Luke chapter 8, and this same story is given
in Matthew chapter 9 that we just read a moment ago, but we
have a little more detail that's given unto us. I'm taking the
title for the message from what is said in verse 48. Luke 8,
48. The Lord said to her, He called her his child. You're
my child, daughter. He didn't say woman here, he
said daughter. Daughter, be of good comfort. Be of good cheer. Thy faith,
thy faith. Where'd she get that faith? Faith
is a gift of God. Thy faith hath made thee complete,
whole. Go in peace. You go in peace
because you've been made whole. You've been made whole. So I'm
taking the title for the message from that verse. Thy faith made
thee whole. Think about this, and you might
want to put a note here somewhere, underscore that word faith. You
know what word you can substitute for faith? Christ. Christ made thee whole. Isn't that so? Christ made thee
whole. You see, in Him dwells all the
fullness of a Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. In Him. Christ is all and in
all. Now, faith, we know, is the precious gift of God. True
saving faith. The faith of God's elect. But
faith, now listen to me, faith is never the cause of salvation.
Now think about it. Faith is never the cause of salvation,
but it's always the evidence of salvation that has been received
by faith. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. The reason he believes is because
he's been raised from the dead. We know in Hebrews 11, we're
going to study this in a few weeks, when we get over there
to chapter 11, where it says in verse 6, without faith, impossible
to please God. Why is it impossible to please
God without faith? Without faith, we don't have
Christ. So we can read that verse, without Christ, it is impossible
to please God. You see how important faith is,
it's a gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that knowledge of yourself, it's a gift of God.
And what a precious gift, it's a perfect gift that God gives
us. Every good gift, every perfect
gift comes from God. I don't have perfect faith, but
I have a perfect gift. We know in part, we see in part,
but my faith always looks unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Simon
Peter writes this, a servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith. with us
through the righteousness of God our Savior Jesus Christ.
We have faith only based upon the blood and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He purchased and bought faith
for us. Faith is the Lord's sovereign
gift. He gives that precious gift to
whom he will. Everybody doesn't have faith.
Not saving faith. Saving faith, the faith of God's
elect, is a sovereign gift of God. He gives it to whom He will. He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will. I will be gracious to whom I will. By this faith
of God's elect, we enjoy the precious promises of God. To
you who believe, Christ is precious. That's how we enjoy Christ, is
by faith, by believing Him, trusting Him, coming to Him. Now this
story that we read here about this woman, who had this terrible
disease, and she was bleeding to death, and she had this terrible
disease for 12 years, and this story is recorded as we read
in Matthew 9, and then again in Mark chapter 5, and then again
in Luke chapter 8. It gives us this story of this
woman who came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at verse 40,
and it came to pass, Whenever we read that phrase in Scripture,
and it's given to us in Scripture, it came to pass, it's given to
us in Scripture over 400 times. It came to pass. Now, we know
why it comes to pass, don't we? He brings it to pass. He brings
it to pass. And it came to pass when Jesus
returned, the people gladly received Him, or they were all waiting
for Him. And behold, there came a man
named Jairus. He was a ruler of the synagogue,
and he fell down at the Lord's feet. Matthew says that he worshipped
him and besought him that he would come into his house. For
he had only one daughter, about 12 years old, and she was dying.
