Now I want to focus in on the
passage that Brother Jim read in Mark chapter five. And this
is actually the second part of a message that I preached last
week, last Sunday, entitled, What is my faith? What is my faith? So this is
part two. This will conclude that, but if you were here last
week, you may recall I dealt with in Luke chapter seven, you
don't have to turn there, but it was with a woman, an infamous
sinner, as the Lord had been invited into a Pharisee's house
to have a meal, and this woman, who was an infamous sinner, entered
in, as Luke records in Luke seven, and she fell at his feet, and
had an alabaster box of an expensive ointment that she anointed him,
washed his feet, the scripture says, with her tears, with the
hair of her head. And what she was doing was expressing
her faith in and her love for the Lord Jesus Christ as her
savior. And the Lord made the statement
in Luke 7 and verse 50. He said, he said, thy faith hath
saved thee. And my point in that message
and in today's message is, well, what does that mean when you
hear that or when you read something like that? Thy faith has saved
thee. What does it mean to most of
the population who claims to be Christian? Well, I'm basically
gonna pick up there and this message will stand on its own,
but I wanna do it from Mark chapter five here, where it starts out
the Lord, he's walking through the land here and he, cometh
one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus, or Jarius, however
you pronounce it. And he had a daughter who was
sick to the point of death, and so he wanted Christ to heal her. But then in the meantime, a certain
woman, look at verse 25 of Mark 5, a certain woman. I always
love when the scripture says a certain woman or a certain
man. because this is particular. This
is no general offering or anything like that. But she had an issue
of blood for 12 years. She had a hemorrhage. I don't
know exactly the disease she had, but it was a hemorrhage.
And she had it for 12 years. And you could just imagine, she'd
suffered. And it says in verse 26, listen
to this, and had suffered many things of many physicians. You
ever gone through anything like that? go to the doctor and they
make you worse instead of better and I'm not down on doctors believe
me I go to them I'm going to one this week about my back and
hopefully they can help me but I don't want to suffer but she
suffered many things of many physicians but here you know
what this is in this verse 26 it's a picture of false religion
It says, she suffered many things of many physicians and had spent
all that she had. We know something about that,
don't we? And was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. Now this
is not a commentary on the medical field. This is a picture of sinners
seeking salvation, a cure for sin. from the many so-called
physicians among the false religionists and false preachers and given
their money and given their time and given their efforts and no
better off, they grow worse. They grow worse. How many people
today are going to a religious gathering but they're not hearing
the gospel of God's grace in Christ? They're just like this
woman here. They got a bad disease. Been
longer than 12 years for most of us. It's called sin. And false preachers tell us how
to deal with it. And we spend our money, give
our money and our time and our efforts, but no better off. But
worse off, worse off. You see, without Christ, what
do you want to hear about this morning? You say, well, preacher,
why don't you give me a 10-step program on how to have a better
marriage? Well, I'll tell you right now how I feel about that.
And I'll deal with any subject when we come to it in the scripture.
You know right now how to have a better marriage, and if you
got a bad one, you just don't wanna do what it takes to have
a better one. Now, there's nothing wrong with
dealing with subjects like that in light of the gospel, don't
get me wrong. But what do you want to hear about this morning?
I want to hear about Christ. That's what I want to hear. I
want to hear the gospel. That's what we're commanded to preach.
And we go through the scriptures and we deal with different subjects,
but in light of the gospel. It says in verse 27, 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. Now, what is she expressing there?
Her faith in Christ. This is not magic. This is not
a setup for the movie, The Robe. If you can just get his robe,
he'll heal you. That's not what it's about. This
is about Christ. And it's symbolized in his garment. Verse 29 says,
and straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, she
was healed. And she felt in her body that she was healed of that
plague. Now look at verse 30, Jesus immediately knowing in
himself that virtue, that's power, had gone out of him. He turned
about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? Now I
want you to think about something. He knew exactly who touched his
clothes. How do you know that? Because
the Bible says he's omniscient. And look what happens. His disciples
said to him, now see us the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou
who touch? Look at all these people they're
saying. You can't tell that. Well, verse 32, he looked around
about to see her and that had done this. He knew who'd done
it. He looked about that multitude. He knew exactly who'd done it.
