me, I just tell him to go way off to the East. If he should come back I order him to go on way off to the West. So, by sending him either East or West, he just keeps going back and forth and doesn’t have time to bother me.” Well, that may be an over-simplification of the problem, yet it is a very pertinent truth, for as far as the East is from the West, so far hath God removed our trans gressions from us. The second thing we’re told in verse three is that God heals all of our diseases. We believe in divine healing. We know that as it pleases Him, and is in accordance with His perfect will, the Lord often heals to day. We certainly believe that all prayer in this regard should be based on the familiar words of Christ as our pattern, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” We do not believe in all of the theatrics and emotional pressures which so often accompany some of the popular meet ings of this type. Keep in mind that there was no individual spoken of in the Word of God who was healed by the Lord Jesus Christ who, before his healing, was a believer. The heal ing was always done in the lives of unbelievers, the purpose being that they might see the power and majesty of the Lord. Secondly, those in Scrip ture who were believers and who did have physical affirmities were oft- times not healed since it was obvious ly not in accordance with God’s will. There is no more apt example of that than in the Apostle Paul himself who tells us that he sought to have the thorn in the flesh removed, but it did not please God to do this. Again he tells us in Philippians 1:29 that it is given unto us not only to believe on Christ but also to suffer for His sake. The victorious Christian life is not one which is devoid of pain and problems. Often this is the way that we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This being the case, what then is
these things?” There were tears in the child’s eyes now, as she wailed, “Oh, auntie, auntie, you’re not a bit like God! You know, the Lord forgets when He forgives me, but you keep bringing up the past!” I’m afraid, in so many ways, we’re often like the aunt. Thank the Lord He not only forgives, but also forgets. He re moves our sin “as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He re moved our transgressions from us.” (Note verse 12 of this 103rd chap ter.) This in itself is a most wonder ful thing for which to give praise to the Lord! There are so many people whose lives have been miserable because they keep dwelling on the past. Satan keeps bringing these experiences to us. When once you have asked God for His forgiveness, you not only are forgiven but also you are cleansed of that sin. If you keep dwelling on the matter, you’re as much as call ing God a liar. In essence you’re say ing, “Lord, I don’t believe You are able or willing to do what You said You would do on my behalf.” The Bible assures us, “If we canfess our sins (that’s the one thing that we do) he [God] is faithful and just to for give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There’s something else I want you to notice about this little sentence of five words. It is the verb “forgiveth.” The thing that’s interesting is that it’s in the present tense. It’s not only that God has forgiven us, although that is true, but the Scripture doesn’t say that He will forgive us only in the future tense. We have assurance that right now; this very moment, there is confidence in knowing that He forgives us as we come to Him for cleansing. There was an old Christian who had gotten the victory over the con stant pressures of Satan in his life. He was testifying of this fact to a friend one day and explained, “You know, when the devil comes to tempt 6
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker