Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast. My name is Kosti Hinn, and I have the pleasure of being your host. For the Gospel is all about providing sound doctrine for everyday people. And on today's episode, we're continuing to answer big questions about sickness and healing. As a reminder, if you haven't already ordered my newest book, I wrote it so that people would know that Jesus is definitely a healer, but he's so much more. The book is titled More Than a Healer, not the Jesus You Want, but the Jesus You Need. It's available on Amazon or wherever books are sold, and it comes in paperback, audio, or Kindle versions. And I put reflection questions at the end of each chapter so you can use it on your own with your quiet time when you spend time with the Lord or with your small group in your church. Well, let's jump in. Big question: why do people get sick? This is one of the most pressing questions when it comes to healing. A lot of people wonder it, and it's got to be answered by using the scriptures. That is so key, and that's a core foundation for our ministry. We don't really major on our opinions or even practical little insights that we've come up with that are clever. Bottom line is we want to go to the Bible. Opinions and abuses abound, and the only way to address questions about sickness and healing and what God does is the Bible itself, because that is God's unchanging word. I've seen it time and time again. You probably have too. You got world-renowned faith healers. They hit the news because they've promised to heal people or they told people to give a certain amount of money if they want God to do something for them. And some have even gone as far as saying that God's going to pour down judgment if they don't give a certain amount of money. Now, these healers are usually popular, they usually are rich, they're usually on television, and they command the attention of large audiences. So they come off like an authority who has all the answers for sickness. Years ago, I sat through a lot of healing services where a faith healer would explain why people were sick. I remember people being told it's because they weren't giving. I remember some people being told that they were sick because they hadn't forgiven someone or that they had been spending time with negative people. Others were told they were sick because they didn't have enough faith for healing. And this sort of guesswork breaks people's hearts. It spiritually abuses them, it leads people astray and it shipwrecks people's faith. Thankfully, when we look at scripture, the Bible breaks the bondage of those deceptive tactics. Let me give you some truths in this episode that answer the question, why do people get sick? These truths will teach you, and then they can equip you so you can use these as conversation starters with other people. If they ever say, Well, why in the world do people get sick? If God is loving, why would he do this? Truth number one, sickness and death entered the world through original sin. On the sixth day of creation, the Bible tells us that God saw all that he made, and it was very good. That's Genesis 131. Notice the Bible doesn't say that some of what he made was good. All of it was good. There was no sin in the world. Sickness did not exist. Adam and Eve were all set to enjoy a flawless life. They were going to have perfect relationship with God, perfect levels of health and experiences with their bodies. Everything was good and perfect. But they were deceived by the serpent, they disobeyed God's command, and original sin entered the world. That's what we mean by original sin. Sin fractured the relationship between God and his creation. That's found in Genesis 3, verses 1 to 19, the fall of mankind. Well, because of sin, shame came upon humanity. That's in verse 10 of chapter 3. Marital relationships would suddenly experience conflict. Adam and Eve weren't going to have a perfect marriage now. That's in chapter 3, verse 16. And then chapter 3, verse 16 as well, women would experience pain in childbirth. If you've ever wondered why bearing a child is so hard, well, you can thank Adam and Eve for that. And then you would have a challenging life as a human being. Work would become incredibly difficult. That's in verses 17 and 18 of Genesis chapter 3. And worst of all, death entered the scene. And mankind would return to dust when their life had ended. That's in Genesis 3.19. Well, sickness and death are the result of sin. The fallen world we live in has sickness, pain, and sin now. So why do you think we need Jesus? Why do you think we need the good news of the gospel? Because the bad news is sin entered the world. You and I are stained by original sin. We need a savior. We're lost and dead in sin, but Jesus died for our sins. If you place your faith and trust in him, you are saved. That way you can go through this broken world with joy and hope. And even though we live in a fallen world, the joy of heaven is to come. And he's going to restore all things and he is going to establish a new heaven and a new earth, and life will go back to perfection one day. And that's why we need eternal life through Christ. We need the gospel through Christ, and we need to believe in Christ. Sickness and death are the result of original sin and shocker. That is why we preach Jesus Christ as the savior of this broken world. Truth number two, sickness and death can strike us because of our own sin. This is an important one, and you need to see it in scripture, not Costi's opinion, not anyone else's opinion. So in 1 Corinthians 11, 