Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Mark,
chapter 5, and reading from our text, verses 25 through to 29. The Gospel according to Mark. We must commence reading from
our text from verse 25. And a certain woman which had
an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things
of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing
bettered but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus,
came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she
said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague." Gospel according to Mark chapter 5 verses
25 to 29. We have in this chapter three
accounts of the wonderful power of God in healing. and each one of them in a very
different way. We have the case of the mad Gadarene
and the very vivid description that is given of him, that he
was possessed with an unclean spirit, dwelt among the tombs,
and that no man could bind him, not even with chains. And the picture is there, those
chains and fetters, even those, they were broken asunder by him. A case that was completely beyond
the help of man, the ability of man to restrain or to change
in any way at all. We don't know how long at all
he'd been like this. This is completely left untold,
just the condition that he was in and where he was. But we read that when he saw
Jesus afar off, that he ran and worshipped him. And the Lord
wrought a profound change in that dear man. a change that
caused even fear in those that saw it, that such power should
be given to what they viewed was a man, such power that should
take out the devils from him and be the cause of the death
of two thousand swine. Then we have that contrasted
with the case of the ruler of the synagogue's 12-year-old daughter. When her Lord came over to the
other side, he comes to him and at that point his daughter is
not yet dead, but at the point of death. And he prays that he
would come and lay hands on her and she would be healed. Our Lord, when He is going to
her, then has this woman only named as a certain woman, who
for the same length of time as the daughter had been twelve
years, she had been in affliction. What a contrast! It may be supposed that the ruler
Jairus had had his daughter enjoying good health for 12 years, but
suddenly ill and at the point of death, we don't know. But
here we read just of her right at the end, and then she does
die and the Lord raises her up from death. Whereas with this certain woman,
for all of those twelve years she'd had this affliction laid
upon her, unable to have it removed by any. And even though the Lord
is in the midst of going somewhere else and attending to another
case, and there's a crowd all around Him, yet she obtains the
blessing and she obtains healing. We are told that the people of
God are chosen in the furnace of affliction. And our Lord was very clear,
that in the world you shall have tribulation, in me you shall
have peace, but in the world you shall have tribulation. And
the apostles, when they would comfort the disciples, they told
them, you must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom. They weren't telling them anything
new. They were already in affliction. They were already in tribulation. Great trouble is what tribulation
means. But it is a comfort to know that
this is the path God's children walk. This is the crosses they
have. This is the path we are to expect. We're not to expect that God's
children will have no afflictions, no trials, no illnesses, no tribulation,
no the contrary to it. And here we have very different
cases, but it is the case of the woman described as a certain
woman with the issue of blood that I desire to bring before
you this evening, though we may refer back to some of the other
cases along the way. I want to use each of the verses
that we have read as our text as a point. Firstly, her complaint of twelve
years. Secondly, her suffering at the
hand of physicians. And thirdly, her actions when
she heard of Jesus. And lastly, her cure. Firstly, that which was her complaint. In verse 25 we just read this,
and a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve years. That was what her complaint was
described as, a constant bleeding, you might say, an issuing of
blood for 12 years. Very different than the others. We must remember that it is God
that chooses our tribulations and not only chooses our tribulations
but chooses the duration of them and the severity of them is a
very easy for us to compare ourselves with others, we may read obituaries
or autobiographies, and read the path of other of the Lord's
people, and of the cures that they'd had, and of how faith
acted, and how the Lord appeared for them. But really, if anything,
this chapter, it tells us and highlights the great variety
the differences between the cases of the Lord's people, that we
are not to pattern ourselves off others. We're not to say,
well, here is the certain woman. I can't expect to be healed until
I've had 12 years of afflictions. Because then we could take you
to Jairus's daughter, and we could say, well, there's no mention
of the length of time there. It seemed very quick, very sudden.
But then you might say, well, with Jairus's daughter, I can't
expect that there'd be healing, that there'd be death first. We cannot put a pattern on it. I believe this is one of the
wisdoms of the Holy Spirit in putting a silence over Paul's
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. Because we do not know
exactly what that was, we can have a very good idea of it.
