We'll commence the worship of
God with hymn 1033. The tune is 1010, Buxhall. In Jesus combine all the riches
of grace, what glory and grandeur I see in his face. Jehovah's
eternal and co-equal son, took all our transgressions and made
them his own in 1033. Jesus, Lord of life, Lord of
angels, Lord of grace, ? All glory and splendor ? ? Sing
in this place ? ? Heaven bless Israel ? ? And all ye people
of Israel ? ? The brand new day is born ? ? Rejoice, rejoice, all ye people
? ? Rejoice, rejoice, all ye people ? For you live in meekness,
glory, and peace. And it is that we rise up with
a single shout, To God so loving and compassionate. I will be the wind, will wind,
find me again. I will hold you dearly, and till
we part, we shall never part. ? Precious, holy, and strong ?
? My gracious Redeemer ? ? Wealthy and strong ? ? His prophets I shone ? From the word of God We shall read the 13th chapter
in the Gospel according to Luke. The Gospel according to Luke,
chapter 13. There were present at that season some
that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto
them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans,
because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay. But except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. For those eighteen upon
whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that
they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem. I tell
you, nay, but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. He spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree
planted in his vineyard and he came and sought fruit thereon
and found none. Then said he to the dresser of
his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on
this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down. Why cumbereth it
the ground? And he answering, said unto him,
Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about
it, and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then
after that thou shalt cut it down. And he was teaching in
one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. And behold, there
was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years,
and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called
her to him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine
infirmity. And he laid his hands on her
and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue
answered with indignation because that Jesus had healed on the
Sabbath day and said unto the people there are six days in
which men ought to work In them, therefore, come and be healed,
and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth
not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from
the stall, and lead him away to the watering? And ought not
this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound,
lo these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath
day? And when he had said these things,
all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced.
for all the glorious things that were done by him. Then said he, Unto what is the
kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like
a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his
garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of
the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereunto
shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which
a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole
was leavened. And he went through the cities
and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one
unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto
them, strive to enter in at the straight gate. The many I say
unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able, when once
the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door,
and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying,
Lord, Lord, open unto us, And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not whence ye are. Then shall ye begin to say,
we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught
in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you,
I know you not whence ye are. Depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God. and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the
east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the
south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold,
there are last which shall be first. and there are first which
shall be last. The same day there came certain
of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart
hence, for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye
and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today
and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless,
I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following, for it
cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her
wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. And verily I say unto you, ye
shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say, blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. May God bless that
portion of his holy word. May He help us in prayer. Gracious God, Almighty Saviour, we would bow
before Thee in humility and repentance, with
godly sorrow, with those gifts that Thou alone
canst give, softening our hard hearts, putting us in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day, granting Thy work within, that
we might worship Thee aright, for we would worship Thee, that
Thou art worthy of it. Lord, when we think of Thy glory,
majesty, that Thou art the eternal Saviour, the Creator, the Maker
of all things, and the Redeemer of Thy Church. Lord, Thou art too great for
us to fully comprehend, yet we pray that we might know
more of Thee, and pray that Thou wilt teach
us and pray that Thou wilt open our hearts to receive the things
of God. We pray that we might be drawn
by Thy Spirit to Thy dear feet and that we might know the blessed
drawings of the Father For no man cometh unto thee,
except the Father draw him. Lord, except the Holy Spirit
draw us. Except we know something of the
work of a triune God. Lord, we pray for these things. Too great for us to comprehend.
Yet we humbly trust that we believe. We believe, Lord, in a three-one
mighty God, and pray for thy work as we gather for worship
here, and pray that thou wilt let thy work appear in the hearts of thy dear children, that thus draw us to the feet
of thy beloved Son, And may we be found like dear Mary of old,
sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing his word. May we hear it this afternoon.