27 to 30, Paul says that taking communion, that's the Lord's table, when we remember his body in death and his blood, we take the juice and we take the cracker or the bread. Some people do this with wine and bread. Communion. When we take it in an unworthy manner, that is the reason some people are weak, sick, or dead. That is literally what Paul says in the Bible. This is a statement made to the New Testament church. Taking communion unworthily would include not taking it seriously, not examining yourself. Paul instructs the church to do that in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28. Having impure motives, having unconfessed, deliberate sin. This is like you know you're in sin, you're doing certain things, you're completely unrepentant, you don't really care what God says, but you're just going to go ahead and take communion for a show anyway. That is not a wise thing. Being embittered or unforgiving towards others, why is that a big deal in communion? Well, it represents the very opposite of what communion is about. We're remembering Jesus. We're remembering his death. We're remembering him taking our sin upon himself and forgiving us of our sin. And then we're going to take communion having not forgiven someone else. Paul says we need to examine our heart. Or perhaps we fall into sickness, weakness, or death. Another reason that sickness and death can result from sin is based on uh just the law of consequences, generally speaking, the idea that a man reaps what he sows. Galatians 6, 7 talks about that. Basic, simple truth here. If you do drugs, you drink and drive, uh, you struggle with alcoholism for years, uh, you act foolishly and belligerently, or you take poor care of your body. We could even add in overeating and not exercising or being healthy for long extended years and periods of time in your life. If you were to engage in rampant and just casual sex outside of marriage, uh, would you not at some point experience sickness or death? Often prematurely. Many people die or they are sick because of their sinful lifestyles. There are wonderful believers who experience the grace of God now, but because of their past sin, their body's broken down. And while their eternity is secure and they will experience perfection with Christ in glory, uh, the brokenness of sin has hurt their body. This is a reality. That doesn't need to condemn or shame people who are now in Christ. Romans 8:1 says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. It's just a simple answer. Why does sin affect us by way of sickness and death? Well, it breaks us down, either spiritually, like Paul said about communion or physically when we treat our bodies in dangerous, sinful ways. These are self-inflicted instances of sickness or death, not necessarily a genuine trial or tribulation, like James says in James 1, 2 through 4 or Romans 5, where both James and Paul are talking about going through trials that befall you. This is like suffering for being a Christian. Um, there are times where we in our sin bring consequences upon ourselves. The beautiful thing is we can confess those sins, like 1 John 1 9. Our soul can be made right with the Lord, and we can even still pray and ask God to heal us of our sickness. That's the result of past sins that we've now repented for. Whether or not he'll do that, we dealt with in our last episode, according to his will in his time. But you can be certain that sickness and death can result from our sin. However, truth number three, sickness and death are not always the result of our own sin. We need to be very balanced and very biblical and very careful not to take one of these truths and use it as a broad brush over everything and say it's always this or it's always that. It's impossible to diagnose the reason for everyone's sickness, but we could certainly say that most, if not all, of God-loving, sin-confessing, Jesus-believing Christians who are sick would fall into this category. It's not the result of their sin. So what is it? Well, original sin. There are some people who get sick. And it's because God wants to be glorified in healing them, even though broken, fallen world has led to their sickness because of sin. The Gospel of John recounts this story. As he went along, Jesus sees a man blind from birth. This is in John 9, 1 through 7. His disciples ask him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind. Jesus says to them, Neither this man nor his parents are the reason that he is like this. He says, It happened so that the works of God would be displayed in this man's life. He says, As long as it's day, we've got to do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. After saying this, he spit on the ground, he made some mud with saliva, and he put it on the man's eyes. He said, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, the word means sent. And the man went, washed, and came home seeing. This is a story that showcases Jesus healing someone for his glory. It's an incredible lesson to all of us that we might sometimes think, well, the reason for sickness is this, or the reason for sickness is this. No, we don't always know the reason. Our finite human wisdom only gets us so far. Jesus makes it clear that God's purposes and his ways are far above our pay grade, and we don't control his plan, we don't control his schedule. Sometimes God allows certain things or he determines how long a circumstance will continue on for, so that he can showcase his infinite power, so that he can show his wisdom and show his glory. For example, we would not praise him for his