Aaron Greenleaf is going to be
bringing the message to us this morning. Aaron? Morning, everybody. I'm going
to turn to your text. It's Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. Our text this morning is going
to be verses 40 through 56. And here's how we're going to approach
it. We're going to read it one time, I'm going to make a few
comments, and I'll just have a few points at the end of there. But if you
look at verse 40, I think verse 40 will put today and every day
in perspective for us. So Luke chapter 8, verse 40. And it came to pass that when
Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him, for they
were all waiting for him. Now, he had sailed from Capernaum,
and he'd gone to the island of the Gadarenes. And if you're
familiar with that story, it's where he encountered the Gadarene
demoniac, that man that was possessed with legions of demons. There's
a man who was, he was hurting his countrymen, he was hurting
his people, and his countrymen at times would try to bind him
with chains and fetters, and he'd always break free. He was
wild. And the Lord came to him where he was at, and he cast
out those demons, and he set that man next to a fire, clothed,
and in his room. And all his countrymen could
see this. And you would think they would have saw what the
Lord did, and they would have said, stay here with us. Stay here with us, don't
leave us. Just stay here with us. But they
didn't. Their reaction was the opposite. The scripture says
they were afraid of him. It wasn't the fear of God. It
was a rebellious fear, and it was a fear derived from hatred,
but they said, you need to go. You need to go. And you know
what he did? He left. He gave those people
exactly what they wanted. Now here's what I got to thinking
about. The Lord is going to give you and me exactly what we want. Now, Paul said this. This is
what Paul wanted. He said, I want to win Christ and I want to be
found in Him. And if you want that, if that
is your heart's desire, you would have Christ and you would be
found in Him so that when the Father looks at you, He's looking
at Christ. He looks to Christ for everything
He requires of you. He holds Christ responsible for
your salvation. If that's what you want, you
want Christ and be found in Him. Folks, you'll have it. Just ask
Him. And if you don't want Him, if
you want to be judged on your own, if you have something, something
good about you, some sort of merit you think you can bring
before God and you can find acceptance, if you want Him to leave you
alone with that, He'll do that too. He'll give you exactly what
you want. He'll end with you going to hell, but He'll do that
for you. Now, these people did not want
Him, and so He returned. He returned back to his home,
to his people, these people of Capernaum. These people were
doing a very wise thing. And I wish I could be like these people.
You know what they were doing? They were waiting. They watched
him leave. They knew he was going to come
back. And you know what they were doing? They were just sitting there
on the shore, patiently waiting for his return. Now, here's the
perspective. Ever since the Lord Jesus Christ
has been here the first time, we have been living in the last
days. That's what the scripture says, these are the last days.
Now, the first time he came, he came in what men would call
his humiliation. He condescended and he confined
himself, God confined himself to the body of a man. And he
confined himself to the limitations, the human limitations of a man,
and yet he remained God. I understand that, that just
is. All the while, he kept God's holy law and nobody really knew
who he was. He lived a life of obscurity. No one really got
it. Those who did, who actually saw who he was, most of them
wanted to kill him, right? This was not a nice life. This
was not a happy life. He was a man of sorrows. He was
acquainted with grief. And things got worse. And the father made
him the sins of all his elect people. And he suffered all the
shame associated with those sins because they became his. And
then he suffered the wrath of God, all the wrath that was associated
with the sins. It was poured down upon him and
he died. God actually died. And then three
days after that, he was raised from the dead. He was raised
from the dead because of justification, because what he did was successful.
Everyone he died for, he actually saved. He put that sin away.
