Let's begin reading at verse
43 here in Luke chapter 8. This is also recorded in Matthew
chapter 9 and in Mark chapter 5. And a woman having an issue of
blood twelve years, which had spent all of her living upon
physicians, neither could be healed of any. came behind him,
that is Christ, and touched the border of his garment, and immediately
her issue of blood staunched. 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? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me, for I perceive
that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she
was not hid, she came trembling and falling down before him.
She declared unto him before all the people for what cause
she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And
he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath
made thee whole. Go in peace. The title of my
message is Touching Christ. Touching Christ. I'd like to
introduce it by reading a poem to you. One I think you'll recognize. The title of it is The Touch
of the Master's Hand. The Touch of the Master's Hand. I think, if I'm not mistaken,
this is one of the favorites of brother Henry Mahan. It was
battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely
worth his while to waste much time on the old violin, but he
held it up with a smile. What am I to be a good folk,
he cried, who'll start the bidding for me, a dollar, a dollar, now
two, only two, two dollars, and he'll make it three. Three dollars
once, three dollars twice, going for three, but no. From the room
far back, a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow.
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin and tightening up
the strings, he played a melody pure and sweet, as sweet as an
angel sings. The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
with a voice that was quiet and low, said, what am I bidding
for the old violin, as he held it up with the bow? $1,000, and
who'll make it two? Two, $2,000, and who'll make
it three? 3,000 once and 3,000 twice, 3,000 and
gone, said he. The people cheered, but some
exclaimed, we do not quite understand. What changed its worth, and the
answer came, was the touch of the master's hand. And many a
man with a soul out of tune and battered and scarred by sin is
auctioned cheap by a thoughtless crowd, just like the old violin. but the master comes and the
foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that is wrought by the touch of the master's
hand. May God be pleased, may the Lord
Jesus Christ be pleased, our master, our Lord and master,
to touch our hearts this morning. Here in Luke 8, the story of
this diseased woman, you have what we might call an acted lesson
of our Lord. His parables were his spoken
lessons, but his miracles were his acted lessons, and they're
full of instruction. This is a picture of our Lord's
saving power. It's another case for the great
physician. The woman is another trophy.
Is he not? This woman is another trophy,
not another try, not another attempt, not another effort by
the master, but oh no, no, another trophy of His mighty grace. It is always true to say of Him,
since He is the Lord that changes not. Since Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever, it is always true of
him that he is mighty to save. There is never no lack in him. Christ was on his way to the
home of Jarius. We didn't read that, but that's
what he was doing when this miracle took place. It's a miracle by
the wayside, so to speak. A wonder on the road. John in
his gospel in chapter 1 wrote, and the word was made flesh. John spoke about that this morning
in his lesson, the wonder of that, the marvel of that. God
Almighty, God Almighty was made flesh and dwelt among us, John
wrote, and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten
of the Father full. Always, always full of grace
and truth. Talk about a body of divinity. The body of divinity, God was
in Christ. The Word was made flesh. Imagine
that. God in a manger. God in a manger. Are you saying
that that dark-skinned Jewish baby boy, that infant, laying
in his mother's arms in that stable in Bethlehem that night? Bethlehem, the house of David,
the house of bread, the word means. You mean that's God Almighty? He doesn't look any different
than any other child? He doesn't look any different?
No, no. He was made like unto his brethren
in all points except in sin. And oh, what a great exception
that is. But that's God. Yes, indeed, great is the mystery
of godliness. God Almighty was manifest in
the flesh. He never ceased being God. Oh, no, no. He never ceased being
God Almighty, but he took upon himself the form of a servant
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
God in the manger? God in the carpenter's shop?
