

Sermon Q&A

What Did Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Teach About Faith Healing and Miraculous Healing?

What is the distinction between apostolic healing and modern-day faith healing according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, apostolic healing as seen in the New Testament had two distinctive characteristics: the cures were "instantaneous and absolute." He notes that those who claim the gift of healing was never withdrawn from the church should demonstrate these same qualities in their healing ministries. In his 40 years of medical practice, Lloyd-Jones states he never witnessed a single case of instantaneous and absolute healing through faith healing. While he had observed remarkable cases of healing, including three cases of cancer that disappeared, none of them were instantaneous, and some weren't even the result of prayer.

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones explain spontaneous remissions of disease?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones acknowledges the reality of spontaneous remissions of diseases like cancer. He shares examples from his medical practice where patients experienced unexpected recoveries. However, he distinguishes between unexplained natural healing and supernatural intervention. While he believes God is sovereign over all healing, he notes that sometimes healing occurs in ways that seem to correlate with prayer, suggesting divine intervention. He tells the story of a man with cancer whose unexpected recovery came while a church group was meeting weekly to pray for him, though he cautions against making definitive claims about the mechanism of healing.

What dangers does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify in some faith healing movements?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies several dangers in some faith healing movements:

  1. The claim that no Christian should ever be ill because healing is "in the atonement"
  2. Blaming sick people for lacking faith when they aren't healed
  3. Creating false expectations that all Christians should always be healed
  4. Ignoring biblical examples like Paul's "thorn in the flesh" that wasn't removed despite prayer
  5. Being too simplistic about healing, not recognizing the complexities involved
  6. Causing spiritual harm by making people question their faith or relationship with God

He shares a tragic story of a woman with cancer who died "in a very unhappy condition" because her friends had convinced her that her lack of healing was due to sin or insufficient faith.

What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones teach about the relationship between faith and healing?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones acknowledges that faith seems to be an important factor in healing, noting that even Jesus "could not work many mighty works in such and such a place because of their unbelief." He points out that both the faith of the healer and the faith of those surrounding the person can play a role. However, he strongly cautions against blaming people for lack of faith when healing doesn't occur, calling such an approach "not only being unscriptural, but it becomes cruel."

He notes that the New Testament shows varying degrees of difficulty in healing different conditions, referencing Jesus' statement that "this kind cometh not forth, but by prayer and fasting." This suggests that healing involves multiple factors beyond just the presence or absence of faith.

What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones believe about supernatural activity in the modern world?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones expresses concern about the resurgence of demonic activity and witchcraft in his time, noting reports of 30,000 people practicing witchcraft in Britain. He suggests two possible explanations:

  1. As Christian influence wanes in society, restraining influences on evil are removed, allowing supernatural evil to manifest more overtly.

  2. God may be "permitting a manifestation of the powers of evil to remind us of the power of the Holy Spirit" - essentially awakening the church to supernatural realities they have neglected.

He cautions Christians not to focus exclusively on combating evil but to seek "a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, which will be as much a phenomenon as are these others." He warns against both extremes: seeing "a devil under every bush" and dismissing supernatural reality entirely. His concern is that Christians have "been guilty of quenching the spirit" through being "too orderly, too set, too controlled" in their approach to spiritual matters.

Itinerant Preaching

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.