The book of Revelation begins
with this statement, the revelation of Jesus Christ. A lot of people
read the book of Revelation and want to try to find some reference
to current events, but this is a revelation of Christ. And John
in chapter 19 puts it like this, he said, I saw heaven opened
And behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. I hope that the Lord will open
the windows of heaven. Isaiah said, Oh Lord, rend the
heavens and come down. Speak to our hearts and reveal
to us, at least in part, what your glorious name means about
you. Tom's going to come and lead
us in the hymn number 62, Crown Hymn with many crowns. In another place in Revelation,
John says that we took our crowns and cast them at his feet So
acknowledging who the Lord Jesus Christ is, Lord, Lord over the
living and the dead. Let's stand together, Brother
Tom. Number 62. ? Crown Him with many crowns ?
? The Lamb upon His throne ? ? Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns
? ? All music but its own ? ? Awake my soul and sing ? of Him who
died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through all
eternity. Crown him the Lord of love, behold
his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky Can fully
bear that sight But downward bends his wandering eye At mysteries
so bright ? Crown Him the Lord of life ? ? Who triumphed o'er
the grave ? ? Who rose victorious to the strife ? ? For those He
came to save ? ? His glories now we sing ? Who died and rose
on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives that death
may die. Crown him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father known, one with the Spirit through him given
from yonder glorious throne. To thee be endless praise, for
thou for us hast died. Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days, adored and magnified. Please be seated. Good morning. Galatians Galatians
Chapter 2. Beginning in verse 16. This is Paul speaking by the
Holy Spirit in verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore
Christ the minister of sin? God forbid, for if I build again
the things which I have destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God. Verse 20 and 21. is one thing that every child
of God has in common from Adam until the last name in the book
of life. I don't care what color you are,
where you were born, where you live. If you're a child of God,
you have this in common with every other child of God. I am crucified with Christ. We are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ
is dead in me. If I believe that I have the
ability to say yes or no to God, then Christ died for nothing.
I can handle salvation all on my own. But children of God do
not frustrate the grace of God. We know that salvation is all
of Christ. Father, we thank you that. You've
called us out of the darkness farther when so many are still
in it. We thank you father. You brought
us to a church. Where the gospel is preached.
We'd ask father you'd be with Greg. Give him the grace farther
to to bring us the gospel day after day after day farther strengthen
him farther in the truth. Give us hearing ears father and
willing hearts that we might receive the gospel. Thank you
father for doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
We ask these things in Jesus name, Amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. To Him who found us dead in sin
and planted holy life within. To Him that taught our feet the
way from endless night to endless day. To him that wrought our
righteousness and sanctified us by his grace. To him that brought us back to
God through the Red Sea of his own blood. ? To him who suffered
on the tree ? ? Blessings and praise and glory be ? ? To cleanse
from every sinful stain ? ? Worthy the Lamb for he was slain ? To
him that sits upon the throne, the great eternal three in one,
to him let saints and angels raise an everlasting song of
praise. Please be seated. Caleb Hickman's
gonna bring special music now. When thy heart groweth drear
to thy sheep, please draw near. Cause thy face to shine through
the dark. Save my soul, hear my call, for
thou art holy and I am not. Take my hand. Precious Lord,
lead me to Christ. Precious Lord, take my hand. In Thy righteousness I stand. Thou art holy. Thou art truth. Thou art just. As my substitute I trust, dying
only for those you love. Take my hand, precious Lord,
lead me to Christ. Cause me to forsake my works,
trusting only in thy blood. May I be found in thy son. Guide my heart, steer my mind. Cause me leave this world behind. Take my hand. Precious Lord,
lead me to Christ. Precious Lord, take my hand. In thy righteousness I stand. Thou art holy. Thou art truth,
Thou art just. As my substitute I trust, dying
only for those you love. Take my hand, precious Lord,
lead me to Christ. As my substitute I trust, dying
only for those you love. Take my hand, precious Lord,
lead me to Christ. Caleb, that was a real blessing. I'm so thankful for you, brother. So much of our hymns that, or
even in our hymnal, we're not able to sing because there's
no gospel in them. And Caleb took one of those old
hymns and rewrote it. And that was the gospel. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Mark chapter six? Mark chapter 6. And I've titled this message,
How Shall the Sick Be Made Whole? How Shall the Sick Be Made Whole? And I'll tell you what the three
simple points of this message are, and I think we can see them
all in this passage of Scripture. The first point is that they
must know that they are sick. The second point is that they
must know to whom to go for their sickness. And the third point
is they must know where to find him. So that's my hope this morning
is that the Lord will make us sick. That he will cause us to
know who the one is who's able to make us whole. and he'll show
us where to find him. Look at this passage of scripture
in Mark chapter six at verse 53. And when they had passed
over, they came into the land of Gennesaret and drew to the
shore. And when they were come out of
the ship straightway, they knew him. The people of Gennesaret
knew that this was the Lord Jesus Christ. And they ran through
that whole region round about and began to carry about in beds
those that were sick, where they heard he was. They heard where to find him.