It is no more. And so the father raised him
from the dead. It would have been unjust for him not to, because there
was no sin left to be angry about. He dwelt for about 40 days, and
then he ascended back to his father. And he ascended with
this promise, I'm coming back, very, very quickly. Here's my
point. What a blessing it would be to
live in the reality of that, that any moment now, any moment,
any second, he is going to come back. Not in humiliation this
time, as a conquering king. And he's going to grab his people,
he's going to grab us, and we're going to go home. We're going
to be with him. And whatever is going on right now, whatever
you got going on in your life, whatever is physically going
on, the things you are concerned with this, this world, it is
going to wrap up just like that. And if we could be enabled to
do this, to wait on that shore and just wait for him to come
back. I would also like to stress an urgency in this any moment
he is coming back. And if you do not have Christ,
if you do not know him, there's a great urgency for you to have
him. Now look down here, look at verse 41. We'll read on. And behold, there came a man
named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell
down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into this
house. For he had one only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she
lay a dying. But as he went, the people thronged him. And
a woman having an issue of blood, 12 years. Now I want to stop
there for just one second. We made a turn here, right? We
have one man, he's coming, he's inquiring about his daughter
who lay dying, but now we're gonna make a turn. It's a story
within a story. And a woman having an issue of blood, 12 years,
which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could
be healed of any, came behind him and touched the border of
his garment, and immediately her issue of blood snatched.
Let's take a moment here, I wanna address this woman's disease.
She had a menstrual disease, right? It said she had an issue
of blood. It was an issue, but what the word issue means is
flowing. It was a constant flowing of blood. It was a menstrual
disease. I don't want you to get hung up on this disease.
What you need to know about it is this. What this meant, by law, is that
she was unclean. The law addresses this in Leviticus
15. We're not going to turn there. I'm going to summarize it for
you. Because she had this disease, she was unclean. Because she
had this disease, that means everything she did was an unclean
action. Because as she had this disease, everything she touched
was unclean. Everybody she came into contact with was unclean.
She was a social outcast. She wasn't allowed to worship.
She wasn't allowed to be around people. She had to dwell outside. You
remember the leper and all the laws concerning the leper, just
about the exact same thing. She was unclean, and that's the
point. Uncleanness, this represents
sin. Go on reading, verse 45. 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 say, Is that
who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath
touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. Now, it goes without saying the
Lord is not looking for information here, right? The disciples didn't
need to answer him, and it was foolish for them even to try.
He knew exactly what was going on here. He knew this woman before
the foundations of the world were ever built. This is one
of his children. He had purposed this entire day. He was in control
of everything that was going on. He had purposed her disease.
He was the one that he had put this need in her to come to him.
He enabled her to come. He got her down on her hands
and knees and enabled her to get to him and gave her the strength
to reach out and touch him. He wasn't looking for information.
He was looking for a confession. Verse 47, 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. Now another turn,
verse 49. While he yet spake, there come
with one from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying unto
him, thy daughter is dead. Trouble not the master. But when Jesus
heard it, he answered him saying, fear not, believe only and she
shall be made whole. And when he came into the house,
he suffered no man to go in save Peter and James and John and
the father and the mother of the maiden and all wept and bewailed
her. But he said, weep not, she is
not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn knowing
that she was dead. Now you see the unbelief of these
people. Well, he's a great physician. He's done some amazing things,
and as long as she's still alive somewhat, right? She's sick,
and maybe he's got a shot at healing her then, right? We'll
go get him as long as she's just sick, but now she's dead. He
can't do anything with a dead person. They had absolutely no idea who
they were dealing with. This is the one who took her life,
and by just willing it, he could return her life just like that.
Verse 54, and he put them all out, and took her by the hand
and called, saying, maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and
she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished,
but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. Now on the surface, this passage
of scripture appears to be telling two separate stories, doesn't
it? They all revolve around touch. It begins with a story of the
maid, where the Lord goes to her, where she is at. She is
dead. He reaches out and he touches her and he gives her life. The
second story is the woman with the issue of blood. She goes
to the Lord. She must have him. She has a
disease. He's the only one who can do
anything about it. And she reaches out her hand and she touches
him and she is made whole. Two separate stories, right?
Does it strike anyone else's ob though that they're so tightly
interwoven? You start with a story of the maid, right, who's dead.
Then the story turns, right, and right in the middle, it interjects
the woman with the issue of blood, then it ends with the story of
the maid. It sets him up. It does, it's purposeful in the
scripture. We should pay attention to that. Because this isn't two
stories, it's one. It's one story that has two points.
Two points into these. Number one, if you will be saved,
you must reach out and touch the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.
You must believe on him. Nobody can believe for you. You
must believe. That's what we see with a woman
with the issue of blood. She had a disease. She spent all
her money. She had absolutely nothing left,
and she had to get to Christ. There was only one person who
could help her. There was only one person who could cure this disease.
