As far as experience goes, salvation
is a knowledge of him. Now think about that. Salvation is a knowledge of him. In John chapter 17, verse three,
the Lord said, this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
only true God. and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know not what I believe, but I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. Now you can only know him If
he is pleased to make himself known to you, we are shut up
to revelation. I can't think, well, I think
I'm gonna do what I can to get to know it. No, I will never
know him unless he is pleased to make himself known to me. If you do know it, it's because
he has made himself known to you. Now, when you know him,
that's when you know the gospel. That's when you know the doctrine
of the gospel. It begins with a knowledge of
him. In Matthew's account of this
same event, it says the men of that place when they had a knowledge
of him. I hope I can say this as I ought
to say it. but you do not come to Christ
through doctrine. Well, I've learned this doctrine,
I've learned that doctrine, I see a little bit more, I've got a
hold of this, I'm there, I've arrived, I understand now. You
do not come to Christ through learning doctrine. You come to
your doctrine through the revelation of his person. When you see who
he is, the doctrine becomes obvious. There's nothing about it that's
up for debate. Illustration. Men argue about the atonement
of Christ. Was it for all men or just the
elect? Was his atoning death an offer
of forgiveness or did it actually accomplish forgiveness? Did it atone or make atonement
possible? All those questions come into
men's mind regarding the atonement, the saving death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But let me say this, when you
know him, you know that whatever he did must be successful. And
if you can look at anything he has done as possibly not being
successful, it's because you don't know him. If you know him,
you'll know he must be successful in whatever he does. Whatever it was he intended to
do in the atonement, in his great work on Calvary's tree, whatever
it was he intended to do, that is exactly what he did. And if
you believe in a Christ who can want something and not have it,
who could intend for something to take place and it not take
place, what you're doing is you're denying the deity of Christ.
That's the bottom line of that. That's a denial of the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you know him, if he's
made himself known to you, the doctrine is obvious, the doctrine
of Christ. I repeat, you don't come to Christ
through learning doctrine. You come to your doctrine through
the revelation of his person. And when you know him, the doctrine
is obvious. So, and when they passed over,
they came into the land, Genesaret, and drew near to the shore. And
when they were come out of the ship straightway, they knew him.
And look what they did. These people who knew him, they
ran throughout the whole region roundabout and began to carry
about in beds those that were sick where they heard he was.
And whether so ever he entered into villages or cities or in
the country, they laid the sick in the streets and besought him
that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment.
And as many as touched him, were made whole. Now, I love to picture this in
my mind. When they had knowledge of Him,
they took off everywhere. Everybody that they could find
who was or who was diseased. It doesn't necessarily tell what
kind of disease it was, any kind of disease. Everybody that was
sick, all that were sick, they went out and brought them and
they laid him at his feet. They brought him to where he
was. You know, that's what we do when we bring somebody to
hear the gospel preached. That's where he is. Where two
or three are met together in my name, there I am in the midst
of them. When we bring somebody to hear the gospel preached,
we're bringing them to where he is. And they laid them at
his feet. And they besought him. They didn't
bargain with him. We're gonna get to that in a
minute. They besought him like the leper. Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. When you come into the Lord's
presence, you don't come bargaining. You don't come saying, if you
do this, I'll do that. No, you come to him as an absolute
sovereign and you beseech him, they besought him that they might
but touch the hem of his garment. And I like to think maybe there