mercy if we weren't aware of his wrath. So God showcases at times judgment or wrath, strong truths, in order for us to appreciate his mercy. We wouldn't appreciate his love for sinners if we didn't first realize that God hates sin. So sometimes in the Bible we see these statements about God hating certain things. Proverbs 6 talks about what he hates. People might think, oh, God doesn't hate anything. God is love. How can he hate something? Well, in his perfection, he can both hate sin and still be perfect love. When we look deeper at a concept like that, we realize that is actually perfect love because sin ruins love. So God would hate the thing that ruins perfect love. In the same way, we can't even begin to glorify God for his healing hand upon people if we first didn't experience or see sickness. And so God at times allows certain things so he can showcase his power and his glory. This leads to a fourth and final truth that I want to talk to you about. And you can buckle up for this one because not everyone's going to like it, but it is a truth from Scripture. Sickness and death can be used by God for his glory and the good of others. Why do people get sick? We've answered that question. Well, what can result from that sickness if not healing? He can be glorified, and people can experience good things still in the midst of circumstances that are not good. Just because God is not the cruel originator of sickness does not mean that he cannot use it. He's God. There's nothing outside of his scope of authority. Sin may have brought sickness into this world, but let me tell you this: God gets the final word. Now, I know that most of you will understand this. Some of you may think that I've lost my mind to ever think that God could somehow bring something good out of sickness. But hear me on this and let's dig deeper. And let me prove this to you for starters. Nowhere in Scripture do we find God to be some cosmic abuser who gets joy out of striking his children with sickness for his own name or, you know, his own glory. I'm not saying that he is excited about striking people with sickness and suffering. However, the Bible does give us a hopeful perspective perspective about sickness, suffering, and trials, and even death. And that helps us sift through the broken pieces of these sort of situations and find goodness in things that aren't good. The truth is, God is strong enough, he's wise enough, and he's powerful enough to bring purpose out of our pain, even if he does not take us out of the pain right away. You and I will experience this way more often than we realize. Whenever someone we know dies, it can either lead us to bitterness at God or to our own appreciation for the gift of relationships and the person who even died and how much we love them and how much we cherish and appreciate them and the life that even we've been given still left to live. And obviously the grieving process when people die can be painful, but even God shows us in times of loss that he's near. I think of Psalm 34, 18, where it says he's near the brokenhearted. There are many times that even in death, when people lose a loved one, they find a comfort and a peace and a joy and a relationship with God they never had because they finally see He's been there and He's there for them in their darkest hour. See how something good could still come out of something so horrible? Romans 8 28 says, and we know that in all things God works together for the good of those who love him and who've been called according to his purpose. This passage is often thrown around to broad brush, you know, everything's gonna turn out just the way you want it. But no, listen, God wants us first to understand some truths before we jump to conclusions about things he never promised. The all things that Romans 8.28 talks about means the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think sometimes we miss that and we jump right to thinking, you know, God's gonna make everything perfect for those who love him. He's gonna make it great, and it's your definition of great. The fact of the matter is, God doesn't promise that nothing bad will happen to us, but he does promise all those things that happen to you and I, they're gonna work together for good. And it's his definition of good. So however he chooses to define good is ultimately what's best because he is good and he is perfect and his ways are perfect, even if we don't always understand it at times. In other words, the all things could include a cancer diagnosis, and the quote, good could mean that you're gonna pray more than ever before and grow closer to Jesus than ever before through a trial because you need him like never before. The all things could include losing a loved one, and the good could be the opportunity you have to share the hope and saving love of Jesus at their funeral. The all things could even include the loss of a child, and good could mean the beginning of a ministry to parents who are grieving the loss of their own children, like my friend Nancy Guthrie. She's the author of numerous resources on grief and suffering in God's character. She lost two children, much too young, very early on. And the Lord took her pain and he purposed it. She is still mourning their loss, of course. Speaking to her on our podcast, Steven, our second episode we ever did, brought listeners to tears as she shared her heart about losing children. But the Lord took good things out of that and he purposed them for his glory. She wrote this book recently, God does his best work with empty. I got the chance to endorse