Look back with me now. I know
it's stuffy in here. A certain woman. That's what
it says in verse 25. A certain woman. You know how
many times it says a certain woman or a certain man? Don't
give them their names. I believe the reason the Lord
does that is to let everybody know that you don't have to have
a, you can just be anybody. It could be anybody. It could
be you, a certain man, a certain woman. It could be you. It could
be you. And here's this woman, she had
been dying for 12 long years, and the Lord did something for
her. But a certain woman, and over in Luke chapter 8, it says
about, you know, our Lord asked her, who touched me? Who touched
me? But our Lord Jesus Christ went
about doing good. He went about doing good, healing
all that were oppressed of the devil. And here in this chapter
alone, he cast out a legion of devils, a legion of them, a whole
legion of them. And that's a hundred, the minimum
of a hundred, a hundred demons in a person. Mary Magdalene had
seven, had seven. And then he, Jairus sent word
to him, says, my daughter's sick, would you come? He's a ruler
of the synagogue. And that's where he's headed.
He's headed on his way to Jairus' house to heal her daughter. And I tell you, as our Lord's
going to Jairus' house on the way, healing virtue flows out
of his body, a healing virtue. And that's why he said he's touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. He himself bore all of our sicknesses. and our infirmities. Now, how
could he feel all of our sicknesses and never get sick? How could
he touch a leper and not be leprous? How could he touch a sinner and
not become a sinner? Those are mysteries of the scriptures.
But it tells you who we're dealing with. We're dealing with someone
that's so far above us and yet can be touched with us and touched
by us. And he's the only one that can
do anything for us. And so this certain woman is
on the way to Gerias' house to heal his daughter. And this,
on his way, this healing virtue comes out of him. And this healing
virtue touches this poor, sick, helpless woman. And so as Gerias
saw this happen, saw this woman healed, imagine how this encouraged
Gerias. And so here our Lord gives him,
Gerias, a handful on purpose. But now notice some things about
this woman. I want you to notice some things
with me about her. In verse 25 here, it said, a
certain woman which had an issue of blood, 12 years, she had a
disease, an awful disease, an awful affliction, and 12 long
years, 12 long years, her life is slowly ebbing away, and the
life of the flesh is in the blood. I heard of a man and woman that
I knew and have known for quite some time. I know her husband
had cancer, so I contacted her recently and asked how he was
doing. And the doctors he'd done went
through all of his chemo and all that things, and his oncologist
said, well, he's got another five or six years without any
doubt. Well, then all of a sudden, he
started bleeding. He started bleeding. and they hospital and
the doctors tried to stop the bleeding and they couldn't stop
it and he bled to death. Cancer never killed him, he bled
to death. That's what was happening to this woman. She was bleeding
to death. And she's weak because of this condition. Very, very
weak. And when you have an issue of
blood as a woman, that made you unclean. Anything you sit on
had to be washed. Anything you touched had to be
washed. And not only is she weak because of this condition, she
is unclean because of this condition, and she's miserable because of
this condition. She's absolutely, utterly miserable. And that's the effect of sin.
That's the effect of sin. There's no external remedy for
this woman. Nobody's been able to help this
woman. Who in the world can deal with your sin? Sin has such an
effect on us. that we live with it every day
in our bodies even. We do live with it in our minds,
we live with it in our bodies, we live with it in our imaginations,
we live with it in our eyes, we live with it in our ears.
Every part of our being is affected by sin. and sin is a horrible
disease. And there's only one person that
can cure that, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. If people
ever, ever, by God's grace, find out what sin is, they will not
stop, not stop until they get to Christ, like this woman with
this issue of blood, will not stop until they get to Him. They
won't do it. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. Every believer presses
into the kingdom of God. We know our need. We know the
effects of sin upon us. And there's no external wisdom
remedy here, and the wisdom of man has never yet found a remedy
for sin. In fact, most preachers don't
even mention the word. Most preachers talk about how
you can, do you know, are we gonna go to the traditional service
or the contemporary service? We gonna wear sunglasses in the
service or gonna wear shorts in the service? We gonna wear
a tie in the service or we gonna go in our everyday clothes? That's
all they're interested in now. Well, you wanna come to the traditional
or contemporary? We don't care if you're tattooed
up, tattooed down, bald-headed, got hair down to your back, it
don't make any difference. Just come and give God a try.