were people who were actual quadriplegics laying there that couldn't even
move and somebody would take their hand and make it touch
the hem of his garment. And as soon as they touched,
they walked up straight, completely healed of that disease. Now, notice in verse 55, and
they ran through the whole region roundabout and began to care
about and bedge those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whether so ever he entered
into villages or cities or in countries, they laid the sick
in the streets and besought him. Now, two times in those two verses,
we read the word sick. Two completely different words
in the original. I know the translators don't
get that, but you could look this up yourself. In verse 55,
the word sick is kakos. The root word is evil. It means
evilly sick. The sickness has something to
do with evil, has something to do with sin. And you've been
debilitated. because of the evilness of sin. And then the word in verse 56,
where it says they laid the sick, it's the word astheneo. It means
without strength, powerless, weak, impotent, without ability. Now these two words represent
our state by nature as a result of Adam's fall. total depravity,
and total inability. There's a reason the Holy Spirit
used those two different words to describe these people he healed. One has to do with total depravity,
evilly sick, and the other has to do with inability. Now, When I talk about total
depravity and total inability, I ought to be doing it with tears
in my eyes. That's how much this ought to hit me. I ought to be
doing this with tears in my eyes at what sin has done. But the only thing that will
prevent a man or woman from seeing this is they've never seen him. They don't know him. If you know
him, you know something about total depravity and total inability. That's where that understanding
came from. It came from a knowledge of him. Now, listen to this statement. You don't become a sinner when
you sin. You sin because you're already
a sinner. You're already totally depraved,
and you're already totally Now, this is what happened in
the fall when Adam ate of the fruit. Scripture says he died. He died spiritually. In Romans
chapter 5, verse 12, Paul says, by one man, sin entered the world
and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men and that
all have sin. David said, behold, I was shapen
in iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. Now that doesn't mean he was
born illegitimately. He said, when I was born into
this world, I was born in sin, shapen in iniquity. David said,
the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go about as soon
as they be born speaking lies. You know, you don't have to teach
a child to lie. It comes natural. Why? Because of an evil nature. Every child is born into this
world with an evil nature. Now, what is meant by total depravity?
I talked about total depravity and total inability, and they're
both important for us to have some heart understanding of this. Total depravity, it doesn't mean
you're acting out your depraved impulses all the time. If that
were the case, we couldn't go out the door, could we? Something happened with us, somebody
do something to us, we couldn't exist as a society. Total depravity
does not mean everyone is acting out their depraved impulses all
the time. Here is total depravity. God's soul. Genesis 6, 5. God's soul. And let me remind
you, the way God sees is the way it is. God's soul. That the wickedness of man was
great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. That's total depravity. That's
a description of the natural heart of everybody in this room
and everybody outside of this room. When God looks at your
heart, he sees that the wickedness is great and that every imagination
that passes through your heart, every thought, every motive is
only. I didn't leave room for anything
else. It's only. evil nonstop, continually. Jeremiah put it this way in Jeremiah
chapter 17 verse 9, the heart is desperately wicked, deceitful
above all things. Who can know it? You can't know
the badness of your heart. You can't know the wickedness
of your heart. You know it intellectually. You know it is. But if you knew
how it really was, if I knew how it really was, we couldn't
stand it. Only God is the one who truly sees what the heart
is like. Listen to this scripture. This
is Paul quoting from both Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. There is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands.
