PJ Smyth is a young and dynamic Reformed Pastor from South Africa. I have never had the privilege of meeting him but I have prayed for him (as a great many others have also) in hearing of his battle with cancer at such a young age. I have followed his health updates (online) over the last six months or so and have also passed them on to others who have prayed. We can give thanks to God that after extensive and invasive chemotherapy, he is now declared “cancer free” by the doctors (or in remission), and we pray that would continue.

Its been a long battle but he recently had enough energy to preach a sermon concerning his learning process over the last year or so. It is VERY insightful and heart warming. It will do your heart and your head much good!

You can hear it here:

Someone in attendance took notes as PJ was speaking. Here’s what they wrote:

8 ways he has tried to live in response to his cancer this past year (Note that at times in these notes I refer to PJ as “I”!)

1. I reflected on the possible sources of sickness

a. The fall Genesis 3:3. You will surely die. The common pattern of this world is live, get sick, die. Romans 8 we are in bondage to decay. There are no 120 year old faith healers!

b. Foolish living. Sowing and reaping. If you crash your car don’t blame others. Poor diet, pollution, etc.

c. Satan (Luke 13, Acts 10:38). The default option of Jesus and the local church is to treat sickness as the work of Satan.

d. Sin. John 9. Jesus said “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…” He doesn’t say all sickness is caused by specific sin, but it can be.

Psalm 32. David is sick because of his sin.

1 Corinthians 11. Many were sick and some had already died because of abusing communion.

Usually it is not a specific sin that leads to death but it can be.

“Sin deserves death and it is because of God’s mercy that we are not each struck down whenever we sin.” – Carson

e. Direct from God. Actively instigated or actively permitted.

Knowing that God is in control (God’s sovereignty) is very comforting. If it was outside of his rule it would mean he cant heal us.

If he can’t prevent it how can he stop it? How can he use it for my good either? We would lose Romans 8:28.

If you try and rescue God from responsibility for suffering then you rescue him from being God, and that is about as uncomforting as things can be.

2. I reflected on the possible sources of healing

a. the power of the cross – the place of victory over sin and all its evil relations – sickness, suffering and death.

Matthew 8 “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah” Isaiah 53 is about the cross, so there is a clear link between the cross and healing. Some feel it is automatic. Some say that Christ purchased healing for us and by faith we apply for divine health now automatically. Others say the cross is the source of all healing power but if someone is not healed it is not a failure in the cross or faith because it is not automatic. Believing the automatic link is the primary source of confusion and disillusionment when healing doesn’t happen.

PJ believes completely that God heals today but he does not believe the automatic link. We can have success in healing without believing in this automatic link.
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Its interesting to note the content of the apostle’s preaching in the New Testament. They did not preach “divine healing” as such, though they certainly were used mightily by God in healing. They preached Christ as the crucified and risen Lord and Savior and summoned people to turn to God in repentance and faith. Having said this, I believe healing can certainly be a means whereby God opens people’s hearts bringing attention to His reality, in order to draw people to Himself.

Signs are meant to point to something. A road sign is put up to point people in a certain direction. The sign is not something to be wondered at or marvelled at. Its whole purpose is to point people to something other than itself.

Not all signs should be followed. If someone in Dallas, Texas (in central southern USA) wishes to get to Los Angeles (to the west), he should avoid signs that point to Florida (to the east). There are false signs and lying wonders just as there are true signs that are ordained by God. Peter spoke of “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) God has often used signs, both in the Old Testament and the New, to point people to Himself as the one true God and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially to Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross for sinners.

The sign is never meant to take the place of the cross; just the opposite; its whole purpose is to point people to it. In the same way, Divine healing is a sign of God’s great heart of compassion for sinners and is meant to point people to the cross, where Christ crushed the powers of sin, death, hell and the grave.

Healing is not the gospel, but is meant to point people to it. The gospel is Christ Himself, His Person and His work, which includes His virgin birth, His sinless life pleasing the Father, fulfilling every requirement of the law of God in thought, word and deed, as well as His substitutionary death on behalf of sinners on the cross, as well as His triumphant resurrection. The Gospel includes all that He achieved because of this, and especially that although all of us have commited high and cosmic treason against God because of our sin, He has shown His great love for the world. Based on the God breathed Scriptures alone, sinners are brought into right standing with Himself (justified) by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone. All those who put their trust in Christ as Lord will find Him to be the perfect Savior; He will save them completely for they will in no way perish but instead have everlasting life.

As wonderful as any testimony of healing is, unless it is accompanied by the gospel, it is like a sign without information; utterly useless. Jesus said, “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” I would also ask, “What does it profit a man if he gains healing for his entire body, if he then loses his soul? and what does it profit a man should he see even the dead raised to life, if he does not hear the only gospel that saves?”

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Though I do not doubt God’s ability to raise even the dead, I do wish the Church at large would herald the one true biblical gospel and I very much wish it was present in this video clip (below).

After a massive heart attack took this man’s life, the cardiologist felt an overwhelming urge to pray over his body.