So often misguided people say, "Miracles are past. They were only for Jesus' day because He was trying to prove His Messiahship." Nothing could be farther from the truth! Jesus did not perform His miracles to prove His Messiahship. On occasion He even performed a miracle and told the people involved or the person involved not to tell anyone. Matthew 9:30, "And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it." Luke 8:51,56, "And when He came into the house, He suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And her parents were astonished: but He charged them that they should tell no man what was done." We also find that on at least one occasion He answered a prayer in answer to faith. Mark 2:5, "When Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." We also find that our Lord healed people and performed miracles simply because He had compassion. Luke 7:13-15, "And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And He came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother."
Then comes the feeble effort of some to disprove present-day miracles. Such people say, "Miracles were for the period until the Bible was written. Now that we have the Bible, miracles are over." God never says that! I know better. I have seen it happen too many times. We are told that miracles will follow those that believe, as they carry out the great commission, which is Mark 16:15, "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
The pastor of the great First Baptist Church of New Castle, Delaware, is my friend, Ron Adrian. His brother, Ken, who pastors in Detroit, Michigan, and others in his family have been my friends for years. When their father and mother lived in Wichita, Kansas, where his father pastored, I used to preach often for him. One year Dr. John Rice and I were there together for a Sword of the Lord Conference, and Mrs. Adrian, the wife of the Pastor and the mother of Ken and Ron was dying with cancer of the brain. I can see that little wilted body now. I can see the color of her face. I can see her arms that just simply looked like bones wrapped in skin. She had terminal cancer with just a few days to live. We got a little olive oil and gathered around her one day in a room, anointed her with oil and prayed for God to heal her. God did! Many years have passed now, and the last time I saw her she was well and happy in the service of the Lord.
God does not heal everyone who is sick, and we are not necessarily to pray every morning, "Give us this day our daily miracle," but we need to realize our God is a big God, and there is nothing too hard for Him! Genesis 18:14, "Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah Lord GOD! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee." We need to realize that all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23, "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." We need to realize the limitless power of our God. Luke 1:37, "For with God nothing shall be impossible." I Corinthians 10:1-6, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted." I Corinthians 10:11, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." This is not fanaticism; this is faith.
Two young men in the First Baptist Church of Hammond lost their father by death. Upon hearing it, one of the young men went to the hospital where his father was lying lifeless. He had so wanted to talk with his dad before his dad passed away, and wanted to be there when his dad died. He went over to the corpse, pulled the sheet back and said, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" His daddy opened his eyes, and his boy got to talk with him. The next day his father died. The obituary was called into the newspaper, and I announced the death on the radio broadcast. Again the son went to his daddy's body and said, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" Again the man opened his eyes and lived for enough time for his boy to talk with him a while longer. When the Dad got to Heaven, as soon as he got there the Lord said, "I think your boy wants to talk with you again. I'll send you back just for a few minutes, but I can't let you stay very long, for I want you up here now." Then he went on to Heaven to stay. This should not seem so unusual. This doesn't happen every day; in fact, this is the only case like it that I have known in my ministry, but I'm convinced that God can do that if He wants to.
Several years ago while our present auditorium was being built, our church conducted services in the local Civic Center for about five months. One Sunday morning I was preaching there when one of our blind men who was at the time 57 years of age came running down the isle shouting, "I can see! I can see! I can see!" He ran up on the platform and told me. He said, "Brother Hyles, standing back there a while ago during the invitation, I saw my shoe and then I could see the crowd. Now, Brother Hyles, I can see you." He jokingly said, "You're not near as pretty as I thought you would be." Then he stood to tell the people what had happened.
One Sunday night I was preaching on the subject of miracles. Suddenly I was overcome with the fact that God was performing a miracle in the service at that time. I had never before said this, nor have I said it since, but I stopped the sermon and said, "I am convinced that God is performing a miracle at this time." The next week I received a letter from a student at Moody Bible Institute. She told how she had been in the service that previous Sunday night and that during the sermon one of her eyes that had been blind with dead nerve endings for years suddenly came alive and she could see out of it. Now I have been preaching for 37 years. These are the only two cases like this that I have known. I have never had a healing service nor a healing line, nor do I claim to possess the gifts of miracles, nor do I claim to be a mighty man of faith. I just claim to have a mighty God Who loves His children and is all powerful and is capable and sometimes willing to go beyond the natural in order to do the supernatural, and I contend that He is not old, tired and worn out, but that He is the same God that He always was!
