© 04 Colin Melbourne
Two desperate women, each in a crushing situation, approached the Lord Jesus Christ for help. The Bible records that He gave almost identical replies to both.
The Greatest Words You Can Ever Hear
To one He said, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
And to the other He said, …thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Holy Bible, Lk. 7:48,50, Mk. 5:34 KJV
Those are the greatest words a person can ever hear; they came from God’s lips, and they are for you today if you will dare to believe them.
A pair of broken women came to Jesus, each had a different need, but each received the same reply.
Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Are there any words more lovely? Only those that preceded them:
Thy sins are forgiven.
Are your sins forgiven? Of course they are.
How can you forget the moment He first said that to you,
Thy sins are forgiven.
Full of shame, reeking of sin, barely able to utter a word, you repented and believed in the Lamb of God, sacrificed for you. Instead of divine Judgment, and the blade of His wrath, He knelt down and breathed into your heart His word and His Spirit.
Your sins are forgiven on account of my Name. My peace I give to you. Holy Bible, 1 Jn. 2:12, Jn. 14:27 personalized
And the Glory of God covered you.
‘Everyone and Whoever’ Includes You
So it is when anyone humbles their heart and ventures to ask for mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ. He turns no one away.
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Ac. 10:43 KJV
What a wonderful word, whosoever; that’s good news for all.
He that believeth on him is not condemned:
Jn. 3:18a KJV
Feast on that!
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mtt. 4:4 KJV
If you want to live you must feed on the Word of God. A crust of bread will keep your heart pumping: But the Bread of Heaven, the Living Word, will make your spirit soar in the Glory.
Jesus and The Prostitute
No doubt she was beautiful, and as a teenager discovered her womanly charms could earn her a living. Since then she’d been ravished by countless men. She was brazen enough to look anybody in the eye, but at every glimpse of her own, she despised herself for selling her body, her dignity, and her soul. At last, her burden of sin became too heavy to bear, and she yearned for the yoke to be lifted.
What a blessing it is for a sinner to become so conscious of sin they run to the feet of The Carpenter.
She heard Jesus was in town, that some called Him the Christ, and searched for Him. The nearer she drew the more conscious of her guilt she became, and yet more aware of His Grace.
Where sin increases, grace increases all the more.
Sinner! He wants you. There’s no need to hide in the shadows. He’s waiting for you to come to Him like this prostitute did. You’ve been the Devil’s Apprentice for too long, following your father, and the lusts of your flesh. God is calling you now to repent and believe on Christ. The instant you do, Heaven will fill your heart; you will be born again, and become a child of God, with a new Father in Heaven.
Don’t delay, do it today.
The town prostitute came humbly to Jesus: And He forgave her sins. She brought a gift of perfume, but all He wanted was her heart. She trusted that He is the Saviour, and was, by that faith; declared saved, forgiven, and received the peace of God.
God’s Scapegoat
This is majestic, sublime; and God has promised it to whoever believes. Yet more than a promise, it is a Divine Covenant sealed in the Blood of God. Unbreakable, eternal, sure salvation for whoever repents and believes in God’s Scapegoat, and Lamb.
He taught the Jews to put their hands on the head of a scapegoat, and counted all their sin transferred to the substitute, which was sent away to certain death in the desert. He also foreshadowed the crucifixion of Christ in the annual Passover, when a spotless lamb was slaughtered, and its blood painted on the door-posts, to remind them how God had shown mercy to those who obeyed: but Judged all who did not.
Jesus is the actual Scapegoat, and the genuine Lamb of God. On the Cross, He bore your sins and your diseases, so you can be free of them. He was sacrificed and His sinless Blood offered on the altar of Heaven to atone for your sins. His body was broken, so you can be healed. He was cursed and cut off from His Father so you can be blessed and have fellowship with God.
This is no longer a shadow, a ‘type’, or a mystery. It is Gospel fact, the Good News of salvation through Christ, for anyone who trusts in Him and His redemption.
All your sins will be forgiven the moment you receive Him into your heart as Lord.
That is what the prostitute got, after a life of fornication, adultery, and endless sin. She wet His feet with tears of gratitude, and love. No wonder; she was forgiven much, and so she loved Him much. That former-prostitute is in the Glory now, she never looked lovelier, and one day you’ll meet her, if you do what she did. Repent and believe on Christ.
