A sermon is a blessing when it
genuinely comes from the heart to the heart. Those disciples who were walking
from Fort Emmaus in Luke 24, when our Lord sat down and opened
the scriptures for them, that's what we do in a sermon, open
the scriptures. He opened the scriptures for
them and then he He left them. And their first comment, didn't
our hearts burn within us as he opened for us the scriptures?
Our heart. It's a heart matter. Salvation's
a heart matter. Repentance is a heart matter.
Faith is a heart matter. My son, give me your heart, God
said. Keep thy heart out of the issues
of life. With a heart, man believeth unto
righteousness. Brother Barnard used to say,
don't preach to my head so much, preach to my heart. Secondly, when is a sermon truly
a blessing? Number two is when it's true
to the scriptures. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. This is
the children's bread, the scriptures. the scriptures. Preach the word.
Paul wrote to young Timothy, said, Timothy, preach the word.
In season, out of season. There's no season for preaching
the word. Just preach the word. God promised,
he said, my word will not return them to be void. It'll accomplish
that word until I've sent it. That which I please. Number three, a sermon is a blessing. Number three, when that sermon
meets head-on and deals with a particular need of the messenger
and the people. For example, our Lord was eating
with some publicans and sinners, and the religious fellows want
to know why he was fellowshipping with those people. Why was he
eating with publicans and sinners? Why doesn't he come down to the
synagogue and let's discuss some doctrine? Why does he eat with
publicans and sinners? And our Lord heard them. And
he turned and said to them, the well do not need a physician. People that think they're all
right, we don't have anything for them. The well do not need
a physician, but they that are sick, Who do you find in a doctor's
office? Sick people. Sick people. That's what he said. Now go learn
what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. The sacrifices in the Old Testament
never pleased the Father. He was never delighted in them.
I'll have mercy, not sacrifice. I didn't come to call righteous
people. I came to call sinners to repentance. So our messages, if they're going
to be a blessing, they've got to meet the need of the people
who hear us and our need who preach to them. And then thirdly,
fourthly, a sermon, if it's truly a blessing, comes from heart
to heart, comes from the scriptures. It meets a particular special
need that people have, a problem. And fourthly, when God is pleased,
during that message, to open the heart, to receive it, to
believe it, to walk in it, as he did for Lydia. The scripture
says, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from
Taratara, heard us preach. Lydia heard us preach, whose
heart the Lord opened, and she received the things spoken to
her by the Apostle Paul. Now that is what a sermon is
a blessing. And this sermon here tonight,
taken from Mark 5, It's told in detail by three different
apostles. Matthew wrote about it in Matthew
9. Mark wrote about it in Mark 5.
And Luke writes about it in Luke chapter 8. Now how many times
this story appears in the scripture does not make it any more true.
It's true just that one time. But the number of times emphasizes
the importance of this scripture. So let's look at it and see what
was the occasion, what was taking place at this time. Well, our
Lord left the land of the Gadarenes, took a ship, went to the other
side of the sea. And it says in verse 21, and
when Jesus was passed over again by ship and to the other side,
Many people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea.
That is, he was at the seashore. You can write that down. He was
at, they'd landed the boat, and he was at the seashore. And behold,
there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Geras, by name. And when he saw him, he fell
at his feet. Who is this man? Well, he's a very important man.
He's a minister in the synagogue. He was one of those rulers or
ministers of the synagogue, like in Luke 4, where I preached a
few days ago. When our Lord came back to Nazareth,
went to the synagogue as his custom was, and stood up to read,
they were handed him, handed him the book, Prophet Isaiah. Who handed him that book? The
ruler of the synagogue. And he opened it, and he read,
and he handed it back. to the ruler of the synagogue.
That's the office this man held. He was a ruler of the synagogue.
Evidently, God had given him an open heart to Christ. But
he came to Christ, and he said in verse 23, he fell at his feet. And he besought him greatly,
saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death. Was she
twelve years old? come and lay hands on her, that
she may be healed and she shall live." He didn't say she might
be. He said she will be. You come,
lay hands on her, she'll be. He believed. I don't know much
about him. I don't know much about him.