We pray that thou would speak to us from heaven above with
power and unction into souls here below. We pray that thou
deliver us from that spirit of dear Martha, who has come but
about serving, come but about with many things, and Lord, we
can be no better. Lord, we can be either the one
or the other. Deliver us from all the cares
of this life for a little season. From everything here below, And may we be like dear Noah,
when thou didst call him into the ark and shut the door, then
he was shut in with the Lord. May it be so with us, shut in
with Jesus for a little season, and know and hear thy precious
voice. We thank Thee for Thy Word and
seek Thy blessing on the portion we have read together. And as
we read Thy Word together, may Thy Word read us. May it have
an effect in our hearts and souls. May we know the gracious work
of the Holy Spirit as we meditate in it. We pray for divine wisdom
from above to guide and to direct us. O make thy word a lively,
a living and an effectual word. May it be made mighty through
Jesus to the pulling down of the strongholds of sin and of
Satan. Do use it, Lord, to build up
the souls of thy children. Oh, to be built up in Christ
Jesus, and not to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. For many of the winds of doctrine
that blow in our day, false doctrines, false teaching, Lord, those things
that flow not from Thee, for everything out of Thee is false,
fickle, changeable, and Thou knowest it cannot endure. But Lord Jesus, Thou and Thy
precious Word will endure forever. Make Thyself our foundation,
May we ever rest on thee. Be thou our strong habitation,
whereunto we may continually resort. May our life be one of
fleeing unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Deliver us, Lord, from all below. Lord, may we, like the dear apostle,
know what it is for our conversation to be in heaven. For, Lord, all
earthly conversation is but carnal, unprofitable, unhelpful to thy
dear children. And yet, Lord, we have carnal
hearts, prone to wonder, We confess it. Prone to wander, Lord, we
feel it. Prone to leave the God we love.
Then use thy word to sanctify us. Sanctify us through thy word. Thy word is truth. Write it in
our hearts, we pray. Oh, hide it there. And bless
us with the spirit of meditation. to meditate on the things of
God. We pray for each one gathered
round the Word that they will have mercy upon us all. Open
ears and hearts we pray and may divine grace drop from thee in
heaven into hearts here below. We need that grace of repentance
of godly sorrow. Lord, that grace has saved, granted
here. We need grace to hear thy voice,
to obey it. Help us, Jesus. We do pray, Lord Jesus, for the
dear friends here and their pastor, that thou will be with them.
blessing the Word, using it, Lord, for thy glory's sake and
the good of poor sinners. Be with him as he labours at
Matfield as we pray that thou wilt be with us here and prosper
thy Word. We pray, Lord, that his ministry
might be blessed here, that thou wilt get glory to thy name. Remember
the dear friends as they mourn the loss of a dear aged member. Comfort the family, comfort the
church and Lord thou canst bring in more. Oh that thou would gather
in the purchase of thy precious blood. Thus bless and be with
them we pray. Help thy dear people to look
up, to press on. Lord, to press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Be with us now as we turn once
more to thy precious word. Oh, make it precious. Make it
profitable. Teach us from heaven, we pray,
and forgive our many sins. We plead thy precious blood and
ask these mercies in thy name, Lord Jesus, Amen. We'll continue the service with
hymn 388. The tune is 165, Kendall. Approach my soul the mercy seat,
where Jesus answers prayer. There humbly fall before his
feet, for none Come perish there. Hymn 388. O come, O come, Emmanuel, The forest is a living thing.
It lives and it can live. The forest is a living thing.
? And heaven in the highest heaven
in the highest heaven in the highest heaven in the highest
heaven in the highest heaven in the highest heaven in the
highest heaven ? I come to thee, O rest ? ? Here let my children
lie in peace ? in the sky. The land of the eternal and the
living well. With an eye to the world of creation,
And every spirit such as I O tempest-tossed, stormy still,
Thy portentous stream, you will find the word on my
spirit this afternoon in the chapter we read together, Luke
chapter 13. And a few words attracted me
to our subject this afternoon, which you'll find in verse 16. And the few words are this, a
daughter of Abraham. A daughter of Abraham. Luke chapter 13 verse 16, we'll
read the whole verse. And ought not this woman, being
a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound Lo, these eighteen
years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. The Lord Jesus Christ had enemies. They were in contention with
him. The enemy was the ruler of the
synagogue. And he was a hypocrite. That is, he said one thing and
did another. A hypocrite is somebody, really,
who puts himself above. other people. Here he put himself
above the Lord of Life and Glory. He was critical of what had happened. And his criticism was this, that the Lord Jesus Christ that
had healed this poor, poor woman on the Sabbath. Verse 14, the ruler of the synagogue
answered with indignation. He answered to what had happened,
which we shall come to. He answered with indignation.
because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. And said unto the people there
are six days in which men ought to work. In them therefore come
and be healed and not on the Sabbath day. He was, what I was going to say
and will say, The typical hypocrite, there's a bit of hypocrisy in
the heart of every fallen man, including the one in the pulpit,
left to sell. His criticism was not directed
at Jesus directly. But we're told, he said unto
the people. And you know, some poor preachers
have to walk the same path as Jesus. They won't criticize you to your
face, but they go off behind your back. And criticize behind your back. Often that happened to Jesus.