There's none that seeketh after God. The one thing everybody
ought to do, they never do, ever. There's none that seeks after
God. They've all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. A total inability is lack of
ability to perform whatever has to do with spiritual life. The
Lord put it this way in John chapter six, verse 44, no man
can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me except the father which sent me draw him. The carnal
mind is enmity. enmity. Do you hear that? It's
absolute hatred. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. It lacks the ability to be. That's
inability. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. Now, I've said this many times
before. It's one thing to believe the
doctrine of total depravity and Scripture, I see Scripture does
teach that. I mean, what you're giving is according to the Word
of God. It's one thing to see that the Bible teaches the doctrine
of total depravity, and it's another thing, I can see other
people are totally depraved. I can see total depravity, I
mean, can't you? I can spot it. But it's another thing to believe
that you yourself are totally depraved and totally unable to
do anything but sin. Now that's different. You know,
there's all kinds of people that would believe the doctrine of
total depravity, but it's never gone any farther than that. They
don't see they themselves are totally depraved. You know, I
was looking at this passage next, that we're gonna consider next
week. They found fault with the Lord because he didn't wash hands,
his disciples didn't wash their hands, and that's a big deal
today, you know, I mean, with coronavirus and everything, wash
your hands. Every time I stick my hand in
a box to eat something, did you wash your hands? I hear that
a lot. I understand that, that's a good thing to, think, but at
any rate, these people, they were criticizing the Lord and
his disciples because they weren't keeping a certain rule, but yet
you go on and look at what they did. The Lord said, you're hypocrites
because here's what you do. You wash your hands, but you
take the commandment of God. Corbin, you're familiar with
the passage of scripture and you change it to where now if
All my money is dedicated to the church when I die. I don't
have to help my parents. Sorry, that money's earmarked
for the church. I can't give it to you and help
you. And he said, you set aside, you make void the fifth commandment. That's what's called legalistic
antinomianism. You're legalist about some kind
of rule about why, oh, they were so, they had all these rules,
but yet you completely make void the true law and make it to where
you can bypass it. I think that's interesting, isn't
it? The legalistic antinomian. They're legalistic about something,
but they're utterly lawless in themselves. Every Pharisee's
like that. I'm a Pharisee. One of the things I was thinking
about, now I know, I'm preaching next week's message. I need to
shut up. Because this is what I want to preach on. But you're
just going to have to wait till next week. I'm going to quit
talking about that. To believe that you are nothing
but sinner. A sinner is somebody who really
is totally depraved and totally unable. And all who are people
like that were brought to Christ. All the sick, all the totally
depraved, all the totally unable. Now this is who he died for.
Listen to this scripture, Romans chapter five, verse six, when
we were yet without strength. What's that? Total inability. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. What's that? Total depravity. That's who Christ died for. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. And he did what he came to do.
Now these people, look at the language, verse 55 or verse 56. And whether so ever
he entered into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick
in the streets and besought him. They besought him that they might
touch the border of his garment. Now, somebody says, well, that
means they begged him. Yeah, yeah, but don't look at
begging as if you gotta beg hard and if you just beg hard enough,
then he'll give it to you. That kind of thinking is just
wrong. Oh, if I just beg enough, that's
putting it on you again. You're never going to beg enough.
What this beseeching is, is the exact same thing the leopard
did when he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now, when you come to the Lord,
you beseech him. You don't tell him what you'll
do if he does this. You don't even tell him what
to do. The leopard didn't tell him what to do. He said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. You see, when you come
to Christ, you come to him as a sovereign or you don't come
at all. You come to him as one who can do with you whatsoever
he's pleased to do. And that's the only way you come
to Christ. If you don't come that way, you never came in the
first place. You come beseeching him as an absolute sovereign. You know you're in his hands.
Once again, this is a knowledge of him. This is knowing who he
is. The leopard didn't come and say,
well, I'm going to let you save me. I'm going to let you make
me clean. I'm going to allow you to have your way. Nothing
like that, because he knew who he was. People that talk like
that, they just don't know who he is. They be shocked. that they might touch if it were
but the border of his garment, the hem of his garment. Now we
know something about that garment. His outer garment is what they
would have been touching. And that was the robe woven without
a seam. You know, the righteousness of
Jesus Christ doesn't have a seam. It's a whole righteousness. It
can't be taken apart. It's what the believer is covered
with. His righteousness is my garment. And this goes so along with the
scripture. Isaiah 61 verse 10, Old Testament
says, he's robed me with the robe of righteousness. What about
that man who tried to get into the wedding that he didn't have
the wedding garment on? And he was thrown out. The only
way you can come into the wedding feast is if you have the wedding
garment of the king's providing. You try to come in on your own
clothes, you'll be cast into outer darkness like he was. I
think of the fine linen, clean and white that the saints are
clothed with. and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. This is the
righteousness of the saints. I think it's amazing. You look
at some other scriptures or translations of the scriptures and say, well,
that's the righteous deeds of the saints. Oh, would you consider
any of your deeds fine linen, clean and white? I don't think
so. We know that our deeds ended
up, right now, our righteousnesses are what? Filthy rags. Certainly not fine linen, clean
and white. This is the righteousness of
the saints. The garment is Christ. Now, if you know anything about
your own depravity and inability, you know that's all it'll do.
