There Is A Remedy
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“And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me?” — Luke 8:43-45
I have often wondered did the ministry of Christ have an apex in it. Was there a time that the Spirit of God flowed to a greater degree in His ministry than at other times? I know the last year of His public ministry, the crowds thinned out because the religious leaders of Israel said they would excommunicate anyone who went to His meetings or claimed healing by Him. To be excommunicated from the synagogue meant that your children could not go there to school anymore and you lost your employment. You could not go there to worship the Lord, so it thinned the crowds out quite considerably.
But in the arena of this article, it is, I think, at the very apex of the ministry of Christ. The first miracle that we see that took place at this time within days of each other was the deliverance of the maniac of Gadara who was possessed by two thousand demons, living a hell on earth, cutting himself with stones. But he met Jesus and he would never be the same again. And when he said, “I want to go with you Lord,” Jesus told him to go back to his town and tell them what He had done for him. And I can see him, clothed and in his right mind, going into his town, standing on the street corner, and saying:
Stop, let me tell you what the good Lord has done for me,
Stop, let me tell you how He saved and set me free.
Well He healed my body, and He saved my soul,
He baptized me with the Holy Ghost,
Well, stop, let me tell you what the good Lord has done for me.
You say, “How do you know he sang that song?” Well, that’s the song I would have sung. Hallelujah! Jesus Christ has delivered millions from that day until now.
The next miracle was the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, and that is the core of this message. And, next He raised the little daughter of Jairus from the dead. Now you think of that. He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. He had Peter, James, and John with Him, and the words that were used when Jesus walked into the room where the little girl was lying dead, her mother and dad’s heart broken, means “we’re going on a journey.” It was only about fifteen feet, if that, from one room to the next, but He said, “We’re going on a journey.” That little girl was twelve years old, and that day did not end like it began. Glory to God. It began with suffering and heartache and a broken life; it ended with her alive.
And next, Jesus sent His disciples out two by two, to heal the sick and cast out devils. And then the next miracle in this panoply of stupendous miracles: He fed five thousand men besides the women and children, with five loaves and two fish. Think of that. I mean, when He does it, He does it big—five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men besides the women and children. And, they went away fed. You never leave Jesus but that He gives you something that lifts you up. Lift me up above the shadows—He alone can do that.
You know, I don’t know why the Lord heals some and doesn’t heal others; I can’t answer for that.
The following happened to me when I was about ten years old. The doctors did not know what was wrong with me. My parents took me to the physicians available in our little town, but they could find nothing wrong. They checked me for malaria and other things, but it was all to no avail. I stayed nauseous constantly, and I would just simply pass out at times. It happened several times while I was at school, and my dad had to come and pick me up. Of course, when I would go unconscious, it most definitely caused consternation among the teachers, but, seemingly, there was nothing that could be done. The last time this happened, and my mother and dad came to get me, the school principle, Mr. Bateman, told them, “If something is not done for Jimmy, you are going to have to take him out of school. We don’t want him dying on our hands.” That was what he said.
During this time, I was anointed with oil and prayed for any number of times by the pastor and others, but all to no avail. Why didn’t the Lord heal me whenever the pastor prayed for me? Because the day that I was healed, the pastor anointed me with the same bottle of oil he had used twenty times before, but no healing. He had laid hands on me and prayed as did many in our little church, and we had some godly people in that church, but I was not healed. I don’t understand that. And then the Sunday came and my parents were taking the pastor and his wife to lunch, and of course I was there and my sister was there. And we went first to pray for a parishioner, and standing in their little living room that led outside—I still see where my dad was standing, the pastor standing beside him, his wife beside him, and my sister beside me. And dad said, “Brother Culbreth, would you anoint Jimmy and pray for him? If something’s not done, we’ve got to take him out of school.” And I see the pastor, in my mind’s eye, walk across that floor, touch me on the head, and the moment he did, it was like something the size of a softball started at the top of my head and slowly went down my physical body and it radiated heat as it went down, and I remember when it went out my feet, I knew I was healed.