God Almighty driving nails? Christ is grace personified. He's grace personified. We won't
have any idea, any experience of grace apart from Jesus Christ. Impossible. Impossible. Grace came by Jesus Christ. He's grace personified. He's
grace in person. He's grace living, grace walking,
grace talking, grace saving, reigning, conquering grace come
down from heaven. John again in chapter 1 of his
gospel wrote, the law was given by Moses but By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. By the deeds of
the law is the knowledge of sin. The purpose of the law is to
shut every mouth and to prove every man guilty before God Almighty. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace that is greater than all
my sin. Grace that can pardon and cleanse
within. Grace that brings salvation to
the very uttermost. Will anything less than that
do for you? Will anything less than that
do for you? This is the grace that is in
Christ Jesus. This woman thought, He can heal
me. She'd heard of him. She'd heard
what he'd already did, the miracles that he'd performed, and she
had been convinced by an act of God's sovereign mercy. God
had dropped the gift of precious faith into her heart, and she
was convinced, like Paul said, I'm persuaded that he is able. And she was convinced that he's
able to heal me. If I can do no more than get
down on my hands and knees and crawl through this multitude,
this press, if I can just come behind him. Oh, I'm not worthy
enough to stand in front. Oh, no. No, but if I can just
come behind him and reach out and touch just that blue fringe
of his garment, that symbol of his separation to God. Oh, if
I can just do that, I shall be made whole. I must get to him. And so must every lost man and
woman likewise do. If they would experience God's
salvation, if they would really experience the grace of God that's
in Christ Jesus, they must get to him. Their case is one that
only he can cure. Only He can cure. The worst,
if God pleases, if God pleases, to Christ may draw near, who
heals our diseases and hushes our fear. To those that believe
salvation is sure, come all and receive immediate cure. You now
may approach him and call him Lord. The moment you touch him,
your souls are restored. Jesus is on his way to the house
of Jarius. Grace in motion. Grace effectual. Grace reigning always. Turn back a page here from Luke
8 to chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. Read it, verse 17. And he came down with them and
stood in the plain in the company of his disciples and a great
multitude of people out of Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea
coast of Tyre and Sidon which came to hear him and to be healed
of their diseases. And they that were vexed with
unclean spirits and they were healed. And the whole multitude
sought to touch him. where there went virtue out of
him, the same thing we read concerning the woman. There went virtue
out of him and healed them all. No case too complex. No disease
too far advanced. No sickness too great that it
could not be cured by the virtue, the power, the efficacy that
flowed from him. In verse 35, I'm sorry, verse
45 here in Luke 8, our Lord asked the question, who touched me? Who touched me? Now you can imagine
the surprise of the disciples because we're told that a great
multitude followed. You can imagine the commotion.
What's going on, they whispered. And it began to spread, this
rumor. He's going to the house of Jarius. Jarius' daughter is
dying, now dead. And he's going there. And the
crowd just began to grow larger and larger. They could hardly
move in the press. It has the notion of almost being
suffocated. And our Lord asked the question,
who touched me? Who touched me? And Peter scratches
his head and says, what? Who touched you? Man, we can
hardly move in this multitude, this press. They're pressing
upon us from every side and you ask, who touched you? And our
Lord said, somebody has touched me. Somebody has touched me. Faith. Faith, that hand of the
soul, somebody has reached out and touched me because virtue
has flowed out of me into them. First, let's consider briefly
the patient. A woman, we're told. In Matthew's
account, he says, behold, behold, a woman, behold. Take time to
consider this. Don't rush it by. Behold. And
Mark, he tells us a certain woman. Behold a certain woman. Draws
attention to her. Behold a certain woman. She's
unique. She's rare. Why? Why? What makes her so special? What makes her unique? What makes
her rare? She needs Christ. She needs Christ. All these other multitude of
people, they came just out of the excitement of the hour, out
of curiosity, out of the novelty. Oh, but this woman, not so with
her. She needs Christ. The cry of
her heart, The most important thing in her life is this. I've got to get to Him. Now that's strange. That's wonderful. That's marvelous. That's rare.