They heard who he was. They knew themselves to be sick,
and they flew to Christ. And whatsoever, whithersoever
he entered into villages or cities or country, They laid the sick
in the streets and besought him that they might touch, if it
were, but the border of his garment. Much said about the border of
the garment or the hem of the garment in the scriptures. And
as many as touched him. Now Matthew tells us the same
story and he adds a word through the inspiration of the spirit
that Mark doesn't give us. And that word is perfectly. So
as many as touched him were made perfectly whole. How are the sick made whole? First, they've got to be made
aware of their sickness. They've got to know that they
have a need. Perhaps this has happened to
you. I've heard it several times over the years where someone
goes to a physician with a minor ailment and in the testing for
that ailment, they discover a life-threatening illness. Had they not found it
sooner, that person would have died. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that can cause us to know. See, we're like that person.
We don't understand the real severity of our condition unless
the Lord reveals it to us. Being made sick or being made
a sinner or being found in the dark is a work of grace. But that's where salvation begins.
That's where being made whole begins. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, I did not come for the well need not a physician. but
them which are sick. The second point of this message
is that they knew where to go. In our need, our spiritual sickness,
we cannot trust in the arm of the flesh. We cannot trust in
human wisdom. We cannot trust in our obedience
to the law to make us whole. The only one we can trust is
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And they knew where to find him.
They knew where he was, exactly where he was, and they went to
that place. The Lord said in Matthew chapter
24, if they say unto you that he is in the desert, believe
it not. You see, there's a lot of folks
that are telling us if you want to find Christ, you've got to
go to that place of sacrifice. And you've got to go to a desert
place and really pay your dues and then you'll find the Lord.
The Lord said, believe it not. And if they say that He is in
a secret chamber, believe it not. A lot of folks will say,
well, if you want to find Christ, you've got to have some secret
knowledge, some revelation of truth that's that's particular
to you. And the Lord said, believe it
not, coming to the knowledge of the truth is a work of grace. It's a work of grace. So if we're
gonna be made whole, perfectly whole, the Lord Jesus Christ
himself is gonna have to make us to see our need. He's gonna
have to reveal to us who he is and what he's done And he's going
to have to show us where it is that we're to find him. Now,
let's not lose sight of what was actually happening here in
this story. Two thousand years ago, medical
science was pretty much non-existent. That which they did have, was
based on superstition and wives' tales and most of it didn't work. So if you contracted a disease,
you were plagued generally with that disease the rest of your
life and you died with it. These people knew that they were
sick. They were physically reminded
every waking day of their sickness. Some of them were deaf, some
of them were blind, some lame, some halt, some had leprosy,
some had tuberculosis or some other disease. They heard of a physician who
healed everyone that came to him and never charged a single
cent for his work. All they had to do was touch
the hem of his garment. And that's exactly what they
did. These people didn't need the Holy Spirit to tell them
that they were needy. They were physically painfully
reminded every day of what their situation was. They could see
it, they could feel it, they could smell the rotting flesh. They knew what their physical
condition was and so they fled to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
how many of them actually understood what their spiritual need was?
We don't know. We don't know. We know there was a time just
before this when the Lord fed 5,000 and they didn't understand
what he was doing. He performed a miracle and provided
for them and they went on their way. And the Lord said to his
disciples, he said, will you lead me also? What Peter say,
Lord, where are we going to go? We've got no place else to go.