But I believe the wisdom of the Holy Spirit is to draw a cloud
over that so that we cannot say exactly what it was. And therefore,
the people of God that have what may be described as that messenger
of Satan, the thorn in the flesh, may not have it ruled out by
thinking, well, that's not exactly what the apostle had. So here,
with this dear woman, the thing is that eventually, this illness,
this affliction, it was what was used to bring her to the
Lord. But I want to really notice in
the literal effect of this illness, because all of us will have illnesses,
pains and afflictions. And some of us, we have them
now. We may be seeking physicians
and that now. But whatever it is, may we be helped to be submissive
to the Lord's choice for us. To say with dear David, when
he had numbered Israel and the prophet gave him, or the Lord
through the prophet gave him, the choice, choose thou, which
of three things? And he says, let me now fall
into the hand of the Lord. He knew the Lord was merciful
and kind and gracious. What would we do if the Lord
told us, well, you must as sinners have tribulation here below.
It will work for good, but you must have it. You choose. You
choose. Are you going to have affliction
yourself or will it be your husband or will it be your wife? Or is
it going to be in your children? Will you have rebellious children? Will you have those that are
like Samuel's or Eli's children? Are you going to have trouble
in your house like David had and the sword in his house? You
choose. I think we would be thankful
where the Lord is pleased to choose. And maybe this evening
look at what the Lord has chosen for us in our lives. And I hope we may be able to
see the Lord's wisdom, see in past troubles and afflictions
how he's made it work together for good. and be helped in present
afflictions and present trials to see the Lord's appointment
and the Lord's hand. Now I don't expect, even if we
see it, that it will make these things any easier to bear. The pain will still be the same. The debilitating effect will
still be the same. the lack of freedom of movement
or ability to do things will still be the same. Whatever it
is that makes this a grievous bodily, mental affliction, sometimes
it's not even seen outwardly, it's just inside, which men can't see,
and because of that you don't get any sympathy from it, and
yet as severe an affliction as if you'd broken a leg or broken
an arm. And sometimes it is, that it
might be a multitude of different afflictions all united, not just
one, but many complications, many things joined together.
And so I don't expect that even if we are able to see the Lord's
appointment, that it'll make it any different. It won't make
it suddenly not tribulation, not trial, not affliction. It
will still be there. But it does make a big difference
when we're able to see it is God in control. not man, not
chance, not fortune, but a loving, kind, gracious, merciful God. A God who has not dealt with
us as our sins have deserved. A God who has not visited upon
us things that many of our dear brethren have had to suffer and
walk through." So her complaint in a literal way. But what about this in a spiritual
way? By nature we are born in sin
and shapen in iniquity, but a man that is dead in sin is not troubled
with sin. You know, David says, my loins
are filled with a loathsome disease, and I'm leaving you very much
what the Apostle Paul knew of the working of sin in his members. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? When the commandment
came, sin revived, and he died. For the first time, the trouble
that he had, the affliction that he had, was because of sin, not just the consequences of
sin. but because of sin itself. God be merciful to me, a sinner,
was the publican's cry, not God be merciful to me because my
sins have done this and this and this in my life, but because
I am a sinner. Here on my heart, says the hymn
writer, the burden lies, and past offences pain mine eyes. when we realize what besetting
sins we have, when we realize how attuned with Satan we are,
so open to his suggestions and temptations, when every man,
as Solomon says, shall know the plague of his own heart. And
that becomes an affliction that belongs to the quickened, living
family of God, not to those dead in trespasses and sin. Now again
we might say in this, This woman had a complaint for 12 years. Some say, well, yes, you've got
to be under conviction of sin for a long while. But I know
some of the Lord's servants, some of the Lord's people. I
think Ralph Warboys was one. The Lord brought him into gospel
liberty within 16 days of his first conviction. In fact, brought
him later on into more concern over his sin. The Lord doesn't
run along lines that we set. We think of those of the day
of Pentecost, and as Peter preached that one sermon, they were pricked
in their heart, they fell under it. But then, at that same time,
they were brought to repent, and to believe, and to be baptized,
and to continue with the apostles in breaking of bread. We do not
need to say, well, if it is a true conviction of sin, it must be
over a certain period of time. But this was this woman's complaint. It was her affliction, and what
followed on from that showed the reality of it. So I want
to look then at our second point, and that is her suffering at
the hands of physicians. She was trying to alleviate this. Now may I make it very clear
that it's not wrong, it's right for us to use means to alleviate
our bodily afflictions. But many of us, when we've been
waiting on treatment, especially where we perhaps had some success
before and we waited for that appointment, And we have to confess
that our mind has been more upon the physician or upon the type
of treatment and our expectation of a sudden and quick healing
as what we might have had before. And our eyes have not been up
unto the Lord. We have not been looking to Him
