Ever Increasing Faith - 6. Himself Took Our Infirmities
by Smith
Wigglesworth
Bible reading, Matt. 8:1-17.
Here we have a wonderful word. All the Word is wonderful. This blessed Book
brings such life and health and peace, and such an abundance that we should
never be poor any more. This Book is my heavenly bank. I find everything I
want in it. I want to show you how rich you may be, that in everything you can
be enriched in Christ Jesus. He has abundance of grace for you and the gift of
righteousness, and through His abundant grace all things are possible. I want
to show you that you can be a living branch of the living Vine, Christ Jesus,
and that it is your privilege to be right here in this world what He is. John
tells us, "As He is, so are we in this world." Not that we are anything in
ourselves, but Christ within us is our all in all.
The Lord Jesus is always wanting to show forth Ills grace and love in order to
draw us to Himself. God is willing to do things, to manifest His Word, and let
us know in measure the mind of our God in this day and hour. There are many
needy ones, many afflicted ones, but I do not think any present are half as
bad as this first case that we read of in Matthew 8. This man was a leper. You
may be suffering with consumption or cancers or other things, but God will
show forth His perfect cleansing, His perfect healing, if you have a living
faith in Christ. He is a wonderful Jesus.
This leper must have been told about Jesus. How much is missed because people
are not constantly telling what Jesus will do in this our day. Probably
someone had come to that leper and said, "Jesus can heal you." And so he was
filled with expectation as he saw the Lord coming down the mountain side.
Lepers were not allowed to come within reach of people, they were shut out as
unclean. And so in the ordinary way it would have been very difficult for him
to get near because of the crowd that surrounded Jesus. But as He came down
from the mount He met this poor leper. Oh, this terrible disease! There was no
help for him humanly speaking, but nothing is too hard for Jesus. The man
cried, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Was Jesus willing? You
will never find Jesus missing an opportunity of doing good. You will find that
He is always more willing to work than we are to give Him an opportunity to
work. The trouble is we do not come to Him, we do not ask Him for what He is
more than willing to give.
And Jesus put forth His band, and touched him, saying, "I will; be thou
clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. I like that. If you are
definite with Him you will never go away disappointed. The divine life will
flow into you and instantaneously you will be delivered. This Jesus is just
the same today, and He says to you, "I will; be thou clean." He has an
overflowing cup for thee, a fullness of life. He will meet you in your
absolute helplessness. All things are possible if you will only believe. God
has a real plan. It is so simple. Just come to Jesus. You will find Him just
the same as He was in days of old.
The next case we have in this chapter is that of the centurion coming and
beseeching Jesus on behalf of his servant who was sick of the palsy and
grievously tormented. This man was so in earnest that he came seeking for
Jesus. Notice this, that there is one thing certain, there is no such thing as
seeking without finding. He that seeketh findeth. Listen to the gracious words
of Jesus, "I will come and heal him." Most places that we go to there are so
many people that we cannot pray for. In some places there are 200 or 300 who
would like us to visit them, but we are not able to do so. But I am so glad
that the Lord Jesus is always willing to come and heal. He longs to meet the
sick ones. He loves to heal them of their afflictions. The Lord is healing
many people today by means of handkerchiefs as you read that He healed people
in the days of Paul. You can read of this in Acts 19:12.
A woman came to me in the city of Liverpool and said, "I would like you to
help me. I wish you would join with me in prayer. My husband is a drunkard and
every night comes into the home under the influence of drink. Won't you join
me in prayer for him?" I said to the woman, "Have you a handkerchief ?" She
took out a handkerchief and I prayed over it and told her to lay it on the
pillow of the drunken man. He came home that night and laid his head on the
pillow in which this handkerchief was tucked. He laid his head on more than
the pillow that night. He laid his head on the promise of God. In Mark 11 :24,
we read, "What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive
them and ye shall have them."
The next morning the man got up and called at the first saloon that he had to
pass on his way to work and ordered some beer. He tasted it and said to the
bartender, "You have put some poison in this beer." He could not drink it, and
went on to the next saloon and ordered some more beer. He tasted it and said
to the man behind the counter, "You put some poison in this beer, I believe
you folks have agreed to poison me." The bartender was indignant at being thus
charged. The man said, "I will go somewhere else." He went to another saloon
and the same thing happened as in the two previous saloons. He made such a
fuss that they turned him out. After he came out from work he went to another
saloon to get some beer, and again he thought he had been poisoned and he made
so much disturbance that he was thrown out. He went to his home and told his
wife what had happened and said, ".It seems as though all the fellows have
agreed to poison me." His wife said to him, "Can't you see the hand of the
Lord in this, that He is making you dislike the stuff that has been your
ruin?" This word brought conviction to the man's heart and he came to the
meeting and got saved. The Lord has still power to set the captives free.