She was on her deathbed. And we read the story as he headed
back to his house, some servant came and told him, indeed, your
daughter has died. Sad, sad day for this man. But intertwined in this story
here, as the Lord is going to the house of Jairus, this woman
interrupts him on his way. Now, he was on an important business,
right? This little girl was dying. I
mean, it was a good thing that he would come quickly and heal
her before she died. But the Lord delayed. He delayed
on purpose. Just as he did when Mary and
Martha's brother Lazarus was sick and dying, and he delayed
four days until he died, and then he went and raised him from
the dead. This woman interrupts this travel. The woman, verse 43, having an
issue of blood, 12 years, which has spent all her living She
did everything she could to cure this disease upon every physician she could
find and was not healed. Neither could be healed of any
doctor. She came behind him in this crowd
and she said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment,
I'll be made whole and immediately Her blood issue stopped. And
the Lord said, verse 45, who touched me? All denied. And Peter
said, well, Lord, there was a multitude here that thronged thee, pressing
upon you, and you ask who touched you? And he said, somebody did. Somebody did in a unique, special
way, for I perceived that virtue, virtue was gone out of me. So here we see two people in
desperate need, This father had a dying daughter, and he sought
mercy in the Lord. That's a good thing to do. When
we need mercy, seek mercy where it's found. And this woman that
was slowly bleeding to death, she had a great need, didn't
she? She came to the Lord who could
heal her, and she knew it. She knew it. She had the issue
of blood. Her name was not given, but the
Lord knows His sheep by name, calls them out, And he calls
them by their name. I like what he says in verse
46, somebody. He called her somebody. Not a
nobody, somebody. He's known this lady, this woman
from all eternity. Her name was written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Before the foundation of the
world, the Lord knows all His sheep, He knows all His people,
and He knows them by name. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having His seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. All
this was providentially arranged, this woman getting sick, meeting
the Lord Jesus Christ, and in mercy, He healed her, all by
God's purpose, wasn't it? You see, her name was written
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world,
just like everyone whom the Lord saves. He saves them because
He chose them in that covenant of grace. When the Lord was pressed
about in this crowd of people, there came this poor, diseased
woman who was slowly bleeding to death, and she had this terrible
disease for 12 years, who heard the Lord had healed others, She
elbows her way through this crowd, using what little strength she
has left, and reaches out with the hand of faith and touches
the Lord's garment, and immediately she's made whole. We used to
sing a chorus, remember? Reach out and touch the Lord.
Do you remember that chorus? Reach out and touch the Lord
as He's passing by. You'll find Him not too busy
to hear your hearts cry. So reach out and touch the Lord
as He's passing by. Reach out and touch the Lord.
Oh, for faith to do that. Now, what can we learn here from
this story? I'll tell you the main lesson
here is how God saves sinners. How God saves Sinners. Remember we studied over in Matthew
chapter 9, those who are well don't need a physician, but those
who are sick, go learn what that means. Thou will have mercy,
not sacrifice. I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners do repentance. If I can find a sinner, I can
tell him how God saved sinners. He came for that purpose, didn't
He? He came to seek and to save the lost. Now, I have four points
to this message, and let me give them to you, then we'll go back
and look at them. First thing we want to learn is this, the
curse of sin. Why was this woman sick? Why
was she sick? It's the curse of sin. Secondly,
the cure by Christ. He is the Almighty Lord to save,
right? He's able to save through the
uttermost all that come to God by Him. And then we learn thirdly,
the confession of her faith. She didn't say, well, you know,
I made myself whole. She wouldn't ever say that, would
she? She said, Lord, you made me whole. And then we see the
Lord's commendation, go in peace, our faith made thee whole. So
let's look at the first problem. The dreadful, awful curse of
sin. Have you looked in the mirror
lately? What's going on? I'm getting
old. Why do you get old? Why all these
wrinkles? Why are my teeth falling out?
Why does my back hurt? Why all this disease and sickness
and all this is going on in this body? S-I-N. Sin. Sin. And Adam, all sin. And Adam,
all died. Why was this woman suffering
from such an incurable disease? Because she was a sinner. Her
body was full of sin. She had been to many physicians
that could not help her. No one could heal her. That is,
it's not that they would not, but they could not. They had
no ability. They didn't know what to do.
You ever been to a doctor sometimes and they'll tell you, say, well,
man, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't
know what to do. She spent all that she had and
grew rather worse. It says in Mark chapter 5, I
believe it is, a certain woman, had an issue of blood, suffered
many things of many physicians, spent all that she had, and with
nothing better but rather grew worse. Spent all her living,
spent everything she had, all of her energy, all of her money.
Couldn't help. There's no greater evidence of
our sinful state, our sinful fallen state and condition, than
that of sickness and death. Sickness and death. We see it
all around us, don't we? The wages of sin is death. When
sin is finished with this body, what does it bring? You know
what it brings? Death. How many cemeteries did
you drive by this morning? A lot of them. Cemeteries all
over. Why do we have cemeteries? Death.