We know that you have the words of eternal life. We know and
are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. We
know there was a time when the Lord healed 10 lepers, and out
of those 10 lepers, one of them came back to worship Him. And
the Lord said, were there not 10 healed? Where are the other
nine? Lord, I don't know. God provides
every physical blessing that you and I have ever enjoyed in
this life have come from God. Whatever healings, whatever provisions
we have, it's all come from Him. Most folks take no knowledge
of where their blessings come from. They're only aware of those
things the scripture says, those who walk after the flesh do mind
the things of the flesh. Most people are only interested
in the things of God as it pertains to their physical needs. We call it foxhole religion. They call on God in trouble,
and when the trouble passes, so does their need for the things
of God. It does not take the Holy Spirit
for you to recognize your physical needs. You can look at your bank
account and see that you're in financial trouble. You can see
the problems that you have with your spouse or with your children. You can feel the physical illness
that you might be experiencing. You don't have to have the Holy
Spirit to discern your physical needs. But oh, how dependent
we are on the Spirit of God to show us our spiritual needs.
Yes, those who walk after the flesh do mind the things of the
flesh and they which walk after the Spirit do mind the things
of the Spirit. The natural man cannot receive
the things of God. He doesn't understand them, he
doesn't understand his own condition. You and I are completely dependent
upon those, upon the Spirit of God to reveal those things to
us. The consequences of physical
sickness is physical death. The consequences of spiritual
sickness is eternal separation from God. It is God the Holy
Spirit that must make us to be sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ
said to the disciples, it's good for you, it's expedient for you
that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come. But when he comes, when he comes,
he's going to convict the world of sin because they believe not
on me. Now, does the Spirit of God convict
all men of sin? No, no. But he convicts worldlings of
sin. He convicts his people of sin. And the root cause of all
their sin is unbelief. It's unbelief. It is the sin
that doth so easily beset us. It is the problem that causes
all other problems. Our unbelief. And we're filled with it, aren't
we? What did that man say? Lord, I believe. Oh, help thou
mine unbelief. I've got so much unbelief, Lord.
That's my problem. That's my problem. And if one
who is faithful and true does not stand in my stead before
God, that passage you read, Robert, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I
now live in the flesh, I live by the faith or the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ who loved me and died for me. We need a faithful one to stand
in our stead. But we need the Spirit of God
to reveal to us how unfaithful we really are. Only sinners,
only sinners made so by the Spirit of God are like these people
painfully aware of their sickness in need of a Savior. Only when they flee to Christ
and are made able to touch the hem of His garment are they made
whole. And oh, how whole they're made.
What peace, what hope, what comfort, what forgiveness is given by
the Spirit of God to those? You see, the religious world
talks a lot about getting folks saved. You heard people talk
about that? You know, I just want to get
people saved. My concern is getting folks lost. Because the truth
is, if you ever get lost, It's because the Lord saved you. You're not going to find a lost
person that's not saved. No, you're not. It's the work of this. And some
of you say, well, that doesn't make sense. It makes sense if
you experience it. What do we say, the darkest,
and this goes so along with what you preached, Clay, the darkest
hour is just before dawn. We've got to walk through darkness
before the light comes. Why was the Lord Jesus Christ
in darkness for those three days before that resurrection morning? It's a picture of every believer's
experience. The Apostle Paul, you remember
when the Lord arrested him on the road to Damascus and knocked
him off his self-righteous high horse and put him in the dust?
The scripture says that he had to be led by his hand into Damascus. Why? Because he's blind. He wasn't
able to see and for the next three days he was in blindness. And only then did the Lord open
the eyes of his understanding and give him light. There has
to be darkness before light. Mary Magdalene, the one whom
the Lord cast seven demons from, the scripture says that she went
to the tomb. She got to the tomb that morning
first, before anyone else. She was there as the sun was
coming up. You remember, she mistook the Lord Jesus Christ
for the gardener. And she said, sir, if you've
taken his body, please tell me where it is. And the Lord said,
Mary, Mary. She heard her name spoken through
the unfeigned lips of the son of God. And she bowed at his
feet and she said, Rabboni. She had to walk to the tomb that
morning in those dark hours before the sun came up. You see, before
we're gonna hear the name, our name spoken, the Lord's gonna
make us to be a sinner. He's gonna make us to feel our
need. That darkness that can be felt,
that's our experience. Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus
Christ by night, didn't he? He didn't know. He said, Rabbi,
we know that you're a son of God, for no man can do the things
that thou doest, except God be with him. What'd the Lord say? Nicodemus, you don't know anything.