He Will Keep You Clean
Her problem was the guilt of sin: Jesus took her sin away, gave her dignity, self-respect and a new life.
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Lk. 19:10 KJV
Many of the best Christians, those who walk with Christ in sincerity and anointing, were the worst of sinners; drug smugglers, thieves, adulterers, criminals, junkies, nutters and drunkards. They’re my kind of Christian, I love fellowshipping with them; their zeal and integrity is infectious. One dear friend of mine is a powerfully anointed worship leader and preacher. I pressed him once on the source of his devotion, he confided,
“Colin, if I don’t stick close to Him I’ll soon be back on the bottle, and fighting, I need Him to keep me clean.”
You need Him to keep you clean too.
Your problem may be different, but His power will keep you if you’ll trust and obey. Stray from the Light, harden your heart to His Spirit, and you’ll soon be wallowing in the mud, and eating your vomit like a dog.
He sets you free to choose, He doesn’t put you in harness and crack a whip about your ears. Real love for God shows in obeying Christ, and reflecting His love.
When you love Him, you will obey Him, and He will keep you clean.
Unclean! Unclean!
Now we come to another dear women in dire straits.
Unclean! How that word pierced her tender heart. She’d developed a problem with her womb that caused her to bleed continually, and everyone knew she was filthy. The dogs knew, children knew, and swarms of flies knew. The rabbi’s wouldn’t let her near them, or the place of worship, because God’s Law declared her: Unclean. (Lev. Ch.16)
Imagine the stigma she bore for twelve long years in her Jewish culture. She was twice cursed, and spent all she had on potions, and quack remedies, like many are doing today.
A complete waste of money, because you can’t pay to lift a curse. Perhaps she received some slight benefit, an easing of symptoms for a while, but the sickness always returned, because its cause was not medical: it was spiritual.
Listen: all sickness is the Devil’s work, not God’s. Be established on that Gospel fact, it will help you resist the Devil when he tries to put his diseases on you. How can we be sure? Because God’s word tells us,
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Ac. 10:38 KJV
Sickness is the oppression of Satan, not the work of God. God’s work is healing sickness. Accept that!
Cross-eyed Christians
God does not use doctors to heal the sick; People use medics and drugs, God heals by His word and His Spirit.
As Smith Wigglesworth says, Many sick people have one eye on Jesus, and the other on their doctor. No wonder they become cross-eyed and disappointed.
Get both eyes on The Saviour-Healer, the LORD Jesus Christ, put your whole trust in Him, and do what this woman did.
Faith is An Action
This woman said to herself, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Mk. 5:28 KJV.
She had faith, and put it into action. She pressed through the crowd, and broke a taboo by reaching out to touch ‘The Rabbi’.
She believed in Christ, that He would heal her, and acted on her faith by reaching out to touch Him.
Immediately she was healed, she felt it, and so did Jesus.
Who touched my clothes?
He asked and scanned the crowd. He knew of course, but He wanted her to come and get the full deal. She humbled herself, no doubt thinking He would rebuke her for touching Him. Instead He said,
Daughter, [not woman but Daughter. Ed] thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Mk. 5:34 KJV
Oh how she wept for joy, and told all she met what Jesus had done for her.
Notice it wasn’t Jesus clothes that healed her, Christ said it was her faith in Him that resulted in her healing and deliverance.
Embrace God’s Word and be Healed
Have you, like this woman, spent all you have on medics, but only got worse? Have you suffered for years and lost hope of being well? Repent, turn to Jesus, reach out with your faith, embrace God’s word, and accept your healing from God.
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Ps. 107:20, 103:2-3 KJV
Whatever your disease or infirmity, Jesus bore it at Calvary so you can be healed. Only Believe!
Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Mtt. 8:17 KJV
He took them, and carried them to set you free.
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Pe. 2:24 KJV
Believe God’s testimony enough to act on it, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (Jn. 8:32)
Put your faith into action, and you will receive like this woman did.
God has no favourites.
Two women with two problems, and both got the same answer: Jesus forgave their sins, and gave them complete deliverance and peace.
Come to Him now like they did.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Heb. 13:8 KJV
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© 04 Colin Melbourne