Now we're looking in our Bible,
and you'll turn again to Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. I want to try to bring a message
to you from verse 12 down to verse 19, and we'll glean out
a few gospel nuggets here, and ask the Lord to be our teacher.
I'm entitling the message from what is said down in verse 19
of Luke chapter 6. Notice carefully, the whole multitude
sought to touch Him. To reach out and touch the Lord. We used to sing a chorus for
many years. Reach out and touch the Lord. You'll find He not too busy as
He passes by. Reach out and touch the Lord. Reach out with the hand of faith.
And the whole multitude sought to touch Him. for there went
virtue out of him and healed them all. Now that word virtue,
underscore that word, it is the same word that is given to us
in other places in Holy Scripture, power. You can look it up. It's the same word, power, that
we find in other places. Excuse me. So, I'm entitling
the message, There Went Power Out Of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power in heaven and in earth. This word power or virtue is
the same word we find in Romans 1 16, where Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. Hold your place there and turn
back just a page or two to Luke chapter 4 verse 14. And we see
this same word, virtue, that's rendered here in Luke 4 verse
14, power. And Jesus returned in the power
of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out of fame of Him
throughout all the region round about. Again, if you'll find
Luke chapter 5 verse 17, We see this same word in the
original that is rendered in our text. Virtue is given here
power. Luke chapter 5 verse 17. It came to pass on a certain
day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and doctors of
the law sitting by which were come out of every town of Galilee
and Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present
To heal them, the power of the Lord. How much power does He
have? He has all power in heaven and
in earth. His power is infinite. His power is sovereign. His power
is holy. And He exercises His power as
He will. He has all power in heaven and
in earth. When this multitude, I don't
know how many, probably thousands, thousands, at one time He fed
5,000. When this multitude of needy
and diseased sinners came to hear Him and to be healed by
Him, they sought to lay hold on Him. They sought to touch
him. And when they did, power went
out from him, and they were healed. Now my friend, the Lord Jesus
Christ is no weak, puny Savior. We serve the Savior who is the
mighty God. He is called God, our Savior. And I'm glad He has all power,
because this sinner by nature is dead, And I need the Almighty
Savior to raise me from the dead. If He's not Almighty, I have
no hope. But we read in Scripture that
He has all power to save. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power to save sinners, That's why He came. He came to seek
and to save the lost. And my friend, He's going to
save every one of His sheep. There will not be one sheep missing
in that day when He presents them to the Father faultless,
without blame, holy in God's sight. There will not be one
sheep missing. All the elect of God will be
there. You see, He is our Savior who is mighty to save. He is
our Redeemer. He's the mighty Redeemer. He
has all power to redeem, to deliver us. That's what the word redeem
means. The Lord Jesus has all power
to deliver us. Where do we need deliverance
from? Our sin, don't we? The Lord Jesus
Christ came to put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself and
there is power in the blood. I'm glad you sang that song.
We are redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. How powerful is His blood? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
His people from all their sin. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is not weak, not anemic. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
and His sacrifice put away sin so thoroughly, so completely,
so truly that God said their sin and their iniquity will I
remember no more. Aren't you glad you have a mighty,
powerful Savior? A mighty, powerful Redeemer? And my friend, let's not forget
this, we have a great intercessor. We have a great mediator. John writes, my little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not. But when you do, Now, I have
to confess, I don't know about you, but that happens to me all
the time. Sin constantly. Word, deed, and
thought. But when you sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. You see,
He came to save sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief one.
You see, He ever lives to intercede for us. He is our intercessor. He is our mediator. There's one
God. And one Mediator between God
and men doesn't say God and man or mankind. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not the Mediator for all mankind. That's not true. Nor is He the
Savior of all mankind. He is the Savior of His people,
and He is the Mediator for His people, and they're just one.
As we read in Ephesians chapter 4, don't turn, let me just read
it to you. There is one body, one Spirit,
one hope, there's one Lord, one faith, one God, and there's one
gospel, and there's one Mediator, and there's one covenant, and
there's one truth. There is the doctrine of oneness.
