Turning now to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. And as always,
I'm going to give you the title of the message in the beginning.
I'm taking the title for the message from the words found
in verse 48. The Lord said, Thy faith hath
made thee whole. Complete. Complete. Whole. Nothing lacking. Think
about this verse. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand whole. Complete. Nothing lacking. Thy faith may be whole. Go in
peace. Thy faith. Thy faith. Where'd
she get that faith? Well, we know it's the gift of
God, is it not? Faith is never the cause of salvation. Now did you get that? Faith is
never the cause of salvation, but rather is always the fruit
and evidence of salvation that has been received by the grace
of God. Evidence of salvation that has
been received by faith. We read this, without faith It
is impossible to please God. What a precious, perfect gift
God gives us saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
good gift, every perfect gift comes from above. Simon Peter,
a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained,
he said, we've obtained like precious faith. with us through
the righteousness of God our Savior Jesus Christ. We only
have faith because of the righteous obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because of His obedience unto death. Faith is the Lord's sovereign
gift unto His people. He gives that precious gift to
whom He will. He will have mercy on whom He
will and He will give faith to whom He will. By this faith,
the faith of God's elect, we enjoy the precious promises of
God. To you who believe, He is precious
and we believe by the God-given gift called faith. Faith is a gift of God. Now,
Let's go back in this story here, Luke chapter 8 verse 40. Luke
chapter 8 verse 40. And we see these words here,
and it came to pass. And it came to pass. You know
how many times that's written in the Word of God? Well, I looked
it up. Over 400 times it says that it
came to pass. Now, whenever you read that,
Remember this, it came to pass by purpose, by purpose. Everything that come to pass,
come to pass by purpose. Everything in this life, in the
believer's life is ordered by the good, wise, and sovereign
Purpose and providence of God and it is for his glory and for
the good of his church Of him and through him and to him are
all things to whom be glory both now and forever Romans 11 36
the Lord Jesus Christ it came to pass the Lord Jesus Christ
is crossed over the Sea of Galilee to a city of Gadara to meet a
wild man of the tombs, the wild Gadarenes called, and the Lord
met him on purpose. He went over the sea on purpose
and made this wild man, demon-possessed man, made him a new creature
in Christ. You remember he was clothed.
Where did he get those clothes? The Lord provided those clothes.
He was seated at the feet of the Lord, clothed in that righteousness
we have in Christ, and in his right mind. A right mind is one
who believes God. Now the Lord crosses back over
the sea to meet this poor, diseased woman, with the issue of blood. What can we learn from that?
The good shepherd of the sheep is on the trail of his sheep
and will in due time cross their path and save them by his almighty
grace. It's no accident that you ran
into the gospel one day because the Lord was looking for you
And He crossed your path and saved you by His grace. Now notice the last part of verse
40. There in Capernaum, when he crossed back over, the people
gladly received him, for they were all waiting for him. You remember the people of Gadara
asked him to leave the city, remember? Back to verse 37. The
whole multitude of the country was gathering round about, but
sought him to depart from them. They said, we don't want anything
to do with you, you just leave us alone. And he did. He left
town. went back over the Sea of Galilee,
and the people there in Capernaum received him gladly. They were
waiting for him, anticipating his mercy. shown to sinners,
and among that crowd we have the story of these two men, or
these two people. One, this man named Jairus, who
had a 12-year-old daughter who was dying, and then we have the
story of this woman who had the issue of blood. Both were in
need of the Lord's mercy, and both were objects of the Lord's
mercy. Now, I want to count today We'll
talk about Jairus, who was the ruler of the synagogue, 12-year-old
daughter, was dying, and indeed did die, and the Lord raised
her from the dead. But I want to, today, camp for
a little while on verse 43 down through verse 48 on this story
of this woman. We have this story given to us
here in Luke 8 and in Matthew 8 and in Mark 5. It's an interesting
story of this woman with an issue of blood. Now, I want you to
put yourself in her place. If you were sick and dying and
knew it, What would you do? Would you just sit still and
think, well, I'm going to die? No, you would seek out help,
would you not? Wouldn't you seek out the best
doctor? And that's what she did. She had an issue of blood and
the Lord healed her. Her name was not given. It says
in Mark 5, a certain woman, but the Lord knows his name by sheep
and calls them out. You see, all their names are
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. When were their names written
in the land book of life? Before the foundation of the
world. Their names were written in the book of life. He chose
them by His electing love. He chose this lady from all eternity
and made her an object of His love. When the Lord was pressed
in this crowd of people, there came behind Him this poor diseased
woman who was bleeding to death, who heard that the Lord had healed
others who were in need of healing. She pushes her way through this
crowd. Using what little strength? I
imagine she was just whittled away, probably didn't weigh a
hundred pounds, and here she's pushing her way through this
crowd with her eye fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And somehow,
she comes to the Lord Jesus Christ with what little strength she
has. She reaches out in faith, the hand of faith, and touches
the Lord Jesus Christ, and immediately, She's healed. Now, what motivated
her? What drove her? Two things. Her need and her Savior. She had a great need. She knew
she was dying and desperate. And she knew the Lord Jesus Christ
was the answer. Oh, if I can get to Him, I'll
be healed. What can we learn from this story?
