Seeking once again the help of
God, I want you to turn with me to the second chapter that
we read, the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 5, and the text
you'll find in verse 30. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about
in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? Really we seek to
incorporate the whole account of this lady but specifically
the reason why she came to the Lord Jesus Christ, the reason
what drove her or motivated her to go to him and to press through
the crowd and to touch the hem of his garment. Jesus says, who touched my clothes? The ceremonial implications of
this lady pressing through a crowd and touching the Lord Jesus Christ
are massive. This is not just any person crowding
round the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something that would
not have had any lasting effects if she wasn't exposed but what
she did could have caused multitudes of people to be ceremonially
unclean until the evening of that day. And then especially
pressing through the crowd and coming to touch the Lord Jesus
Christ, if he was just a normal man, just a normal teacher, she
would have also contaminated him. You see, this lady, she
was hiding a secret. there was something taking place
within her body that caused her to be ceremonially unclean which
caused her by the ceremonial law to be isolated and separated
from other people and not able to intermingle in a crowd without
causing those who touched her also to become ceremonially unclean. And so she was hiding a secret. Everybody else round about her
did not know what was taking place in her body which is why
she came secretly. Which is why she didn't want
to be exposed. Because if she was exposed then
she would no doubt cause a lot of anger to those whom she had
touched. The sickness that she had had
cost her a lot of money. Something that she had been dealing
with, the scripture tells us, for 12 years. Something that
isolated her. Something that she really wanted
to have dealt with and yet everywhere she went, every way that she
tried, it came to nothing. And the Bible tells us in Luke
chapter 8 verse 43 And a woman having an issue of
blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians,
neither could be healed of any. We can see the desperation that
this lady was in, 12 years of being unclean, 12 years of being
separated from the temple, 12 years of being isolated, 12 years
of trying to have her condition healed, and yet it all came to
nothing. She was willing to spend all
of her money on trying to get well. something we don't experience
much in our land with free health care. But having witnessed in
Kenya, people who have had to sell their last chicken so that
they may be able to afford the doctor's bill, you know, people
for their health are willing to come right down to the poverty
line to try and provide or to get healing. And this lady was
no different. isolated because of her sickness. It affected every single day
of her life. It affected every single night. Her life would have been consumed
by what was taking place in her body. similar to leprosy that
we looked at before remember the leprous man if thou wilt
if you will lord you can make me clean Leprosy was a disease
that could be seen by people. It was obvious to those people
who were looking on that this man had a disease. The extremities
of his body, his fingers, his feet, his toes, and maybe his
face was disfigured because of the leprosy. So it was an obvious uncleanness. Yet still it caused him to be
isolated and separated. But this lady's sickness was
secret. Nobody could see it. Yet because of the ceremonial
law, she had to declare it. She had to tell other people
that she was unclean. It was a secret illness but an
illness that had to be revealed. And so there are those sicknesses
that were seen and those sicknesses that were unseen that rendered
a person ceremonially unclean. according to the ceremonial law
given to Moses. If you want at home you can read
Leviticus 15 which deals with conditions that we would class
as embarrassing, conditions that rendered a person unclean for
ceremonial worship, rendered a person unclean to be touched
by anybody else, which caused that person to contaminate anything
that they touched, anything that they sat on. There were ways by which these
bodily functions could be dealt with under the ceremonial law
by cleansing. But if that condition continued
above the normal length of nature it was seen as a disease, as
a sickness. And so this lady, her sickness, her issue of blood
continued on beyond its normal length and so she was separated
and isolated for 12 years, rendered unclean. I think of all that
takes place in our bodies. The freedom that we have today