and seeking His hand and His blessing. And then when we have
a shock and a disappointment that it is not healed and the
physician is not able to work and we spent our money and we
spent our time and we've had our expectations dashed and we
are still not cured. In fact, we have still got more
pain and more affliction than we had even before we tried to
heal the original pains and original afflictions. And so with this
woman, she was following a course that showed the reality of the
complaint, but the methods that were used were not succeeding. We might ask the question, if
they had succeeded, she would never have been brought to this
place to come to the law. she would have been satisfied
with the healing that she got in another way. Remember that,
dear friends. Whenever we have setbacks, disappointments,
think of this woman. If she had been healed in this
way, she had not been brought to the Lord. And we think of
this in a spiritual way. How many seek wrong ways, wrong
ways of overcoming sin when our eyes are opened? The Apostle
Paul, when he writes to the Romans, he tells them of his own people
and the reason why they were not healed and were not brought
to be pardoned and forgiven. and delivered was because they
sought it in a wrong way. We read in the end of Romans
chapter 9 that Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
had not attained to the law of righteousness. And he asks this
question, wherefore or why is it so? And he answers it, because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. And later on, in chapter 10,
he says that they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. And this is what is termed a
law work, or being under the law. In one sense, it is like
with Boaz, with Ruth, he must first eliminate the nearer kinsman. The nearer kinsman that we have
nearer than Christ is ourselves. But no man can redeem his own
soul, no man can fulfill the law himself, but he must be brought
to realize and to know that. And you see with this dear woman,
she suffered much. And maybe it is with you that
you've suffered much in trying to obey the laws, trying to fulfill
God's righteous law, and yet rather growing worse rather than
better. Then we have the solemn case
of Esau. Esau, we read in Hebrews 12,
that he sought a place of repentance but he didn't obtain it and we
are told really the reason why he sought it, he sought it carefully
with tears but really what he was repenting over was that he
missed out on the first right birthright blessing And that's
what he was sorrowful about. Not sorrowful for his mess of
pottage, of which he'd taken and sold and despised his birthright,
but just because of the implications of that. When he sold his birthright,
then he lost the blessing. And so, with suffering at the
hands of physicians, those that perhaps would direct us from
our own deceitful heart, direct us to seek mercy and forgiveness
or seek even repentance, not because of sin, but because of
that which is brought upon us. Dear David, in Psalm 51, he says,
Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. And we need to be careful on
that, where we're seeking hands at spiritual physicians, where
we seek that we might be given repentance or find a place of
repentance, but really it is the wrong type of repentance
that we're seeking and for the wrong motives. Then James, in
his epistle, he identifies another physician of no value, those
that would direct even in a path of prayer. In James chapter 4
we read in verse 3, Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Even asking in prayer
that when we get that blessing, when we get that relief and that
help, that we would then just use it for our own ends, our
own lusts, that affliction even in a natural way that we might
have. If we didn't have that, if it
was suddenly taken from us, how would we use our strength, our
body, our hands, our eyes? Would we use it for the honor
and glory of God? Or would we say, well now we
can enjoy our time here below, and we can do this, and we can
do that, we can do all of these things? There are physicians
that, as regards the very matter of the soul and the need of the
soul, will leave us exactly where it found us, or even worse, as
this dear woman found. Those physicians that were of
no value in everything, where they came short was they did
not lead to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we may Notice this point,
her suffering at the hand of physicians. It didn't bring healing,
but there was a reserved healing, and as soon as she was brought
to the Lord, then she was healed. Dear friends, whatever is your
trial, whether it is a physical or mental affliction, whether
it is soul trouble, Whatever it is, we think of the lines
of the hymn writer, none but Jesus can do helpless sinners
good. And the Lord in His wisdom and
goodness will make sure, there's no doubt in this case, that those
other physicians weren't of any value and that their case remained
and their case actually got worse and worse until he'd accomplished
the end that he had in view. Has your trial brought you to
the Lord? Has mine? Have my pains, my afflictions
brought me to the Lord? Not just fleeting, not just half-hearted,
not just throwing his name in the scale, but really just trusting
in man? Have we really laid it before
the Lord? Waited upon the Lord? Asked Him
to heal us? Asked Him to make it work for
good? Searched our soul? Searched what
true state? What real reason? It may be that
this has come upon us. You know, she walked in this
path and she suffered. Are you suffering? Am I? But you know her sufferings came
to an end, and it came when she heard of Jesus. And I want to notice this in
the third place, what her actions were when she heard of Jesus. There's one word that really
stands out in this account, and that is faith. faith. The effect of faith. The Lord
identified that it was faith. He confirmed that it was so.