That's unique. This woman said, I've got to
get to Him if I don't get to Him. If I don't get to Christ,
if I don't somehow get through this multitude, this press, You're
gonna die. I've got to get to Him. Anybody
here this morning without Christ, if you don't get to Him, if you're
not touched by the Master, And if you don't touch the master
by faith, if you don't get to him, you cannot experience grace. Without grace there's no salvation
and there's no salvation or grace apart from him, the personification
of grace. My soul, this multitude of people,
the reason they were following reminds me of our day. My soul,
a throng of people, Multitudes of people got up and went to
church this morning. Where are you going, sir? Going
to church. Madam, where are you going? Going
to church. Why are you going? Why are you
going? Well, just always have. Just a thing to do. Daddy went
there. Mama went there. Grandparents
went there. It's just a thing to do. Pick
one. Pick one. They're on every corner. Just take your pick. Entertainment
galore. Pick up today's paper on the
religious page and just look at everything they offer. That
reminded me of a story I heard years ago that the local newspaper
got the ads mixed up for a church's advertisement. and that of a
car salesman, a car dealership. And when it came out in the paper
that Sunday, it read this, Jesus Christ at the lowest price in
years. Isn't that revealing? Is that
not so? And people hear everything but
the gospel. But looking down on this vast
multitude, all the churches, all the entertainment, all the
religious nonsense that goes on, all the tricks and all the
gimmicks, Jesus Christ asked the same question, who touched
me? Anybody touched me? Any sinner
in that vast multitude feeling their need of mercy and grace,
anybody want to taste and see that the Lord is gracious in
that multitude of people, behold, a certain woman and her condition,
we're told in verse 43, for 12 long years this woman had suffered
this disease. This disease that put her in
the category of unclean, in the same class as the leper. Leviticus
15, she's unclean. She's an outcast. And she was
also poor. She'd went to all these physicians,
and the only thing they relieved her of was her money. They helped
her clean out her bank account. They healed her of that. And
neither could be healed, we read, and neither could be healed by
any. Mark adds this. In Mark's account,
he says, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. And so it is. What must I do
to be saved? How can I be just with God? Dr. Legalism says, do, do, do. Get your act together. A lady
wrote Henry one time who had been listening to his messages
on television. And she said, Brother Henry,
where I go to church every Sunday morning, my pastor gets up and
tells us we all need to get our act together. We need to get
our act together. We need to do, do, do. Doctor
do. And she said, Henry, I don't
know what my act is. What is my act? What's she talking
about? And the result is they only grow
worse. Doctor tradition. Oh, he's a
popular character. His prescription is this. In
answer to the question, what must I do to be saved? How can I be just with God? How can this guilty sinner have
peace with God? How can I be reconciled to him,
this great gulf between my sinful soul and a holy God? How can
it be spanned? What can bridge it? What can
bring me to God? How can my sins be forgiven? And Dr. Tradition says, come
forward. Walk forward. Make your decision
for Jesus. And just like this woman's case
was, the result was They only grow worse. You know, I did all
that. I did all that. When for a while
God was bringing me down, come down sinner. Oh, that's a painful
business. That's a painful business. When
grace teaches your heart to fear, When God Almighty does what only
He can do, brings you down, gets you lost. Have you ever been
lost? Have you ever been lost? Oh my
soul, if you've never been lost, you've never been saved. If you've
never been stripped, you've never been clothed. I read a statement
by Brother David Edmondson in his bulletin a few months ago. He said, today's religious world
wants to get everybody saved before getting anybody lost.
I cannot wear the robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ
at the same time I wear the filthy fig leaves of self-righteousness. It won't happen. God won't allow
it. I must be stripped before I'm
clothed. Yes, I went through all the tradition. I did everything I was told.
I went to altars. I went to preachers. I repeated
the sinner's prayer. Repeat after me. And the man
slapped me on the back and said, you're saved. You made your decision
through Jesus. Everything's well with your soul.
And I would lay down at night and God was saying, lost, lost,
lost. And the cry of my heart was,
how can I be just with God? What must I do to be saved? And I only grew worse. You know the great shepherd of
the sheep. He continues to seek until he
finds. Bless his name. He won't give
up the search. The great shepherd said, I came
to seek and to save. Seek and to find. Seek and to
rescue. Seek and to save. And when I
find him, and when I find him, there's no if about it. When
the great shepherd finds his sheep, he says he puts upon his
shoulders, shoulders of omnipotent grace, and when he brings it
home, glory to his name, all the way home. Thank God I only
grew worse until that day. Oh, happy day. Oh, happy day. That day God granted
me grace. Depressed through all that nonsense. Mr. Spurgeon called it the rubbish. Religious rubbish. Willed away
the rubbish. Like this woman, enabled me by
his grace. Depressed through all that nonsense. Man, all that confusion. Man,
was I confused. One was saying, let go. The other
said, hold on. But God in his grace enabled
