We're going to be looking at
an event the Lord has recorded in the book of Luke, chapter
8. And we're also going to be looking at Mark's account of
this, which gives a little more detail. So what I would do is
I would open your Bibles to the book of Luke, and Mark both Mark chapter 5 and Luke chapter
8, because we'll go back and forth a couple of times between
those two books. Sometimes it comes across. I was talking about in conversation
with my brother Mike Loveless earlier this morning. Men. God
has chosen men to get up and preach His Word before men. Let us never forget. Men are just that. At best, we are sinners saved
by grace just like anyone who belongs to the Lord Jesus. And we're capable of error in
our words just as anybody else is. Our desire and our goal and
our focus is always to stick with the Word of God. When we
start trying to interpret the Word of God according to what
we think we know, We will err, and err much. That's why Paul
says, I wish you know nothing of you save Christ and him crucified. And sometimes, in speaking about
faith, it may come across that we're putting too much emphasis
on faith, and not on what and where faith comes from. As children
of God, you know where your faith came from. Those of you who are
sitting here today, and I think most of those who are online
with us, and I know by speaking to each of you, that your faith
is not something that you just conjured up. You didn't just
one day get smart and say, okay, I'm going to stop doing all the
foolish things I've done in my life and I'm going to be smarter. You didn't listen to somebody
who could build you up through confidence in what you have done.
God has given you an ear to discern truth. And truth is this. Truth is this. We are saved by
grace. But don't stop there. It says
through faith. Faith isn't going to save you,
Jesus Christ saved you. What He did on that cross 2,000
years ago, a little over 2,000 years ago, shedding His perfect
righteous blood for His people, that's what saved us. God's wrath
had to be satisfied. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of His For us to be reconciled to God,
blood had to be shed. But you cannot be saved without
believing Christ. That's what faith is, it's believing.
And we know through the preaching of God's Word over the time that
God has had us coming to churches, to the church, to Bible studies,
to reading His Word, We know that that faith, that belief
that we have is important. We know it didn't save us, but
we know it is believing in the one who did save us. The gift of faith. Not of words,
let's mention those. We all know in our own hearts. Now I'm talking to you folks
that believe Christ. You know in your hearts that
if it wasn't for God and His power, His gift of faith, you
would not believe His word. And we know that because there
was a time we didn't believe, isn't there? Wasn't there? Was there a time in your life
when you didn't believe? Word had gone out about what
the Lord had done in Gadara. You recall in our last message,
He had gone across the sea, the demoniac man, He had cast out
the demons. Did you stop to realize that
when the Lord cast those demons out, when He was speaking to
those demons, there was a bunch of people around. They had all seen what had happened.
We know this because they ran into town and told those who
owned the swine, those who fed the swine, hey, this guy out
here who claims to be God just cast a whole bunch of demons
and we saw them into a herd of swine and they ran off the cliff
and died. So we know there were people
who were witnesses of this miracle. What a miracle to go out and
be spread around. We didn't have TV back then.
There was enough people who saw it that the story began to spread.
And word had gone out and people began to gather all around the
Lord Jesus. They began to follow Him everywhere
He went, hoping to see one of those miracles. It had spread all around about
what the Lord had done. And this master of the Jews,
Jairus, He came and he fell down at the feet of Jesus. Look at
Luke chapter 8 verse 41 and 42. And behold, there came a man
named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell
down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his
house. For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and
she lay dying. But as he went, the people thronged
him. Picture this. The Lord's walking
along. He says, OK, I'll go to your
house with you. And he's up and walking along. And he had been
in Galilee, in the different towns around Galilee. He had
already been healing all kinds of folks, as we remember reading
back there in Luke chapter 8. What verse was that? And he went his way, in verse
39, and published throughout all the city how great things
Jesus... No, that's not the right word. I may be confusing that
with Matthew. Oh well. So, the Lord had gone
out. He had saved... He had called
the man out in Gadareh. He had saved him from the demons.