He knows what that feels like. He said unto the people. So the ruler rose up in indignation
because what had happened in that little domain where he thought
he ruled. So we have a man who thought
he could govern everything. in the place of worship where
he was. Even the Lord of life and glory
and his work. He said that there are six days.
Bring the sick here then. Come then, not on the Sabbath
day. We don't want that here, was
his attitude. The Lord then answered him, Thou hypocrite, doth not each
one of you, all of them. Really in the days of Jesus, it was not uncommon for almost
everybody to have an ox or an ass. That was the common way
of living. Attached to the dwellings was
a building, and in that building was their livestock. Many theologians felt that that's
where Jesus was born, in such a place. Attached to the dwelling,
because the house was full, there was a place where the livestock
was kept, hence nowhere for him to go. It was taken there, but
that's by the way. They all knew exactly what he
was referring to. Because they all had, what we
might call it perhaps today, a lean-to on the side, or something
like that, or an annex on the side. And in that annex, the
ox and the ass, they were taken every night. for their safe keeping
and locked up and kept in safety but when the morning came the
poor things were thirsty they were hungry and some of you perhaps like
me were brought up in the country And we've heard the cattle tied
up and we've heard them lowing and crying in the morning and
the farmer going out to loose them off they'd go down the pasture
to drink and to eat. This was a common occurrence.
Jesus in Galilee, he lived amongst country people. He was born there. At least all of you. Every day,
including the summer. And what they were doing was
not breaking the Sabbath. That was permitted. To look after
your animals. It's no different perhaps to
a person who has a dog or a cat, to feeding them on the Sabbath,
to letting them out. That's not contrary to the Word
of God. But the Lord said to him, you
hypocrite, each one of you, you go out and your poor ox or
your ass. It's in there, it's been fasting
all night, it's starving all night. The poor thing wants to
get out, it wants to drink. And you go there every morning
and you lead him away to the watering. You set him free. And very likely
they did it more than once. such as the care of animals. So the Lord reminds them of what
all of them did that Sabbath morning. You see the poor ox and ass,
they were tied up, they were in bondage, they were in darkness. They couldn't free themselves.
They were utterly dependent upon the owner to go and free them
and let them go. Then Jesus comes down to where
our text is, and ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan hath bound low these eighteen years, be loosed from
this bond on the Sabbath day. What Jesus is saying to them,
what I have done, is no different to what you've done this morning. You have loosed your annual,
let it out of darkness, let the thing go free, Let it somewhere
where it can drink and be nourished. And I've come into your synagogue
and I've done just the same thing in a different way to what you
have done. And there they were criticising
the Lord for something that they did themselves. That's a description of the hypocrite. And beloved, it makes me search
my heart, doesn't it? You get ready perhaps to criticise.
Sometimes, you know, every time we should stop. Am I doing this? Perhaps not in the same way,
but the same thing in a different way. And I'm criticizing a person
for what I'm doing in another way. Jesus never did that. And he
never taught that that should be done. But you see, he released one who was dear to
him. They had. But their livelihood
depended on it. their milk perhaps. Many things
could depend on it. So Jesus says, ought not this
woman being a daughter of Abraham? Those words stood out, a daughter
of Abraham. What does it mean? Well, I suppose,
in one sense, the ruler of the synagogue, he claimed to be a
daughter, a son of Abraham, as the Jews did. Abraham is our
father. And she certainly, being a Jew
at the synagogue, was an outward daughter. But I believe that Jesus meant
much more than that. He was speaking of one of his
children. And the very phrase, daughter of Abraham, signified
a child of God. We read often in the scripture,
but wasn't it Lazarus, or not Lazarus, one of the tax collector,
who the Lord set free, he was a son of Abraham. And it was
a phrase that denoted God's children, his chosen ones. Jesus said,
she's one of my daughters. She's one of my children. And I've set her free. I've loosed her. Daughter of Abraham. I wonder how many sons and daughters
of Abraham are here this afternoon? How many children of God? Because, beloved, nothing matters
more than that. And in the portion we have before
us, we have the most wonderful description of the Lord setting her daughter
free. Jesus makes it abundantly clear
that what was holding this dear woman in bondage was the whom the devil hath bound, Satan
hath bound for 18 years, held in bondage for 18 years, and held this poor woman in that
condition. to return on the experience of
the daughter of Abraham. We see the instruction for each
and every one of us concerning that spirit of hypocrisy. Where did it take place? What
happened? Go back to verse 10. And he was teaching in one of
the synagogues on the Sabbath day. We've already mentioned it was
a Sunday. For this dear woman it was a Sabbath day that she
would never forget. Sometimes the Lord's dear people
that they have Sabbath days they can't forget. Memorable ones. Outstanding ones. And this took place on the Sabbath
in the synagogue, if you will, in the house of God. And Jesus
was there and he was teaching. And then in verse 11, it opens
with two words, and behold. And wherever I see that in scripture,
to me sometimes is it used like a seal. Get them in the psalm. Stop! Consider. No, take note. Behold something. The whole preaching
is to say stop a moment. The Holy Spirit says behold this.
