A Greater Sickness IX: Evidences of the Cure
We’ve spent several weeks talking of the greater sickness: sin. We’ve discussed what it is, how it acts, and how it is against a loving God and against ourselves and our own happiness. The Cure is a Person and the Person is Jesus Christ.
But are there evidences that we have been cured? What does the Bible say about it?
Evidences or proofs in our lives show that what we’re saying about God and the work in us is valid. We read in Leviticus 14:1-9:
“This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.
The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water. “As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water.
He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field. “The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days.
It will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and be clean.”
Can we expect to see evidences from believers? What can we expect from the work of Christ in this life? We cannot expect perfection, but we can expect changes.
The new birth is an invisible work. Justification is not visible, either. We can’t see union with Christ or adoption visibly in another person. Is it right to even say we should look for evidences? Is it judgmental? Should we look for credible evidence or a testimony of conversion?
If we look at Scripture, it shows us that evidence for our claims is biblical. It also shows us what is and isn’t to be expected in the person being cured by.
James explains that works justify our profession to have faith. We read in James 2:14-18:
“What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’”
And in Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul links grace and faith with good works:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
It’s helpful to keep a few illustrations of evidences for believers in mind:
1. The man who is cured by Christ stands by an empty grave.
We were dead in our sins and dead to the beauty of God. But now, because of Christ, we are alive! Paul describes true conversion as being united to Jesus. The death He died did away with the old you and His resurrection from the death gives you a new life (Romans 6:4).
What good would it be if we’ve been made alive, but we live exactly as we lived before?
In John 3, Jesus describes the new birth of a believer. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul calls us a new creation.
2. The man who is cured is like a dragon whose scales are removed.
In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace has been turned into a dragon. He tries to change himself back by scratching off his newfound scales. When Aslan comes and tears off his scaly skin, Eustace is a new boy.
3. The man who is cured is freed from his madness.
In The Silver Chair, the prince is deceived by a witch who keeps him under her control by tying him into a silver throne each night. It is an enchanted throne which keeps him under the witch’s control. But when he is tied into the chair each night, for a few hours he is in his right mind. He begs them to release him and when they do, he destroys the chair and witch.
We are like that. We can’t make changes deeply enough and we need Christ to strip us. We aren’t in our right minds and we need Christ to free us.
The man who is cured by Christ, walks away from his grave and now is made new. He is a new man in:
1. His Body
He no longer must present his body as a tool in the hand of sin, but instead he can present it as an instrument of righteousness.
2. His Senses
His eyes are no longer blind to the beauty of Christ. He can see and hear and delight in his Father.
3. His Faculties
He is now free to understand the truths of Scripture. He has new joys and new desires that weren’t there before. When before he grasped at the false promises of the world, now he longs for God. His memories and imaginations are filled with good things.
From head to toe, the evidence of being in Christ is that I am a new man.
Holy God, we know that in us, that is, in our flesh, there dwells no good thing.
We bewail our many and our mighty sins.
We loathe ourselves because of our original vileness, our deep inner corruptions, and the iniquities of our every hour from the cradle to this time.
We lie in dust and ashes before the majesty of our God.
But in all our misery as sinners, we look to You and our hearts fear not.
We triumph, and we glory in Your saving name.
It is a treasure-house of all riches for us. Amen.
(Henry Law)
A Guide to Family Worship
This prayer is taken from our new book, A Guide to Family Worship.
You can pre-order the book and get instant digital access when you purchase. Or if you’d like, you can buy the digital version only.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for weekly updates, or listen / subscribe on: iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify