Scripture reading tonight if
y'all will Let's turn first to Matthew 10. I got two past two
scriptures almost to look at Matthew chapter 10 We're gonna read a story inside
of a story here and I'm sorry, Matthew chapter nine,
one page to the left. Matthew chapter nine, beginning
verse 18. While he spake these things unto
them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped him saying,
my daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon
her and she shall live. Jesus arose and followed him
and so did his disciples. There's a new paragraph begins
here. And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of
blood, 12 years, came behind him and touched the hem of his
garment. For she said within herself,
if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned
about and when he saw her said, daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus
came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels, the people
making a noise, and he said to them, give place for the maid
is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her
by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad
into all that land." Now look over in Luke chapter 8. Luke
chapter 8. Verse 43. We read in the beginning
of verse 40, that was Jairus. that ruler that fell down at
the Lord's feet and his daughter was plagued. And you see in verse
42, for he only had one daughter, about 12 years of age. She was
only 12 years old and this woman had an issue of 12 years. She was only 12 years of age
and she lay dying. But he went and the people thronged him.
Verse 43, and a woman having an issue of blood, 12 years,
which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could
be healed of any, came behind him and touched the border of
his garment. And immediately her issue of
blood stanched and stopped. And Jesus said, who touched me?
When all denied Peter, and they that were with him, said, Master,
the multitude thronged thee and pressed thee. And sayest thou
who touched me? Everybody's touched you. And
Jesus said, Somebody, somebody hath touched me, for
I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. Let's pray together. Father, don't leave us to ourselves
tonight. All in this room have an issue
of blood a long time. Maybe if you're pleased, Lord,
somebody, whosoever, somebody will receive your virtue tonight.
Somebody may touch the hem of your garment. Somebody may have
a need. and somebody may have the faith to look to Christ alone. What a blessing it is, Lord,
when we see you work through your spirit and your people.
When a new creation and old things are passed away and all things
become new inside of your people, inside of us and those around
us, Lord, what a blessing it is to witness. Thank you for
that. Thank you for the brethren that you put new creations in
that we know around this world. You've kept faithful. They're
precious to us, Lord, as our Redeemer is precious to us, and
Him living in them. Thank you for this hour, Lord,
and be with us as you're pleased. It's because of your Son, His
namesake, His glory's sake that we ask these things. Amen. All right, brethren, if you will,
let's turn to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. Tidal, my message is sick to
healed. Sick to healed. This woman was
sick and she was healed right then. Right then. And what a
picture this is for us. This is a true story. This happened,
Matthew, as we've read, and Luke has recorded it, and here we're
going to read of Mark recording it. It's Mark 24 is where we're
going to start. This is the story of that woman with the issue
of blood. Here in Mark 5, verse 24, we read, And Jesus went in
with him, and much people followed him and thronged him. You see
no celebrities that get out of a sports champion or a rock and
roll star. And for the generation I'm speaking to, the British
invasion. The Beatles come off that airplane,
and them teenage girls just swarmed them, didn't they? Do you remember
that? I remember that on TV. I wasn't there. I wasn't alive
then. Maybe some of y'all remember that. They thronged him. like
a celebrity walking through town just to get take a picture with
him and touch him and say that they were there and you know
what i met a famous comedian one time in an airport and i
just gave him a thumbs up i didn't want people knowing who he was
and bother him he was sitting there reading a paper and uh
he said thank you thank you i wish i went and got a picture with
him and i thought if i got a picture with him i would want to show
you wouldn't i i want to show you that picture why because
i Because I met the famous person. Not because, look how nice he
was to me. Look who I've been hanging out with. That's the problem,
isn't it? These people thronged him. And Jesus went with him,
and much people followed him. That's a lot of people. And thronged
him. And a certain woman, not any old woman, a certain woman,
somebody, somebody, which had an issue of blood 12 years. That's
how long she's had it. And had suffered many things
of many physicians. And had spent all she had. and was nothing bettered, but
rather grew worse. She ended up worse than she,
are you better off now than you was four years ago? Don't answer
that question. But so, if you've been going
to church for that long, and so I said, well, now I gotta
wait and think about that. Well, then you ain't. Is my marriage
better now than it was four years ago? I'd better say yes, hadn't
I? You fellers enter into that? You ladies ought to say yes too,
if there's any of you out there. She was none the better, but
rather grew worse. Verse 27, and when she heard of Jesus,
came in the press behind and touched his garment, for she
said, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole. And
straightway, right then, just like him, the apostle straightway
left the boats, they left their nets. Matthew straightway left
custom, didn't leave a continuity book behind. He didn't count
the money, he just went where God told him to go. Straightway,
just the same manner. The fountain of her blood was
dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that
plague. This issue of blood for 12 years,
that's a long time to be sick, isn't it? We're just a few of
us here. You've been sick a long time,
ain't you, buddy? Long time, that's a long time. She's been
sick a long time. But you and I, everybody in this
room, we've been sick longer than 12 years. All of us are. This physically speaking of her
illness. But we have a spiritual illness, don't we? We have an
issue of blood. Everybody on this earth has a
problem with their blood. Got a bad heart, got bad blood
pumping through them. We're all born sick and we're
all born dying. This woman was unclean. It's
a picture of being unclean. And this was against the law
for her to even be around anybody. She couldn't be around him, and
she went and touched God. Went and touched his garments.