And if she didn't have Christ, she was going to die. And she
got down on her hands and knees against all odds, against great adversity,
and she reached out, and she touched him, and she was healed.
That's the first part. Here's the second part. If you
ever do, it is only because he reached out and touched you first. And this is the story of the
young maid. She was dead. She wasn't near death. She was
stone-cold graveyard dead, and the Lord came to her where she
was at, and he touched her, and he gave her life. And she does
absolutely nothing in this story, completely and utterly passive,
until she has life. And these are the two points.
You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you ever
do, it's because he reached out and touched you first. Now, just
a couple of things I want to show you from this. It's an interesting
passage. First thing is this, the number 12. That's an interesting
way to start, right? Look down in verse 42 of your
text. Speaking of the young maid, for
he had one only daughter, about 12 years of age. Now look at
verse 43. and a woman having an issue of
blood 12 years. Notice in both those stories,
the number 12 is brought out. It's represented. So here's what
we get from this, right? The very moment that this young
maid was born was the very moment that this woman with the issue
of blood contracted her disease. What do I get from that? Where
am I going with that? It's this. Natural man has two impairments,
two major impairments, and he has them both from birth. from
birth. We're born into this world this
way. And those two impairments are seen in both these women.
First, you have the young maid. What was her problem? She was
dead. And that's our problem. First,
we are spiritually dead, born in this world, dead in trespasses
and sins. That's the first problem. Here's
the second impairment. It is the woman with the issue
of blood. What was her issue? She was unclean. Not only is
it a dead nature that has no spiritual ability, it is a sinfully
unclean and wicked nature. And those are the two impairments
of a natural man. And I want to address both. Now
first, this sinfully unclean nature, you're there and Luke,
turn over to Mark chapter five. We're going to look at Mark's
account of this because it fills in some gaps. Look at verse 29. And straightway, Mark 5, 29,
and straightway, the fountain of her blood was dried up. Now, this woman was issuing blood.
She was flowing blood, right? And that blood that she could
see was a problem, no doubt. But the greater problem was the
internal problem. It was the originating source
of the blood. It was this fountain. the originating source from which
her problem flowed. Now the heart, the nature of
the natural man, the way we are born in this world, is such a
fountain. The natural heart, the nature
of man, is where everything else flows from. Now what is the heart?
If you've been around here longer than five minutes, you've heard
this before. It's the whole man. It's the thoughts, what we think
and what we understand. It's our affections, it's what
we love, what we want. It's our works, it's what we
do. And here's what the scripture says about the natural man's
heart. Genesis 6-5. And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil and that continually. That means every thought Every
affection, what we naturally love, what we do, it is sin because
of the fountain, because of the originating source, because the
heart is bad. Everything this woman touched
was unclean. Everything she did was unclean.
Everyone she came into contact with, they became unclean. Why?
Because she was unclean. Why was she unclean? Because
she had an originating source, the heart, the fountain. What
do you and I do? We sin. Why do we do that? Why is everything we do sin?
It's because of the fountain. Because the heart is bad, everything
that flows from the heart is bad. And this is what makes salvation
by works the greatest lie ever told. Now, you're there in Mark,
look at verse 25. And a certain woman, which had
an issue of blood 12 years, and had suffered many things of many
physicians, and had spent all she had and was nothing bettered,
but rather grew worse. This speaks of a man turning
to religion to solve his sin problem, turning to salvation
by works. You see here, she suffered, right?
And false religion, salvation by works, it is just a bunch
of suffering. It's a bunch of people who are
trying to do what they cannot and don't want to do, right?
And abstaining from doing those things they naturally do want
to do. There's no change in heart. What do they want to do? They
want to sin, right? What are they trying to do? They're trying
to abstain from sinning the entire time. It's nothing but suffering, right?