They found him at the feet of Jesus in his right mind. He had
gone on now. He was with Jairus, and he was
going along. And there's all kinds of people around him. All
kinds... I mean, just a huge crowd. Because this man had fell down
at his feet and begged, begged the Lord to come into his house
and heal his daughter. What a prayer you and I have
for our loved ones, isn't it? Do we not, do we not cry to our
Lord daily for those we love? I have a son and daughter, a
couple of grandchildren, great-grandchildren. Oh, how I pray. that the day
will come when the Lord will call them out of darkness. Excitement
was in the air. Have you ever been in a crowd
of folks? Have you ever been in a football
game, basketball game, you get a bunch of people together, you
just can't help but join in with all the stuff that's going on. What excitement filled the air
as they followed this man. This man who claimed to be God's
Messiah, the Christ. God incarnate flesh. And he had
been backing up his claim by doing things that no one else
could possibly do. I just told you, we just talked
about the Gadarean, the man of Gadara, and the devils themselves
that were constrained. to publicly acknowledge that
the Lord was their God as well. He was the God with absolute
power over them, and He has absolute power over all things. And now He's on His way to heal
a young girl. She was at the point of death.
And everybody wanted to see a miracle. So they followed the Lord closely.
And as they moved along, a poor, stooped over, anemic woman, who
had been plagued with an issue of blood for 12 years, made her
way through the crowd. Look at verse 43. And a woman
having an issue of blood, 12 years, which had spent all her
life upon physicians, all her living upon physicians, neither
could be healed of any, came behind him and touched the border
of his garment. And immediately her issue of
blood was stanched, was dried up. I can almost see her now. I've been in a mosh pit. You
know what that is? Some of you may not know what
that is. That's where you get down in
a rock and roll band and you get down in the front of the
stage and there's nobody sitting because people are so close.
You can hardly breathe. Kathy, I remember her complaining
that she couldn't breathe. She had to get out of there because
there wasn't enough air for her. There were so many people in
a tight spot. that there wasn't enough air for a person her size
to breathe. I can imagine the Lord on his
way, and all these people thronging, that's what the word throng means,
shoulder to shoulder, packed, packed like sardines in a can,
and she's trying to make her way to this one that she had
heard about. Did you catch that? She had heard. Now remember, according to the
Leviticus law, she was unclean. She wasn't even allowed to be
on the streets during this time when others were. They were allowed
to go, those who were unclean were allowed to go out on the
streets, but not when the rest of, not when the righteous people
were out there. Yet here she is. People knew
who she was. Maybe on her hands and knees,
maybe. Everybody's so busy looking forward where they're walking,
they don't notice this woman crawling, maybe. Crawling out
of desperation. Do you remember when the Lord
brought you to know your desperation? I was on the road to Reno, or
Redding. It's a three hour drive in a
semi to Redding. I was on the road driving up
there and I was listening to Harold Camping preach a message
back before he got carried away with the false doctrine of leaving
the church. The Lord used that man to speak
to my heart one day. He taught me. Only God can do this. Only God
can grab a hold of one of his loved ones heart and pull out
that old stony heart, completely remove it, and put in a heart
of flesh willing to love him. And in doing that, he's got to
crush it. He's got to convince you that you need a physician. Picture this woman. On her knees,
crawling to the Lord. She's done everything she can.
She's gone to all the physicians there are. She spent all of her
money. And she's got nothing left. I was thinking about this. Her
issue. We've all got issues, right?
Some of us have different kinds of issues, but her issue was
blood. Her blood was not good enough. It did her no good. And she was
brought to know that. No one could help her. She tried
everything imaginable, yet she believed that Jesus of Nazareth
was indeed the Christ. the Son of God. She thought,
if I could just touch the hem of His garment. That tells me
this. Remember that poor publican we've
spoken about so many times who's over on the side? You know, you've
got the Pharisee who comes in, and he's all proud of himself.