But beloved, I tell you, the effects of sin, there's no remedy
been found for it yet. Man in his wisdom's tried everything
under the sun. Education, religion, and yet,
just like this woman with the issue of blood, she's been in
this process of dying for 12 years because of the disease
of her blood. And beloved men are dying in
the process of sin working itself out in them. Sin. Oh, the effects of sin. You know
when we'll finally be done with sin? When this body quits functioning. That's the only time we're gonna
be done with it. That's why we rejoice when a believer goes
home to be with Christ. He don't have to just let us
stay here and deal with this thing called sin anymore. And
you say, well, I'm not a sinner. Well, you'll never know Christ
until you're a sinner, I'll tell you that. But now look at her
effort. So she had this issue of blood,
this awful disease. Look at her effort. And it says
in verse 26, down the middle of the verse, has spent all that
she had. She wanted to save herself. She wanted to save herself of
this condition she is in. And it says here, she spent all
that she had. Everything she had. She run out
of all of her money. She went to this doctor, that
doctor. He charged her this much, that one charged her this much,
that one charged her this much. Well, he says, well, I'll send
you to this specialist and I'll send you to this other specialist.
And I'll tell you what, maybe they'll get you healed up. Maybe
they'll get you done. She did this for 12 years and
she run out of money. No more doctors gonna see her.
She ain't got no money. That's the way it is now. Oh,
you run out of money, your insurance runs out, gotta go to the house.
But I tell you what, but here she spent all that she had, and
she did this to save herself. And I tell you what, bone for
bone, flesh for flesh, I tell you what, a man will do everything
in his power to save himself. He'll do everything in his power,
including spending money, going to doctors, going to churches,
going to preachers, going to seminaries, going to everything
I can possibly do to save themselves. Save themselves. And she knew
she was diseased and willing to give and give everything she
had and she did give all she had to get well. And it didn't
do no good. She lost all pretense of being
good enough, no self-justification anymore, no shaming and no scheming
anymore, no going to doctors anymore. And I'll tell you what,
when people quit pretending to be good enough or justifying
themselves and coming in here and playing the hypocrite and
shaming and scheming, well, I'll tell you what, that's when you
go to where you're supposed to go. But she was earnest enough
She just went to the wrong place, the wrong source, because you
know a cure couldn't be purchased. That's the whole point. If she
could not purchase a remedy for the condition she is in, couldn't
be purchased, then oh my, look what she did now. And she was
nothing better but rather good word and had suffered many things
of many physicians. suffered many, many things of
many positions. You know, there's a lot of doctors.
Let me name just a few of them. A lot of doctors out here. There's
a Sadducees in the scriptures. They didn't believe in the resurrection.
They believed when you died, that's it. They didn't believe
in angels, they didn't believe in spirits. So she went to the
old Dr. Sadducee, and you know what Dr.
Sadducee told her, said, well, enjoy yourself, you're only gonna
live once. There ain't no time after this, huh? Oh, don't be
so anxious about it. So, oh my, she went to Mr. Pharisee, Dr. Pharisee. He said,
oh, listen, keep the law, keep the commandments. And I tell
you what, you pay attention to what you do and you live a good,
holy, godly life and God will take you to heaven when you die
because you've been good enough. And his son for civility says,
oh, listen, if you act civil and act good and act moral and
act patriotic, that'll get you by. Here comes old Dr. Ceremony. You know what he says? Come to the front. You know what
he says? Come up here. We'll baptize you
in that water and wash away your sins. Bring your baby up here
and we'll sprinkle some water on his head. And oh my, old Dr. Orthodox, he said, oh my, if
you get all your ducks in a row, cross all your T's, dot all your
I's, and understand everything there is to understand and get
all the correct opinions in your mind, you'll be okay. You'll
be okay. And then here comes another doctor.