I know you're a ruler of the Jews. I know you've had all the
biblical training and you've got all the degrees and you've
got all the accolades of your peers, but you don't know anything. Nicodemus, just like you've come
to me in the night, so it is in your soul. You've got to be
born again. You've got to be born from above. Jacob. at the river Jabbok when
he heard that his brother Esau was coming he thought he was
coming to to get revenge and and Jacob the scripture says
wrestled with the Lord all night and as dawn was breaking he said
to the Lord Jesus Christ I will not let you go lest you bless
me and it was that night it was that night that the Lord's changed
Jacob's name to Israel. Jacob you were the supplanter
but now you're prince of God. You see there's going to be some
wrestling with God. There's going to be some... these
people in our text ran from every city and every village and every
town because they knew where Christ was, they heard who he
was and what he was able to do for them. They felt their need
and they They had an urgency. They cast caution to the wind
and they fled to Christ. How are the sick made whole? They first must be made aware
of their sickness. They've got to be people in need.
Not in need for some temporal, physical need for God to meet
and make their lives a little easier, a little better in this
life, but a need that they can't solve. A need they can't solve. Now, you all have heard me make
this statement before. I'm going to make it again. We've got some
folks here that maybe never heard it. If you've got a problem that
can be solved with time or money, that's not the problem I'm talking
about. You see, the truth is that time
or money will solve every single problem that we have in this
world. Every one of them. Every one of them. Time's going
to solve every one of your problems. I've never met a dead person
that had a problem. Now, there is only one problem. There's only one issue. in your
life and in my life that neither time nor money can touch. No amount of time. No, all, you
talk about going to hell. All eternity separated from God
will not satisfy the demands of God's justice for our sin.
That's why eternity is forever. And no amount of money No amount
of good works. Why do you spend money, Isaiah
said, for that which satisfieth not? Come! Drink freely. Eat the bread of life freely. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to solve that one problem that you and I can't
handle. And if God ever makes you and
I to become sinners We'll be just like these folks. We'll
smell the rottenness of our flesh. We'll feel the darkness of our
separation from God. We'll fear the judgment and wrath
of God in hell and we'll hear about the one who's able to make
us perfectly whole and we'll find out where he is and we'll
make every, we'll put everything else aside. That will become
the one thing needful. He will become the pearl of great
price and we'll sell everything we've got for him, everything. That was Jonah's experience. Jonah was in the belly of that
whale, wasn't he? He cried out to God. Salvation
is of the Lord. But he had to be put in darkness.
He had to be put in separation before he acknowledged his need. Now here's what I'm hoping you're
thinking right now. Lord, make me a sinner. I'll justify myself. I'll believe
myself to be better than other folks. I'll compare myself to
myself and think I'm getting better. Lord, stand me in the
presence of thy holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
Son of God, and cause me to recognize a need that I have that I can't
solve. Second thing, we've got to know
who to go to. We've got to know who to go to.
The Lord asked the disciples, he said, whom do men say that
I am? And you remember the disciples said, well, some say that thou
art John the Baptist and some Elijah or one of the other prophets.
And the Lord said, whom do you say that I am? Whom do you say
that I am? That's the most important thing. And what did Peter say? Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. What did our Lord
say? Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that unto you. You didn't come to that conclusion
on your own. The Spirit of God revealed to
you who I am. Now anyone that calls Jesus the
Christ and denies the fact that he actually successfully accomplished
the salvation of his people in his perfect life and in his vicarious
substitutionary death do not know what Christ means. The word Christ means the anointed
one. It means that he's the one sent
of God in the full power of the Spirit of God to accomplish the
purpose for which he was sent. Now, why did God send him? This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. He doesn't make an offer of salvation. He actually accomplished the
salvation. In that passage you read earlier,
I love that verse that says, and not a hoof was left behind. When God brought His people out
of Egypt, not one hoof of one animal was left behind. Every
single one of them came out. I know my sheep. I'm not going to lose one of
them. I'll leave the 99, I'll go out into the wilderness. I'm
going to get every single one of them. You see, we're not coming to
a Jesus who's trying to save folks. We're not coming to a
Jesus who loves everybody and died for everybody and wants
everybody to be saved. All that does is put man on the
throne of God. That's all it does. These folks had heard that this
miracle worker was able to make everyone perfectly whole who
touched him. The Lord asked the Pharisees
one time, he said, let me ask you a question. Whom do you say the Christ is? And they said, well, he's the
son of David. And the Lord said, well, now, if he's the son of
David, then why did David call him Lord? When David said, and
the Lord, God the Father said unto my Lord, my descendant according
to the flesh, the Christ, sit here at my right hand until I
make all thine enemies thy footstool. And the scripture says they were
left speechless. They could not answer him a word
and never again did another man ask him a question. The Lord Jesus Christ is David's
Lord. He reigns over the living and
over the dead. We don't make Jesus Lord of our
lives. God has made him to be Lord. To say that you're going to make
Jesus Lord is a denial of lordship. To say that he wants everybody
to be saved is a denial of him being the Christ. You see, to
come to a Jesus who's trying to get folks saved is not coming
to the Jesus who is able to save. That's another Jesus. It's another gospel. Paul makes
it clear in the book of Galatians, there's no gospel at all. They knew him. They believed
that he was able to make them perfectly whole. The Lord himself put it like
this in John chapter 17, he said, and this is life eternal that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. To know him for who he is. And that's, you know, wait, there's
so much about the Lord Jesus Christ we don't know. That's
one of the things we're gonna see about the touching the hem
of the garment. So much about him we don't know. That's why Paul at the very end
of his life said, oh, I've not yet apprehended that which has
apprehended me. He's got a hold of me, I'm just
desperately, I'm forgetting those things which are behind, I'm
pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling.