He's wearing his clothes, and he's pounding his chest about,
Lord, I thank You that I'm not made like others. I do this,
I do that. I thank you that I'm not made
like that poor beggar over there. He doesn't see himself for who
he truly is. God has brought this poor woman
to the point of, if I could just touch, if I could just have a
little of the grace, it would be enough. If I could just have
a little bit of his grace, of his mercy, it would be all I
need. And as soon as she touched him,
the Lord stopped in his tracks, feeling the virtue, the power
go out of him. And he turned around and he said,
who touched me? Typical of Peter, wouldn't it?
Typical of Peter. Look at verses 45 and 46. And
Jesus said, Who touched me? And when all denied, Peter, and
they that were with him, said, Master, the multitude thronged
me, and pressed thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus
said, Somebody has touched me, for I perceive the virtue is
gone out of me. So we see Peter, he jumps right
up, first thing he does What are you asking us for? First
off, you know everything. We know that of God, don't we?
He knows everything. Why is He asking us? How can
we tell? Everybody's pressing up against
Him. How are we supposed to know who you're talking about? Our Lord stopped in His tracks
when He felt that virtue. come out of him and he said,
somebody touch him. Just as this poor woman was immediately
healed from her plague when she touched the Lord, so are sinners
healed of the plague of their hearts, freed from the curse
of the law and the guilt of sin as we touch the Lord by faith. We touch him by faith. Mark gives
us a little more detail of this account, so I want to pick up
the rest of this morning's subject with that. In Luke chapter 8
verse 43, we read these words, and a woman having an issue of
blood twelve years, which had spent all her life All her living
upon physicians, neither could be healed of any. Now look over
at Mark, if you would. Flip over to Mark and look at
Mark chapter 5, verses 25 through 26. And we see at a certain woman,
which had an issue of blood 12 years and suffered many things
of many physicians. and had spent all that she had
and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse. There's no greater evidence of
our total depravity than by nature the fact that
we will incur diseases and get sick and die. That's how depraved
we are. all sickness. That heart that
they've got to go in and repair, Brother Mike, they've got to
go in and repair it because we were born in sin. God cursed the whole earth, folks.
Everything. The very ground that we walk
on is cursed because of sin. Everything dies. That's why everything will have
to be burned up. There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
The old heaven and the old earth, they're all full of sin. This
old flesh that we walk in today, that can't go into heaven. That's
got to be transformed. The Lord may do it when He returns
from heaven. On the very blink of an eye,
He may transform His people at that point. But at one point
or another, we must leave this flesh behind. and be given a
new body. This woman's sickness was a specific
example of sin and the curse of God's law upon us all by nature. Her sickness, her unceasing issue
of blood was something that made her ceremonially unclean. We all come into this world with
the sickness that makes each and every one of us unclean,
unfit to be in the presence of God. To be in the presence of
God, to be fit in the presence of God, you must be as righteous
as God himself. Natural man doesn't believe that.
Oh, I'm not that bad. If you just fan my flame a little
bit, if I just fan my flame a little bit, you'll see there's some
light there. God's people know just as that
beggar, just as that publican, just as that woman, that there
is nothing good of this flesh that stands before you. I'm not deserving to stand in
the presence of God. And we know it. We've been brought
to know it. Everything we've done all of
our lives has brought us nothing. And here's what just amazes me
about it is we didn't know it. Until the Lord showed us the
truth, the truth of his glory, the truth of his righteousness,
we had no idea how deep we were in depravity. Mike wrote a poem
about it, something to do with how dark
is your life. I've got to get a copy of that,
Mike, so I quit misquoting it. See if you can find that for me,
will you? I know Norm Wells wants to read it too. This lady had an issue of blood
for 12 years. She was ceremonially unclean
according to the Levitical law given to us in Leviticus 1525.
Because of a disabling sickness that was killing her, this poor
soul had suffered many things from many physicians as we read
in Mark's version of it. She had been to every doctor
in town, including the quacks, the snake oil herbalists, and
the faith healers, and they were all countless, and they are all
countless physicians of no value. Did you catch that? They were
all physicians of no value to the souls of men. That's what
we read in Job 13.4, that ye are forgers of lies. Ye are all physicians of no value. Don Fortner. had some things in his commentary,
some statements in his commentary, and I thought this was good.