He says take notice of it. Beloved, if ever you're reading
your Bible and something stands out, stop. Don't read on. I've known what
it is, and perhaps one or two of you here have, but you read
your Bible and something seems to shine out, perhaps in the
morning devotions or evening devotions, or in your private. So I think, I read on, and you
come to the end and you think, I'll go back and you can't find
it. What is it? Where is it? In our private readings, it is
sometimes well worthy just to stop and look at it and pray
and consider it. Pray for understanding. Well
here, the Holy Spirit says, behold this, There were many people
in the synagogue, weren't just a few. If you read down to verse
17, and when he had said these things, all his adversaries were
ashamed and all the people rejoiced. The glorious things that were
done by him. There were many there. But there was one particular
character there. amongst many. And often it's
like that in the chapel. We've known what it is sometimes
to sit in chapel and the word of God touch our
hearts. And we've sat there, particularly
in our early days, and couldn't understand why everybody in the
chapel was not arrested by what we'd heard. and the effect it
had in our heart. But then looked round and said,
nobody was moved but us. I wonder if it was like that
here. One person. This be all men. Behold there
was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and
was bound together And could he no wise lift up herself? What a picture. You might say,
is this the daughter of Abraham? Is this the child of God? Yes. And she's coming to the house
of God like this? Yes. Wonderful. Well it teaches us one thing,
sometimes infirmities are the very thing that should bring
us there. Now I'm not saying everybody
infirmed can get there, we know that. Some are stricken to bed,
some poor things could not get there. It tells us this if you
can. Whatever the infirmity, whatever
the affliction, I get a picture of this poor
thing in my mind and I don't want to get carried away with
my imagination. But can you picture this poor
thing folded up? She was bowed together. Bent right over. She'd spent
18 years like it. Seems to me the poor thing has
spent 18 years shuffling around. Probably looking at the ground. Groping here and groping there. And there was no way she could
lift up herself. She couldn't extricate herself
from this awful condition. I wonder, I'd rather feel in
my own heart, rightly or wrongly, she wasn't fully aware that the
devil was in the matter. Often we have that in scripture.
The devil was certainly in Job's infirmities, wasn't he? And this dear woman, and others
in scripture, he can afflict. Let's be clear. The Bible makes
them abundantly clear. Both in body and in soul. This spirit of infirmity. Bound together. I wonder if anybody here knows
what that feels like. No, you're not bound together
physically. We know that, we can see that.
What about spiritually? There's the thing. If Satan lays hold of us, he
can bow our spirits together. And we can't look up to Jesus. You sit here Sabbath by Sabbath. How many of you know what it
is to freely look up to Jesus? in prayer, in desire, to look
up to him. And how many? What is the one? And you're bowed down with infirmities. It could be anything. The devil
knows best how to bow poor sinners together and keep their eyes
off Jesus. That's what he's about. Anything. And he keeps our hearts
fixed on earthly things and carnal things and time things. And things that one day will
matter nothing to us. And some can be bowed down with
one thing and some another thing. He's a past master. He's been
at this for thousands of years. He's the subtle snake that entered
into the garden. He was more subtle than all the
beasts of the village. He knows how to tie people up
in knots, bind them. The spirit of infirmity. I speak
of spiritual infirmity. Things that draw you from the
word of God. Draw away from heavenly things.