What's the cause of death? S-I-N. Sin. When sin is finished
with this flesh, it brings death. Remember what God told Adam?
Out of the dust you were formed, out of the dust you shall go
back to the dust. If men were not sinners, and
I include women too, if people were not sinners, we would never
get sick, we would never die. Some in religious circles, some
say, you ever heard someone say this? I used to be a sinner,
but now I'm living about sin. If that were the case, cancel
every doctor appointment, cancel your health insurance, cancel
your life insurance, because you're never going to die. You're
going to die. This flesh is going back to the
dust. You can paint it, pump it, prop
it, but it's going back to the dust. Dust thou art, dust thou
shalt return. To say that we're not a sinner.
is to confess that you have no need of a Savior. If you say
you're not a sinner, well, you don't need a Savior. If we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Man, I'm going to confess, Lord.
You know all things. You know I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Now, let me give
you this. I know that we have this terrible
epidemic of drug overdoses. That's a terrible thing. And
I weep with those who have lost loved ones who have overdosed
on drugs, and my heart breaks for them. But drugs are not the
root of the problem. Drugs have not ruined people.
People have ruined drugs. They've ruined the drugs. Drugs
are good things the Lord has given to us to help us cope with
this vile flesh, to cope with this terminal disease. Don't
tell anybody, but I take drugs every day. Don't tell anybody
that. I take my blood pressure medicine,
my cholesterol medicine, and all the other medicine every
day, just to kind of cope with his flesh. But these things that
God has given us, doctors prescribe drugs every day. Thomas, your
son, prescribed drugs to his patients every day. When my wife
went to your son for her eyes, he prescribed her a drug, and
she takes it as prescribed. Why do people, when doctors give
drugs, there's a warning, take as prescribed, right? Why do
people abuse drugs? Because we are most sinful. We
have to be told to take as prescribed. And when people don't take as
prescribed by the doctor, we get in trouble. But the problem
is we're sinners. It's not the drug. You see, sin,
I told you over the years, sin's not in a box or a bottle. Sin's
not in a box, it's not in a bottle. It is the wicked, sinful nature
of our diseased heart that is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. If people, people would not abuse
these things if they were not sinners. So the drugs are not
the problem, sin is the problem. It's just like, and I give this
other illustration, they want to outlaw guns, don't they? They
want to outlaw all the guns. They think if they take the guns
away, there'll be no more murders. Cain rose up and murdered Abel.
Did he have a gun? No, he used a club or a rock
or something. What was wrong with Cain? He
had murder in his heart. You can ban all the guns you
want to. People still have murder in their
heart. And they'll kill one way or the
other with a knife, a club, a rock, or something. You see, guns are
not the problem. It's the fool that pulls the
trigger. That's the problem. That's the
problem. This poor woman tried every physician
in town to find a cure, spent all she had, and was worse and
still suffered. She knew she had a problem because
she was hemorrhaging blood. She's hemorrhaging blood every
day. She had a dreadful, dreadful disease. Couldn't find any cure. And people in religion today,
I'm talking about false religion, try the same approach with their
sin problem, with the same results. Nothing better, but rather grew
worse. They go to every religious doctor
in town. They go to Dr. Be Good. You've heard of him? Dr. Morality. Or they try Dr. Decision. He
says, make a decision. Or they try Dr. Free Will. Or
Dr. Ceremony. Or Dr. Baptism. Or Dr. Write Church. Dr. Feel Good. Dr. excitement, Dr. emotion, but with the same results,
no atonement for sin. Now I'm making fun. I'm making
fun on purpose. False religion needs to be made
fun of. Isn't that what Elijah did on
Mount Carmel? When he mocked those false prophets
of Baal. Won't you cry a little bit louder?
Maybe your God's on vacation. Maybe he doesn't hear you. You see, they don't have an atonement
for sin, they don't have a cure for the problem. No righteousness
imputed, no salvation given freely in Christ. They only grow worse. Religion without Christ is a
fatal thing. You remember what Job said of
his three friends? You are forgers of lies and physicians
of no value. No value. Religion without the
Lord Jesus Christ will not profit you one thing or give you one
advantage. It will only make your case worse
because it will cause you to hide in a refuge of lies. instead
of the truth. You see, he that hath the Son
hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life, but the wrath
of God abides on him. No wonder Paul said, I count
everything lost, dung, and ruined, that I may win Christ and be
found in him. Now here's point number two.