I want to share it with you. She may have gone to Dr. Decision.
Dr. Decision tells sinners that they
can be saved if they will simply make their decision for Jesus.
Do you think that helped her at all? She still had her issue,
didn't she? Dr. Begood exhorts the sinner
to reform his life. You think she changed her life? Said she did everything. She
spent all that she had. She went to all the doctors. Dr. Free Will admonishes the
sinner to will himself into life. Yeah, you're sick. That's all
right. Will yourself out of it. You can get out of this. Let
me pump you up. Dr. Ceremony urges the poor soul
to observe religious ordinances and sacraments to get the grace
that they need. If you'll just do this, God will
be gracious to you because you have earned it. Dr. Right Church tells poor
souls that they can be made whole if they get into the Right Church. Dr. Excitement urges the sin-sick
soul to seek a miracle, to speak in tongues, to pray through and
wrestle with God until He gives them what they ask of Him. Did
you know that prayer change is exactly that? If we get more
people to join in a prayer change, maybe God will change His mind
and fix whatever it is. I'm not speaking wrong against
those who pray to God earnestly. I'm talking about those who think
they're going to change God's mind by praying and getting more
people to pray for them. Dr. Emotion prescribes introspection
urging dead sinners to look within themselves for feelings of repentance
to look within themselves for the sorrow for their sins, to
look within themselves rather than longing for Christ. We are
also told that this poor dying woman, she had spent all that
she had just like those that are described in Isaiah 46.6,
lavishing out everything for the help of idols. They had gone
about making all kinds of different idols. They had gone about spending
every dime they had on gold and silver and idols that they could
hold in their hands, which was nothing but worthless. Physicians
of no value is what they were. And she was nothing better for
all that she had done. What a picture of religion without
Christ. I was listening to a message
earlier this week, and I heard all the right things. The man speaking of God spoke
all the words of the Bible as it was stated in the Word of
God. And afterwards I sat there and I thought to myself, where
was the blood? Where was the saving grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ in laying down His life? Where is the healing Word of
God that I, this broken soul, needed? Religion without Christ is exactly
that. There are positions of no value. Consider with me the crowd for
just a moment. Jesus said, who touched me? And
when all denied Peter, And they that were with him said, Master,
the multitude throng thee, and press thee, and sayest thou who
touches me. That was Luke chapter 8 verse 45. Listen to Mark chapter
5 verse 24 through 27. And Jesus went within him, and
much people followed him. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman,
which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many
things of many physicians, and had spent all she had, and was
nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard
of Jesus, came in, came in the press behind, and
touched his garment. Like the crowds that had pressed
the Lord Jesus, people come to church. They profess faith and
they claim to follow Him for many different reasons, some
being stirred by religious excitement. You'd be surprised how many people
love to go to church just to hear the bands. I've had people say, do you guys
have any good music at your church? I say, well yeah, we sing the
old hymns and praise our Lord and give Him all the glory. Nah,
but dude, don't you have any of that new stuff, you know?
I mean, uh... What's his name? Something Tan?
Tanner? Something like that. I don't
know. Don't you guys have any of his music? No? Oh, okay. Never saw him coming through
these doors. We were at a church one time.
A man had come here. And, uh... I agreed, alright,
I'll go to your church with you, because you came to mine. I've done that twice, I'll never,
ever, ever do that again. And they had fog blowing across
the stage behind me. The guy who claimed to be a preacher,
I don't even remember what he said. I got to a point where
I wouldn't even listen to him anymore. And I asked the guy,
I said, what's the fog for? Why do they have fog? We're in
a building. And they got fog blowing across
the stage. What in the world is that for?