You know what his name is? Preparation. Dr. Preparation. And this is the one that's the
most popular. Make yourself fit for Christ. Make yourself fit for Christ. Make yourself fit for grace. Make yourself fit for salvation. If you become, and that's something
that they used to do all the time, that people used to say
all the time, said, boy, you need to clean yourself up and
go to church. Clean yourself up and go to church. That's what
they say. If you just come up to the church
up there, you know, and people wanna prepare themselves and
make themselves fit. I've done this myself before
I ever got converted. I remember going out to North
Dixie in Dayton, Ohio, and I went into a Christian bookstore and
bought myself a Bible, and it was a World Bible. made my world,
and I was done, because I was, I was gonna make, I'd been miserable
enough, and been from Vietnam, and I was one miserable human
being. Couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, I was just, I was miserable. I mean, I couldn't eat, I was
awfully conditioned, I said. So I said, I know what I'll do,
I'll buy me a Bible. and I'll read that Bible, and
I'll start doing better, and surely if I start doing better,
I'll start feeling better. And if I thought, well, I'm gonna
start with the Sermon on the Mount. Everybody talks about
the golden rule of the Sermon on the Mount. I got the Bible
down, and I started reading the Sermon on the Mount, and you
know what I found out? I was a poor in spirit. I didn't hunger and thirst after
righteousness. And I found out right there that
our Lord said, be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect,
and I found out right then and there. that that wasn't gonna
help. That didn't help. That made it
worse. That just made it worse. I was trying to get fit for the
kingdom of heaven. But oh, listen. And I tell you,
the reason things, these cures didn't work was because they
didn't know, none of these doctors understood the disease. You got
to understand the disease before you can get cured of it. And
look at her failure after she did all this. Look what it said
there again in verse 26. Suffered many things of many
physicians, spent all that she had, and look at this, and was
nothing better, didn't get any better, but rather grew worse. She got worse and worse and worse. Oh shit, you'd think after she'd
spent everything she had went to all these doctors. Surely
she'd been all right. Surely, surely things is gonna
start getting better. But she was nothing better, but
she got worse and worse and worse. And if you're thinking that you're
gonna get better and better and better, listen, you don't know
what the, Paul says, when I would do good, evil presents itself. That that I wouldn't do, I do.
And what I would do, I don't. Did he sound like he was getting
better? But she's now without hope. Worse than ever, because
she spent everything she had. She was like Job's physicians.
They were physicians of no value. Huh? Oh, physicians of no value. Every time they went there, she
came back with the false bees. She came back feeling, well,
I think that's gonna work. I believe that's, see, I'll be
good enough now. And oh, listen, I'm gonna do better. I'm gonna
change the way I, Do this and then there's old Jordan in the
church. They couldn't help because they did not know the source
of her disease. Oh my, but look what she said. Oh man, listen to this now. Oh,
she's without hope. She said, nothing better, but
rather grew worse. It's like those seven devils.
It's like that unclean spirit that went out of the house. This
man had an unclean spirit. And the scripture says that he
said, I'm gonna go out. And he went out. He left that
man's house and it was swept and garnished. Oh, they swept
it up real good. put some garnish around it, you
know, put some crosses around him and put some badges and flags
and emblems on all of him, you know, and made him look good,
got him a Bible, and oh my, put crosses all over his house, and
oh, I tell you what, put some pictures of Jesus up, and I mean
that house was clean. And he went out trying to find
some rest, that unclean spirit, trying to find some rest, and
not find any. You know what he said? I'm gonna
go back to that house that I come out of. Well, that's things swept
and garnished. It's all fixed up. I'm ready
to go. He said, well, that old fella
said, I'm gonna go back in there. And you know what he did? He
took seven devils with him. He was worse than when he first
started. And I tell you, that's what this
poor old woman did. She got worse. But look at her
faith. Look at her faith. And when she
had verse 27, she had heard of Jesus. came in the press and
said, if I may touch, in verse 28, but if I may touch his clothes,
just his clothes, not him, just his clothes. She said, if I may touch but
his clothes, I shall be heard. But she heard of the master.
She heard of the master. I want you to look with me over
here in Romans 10. Look with me in Romans 10. You
know, this is a missing note. in today's preaching is that
they, is people not hearing about the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I listen to a lot of
ads on the radio, and there's a lot of religious ads on there.