I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his suffering. And here's the truth about the
glory of God. We're going to spend all of eternity,
all of eternity, getting to know Him and we'll never fully comprehend
the fullness of Him. You say, well, preacher, that
might mean that what we do know about Him is not true. Let me
illustrate it like this. A small child, an infant, let's
say a six-month-old or a one-year-old, do they know the difference?
When they're distressed, when they're upset, do they know the
difference between their mother and another woman, their father
and another man? You try holding a child that's
distressed and have their parents standing in close proximity,
what is that child doing? It's reaching out its hands,
crying, not going to be comforted until it's held by its parent. Now that child doesn't even know
the name of its parent, doesn't know how old his parent is, doesn't
know where his parent came from, knows very little about his parent,
but he knows the difference between the one that's his parent and
the one that's not. These people touch the hem of
his garment. We learn so little. Paul put
it like this in Romans chapter 11. He said, Oh, the depth of
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments. His ways are past finding out. Our God is gloriously infinite. We can never fully comprehend
him. We just scratch the surface. But when someone else pretends
to be him, we know that's not our parent. And we're not going to be comforted.
We're like that child. We're not going to be comforted
until we're held by him. That's what I'm talking about.
when I say we must know him. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord or who hath been his counselor? Secondly, the touching of the
hem of his garment. Will you turn with me to Psalm
133, please. Psalm 133. How are the sick? made whole. Do you remember the
three points right here from this text? Number one, they've
got to have a need. That people, you know, in religion
everything's about commitment. You need to pull yourself up
by your bootstraps and get more committed. People ask me, well,
why don't somebody kind of say, well, they have a need, they'll
be here. God has to make us needy. The
gospel is for the poor and the needy. The poor are those who
are in abject poverty. They don't have anything. They
can't do anything. They don't know anything. They're completely
dependent upon the grace of God. God's got to make us that way.
That's where salvation begins in those dark hours just before
dawn. Secondly, we've got to know who
to flee to. These people heard of Him. You
remember in our text, Scripture, they heard He was there. They
knew who He was. And they weren't gonna be distracted
by anything until they got to Him. And then they touched the
hem of His garment. And that's symbolic of how very
little we know about the Lord Jesus Christ. We can, remember
the woman with the issue of blood? She said, oh, if I could just
touch the hem of his garment, I'd be made whole. And virtue
went out from him. The Lord said, who touched me?
Well, the disciples say, Lord, how can you say who touched me?