Oh, that's just to highlight things and put an effect behind
the music to get you to come forward. That's what religious people
do. They go to church. They go to church just so they
can have a party. Many do so because they fear
going to hell. Crowds of people thronged our
Lord, it said, but this one, this one believed Him and who
He was, was doing all she could to touch Him. Lord, draw us to
follow her example. Now consider the cure, if you
would. Verses 45 and 46 of Luke chapter 8, and Jesus said, who
touched me? And when all denied, Peter and
they that were with him said, Master, what the multitude thronged
thee and pressed thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus
said, Somebody hath touched me, for I perceive that the virtue
hath gone out. Now listen to Mark's, if you
would. And when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind him
and touched his garment, for she said, if I may touch but
his clothes, I shall be whole. And straight away the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt her body that she had
healed of the plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about
in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? And he said unto
her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. This is verse
34. Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Now, there are
several things here which ought to catch our attention. reading
this story might miss it, important aspects of it, and they put all
the emphasis on the woman. Inspiration puts all the emphasis
on the woman only as the recipient of mercy and the benefactor of
God's grace. But insofar as the act of mercy
and the work of grace are concerned, the emphasis must be placed on
the Savior who gives the acts of mercy and the acts of grace.
This woman was made whole in exactly the same way that you
and I have been made whole. Exactly as all of God's people
are made whole through the grace of God, and that is through the
grace of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus. She was made whole
by a five-fold work of God, and I want to point these out to
you. The first is the work of Providence. Was it an accident? Was it just
by chance? Was it just, well, perhaps at
this moment in time, this man came to the Lord Jesus, and all
these people were following him, and it was just a random day
passed by, and this woman who had had an issue, oh, oh, what? There goes the Lord! Maybe I
can touch Him with His garment. Was this all just by random? That's what the world may teach.
God has done all that he can. By chance, will you accept it? Folks, we don't preach anything
but sovereign, ruler, God of all that is. There is no such
thing as chance. God purposed Jairus to come to
Him that very day. God had purposed Him so that
He would agree at that moment, I'll come to your home. And we're
going to look at that next week where He heals the daughter of
Jairus. But this week we're looking at this woman that God had purposed
to be there at that very time. Do you know God has purposed
you to be here right now? Every one of you. And He has
purposed every person that is not here today to be not here.
He's purposed everything or He's not God. Our Lord performed a work of
providence here that very day. He was planning and had purposed
from before the world was to heal this woman just as He was
purposed to heal you. That which was the destruction
and the death of this woman was the instrument of God to bring
her to His mercy. By His wise and gracious good
providence, the God of all grace brings chosen sinners at their
appointed time of love to Himself. Secondly, we see the work of
the Word. She came to Christ in faith when she had heard of
Jesus. Isn't that what we read back
there in Mark 5, verse 27? When she had heard of Jesus,
came and depressed behind and touched His garment. It was the work of the Word.
No one is ever saved apart from the hearing of Christ, the hearing
of the Gospel. God never bypasses the appointed
means of His grace. Thirdly, we see a work of grace. The grace of God is not verbally
mentioned in the text, but it is written all over it, is it
not? Grace had chosen a certain woman that we read about. Grace
had brought the Lord Jesus to pass her by. Grace had caused
her to hear about Him. And grace gave her faith and
wrought faith in her. Turn over to Colossians chapter
2. We'll come back to our text there
in just a moment. Colossians, right after Philippians.
You've got Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. It's just a small book and I
keep passing by it all the time. Turn over to Colossians. Look at chapter 2, verse 12. buried with him in baptism, where
and also ye are risen with him through faith of the operation
of God who hath raised him from the dead." The operation of faith
from God, of God. Fourth, we see a work of faith.
This woman's faith is like all true faith. It was a gift of
God, yet it was her faith. She chose to come to Christ.
She chose to believe on the Son of God. She was made willing
in the day of His power, but she was willing. She was caused
to come by the sweet constraint of grace, but she did come. Fifthly, we see a work of omnipotence.
The all-knowing God, the arm of God's omnipotent grace, almighty,
irresistible power, bringing this poor soul to pass exactly
according to He, His everlasting purpose of love and grace. The
virtue went out of the Savior to this woman. It was His own omnipotent grace
that was the virtue. Now I want to consider the confession.