He was just making a point to him. You've heard of rhetorical
questions? Who touched me? My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He knew why. He told him all
along in his earthly walk why he was going to the cross. He
knew that. But we don't know it until he reveals it to us. And it says in verse 33, but
the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him and told him the truth. And he
said unto her, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now
back in Luke seven, There's no doubt in my mind that he's talking
about eternal salvation there. When he told that poor infamous
sinner, thy faith has saved thee. What was her faith? Here he's
talking about physical healing. Did that work down into spiritual
healing? I don't know. I sort of think
so, but that's just my opinion. But he says, thy faith hath made
thee whole, go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Now you
know, when the Lord healed people physically, that did not always
translate down into spiritual healing. Not always. He fed 5,000
people. Not all of them were spiritually
fed, but they were physically fed. So don't always, these miracles
of healing especially, are types and pictures of a spiritual healing
that God gives his people through Christ, who is the great physician. Remember, he said the whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick need a physician. I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And
here's this dear woman who'd been sick for 12 years, just
touch his garment. What is his garment? What's his
garment for us? What's his righteousness? That's
what I need. What do I need to cure me of
the deadly disease of sin? I need a glorious person who
is able to work out a perfect righteousness so that I can stand
before God, the righteous judge, and be whole. Well, who is that? That's Christ. And his righteousness
came out of his obedience unto death. And so we wear his cloak,
so to speak, symbolically, meaning his righteousness is imputed
to us. But he looked at this woman, he said, thy faith hath
made thee whole. Now, here's the problem. And
here's the question. What does that mean? What was
her faith? And what is my faith? Do you
believe, we have faith? Well, here's what I know about
faith. First of all, faith is not simply our believing. Because we can believe a lot
of things that are wrong. For example, and this is what
I dealt with last week and I wanna give you this. Over in the book
of Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 23, Jeremiah the prophet asked
the people of Jerusalem and Judah, And he's asking a rhetorical
question here, and he's gonna give you the answer. And he says,
can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Well, the answer's no. Then,
well, okay, if that's the case, that's the way they're born.
That's the way we're born. We can't change the way we're
born. That's what he's saying. Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. Now that word accustomed means
instructed. It means taught. And here's what
Jeremiah's point is. He said, you can't change how
you're born by nature, and how are we born by nature? What does
the Bible say about that? It says we're born dead in trespasses
and sins. Now what the Bible says? Now,
if it doesn't say that, you tell me after the service. You know
it says that. It says we are born spiritually
dead with no spiritual ability and no spiritual desire to believe
and receive and love the Lord God. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them.
They're spiritually discerned. Now that's what the Bible says.
No man can come to me, Christ said, except the Father which
has sent me draw him. And you who were dead in trespasses
and sins, hath he quickened. In other words, and that's why
Christ said, you must be born again. Now that's what, you've
got to be born again. or you don't have spiritual eyes
to see the kingdom of God, and you don't have spiritual ears
to hear the glory of it. You may hear the words of it.
Multitudes heard the Lord speak and walked away empty. Many of
them walked away angrily. And they did not crucify him. We did not crucify him, let's
put it that way, for what he did, They didn't look at this
woman and say, look there, he healed a woman, let's go kill
him. No, that's not why we wanted
to crucify him. We wanted to crucify him for
what he said. He told his disciples that. He
said, if I had not come and spoken to them, they'd be okay. But he stood before him and he
said this, he said, unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the
kingdom of heaven. Now that brings out killing from
the Pharisees. He told them, he said, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I'll be gracious to
whom I'll be gracious. So then it's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
God's sovereign. Oh, we don't like that, kill
him. You understand this? So not only are we born naturally
spiritually dead, then we're taught evil. What is that evil we're taught?
Let me give you these three things. I ended it last week with this,
but we need to understand this. And the problem is this now.
having that natural spiritual deadness and not being able to
understand until God reveals it to us, and then having been
taught wrong, they pick up the Bible and that's how they read
it. I know because I was there. And so when I would look at scriptures
like, thy faith hath saved thee or thy faith hath made thee whole,
then I automatically interpret that, well, that means it's up
to me. That's not what it means at all. Now that may be your
faith, but if that's your faith, it's wrong. What is faith? Well, let me give you these three
things that people are taught wrong. Number one is universalism.
People from our youth up, we sing, Jesus loves me, this I
know, for the Bible tells me so. Now listen to me, I'm not talking
about, we should teach our children the gospel. That's what we should
teach them. Not a lie. But people are taught
that God loves everybody, trying to save everybody, Christ died
for everybody. But the Bible doesn't say that.
If that's your faith, it's a lie. And then secondly, we're taught
that we're all sinners, we're all imperfect, but not so much
that we don't retain a spark of goodness, enough to where
we can choose good over evil. We still retain that ability.
