Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm speaking from Mark chapter
5. I'd like to read 8 or 9 verses
of scripture, beginning in verse 25 of Mark chapter 5. And a certain
woman, which had 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, the crowd
behind, and touched his garment. We know from the other two accounts
in both Matthew and Luke, she touched the hem of his garment
at his feet. 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, power 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 touch
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. Now, I've entitled this message,
A Certain Woman. That's how this story begins,
A Certain Woman. And the Lord only saves certain
individuals, those he chose before the foundation of the world,
his elect. They are certain individuals. There's nothing generic about
his salvation. I think of that verse of scripture
in Matthew 1, verse 21, when the angel said to Mary, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. He's not going to make salvation
available. He's not going to offer anything
for them. He's going to save them. And who is it that He saves?
He shall save His people, those the Father gave Him, those eternally
united to Him. He shall save His people from
their sins. He said, I know my sheep. and
unknown of mine." He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, there are sheep and there
are goats. Now, this certain woman was one of his sheep that
he had come to save. She was a lost sinner that he
had come to save. Now we read in verse 25, and
a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years. Now this woman had a menstrual
disease. She had a continual flow of blood
for 12 long years. And can you imagine how anemic
this woman must have been? How weak this woman must have
been? What a difficult thing to deal
with. An issue of blood for 12 years.
And according to the Levitical law, this made her unclean. She wasn't allowed to participate
in worship. She was unclean. Anything she
touched was unclean because of this issue of blood, because
of this menstrual disease. That's the Levitical law, but
this is given to let us know what this woman's problem was.
She had a sin problem. It was a problem in her blood.
She was born bad. Everything she did was bad. Everything
she did was sin. If she touched it, it became
sin. That's you and I by nature, choice, and practice. Sinful.
Everything we do is sin. Now, preacher, you say, everything
you do is sin. That's exactly what I'm saying, because that's
what the Bible says. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
The truth is not in us. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar, and his word is not in us. That's what the
scripture says. Now, this woman had this blood disease that made
everything about her sinful. And verse 26 says, she had suffered
many things of many physicians. She'd gone to this doctor, she'd
gone to that doctor, she went to every doctor she could trying
to find some remedy for this disease. She had suffered many
things of many physicians and spent all that she had and was
nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. Now, think about
it. These men who said they could
help her were quacks. They practiced quackery. They
couldn't do anything to help her. I'm sure they prescribed
many things. They told her, you need to do
this, and start doing that, and start drinking this, and start
eating that, and it'll go away. But they didn't have any true
understanding of the nature of the disease. And that's like
your average preacher. He doesn't have any true nature
of the disease, and he'll give you all kinds of things to do
that'll help you with your disease when he doesn't really understand
it. You see, our disease is sin. Genesis 6, 5 says, And God saw
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. That's the mind you and I were born into this world with.
It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Ephesians
2.1 says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Now, these quacks gave her all
kinds of things to do, and she spent every dime she had on them. Makes me think of men's religion. There's Dr. Law-Keeping, Dr. Ceremony, Dr. Baptism, you need to be baptized.
Dr. Free Will, you need to decide
to be saved and to let God save you. Dr. Sincerity, you need
to be more sincere. Dr. Penance, you need to have
greater sorrow over your sin. Dr. Reformed Life with his associate,
Dr. Reformed Doctrine. Doctor, do
your best and trust Jesus Christ for the rest. Doctor, yesterday,
look what happened yesterday. Surely that gives you some kind
of assurance. Or Doctor, tomorrow, if you do this, you'll be saved.
Doctor, join a church. Doctor, Bible reading. Doctor,
prayer. Doctor, stop sinning. Doctor,
be good. Dr. Feelgood, Dr. Orthodoxy,
Dr. Speaking Tongues and Having Experience,
all kinds of doctors. She went to all these different
doctors. And there's many forms of salvation
by works as there are people. There are a lot of doctors with
thriving practices. But four things are said about
this woman going to these doctors. It said she suffered many things,
spent all she had, did not get better. but rather grew worse. Interesting commentary. She suffered
many things and what suffering religion brings, what turmoil
religion, man's religion brings. Anybody that has it truly is
suffering under it. She spent all she had, she became
bankrupt, nothing left to pay anybody. She was nothing bettered. She didn't get better, but rather
grew worse. Now, if you listen to your average
religious person, they'll talk about how they're getting better.