And she spent all that she had. Everything she had was spent
up. Well, here's the thing. You're going to work, and you're
going to work, and you're going to work, and there's no end to it. When have you done
enough? When is God satisfied with what
you do? Well, he never is. That's the point. And here's
the greater point here. She didn't get any better. She
grew worse. Every time we try to satisfy God, every time we
try to bring something to Him that He would respect, that He
would honor us for, something we do, it's not good, it makes
us grow worse. It's iniquity, it's sin, heaping
upon ourselves. The fact that we would go before
a holy God and say, accept me because I did this, you're just
heaping iniquity on yourself. Now, that's half the story. The sinfully
unclean nature. The other part is the dead nature.
the spiritually dead nature. Now what does that mean? We can
see that in our illustration, which is the young maid. I have
three observations about this girl. Number one, she had no
conscious need. Now, a dead man has no faculties,
does he? He knows absolutely nothing,
he can perceive absolutely nothing. Worst of all, he cannot perceive
that he is in fact dead and he desperately needs to live. Now,
if you and I ever come across a need for the Lord Jesus Christ,
if we ever have that, that is not natural. That is God given
because we're born dead, which means we can't even come up with
a need, a conscious need to live. Now, here's my question though.
What does it take for a man to live spiritually? How can he
live? What is involved there? What
is necessary? I'll give you the first thing. Here's the first
thing that is necessary for a man to live, for him to be saved.
Number one, the will of God. And we looked at this in, Sunday
school this morning, Romans chapter nine. He says, not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
If you will be saved, it will be up to him. Salvation is in
His hands. You are in His hands. He can
give it. He can withhold it. And He's right whatever He does.
And it's not up to your will. Now His people will be made willing
in the day of His power, no doubt. But salvation is not an offer.
He is not there for you to accept or reject. It is not of Him that
willeth nor of Him that runneth. This is not a competition where
you can strive and you can do better than the guy next to you
and you can earn the favor of God. It is up to the will of
God. That's the first thing you and
I need to be saved. He has to be willing. I will
give you this, though. He is always willing to save
a sinner. One of the most encouraging things
I ever heard any man say from a pulpit was this, the Lord is
more willing to save you than you are to be saved. And if you're
a sinner, he is willing to save you, I have no doubt. Number
two, it takes the suretyship of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
a man will live, the Lord Jesus Christ had to take you on. He
had to stand before his Father and say, everything you require
of him, you're gonna look to me for. You require righteousness. You're a holy and a just God,
and you will not let sin go unpunished. I'll keep the law. I'll keep
the law for him, and him in me. He's gonna be a sinner. I'm gonna
go, I'm gonna die for him. I'll put that sin away. I will
satisfy your perfect sense of justice. He had to have been
your surety. He had to have taken you on.
He had to have done this for you. It takes the will of God.
It takes the suretyship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Third thing
is this, it takes the quickening power of God the Holy Spirit.
A new nature must be born. Somebody talked about this recently,
what good would it be if in the state we are in, naturally in
this world, we are put into heaven? God-hating, rebellious, will
not be saved, haters of grace, haters of Christ, what good would
it be if a man is taken to heaven in that case? He'd wanna leave. No, a new nature must be born.
Spiritual life must be given. Fourth thing is this. It takes
everything that has been, is being, and ever will be. There
is nothing that happens that is up to chance or not important
in any way. Everything that has ever happened,
everything that is happening and ever will happen is according
to the purpose and will of God. It is all what is necessary for
you and I to be saved. Why did God do that? Why is this
happening right now? It's very simple, because that's
what's necessary. There's never nothing that's ever happened
that was inconsequential. There's never interaction that was inconsequential.
Everything that has happened is happening right now and will
happen. That is exactly what is necessary to save you and
me. She had no conscious need. Second
thing I know is this, if Lord had made her a deal, a deal where
if she did something, she would receive life, she would not have
lived. Now I want you to consider how
preposterous what I'm about to say is. What if he had gone up
to this maid and taken her by the hand and said, maid, I have
the power to give you life. All I need you to do is mouth
these words. You're allowed to. Does anybody see how ridiculous
this is? She's dead, right? She's not just sick. She is graveyard
dead. A man can't speak if he's dead.
He can't think if he's dead. He can't love if he's dead. She's
dead. Maid, I want to do this for you, but all you have to
do is let me. Just mouth these words. You're allowed to. That's false religion in our
day. I just want to let you know that. No. If anything was dependent
on her doing something to receive life, she wouldn't have been
given life. Now, there are spiritual demands
in this life. Repentance, right? Your mind
must be changed. God is not who you think he is
by nature. He cannot be manipulated. He is not subject to your will.