But you know when faith is acting, then it doesn't come forth with
great banners and a fanfare and saying this is faith that is
acting. But the seal that the Lord puts
upon it shows that it is. But you see how faith acted with
this dear woman. She believed in Jesus. She came to Him believing that
he was able to cure, and really believing that he was the Messiah,
he was the son of David, he was who he said he was. The Lord said to the dear disciples,
ye believe in God, believe also in me. He that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Faith believes. in Jesus, in
his person, in his divinity, in his authority, in who he is,
in his power. But faith also believed here
with this dear woman that he was able to cure her And so then
faith acted in this way, that she ventured. And she said, if
I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. The venturing
that she had. And you know, faith is not something
that trumpets itself as a great thing. But it brings to the Lord. You
know the case when Naaman was cured. He thought that the prophet
would do some great thing. And when he didn't, then he was
angry, and it took his servants to humble him so that he would
submit to being washed and cleansed. Seekest thou great things for
thyself? Seek them not. True faith is
content with, shall we say, small things, but real things. The
Lord said if you had faith of the grain and mustard seed, you
could say to a mountain, be removed and cast into the depths of the
sea and it would obey you. But faith, real faith, it doesn't
need to do those things. The actings of faith here is
a laying hold upon Christ, is a venturing all upon Him, is
a going unto Him. And we might say, well, here
is faith and all it is saying, all I need to do is but touch
Jesus. All I need to do is to get that
close, to be able to have contact with Him, to be brought nigh
unto Him, And it is faith that comes from God, leads to God,
and it centers its hopes in Him. Yes, but there's the crowd, and
there you see faith again is not put off. There's a crowd
round about Him. There's a pressing through the
crowd. And dear friends, there'll always
be that. There'll be those things all around the Lord. Busy cares,
Martha knew what they were. The world and all the relentless
things that we've got to do and vying for our time. There's many,
many things that call their minds away from prayer. and to cause
us to think on other things and seek other things. And as soon
as we start to pray, the telephone rings, or there's a knock at
the door, or something happens. But you know she pushed through
this crowd. May we be helped to do the same. Dear friend, those crowds about
him, Lord, help you to push through them. But then this dear woman
might have said, well, he's on an urgent mission. There's this
girl and she's at the point of death. I can't hold up the Lord. Maybe that was one reason why
she came behind, just to touch him, not to waylay him, not to
take up his time at all. But we can be discouraged in
thinking this way. I know there's been Those who
have been longing for a blessing, seeking a blessing in the house
of God, and one other in the congregation has been blessed.
And it may be through a sermon that they've been blessed, and
they think that the Lord can't bless two people under the same
sermon. That sermon was for that other
person, not for me. And it discourages them. Why
is the Lord on this journey? Why is He going for the 12-year-old
girl? No, He's not. Yes, He is. But there's time, there's room,
and there's time for Him to stop and to speak to this dear woman. Maybe you remember that. The
Lord has time for His dear people. Often we don't have time for
Him, but He has time and He makes time for us. And so we find the
faith acting in this dear woman I think you'll find it, like
with the Syro-Phoenician woman, the woman of Canaan who came,
Lord help me, and she had many discouragements, the Lord also
trying her faith. The faith acts always in these
ways, these simple ways, Lord help me, let me touch and let
me not be discouraged or put off. But it's not seeking great
things all at once. is that virtue and power and
blessing from the Lord Jesus Christ. None but Jesus can do
helpless sinners good. The Holy Spirit he shall receive,
saith the Lord of mine, and show it unto you. And may we truly
rejoice in this, that that which the Lord's work will always lead
to Him. It leads the poor sinner in no
doubt as to what is the right way. The Lord said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And so her actions When she heard
of Jesus and faith was in lively exercise, then that is what it
did. It believed. It believed in Him. It believed He could cure her. It believed that all a touch
was, that was all that was needed and that the crowd would not
be a hindrance. She'd press through that and
that she would venture, if I may but touch. May the Lord give
us that venturing faith like she had. And we may say with
the affliction that she'd had so long, the Lord used it as
a preparation, used it And John the Baptist was to make ready
a people prepared for the Lord. But whether the preparation is
like Moses had to lead the children of Israel 40 years in Pharaoh's
court, 40 years in the desert, or whether it's 12 years here
in affliction, the Lord knows His people. They are a prepared
people for a prepared place. And who are we to say, Lord,
don't prepare me like that? Prepare me some other way. When
we pray, prepare me, gracious God, to stand before thy face. Thy Spirit must the work perform,