me to press through all that nonsense and reach out and not
touch the preacher, not touch the priest, not touch the water,
not touch an altar, oh, but to touch him. and to be touched
by him. Then, then I knew. I knew whom I had believed. That brings us to our other point,
verse 45. Again, our Lord asked, who touched
me? Touched? Touched? Really? A touch? A touch? Oh, remember the object
of that touch. It's not she that touched, but
who she touched, him. Oh, such a disease, such a disease. Incurable by any other means,
yet cured by a touch. Faith, the hand of the soul.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever,
whosoever, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. I mentioned to a guy that asked
me what I was going to preach one time, the coming Sunday,
and I told him, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And he'd heard that I believed
that terrible doctrine of election. He told me, well, you can't preach
from that. Imagine that, Terry. He looked at me and said, you
can't preach from that. I said, I beg your pardon? He said, you
can't preach from that. I said, well, why can't I? He
said, because you don't believe that. You don't believe whosoever
will. I said, well, yes, I do. Yes, I do. I said, I dare say
I believe it more firmly than you do because grace is absolutely
free. It's that very grace that makes
the promise sure. If salvation is of grace, all
of grace, completely of grace, then whosoever will, if it was
based upon anything else, upon works, or merit, or will, or
the worth of the sinner, or the work of the sinner, if it was
based upon anything other than God's free reigning sovereign
grace, then it wouldn't be true. Oh, but because salvation is
by grace, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Grace is what makes the promise
sure. Like that brazen serpent, Moses was told to put up on the
pole and go through the camp. Hold it up high. Hold it up high. And as you go through the camp,
mum's the word. Look and live. Look and live. There's the cure. Oh, since by
faith I saw the stream, by flowing wound supply, redeeming love
has been my theme and shall be till I die. Oh, look, not feel. This dear woman had already felt
the disease. Oh, she felt it. She was aware
of it for 12 long years. Now she must have the cure. She
must touch Christ. Not know everything. Can you
imagine this woman stopping before she touched Christ and saying
to herself, well now, I might not be predestined to touch him.
Might not be. Might not be predestinated to
touch him. So I don't know whether I should
or not. Oh, no. No, reach out and touch
the master, and you'll know. You'll know. You cannot know
otherwise. It's impossible to know. I love
the doctrine of election. Thank God that he had, from the
beginning, chosen a multitude that no man can number unto salvation. Thank God that even at this present
time also, as long as this world stands, this will always be true. Because this is the very reason
the world continues, that at this present time also, there
is a remnant according to what? God's glorious election of grace. But I can know nothing about
that. I can know nothing about being elect until I believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And once I touch him, I know
that God had from the beginning chosen me to salvation. Oh, my
soul. Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Looking again at the question
our Lord asked, who touched me? Ah, now we've come to the cream
of the crop. The sweetest of all, me. Me. That is Jesus Christ, the object
of faith. Look unto me. He says, look unto
me. What will happen? Look unto me
and be ye saved. No question about it. Come unto
me. Now you've gone to religion. You've made decisions. You went
through all the instructions of Dr. Legalist and Dr. Morality
and Dr. Decision Maker, but you've not
come to me. Therefore, you don't have rest.
And you'll never have rest. You'll never know the sweet experience
of lying down in your bed at night and knowing it is well
with my soul. I've been justified. justified
by God Almighty, justified in the court of heaven through the
grace that is in Christ Jesus, and I can never be unjustified. Glory to his name. And you'll
never know the sweet experience of that until Christ says, you
come unto me. Oh, you've worked. Oh, how hard
you've worked. Religion puts you on a fast track
of work, work, work, and do, do, do. Man, it wears you out,
but it doesn't give you any rest. Christ says, come to me. Come
to me. Come to the master. Touch me. Be touched by me. And the touch
of the master's hand will give you sweet rest. Rest unto your soul. There is
one God, one mediator between man and God, and that's the man
Christ Jesus. Got to get to him. Who touched
me? Me, Christ says. This poor woman
had gone to many physicians. We read it, didn't we? And had
suffered many things. But, oh, she only grew worse
until that day. She touched the great physician. She was made whole. Just like
that. She was cured at last. So it is with helpless, needy
cases. Those are the only ones our great
physician takes. Needy cases. Desperate cases. Sinful, helpless cases. He doesn't deal with any other
patients. If you can help yourself, you don't need this physician.
If you're righteous, then you don't need Him. Oh, but if your
case is desperate, undone, unclean, unholy, unable, oh, Christ says,
come, come unto Me. because he says, I'm able to
save to the uttermost all, all that come. Oh, what a multitude
of sinners have come to the great position and virtue has gone
out of him and has healed them all and yet he still remains
as full of virtue, grace and power as if none had ever touched
him. Oh, what a mighty savior he is. She had spent all of her living.