He's going to do what he wants to do with whom he wants to do.
And the only way you're going to be saved is if he's willing
to do it. Change your mind about who he
is and how he saves sinners. By nature you can't. not unless
you're given life. You must love God and you must
love his people. It is a requirement, right? Problem
is, as he is and as you are in this world, by nature you can't.
You must be given life to do that. And the last thing here,
this, here's the requirement, faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ is a requirement. To be saved, you must believe.
Here's the problem, you can't, not by nature. This maid right
here, what if getting life was dependent on her coming to Christ? To get life, she has to get herself
transported to Christ. Would she have been saved? Would
she have received life? No. But here's what did happen. Look at verse 54 of your text. Luke chapter eight. And he put them all out, and
took her by the hand, and called, saying, maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and
she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. Now
here's what happened. He came to this woman where she
was at. She was dead, and he came to
her where she was at. He touched her. He gave her a
command. He said, come here, arise. And with that command came the
ability to obey the command. The touch, the command, the command
is accompanied by life. Accompanied with life is the
ability to obey the command. And she obeyed the command. She
came to Christ. Now. Closing, I want to give you a
couple different things I noticed about this woman with the issue of
blood. Number one, she came out of necessity,
armed with only her disease. When she came to Christ, the
only thing she had was her disease, was her plague. She had nothing
else. If you will ever come to Christ,
that's exactly how you must come, with nothing but your sin. That's
it. Now, here's the interesting thing
about her, though. She had already spent all she had. It was very
easy for her to come with nothing but her disease because she had
nothing but her disease. And it's very easy for a sinner
to come to Christ. You want to know why? Because
the only thing you have is your disease. Let me give you a scripture
here. Isaiah 55 verse 1 says, Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Now, who is commanded to come
to Christ? Two things here. Number one, somebody who's thirsty.
Doesn't say how thirsty, it just says thirsty. A need. Do you
need him? Do you need him to have done
everything in your salvation? I'm talking lock, stock, and
barrel. It's all up to him. Do you have that need? I'm not
asking you how acutely you feel your need or how great your need
is. I'm asking you to have a need. There's another part of this,
though. You have to have absolutely no way of earning the fulfillment
of that need. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Do you have a need and do you
not deserve the fulfillment of that need? Because you meet both
those, you're one who is commanded to come to Christ. Second thing
I noticed is she didn't wait for an invitation. This woman
was actually breaking the law by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
By law, she was supposed to stay away from every person. She was
not supposed to be out in public, but this woman didn't care. She
didn't care because her disease was too great. The necessity
was too great and the cure for her plague was too apparent.
It was Christ and it didn't matter what was standing in her way.
This woman came against great adversity and against great odds
and it did not matter. The need was too great and the
savior was too close. Now, Matthew 11, 12 says, and
from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven
suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. This woman
could have been locked up. The law said she couldn't be
around other people. She had to crawl on her hands and knees.
Imagine this huge crowd that is thronging the Lord. They're
all over Him, and she's got to get down there, and she's got
to crawl on her hands and knees on dirt, on rocks, whatever it is, blooding
herself up, probably moving people out of the way, It didn't matter
because she had to have him. She didn't wait for an invitation.
The necessity was too great. She came to Christ. The kingdom
of heaven suffered violence, and the violence take it by force.
What in the world are you waiting for? Third thing I noticed is she
came from behind. Now, no doubt she did this because she was
embarrassed, and she didn't feel like she had any right to be
in the Lord's presence. I was thinking about this. Everyone
who feels that they have no right to be in his presence has every
right to be in his presence. And everyone who feels like they
have a right to be in his presence has no right to be in his presence.
She came from behind because she was embarrassed, no doubt,
but there's something to this. Do you remember when the Lord told
Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on that mountain? He said, take
your son, your only son, Isaac, and sacrifice him. Abraham goes
up there. Isaac's the willing sacrifice.
He binds him. He's about to slam the angel, says, no, stop, stop.