for it is all of grace. Do we really know what we're
praying? Do we really know what we're asking of the Lord? Giving
Him really a clean slate, Lord, deal with me graciously, but
do prepare me. Whatever is needed, whatever
is necessary, do it. Often the Lord answers such prayers
by crosses, by ways that the flesh dislikes the way, but faith
approves it well. And you see faith acting here
with this dear woman. Well, lastly, then there was
the cure. When she touched him, It was
immediate, wasn't it? We might think with our afflictions
or with the malady of sin that it must be a long process of
healing, of cure. But no, this was immediate and
you might say it was with the other two cases in this chapter
as well. How quickly the Lord wrought
it. And then we're told that she
felt in herself that she was healed. She didn't have to go
away and say, I'll wait a day or so and see if I still continue
bleeding. She felt she was healed. I prove this, that in spiritual
ways as well as natural, it's a blessed thing to know even
before sometimes that the Lord has appeared in Providence to
know that He will appear, as surely as if it were done, that
faith has been so strong to believe that the matter is done, is actually
accomplished and done. But you know the Lord would not
let her go away unnoticed. She wanted to. to have her cure,
to have her blessing, and then just to melt away, to be a nothing,
a nobody. I think if you ask the deacons
in our chapels or the Lord's servants, how many of them would
say, I wish I could just be a nobody. Just to be in the congregation
and another take the place. Remember my dear uncle, Uncle
Don Wheatley at the Dicker. He said that he had the persuasion
before he joined the church that he would be elected to deacon.
He thought, I'll know how to stop that. I'm not going to join
the church. And then they can't make me a
deacon. But, you know, he couldn't resist. The Lord knew how to
bring him so that he had to join. And yes, in due time, the church
did elect him to be the deacon. But, you know, we might think
that we want to be unnoticed. And if you've been blessed, if
you've been favoured, you've been healed, you've been helped,
And the Lord requires this, he turned, he wanted to know who
it was, he knew power had gone from him, virtue, and he knows
the blessings that he gives to his dear children, they have
been given by the high decree of heaven, and so she had to
come and tell. You know, he didn't tell everybody
what had happened, she had to tell. And dear friends, you may
have to tell as well. I'll tell to sinners round what
a dear Saviour I have found. I'll point to thy redeeming blood
and say, behold the way to God. And you know when she did tell,
what an effect it was, how the Lord confirmed it. You know we have in verse 33,
but the woman fearing and trembling. Is that how you are, fearing
and trembling? But knowing what was done in
her, do you know what has been done in you? Came and fell down
before him and told him all the truth. And then you know what
he said? Daughter, thy faith hath made
thee whole. He put the seal upon that was
faith. He'd given her faith. And it
was a true work of faith. And then he says, go in peace.
And then He said, Behold of thy plague. You know, when the Lord
blesses His children, there's further blessings in store with
a giving honour and glory to their God for those blessings. Remember that. And the Lord would
have us to give Him the glory and to praise Him and to tell
to those around what He has done. And if that's the case with you,
in your afflictions and your trials, has it been through the
Lord Jesus Christ that He's given us that sweet relief and help
and blessing? Then may we give Him the honour
and give Him the glory. May we walk in His ways. May
we gather like the two on the way to Emmaus did, going back
those seven and a half miles though it was evening and late
in the day, and yet when they came back they told what was
done in the way, and how Jesus had made himself known to them
in breaking of bread. And may we be able to tell like
this dear woman how the Lord had healed her, how she'd ventured
and how that of which her faith had assured her there was the
power and ability and might in the Lord to heal her and there
was. It's a blessed thing when venturing
souls are able to say I ventured and the Lord blessed my soul.
I ventured. You know, dear Queen Esther could
say that. She ventured. And the king, he
held out the golden scepter. She was able to make her request. She obtained her request. She
delivered her people and put away the mischief. afflicted so long and so suddenly
changed, so suddenly blessed, so suddenly relieved. The Lord
knows how to do this. May we be helped in our afflictions. May we be helped in every discovery
of our sin and shame and need of the complete Redeemer. He
who shed his precious blood on Calvary's tree, that he is able
to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him. He
has put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, and he
is pleased to give pardon and forgiveness. to poor sinners
that are brought to Him through many different various means
and ways. Poor and afflicted, Lord are
Thine, among the great unfit to shine. But the Lord uses these
afflictions and trials and troubles to bring to His dear feet, to
get a touch of His mercy, His power, His blessing and sweet
relief. and sweet token that he's given
us, that faith that lays hold upon Christ and his power. May we truly be blessed thus
and the Lord bless this word to us this evening. Amen.