Eight Steps to Spiritual Healing: (Three and Four)

Third Confession: “My Sickness Is Terminal.”

Once a sinner confesses that nothing works, he/she must come to terms with sin’s prognosis. Sin is not trivial. It is deadly. A vital sense of urgency must grip the sinner. The cure transcends matters of a slight improvement, a better quality of life, a preferred choice, or even a superior lifestyle. Salvation goes beyond merely suppressing pain. Eternal survival weighs in the balance.

When a doctor diagnoses a terminal illness in a person, it necessitates a sober conference. The patient must hear the bad news. “I’m sorry to tell you this, John, but the tests came back positive. You have a malignancy.”

“Cancer?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“What am I going to have to do, Doctor?”

“Well, we’re not sure. Some people have successfully undergone surgery. Others have not. Some survive the surgery itself, but the surgeon didn’t get all the cancer.”

“What are my chances?”

“Fair. If we can get it all, if you are up to the surgery, if you can stand the chemo or radiation, and if you will change your lifestyle, then we may be able to give you some extra time.”

“I don’t know. I hate surgery. What kind of time are we talking about if I don’t do anything?”

“Three to six months. This particular type of cancer spreads fast. Untreated, nothing stands in its way. I recommend that you at least do something to slow it down.”

Nothing jolts a person into reality faster than this kind of news. Several important truths become clear. First, the disease is fatal. Second, the cure involves radical measures. Third, the clock is ticking. Whatever decision is made, it must be made soon. Fourth, the total cure means a change of lifestyle. Last, there are no alternatives. The patient either accepts the cure, or resigns his/her life to the finality of death.

Let’s place this in a spiritual setting. While it is important to present the gospel in a positive light, the unsaved person must, nonetheless, understand that the issues of eternal life and death are at stake. Unfortunately, many people and groups have trivialized the gospel in recent times. They have ignored its gravity, and have focused exclusively on its aspects of love, harmony and experiential religion. By failing to mention the enormity of the decision, these new-styled clerics truncate the cure, and offer far less than the New Testament requires for salvation.

Eternal death awaits the unsaved. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23. The gospel must not be viewed as simply another alternative. Without the shed blood of Jesus Christ, accepted by faith and applied through obedience to His word, salvation remains an impossibility. This may come across to sinners as stark, even shocking doctrine. Their world teems with choices, options, and alternatives. They’ve seen few black and white issues, mostly just shades of gray. Nevertheless, they must undergo an adjustment to God’s reality. Sin is terminal. If they “philosophize” about it, they only blunt its impact on their lives. If they deny it, they only lose time. If they treat it nonchalantly, they create a false sense of security. Sooner or later, they must confront it.

“‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” Isaiah 1:18

Fourth Confession: There Is A Cure

When a person receives the news that he/she has contracted a disease, the next question is usually, “Is it treatable?” Unfor­tunately, the doctor sometimes says “No. To date, we know of nothing to cure your disease.” God, of course, can create His own cure, and we thank Him for His many miracles over disease and even death. Medical science, however, must rely on slow, method­ical research. In many cases, it is years away from a cure.

The good news is that a cure exists to the most deadly of all diseases, sin. Although this may seem very basic, it is important to bring a person to this level, because this requires the first step toward salvation, the step of faith. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6. Faith says, “Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world.”

The sinner must see that Jesus Christ is his/her only way to salvation. The following statements about the saving work of Christ ought to come alive in each person’s mind and heart.

1. Sin demanded that a ransom be paid for man’s salvation.

“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,  Who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.” I Timothy 2:5-6.

2. The ransom for man’s salvation was the price of blood.

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no for­giveness.” Hebrews 9:22

“When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect taber­nacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Hebrews 9:11-14

3. No one else but Christ was worthy for the sacrifice.

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,  But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. I Peter 1:18-19

4. Jesus Christ was God who manifested himself in the flesh in order to save fallen man.

“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” II Corinthians 5:19

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, And you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” Colossians 2:9-10

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,  Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14

5. Jesus Christ has restored man’s relationship with God.

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circum­cision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, By abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regula­tions. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,  And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” Ephes­ians 2:12-16

6. Christ alone is the way to salvation.

“‘I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  ‘The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.’   Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.  Therefore Jesus said again, ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.’” John 10:1-2, 6-7.