If you would be turning to Mark
5, Mark chapter 5, and we'll begin in verse 21. Mark 5 verse
21. And when Jesus was passed over
again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto
him. And he was nigh unto the sea.
And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue,
Jarius by name. And when he saw him, he fell
at his feet and besought him greatly, saying, my little daughter
life at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy
hands on her that she may be healed. and she shall live. And
Jesus went with him, and much people followed him and thronged
him. And a certain woman, which has
an issue of blood, 12 years, and had suffered many things
of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus,
came in the press behind and touched his garment. For she
said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And
straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt
in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him
about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? And his
disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude thronging
thee, and sayest thou, who touched me? And he looked round about
to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing
and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down
before him and told him all the truth. And he said unto her,
Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be
whole of thy plague. Paul and I were kind of joking
around with one another the last couple of weeks about, you know,
she's had her surgery and she's walking around bent over and,
you know, my arms are hurting from the RA. But, you know, these
type of ailments is something that the elect and the reprobate
all have to deal with. All of us have to go through
these things. But the ailment and the experience in this passage,
not everyone experiences. Only God's elect experience this
kind of ailment. Because this kind of ailment
that God brings us through or in, but he also provides the
cure for the ailment. It is an ailment of the heart.
Although God may also heal you of a physical ailment, this passage
is talking about a sin problem. Think about this, have you ever
been in a crowd and it seems like you're the only one in the
crowd that seems to have a problem? As far as it concerns you and
the thrice holy God, his law has condemned you to death so
that there is no escape. You are guilty before him and
you have nothing of yourself that could heal you. You have
also come to the place where you know that there is no one
else that can heal you either. It's like Job said in Job 19.10,
he hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone, and mine
hope hath he removed like a tree. What is this place? It's a place
of total despair. You know you're just gonna die
in your sins and be condemned forever. You see that you have
offended God, and unless someone else does something To you and
for you, you will forever perish. You're not really paying attention
about anyone else and what's going on with them. You just
know that yourself to be the sinner, whether anyone else is
or not. But you are consumed with knowing
you're at the end of your ropes with no hope other than just
possibly you might be able to lay hold of Jesus Christ to touch
him or to be touched by him and be healed. I want to look at
the issue the results of men's attempts, the hearing of faith,
which is the start of knowing the real cure, and then the real
cure. I first want to talk about the
uncleanness of this woman. This is giving us a picture of
all men by nature. When I say men, I mean men and
women. This is a picture of us by nature. This word picture,
if you will, is a picture of a believer being brought to Christ. The issue. First of all, we read
in Leviticus 15, 25, it says this. And if a woman have an
issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation,
or if it run beyond the time of her separation, all the days
of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation.
She shall be unclean. Now, I don't know for sure if
this woman was a Jewish woman or not. It doesn't really say.
But I kind of figure she was, because since he was in his own
city, it says Christ went back to his own city. In Matthew,
it says that. But she had this issue 12 years. This is a long time to have any
kind of issue. But she was losing blood. She
was hemorrhaging, you might say. And if the blood is all gone,
she dies. At least as far as she knew,
she was losing her life. Her bleeding would not stop.
She is probably very weak, certainly very poor. But not only that,
the law has condemned her as unclean and she cannot stop it. No other man has been able to
stop this, although they tried. For a price evidently, because
it says she spent all that she had. So there was no help unless
she had money to pay for it. Since she spent all she had,
she had no options left. It says she spent all that she
had. I figure she thought she was
going to die either by loss of blood or starvation or something
else because she had an issue and there was no cure for it. Oh, what a picture of us by nature
this is. In this account, this is a believer
by nature. We are dead while we walk. The
law has condemned us to death. We have no cure. No one else
has a cure. We have nothing to pay for salvation.
All we have is our own blood, which the law says makes us unclean. Everything we have tried has
just caused us pain and suffering, so that we are worse off than
when we started. What was done initially by this
woman and who did she turn? So the results of men's attempts.
These physicians are like the world of religion today. You
need to learn to love yourself. Telling men and women, think
positive. You can do it. You should be
proud of yourself. They want and tell you to confess
your sins before them, and then they use this for leverage against
you for gain of some kind. not carrying one iota about your
salvation or the truth as it is in the face of Jesus Christ.
And there is a good reason for this. They don't know the truth
as it is in the face of Jesus Christ. They give you a false
hope and say things like, all you have to do is come to the
front and say the sinner's prayer, or God has done all he can do,
now it's up to you. This may have been where this
woman was at one time, but we know by this passage, it's not
where she ended up. But when a sinner prays to God,
it's not really just about the words they are saying, it's about
the attitude they have when they say them. What do they think
of themselves and what do they think of God? It is a state of
mind. It is acknowledging to God that
you are nothing, yea, less than nothing. Just saying words will
do you no good. All it will do in the religious
world is gain them a following, the ones feeding you these lies.