They're just one way God saved sinners. Neither is there salvation
in any other for there's no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ in this
day in his earthly ministry had all power to heal all people
of all diseases, of all their infirmities. Now think about
this. Is He any different today than
He was then? He still has the same power.
We read many times in Hebrews 13, 8, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
same. He has all power. His power has
not diminished one... I tried to think of a word. His
power has not diminished one iota, whatever that is. It must
be pretty small. It has not diminished one atom.
Not in the least way has His power diminished. He came possessing
all power because He's God. He lived among men. Oh, what
manner of man is this that even the wind and the seas obey Him? He lived among men possessing
all power. He came from heaven as God who
is the sovereign God possessing all power. He lived upon this
earth as a real man having all power and authority. And my friend,
He ascended to glory and is seated on the right hand of God. You
reckon His power is diminished now? Has He spent His power? Is it all gone? No, His power
is everlasting. From everlasting to everlasting,
Thou art God. This same Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the only one that can heal you. Now think about that. He's your only hope. He's your
only hope. Don't look for another Savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that can heal the infected,
vile, guilty sinners that we are right now. He's the only
hope. He's the only hope, the only
one who can raise up dead sinners and give them life is this one
that says, the scripture here says, for there went power out
of him and healed them all. I need healing, don't you? Oh may God give us grace in our
heart. to reach out the hand of faith
and to touch Him, to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
receive Him and to be healed. As mercy beggars, you read through
the gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Those who came to Him
who had need of healing, how many went away without being
healed? You know how many? None. Let
me show you scripture. Hold your place there, and find
Luke 9. You see, he never turned the
mercy beggars away. Blind Bartimaeus, sitting by
the wayside in his dirty, filthy rag, sitting in the darkness
of his blindness, and he heard about the Lord Jesus Christ passing
by, and he cried out for mercy, and the Lord showed mercy to
him. In Luke chapter 9, notice what it says in verse 11, And
the people, when they knew it, they followed him, and he received
them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and he healed
them that had need of healing. Do you have a need? Boy, I do. I need a justifying righteousness.
I can't provide one. I need an atonement for my sin. I can't provide that. I need
someone to come and do for me what I cannot do for myself.
I'm in need. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ." He said, come boldly unto the throne of grace that
you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
He tells us to come to Him. And find mercy, find grace. And
then he says in Matthew 11, the Lord said, come unto me all you
that labor in the heavy laden, I will give you rest. Rest for
your soul. The woman that had the issue
of blood turned to Luke chapter 8. You know what she did when
she was in need? Twelve years long, she suffered
hemorrhage, blood, bleeding out somehow. I don't know what kind
of disease this was particularly, but it says here in Luke 8, verse
43, And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which
spent all her living upon physicians, Neither could be healed of any.
She sought out men who were known physicians, doctors, and she
mustered up all the money that she could gather up, but none
of those physicians had the remedy for her problem. And then, verse
44, she came behind him and touched the border of his garment, and
immediately her issue of blood, and that word stanched there,
means it stopped. Her bleeding stopped. And immediately
she was healed. And the Lord said, Who touched
me? When all denied, and Peter, When
all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the
multitude thronged thee and pressed thee, and you say, Well, who
touched me? Now the Lord knew who touched
him in saving mercy. And the Lord said, Somebody touch
Me, for I perceive that virtue, same word, power, is gone out
of Me. And when the woman saw that she
was not hid, she came trembling, falling down before Him. She
declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she
had touched Him. What was the cause? Why did she
touch Him? Well, she had need. She was bleeding to death. And
how she was healed immediately. And he said to her, verse 48,
Daughter, be of good cheer, be of good comfort, thy faith made
thee whole, go in peace. She reached out in faith and
laid hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. And her disease was healed. That is a picture of salvation,
my friend. We're going to see that when
we get over to Luke chapter 8 in several months. Now, let's get
back to the story here. Remember that the Lord Jesus
Christ had just healed this man with the withered hand. You remember
He said to him, stretch forth your hand? And he did so. Remember it was in the synagogue
and it was on the Sabbath day. And his hand was restored whole
as the other. And they, that is the self-righteous
Pharisees, the scribes, and the Sadducees were filled with madness,
communing one with another what they might do unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now remember the result when
the Lord had healed this man, and his right hand was restored
whole like as the other. Some of the folks there were
made glad, no doubt this man who had suffered these many years
with a withered hand, now had a hand that was useful. Some
were made glad and rejoiced in the Lord's power to heal. Some
were filled with anger, madness. Remember I read to you from over
there in Matthew chapter 12, It says there, and they were
filled with madness. In Matthew chapter 12 we read
that they went out and held counsel how they might destroy Him. Why
were they filled with madness? I thought, I had to think, why
were they so filled with madness? Because they knew they had no
power whatsoever. And here they saw a man who they
despised, a mere carpenter from Nazareth, speaking with all power
and all authority. And man, they didn't rejoice.