What can we take home from this story? Well, primarily is this,
how God saves sinners. You remember, He came for that
purpose. In every healing, in every instant we have in the
Gospels of the Lord showing mercy to sinners is a picture of God
saving mercy to us. And you know, as I read through
these stories and read through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark and
Luke, I've never found one time, not one time, did the Lord Jesus
Christ ever turn a needy mercy beggar away. All that came to
Him for mercy, He showed them mercy. Turn one page over here
to Luke 9, verse 11. It says, "...the people, when
they knew it, they followed Him, and He received them, and spake
unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need
of healing." He met their need. You see, our God is able to meet
all our need according to His riches in glory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, four things I want us to
consider this morning. First of all, is the curse of
sin. Why was this woman diseased?
Why was she diseased? Secondly, the killer of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's almighty to save. And then we have this woman's
confession. Who touched me? Somebody touched me. She said,
I did. I did. She didn't remain silent,
did she? She said before all the people,
I did. And then lastly, fourthly, we
see the Lord's commendation of peace. Go in peace. Go in peace. Comfort. Thy faith may thee hold. Now, let's take the first point. The curse of sin. And we see
this all the way through. Why can't we just skip this point?
Well, if you don't understand the problem, you won't see the
need of the remedy. Those who are sinners need a
Savior. Those who are ruined in sin need a Redeemer. Why was
this woman suffering from such an incurable disease? She had
been, as we said, to many physicians. They could not help her. Nor
could they heal her. It's not that they would not,
it's that they could not. That is, they had no ability.
No ability whatsoever. We read in Mark 5, she spent
all she had on these physicians, and the Scripture said, she was
none better, but rather grew worse. Now there's no greater
evidence. Now think with me. There's no
greater evidence of our sinful state and fallen condition than
that of sickness and death. When sin is finished, it brings
forth what? Death. The wages of sin is death. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. By one man sin entered into this
world, and death by sin. For in Him all have sinned."
We are all sinners, and we know that because the Word teaches
us. But don't we know that by experience too? by being taught
of God, we are sinners. When sin is finished with this
flesh, it brings this flesh, our Lord said, back to the dust
it will go. You can pump it, paint it, pamper
it, do everything you want to this flesh, but it's still flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. If men were not sinners, we would
never get sick, we would never die, no more funerals, No more
mortuaries, no more cemeteries. If men were not sinners, we'd
never get sick, we'd never die. Some say, some in religion say,
we live above sin now. You ever heard that? Some people
say, well, I used to be, but I live above sin now. Well, if
that's true, cancel every doctor appointment you've ever made,
Cancel your health insurance, too. You don't need health insurance
anymore. Just cancel Obamacare. They're going to repeal it anyway.
But cancel your health insurance. If you're not a sinner, you're
never going to get sick. But the Word of God said there's
none righteous, no, not one. Why did this body ache and throb
and hurt and just fall apart? Why? Sin. S-I-N. To say that you're not
a sinner is to confess, confess you need not a Savior. You see, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. If we
say we've not sinned, we've made God a liar because He said that
we are sinners. Now, I want you to listen very
carefully to me. on this point right here. I know that we have
among us a terrible epidemic of drug overdose. Every family's
been touched by drug overdose, haven't they? I weep with those
that have lost their loved ones and my heart just breaks. I'm
not making light of that at all. But listen to me carefully. The
drugs are not the root of the problem. The drugs are not the
root of the problem. Drugs have not ruined people.