But what about us? Can we relate to this woman?
This is real important. This is part of, I'll touch on
it at the end. This is part of a good gospel message. You know
what part of a good gospel message is? I can relate to it. I can see myself, not see somebody
else, not see what so-and-so ought to be hearing. I can see
me in this woman. Can you see yourself in this
woman? Can you? She's been sick a long time.
We have spiritually. Psalm 51 says, behold, I was
shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. From
a moment of conception was corruption. People get real mad you tell
them that. Before you even come into this world to speak lies,
you's already corrupted. And that's what they got mad
at Christ for, wasn't it? We're not children of sin. Yeah,
we are. We come into this world that
way. Sin's not just an action. It's not something that we just
do. It's our nature. It's our instinct. It's the fiber
of our being, our DNA. And we're all born with that
nature. And it's not just a part of us. It's not, well, there's
a little bit, just a skosh of indwelling sin within me. It's
all of me. And if God doesn't convince us
of that, we're goners. You're gonna be in eternal damnation. If we think there's a little
bit of good in us and we found God and did him a favor, you'll
go into judgment and you're gonna have a bad day and a bad eternity.
I'm telling you that right now. God sent me to tell people that. Don't die thinking you did something
good. Don't do it. He has to convince us that. We
don't have to teach our children in any culture, no matter where
you go on this earth, you don't have to teach somebody in the
Amazon how to lie. They just do it, that's our nature. And
you don't have to teach anybody to go away from God and to quit
going to church or doing whatever, go to a church that you like,
that suits you, and their businesses are booming and everybody's happy
without the sons of thunder there. We don't have to do that to abandon
his truth, to abandon the truth about us. Psalm 58 says the wicked
are estranged from the womb. We're separated from God as soon
as we show up on this ball. and they go astray as soon as
they're born, speaking lies. Our issue of blood goes back
further than natural conception. My issue of blood didn't start
in the fall of 1979. It goes all the way to the garden. And if
you get that wrong, the whole foundation's messed up. You can
meet God thinking you did something good for him. He'll say, get
away from me, I don't know you. This is serious. This is serious.
Paul tells us in Romans 5, whereas, as by one man sin entered the
world and death by sin, that's when folks started dying. Nobody
died before that. So death passed upon all men
for all sin. All of us gonna die. It's appointed
unto man once to die and then the judgment. Well, there was
several that was translated, right? Did he not go up to God?
They didn't physically die, did they? And that last day, we don't
know what's going to happen. Twinkle in the eye, Lord comes.
I saw some strange clouds the other day. I said, it kind of
looks like a scroll. I got excited. Maybe this is over. I can go
home and somehow be translated to him, to be like him. I don't
know what that's going to be like. But I tell you, when it
was pointed at a man who died, I was in that garden, that's for sure.
There's a bifocal text there. And everybody died there. And
we died in our conception. We died the first words we spoke.