What was the cure for this lady? She's dying. She knew it. She
was desperate. What was the cure? Christ was
the cure and she knew it. Christ himself is the cure, his
power and his virtue went out of him. Look at verse 45. And the Lord said, who touched
me? When all denied, oh I didn't. Peter and they that were with
him said, Master, The multitude's thronging you and pressing up
against you. People were bumping into him
and hitting him this way and that way. And you say, well,
who touched you? And the Lord said, somebody did.
Somebody touched me like nobody else touched me. Somebody had
touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out of me right
into this woman. What's the remedy for ruin? Christ. The wage of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Most preaching
that we are hearing in our day today, in the last, really, couple
hundred years, most preaching that goes on in most places today,
and other churches where the gospel of grace is denied, they
put the whole emphasis upon what the sinner must do in order to
be saved, instead of what the Lord Jesus Christ has already
done for us. Remember what the Lord told that
wild Gadarene, look at verse 39 in Luke 8. When the Lord healed that wild
man, He said, Return to thine own house, and show how great
thing God hath done for thee. And he went his way and published
throughout the whole city how great thing Jesus had done unto
him. So what do we tell? We tell what
he had done for us, not what we must do for him. Not what
we must do for him. You see, salvation is done in
Christ. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is all about what Christ has done for us, not what we
have done for him. Paul writes about it and said,
that he was a servant of Jesus Christ, an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his
prophet in the holy scriptures. What does that word scriptures
mean? Writings of God. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. All power is in
Christ. So the gospel is not about you.
It's all about Him. what He has done
for us, not what we must do for Him. He's performed all things
for us. Now, a couple of things on this
point. The work of the Lord's sovereign
providence. This was no chance meeting, but
it was ordered of God from all eternity. The Lord crosses our
path with the gospel and saves sinners by His grace and grace
alone. The second thing we learn here,
the hearing of the Word of the Lord. It says in Mark chapter
5 verse 27, "...when she heard of Jesus, she came to Him." She came to Him. What did she
hear? She heard that He had healed
others. Remember we read that He healed
all them that had need of healing? Look right across the page in
Luke 9 verse 11. The people, when they knew it,
followed Him. He received them and He spake
unto them of the kingdom of God and healed them that had need
of healing. You have a need? Bring it to
Christ. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was a hearing of faith. She came to Christ when she heard
of Him. You cannot believe in someone
you have never heard of. There must be the preaching of
the gospel and the hearing of the gospel. Both operations come
by the sovereign will of God. The Lord has ordained the means
whereby He is pleased to call out His people. We call upon
the Lord because we've heard of Him, and He makes Himself
known unto us by the preaching of the Word, by the preaching
of the Gospel. It pleased God through preaching
to call out His people. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the Word of the Lord. She heard about the Lord Jesus
Christ and His mercy. The third thing we see, the mighty
work of the Sovereign Almighty God. Although the word grace
is not written in the text, the truth of grace is written all
over the story. Power and virtue went out of
him. It was eternal grace that chose her in that eternal covenant.
It was the gift of God's grace that caused her to seek mercy
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the power of God's grace
that made her whole. Right? Amen. For the gospel is the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believes. Now, the third
thing is this, this woman's confession. What was her confession? What
was her confession? Look at verse 47. When the Lord
said, Somebody touch me, I perceive that power has gone out of me.