in the gospel And you come then and look at how the lives of
the Jews were so governed by these laws. And you see how often
they would have been reminded of this constant barrier between
them and God. that every single month the lady
was rendered unclean. And in the life of a man, things
that took place in his body, things that he did rendered him
unclean. Secret things that people don't
talk about had to be declared. And they were coming monthly
face to face with that realization that they are sinful. Not only
were they sinful from the outside but they were also sinful from
the inside. That which came out of the body
caused them also to be unclean and rendered them separate from
God. And so they are constantly being
reminded of their uncleanness, their unworthiness, their sinfulness
and God's holiness. are constantly reminded of that
God is holy and that we are sinful and not only are we sinful but
we are contaminated completely by sin And it is that sin that
rendered us separate from God and unclean to enter into his
presence. And the only way for those under
that old covenant to be reconciled to God was either for that sickness
to go and for them to go and wash and to offer up, if it prolonged,
offer up sacrifices And it was only then could that person be
declared as clean and able to enter again into temple worship,
able to enter again into the presence of other people, able
to sit and to touch things without making those things unclean. And so their whole lives were
ruled by these laws, these ceremonial laws that governed every aspect
of their day and of their lifestyle and of their illnesses. Everything had a law and could render somebody being
unclean. Now with that in your mind, thinking
of this lady, 12 years. Some of you here aren't even
12 years old. This lady had been unclean for
12 years. She had tried everything to make
herself better. She had gone to the doctors and
even as she went to the doctor, the doctor became unclean. Everywhere
she went everything was contaminated by her. In our modern minds we might
say well that's not very nice. God's mean. You know God is sovereign
and God laid down these laws for specific reasons and they
were reasons by which people may be able to visualize how
holy he is that he has every right to dictate what laws what
is clean and what is unclean. And so for this lady now to press
through a crowd secretly not wanting to be seen. You can understand
the reasons why, you can understand the implications that this might
have on the lives of everybody else that she touched. And then Jesus says, who touched
my clothes? You can see why this lady would
have been so afraid. You can see why in verse 33,
the woman fearing and trembling, wondering what is this man going
to say? Has he realized that I've just
contaminated him? Has he realized that I have just
contaminated all the people that I have pressed through the crowd to get to him? You can understand
why she was so afraid. I don't know if it's ever happened
to any of you that someone has exposed your secret. Maybe there's some sin or some
naughty thing that you did. Maybe you stole something. Maybe
you lied about something. Maybe you did something and then
the teacher comes or your mum and dad comes and says, I know
what you've done. And your heart begins to beat
faster and faster and faster. You begin to sweat. Your sin
has been exposed. Your mum and dad, the teacher
or whoever it is, they know exactly what you've done and they're
going to expose it to everybody. This is something like what this
lady felt. Fear and trembling that what
she had done was going to be exposed for everybody to see. This secret sickness that she
had been hiding was going to be revealed. Think of the embarrassment
and the shame that she would be thinking was going to take
place. But we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ was not there to expose her shame but he was there to
heal her of her plague. Jesus knew exactly who had touched
him. It was no surprise to him that
this lady was drawn through the crowd to touch the hem of his
garment. The Bible tells us that he knows
his sheep and he calls them by name. The Bible tells us that
it's the Spirit's work that draws somebody to the Lord Jesus Christ,
that he knew who she was, but so that her actions would not
remain hidden He declared, who touched me? You can see the surprise of the
apostles. Multitudes of people are around
the Lord Jesus Christ. Much people were following him
and thronging him and the disciples say, Lord you see the multitude. There are many people who touch
me. If you've ever been in the crowd
you will realize that you're being pressed from this side
and that side you can't tell exactly who is touching you.