Baby comes out crying. Why? because it was warm and
cozy and had everything provided for it. Now it's on a cold table
and some stranger saw it. Then they lie. They cry when
they don't need a diaper change. They don't need a bottle. They
just want you to pick them up. As soon as you pick them up,
they quit crying. That's just a proof of what grows
worse and waxes worse and waxes worse until we get just so callous
to it that we see this nonsense going on in our communities or
we see the nonsense going on in the mirror while I'm shaving
and I say, well, that's just how it is. There's no conviction
of sin. That's God abandoning a society. It's a shame. Turn them over
to reprobation. Physical death comes upon all
mankind physically because we're sinners. Because we're dead spiritually,
and that rock consumes the whole body. We haven't loved God with
all of our hearts, soul, mind, as our neighbors, as ourselves,
and we all are selfish. With them, what's in it for me?
We're all looking out for number one. Well, if your whole family
wants to get wiped off Earth, well, what am I gonna do? What
about me? Job just lost his whole family.
Maybe not pick on him and ask him what he did wrong. Let's
tell him about God's mercy. And he's on his throne and God
did this. He's gonna teach us something. He's gonna show you
Christ at the end of this. That's a little bit better than picking
on Job, isn't it? We're selfish. Paul said in Romans 3, 19, Now
we know that all things whatsoever the law saith, it saith unto
them that under the law, that, here's the reason we have that
law, every mouth may be stopped. Shut up to sin. And all the world
may become guilty before God. All's guilty. There's none that
does good. No, not one. I can convict a person under
a law for something evil. You can't argue with a fool.
They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
You can't talk sense into somebody that's crazy. But if you can
have a sane person, I can sit down with a law, either God's
law or man's law, And I could explain, this is what happened,
this is what you did, this is what the law said, now what you
did's wrong. And they could say, you're right,
I'm wrong. I can, on a long enough timeline, I can convince people
what you did was wrong. And they'll probably apologize
for it if they're grown up. Say, what I did was wrong, I'm sorry.
But you know what I cannot convince people of? I can't do it. The
source of the evil. The source of wrong. Their wicked
hearts. That's God's work. Only the Lord
can do that. It has to be according to his
word as his word goes forth, but he'll convince them. And
you know what his prophets did of old? Isaiah said, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. Job
said, I abhor myself. I hate myself. I despise myself. I see what I am. I see who he
is. Jeremiah said, I'm a child. I
cannot speak. I love this. I saw this yesterday.
Back except when I heard, Everybody's happy. We did cartwheels and
had cake. No. He said, when I heard, that's what this woman heard.
When I heard my belly trembled. That's a fast. I can't eat. I
can't eat. My lips quivered at the voice. Jaws quivered. Rottenness entered
into my bones. I found out my bones are rotten.
All the way to the core of the marrow. I trembled in myself,
that I might rest in the day of trouble. If God shows us what
sinners we are now, that's a blessing, instead of finding out how bad
we are in that day of judgment. When he cometh upon the people,
unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. We've already
been arrested. If he showed us that, I have
a heart problem. and it's evidence in my blood.
The doctor can take, right now, go to the coroner, go to a doctor,
and they'll take your blood, and they'll tell you what's going
on. Well, this is too high, and this is too low, and this is
within the right range. And they can give you a good timeline,
especially insurance companies, because they're betting on you.
They can say, within this six-month period, we have an 85% success
rate. We can tell you when you're going
to die if you keep doing what you're doing. They can take the blood and see
that. They can see the problems. Well, we have a corrupt heart,
and that's pumping corrupt blood off of us. So did this woman. It's been there a long time.
Long time. So look at Mark 5, verse 25. And a certain woman, which had
an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things
of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse. She had not sold everything she
had to try to buy that field or that pearl at a great price,
had she? Not yet. She spent every penny she had
to not die. Keep me from dying. And she went
to every place she could go to, to find where somebody could
keep her from dying. And it kept getting worse. She
was the worst for it. She was worse off. Those false prophets
could not help her, only harm her. That's what the text says, that
she had suffered many things of many physicians and made worse. Jeremiah told us, the Lord told
Jeremiah, Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams,
saith the Lord, and do tell them and cause my people to err by
their lies and by their likeness, their flippant attitudes. Yet
I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not
profit this people at all. Kevin Thacker says that a whole
lot. Comma, thus saith the Lord. The Lord said it. Lord, I'm just,
remember? Remember? I'm a remembrancer.