They were angry in their heart. The Pharisees went out and they
took counsel together. what they might do to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that illustrates for us how
depraved we are. You say, well, you might say
how depraved they are. Now, wait a minute. They're just
like us apart from the grace of God. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. Now, notice if you will, verse
12 of Luke chapter 6, verse 12. And it came to pass, it came to pass in those days
that he went out. He went out of that synagogue.
He didn't stand there and argue with the Jews and try to convince
them. They just saw as plainly as can
be seen that this man from Nazareth has all power and all authority. And the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated
that He is Lord of the Sabbath. And it came to pass in those
days that He went out into the mountain to pray and continued
all night in prayer. Now here's. The Lord Jesus Christ left them
in their blindness, their ignorance, and in their rebellion. He went
out from them. Now turn back to Matthew chapter
15. Hold your place there. Matthew
chapter 15. You remember on another occasion,
the apostles came to the Lord and said, you know, those Pharisees
were offended when we didn't wash our hands And the Lord said
to them, In vain ye do worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. Matthew 15 verse 10, And he called
the multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand, it is not
that which goeth into the mouth that defiles the man, but that
which cometh out of the mouth, this defiles the man. Verse 12,
Then came his disciples and said unto him, Knowest thou that the
Pharisees were offended? After they heard this saying,
look at verse 13, but he answered and said, every plant which my
heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Now look
at verse 14 carefully. Let them alone, leave them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. They were offended. What did
the Lord say? Leave them alone. Don't argue
with them. Don't cast your pearl before
the swine. The Lord Jesus Christ, what did He do? He went into
the mountain and prayed. And He continued all night long
praying for us. Now think about that. Praying
for us. This is a sad but true commentary
on our religious day, a false and Christless religion, where
the gospel of Christ is not preached, where the gospel of God is denied,
where the sovereign grace of God and salvation is rebuked,
ridiculed and made fun of, our God and Savior will leave those
folks to justly perish in their sin. The Apostle Paul confirmed
that to the early church in Galatia. He said, those that come, though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached, let them be anathema, let them
be accursed when the Lord Now, I want us to consider for a moment
here that the Lord Jesus Christ praying for us. He went out from
them and He prayed for us. He left some to perish in their
sin, and then He intercedes for others. You know what we call
that? What do we call that? Sovereign grace. Sovereign mercy. Sovereign love. He said, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is praying for us. He continued all night in and
with complete union and in perfect harmony with His Heavenly Father
concerning the accomplishment of our salvation." Now consider
here for a moment, the Lord Jesus Christ right now ever lives to intercede for us. ever lived to intercede for us.
When has there been a time when the Lord Jesus Christ has not
interceded for us? There never has been a time.
He has always stood as our mediator. He's always stood as a surety
of that eternal covenant of grace. Before His coming into the world
to accomplish our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ interceded
for us as a surety of that everlasting covenant, because the scriptures
describe the Lord Jesus Christ as a Lamb slain, from the foundation
of the world. Aren't you glad that He ever
lives to intercede for us? That He always prays for His
children, He always prays for His church, and He always has.