From the day that I heard that John Hoffman was having a heart transplant, we began to pray for him. From the day that I heard that Dan Burritt had cancer, we began to pray for him. I prayed for both of these men every day. When I talked to Walt Mills on the phone, and I knew that he was dying, we prayed for him every day, calling him out before God. Why? These men were valuable to the kingdom of God. Why did not the Lord heal Ira? She was such a blessing to this church. Why? I don’t know; I can’t answer that. But I’ve learned not to question God. I’ve learned that whatever He does, He does it right, and it’s the right thing to do. I kept trying to believe God up until the moment they said John Hoffman was gone. And I do know this: We’ll talk it over in the by and by. I’ll ask the reason, and He’ll tell us why. Glory to God. Hallelujah to the Lamb. But I do know that God still heals the sick. The Lord still heals the sick; yes He does.
This woman (tradition says her name was Veronica) lived in Caesarea Philippi. We’re given so little information, but what little we are given speaks volumes to us. She’s a sick lady; she’s been sick for twelve years, as the little daughter of Jairus was twelve years old when she died and was raised from the dead. Veronica had been sick for twelve years, and had spent all her living upon physicians. Medicine was not the same then as it is now, as you would well know. It was more superstition then than anything else. It is science now, but it was just superstition then. They took her money, but she did not grow better, but rather worse. There was no earthly remedy for her illness—none. There’s a great lesson here: There is no earthly remedy for sin. There is a remedy, but there is no earthly remedy. Let me say it again: There is a remedy for sin. There is a remedy for bondage. There is a remedy for iniquity. But there is no earthly remedy. The church has a problem understanding this. It keeps trying to come up with something else. But it’s what we sing about at Family Worship Center, “Oh, the blood of Jesus,” how it cleanses from all sin. The blood that was shed at Calvary’s cross— the price that was there paid—is the remedy for mankind, and it is the only remedy for mankind. And, I want to tell you, if your life is burdened by heartache and sin, Jesus Christ can meet your need. There is a remedy. I said, there is a remedy. There’s no remedy in this world, but there is a remedy.
And Veronica goes to Capernaum. I don’t know if she heard that Jesus had come back to Capernaum, because He’d been across the lake, where He had delivered the maniac of Gadara, and had fed thousands with a little bread and a little fish. I don’t know if she heard He had come back. He had just arrived, really, but still there were hundreds and hundreds of people who had flocked to Him, and I don’t blame them. She is in Capernaum, and whether she went there because she heard Jesus was there or she just happened to be there, I don’t know, but immediately when she saw the crowd—it was at least hundreds, and it could have been thousands—because He had fed thousands with five loaves and two fish and every boat they could find on that side of the lake, they had rented or whatever and come to Capernaum, hundreds and hundreds did that, maybe even thousands. You have to understand something: there was never anyone like Jesus Christ. He was God, but He did not function as God, He functioned as the man—Christ Jesus.
Never was there one who came into His presence in need of healing that He did not heal them. Now I’m positive He healed some who were scallywags. I’m positive that He looked at some and they were not living right, but He never turned one down. Glory to God! He never said to one, “You’ve got sin in your life.” He did say, after he healed the man, “Go, and sin no more.” But He did not refuse him. He never said to one, “You’re not living right, and I can’t heal you.” He never said that. Now you think of that. He never said to any, “You’ve done wrong, and you’re going to have to do thus and so, I can’t heal you.” I don’t care who it was—a maniac of Gadara, Jairus’ little twelve-year-old daughter—I don’t care who they were, He healed them. Augustine said that Jesus raised many more from the dead than is recorded in the Word of God, and I don’t doubt that because wherever He was, death couldn’t stay. Hallelujah! Wherever He was, sickness could not stay. Wherever He was, sin could not stay. Praise God.
*Read Part II of “There Is A Remedy,” in the November issue of The Evangelist.
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