A lot of religious ads from right here in this county. And I'm
sure some of you have heard them. Some of you have heard them.
I mean, they're awful. They're awful. But they don't
mention Christ. The only way they mention Christ
is in the name of their church, the Church of Christ. But they
give you every reason in the world to come there other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this is what we're gonna
do for your kids, and this is what we're gonna do for you,
and this is what we're gonna do that. We love Crossville, and
you know, so what? We love Crossville. What's that
got to do with having a relationship with God? And I tell you, this
is a missing note. Men are not talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. But look here in Romans 10, 11. For the scripture saith, whosoever,
oh, don't you love that word? Whosoever, you know who that
means? Whosoever, that's who it means,
believeth on him, that is to qualify, shall not be ashamed
or not be brought to shame. And look what he says here now.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Listen
to this. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Calling on the name of the Lord,
calling on Christ, calling on his name, calling on his power,
shall be saved. Now listen to this now. How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? If you
don't believe on him, how you gonna call on him? And then here
you ask this question, and how shall you believe in him of whom
you have not heard? If you haven't heard about him,
how you gonna believe him? If you've not heard of Christ,
how you gonna believe him? And so she heard. It's like Bartimaeus,
she heard, he heard the Lord Jesus Christ coming, he heard
and people hears. And I'll tell you in the scripture
says in Isaiah 54, 13, all thy children shall be taught of God.
Here she's being taught. Her faith is so simple, if I
can just touch his clothes, just touch his clothes, just touch
his clothes. Not him, just his clothes. Her faith was simple yet great.
She's poor. She got nothing she can give.
She's not expecting any kind of medication from him, no medicine
from him. She believes that just a touch
of his garment, just a touch of his garment will bring instant
healing, instant salvation. Our Lord to her was the source
and center of almighty fullness of everything she needed was
gonna be found in him, gonna be found in him. So, oh my, she
said, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be heard. She
heard. And then look what it says. And straightway, in verse
27, she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and look
what it says, and touched his garment. Because she said to
herself, if I can just touch his garment. She just touched
his garment. She just, there's a crowd, crowd, crowd, big, big
crowd around her. She pressed in there. muscled
her way in there, and her weakness, and her frailty, and her poverty,
and she pressed her way among that crowd, and she got up behind
the Lord Jesus Christ, and just touched his garment. Just touched
his garment. That's all she did was touch
his garment. Just touched his garment. And it says, look what
it says in verse 20, and straightway, immediately, the fountain of
her blood was dried up. And look what it says, and she
felt in her body, that she is healed. Oh my, she felt it in
her body. She felt and dried up. How in
the world, how can you tell if your faith is real? Some of you
may be wondering, how do I know that I've got real faith? How
do I know I've got real faith? Well, her faith reached out and
touched Christ. That's what real faith does all
the time. Real faith always goes outside itself to him. She never
looked at her faith, she looked to Him. She never looked to her
disease, she looked to Him. And real faith always goes outside
itself, always reaches out to Christ, always embraces Christ,
always wants to touch Christ. If you wake up in the middle
of the night, the first thing you do is you call on Christ.
That's what we do. We can't help it, we cannot help
it. Her faith reached out and touched the Lord. And true faith,
real faith, always does this, because it has nowhere else to
go. Has nowhere else to go. And then
her cure was sudden. It says straightway, immediately. Our Lord answers the cry of faith
and trust. And not only that, but her cure,
not only was it sudden, but it was complete. The scripture says,
and her blood was dried up. Her blood was dried up. You see,
his remedy goes right to the root of the problem. Right to
the root of the problem. Right to the root of the disease.
And over in Mark, it says she was made perfectly whole. She
was complete, sudden. And I'll tell you something else.
Her cure was consciously enjoyed. She felt in her body. She felt. Here's the thing about
it. She couldn't feel better till
she was made better. And a man can't feel better till
he's made better. And I tell you what's what happened
to her. Many were touched. She felt in her body. She felt. And I don't know, you know, I
know that we can't go by feelings, but I tell you what, you can't
be converted And you can't be saved by the grace of God and
not know it, and not feel it, and not enjoy it. You can't do
it. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord,
what did he do? I tell you, you cannot know Christ
and not enjoy it. You cannot touch the Lord and
not feel it. You cannot be converted and not
have a new birth and not know it. Well, I don't know whether
I'm saved or not. Why don't you know? You can know. How can I know? Touch Christ.