I'm becoming better and better. and I'm not having the same struggle
with sin I once had. I'm becoming better. Life's good. I'm becoming less sinful and
I'm becoming more holy. There's even the word progressive
sanctification. I become progressively more sanctified. Now, if somebody means by that
growing in grace, this scripture teaches growing in grace, growing
grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
2 Peter 3, 18. But if they mean by that I'm
becoming more holy, and less sinful. Scripture doesn't teach
anything like that. If you become more holy, you
don't even know what holiness is in the first place. If you
become less sinful, you really don't know what sin is in the
first place. You know, in my experience, I'm saved. The Lord's done a work of grace
in my heart. And I've got to be honest, I
don't feel any more holy. I feel just as sinful, just as
wicked as I did As a matter of fact, I didn't even feel this
way before the Lord saved me. It's when the Lord saved me that
I see what sin is. And I don't feel like I'm getting
more holy. I feel just as sinful and evil
as I ever have. Now, I've got a new nature. I've
got a new nature that loves Christ, that believes the gospel, but
I've got an old nature that has not improved one bit. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am, present tense,
the chief of sinners. Not, I used to be, I am. And
that's the way every believer feels. A wretched man that I
am. Not I was, but I am. I hear religious people giving
their testimonies of how bad they were and how good they are
now. I don't want to hear that kind of stuff. It's just not
true at all. It's not true. This woman in
her own experience grew nothing better, but rather grew worse. Now, If you're a believer, you
have two separate natures. You have the nature you had at
the first birth, and you have the nature you had in the second
birth. You were given in the second
birth a new nature. One is an evil nature. One is a holy nature. Now, there are people who deny
two separate natures. As a matter of fact, most religious
people do. They would deny that. But if you deny that, you're
denying that man is totally depraved and totally evil. You're saying
God buys grace, takes the old nature and makes it better. And
that's a denial of what the gospel is in the first place. He said,
a new heart will I give you. But at any rate, here was her
experience. She was nothing bettered, but
rather grew worse. Let's look at the next verse,
verse 28 or verse 27, when she'd heard of Jesus. It was the best day of her life
when she had heard of Jesus. Now, we don't know what all it
was she heard, but it led her to conclude that he could make
her whole. She knew this much about him.
He was able to make her whole. She believed the same thing the
leopard did. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. She believed in the ability of
the Lord Jesus Christ. She was persuaded of His ability. And if you've ever spent all
and have nothing to pay, that's the only time you're going to
be persuaded of His ability. Because at that time, you're
shut up to Christ. You don't have anywhere else
to look. After she had spent all she had and was nothing bettered,
but rather grew worse, she heard of Jesus. And what does it say? When she had heard of Jesus,
she came in the press behind and touched His garment. For
she said, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole. Now this is what she believed. After she heard of Jesus, she
was saying, if I can come into contact with him, if I can just
touch the hem of his garment, I shall be whole. And this word whole is the word
that's generally translated saved. And it's in the passive Tenth,
passive voice, I shall be made whole. That's the way a lot of
other translations give it, and I think that's really a better
way to look at it. I shall be made whole. Now, if the Lord
does something for you, you're going to know it's something
that He has done for you. It's something that He makes
you, not something you do in order to be. It's what He makes
you. I shall be made whole. Listen to this scripture. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. For He, 2 Corinthians 5.21, For
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now if God saves
you, you know it's what He has done. You're just dead sure of
that. It's what He has done. Not what
you do, but what He has done. And if you're a sinner, you know
it must be that way. If I may but touch His clothes,
not if I can, But if I may, if I'm permitted to touch his clothes,
I shall be made whole. If I can come into contact with
him, I shall be made whole. Now, there were a lot of other
people thronging him and touching him at this time, but it was
not with this knowledge of who he is. But she knew who he was. How did she know? Well, same
way you know. If you know, God revealed who
he is to you. And now you know. You won't know
unless he makes himself known. And if he makes himself known,
you'll know. She knew who he was. She said, if I may but touch
his clothes, I shall be whole. For sure, no doubt about it.
You see, you can't believe on him and believe he could be a
failure. Anything he, if you're in contact
with him, you must be saved. Verse 29, upon touching him,
and straightway, The fountain of her blood was dried up and
she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. The second she touched him, she
quit bleeding. What she'd been suffering for
12 years was over. She'd been healed. And again,
the verb healed is in the perfect tense, perfectly completed, never
to be repeated. He healed her. She didn't heal
herself. He healed her. She did not contribute
in this thing. He did it all. When he had by himself purged
our sins. And she'd been healed. She'd
been healed. She knew it. She'd been healed. By whose stripes you were healed. Now let's go on reading verse
30. And Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that virtue, and that
word virtue is power. It's the word generally translated
power. Knowing that power had gone out of him, turned him about
in the press. He looked at the crowd. and said,
who touched my clothes? Something left him. It was his power that caused her
to be healed. Now, it didn't make him void
of power. He was not now less powerful.