Before His coming, He interceded for us, prayed for us. And while
He was here performing our salvation, He prayed for us. Let's read
a few lines of it. It's forgiven to us over here.
One of the prayers in John 17. Turn over there. John 17, verse
1. These words, John 17, 1. These words, and it's his prayer. He lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father
hath given to him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work you gave me." Look down at verse
9. John 17, I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, I pray for those that thou hast given me,
for thine they are, and all mine are thine. You can read that
prayer about five or six times, the Lord Jesus Christ mentions
those given to Him in that covenant of grace. All that the Father
giveth to me, shall come to me, and those that come to me I will
then know wise, cast out..." What do we call that? We call
that the truth of God's electing grace. There is a people, a remnant
according to the election of grace. Before His coming, He
interceded for us, and while He was performing our salvation,
He interceded and prays for us, even as He dies for us. He prays
for us. You remember what He prayed?
Father, forgive them. You reckon there's one sinner
for whom He prayed that is not forgiven? No, all those for whom
He prayed, Father, forgive them, they're all forgiven upon that
blessed sacrifice. And even now, the Lord Jesus
Christ, He ever lives to intercede for us. Don't turn, let me just
read it for you. We had this not too long ago
in Hebrews 9, for Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are figures of the truth, but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God right now for
us. What makes our worship acceptable
to the Father? What makes our prayers acceptable
to the Father is that the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for us. He cleanses our worship from
all our sin and makes it presentable unto God. That's kind of a strange
way of saying that, isn't it? You know, the best we have is
sinful. Man at his best ate his all together
vanity. We need continually the Lord
to cleanse our worship, to cleanse our praying. and He does so with
His precious blood. You see, the point I'm trying
to make is we have a Redeemer, a Savior, a Mediator, an Intercessor
who ever lives to intercede for us. You wouldn't dare go over
here in town and stand before Judge Combs, a circuit court
judge, and try to defend yourself. Only a fool would do that. You
better get legal You better find someone who's an officer of that
court to represent you before the man on the bench in the black
robe. But how much that pales in comparison
to the judge of all the earth. To approach him in your puny
merit? Well, I'm going to defend myself.
Forget it. Away with him. Cast him away. You need a proper
mediator that's chosen of God to represent you. And that one
is Christ. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 13. And when it was day, He called
unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also
he named apostles." Now what does an apostle mean? If you
look the word up, it's not a difficult word, it simply means one who
is sent. That's what it means. And the
Lord chose twelve men, He ordained them, He gave them power and
special gifts to demonstrate they were sent of God. And they
were his 12 apostles. They're often referred to as
the 12. Now we know that Judas was a
betrayer. Judas went out and hanged himself.
And we know that the apostle Paul was that 12th man who made
what we call the 12 apostles. But they're mentioned here, many
of them we know. We've read about Simon Peter,
whom the Lord said, thou art Peter, upon this rock I'll build
my church. That is, Peter's confession of
Christ. And then Peter had a brother
whose name was Andrew. And Peter and Andrew were fishermen. And the Lord said, you come and
follow me and I'll make you fishers of men, remember? But these were
common, ordinary, sinful men. They weren't rich. They weren't
powerful. They weren't royalty. They were
simple men, sinful men, chosen of God, blessed of God, redeemed
by His blood, called by His grace, and put in the ministry, and
sent with His message." Andrew, and then we have James and John. They too were fishermen. They
too were brothers. And then we have Philip. And
then we have Bartholomew. And then we have Matthew. And
then we have Thomas. You remember Thomas said, I will
not believe that the Lord is risen from the dead, except I
see the print of the nails in his hand, and see that spear
mark in his side. And the Lord Jesus Christ appeared
to him and said, Thomas, look here. And he said, my Lord and
my God, Thomas, called Didymus. And then James, the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon called Zelotes, and then Judas, there's another Judas,
the brother of James, called James the Less, and then Judas
Iscariot. And whenever the scripture mentions
him, he is called a traitor. Now, let's turn in our Bible
to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Verse 69. John 6, 69. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. That's Peter's
confession. John 6, verse 70. And the Lord
answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is
a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one
of the twelve, being one of that original group. Now one thing
in particular on this occasion that the Lord was praying about
was the choice of these sinful men to be especially chosen to
be ambassadors of the gospel, to be sent of God with the gospel.