Remember what he said? What physicians has she been
to? She was doctor shopping. Did you know that? Did you get
that? You go to a doctor and they don't tell you what you
want to hear, so you go to another doctor and they don't tell you what you hear, and then you go to
another doctor. You've been to a bunch of doctors. This woman's a religious hobo.
Bouncing all around. She went to Dr. Law. She saw
Sidon. She said, I can't climb up there.
I just got worse. Physician ritual and ceremony. She's baptized
and then she's baptized and then she's baptized again. She never
was baptized into Christ because she'd never had heard of him.
Worse. Mortality. Morality, M.D. Live a cleaner life, but rather
grew worse. She went to that pharmacy full of sacraments.
She went to the Lord's table, but rather grew worse. She took
that bread and that wine and it went into her mouth and it
went into her stomach and it went out into the drawer and
didn't touch her soul one bit. Didn't help that blood. She went
to the chiropractor that held special meetings. I can pop you
back in line. but rather grew worse. That's
what, I don't know if that's common anymore these days. I'll ask my children when I get
home, when we talk about the message. That's what, my pastor
sends me a message some, and I'll listen to it, and then we
can talk about it after. And then I'll listen to something,
or Kim will listen to something, she'll send me a message, I'll send her a
message, and we can talk about the message after. That's why we
do that, but I'll talk to my children after. But whenever
I was a kid growing up, if you did something bad, a teenager
did something bad, the parents said, I'm taking you to church.
Take them to a doctor. Is that gonna do them good? Gonna
make them worse? Well, at least... Now... I got
the bone to say what God says, so hear me. People say, well,
at least it ain't the right church, but at least they're going to
a church. No, it's not. It's not good. Well, at least
they're doing heroin and not cocaine. Are you crazy? What
in the world? You wouldn't say that, would
you? That's just so. Them doctors ain't helping making
it worse. A sanctification surgeon will cut out this and cut out
that, but rather grew worse. A holistic doctor, but grew worse. Our problem isn't the physicians,
you hear me on this too. Those false preachers aren't
our problem now that we went to. Can't blame them. Lord will
deal with that one day. He'll deal with them. They'll
be given account He said why'd you lie on me? He'll deal with
them, but that problems with us I'm telling you there's a
big problem in me if I say well I went there and they were wrong
and I went there and they were wrong and I went There and they were wrong and
then I went to the right place. That's III That's a touch 11,
isn't it enough kill you I It's so. Now, if the Lord broke
me, and I was a problem, and just like them, we're all dead,
and he drew me to him, and I came after I heard, and he did it
all. God's worked in somebody. You're
splitting hairs. No, I'm not. I care for people's souls. You
know that? I don't want to be right. I used to, then God saved
me. I want to be accurate. I see,
I got choked up the other day driving down the road. Millions
of people going up and down the road and nobody cares. And they're
about to meet a holy God. Spitting in his face and said,
oh, I love him. God's love. Love, love, love. Somebody's
gotta warn them. And like that message I sent
out to Henry and some of you men, that's us. It ain't me. You can't hire somebody to go
do us for you. We preach Christ and Him crucified. There's a
finger and a toe and a ear and a hair and an eyeball. That whole
body's consumed everything, isn't it? If we're part of that body,
we're a part of that body. I'm jumping ahead, but His blood's
running through us now, not this corrupt blood. What happened to this lady? Look
at verse 27. Mark 5, 27. She's in bad shape. Everything she did was wrong.
When she had heard of Jesus, how was she gonna know about
Jesus if nobody told her? You can't worship somebody you
ain't never met. Somebody, a man had to come tell her. When she
heard of Jesus, came, in the press behind, touched his garment. She heard, came, touched. Heard,
came, touched. Who was that preacher? Doesn't
matter. The man don't matter, the message
does. What providence made her come?
What was it that... Who cares? She came. If her plane
crashed, or her donkey died, or whatever, that's the Lord's
business. She came. She heard, he sent
word. She heard, she came, the Lord
drew her, and she touched him. Did she touch him with her left
hand or her right hand? It don't matter, she touched
him. She heard, she came, she touched. And you just think what's
going through her mind. That's the son of God right there.