His righteousness only. You're not interested in anything
else. You see, you've come to know who he is. And knowing who
he is, you know who you are. And you know that the only righteousness
there is is the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. You know that. They besought him to touch the
hem of his garment. Now, where's the hem of his garment? At his feet. You know, Judas felt real comfortable
coming up to Christ and kissing him on the cheek, didn't he?
He didn't have any problem with that. What about the woman who
was a sinner? Where was she? She was kissing
his feet, crying on them, washing them
with her tears and wiping them with the hairs of her head. Big
difference, isn't there? Judas was okay with the cheek,
but anybody who knows who he is and who they are, they feel
a lot more comfortable on their face at his feet. They came to
touch the hem of his garment. Now the Old Testament gives us
some light as to the hem of his garment. Would you turn with
me to Exodus chapter 28? Verse 33. And this is talking about the
clothing of the high priest. And beneath, upon the hem of
that garment the priest would be wearing, thou shalt make pomegranates
of blue and of purple and of scarlet round about the hem thereof. and bells of gold between them
round about. Now on the hymn of the high priest
garment, you had bells of gold and pomegranates. Remember those
pomegranates are what was used in the pillars of the temple.
They would have these pomegranates all over. Now what's a pomegranate?
Well, that's the same thing you know. It's a piece of red fruit
that's full of red seeds. You open it up And it's just
full of seeds. Now I read where one fellow said
that there are 516 seeds in a pomegranate. I don't know if I believe that.
But he said there's 516 seeds in a pomegranate. There's 516
laws in the Old Testament. That covers them all. I doubt
it. I think that's a little fantastic
or, you know, somebody trying to... Whatever the pomegranate
though was, blood-red, Seed, oh, the seed of the Lord Jesus
Christ, his people, a seed shall serve him. Every one of his people. Pomegranates are a beautiful
picture of that. And look at their color. They're
colored blue, purple, and scarlet. Blue, heavenly, altogether heavenly. Purple, royal, scarlet, the blood. And they had golden bells. Now, these bells made noise,
and when the priest went into the temple, you could hear him. You couldn't see him, but you
could hear him. Now, I've read over the years
where people said they had those bells on, so if they did something
wrong and God killed them, they'd quit hearing the bells and they'd
stick something under and drag him out, but you don't have anything
in the Bible about that. What that's letting us know is
while we can't see Christ, We can hear his voice in the preaching
of the gospel. That's what's taking place, these
golden bells. You couldn't see the high priest
back there, but you could hear him moving around, and you knew
what he was doing. The hem of his garment. Now, back to our text, in Mark 6. And whether or so ever he entered
into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets
and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border,
the hem of his garment. And as many as touched him were
made whole. All who touched him without exception
were made whole. Now, this word whole is the same
word that's generally translated saved. They were saved. Matthew's account says they were
made perfectly whole. Everybody who came into contact
with him were made perfectly whole. Now, if you've come into
contact with Christ by his grace, you know what you are right now
while you're sitting here looking at me in God's sight? Perfectly whole. Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in his sight. Perfectly whole. Without sin. Pleasing to God. And this came through the touching
of the hem of his garment. And what that represents is faith.