Come to Christ. As Scott Richardson used to say
all the time, you can come to Christ and not move a muscle
right where you sit. Because you don't come to Christ
by a physical movement, you come to Christ by a spiritual movement.
It's in the heart reaching out to Him. It's in the soul reaching
out to Him. It's the mind calling on Him. It's the person looking to Him
and crying out and reaching out to Him. Oh my. And that's the thing about it.
People want to feel better. but you can't feel better till
Christ makes you better, right? All right, look, and many were
touching him, but only one touched him by faith. And look what it
says in verse 30. And Jesus immediately, knowing
that in himself, see, she felt something come out of Christ
and do something for her. And Christ felt her touch. Christ felt her touch. And Jesus
immediately, knowing in himself, now listen to this. that virtue
had gone out of him. Something, you know, when she
touched him, whatever was in Christ that would cause her to
be healed, it went outside of him, went to her. It's like his
blood, when it's applied to our conscience, when it's applied
to our soul, we feel the effects of it. And oh, look what happens.
And he turned about him in the press, he looked around him,
he turned about and looked around and said, Now listen to this,
who touched my clothes? Who touched my clothes? Oh my, why did our Lord ask who
touched my clothes? Was it because he didn't know
who it was? Look in verse 32. And he looked
around about to see her that had done this thing. He looked
right at her. He knew that she was coming. He knew that she was gonna touch
him. He knew, he had this fixed before the world ever began.
He had that crowd around him, so she would have to press in
there to touch him. And oh my, and he looked around
and looked right at her, looked right at her, looked at her right
in the eye. You know why he asked who touched me? He wanted her
confession. She wanted, She's gonna give
him all the glory. He did the work, she's gonna
give him all the glory. Why did I, was it because he
didn't know? Oh, he looked around about to see her that had done
this thing. The question was asked to bring her to acknowledge
our Lord's power, our Lord's grace, and our Lord's blessing
to her. Over in Mark it says she was
not hid, and she stood in front of everybody and told her confession. And look what it says now. But
then verse 33, that woman fearing, fearing and trembling. Oh my,
knowing what was down in her. Oh, she's a crowd, she's a big
crowd around her. And oh, she's going to have to,
I'm going to have to tell what's going on, what's happened, where
I've been, what all I've done, what a mess I've made out of
my life. I'm going to have to tell him. I'm going to have to
tell it all. I'm going to have to tell my disease. I'm going
to have to tell my poverty. I'm going to have to tell my
weakness. I'm going to have to tell my sin. To him, I'm going to
have to confess. I'm going to have to acknowledge
everything. I thought I'd just slip up there
and get healed and go on about my business. That's not the way
God is. That's not the way Christ is.
No, no, no. Oh my. And she's come trembling
and fearing, knowing what was done in her. And look what she
did. And she came, there's a crowd
around her now. She came and fell down before
him. Fell down before him. Oh my. You know, I tell you what, let
me ask you all this question. How many of you have ever prostrated
yourself before Christ, sitting right where you are? Fell before
him right where you sit. How many of you have been sitting
in your house, sitting in your home, sitting in your chair,
sitting in your car, and prostrate yourself, fall down before the
Lord Jesus Christ? How many of you done that? I'd
say a bunch of you have. But oh my, look what she says
now. And she came and fell down before
him, and listen to this, and told him all the truth. What
was the truth that she had to tell? I was sick. I was poor. I had no place else
to go. I was out of all hope. I was so sick, and I was so weak,
and I was so frail, and I was so hopeless, and I had a disease
that could not possibly be cured. This thing called sin could not
possibly be cured. And she told him, said, but listen,
I heard about you, I heard about you. I heard that you had the
power, and you had the willingness, and you had the grace, and you
had the virtue, and you had everything a sinner needed, and everything
that a poor woman like me needed, and I thought if I can just touch
you, I'll be all right. She had to tell the truth about
herself, she had to tell the truth about Christ, and how she
was healed. How she is healed. I had so much,
I had so much, I was so, I was so hopeless that all I want to
do is just touch your garment. I didn't have to touch you, just
touch your garment. That's all I needed. That's all
I needed. And she'd bleed with the heart.