He came to save sinners. That's what I am, through and
through. and I'm gonna touch him. If I could just touch his
garment, I ain't just, who cares about this body? I could die
right now and then go be with him. I'll be made like him. I'll be made like him. Verse
28, for she said, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be
whole. She didn't say I'm gonna be cured
of my issue of blood. Whole, that's what we need. We
don't need help, we need made whole. The throngs touched him. A lot of people touched the Lord,
didn't they? You reckon Mary probably had something to do.
She ended up having a bunch more children. She probably had a babysitter.
Come hold him. Simeon touched him. A lot of
people touched him. Those that plucked out his beard
touched him too, didn't they? A lot of people touched him. But this woman, with the issue
of blood, sick on the inside, she touched him and it did something
for her. How come all those people laid hands on him and sought
to lay hands on him and they thronged up to him just to touch
him and rub up against him and those that plucked out his beard
and those that held his arm down while they nailed those nails
through his hands? And those that touched him when they ripped
his garments off and spit in his face and mocked him just
like we did before he found us? How come them physically touching
his body didn't do anything for him? What's different between
this woman and everybody else that touched him? I'll tell you,
she had a need. Everybody in that crowd had a
want. They wanted their bellies full. They wanted their home
to be happy. They wanted their children to be good. And we wanted
something to make us feel fuzzy on the weekends. This woman had
a need, not a want. She's going to die. Need. She had a hunger. She's hungry. She needed to breathe a lot.
She was dying of thirst. She needed the fountains of living
water. She had a need. The other ones had a want. It
may have been a slightly inconvenience if Christ wasn't there. But yeah,
it's nice he's here. This woman had to have it. And
there was belief. There was belief there. There
was faith in this woman. And it's not just agreement.
It's not mental ascension that this is accurate. You get a lawyer
to read this, and then here's our doctrines, what we believe.
And I said, oh, that's accurate. It's not mental agreement to
it. It's heart dedication. He worked in her, he said something,
and she believed him. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. She said,
I need rest, I believe him. He said, you ask me of waters,
and I'll give you, you'll never thirst again. Give me that water,
I believe you. I believe, not like this is right.
A human said, no, God said that, and he's right. It's gonna come
to pass. He's gonna have a kingdom. Remember me when you get in that
kingdom. And there was an irresistible call. She heard and she came. These, two of these accounts
say she came from behind. What's that mean? Humbly. She
came low and from behind, not even worthy to look him in the
face. She had a personal connection. She touched him. It ain't something
seen from far off. This is a personal experience.
Not just something observed, not something agreed to, not
just she said that, well, he said he's a holy one and I think
that's right. She touched him, one-on-one. And she knew if she
could just be next to him and touch him, even all the way down
at the bottom of the hem of his garment, down at the seam, she
would what? Be made whole. She didn't know what she's saying
yet. She don't know. We don't know. We that heard
him and came and touched him and he's touched us. We don't
even know what that means yet. Paul said, there's not even words
in our language to describe it. I can't even tell you. It's going
to be wonderful because he's wonderful. Everyone else didn't
have a need. They didn't have the faith and
they didn't have the desire to be with the Lord. And she wanted
to be just like him. Verse 29 says, and straightway
she touched him. She heard, she came, she touched,
and straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and
she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. You
have that plague, I have that plague. Have you been healed
of it? Well, I don't know. Apostle, you don't know how God
lives in you? If there ain't a bit of work
in there, do you hate what you're hearing or do you love what you're
hearing? You desire to see Christ glorified and His name go forth
in your family, and your friends, and your neighbors, and the community,
and everything else? Be a light in this community? We say, well,
we stick it underneath the bushel. It's our light. As long as I'm
took care of, I'm good. That ain't the heart of Christ. It
ain't. She knew straight away. Verse
30, and Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone
out of him, Turned about him in the press. They pressed up
to him. Everybody else is touching him. This one's different. Certain
woman. And said, who touched my clothes?
You didn't even touch my shoulder. You didn't touch my wrist. You
touched my clothes. Somebody touched my clothes.
And the disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude surrounding
thee, and sayest thou, who touched me? Who touched me? Everybody's touching you. Luke
said, somebody. The Lord said, somebody touched
me. Isn't that fabulous? The Lord Almighty came to this
earth and human flesh to save somebody. He did. And somebody is going to hear,
and somebody is going to be drawn, and somebody is going to touch
him because he first touched them in the heart through that
message. And somebody is going to be made like him. Do you want
to be that somebody? Do you have an interest in that?