Well, if that's your faith, that's a lie. The Bible doesn't say
that. I've just quoted all kinds of
scripture on that. And then thirdly, therefore,
having that ability, we're taught that salvation is conditioned
on us making the right choice, choosing to decide for Christ. That's what we're taught. That
salvation is conditioned on our believing, our repenting, and
or our persevering, our obedience. We're taught that if we'll just
do the right thing, God will bless us. Now, if that's your
faith, that's a lie. I was talking to a dear brother
of mine this past week on the phone, my brother Bobby Wright,
and he made this statement. He said, you know what the greatest
idol of modern religion is? And I said, what? And he said,
faith. And I said, well, what do you mean? Well, we know what
he meant. People don't have faith in Christ. They have faith in
their faith. Now what I'm saying, you think
about what people are taught. Are these teachings, what we
need to ask, are these teachings biblical? Are they based on the
word of God? Because you wanna know what faith
is? Faith is believing what God said. What did God say? You say, well,
I don't like what God said. Well, then you don't have faith.
What is faith? Faith is not our believing. Faith
is that body of truth that God has revealed to His people. Faith
is the promise that God has made concerning salvation by His grace
through Christ. That's what faith is. Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. What
was counted unto him? What God promised him. And what
did God promise him? To send Christ into the world
to work out a perfect righteousness whereby Abraham could be justified. And he says it in Romans 4, 6,
the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness
without works. That's the righteousness of faith.
Faith is the God-given means of knowledge. The gospel is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Yes,
we must believe, but that's the gift of God. It's the God-given
means of knowledge. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
the Greek also, for therein is something revealed, the righteousness
of God, the merits of Christ, as our surety, our substitute,
our representative, our redeemer, And it's from faith, knowledge
revealed, doctrine revealed, truth revealed, to faith, doctrine,
truth, knowledge received. As it is written, the just, the
justified, those whose sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ,
those who are declared righteous before God in the righteousness
of Christ freely imputed, they live by faith. And what is that faith? It's
not just believing. It's believing in Christ, it's
looking to Christ. What is faith? Faith is believing
God's word. It's based on and connected with
the gospel truth. Biblical faith is never separated
from its object, which is the knowledge of God revealed in
Christ, the glory of his person, the power of his finished work.
Some believe truth, some believe lie. What is my faith? You might as well say this, what
is my doctrine? Let me show you that. Look at
Romans chapter six. What is my doctrine? People say,
well, it doesn't matter what your doctrine is as long as you
believe. Well, what if you believe a lie? I told you last week,
two men had faith. Abel had faith, Cain had faith.
Abel's faith was saving faith, if you will. How do you know? He brought the blood of the Lamb.
which pictured Christ. Cain's faith was a lie. He believed a lie. He was sincere. The Pharisees believed a lie.
They were sincere. Paul said they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge. Being ignorant of God's righteousness,
they're going about to establish a righteousness of their own
because their faith urged them to work out a righteousness by
their works. Well, that faith is a lie. You
want righteousness? Well, here it is, Romans 10,
four. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. That's
my faith. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness, but it's to everyone that believe it. That's
what we believe. But look here in Romans six and
verse 17. But God bethink that you were
the servants of sin, that's an unregenerate unbeliever, but
you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. Now there's
the faith. That stamp of doctrine, that
identifying mark of teaching, which was delivered you being
then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
That's faith. Faith is the God-given means
by which believers come to God and put their trust in Him for
salvation. Look at Galatians, turn over to Galatians chapter
three. And look at verse 22, look at
this passage. Galatians 3.22, talking about
the scripture. Now what is the scripture here?
It's the word of God. So that's how we have to begin
this thing now. It's the word of God. What does God say? The
scripture hath concluded all under sin. We're all sinners. What does that mean? That means
we're all in need of a righteousness we cannot produce. that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Now the promise by faith, what is that promise? It's the promise
of salvation by God's grace through the blood and righteousness of
Christ. And it's given, how do you know that that promise is
to you or to me? Well, it's given to them that
believe. Now that believing doesn't come
from our goodness or our simply choosing the right thing. It's
the gift of God. But look on, he says, verse 23,
but before faith came, we were kept under the law. Does that
mean while they were under the law, there was no believing?
No, the faith here he's talking about is Christ. Before Christ came, The promise
fulfilled, that's what faith is. Before Christ came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. The faith which should afterwards
be revealed, that's Christ fulfilling the law, crying out from the
cross, it's finished. That's my faith, that's your
faith if you're a believer. If God's brought you through
the new birth, to receive Christ and believe in Him, your faith
is not in the fact that you believed it. Now, the fact that you believed
it is a miracle of God's grace, because you wouldn't have believed
it otherwise. But your faith is in Christ. And he says, he says in verse
24, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now what is it to be
justified by faith? Does that mean that my believing
makes me right with God? No, Christ made me right with
God and I believe in him. Now somebody said, well, you're
just mincing words. Okay, let's mince a lot of words.
Verse 25, but after that faith has come, we're no longer under
the schoolmaster. For you are all children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. Not just by believing, but by
believing in Christ Jesus. Don't separate believing from
its object. That's the key. And he says here, he says, for
as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put him on.
