15“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Deuteronomy 28:15

For believers, the situation could not be better, more stable, and more joyful than now. Why? We have been forgiven, redeemed, and given freedom. We have received the promise of salvation, the greatest hope through Jesus’ redemption. We have been immunized against death through the Lord’s grace. For believers, there is only blessing or illness. If it is not an illness, then it is a blessing. If it is not a blessing, then it is an illness. We can see the many kinds of blessings and illnesses as we read the Bible.

To find peace and joy. we must receive a cure for all these many illnesses. Though we may not die from one illness, if untreated, we will succumb to more illnesses, gradually become weaker, and eventually perish. In the same way, when we receive one blessing, we attract more blessings, become stronger in the health of our faith, and gain greater success. More accurately than punishment or blessing, it is better to view the situation we encounter in our daily lives as illnesses or blessings. If we look at life this way, our approach will be to receive blessings and fix illnesses. This positions us to find Jesus’ path for us to build our salvation. 

Before meeting Jesus, this was not an option. Jesus’ redemption enables us to receive unlimited blessings and cures for all illnesses. If we simply put forth the effort, every blessing and happiness is ours. It does not matter if we are wise or ignorant, rich or poor, healthy or weak. For those who believe in Jesus, treatment for our illnesses is very simple and requires no payment. We do not need any special skill or knowledge. We do not need money or power. Is there anything more blessed than this? 

First we must understand that the source of illness is sin. If we sin, sickness comes to us no matter how we try to protect ourselves. Serving our desires for money, success, physical health, mental health, and comfort all bring on illnesses. When these desires take priority over our obedience to the Lord, we sin. Whatever goes wrong in your business, family, or school, recognize that the cause is sin. No matter how secure our business, our work, or family life, it can all be jeopardized by our sins. Even seemingly good things which come to us through sin will eventually bring sickness. But we cannot go to a hospital to cure these illnesses. We must turn to the Lord. Throughout Deuteronomy 28 after verse 15, all kinds of illnesses are described, which lead us away from blessing. Each is caused by failing to keep God’s commandments. Sin turns any happiness into illness. Recognize and remove the sin, and the illness will disappear. With this one teaching, we can live. When we repent our sins and obey His commandments, the Lord delivers blessings to us.

The source of all joy is faith. Keeping our faith by obeying the Lord is the way we receive blessings. There is no joy without faith. To cure our illnesses, we must eliminate our sins through our faith in action. Faith brings blessings. When God sends us His blessings, nothing can block them. No matter what difficulty we face, faith will turn it all into a blessing. Keep faith by following God’s direction and purpose. Faith is the tree, and the fruit it bears are blessings. 

Though we may believe it is due to bad fortune, other people, and other causes, we must surely know that the suffering we face in our lives is sent by the Lord. We cannot solve these hardships with our own skill and experience. We must recognize that these difficulties are sent to us by the Lord because of our sins. Why? To enable us to remove those sins and become complete and perfect in our faith. These hardships of poor health, business difficulties, and other sufferings are an opportunity for us to build our faith. In the process of facing, persevering, and curing these illnesses, we grow more perfect in our faith. 

The Lord is involved in our daily lives. While the unchosen are left to sin and never have this opportunity for salvation, we can build our salvation by simply repenting our sins and obeying His commandments. We use our conscience inspired by the Holy Spirit to guide us to live righteously. This is the path to happiness. We cannot find the happiness we seek on our own, through only our own efforts, wisdom, or power. Only God can turn our sickness to happiness. 

1. All illness is cured by finding and eliminating sin which keeps us from building faith.
2. All happiness comes to us when we build our faith by living according to God’s commandments as written in the Bible.

Sin brings illness. Building faith brings joy. If we build our faith, God promises us that we will never be put to shame. Repenting sin and building our faith will always bring happiness into our lives and raise us up. 

Click for Korean sermon https://soundcloud.com/yhpaik/1987-4-10-mixdown-long