He's infinite in power, but he felt something leave him, his
saving power, his saving virtue that caused her disease to not
be, that caused her sin to not be. Remember, this is given to
picture the gospel. Yes, it's a miraculous healing,
but it pictures the healing of the soul. Something left him. Now on Calvary's tree, What I'm
saying, I don't understand, but I believe. Something left him. His innocence before God's holy
law. How did that happen? Because
something left me, my sin. My sin became his sin. And that is why he died on Calvary's
tree. He didn't die as an innocent
victim. He died guilty before God. My sin became his sin. And his virtue, his righteousness,
his saving power becomes mine so that I am clean before God. Something left him. And something
left me. And now I am something I was
not. Clean before God. Perfect before
God. Righteous before God. And the Lord turned around and
said, who touched me? Now he knew who touched him.
You can be sure of that. But he's going to have this woman
confess what he had done for her. Who touched me? Now verse
31, And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude
thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touch me? Why, many people
have touched me, touch you. Why are you saying this? Verse
32, and he looked round about to see her that had done this
thing. Can you imagine what she must
have felt when her eyes came into contact with his eyes looking
at her? Oh, what must that have done to her? Verse 33, well,
here's what it did. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him
and told him all the truth. Now this fearing and trembling
is not the fear of unbelief. It's the fear of God. She found
out who He is. She believed who He is. And you can't know Him and not
have this fear of God that's the beginning of wisdom in His
awesome majesty and the glory of His power. Now we coming to
Him if we're believers as His children. And we can come boldly
to the throne of His grace, but we don't come presumptuously.
She was fearing and trembling. Next it said she was knowing.
You know, believers are people who know. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed to Him against that day. And
we know That all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Believers
know. And look what it says she knew.
Verse 33, the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done. Now here is the gospel. It's what was done. What was done. Not what you do. The religion of man is do. Here's
what you need to do. All those quacks that she went
to told her what she needed to do. Here's what you need to do
to get better. That's the message of false religion. But what she knew was what was
done. What was done. I love what the
Lord said in John chapter 19 verse 30 from the cross. It is
finished. It is done. I have glorified thee on earth.
I finished the work thou gavest me to do. When he said it is
finished, the salvation of everybody he died for was completed, was
finished, was done. Listen to this scripture. Colossians
chapter 2 verse 9 says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily and you are Complete in Him. There's nothing else you need
to do to make yourself acceptable. There's nothing you need to reach
for. There's nothing you're lacking.
When He said it is finished, you were completed if you're
someone He died for. And the evidence that you're
someone He died for is you believe the Gospel. That's the evidence.
You believe the Gospel. If you believe the Gospel, you
cannot become more saved. You cannot become more complete. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of his dear son,
I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. She knew what was done, and what
it says next, in her. In her. Whatever my experience
of grace is, I know it is what He has done in me. That's what He has done. Can
you imagine this woman saying, well, The reason I'm saved is
because I received you. I touched you. At least I touched
you. There's other people who didn't touch you. They're not
saved, but I'm touched. I'm saved because I touched you.
Surely some kind of credit needs to be given to my touch. Well,
that's ridiculous, isn't it? She wouldn't have said anything
like that. She knew that what was done in her. Paul said in
Galatians 115, when I pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me. I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. In the life that I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. There's no such thing as a believer
that believes free will. That's just contrary to our experience.
We know it's what he has done in us. He gets all the glory. And what did she do? But the
woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him, the posture of worship, she knew
who he was, he's God, and the scripture says she told him all
the truth. Now, what is half the truth?
A lie. What is 99% of the truth? A lie. The truth is one whole,
and if you leave out any part of it, you no longer have the
truth. She came and told him all the
truth. Now somebody says, that must
have taken a long time. No, she knew that Christ is all. That's
what she, all the truth is that Christ is all in my salvation. It has nothing to do my works,
with my works. He is all in my salvation. He's all the God, he's all in
the Bible, he's all in my salvation, he's all to me. She told him
all the truth. And look what it says in verse
34. And he said unto her, Daughter, you see, this is a true child
of Abraham. This is a true child of God. Daughter, thy faith hath
made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy
plague. Now, what was her faith? She
knew that Christ was all. He says, Your faith hath made
you whole. Now, why does the Lord give such honor to faith?
Because, strictly speaking, her faith didn't make her whole.
Christ made her whole, not her faith. Christ made her whole.
So why does he say, thy faith makes thee whole? Because faith
gives all the honor to Christ. That's why Christ puts such honor
on faith. Faith looks to Christ only as
everything. No need worry about faith trying
to glorify itself. It gives him all the glory. He said, thy faith hath made
thee whole. Go in peace. The peace of justification. The
peace of knowing that you stand before God without guilt, without
sin, in perfect righteousness. Peace. The peace of knowing that
the sin debt has been settled and you stand before God without
guilt. That's the peace he's speaking
of. The peace that he gives. Thy faith has saved thee. Go
in peace. and be whole of thy plague. Paul said in Romans chapter 14,
verse 17, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, the joy and
peace of believing. All God requires of me, he looks
to Christ for. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyburn praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
a request to todd.nyburn at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.