A sinner prays acknowledging what they are and who God is.
You acknowledge that you have offended a holy God and nothing
in your hands for you to bring. All she had was not enough. This
world will try to talk you into thinking you or they have the
means to make you better because they have your person in admiration
because of advantage. Just do this or do that. And
when you do, they glory in that as if you or they have done something
for God. These are they that Jude speaks
of in Jude verse 11. Woe unto them, for they have
gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam
for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. And again
in verse 16 it says, these are murmurers, complainers, walking
after their own lust, and their mouths speak of great swelling
words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
But this never works. You are worse off than when you
started. She suffered many things. They did things to her over and
over again, causing her many and often pain and suffering.
These physicians took everything she had and did not make her
any better. In fact, she was worse off than
when she started. Verse 26 says, and had suffered
many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. We are unwilling
to come to God by nature, but because of our sinful nature,
we will follow them that are hirelings. But God be thanked,
he will make you willing in the day of his power. You cannot
do it on your own. The ability has to come from
him. Next, let's look at the hearing
of faith. And this is the start of knowing
the real cure for us. This woman was like this at one
point. She was willing to use whatever
she had to heal herself by looking to this world's physicians, so
much so that she was willing to give it all up. By nature
we are dead in trespasses and sins. Romans 5.12 says this,
wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. But then God, if he is pleased,
gives you life. What does the scripture say about
those who were born of God? John 1.13 says this, which were
born, not of blood, you wasn't born into it, nor of the will
of flesh, you didn't will for this to happen to you, nor of
the will of man, nobody else willed you into it either, but
of God. Then the gospel coming to you
in the power of His Spirit. Something happened here in this
passage. What happened? She heard. Have you ever heard
in this way? I remember the time when I first
heard. I was by myself, recalling the word of God that was sent
to me, and he saved me that day, and has been saving me ever since.
What does this kind of hearing give us? Hope. This was not just
any hearing, because this hearing directs you to a person. Who
did she hear of? Jesus Christ. Verse 27. When
she had heard of Jesus, She had heard that this man,
Christ Jesus, could save her. She knew the miracles he was
doing and may have even heard him talking to others or others
talking about him. She knew he was the only man
with virtue, or that is, the ability to save her. Why do I
say that? Well, first of all, because Christ
himself said, I perceive that virtue has gone out of me. And
what is virtue in this passage? What does this word mean? It
means force, or ability, or miraculous power. But Christ said this. So how can I say that she knew
this since Christ was the one that said virtue has gone out
on me? How does she know this? Look at verse 28. For she said,
if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. She knew that
if she could just touch the hem of his garment, she would be
made whole. That word whole there means to
save, deliver, or protect. She knew that she would be saved
just by touching the hem of his garment. She touched him because
he had already touched her by the hearing of him by faith.
And she was given the ability through Christ to be healed when
she touched him. The healing had to come through
Jesus Christ. By the power of His Spirit, she
knew that she would be saved if she could just come into contact
with Jesus Christ. But this is amazing, and I don't
know if I can give it to you as good as I'd like or as good
as someone else would do it, but let's look at verse 24 for
just a minute. Excuse me. Verse 24, And Jesus went with
him, and much people followed him and thronged him. Christ was being thronged. Did
virtue go out of him when everyone else was touching him? He was
being touched all over the place by a lot of people. So much so
that his disciples questioned how could he possibly know who
it was that touched him. Verse 31, And his disciples said
unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou,
Who touched me? Christ did not acknowledge these
others as them having touched him, only the one that had heard
him by the hearing of faith. It is also amazing to me that
it says here in Mark that Christ said, Who touched my clothes? She touched the fringe of his
garment, and Christ knew he had been touched by a sinner. in
the middle of a mob. Now concerning faith, this was
a special touch, a touch done in faith. That is what we are
told in this passage in verse 34. And he said unto her, Daughter,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of
thy plague. This is what we are, scripture
tells us that all men have not faith though. I know a lot of
people talk about faith, but there is a faith that is not
the faith of God. This faith is called a dead faith.
Why? Because faith without works is
dead, James says. Believing is a work. It's a work
of God through faith. But I say that the Spirit of
God gave her this faith because this kind of faith only looks
to Christ and is only given by the Spirit of God. What does
Scripture tell us? The fruit of the Spirit is this.