God has an elect. Maybe that's me. Maybe that's
one of you. You're hearing it right now.
Is he touching you? Mount your heart. They said, who are we going to
say who it is, Lord? The multitude's thronging you.
Why did the Lord ask who touched him? You compare those scriptures
with scriptures, right? He said in Luke 8, for I perceive that
virtue's gone out of me. Who touched me? Who touched my
clothes? He knew who it was, but he spoke at Lazarus' grave
and he said, I'm upset all this, pray to the Father so you could
hear it and that way you know what happened. And then on the
cross, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Not
that he knew why, he knew the Father. No man's seen the Father
but the Son. He was saying that for our benefit.
And here he says virtue went out. We've learned something
from that. Virtue went out. She was not virtuous. Get that? He was. And if any sinner's ever
going to have any virtue in them, it's going to come from him.
That's it. If the Lord saves us, there's
going to be a public confession of what we are and who he is
now that we've finally heard him and what he has completed
in and for us. There's something happening in
us. There's a new creation in there. But we ain't the same. That fella
got hurt one time. They called on the radio and
said, how is he? And I said, well, he's different. Most of what's
left of him is doing okay. There's something changed. Something's
different. Completed in us and for us. The Lord's done all of
it. And it's his glory. We identify with him in public
baptism. Verse 32 says, he looked round
about to see her. He knew who it was that had done
this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling,
How are we to come into God's house and worship Him with fear
and trembling? She's worshiping, not with haughtiness and not
with an attitude of authority and knowledge and high-minded
and all this and demanding, fear and trembling. Contrite heart,
knowing what was done in her. came and fell down before him
and told him all the truth. She came to him. She came to
him. She told the truth. She didn't
come to his mother. She didn't come to one of the
disciples. She didn't go to an expert, somebody that's been
doing this for 20 years. She went to the bishop of her
soul, the shepherd. She went to Christ, and she told
him the truth. She said, I was unclean, and
you made me clean. I heard about you. You sent word
to me, and you drew me. I came. You brought me. I touched
you. I want to be like you, because
I love you. I hold her hand because I love
her. I hold these children's hand across the street because
I love them. I want to touch them. I touched you." She told
the truth. John said that as plain as he
could. And 1 John 1, if we confess our sins, he faithful and just
to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all righteousness.
Not all the bad things I've done in my life. I'm sin. The noun, the feminine noun,
just like a bride. That's all I am. And Christ is
all and in all. I'm nothing and in nothing. If
we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar. Well, I ain't done
everything bad. I've done some good. What you're saying is God's
a liar. Now we don't need to define our
terms. We need to know what God defines his terms, right? Moses
had to, he got mad. He said, I got to fetch your
water for you. That's my job. I've read a lot
about it since last month. I took it serious, the charge
of the pastor and the requirements of it. I've listened to a lot
of messages on it. And it's my job to ask God to give me green
pasture for you to graze on. And as he's with me, I can do
that. And it's my job to give you living water. And if he's with me, I can do
that. I cannot make you eat it, and I cannot make you drink it. He's teaching me that. I know
that, but I'm learning it. I'm about to understand it. You
can go take all the classes you want in hypothermia, and you'll
know something about it. But whenever you get in that
ice water, and then all of a sudden you start getting warm, you understand
it. God has to make us understand
these things and make our hearts have to have it. He does. This woman came, his people shall
come, and his enemies are going to run away. Now, how he defines
things, Jacob said, well, I love Leah less. Are we carnal? Are we like one preacher over
another preacher? I like this, this is my favorite one. Or do
we like one person and one brethren over another one? Paul said that's
carnal. And so I love all of them, I love them, but I just
love them less. God said Jacob hated Leah. And he'd be worried
about his words. All those that are given to him
of the Father are gonna come to him, period. They're gonna
come, they're gonna hear, a preacher's gonna be sent to them, they're
gonna hear, and they're gonna come, and they're gonna be touched.
I tell you that, they're gonna change, they ain't gonna be the
same. But the other one's gonna run away. They said to the mountains
and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Get
us away from this austere man. If we are made to fall on our
faces with our sin ever before us, knowing who we sinned against. Do you know how important that
is? Who'd you sin against? Who'd I sin against? Almighty
God. I didn't run over my neighbor's
dog. God wake us up. This is important.