People have ruined drugs. Drugs prescribed by a doctor
are good things the Lord has given to us to help this vile
flesh cope with our terminal disease. Doctors every day prescribe
drugs to their patients with this warning. Take as prescribed. Why do people abuse these things? Why do people abuse drugs? Prescribed
and unprescribed. Why do they do such things? Because
we're sinners. Do you understand that? The problem
is that we're sinners. You see, sin is not in a box
or a bottle. It's the nature and principle
of our heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. People would not abuse these
things if they were not sinners. Sin is the problem. What we need is salvation. It's
like people, the same argument can be made this way. People
want to outlaw guns. Don't they? Some people want
to outlaw guns. They think if they can outlaw
a gun, there will be no more killing, no more death. They
just find something else. You see, the guns are not the
problem, are they? It's the foe who pulls the trigger.
It's the sinner who pulls the trigger. You can outlaw every
gun. Stack arms, do away with all
the guns. Cain still rose up and killed
his brother. What do you use? A club? A rock? Or something? You see, the problem
here is the heart. It's the point I'm trying to
make. It's the heart. It's the wickedness of our heart.
This woman was sick and dying and diseased. Why? Because of
sin. That's our problem. You see that
as your problem? You'll never seek salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ until you understand that you're the problem. Sin is all your fault. You're
the problem. Don't say, I'm the victim of
circumstances. Don't play the victim card. No,
you're guilty. You've sinned against God. You're
the guilty one. This poor woman tried every physician
in town to find a cure, spent all she had, and still was suffering. She knew she had a problem because
she was bleeding to death from this disease. She went to every doctor in town,
spent all her living, got no relief, no comfort. People in
religion today try the same approach to their sin problem with the
same results, was nothing better, but rather grew worse. People today, they go, religious
people, go to every religious doctor in town, don't they? They
try, doctor, be good. His prescription is, well, just
be good. Okay, do it. Do it. If you can be good, do
it. Well, there's none good, not one. When Dr. Be Good doesn't work,
they try Dr. Decision, or just make a decision
to do right. And that doesn't work. Then they
try Dr. Free Will. Then they try Dr. Ceremony. They
go to Dr. Right Church. We're in the right
church. Then they go to Dr. Feel Good,
or Dr. Excitement, or Dr. Emotion. But
with the same results, no sin atonement, No righteousness given,
they only grow worse and worse and worse. Don't go to any but
to the great physician of souls, that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember what Job said of his friends, they are forger of lies
and they're all physicians of no value. Religion without the
Lord Jesus Christ will not profit you one thing or give you one
advantage. It will only make your case worse
because you will be hiding in a refuge of lies instead of the
truth. You see, he that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. So there is
the sin problem, the curse of sin. Here's the good news, the
cure of Christ. Or Christ Himself is the cure.