The Lord's provided a substitute. There's a ram caught in the thicket,
the substitute. Where was that ram? Does anybody
remember? It was behind them. It was behind them. Our salvation,
our hope of it, it is not in the future. It's not in things
that will happen. It's not the things we're going
to do, that we plan to do. Our hope of salvation all lies
in the past and what Christ has done. Now, Revelations 13, eight
refers to him this way. It says, he is the lamb slain
before the foundations of the world. And that's where my hope
lies. That means that before I was ever born in this world,
before Adam ever sinned, before I ever sinned, There's always
been a sacrifice for my sins. I've always been beautiful and
lovely to the Father because He has always been my sacrifice. That surety, that has always
been there for me. It's all in the past. You see,
there's nothing to do. There's nothing that needs to
get done. It's already all been taken care of. The hope is not
in the future. It's coming from behind. It's already been done. Go back to Mark and look at verse
33. This woman came with a confession. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him
and told him all the truth. So I'm going to come. What is
it I'm going to say? What do I say when I come? It's
very simple. Just tell him the truth. Notice
here, she told him all the truth. This thing coming to Christ involves
a confession. We're not confessing things to men. It's a confession
made to him. Now, Todd has said this several
times and it bears repeating. Don't try to confess all your
sins. You wouldn't know them all, you wouldn't have all time
in the day. But tell him the truth. At one point in our passage
in Luke chapter eight, it says when she knew she wasn't hid
from him. There's nothing that's hid from him. There's nothing
that you can that you can hide from him, all things apparent,
just be honest. And I mean this honest, I'm talking about, we
talk about being sinners and things like that, right? We talk
about sinful acts and sinful thoughts. Get to the nitty gritty.
Those little things that you wouldn't share with anybody else.
How about all those times you're apathetic and you don't even
care? Or you went through the whole day, you haven't thought
a thing about Christ and you don't plan on it. Tell him about that. What about times you get mad
at his problems? Something happens, you know he's the first cause
behind it, makes you mad anyways? Tell him the truth. Tell him
all about it and ask him to forgive you. And I'll tell you why. Luke
44, I'm sorry. First John 1.9 says, if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Two words are used there. He's
faithful, which means he always does this, and just, which means
it's right for him to do it. The only way you can mess this
thing up is if you're not honest. Here's what I mean by that. This
woman came in the face of great adversity. There's a thronging
crowd there. She wasn't supposed to be there. The law was against
her. Everything was against her. There were great obstacles in
her way. There is only one obstacle between you and Christ. That's
it. Only one. And it has nothing
to do with you or nothing to do with him. It has everything
to do with you. The only obstacle that stands between you and Christ
is your self-righteousness and unwillingness to part with
it. But if you are like this woman,
this woman who had spent all she had, she didn't have anything
but her disease. That's it. If you're like her,
there is nothing in your way. You are commanded to come. Last
thing I see is when she came, she was healed immediately. Absolutely
immediately. This was not a process. This
was not a 12-step process. When she came to Lord and she
reached out and touched him, she was healed immediately. Now,
I want to address this logically for a second. Logically, life
must be given before man can believe. We can see that in the
story of the maid. She was dead. Before you will
ever come to Christ, the Lord's going to have to come to you
where you're at, in His sovereignty, out of His will, and He's going
to have to touch you, and He's going to have to give you life.
Logically, life must come before you come to Christ. But the way
we experience it all comes at the same time. The Lord works
through the preaching of the gospel. He makes that message
effectually to you. He commands you to come. And
with that command comes life. Accompanied by that life, you
obey the command and you come to Christ. It's all immediate.
It's all together. But I do want to stress this.
She was healed immediately when she came. As I said before, ever
since the Lord left this last time we were living in the last
days, you need to be healed immediately. Now, he could come back any moment
now. He is going to come back any moment now. And even if he
doesn't come back for another thousand years, it may be this
very day that your soul will be required of you. So I would
encourage you right now, come to Christ. Reach out and touch
him by faith. Believe on him. Trust him for
every aspect of your salvation. Ho, everyone that thirsteth.
Do you have a need? And do you not deserve to have that need
filled? then you are commanded to come. And if you do, what
you will know is that He came to you first. I'm going to leave
you there.