You put on Christ, you believe, you rest in him. There's neither
Jew nor Greek, bond or free, neither male nor female, you're
all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to what? The
promise. That's our faith. Those who believe, are miracles of grace. The Bible
says in Ephesians chapter two, for by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It's 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. Our believing is the work of
God within us. by the power of the Spirit through
Christ to bring us to trust Christ. That believing is the fruit and
the result of what Christ accomplished on our behalf. It's not the means
by which we empower what he did. It's the means by which he gives
us to unite us to him spiritually. It's the gift of God. My believing
is not my righteousness before God because God has brought me
to believe that Christ is my righteousness, as I quoted. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. That's my faith. It's to them
who believe. Faith is not natural to us. It
is not the exercise of our so-called free will. The entire Christian
life is lived out by God-given faith the main spring and driving
force of true Christianity, the motive and inspiration for all
devotion and service to Christ, that which compels and constrains
believers to live in this world to the glory of God, to look
to Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. Our faith doesn't finish his
work. His finished work brings us to faith. You see it? The fruit and the result. Look
at Hebrews 11. And I could show you multitudes
of scripture on this issue, but you know, this passage here is
one that is always taken out of context. This is the hall
of faith, as they say. It speaks of the faith of Old
Testament saints, many who died for their faith. What is my faith? Look at verse one, now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Now here's what that means literally.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Now is my believing
the assurance of what I hope for? Now let me tell you something,
if your believing is the assurance of what you're hoping for, then
your believing better be perfect. Without any doubt, at any time,
whether you're at your best or your worst. Now we all have times
in our lives where we get like old Job or King David, get down
in the dumps, things aren't going our way, troubles, Job said it,
man is a few days and full of trouble and we lapse into the
sin that so easily besets us. And that's doubt. It's of the
flesh. We have a battle. You say, I
believe. Lord, help thou mine unbelief.
Old King David, think about it. There were times in his life,
he basically in the Psalms looked up and he said, Lord, where are
you? Why have you forsaken me? That's
doubt, that's unbelief. David's faith was not perfect.
His believing was not perfect. Neither is mine. Neither is yours. But I'm going to tell you something.
The one in whom I believe, he is perfect. So my believing is
not the assurance of what I hope for. Christ is the assurance,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. So
it says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. And then
listen to this, where it says the evidence of things not seen,
here's what it means. The conviction or proof of things
not seen. That's what it means, the conviction
or the proof of things not seen. Now let me ask you, is your believing
something the proof of its reality? I always tell you about the marquee
sign that I saw outside of a church one time. and it says the Lord
said it, I believe it, that settles it. That's wrong. You know how it should receive
or be read? The Lord said it, that settles
it, I better believe it. My believing something does not
prove its exactness or its reality. You understand that, don't you? This isn't Wizard of Oz theology,
click your heels together and say there's no place like home
over and over. This is not wishful thinking.
What is hope in the Bible? It's the certain assurance of
the outcome based upon what? What God said. My believing doesn't prove it.
God's Word proves it, and that's my faith. Do you understand that? And those people who think, well,
this thing of salvation. Now, Christ made it possible,
but we make it sure when we believe. That's what most people believe.
That's a lie. That's not faith in the Bible.
It's faith in an idol. It's faith in yourself. It's
what my brother Bobby Wright said, it's faith in your faith.
And that's what most people believe. That's what I believed for years.
And why did I believe that? Well, because I was dead spiritually
and I was taught wrong. This old woman in Mark chapter
five, he said, thy faith hath made thee whole. What was her
faith? That Christ is the healer. That's her faith. That Christ
is the great physician who can and does heal the sick. That
if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be healed. You say, well, her theology may
not have been exactly correct. She's talking about physical
healing. That's what she was after. Now as I said, that may
not have translated in spiritual, I don't know. The Bible doesn't
tell us and I prefer to keep my mouth shut when the Bible
shuts up. I'm just gonna talk about what
God's word says. But her faith was not in her believing, it
was in Christ. That's what faith is, that's
what my faith is. It's not God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. It's God said it, that settles
it, and thank God he's brought me to believe it. That faith
is the fruit and the result and the effect of what Christ, who
he is, that's what my faith, not what I did, not what I decided,
but who Christ is. And what God decided before the
foundation of the world. Isn't that right? My faith is not in what I did
or what I chose, it's in what He has done. And that's not just
splitting hairs. That's faith in Christ. That's
faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence
of things not seen. That's faith that looks to Christ
and rests in Him and pleads His righteousness. That's my faith.
And that's what faith is. All right, well let's turn in
our hymns. We'll close out with Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, 204.
204.