SICKNESS WAS A CONSEQUENCE OF SIN

If I have smoked most of my life, do I have to expect lung cancer or heart disease as a consequence?  What we really want to know is, does God expect us to suffer for our bad choices? Do we have to suffer the consequences of our bad decisions, our sins? Is sickness a consequence of sin?

Sickness is in fact punishment for sin. Sickness and disease came into the world because of sin.

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Jesus Suffered the Consequences of our Sin.

When Jesus took the punishment for our sins, He took sickness along with it. Sickness is no longer a punishment for us to bear thanks to Jesus. When Jesus took our sins, He took the consequences of sin as well. Sickness was originally a consequence of sin, but because of Jesus, we no longer bear the consequence of sin. This means everything for you: He literally becamesin, so we could become right with God.

 2 Corinthians 5:21  For our sake, he made him to be sin who did not know sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Okay, I said it. Now, let me prove it.

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How Sickness Came into the World.

First of all, let me show you in God’s Word, just how sickness came into the world and how sickness is a direct result of sin. As I discussed previously(See Part One)keep in mind that even though sickness entered the world because of sin, it doesn’t mean we have to receive it. We are no longer of this world; we are no longer at the mercy of sin and its consequences. However, in the Old Testament, the Lord *did *use sickness as a punishment.

Numbers 12:10-11  Now the cloud withdrew from the tent, and there was Miriam, stricken with a scaly infection, white as snow! When Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw her stricken with snow-white scales, he said to Moses, “Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed!

Deuteronomy 28:15, 21, 22, 27   “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you….The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. The Lord will strike you with Egyptian boils and with tumors, skin diseases and the itch, from none of which you can be cured. NLT

In Numbers 21, God was so furious with Israel and their complaining and defiance, He sent poisonous snakes to bite and kill them!

Numbers 21:5-6*…so the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” 6 So the Lord sent among the people seraphserpents, which bit the people so that many of the Israelites died. *.

Jesus Bore the Punishment for Sin

As Christians (Catholic and Protestant alike), we no longer have to bear the burden of punishment because we no longer bear the burden of sin. We receive forgiveness when we repent and trust Jesus with our sins and sinfulness. Jesus took our punishment, the full punishment, for our sins therefore, sickness is not ours to bear. Disease came into this world as a punishment for sin and disobedience. We are no longer under the curse of punishment but under mercy and grace.

John 1:16-17  From his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

My whole point in talking about sickness and sin and its relationship to each other is to help you understand that just like we are no longer at the mercy of sin because Jesus took our sins with Him on the cross, in the same way, we are no longer at the mercy of sickness.

Jesus Makes us Special

We have been separated and set apart. We are different from everyone else on Earth because of Jesus. He makes us unique, and because of Him, we have special privileges and promises that are associated with the covenant He gave us, He made with us. We no longer answer to the kingdom of this world. We are part of God’s kingdom here on Earth.

Listen to how Jesus prayed for us to the Father before He was crucified:

John 17:14-16  I gave them your word, and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

Who is Jesus Talking to?

Jesus is talking to the Father about His disciples and those who will one day believe in Him. That means Jesus is talking to the Father about us. We do not belong to the world any more. Jesus told the Father that you and I do not belong to the world anymore that Jesus does.

God transferred us into the Kingdom of God. This isn’t something that is happening sometime in the future but has already happened. You have been transferred (past tense) into the Kingdom of God where you now live.  We were withdrawn from Satan’s account/his kingdom and deposited into Jesus’ account/his kingdom.

Colossians 1:13-14  He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We are not on our own anymore. We now live in the Kingdom of God and are part of His family.

Can we just keep on sinning then?

 If Jesus took the punishment are we now free to sin with no repercussions?

Can I keep on smoking if I don’t have to worry about getting cancer? Absolutely not. When you smoke, you get what you ask for. When you smoke, you open the door to the devil wreaking havoc in your life and with your health. Cancer is a bi-product of smoking. Smoking can cause cancer. There is even a warning on every cigarette package sold in the US!

“SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy.”

This warning doesn’t say “smoking can cause” or “may cause;” it actually reads, “causes.” If you smoke cigarettes, you are playing roulette with your life.

Can you be Healed if you Smoke?

It is very hard to believe in healing as it is, let alone while still smoking cigarettes. SO few people have faith to be healed, especially if they are purposefully ruining their health. Faith is needed for healing. It’s next to impossible to have faith for healing if you are still smoking cigarettes. But nothing is impossible for God.

If you are a smoker, you are risking your life. You will get the consequences, but that doesn’t mean God can’t deliver you from those consequences and heal you if you trust Him too. If you have laid down the cigarettes and turned to God for healing, then healing is your free gift as God’s child.

If you cannot lay down the cigarette, the Holy Spirit can help you. You cannot do it in your own strength and your own willpower necessarily, but the Spirit in you can.

Do You Struggle with Addiction?

If you struggle with addiction, Jesus is the answer in and through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you. Deliverance and freedom are yours. Be patient and count on Jesus to free you. If you want freedom, it’s yours. You may or may not be able to overcome sin and its habit-forming qualities, but Christ in You can. Lean on Him and His power at work through you. Let him get all the glory. He can do what you cannot. He can do what you have been working on and trying your whole life. There is a new and better way.

Let him get all the glory.

There is nothing you can’t do in Christ. God does not tolerate sin in our lives because we have been given the power to be set free from sin. Jesus did not only forgive our sins, He set us free from the power and hold sin has on us. If you are habitually sinning, hope has yet to rise up in you. I want you to have hope that the end is now. Jesus is Lord and the slavery is over. You have been rescued. Watch as the mountain moves and the Goliath falls.

Jesus will not just forgive you, but help you get free and stay free. But you have to want to be free and lean on Him and trust Him.

Jesus became afflicted, so you could be free.      Isaiah 53:4-5  * Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. NLT*

Jesus became cursed, so you could become blessed.Galatians 3:13  Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree”…

Jesus became sin, so you could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.2 Corinthians 5:21 *For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. *

Many would say, “You get what you deserve.”

But does God?

Does God say, “You get what you deserve?”

Thankfully, no. None of us deserve to be healed. The consequence of sin is death. We all deserve death. But God died for us and His death wiped away our sins. That death wiped away all my sins. There is no sin outstanding on my account. Since I don’t have the sin on my account, neither do I have retribution. I have nothing hanging over me. What a great relief. There is nothing God can’t fix and reverse. I don’t care how far from God you have gone: He can restore, rejuvenate, and regenerate.

Psalm 103:2-5  Bless the Lord, my soul;  and do not forget all his gifts, Who pardons all your sins, and heals all your ills, Who redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with mercy and compassion, Who fills your days with good things, so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

God is bigger than our understanding. His mercy is bigger than our sin. His goodness outweighs sin’s badness. Our sin does not overwhelm God nor does it limit what God can do for us.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

We can’t measure God’s mercy. It is beyond comparison and understanding. We think we understand, and, then, we are amazed at who and how much He forgives.

Excerpt from my book “Be Healed in the Name of Jesus” which can be purchased on Amazon.

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