It says in Luke 8 verse 47, And when the woman saw that she was
not hid, she came trembling and falling down before Him. She
declared unto Him before all the people. That means everybody
around that entire throng was listening to her. Remember, the
Lord stopped. They were listening to her. And
she declared unto him before all the people for what cause
she had touched him. This is why I touched you. And
how she was healed immediately from it. Now listen to Mark's
version of it, or you can turn over to Mark chapter 5, verse
30 through 33. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about
in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples
said unto him, Thou seest a multitude thronging me, and sayest thou,
Who touchest me? And he looked round about to
see her that had done this thing, But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him
and told him all truth. You think our Lord asked who
touched me because he didn't know? No. What did that do by the Lord
asking that question? He caused her. He caused her. Blessed is the man whom God will
call and cause. He caused her to confess by faith
that He is God. In Romans 10.10 we read these
words, With the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This
woman came and told the Savior in front of everybody, publicly,
all truth. She told the Lord Jesus about
her plague, the power of His grace she experienced within,
and the cure of His omnipotent mercy had been wrought upon her. Folks, we don't need to blow
our trumpets out in the streets. and force others to hear us when
they choose not to. However, it is required that
we identify ourselves with Christ and His gospel publicly. The
people of God are not ashamed to confess Christ before men,
both in believers' baptism and as His witnesses. This woman's confession did not
cause her to be healed any more than the believer's confession
of Christ causes him to be saved. Our confession of faith in Christ
is not a confession made that we might be saved, but a confession
made of salvation granted to us. With our mouths we make Confession
with reverence to the salvation, with reference to the salvation
that Christ has bestowed upon us. And lastly I want to consider
this, her condemnation. And he said under her in verse
48, daughter be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole,
go in peace. Here our Lord Jesus is declaring
the source of comfort. It is faith in Him. He also commends
faith, that great work of grace of which He Himself is both the
object and the author of it. Nothing brings such glory to
Christ as that faith which looks to Christ for everything. Nothing
is so useful to our souls as the faith in Christ. The believer's
life is a life of faith in Christ. We begin in faith. We live by
faith. We stand in faith. We walk by
faith. We have peace with God through
faith. We see the glory of God by faith. And we die in faith. We were
talking about that earlier. So many we know and love come
to that doormark death and are so afraid. I don't want to be
afraid either. But if I'm not, it's because
I believe Him who says not to me. Folks, nothing is more important
than this. The words of our Savior Himself, Dost thou believe on
the Son of God? The primary object of this miracle
is not the woman's great faith, but our blessed Savior's great
grace. Though at the time unknown to
her the faith she had in Him was faith He had given her and
bestowed in her by His Spirit. Look with me if you would at
Colossians 2 one more time. Again, beginning at verse 10.
And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality
and power. In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, and in putting off the
body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,
buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
faith, through the faith of the operation of God. who hath raised
him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sin,
and of the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened,
made alive, together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which is contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. In having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Let this be a point of personal
self-examination for each and every one of us. Is my faith
real? Do I say that to scare you? No. Our Lord tells us, examine yourselves. Am I in the faith? Is my faith
real? If my faith is in Him and Him
alone. And there's no faith, there's
no confidence in this flesh. But I can trust everything He
says. And I believe all that He says.
And my faith is in Him, not in this flesh. Do I have faith? Absolutely. My trusting in Him is a work.
I don't even trust that. But I can trust Him who does
a good work in me. If He has begun a good work in
me, you know what it says in Scripture? He'll finish it. Let me just quote that correctly. I'll turn over here to Ephesians
chapter 2. That at the time Verse 11, Wherefore
remember that ye, being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, were
called uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision
of the flesh made by the hands, that at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Oh, I
went too far. Actually, I want to back up and
read verse 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. What is that good works? It's
faith in Him, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. Your faith is in the Lord Jesus.