Maybe some of you do. But he believed. And our Lord,
the next verse, verse 24, says he went with it. This man is
going to take the Lord Jesus to his house. And Brother Frank
read that later. He took him to his house and
he healed his daughter. So he went with him, going to
the man's house, and much people followed him and thronged him.
In verse 35, someone comes along, and a certain woman, which had
an issue of blood, 12 years. Matthew, when he was reporting
about this, said a certain woman came up behind him. and touched
the hem of his garment. Luke said, and a certain woman
came behind him and touched the border of his garment, and immediately
she was made whole. Well, he wasn't going to her
house. Where'd she come from? She's never, her name's not anywhere
in the scriptures. I don't know her name, you don't
know her name. Nobody else knows her name. She seemed to come
out of nowhere and reached and touched him. Our Lord called
her somebody. That's what I call this message. Somebody touched me. He said,
who touched me? And the disciples went, everybody's
touching you. There's hundreds of people around
here all touching you. He said, somebody touched me. I call her Miss Somebody. That's
who she was. Just somebody. Somebody reached
out and touched the Lord while he was passing by, going to Geron's
house. coming from the gatherings and
whatever happened there, across the ocean, going to Uriah's house. And this woman reached out and
touched him. Reached out and touched the Lord
while he's passing by. You find he's not too busy to
hear your hearts cry. Passing by this moment. Not specially
going to your house, but he's passing by. I see this often
in the scriptures. When our Lord is coming from
somewhere, going somewhere else, and somebody happens alone by
the Spirit of God. It says in John, don't turn to
it, you're familiar with it. It says he left, John chapter
4, he left and departed from Galilee, from Jerusalem to Galilee. And he must needs go through
Samaria. And on his way from Jerusalem
to Galilee, he sat on a whale. And a woman walked up. And the
Lord dealt in mercy to her. In Luke 7 it says the Lord was
going to a little city called Nain. And as he was entering
the city, a funeral procession came by. Not at the exact time. He was going through the gate
of the city. Funeral procession. And he looked
at it. And there was a widow woman who
had one son and he had died. And the Lord had compassion on
her. And he walked over and put his hand on the bier, the scripture
says, the coffin, and told him to rise. The young man rose and
he delivered him to his mother. He went on to name. Also, our
Lord was passing through Jericho. The scripture says he was passing
through Jericho. And there was a man over there
the son of Timaeus, and he said, what's going on? And somebody
said, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And this blind man said,
Jesus, son of David, have mercy upon me. And our Lord stopped,
stood still, and caught him. And he came over. He said, what do you want me
to do? He said, Lord, that I may see. He was surrounded one day by
a multitude of people, and there was a little short fellow by
the name of Zacchaeus. He couldn't, he was trying to
see Christ, and he couldn't see over the people, so he went way
ahead and climbed up a tree. So he,
just for one purpose, he wanted to see the Lord when he came
by. And the Lord Jesus Christ came by and looked up that tree. He said, Zacchaeus, you come
down. I'm going to your house. That
wasn't where he was headed. We didn't go. What was he saying,
preacher? I'm saying this. He listened
to me. What we thought the Lord was
going to do was not what he was doing then at all. He's waiting
on that woman. I know he's going to wind up
house, but that's who he's ministered to. Sometimes when we think we've
got this thing all figured out and know who the Lord's working
with and who the Lord's speaking to and who the Lord's going to
say, it's not necessary at all what he's going to do. God moves in mysterious ways
his wonders to perform, and we think we've got it all figured
out. The Lord's mercy works where he's pleased to work. place to
work. Spurgeon one time told about
a young preacher that was in his preacher school. And back
then in 1860, 70, a man never went anywhere without a hat on.