He said in verse 46, power and virtue. He said, somebody had
touched me for I perceived that virtue, power is gone out of
me. She had a real problem. The only
answer was the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of the preaching we are
hearing in religious places today and other churches where the
gospel of God's grace is denied, they put the whole emphasis upon
what the sinner must do in order to be saved, instead of what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for the sinner. Remember what
the Lord said to the wild man of the Gadarenes? Look at verse
39, Luke 8. He said, return to thy own house,
go back to your own family, your own kinfolk, and show how great
things God had done for thee. That's our story, what God had
done for us. You see, the gospel is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ, His glory, His grace, His mercy, His power,
His love, His salvation, salvations of the Lord. It's not about you. The Gospel of God is concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice carefully the work of
God's grace in this conversion story, in this healing story. Three things we see. The work
of the Lord's sovereign providence. This was no chance meeting. The Lord just didn't bump into
this woman. He was surrounded by this crowd
of people. And there was one woman in that
crowd, this certain woman that God had chosen unto salvation
that must meet the Savior. The Lord crosses her path. with
the gospel truth and saves her by His purpose and His grace. That's exactly the same way He
saves every sinner by His purpose, by His grace. God has never saved
one sinner by accident. We read it in Romans 8 this morning,
by His purpose and by His grace. The second thing we know is this,
not only the Lord's sovereign work in providence, but the hearing
of the Word. We read in Mark 5, verse 27,
when she heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, she came to Him and reached
out with the hand of faith and touched Him. She came to Christ. when she heard of Him, and not
before." You cannot believe in someone you have never heard
of. There must be the preaching of the gospel and the hearing
of the gospel, and both the operation come from the sovereign will
of God. The preaching of the gospel,
the sending forth of His Word, and the hearing of the gospel. He gives us ears to hear and
He gives us eyes to see Him. The Lord has ordered the means
whereby He is pleased to call out His people. with the gospel
truth. She heard the word, not with
word, not in ear, not in word only, but in the power of God
the Holy Spirit. It has pleased God to call out
His people with the preaching of the gospel of His own will,
be yet He us with the word of truth. The third thing we know
about this saving operation of God's marvelous grace, the mighty
work of His sovereign, almighty grace, in her healing. Although the word grace is not
found in the text, certainly the truth of God's grace is written
all over the story and not virtue and power came out of Him. He is the God of all grace, the
God of all power. It was that eternal grace that
chose this certain woman unto salvation. It was the gift of
God's grace that caused her to seek the Lord Jesus Christ in
mercy. Where did she get that faith
to reach out and touch the Lord? The gift of God. And it was the
power of God's grace that made her whole. For I perceive that
virtue and power is gone out of me." As soon as she touched
the Lord Jesus Christ, He made her whole. Now, here's the third
thing I want us to see is this. The woman's confession of faith.
Verse 47, And when the woman saw that she
was not hid, Now, I kind of get the picture that the Lord was
walking along, and this crowd of people around Him, and this
woman comes up behind Him. She reaches out with her hand,
it's the hand of faith. She laid hold upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He stops. And He said, virtue has gone
out of Me. Power has gone out of Me. The Lord stopped and asked
this question, Who touched Me? Who touched me?" And when the
woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling with a spirit
of worship, reverence, falling down before Him. And that's submission
unto the Lord. Lord, I'm your servant. Do with
me what you will. And she declared unto him, and
before all the people, for what cause she had touched him. You remember she said, if I could
but touch his garments, I will be whole. And how she was healed
immediately. Now, this woman knew this. She
didn't heal herself. She knew that, didn't she? She
knew that the Lord was the source of her healing. Who touched me? With the heart and hand of faith.
The all-knowing Lord knew exactly who touched Him with the hand
of faith. But He does not let this woman
go away unnoticed, does He? He stops, turns around and says,
Who touched me? And the woman said, I did Lord,
I did. He draws her rather than letting
her go away unnoticed, but rather draws her closer to him that
she might confess what had taken place, how she was healed, that
she might glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. She comes to him and
confesses all that the Lord had done. She was not ashamed to
own him. She was not ashamed of what had
taken place and how she was immediately healed. is never ashamed of Christ. We
say with the apostle, I know whom I have believed and I'm
persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. Saving faith is never ashamed
of Christ. You remember Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the power of God and the salvation
of everyone that believe it. When the Lord is pleased to reveal
himself unto us and give us faith in Christ, let us boldly confess
that our salvation is of the Lord. It is of the Lord. Now turn one page, Luke 9, 23. Our Lord said this, Luke 9, 23,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me. Luke 9, 24, For whosoever will
save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. What? Is a man advantaged
if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him,
shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in His glory,
and in His Father's glory, and the holy angels with Him." You
see, saving faith is never a shame to confess our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to find Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 8, Romans 10 verse
8. What is it? The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart. Romans 10 verse
8. That is the word of faith which
we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Confessing Christ. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, Isaiah 28, 16. For there
is no difference between a Jew and a Greek. For the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I'm one
of those whosoevers. I call upon the name of the Lord,
and I call upon Him because He first called me." You see, this
is our conversion story, is it not? We were dying with the deadly
disease of sin, and the Lord Jesus Christ healed us. Remember Isaiah 53? With His
stripes we are healed. We were lost, and He found us. You know, man is never saved
until he's first lost. Lost, I mean lost and guilty. We were dying with a deadly disease
of sin and the Lord healed us. We were lost, dead in sin and
He found us, gave us life, quickened us when we were dead. We were
blind and He gave us eyes of faith to see Him. How do believers
today confess the Lord Jesus Christ has done a work of grace
in our heart? Well, two things. By identifying
with the Lord Jesus Christ in believer's baptism, that's our
confession of Christ, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. We're not baptized to be saved,
We are not baptized to wash away our sin. We are not baptized
to be sanctified with God the Holy Spirit. We are baptized
confessing that Christ has put away our sin. We are baptized
confessing that the Lord Jesus Christ saved us by His grace
and made us righteous in Christ and has done the work of sanctification
in our heart. You see, it's confession of Christ.