When I was in Australia a lady came to me who was much troubled about her son
who was so lazy. I prayed over a handkerchief which was placed on the boy's
pillow. He slept that night on the handkerchief and the next morning he got up
and went out and secured a position and went to work. Oh, praise the Lord, you
can't shut God out, but if you will only believe He will shut the devil out.
Jesus was willing to go and heal the sick one but the centurion said, "Lord, I
am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only,
and my servant shall be healed." Jesus was delighted with this expression and
said to the man, "Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto
thee." And his servant was healed the self-same hour.
When I was in Australia a man came up to me. He was leaning on a big stick and
said, "I would like you to help me. It will take you half an hour to pray for
me." I said, "Believe God and in one moment you will be whole." His faith was
quickened to receive an immediate healing and he went away glorifying God for
a miraculous healing. The word of the Lord is sufficient today. If you will
dare to believe God's Word you will see a performance of ills Word that will
be truly wonderful. Here we have with the centurion an audacity of faith, a
faith that did not limit God. Failures come when we limit the Holy One of
Israel. I want to encourage you to a living faith to believe God's Word.
The next healing we read of here is the healing of Peter's wife's mother who
was sick of a fever. Luke tells us that Jesus rebuked the fever. The fever
could hear. The moment it could hear it went. Jesus had a new method. Today
there are a lot of folks who try to sweat out a fever. You can't sweat the
devil out. He can stand all the heat that you can apply to him. But if thou
canst believe, deliverance is as sure and certain for you as it was for
Peter's wife's mother.
I received a telegram once urging me to visit a case about 200 miles from my
home. As I went to this place I met the father and mother and found them
broken hearted. They lead me up a staircase to a room and I saw a young woman
on the floor and five people were holding her down. She was a frail young
woman but the power in her was greater than all those young men. As I went
into the room the evil powers looked out of her eyes and they used her lips
saying, "We are many, you can't cast us out." I said, "Jesus can." He is equal
to every occasion. He is waiting for an opportunity to bless. He is ready for
every opportunity to deliver souls. When we receive Jesus it is true of us,
"Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." He is greater
than all the powers of darkness. No man can meet the devil in his own
strength, but any man filled with the knowledge of Jesus, filled with His
presence, filled with His power, is more than a match for the powers of
darkness. God has called us to be more than conquerors through Him that loved
us.
The living Word is able to destroy Satanic forces. There is power in the name
of Jesus. I would that every window in the street had the name of Jesus
written large upon it. His name, through faith in His name. brought
deliverance to this poor, bound soul, and thirty-seven demons came out giving
their names as they came forth. The dear woman was completely delivered and
they were able to give her back her child. That night there was heaven in that
home and the father and mother and son and his wife were all united in
glorifying Christ for His infinite grace. The next morning we had a gracious
time in the breaking of bread. All things are wonderful with our wonderful
Jesus. If you would dare rest your all upon Him, things would take place and
He would change the whole situation. In a moment, through the name of Jesus, a
new order of things can be brought in.
In the world they are always having new diseases and the doctors cannot locate
them. A doctor said to me, "The science of medicine is in its infancy, and
really we doctors have no confidence in our medicine. We are always
experimenting." But the man of God does not experiment. He knows, or ought to
know, redemption in its fullness. He knows, or ought to know, the mightiness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not, or should not be, moved by outward
observation, but should get divine revelation of the mightiness of the name of
Jesus and the power of His blood. If we exercise our faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ He will come forth and get glory over all the powers of darkness.
At eventide they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils; and He
cast out the spirits with His word and healed all that were sick: that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, "Himself
took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." The work is done if you only
believe it. It is done. Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.
If you can only see the Lamb of God as He went to Calvary! He took our flesh
that He might take upon Himself the full burden of all our sin and all the
consequences of sin. There on the cross God laid upon Him the iniquities of us
all. There on the cross of Calvary the results of sin were also dealt with.
"As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part
of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their life time subject to bondage." Through His death there is deliverance
for you today.
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HUSBAND HEALED OF DOUBLE RUPTURE AND OTHER ILLS
One year ago my husband was instantly healed of double rupture of 3 years'
standing, dropsy (2 years), a weak heart, and tobacco chewing (47 years), and
praise the Lord, it was all taken away when the shock from heaven's battery
went through him. Nine weeks ago today we went to Portland, Oregon, to hear
Brother Smith Wigglesworth, and my husband was healed instantly of heavy
blood-pressure and varicose veins which had broken in his ankles and for a
year had to be dressed twice a day. No doctor could help him, but, praise God,
Jesus was the doctor and healed him. Should anyone wish to write me, I shall
be glad to hear from them and will answer all letters.-Mrs. Frank Nephews, 202
E. 1st St., Newberg, Ore.