Everybody's touching you. Oh, no, no. Somebody touched
me in faith. Virtue. Power has gone out from
me. And what did that woman do? She
had been found out, and the scripture says, and she told him all the
truth. Oh Lord, give us the grace. She was on her knees crawling
in the crowd, wasn't she, until she got to where she could touch
the hem of his garment. Now look at Psalm 133. at verse
1, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity and how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity and yet every single one of us knows
something about being in disunity whether it be with a co-worker,
whether it be with a spouse, whether it be with our children,
whether it be with somebody in the church What's the hope of
having unity among men? How can two walk together lest
they be in agreement, lest they agree? Look, it is like the precious
ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard, and went down to the skirts or him of his garment or as Mark
says the border of his garment. So Aaron's a picture of Christ
who is our high priest and the oil is a picture of the anointing
of the Spirit of God which made him to be the Christ and this
oil the scripture says he was anointed with the oil of gladness
above his fellows. What oil do we get? We get those
little droplets that drop off the hem of his garment. And when
you are at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and the droplets
of his grace are falling on you, you're in unity with everyone
else that's at his feet. Why was Why was Mary and Martha,
why was Martha upset at Mary? Why did she feel like she was
being treated unfairly? Why was there disunity in the
heart of Martha over Mary? Mary was sitting at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the oil of His grace was dripping
off onto her. And the Lord said to Martha,
Martha, Martha, Mary has chosen that one thing needful. Now the
scriptures don't tell us what happened, but you know what I
suspect? That Martha got right there next to Mary when the Lord
said that. And all those anxious thoughts
that she had towards Mary went away. They were both seated at
the hem of his garment. Whatever conflicts you have,
with another believer, whoever it might be, in your home, in
the church. You sit at the hem of his garment
and you'll know what David meant when he said, behold, how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Thirdly, It is at the hem of
His garments where we are made perfectly whole. Perfectly whole. This is where the grace of God
is to be experienced by the people of God. And when the Lord makes
you whole, you're whole indeed. All sin has been put away. As he is, the scripture says,
so are we. Turn with me to 1 John 3. 1 John
3. Verse 9. Whosoever is born of God, all
of God's people, doth not commit sin. Does that mean that you're born
of God, you live above sin? You know that's not true. That's
not true in your own experience. Your sin is ever before you,
isn't it? You can say with the Apostle
Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death to do good is present with me, but how to
perform that which is good I find not. I've got this sinful nature
always with me. This is talking about our union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And God says, whoever is born
again doth not commit sin for his seed, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. The promise is to the seed, not
seeds, but to the seed, singular. For his seed remaineth in him
and he cannot sin because he's born of God. Oh, there's my hope. There is my hope that God Almighty
will look at my substitute, the seed, the righteous one. That's why John in another place
Chapter 2 verse 1 said, My little children, I write these things
unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He's pleading
our case, He's presenting Himself as our righteousness before God,
and as far as God's concerned, our sin's been separated from
us as far as the East is from the West. God says I remember
it no more. He cannot sin. The seed remaineth
in Him. He's been born of God. Now that's the perfect righteousness
that takes place when those who are spiritually sick, we're talking
about spiritual sickness here. You don't need the spirit of
God. I'll go back and say this again. You don't need the spirit
of God to acknowledge your other problems. And we've all got them. But you need the Spirit of God
to be made a sinner. And when He does, you flee to
Christ, touch the hem of His garment, and are made whole. In Isaiah chapter 6, there were
some dark hours in Israel. Just read the first five chapters
of Isaiah, and Isaiah is declaring as a prophet of God the woes
against Israel. and they were well-deserving
woes. And King Uzziah had just died
shamefully with leprosy because he tried to usurp the authority
of the priest. He thought he could go into the
presence of God all by himself and God smote him with leprosy,
he died in leprosy. And Isaiah, as a prophet of God,
thinks, you know, God has taken his hand off Israel. We're doomed. We're doomed. So what'd Isaiah
do? He went to the only place he
knew to go to try to find some grace from God. And the scripture
says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and
lifted up and His train. Same word. Same word for him or border. His train filled the temple. What does that tell us about
the hymn of the Lord's garment? Anybody in the temple can get
access to his hymn. Every person in the family of
God has access to the hem of his garment. It fills the temple. Where is he to be found? In our text, go back with me
to Mark chapter 6, verse 55, and they ran through
the whole region round about and began to carry about in beds
those that were sick. So I'm asking you and I'm asking
myself this question, are we sick? Isaiah in another place put it
like this, he said, by his stripes we are healed. We are healed. It pleased God to bruise him
And by his stripes we are healed. God saw the travail of his soul
and God was satisfied with him. And the pouring out of God's
wrath on the Lord Jesus Christ heals all of God's people of
all their sin. These sick folks, they ran to
the Lord Jesus Christ and they began to carry about in beds
those that were sick where they heard He was. So how are the sick healed? Well,
they've got to know they're sick. They've got to know who to go
to, and they've got to know where he's at. Where he's at. Somebody's thinking, well, he's
in the heavens. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. He's ascended into glory. He's
seated at the right hand of God. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. I go and prepare a place for you. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ ascended on Mount Calvary, you remember the disciples gazing
up into heaven God sent two angels down and said, men of Galilee,
why stand you here gazing up into heaven? This same one that's
been caught up from you is gonna come again in like manner. He
is in the heavens and he's interceding on behalf of his people. Where
is he? That's where he's at. That's
where he's at. But where is he pleased to make
himself known? And he says, well, he's everywhere.