So it was surprising to the apostles for Jesus to say who touched
me but Jesus knew that somebody a specific individual had touched
him by faith, not just a general touching and pressing but someone
had touched him by faith and that virtue or healing power
had gone out of him. You see this lady had heard of
the Lord Jesus Christ, she had heard of many doctors and she
had gone to those doctors and She was unable to be healed but
then she hears of the Lord Jesus Christ. My thought was maybe
she heard what he did to the mad Gadarene that we looked at
last week. That man possessed with 2,000
devils. That man who was naked, that
man who was cutting himself, that man who lived in tombs,
that man who was violent. And then he is found sitting
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ in his right mind. Maybe
she heard of the story of him, the account of him and all that
Christ had done for him and she thought to herself well if he
can do that for him, if he can heal him of all that he had been
through and he could be sitting at the feet of Jesus, he can
be declaring for what cause he had touched him. that she also would be able to come to this
Lord Jesus Christ and to be healed. The Bible tells us in Romans
that faith comes by hearing, that the gospel is preached,
that the word of God is read and that those who hear it, the
word of the Holy Spirit accompanying the word mixed with faith those act upon the word. This
lady she had heard of the Lord Jesus Christ and she came and
she sought him out that maybe that this Jesus would be able
to heal her. The prophecy of the Lord Jesus
in the book of Zechariah tells us in chapter 13 in verse 1. In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Maybe she remembered
that prophecy as she heard about the mad Gadarene, as she heard
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe her mind was cast back
to the Old Testament of this one that was going to come not
only for sin but also for uncleanness and she knew herself to be unclean
and had a desire to be cleansed. And so she comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ and nothing would stop her. You see, truth-seeking Christ
is not hindered by anything. If you truly have a desperation
for healing, if you truly have a desperation for salvation,
that desperation will not be hindered by anything. If you
truly want to be saved, if you truly know your sin and you know
that Christ is the one that is able to save you, then you will
not be hindered by anything until you receive that healing. this lady as she comes to find
Christ she finds that a crowd is thronging him as she finds
that it is pressing him on this side and that side and yet she
must get to the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing is going to stop
her. In Matthew 11 It tells us there
as Christ is, as John the Baptist is preaching and multitudes are
going to him. And then as the Lord Jesus Christ is preaching
and multitudes are going to him. It says in verse 12, and from
the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence and the violence take it by force. And as the
kingdom of Christ is being preached, as multitudes come out of the
cities and out of the villages to throng the Lord Jesus Christ
it's as though a great army is coming a great army is seeking
to force themselves into the kingdom of Christ the kingdom
of heaven and just like this lady she's like a warrior Nothing
is going to stop her from getting to this healing fountain. Nothing
is going to hinder her from besieging the Lord Jesus Christ. She's
not going to be stopped by a crowd. She's not going to be stopped
by doubts and fears that he's not able to do it. She is going
headlong for the Lord Jesus Christ because she knows that he is
the fountain open for sin and for uncleanness and if she could
just touch the hem of his garment maybe nobody else would realise.
If I could just touch the hem of his garment then I would be
made whole. She comes with nothing. The only reason we know about
her is because the Lord Jesus Christ made her speak and tell. Otherwise nobody would know anything
about this account except for the Lord Jesus Christ. She came
to him with nothing, she had no money, she was unclean and
she needed cleansing. Isn't that how all sinners should
come to the Lord Jesus Christ? not boasting about their works,
not boasting about their ability, but they come bankrupt. Here is my debt. Here is my inability. But I come to the fountain open
for sin and uncleanness. This is how all sinners come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They come with nothing apart
from their sin, but they go away with everything. go away with
Christ himself and this lady she went away whole as soon as
she touched the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ realized virtue had gone
out of him but she realized that she had been made whole that
she was healed of her plague she wanted to remain hidden. But the Lord Jesus Christ would
not have her remain hidden because he says, who touched me? I feel that virtue has gone out
of me and I want to know who touched me. Not for his own,
as I've said, not for his own unknowing but for those round
about. And he looked round about to
see her that had done this thing. You see the work of Christ, the
work of salvation not to be a secret work. Although it is a secret
work done in the heart yet it magnifies, it grows and it is
to be exposed. We looked at the Mad Gathering
last week, we saw that the things that he was doing were the fruit
of a corrupt heart, were the fruit of a corrupt tree. But
when he comes to his right mind, he is sitting at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ that is the evidence of the transformation
of his heart and he is beginning to bear good fruit. A tree that doesn't bear any