When the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling,
falling down before Him, And she declared unto him and all
the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was
made whole. And how she was healed right
now. God saves sinners instantaneously. When he says sinner live, we
live by his power, by his grace. The woman's confession, the Lord
stopped and asked, said, somebody touch me. Somebody touch me with
a heart and with the hand of faith. This poor woman reached
out and touched the Lord. The all-knowing Lord knew exactly
who touched him in a special, special way, reached out with
the hand of faith. But he does not let this woman
go away unnoticed, but rather draws her closer to him that
she might confess what had taken place and how she was made whole. She comes to him and confesses
all that the Lord had done. She was not ashamed to own him. And she was not ashamed to say
what had taken place, how she was healed immediately. True
saving faith is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. As Paul
said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. When the Lord is pleased to reveal
himself unto us and give us faith in Christ, he causes us to boldly
confess that our salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord,
of the Lord. Now, if you wanna turn with me,
you can, but if not, I'll read it to you. But in Romans chapter
10, Romans chapter 10, verse nine, Romans 10, verse nine,
I'll give you a minute to turn there if you want to. Romans
10, verse nine. That if thou shalt confess, with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus to be Lord, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the scripture saith, this
is from Isaiah 28 verse 16, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed, For there is no difference between Jew and Greek. For the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then
shall I call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. Verse 17, so faith comes by hearing,
hearing by the word of the Lord. That's how we confess with the
mouth He saved us. We were all dying with the deadly
disease of sin, and He healed us with His stripes we are healed. We were lost, sheep going astray,
and He found us. We were blind, and He gave us
eyes of faith to believe Him, to see Him. How do believers
confess the Lord Jesus Christ has done a work of grace in our
heart today? Two things given to us in the
Word of God. Believers confess the Lord Jesus
Christ in believers' baptism. That's the ordinance of the Lord.
We're baptized because we have been saved. We're not baptized
to be saved. Baptism is a confession, public
confession, that Christ, His death, His burial, His resurrection
is all our salvation. That's how we confess Him in
believers' baptism. And then by identifying with
the Lord's people, where the gospel of God's sovereign saving
grace is preached. So we confess him publicly, and
then we join with the Lord's people where the gospel is preached.
Lastly, the Lord's commendation and pronouncement of peace to
her. Look at verse 48. And he said to her, Daughter,
you're my child. I own you. You're mine. Daughter,
be of good comfort. Be of good cheer. Thy faith hath
made thee whole. Go in peace." We have peace through
believing. being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to
this scripture, Romans 15. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound through hope,
through the power of God the Holy Spirit. He calls her His
child by His electing choice, by His electing love, by His
purchase. He bought her with His own blood. And then He says of her, be of
good cheer, be of good comfort. Remember our study in Matthew
9 when those four friends brought their paralyzed friend to the
Lord? And the Lord, seeing their faith,
said unto the sick of the paltry, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
are forgiven." And that's what he's saying here to this woman.
Thy sins are forgiven. Daughter, be of good comfort.
You can only be of good comfort if your sins are forgiven. If
you're justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy faith made
thee whole. Again, saving faith looks to
Christ the object of saving faith. Be of good comfort. Be of good
cheer. You see, Christ is all our comfort. Christ is all our
comfort. He's a God of peace. He's a God
of all grace. He's a God of all grace. I'm
looking at this scripture. Peter, when he closes, 1 Peter.
In chapter 5, the God of all grace, who has called us unto
His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while,
make you perfect, established, strengthened, settle you to Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. He's a God of
all grace. He's a God of peace. He's a God
of all comfort. Salvation is in Him. Thy faith
made thee whole. Nothing gives more glory to Christ
than God-given faith. Abraham was strong in faith,
giving glory unto the Lord Jesus Christ, being fully persuaded
that all that God promised, he's able to perform. Again, I repeat
on purpose, faith is not the cause of salvation. Faith is
not the cause of salvation. Faith does not accomplish or
produce salvation, but the faith of God's elect receives the Lord
Jesus Christ as all of our salvation, who accomplished salvation for
us. You see the difference? Faith
receives Him who accomplished our salvation. in him was all
the fullness of a Godhead bodily and were complete in Christ."
The believer's life is a life of faith. We begin in faith when
he gives us life in Christ. We walk in faith. The just shall
live by faith. We see the glory of God by faith. And every believer will die in
faith. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. We die in faith. Oh, may the
Lord be pleased to give us, every one of us, this precious gift
of faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus, who is the
author and finisher of our salvation. The author and finisher of our
faith. He says in Isaiah 45, look unto
me. Look. Look. to Christ and be saved. All the
ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other.