In Galatians 5, 22, it says this, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, Temperance against such there is no law If God the
Holy Spirit gives you faith, you will reach out to Christ
when you hear of him because you have been given faith We
know this woman had faith because Christ said she did in verse
34. He said daughter thy faith hath made thee whole the passage
in Hebrews 12 and 2 when God allowed this to sink into my
mind it's just been a real blessing to me and But the scripture tells
us that Christ is the author and finisher of faith. It says
our in that passage, but take it out. It is our faith because
God gives us the faith. But he gives it to us by his
spirit, but that passage is talking about Christ being the author
of faith itself. He trusted the covenant made
with the Father that He Himself would accomplish and what had
been promised to do, and He perfected it completely to the uttermost. He got the job done. Faith began
or was authored by Christ, and He perfected and completed it.
Faith is as old as God is, because He does not change, and Christ
is God. It is this very faith that is
given to us by His Spirit. That faith looks to who Christ
is and what He has done. This is not something we work
up. There was an initial time where I was in this same place
as this woman with an issue of blood. I did not have the same
physical ailment, but I did come to the end of my ropes. Jesus
Christ, by faith, allows me to experience this need again and
again. What does the scripture say?
When I am weak, then am I strong. How comforting it is to know
that all ability comes from Him, whatever it is. And to be reminded
of that often is a comfort to me. God's word tells us also
that God gives faith. Faith is the gift of God. Ephesians
2.8 through 2.10 says this. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. So, grace, Salvation, faith,
is a gift of God, and it is not a gift that you accept or reject.
The Holy Spirit of God comes to you, giving you life, and
by His fruits, you, hearing the gospel sent to you, do believe.
You have been brought to the place where there is no other
place to go. He sees to it that He is the
only place of safety. You will gladly run to Him. because
He has given it all to you to do this. He does this because
He is the only place where safety can be found. And if He did not
do it, you would not come. Now listen, faith did not die
for you. Christ did. But this faith by
the power of God allows us to see Christ and Him crucified. Faith brings this salvation to
me because it allows me to see Christ. In God's mind, we are
saved because Christ was and he is our substitute. Faith allows
us to enter into this salvation because it is the faith of Christ. Now just a little bit more on
our passage. If you notice here in this passage
that he started out going to help someone else first. This
Jarius came to him about his daughter. Someone else had a
need as well and he, Christ, was going to help them. He has
this crowd surrounding him, bumping up against him back and forth,
touching him all over the place. I'm sure this woman being very
weak and the crowd around him seemed to be so great, but she
knew I am so unclean. She was determined to get to
Christ only to touch the hem of his garment. She was going
to do this knowing she would be healed and then go on her
way without having to say or do anything else. When she heard
of this Jesus, and it always begins that way for a sinner,
she heard of Christ knowing she was unclean, having nothing of
any value to offer that can make the difference that she had already
spent all that she had and was worse off than when she first
started. But the real cure, this Jesus, who was seemingly totally
involved with helping everyone else, was on this woman's mind,
and she knew she had to get to him. Knowing to touch him, she
would be made whole. Christ meant for this to happen
just this way. He is never too busy that he
will not deal with a sinner in need. In fact, he purposes it
for it to be this way. There's no obstacle that God
cannot overcome if he is pleased to do so, none. Christ being
touched by a sinner will be recognized by Jesus Christ because he purposed
it to be so. This was no mere happenstance.
Jesus Christ meant for this to happen and for it to happen this
very way, and he knew all about this woman. A touch by a sinner
by faith will stop Christ in his tracks, and he will cause
you to confess all to the acknowledging of him. Christ will not just
let you come to Him in secret without making it known, without
causing you to confess who you are to Him. She confessed it
right there to Christ. Verse 32 and 33 says, And He
looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But
the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before Him and told Him all the truth. God Almighty in love causes us
to come to Him and confess all the truth. We will bow down to
Him. We will bow down to Him, confessing
our sins to Him, not a priest, not a preacher, but Him. We will
tell Him all the truth. She confessed that she was unclean.
She told him she tried everything else she could, and she confessed
to him that she had nowhere else to go and that she knew he had
power to make her clean. She confessed her utter ruin
and confessed his utter ability. Now, in conclusion, if you are
a sinner, knowing that you are lost and without hope in the
world, reach out to Christ. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If you can reach out to Christ,
it is because he has made it so. So just reach to him. He
has the ability to save you. I know this because this book
tells me so. And this is the record God gave
of his son. Amen. Dear Lord God, thank you once
again for allowing us to meet here and to hear your word proclaimed,
dear Lord. Dear Lord, all ability, all power
is in you. Help us, dear Lord, to be mindful
of Christ always. There's times, dear Lord, where
you might seem so distant to us, dear Lord. Come closer to
us, dear Lord. Be with us. We know you say you
were two or three gathered in your name, that you're there
in the midst. Oh, dear Lord, help us to know this all the
time, all these things we ask in Christ's name. Amen.