that book. And she walks people through what God can do when you are empty, when you're at the end of yourself, when you've experienced loss, when you don't have the strength to go on, when you just don't know if the answers are really there. Oh, God begins to do his best work. She shares stories about her children and her situation when she and her husband David endured endured two of those all things, like I've said, losing two of their children. Now no one would ever pray that they lose a daughter or a son in order to gain a ministry. Never. But her perspective is that God decided to do something great through something so dark. She wrote, uh, you know, I wrote the book not to exploit our babies' lives, but to use our experience, like Job, to address the question of suffering. To what purpose? What is it that God wants to do in you and through you that could possibly cost you this much? She goes on to answer that question and explain to people that he is working. The ability to surrender our lives to Jesus is the mark of spiritual maturity. And one of the all things could be pain and trial, and one of those beautiful good things is we grow more mature, we endure, our character comes out, and we have hope because we know we are secure in Christ. Some of those good things we'll be praying for the first time ever. Your will be done. You're the potter. I'm the clay. Bring glory to your name, mighty King. There's a beautiful story about a pastor who did just this. He was the legendary Harvard graduate, the theologian and pastor James Montgomery Boyce. And on Sunday, May the 7th, year 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he takes the pulpit to address his congregation. Countless members of 10th Presbyterian Church were asking, How can we serve you? How can we serve you? How can we serve you? Because he was going through a battle with terminal cancer. And what Boyce said on that particular Sunday captures the perspective that we're talking about in this episode that can only come from maturing in life, going through trial, spending time with Jesus, and cultivating a life that emulates the humility and surrender of the healer himself. Boyce said this. A number of you have asked what you can do, and it strikes me that what you can do, you are doing. This is a good congregation. You do the right things, you're praying certainly, and I've been assured of that by many people. And I know many meetings that have been going on. A relevant question, I guess, when you pray is pray for what? Should you pray for a miracle? Well, you're free to do that, of course, he said. My general impression is that the God who is able to do miracles, and he certainly can, is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they can be rare by definition. A miracle has to be an unusual thing. I think it's far more profitable, he says in his case, to pray for wisdom for the doctors right now. Doctors have a great deal of experience and of course in their expertise, but they're not omniscient, they do make mistakes, and then also for the effectiveness of the treatment. Sometimes it does very well, and sometimes not so well. And that is certainly a legitimate thing to pray for. Above all, though, Boyce says, I would say, please pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying himself in history, and you say, Where in all of history has God most glorified himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ. And it wasn't by delivering Jesus from the cross, though he could have, Jesus said, Don't you think I could call down from my father ten legions of angels for my defense? But he didn't do that. And yet that's where God was most glorified. What a perspective. A pastor with terminal cancer saying, Oh, yes, pray for healing, pray for the miracle, but please pray that God would be glorified. Because when he looked at the Bible, he sees where was God most glorified? In Christ. In Christ on the cross. A humbling reminder, Christian, that you and I will suffer, we will go through trials, we will endure sickness and pain. And in those moments, God can and will be greatly glorified through you. The question is, will you participate in that? I want you to so badly. It doesn't mean that you can't go through days of doubt or pain or fears or anxieties, but will you continue to trust in the Lord, knowing that oh, it's not you holding on to him, but that he is holding on to you. The biblical truths we've walked through in this episode are helpful, but aren't they so humbling? In the end, we're not gonna have all the answers, but we certainly have the answer. His name is Jesus. And if you have him and he has you, he will cause anything and everything to work out for good. That's his definition of good and his glory. So let's remember that no matter what we're going through. Thank you for being with me today on the For the Gospel podcast. Don't forget to order more than a healer. You can go to Amazon.com, Christianbook.com, or your favorite retailer. The book comes in different versions: paperback, audible, and Kindle. For more video teachings, go to our YouTube channel. You can watch, learn, grow, and even share on your own social media pages from there. For the gospel on YouTube, and be sure to subscribe. Or check us out on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. And if you've been blessed by our ministry, drop us a review on Apple Podcasts. Or if you want to help us keep producing free content, you can give at for thegospel.org. We'll be back next Monday with another episode. For now, keep on living for the gospel.