Never were such men ordained to make such a big difference
in this world. How could twelve men, counting
the Apostle Paul, propagate such a widespread message to such
success and glory, and even 2,000 years later, we're still talking
about the same gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
in Acts 17, where it is said of the apostles, these are the
men who have come hither, who have turned the world upside
down. How could 12 men, counting Paul,
excluding Judas the traitor, how could these 12 men turn the
world upside down? Because they were sent of God.
They were given the power of God. They were given the truth
of God. They were given the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
men were specifically chosen, ordained, and blessed, and they
had these special gifts given of God. You know what the religious
world called them in their day? In Acts chapter 14, when Peter
declared, "...neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved." You remember? Acts 4 verse 12. And the next
line said, These men were unlearned and ignorant men. Oh, but they
took knowledge that they had been with the Lord Jesus Christ. How did these men who were mere
common people, Matthew was a publican, these fishermen, They're no longer
unlearned and ignorant. They're taught of God. They had
the message of God. God placed the wisdom of God
in their heart. Never were such men sent of God
to be a blessing to the Lord's church. When He ascended up on
high, that's the reason I read Ephesians chapter 4, when He
ascended up on high, He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers. And you know what? There are
no apostles today. There are no apostles today in
the sense as these men were specially chosen and gifted and given credentials. They did heal the sick. They
did raise the dead to show that they were sent of God with God's
message. There are no apostles today,
but make no mistake, the Lord is still raising up sinners and
calling them to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is pastors and teachers and evangelists today that the Lord is calling
forth and putting in the ministry. But how could such few men make
such a big impact upon this world? Because they had the truth of
God and were sent of God with the truth. We read in Zechariah
4 verse 6, "...not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,
saith the Lord." Now turn over here to 2 Corinthians. You see the weapons of our warfare,
find chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Though we walk in
the flesh, 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3, Though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 5, Casting
down imagination, every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ. Now there are no apostles today,
But the Lord is yet calling men and putting them in the ministry
and using them to be a blessing to His church. And they are but
men. That's all I am. I'm just a sinner
saved by God's grace and sent to declare the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ unto His people. If you will find a couple of
scriptures here, find 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. Who then
is Paul? Look at verse 5. Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos, but ministered
by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man? I
have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither is he that watereth, but it's God that gives
the increase. We are blessed of God and sent
of God, What other scripture I'm thinking of here if I can
find it? Find 2 Corinthians chapter 1. No, it's 2 Corinthians chapter
3, excuse me. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, look
at verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God, who has made us able ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life." He gives life. He gives life. Now, did you ever figure or consider
among this Chosen twelve was Judas Iscariot, who's called
the traitor. Why did the Lord choose him?
Was the Lord deceived? Absolutely not. The Lord chose
him to use him for his own purpose. Like everything which our Lord
did, it was done deliberately with perfect knowledge and with
deep wisdom. Now, the last part of this, and
my time is gone, but I spent most of the introduction on this
last part. Verse 17, 18, and 19. And I'll give you just a minute
here. There was a great multitude which
came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases. Verse 18,
And they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were
and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought
to touch him, for there went power out of him, and he healed
them all." Those in need went to hear him, like Cornelius and
his house were all here to hear him. They've come by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. And all the healing we need,
is in the gospel of Christ. We need to hear of Him and be
healed by Him for with His stripes we are healed. May God show us
our great need of Him. May God give us ears to hear
Him. May God give us wisdom and faith to reach out and touch
Him and be touched by Him that the power of the gospel may be
a blessing unto us. Those who are perishing, the
gospel is foolishness, but unto those which are saved, Christ
is the wisdom of God and Christ is the power of God forever and
ever. Amen.