His death, His burial, His resurrection is all my salvation before God. And then by identifying secondly
with the Lord's people, the people of God, to worship the true and
living God, we identify with the gospel by identifying with
His people. And we're making this confession,
this salvation of the Lord. It's His doing, the doing and
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the last thing we
find in Luke chapter 8. Verse 48, the Lord's commendation
and pronouncement of peace to her, and He said to her, daughter,
be of good cheer, be of good comfort, Thy faith hath made
thee whole, complete." Now, you have peace. You have peace with
God. "...through our Lord Jesus Christ."
We have peace by believing Him. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, notice
several things here. He calls her His daughter. In other words, He's saying,
you're my child. You're my child. Now, as a parent, when my children
were sick, I did everything that I could do to make sure they
had proper attention. They were my children. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, as our Heavenly Father, cares for his children. You're my child, by my choice,
by my love, I've set my love upon you. He says, you're mine. I chose you, I bought you, I
redeemed you, and I've made you whole. Secondly, he says to her,
be of good comfort or be of good cheer. Now why should this woman
be of good cheer? Well, remember the story back
here, turn to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. You remember the paralyzed man
who could not walk, and his four friends brought him to the Lord,
and they couldn't get in the house because it was jam-packed,
and they took off the ceiling, remember? The tiles, and started
letting this man, lowering him down before the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 9, Verse 2,
Behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a
bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith,
said unto the sick of palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
are forgiven. Boy, that's a good reason to
be of good cheer. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. We are redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ. You know, He's called the God
of comfort. He's a God of all grace, the
God of all comfort, and He's a God of all peace. The Lord
Jesus Christ. And then He says, Thy faith made
thee whole. Thy faith made thee whole." Now,
what was the object of her faith? What was the object of her faith?
It wasn't her faith. The object of her faith was Christ.
Christ. Nothing gives more honor and
glory to the Lord Jesus Christ than by believing Him. Abraham
was strong in faith, believing God, giving to God all the honor
and glory. Now, as I said in the beginning
of this message, Faith is never the cause of salvation. The cause
of salvation is His grace, His purpose, which is an eternal
purpose. Faith does not accomplish or produce salvation, but the
faith of God the elect does receive all of salvation that is accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you get that? He prayed in
John 17, Father, I finished all the work You gave me to do. Saving faith lays hold upon the
Christ of God that finished all of salvation for us. And that
saving faith is a gift of God. The believer's life is a life
of faith. Four times in the Word of God
it says the just shall live by faith. We begin in faith. He gives us life. Whoever is born of God believes
the gospel. We begin in faith by Him giving
us life in Christ. We continue to walk in faith
as He keeps us by His grace. We see the glory of God by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And by His grace, every believer
will die in faith. We begin in faith. We walk in
faith. We continue in faith. We see
the glory of God by faith in Christ, and one day will die
believing God. To be absent from this body is
to be present with the Lord. For me to live is Christ, to
die is gain. Oh, may the Lord be pleased to
give us, every one of us, this precious gift of faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make us to know that our God shall supply
all our need according to His riches in glory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, that's a good story. That's
a true story. How the Lord healed this woman
And it's a pattern and picture of how God saves us and heals
us in Christ. He is our healer. He is our great
physician.