fruit. A fruit tree that doesn't bear
any fruit is pointless. What is the point in having a
fruit tree that doesn't bear any fruit? So the fruit is that which is
seen, that which is to be taken. And so Christ desired that this
woman would declare the reason why she had touched him. He wanted
that fruit, the transformation of her heart, the fruit to be
seen, to be evident for those around about and so she had to
confess. She had to confess. the woman fearing and trembling
knowing what was done in her came and fell down before him
and told him all the truth. In Luke 8 Jesus says, verse 46, and Jesus
said, somebody has touched me for I perceive that virtue has
gone out of me and when the woman saw that she was not hid she
came trembling and falling down before him she declared unto
him before all the people for what cause she had touched him
and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter,
be of good comfort, thy faith has made thee whole, go in peace. She had to declare what had taken
place in her body, had to be declared by her voice to all
the people. That is the reason why we know
what took place. She declared everything. All
of that she was and all that she had become to all the people. The Lord Jesus Christ had cleansed
her. And we saw with the man with
leprosy the Lord Jesus going and touching him. And normally
that uncleanness would have transferred over onto that other person,
that clean person. we see with the Lord Jesus Christ
he is the fulfillment of the ceremonial law he is holy and
therefore his holiness is not contaminated by the uncleanness
of those who are around about him and so Christ heals the lady
of her uncleanness and makes her ceremonially clean, able
to enter into fellowship with people, able to enter into fellowship
with God. She is cleansed from her uncleanness. If you remember in the book of
Acts when Chapter 10 and verse 15. You remember that Simon Peter
is on the rooftop and he's praying and the Lord appears to him and
sends him down a blanket and it's filled with animals and
he looks at those animals and he says, these are unclean. I
can't arise and kill and eat. He says, I have never not so
Lord for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean and
the voice spake unto him again the second time what God hath
cleansed that called not thou or don't call it uncommon. So Christ through his perfect
sacrifice not only dealt with sin But he was not only fulfilling
the whole law, the civil law of God, the Ten Commandments,
but also he was fulfilling the ceremonial law. We no longer
have to worry about sicknesses that would have rendered people
unclean in the Old Testament. We no longer have to worry about
the types of food that we eat as they did. because through
the sacrifice of Christ he has rendered it all clean. As the temple was torn from the
top to the bottom that way has been now made open, the old ceremonial
has passed away and all things are new in Christ Jesus. And so this lady experiences
that ceremonial cleansing but also the forgiveness of her sin. Luke 7 in verse 50 it says and
he said unto the woman thy faith has saved thee go in peace. Now the word that is translated
saved is a word a Greek word called sidezo and it's also translated
as whole And so when it says, when Jesus says, thy faith has
made thee whole, go in peace, it's the same word that says,
thy faith has saved thee, go in peace. Be whole of thy plague
is another word. So Jesus is saying, thy faith
has saved thee. be made clean be made whole of
thy plague and so this lady goes away she comes to Christ contaminated
and unclean she goes from him whole and forgiven. These ceremonial laws are not
just to be passed by but they show us something deeper of what
God sees in us He hasn't just haphazardly for his own pleasure
put these laws in place but they were to show the people of Israel
something about themselves. That sin not only contaminates
the external but sin comes from the internal, from a corrupted
heart. Sin is not just what we do but
it's what we are. We sin because we are sinners. not our sin that makes us sinners
we sin because we are sinful people and these laws show us
that from within we are corrupt totally contaminated by sinful
thought and rebellion against God our hearts are deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked That's why I read Psalm 38. As
you read through that Psalm 38 you can imagine that this lady
is something that she would write. It sort of portrays all that
she is feeling. There's no soundness in my flesh.
because of thine anger, and neither is there any rest in my bones
because of my sin. My wounds stink and are corrupt
because of my foolishness. My loins are filled with a loathsome
disease. There is no soundness in my flesh,
but there's hope in Christ. For in thee, O Lord, do I hope
thou wilt hear, O my God. For I said, hear me, lest otherwise
they should rejoice over me. imagine the lady quoting or reciting
this psalm in her mind as she comes to the Lord Jesus right
I'm corrupt there's no hope I'm filled with a loathsome disease
but I hope in thee The more vile a wound is, the more we try to
cover it up. The more embarrassing a sickness
is, we try to keep that sickness just to our closest family. Just like sin. The more vile
sin is, the more people try to cover it up. People don't like talking about
their weaknesses. People don't like talking about
their sin. We try to cover it. There are
sins that are committed in the world which even the people of
the world are embarrassed and they hide from other people because
they don't want to be caught. They know that if this sin is
exposed it's going to bring so much shame upon me, so much disgrace
upon me. And this is how God views sin.