Let me show you that. Turn back just a couple of pages
to Mark chapter five. You remember that woman with
the issue of blood? Mark chapter five. Verse 24, and Jesus went with
him and much people followed him and thronged him. And a certain
woman, which had an issue of blood, 12 years, she had a menstrual
disease, a continual flow of blood. You can imagine how anemic
she was and how she had suffered. And she had suffered many things
of many physicians and spent all that she had and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse when she 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. There's such saving virtue and
power in him. Here's what she believed. This
is what she believed. She heard of Jesus. And she believed
if there's such power and saving virtue in him, if I can just
touch his clothes, I'll be made whole. Now, do you believe that
there's such saving power in Christ that if you can just touch
the hem of His garment, or have somebody else cause you to, maybe
your quadriplegia, that just you're put in contact with Him,
you'll be made perfectly whole. No exceptions. Everybody that
touched the hem of His garment was made perfectly whole. Now,
I want to close with this phrase, as many as. Look in verse 56
again. Last line, as many as touched
him were made whole. As many as. Everybody in the
group that did this. As many as touched him were made
perfectly whole. They stood up in health. Wouldn't you love to be able
to witness some of that? I mean, people that were broken
and deformed unable to move when they were brought in contact
with him, they just get up perfectly healthy. As many as. Let me give you some
scriptures with that phrase in it. I'm not gonna make much comment
on it. But as many as is all in that
particular group. All in that particular demographic. As many as. Listen to this, Acts
chapter 13, verse 48. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. I know why people believe. There are people who do believe
the gospel. And you know why? Because they were ordained to
eternal life. Galatians chapter three, verse
10, as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Now you can just write that down.
If you believe salvation, is any way dependent upon something
you do. I don't care if it's the beginning
of salvation, an act of your will, the middle of salvation
where through your own works you become more holy and less
sinful, or the end of your salvation where you're given a higher reward
because of something you've done. If you're under the works of
the law, you are under the curse. That's what God says. Galatians 3, 27. As many as, there we go again.
As many as have been baptized into Christ. That's not talking
about water baptism. That's talking about being united
to him in his death when he was immersed in the wrath of God.
As many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. He's our only clothing. You know
how you can tell if you've been baptized into Christ, if he died
for you, because he's all you got. His righteousness is your
only clothing. You put him on only and you wouldn't
dare put anything else on. That's the only clothes you want. Acts chapter two, verse 39, Peter
says on the day of Pentecost, the promise is for you. and for
your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call." Who's the promise to? Well, it's to you. It's to your children. It's to
all who are far off, way out there. But then he makes this
limitation, but actually it's big. even as many as the Lord
our God shall call. John chapter 1 verse 12, as many
as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons
of God. What's it mean to receive him?
Even to them which believe on his name. You know what it is
to receive the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to believe on His name,
to believe His name is the only way you would be brought into
glory. Romans 8, 14, as many as are
led of the Spirit, they are the sons of God. Now, what does it
mean to be led of the Spirit? Well, if you're led of the Spirit,
you believe the gospel. If you are led by the flesh,
you believe in works. It really is that simple. Carnal
minded or spiritually minded. The spiritual mind looks to Christ
only. The carnal mind looks to works
in some way. Galatians 6.16, as many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon the
Israel of God. What rule? God forbid. that I should glory, save in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. As many as walk according to
this rule, peace, mercy, the Israel of God. And finally, in
Revelation chapter 13, verse eight, or 18, I'm sorry, the
Lord says, as many as I love. Now, do you hear that? What's
the implication to that? There's one group he loves. Everybody
in that group, everybody in that demographic, as many as I love,
I rebuke and I chasten. Now, I don't want rebuked and chastened,
but I sure enough don't want to be without rebuke and chastening,
do you? Because everybody he loves, he
rebukes. We got plenty of reasons to be
rebuked, don't we? And he chastens. Thank God for his chastening. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. And as many as touched the hem
of his garment were made perfectly whole. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we, by your grace, by your spirit, being convinced by a
side of thy son that we're totally depraved and totally unable,
we ask that we might be enabled to touch the hem of his garment. Lord, we can't do that unless
enabled. We beseech you that you would
enable us to do just that. In Christ's name we pray, amen.