Draw away from eternal things. Draw away from the welfare of
your soul. Draw away to the things of this
earth and the carnal things that are going on. And people, their whole religions
almost sometimes turned up, turned over with earthly things and
earthly conversation. What should our conversation
be? Portals. Our conversation is in heaven.
that will make you look up on earthly things carnal things this earth is full of theories
it's full of antichrist and it's the kingdom of satan
that's his domain and we're born there by nature And he knows
how to hold us there. He's got this dear woman held
physically, and I don't doubt mentally too. Well, she's bowed
down. And she could in no wise lift
herself up. Can you lift yourself above yourself
this afternoon? Maybe it's as simple as this,
you're bound up with your sins. And don't look up. You're bound up with worldly
theories and all manner of things. This world's full of them. And
it gets even fuller. And it will. Because Jesus says,
there'll be many antichrists. And many are bound by such things. spirit of infirmity could in
no wise lift up herself. Sin can bring us there and guilt
can bring us there and lost condition can bring us there. A myriad of things can hold us
in such a condition. Behold this woman What hope was there for her? What hope was there for her? Look at verse 12. When Jesus
saw her. Here she was. She was in the
synagogue. She was in the best place. She
was where Jesus was physically. We don't read that she saw him
because the poor thing was bound together. He saw her. You know, what glorious truths
unfold there. He saw all his people first. Every one of them. He saw them when his father gave
him the church in eternity. He saw them all. And he foreknew them. And he
foreknew the condition they were in. He saw her. That's the wonderful thing. Oh,
beloved, don't you see Grace here? Sovereign grace all still abounding. The grace of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. He looked. He saw. We don't say
it was her. It was Him. He saw her. There was nothing about her that
He didn't know. Nothing at all. Not only did
he see her, but he called her. He called her to him. All the wonders of grace. And also, beloved, He called
her just as she was. Just as she was. He didn't looser than call her. He called her in bondage. Here's the gospel. Here's free
grace. Here's the love of Jesus. Here's
his compassion. Here's his mercy. He called her
to him. And then he spoke to her. He saw, he called, he spoke. It's all Christ in salvation.
from first to last, completely. I go back to the
text I quoted this morning, the angel speaking to Joseph, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, he shall save his people from their
sins, not they, him is the saviour I love and need. Oh, he found her. She didn't find him, he found
her. I see that beautiful parable
here, if you will, unfolding a little of the lost sheep. Do
you remember it? It's only a few words. Jesus spoke of the sheep that
was lost over the hills and far away. And what did Jesus say about
the lost sheep? He said the shepherd went and
found it. Because a lost sheep can never
get itself out of trouble. It's lost. But the shepherd went. And he knew just where to go.
Jesus did it this Sabbath day. He knew just where he was needed.
in this synagogue, in this company of people, where there was a
poor bound sinner. And what did the shepherd do
to that sheep? He picked it up. A poor sheep
couldn't pick itself up. Look at lost sinners, they're
like this bound woman. He picked it up. And he laid
it on his shoulder. It's all the shepherd, isn't
it? He laid it on his shoulder and he took it back to the fold. That's salvation. From first
this free, totally free. This dear woman proved that.
Why she couldn't say, I saw him She was bound double with all
the things that Satan had tied her up with. She couldn't say,
I called to him, we don't reach, he said a word. He spoke to her. It's a beautiful picture of salvation,
of the Lord helping his dear people in their infirmities,
their sorrows and their fears, their sinkings. The darkness. You might say, well what did
she feel like? The stalled ox. That poor ox couldn't lift the
latch and open the door. Never heard of one doing it.
That poor ox couldn't slip the bolt. It needed somebody else to do
it. That poor ox couldn't let himself out. Oh, he may have
groaned and moaned a little about it. I don't doubt this poor woman
had groaned under infirmity. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
came right where she was. And he did everything for her. You know, poor sinners, at the
best they try and do everything for themselves and have to prove
their failures. No man can save himself. None. They're all like this woman,
bound, until Jesus comes and liberates her. I think of
the words of Jesus when he was again disputing with his enemies
on liberty. Again, it was the sons of Abraham,
wasn't it? We were Abraham's children. We were already free,
if you remember. They said, nobody held us in
bondage. That's the cry of fallen sinners.