Did you read any In this passage in Luke, or you can look at the
same miracle as Matthew records it in Mark, and not read one
word about our Lord charging this poor woman anything. He
didn't charge her a thing. His mercy, His grace is absolutely
free. Indeed, listen, ho, ho, every
one that thirsteth. This is good news to a thirsty
soul. Like he told that poor woman
at the well, whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. Anybody thirsty? Anybody thirsty? Anybody thirsty? Thirsty to know
the true God. Thirsty to taste that he is gracious. Thirsty to experience in your
heart and soul his grace and great salvation. Is anybody thirsty? Our Lord says, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And you that have no money, come
and buy and eat. Yea, come and buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not?
Hearken unto me. and eat ye that which is good
and let your soul delight itself in fatness." Again, he told the
woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God, if you knew,
if you knew. Oh, moms, dads, don't we say the
same thing concerning our loved ones, our sons and our daughters? If you only knew the gift of
God, if you only knew, you would ask of him and he would give
you a drink. that you'll never thirst again. He says, incline
your ear and come. Come unto me, here, and your
soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David. And behold, a greater
than David is here. Because that David said of this
David, he's made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. And he didn't say this as he laid in his recliner and
everything was well. He said it when he lay dying.
He said, oh, yet, yet. My, can you imagine, oh, what
a checkered life the Psalms live. What heights of faith and then
what depths of sin and depravity. What a checkered life. The sweet
singer of Israel led, and is it not true of every believer,
of every believer. And David, I can imagine as he
looked back, on that checkered life, oh, with much regret. He went on to say, yet, yet,
yet. Oh, this is the talk of grace.
Here's the testimony of free grace. Yet, God had made with
me an everlasting covenant. Yet, thank God, my salvation,
my acceptance before a holy God is not dependent upon what I've
done or failed to do. Yet, He's made with me an everlasting
covenant. It's ordered in all things in
sure. Christ makes it sure, because
it was ratified by his own blood, in his own blood. This is all
my salvation and all my hope, and it's all free. Come and drink. You're familiar with the story
in Luke chapter 7, where our Lord went to the Pharisee's house.
And this woman, a certain woman, Came in. She had tasted the Lord's
grace. She wanted to express her love
and gratitude. She began to anoint the Lord,
bathe his feet with her tears. And Simon said, my soul, that's
disgusting. That's disgusting. That's embarrassing.
Who let her in my house? And our Lord said, Simon, I have
somewhat to say unto you. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, when they had nothing to pay, been there, been there child
of God. Remember, remember, when God
in his mercy came and made you aware that his justice
demanded payment, demand satisfaction and you had nothing to pay. Nothing
to pay. God's justice cries for satisfaction
and I've got nothing to pay the debt with. How in the world can
he not cast me into hell? I've got nothing to pay. And that's when, John, when, not before, but when they
had nothing to pay, he frankly, the word is freely, he freely
forgave them both. Being justified freely without
cost or cause in us, justified freely by his grace, free grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Last of all, the
blessed result of touching Christ. Verse 44 and 47, we're told immediately,
immediately, she was healed. Christ did in
an instant what all others could not do in 12 long years. As we've
seen, the vilest offender that truly believes that moment from
Jesus, a pardon receives. And in verse 48, our Lord says
to this woman, daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath
made thee whole. Go in peace. Go in peace. What he literally said to her
was, enter into peace. Enter into peace. Go home and
lie down with peace, with the peace of God, the sweet peace
of knowing that thy sins are forgiven thee. From her there
flowed only the disease, only the disease. Oh, but from him
there flowed virtue and power and efficacy, to cure, to save,
to justify, to redeem, to present without spot, without fault,
without blemish, without a trace of sin whatsoever before the
throne of God. Oh my soul, look, look! There
is flowing a crimson flow, whiter than snow, you may be today. Hebrews chapter 4, I'll close
by reading a few verses there. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest, great, great, Mary, call his name Jesus. He shall
be great. That is passed into the heavens.
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the filling
of our infirmities. He can be touched. He can be
touched. But was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. And many a man with a soul out
of tune and battered and scarred by sin is auctioned cheap by
a thoughtless crowd just like the old violin." I got a picture of what I was.
Yeah. Was being auctioned cheap. And would have been sold cheap. except for this. But the master comes in the foolish
crowd, especially the religious crowd, never can quite understand
the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought by a touch of
the master's hand. Thank God. If He's touched you,
if He's touched you with His mighty grace. God bless you.
Thank you for your attention.