If he shows us what we are, we're made to see that, and in fear
and trembling, we come to him and beg for mercy. They're like
a dog. They're tail tucked between our
legs. What's the result of that? What's the result of God working
in somebody? Look at verse 34. And he said unto her daughter,
he didn't call her Harlot, did he? Can you believe that? This unclean woman breaking God's
law in the very presence of God. It says that in Deuteronomy.
If you're unclean, you have to live in another place, can't
be around people. He calls her daughter. Daughter, thy faith
hath made thee whole. You could substitute that with,
because it's the faith of Christ. Your Christ has made you whole.
Your king has made you whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy
place. This woman's problem, she's covering
her own blood. That's all of us. Until we meet
the true and living God, we're trying to cover ourselves in
our own blood. Blood! We need another's blood. Our
blood ain't worth nothing. I'll pay it in a pound of flesh.
Well, my flesh ain't worth nothing. I'll give you a kidney. My kidney
ain't worth nothing. Why'd she touch him? There's
a need. There was God-given faith. That's a gift of God. That believed
Christ would do what he said. That's it. And there in Romans
4, speaking of Abraham, says he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. He wasn't unbelieving, but was
strong in faith, giving glory to God. That's a good place to
start, strong in faith, isn't it? Honoring God in it. That's
the Lord's doing. If my house is foreclosed on
tomorrow, that ain't my house, it's his house. Why am I mad? Didn't God do it? Nah, I probably
got some lessons to learn in it. Take some online classes
how to use a calculator, but the Lord did it. If it come to
pass, it's his will. It honors Christ, doesn't it?
It gives glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised, he was able also to perform. He said he's going
to do it. I don't know how it's going to
come to pass, but I believe him. Do you believe him? That means
the Lord touched her first through the preaching of the word, and
then she heard, she believed, she came, and she touched him.
Maybe there's a somebody here tonight. If you have an issue
of blood, Lord, make thee whole. You got a true problem, but you
gotta be plumb sick. Just like those lepers where
they're declared clean, they had to be plumb covered in leprosy.
If there's a spot of decent flesh left, you ain't cleansed yet. If that's you, your issue, your
blood's already been taken care of, because he's made you hear
it, made you believe it, and made you come to him. What makes
a good gospel message? If it's personal. I got this
from Henry. If I could see myself in that
woman, not see somebody else, or not see how this could characteristically
come to pass in the theological doctrines that we hold, me, I'm
that woman. If it's based on the word of
God, not on what I think or what you think, or, well, that's what
we always did. That's what everybody always said. Grandma told me
that. Based on what God said. We just read it. All three accounts. If it put mankind in their place. Well, before I showed up, you
said people in this country need to hear that we're sinners. If
we're put down low and Christ is exalted, that acceptable bloody
sacrifice. Remember what that word is, propitiation.
If he's been the, this sacrifice, God ain't gonna kill us. That's
what Manoah's wife said. Lord ain't gonna kill us, he took
a sacrifice. He accepted it already. If we're put down low and Christ
was exalted and he gets all the glory and the whole thing, he's
the virtuous one and the virtue has to come from him. The children of God will be happy
about that. They'll rejoice in it. They'll
say, hey, that's right, buddy. Amen. That's me. That's what
they'll talk about after. That's it. That's what it says.
And he said he's going to call her daughter. Can you believe
that? Maybe I'm a daughter. I'm going to be his daughter,
don't you? Let's pray together. Our father in heaven, holy and
reverend is your name. Lord, may your heavenly kingdom
come just as this earthly kingdom's ruled as you see fit. Give us
Christ today, our living bread. And Lord, make us forgiving as
Christ has forgiven us. Make us faithful servants as
he was the faithful servant, your elect. Lord, we desire to be made like
him, holy, completely. What a magnificent Redeemer you've
provided for us, for wretched sinners, a great and mighty Savior
and King. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
this gospel. Thank you for sending somebody to tell us of it, of
Christ. Thank you that he's touched us
in our hearts and melted us. and that we're made one with
him. Lord, save your people as you promised you will, and come
quickly. It's because of the glory of
Christ we ask these things. Amen.