They'd forgotten they were in Egyptian bondage, forgotten they
were in Babylonian bondage. They'd forgotten that the Romans
had got them in bondage. That's the blindness of man. Jesus told them what bondage
was. He that is the servant of sin. He's the one that's in bondage.
He that serves sin is the servant of sin. Then those beautiful
words. Here we see a picture of it.
If the Son shall make you free, Ye shall be free indeed. This, dear woman, is the truth
of that. He spoke to her, woman, thou art loose from thine infirmity. He said that before he'd done
what he'd promised her. We don't read she said anything.
Woman thou art loosed from thine infirmity. How was she to be loosed? He
laid his hands on her. Notice that the whole narrative
is Christ only. Christ only. he laid his hands
on her and immediately she was made
straight what did she prove? that the cure was divine that
when he laid his hands on her the divine power entered into
her and delivered her and made her straight. That's how sinners
are delivered. My mind goes to the woman with
the issue of blood. You remember how she had been
12 years, searching everywhere for a cure. And the longer she
searched, the worse she got, and the worse she got, and the
worse she got. What happened to her? Why? She heard of Jesus. At the end Jesus said, Thy faith
has saved thee. She heard and she believed. She
believed that he could cure her of her awful ailment. Then we have the simplicity of the
gospel. It's different to this woman.
She heard, she came, she touched. She said, if I made it touch,
the hammer is gone. But what happened? Jesus tells
us. She was made whole, but he said,
virtue has gone out of me. That's what happened here. He laid his hands on her and
a divine power entered into that woman. That's what happens when
a sinner is saved. There's a heavenly unction. I
only heard recently of an old preacher, I was talking to another
minister, oh he said he often used to say to this, a divine
cordial William Gatsby says, let the
ocean of redemption supple every conscience well. It's when something
from heaven flows into the soul. That's what happened here. Something
divine. Something I've never felt before.
Something that made this Sabbath different to every Sabbath you'd
ever experienced. She was cleansed. And how sweet
it is, dear child of God, when you sit in the pew in all your
darkness and sin, and the Holy Spirit takes of the things of
Jesus, the blood of Jesus, and applies it spiritually to the
soul. Oh, and you're cleansed, and
you're saved, and you're safe, and you're happy. And like this
woman, immediately she glorified God. She knew the cure was divine.
And divine it was, it came from a divine Saviour who now is at
the right hand of the Father and is still able to set poor
sinners free. Oh, if there's any in bondage
here, beloved, you'll never free yourself. The Lord don't expect
you to. If the Son shall make thee free,
ye shall be free indeed. And she was loosed, free, at
liberty. You know, staying with the, if
I can find it, it comes to my mind, the analogy of the cure,
my mind goes to, I think it's Malachi, where, yes it is, But unto you
that fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing
in his wings. This is it, and ye shall go forth
and grow up as calves of the stall. That's what the man did
every morning to the calves of the stall. He opened the gate,
he opened the stable as it were, and he let them free as they
skipped down the meadow to the watering. He shall go forth and
grow up as calves of the stall. I think this woman knew something
of that truth. She'd come in, scarce able to
move, and oh, the dear thing, she could skip out. She was free. She's the daughter of Abraham. And she proved it. And she knew it. Lord, there's
a poor sinner in bondage here. May the Holy Spirit teach you
such truths and bring you to realise there's one Saviour. He actually was once on the cross
where he delivered his dear children from sin and bondage. He's now
in heaven and he's still able to deliver and save to the uttermost. As he did this, dear woman, if
the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. She's
now, and she knew it, a daughter of Abraham. Our closing hymn today is 1092. The tune is 138, Evangelist. Till God the sinner's mind illumine,
Tis dark as night within, Like Lazarus in the dreary tomb, Bound
hand and foot by sin. in 1092. O come all ye faithful joyful
and triumphant ? When happiness begets joy ? ?
Till all things are as before ? ? When heart and soul are one ? ? We sing of heaven and earth in
love ? ? Sing of heaven and earth in love
? ? Great mountains high ? ? Gracious
people ? ? Blessings of life ? ? Blessings of life ? ? Christ is born ? ? Christ is
born ? He said, I know that I am one
with Him and with Him alone. ? And see Him on this day ? ?
Risen from the dead of night ? ? And world without end glorify
Him ? Now, may thy grace, dear Lord
Jesus, and the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit,
rest and abide with us each, now and for evermore. Amen.