Here's the situation. She bleed with her heart. Now
she confesses with her mouth. That's what she does. She confessed
with her mouth and told him all the truth. And I'll tell you
what, anybody in here want to tell Christ all the truth this
morning? All the truth about yourself? He knows all the truth
about you anyway. Just well tell it. Don't tell
me, tell him. Tell the truth about yourself
before him. Are you weak? Are you hopeless? Are you a sinner? Do you have
a disease that can't be cured? Are you afraid that you're gonna
put it off one day too long and then all of a sudden Christ won't
deal with you anymore? Christ won't speak to you anymore?
Christ won't come and never speak to you again, never touch you
again, never hear the voice of Christ again? Oh my. She believed with her heart and
confessed with her mouth. And her assurance, look what
happened. Christ always gives assurance. Always gives assurance. And he gave assurance to this
woman right here. Look at the assurance. And he
said unto her, daughter. Oh, what a wonderful thing, Christ
call you daughter. I'll be your God, you'll be my
sons, and you'll be my daughters, and I'll be your God. Daughter,
daughter of Abraham. Daughter of mine. Uh-huh, look
what he says. Thy faith hath made thee whole. You believed, you believed, and
you would not stop until you touched the hem of my garment,
until you touched my garment. Thy faith has made thee whole.
Go in peace, go in peace. The issue's been settled. The
disease has been cured. The issue's been settled between
her and Christ. The issue's been settled between
her and her disease. What a comforting, blessing word
from our Lord Jesus Christ. Daughter, thy faith hath made
me whole. She is saved by faith. But what
did he say? She was assured by his word.
You believed, and I'm telling you, you believed. You touch
me, I know you touch me. I'm telling you, you touch me.
But all she has saved by faith, but she was assured by his word.
If she had gone away, he said, go in peace and behold of thy
plague. If she had gone away without
this promise from the Lord Jesus Christ, she might have lived
in fear of this terrible disease coming back to her, returning
back. Now she not only is healed and
feels better and felt it in her body, She not only feels well,
but she has her Lord's word for it, that she's been made whole
of that plaque and it won't come back. And oh, let me tell you,
I'm gonna close with this right here. She fell down before him
and told him all the truth. She went over her disease, went
over her poverty, went over her weakness, told how I've got,
you know, I've lost all hope. That's why I came to you. I didn't
have any place else to go. And I tell you what, when a person
loses everywhere to go in this world, trying to get a cure for
their sin, when they get tired of church, when they get tired
of realizing that reading the Bible's not gonna save them,
realize that prayer's not gonna save them, realizes that waiting
until I feel better and feel like I'm saved is gonna make
them feel better. Listen, let me tell you something.
Tell him all the truth right now. If Christ has done something
for you, if the Lord Jesus has done something for you. If he's
done something in your mind, gave you peace, done something
in your heart, gave you rest, done something in your conscience,
took away its guilt and shame, tell it. Tell the truth. Tell
the truth of what he's done for you. If Christ's done something
for you, tell the truth. Tell it. Don't be ashamed. Why
would you be ashamed? I tell you what, you know what?
You'll enjoy what Christ has done for you. You'll enjoy it.
You can't enjoy it until you tell it. Can't enjoy it till you tell
it. That's why I tell it here every Sunday. That's why I love
talking with the Lord's people. That's why I love the gospel.
I enjoy Christ. I enjoy him. I enjoy my salvation. Our Father in the blessed, blessed
name of Christ our Lord. Cause this gospel to run well
here today. Cause it to bring forth fruit
to your glory. Cause it to honor your blessed
son. And oh father, if someone's touched your garment, someone's
touched you, you know it and they know it. We pray that you'd
give them the faith, the grace to confess our Lord Jesus Christ. To tell about what? Truth, that
I'm a sinner. Christ is the savior. That I'm
a sinner. Christ is my only hope, that
I have no ability except what Christ gives me. And oh Lord,
if they've heard, if they've truly heard, heard Him, enable
them to call upon Him. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.