To God, sin is disgusting. It's like a vile wound, a putrefying
sore that oozes from the human body. It separates us from God. I wonder, do we have any secret sins? Do we have any sins that we are
hiding away? We don't want anybody else to
know about. We're just like this lady, we're
ashamed. It's going on in our lives, but
we are hiding it away. We think that nobody else will
know about it, nobody else can find out about it, yet we've
forgotten about God. You see, Jesus knew all along
who this lady was. For he drew her to himself. That
her sin might be exposed. That her uncleanness might be
exposed. Do we have any unconfessed sin
in our lives? Some secret sins that we are
hiding away that we don't want anybody else to know about? We can come to Jesus. if that
sin is convicting you, if that sin is challenging you, if that
sin is causing you sleepless nights, then cast it upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. Press through the crowd and come
to the hem of his garment and you will experience cleansing. Think of Achan. Achan troubled
Israel because of his sin. He thought nobody would know
about him stealing the garments and the gold. Yet God knew. And because God knew, God troubled
the whole of Israel because of his sin. Until that sin was exposed. Until he had to go to his tent
and bring out all that he had stolen. He had to confess, I
have done it. I saw the garment, I saw the
gold and I took it and I buried it in my tent. Maybe that's you
this morning. What are you burying in your
tent? What are you hiding away that you don't want anybody else
to know? Well God knows. And it must be exposed. The lady
had to tell. She had to tell. Maybe that's
your secret. is your secret this morning is
that you have touched the Lord Jesus Christ. You have experienced
his cleansing. You have experienced his forgiveness
but you are still trying to hide in the crowd. Well Jesus won't
have it. Jesus says, who touched me? Who
touched my clothes? For I know that healing virtue
has gone out of me and I declare, I desire that you tell the reason why you came to the
Lord Jesus Christ and what happened to you after you came to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Fearing and trembling, that may
be you. You may be fearing and trembling about what you have
to say but that didn't stop her. She came with her fear, she came
with her trembling and she fell down before the Lord Jesus Christ
and she declared to all the people for what reason she had touched
him. You see if Christ calls you daughter,
if Christ calls you son then he loves you and because he loves
you he has given to you his spirit which drew you to him and because
he loves you he will give you the strength and the ability
to declare for what cause you touched the Lord Jesus Christ.
What did Jesus say to the mad gadarine? The mad gadarine says to Jesus,
I want to go with you. And Jesus says, go home and tell.
Go home and tell your friends how great things the Lord has
done for you. fearing and trembling, came and
fell down before him and told him all the truth. Who has touched my clothes? May the Lord give us that heart
that will confess our sin. The scripture tells us he is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sin. there is a fountain
open for sin and for uncleanness and that the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin. If there's a
believer that is hiding secret sins in their life you will never
progress, you will never grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ you will be stagnant, you're like
a fruit tree that has a disease and it needs to be sprayed, it
needs to be dealt with. You need to come again to the
Lord Jesus Christ and confess that sin to him. And if it's a sin against a person
then you should go and confess that sin to that person. And
if you've come to the Lord Jesus Christ because of your sin and
you've been born again of the Holy Spirit and you believe and
trust that your sin has been forgiven, you have been cleansed,
then don't hide in the crowd. Go and tell what Christ has done
for your soul. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. May the Lord help us as we close
this service by singing hymn number 105 from Hymns of Worship. Jesus Sovereign, Lord of all,
at thy feet we humbly fall. Lift our hearts and eyes to see.
Send, O Lord, prosperity. Hymn number 105 from Hymns of
Worship to the tune 477. Jesus, Sovereign Lord of all,
at Thy feet we humbly fall. Lift our hearts and eyes to see
Him, send our Lord prosperity. ? Where thy name is on record ?
? There are blessed is thy word ? ? Tis my promise, great and
free ? ? Send now, send prosperity ? Days of sweet prosperity Signs and wonders in thy name. It is praises for the sun. Raise the dead, the captive free. Send down all prosperity. ? Thy temple, living stones ? ?
Praise our daughters and our sons ? ? Glory to thy praise,
O King ? ? Send out all prosperity ? Bless us as Thine own. Thine the power and praise shall
be. And by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with you each now and for
evermore. Amen.