Yes, he is. He's omnipresent. Our God is in all places at all
times, but that's not where he makes himself known. Where does
he make his grace and his glory known to his people? Where is he pleased to manifest
himself? Well, here's what he said in
Matthew chapter 18. where two or three are gathered
together in my name. There I am in the midst of them."
So when God's people gather together for worship and God's called
preacher preaches the gospel, he said through the foolishness
of preaching, he's pleased to save them which believe. Revelation chapter 1, John sees
the Lord Jesus Christ and he sees the churches symbolized
by golden candlesticks and he said, I saw one like unto the
Son of God walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks. The
scripture says that he inhabits the praise of his people. In Psalm chapter 2, it says that
he set, God set his king upon His holy hill of Zion. What's Zion? Zion's the church.
What I'm saying to you is what God says is that this is where
He's at. Sing praises to the Lord which
dwelleth in Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ is found
in the boat with His disciples. In the breaking of bread, you
remember those disciples in Luke chapter 24 that the Lord walked
with on the way to Emmaus and the scripture says, in the breaking
of bread, their eyes were opened and they knew him. And that's
what we've been doing this morning, breaking God's bread in hopes
that our eyes will be opened and that we would know him. You see, those who are really
sick, those who are really sick, they know where to find him. They know where they were made
whole. And because their sickness never
goes away, they have to keep coming back. They just have to
keep coming. Lord, I need you. I need you
to save me. I love it when I hear a believer
say, you know, Pastor, the Lord saved me all over again today.
That's our experience, isn't it? We don't talk about our salvation
experience as if it was some good feeling that we had some
time in the past and that, you know, we got that checked off,
got that box checked, let's move on to bigger and better things.
Sinners are always coming. Sinners are always painfully
aware of the disease of their soul. Sinners know there's but
one Savior. Sinners know where to find Him. We find Him in His Word, don't
we? In the volume of the book it is written of me. You see,
it's really all about being needy, isn't it? These people in our
text had a desperate need. They were dying. They were dying. The gospel is declared by a dying man to
dying men. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly
Father, We ask that you would send your
Holy Spirit in power, that you would cause us to see,
Lord, that our need for Christ goes far deeper and far beyond
our temporal troubles. Lord, make us to be sinners.
Set our affections on things above where Christ is seated
at thy right hand. Cause us, Lord, to flee to him. Lord, show us where he is. Give us grace, Lord, to be like
these sick folks who ran to his presence, his side, and enable
us, enable us to touch the hem of his garment that, Lord, one
drop of the oil of your Spirit and grace might fall off on us
and make us perfectly whole. We ask that you would be pleased
now to bless this table. Enable us, Lord, to see beyond
the physical bread and the physical wine to to believe in our hearts
that this bread is his body indeed and this wine is his blood indeed. Unless we eat of his body and
drink of his blood, we have no life in us. Thank you for the
table. Lord, bless it to your glory
and to our salvation. We ask it in Christ's name. and ask the men if they'll come,
please, and distribute the bread and the wine. Brother Tom, we're
going to sing number 17 in your spiral hymnal. Just remain seated,
please. Number 17. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body,
crushed beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved it from the fall. Let us ne'er forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. Praise his name. With this hope and expectation
We rejoice to keep this feast Celebrating our redemption Till
we lean on Jesus' breast The blood of bulls and goats
never took away sin. For 1,500 years, the children
of Israel celebrated the Passover. And those who God was pleased
to save had an eye of faith towards that Lamb of God which would
take away the sins of the world. That spotless Lamb. And when
the Lord Jesus Christ came, He said, this is my blood, this
is my body. It's been given for you. As often
as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. Righteousness, that's his body. Justification, that's his blood. Do this in remembrance of me. Been a good day. Let's stand together. our merciful Heavenly Father. We pray that you would go with
us now to our homes and enable us to abide in Christ. Lord, that you would abide in
us. We ask it in Christ's name. You're dismissed.