And this preacher had his hat on. He was invited. There was
a church looking for a pastor. And they invited him to come
and preach on Sunday. And he was out cutting wood on
Saturday afternoon, cutting wood with an axe, and his hat fell
off and he cut it smack in two. He didn't have but one hat. Cut
that hat smack in two. Well, he couldn't go preach at
that congregation without a hat. So he asked a friend of his,
another student, he said, would you go preach at this church
and tell them I'll come next Sunday. I've got to buy me a
new hat. The other fellow went. The church heard him, called
him to be their pastor, and he stayed there 30 years. In 1947, what we think the Lord
is doing is not necessarily what the Lord is doing. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
In 1947, Doris and I moved up here, and I was the youth director
at Potter Baptist Church. I stayed about six or seven months,
and I knew I needed to go back to school, so I went to Chattanooga
to go to school. I moved in there in September
of 1947, and the next couple of months later, the dean of the school called
me into his office and said, there's a church called Oakwood
Baptist Church that's looking for a preacher. And the pulpit
committee is going to be out of town next week, so you go
and preach, Pop." And so I went and preached at that Oakwood
Baptist Church in November, I believe it was, 1947. Pulpit committee
was gone. They said, well, why don't you
just come back and preach next Sunday? That was my third message
I ever preached in my life. I preached to that church that
November. They said, why don't you come back next Sunday? I
said, all right. They were gone again the next Sunday. I went the next Sunday. They
said, why don't you come the next Sunday? So I went the next
Sunday, and the pulpit committee was there. And they said, we're
having a hard time finding a preacher. Why don't you just preach for
us till we do get a preacher? I stayed there two and a half
years as their pastor. What God is doing is what God
is doing. And that's the point I'm making
here. The Lord Jesus is going to Jairus' house. But that doesn't
keep him envious of you and me. That's his original plan to begin
with, to minister to us. Now let's look to the next verse
and see about this woman. It tells us about her and tells
us how we identified with her. Look, it says, In a certain woman,
verse 25, which had an issue of blood twelve years. This woman,
like us, had a problem, and her problem was Very similar to the
one we have. Ours is spiritual, hers was physical.
But she'd been sick a long time. Twelve years is a long time to
be sick. She'd been sick a long time,
and we've been sick a long time. Since birth, in sin, my mother
conceived me. I came forth from the womb with
a disease, sin. From Adam, a long time. And this
woman's, her problem was an inward disease. You couldn't look at
her especially and tell what her problem was, but she knew
it was within. It's not what a man puts in his
mouth the Lord said to defile him, it's what comes out of his
heart. And that's where our problem is. We've got an inward problem.
It's a heart problem. Out of the heart proceeds evil
thoughts, adulteries, lust, all these things. Envy, malice comes
from the heart. insides of bad disease, unclean
spirit. Thirdly, her problem was a blood
disease. And that's our problem. The life
of the flesh is in the blood. You can go to the hospital and
they take a little blood out of your hand and tell you what's
wrong with you, all over, because that's where life is, in the
blood. Disease is in the blood, too.
And this woman had an issue of blood for 12 years. Another thing,
she was, before the law, unclean. Let me show you that in Leviticus
chapter 15. The law regarded her as being
unclean. She couldn't go to the synagogue,
to the temple. She was unclean. Everything about
her was unclean. It says here in Leviticus 15
verse 25. If a woman have an issue of blood
many days out of her time of separation, or if it run beyond
the time of her separation, all the days of the issue of her
uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation, and she shall
be unclean. And the law looks upon us as
unclean. Been sick a long time. It's an
inward disease. It's a blood disease from our
parents. What the law says, it says to everyone who's under
the law that all the world might become guilty before God, unclean. Well, has she tried to do something
about it? Yeah, look at the next verse. And she'd gone to a lot
of folks that claimed that they could heal her. Lots of them. There's lots of people that,
back in that day, I guess today, too, physicians who think that
they can heal anything. And these fellas thought they
could do something for her. And it says here in verse 26,
she suffered many things of many positions. And spent all that
she had. And she wasn't better. She kept
getting worse. Some of you can identify with
this. Like this woman who went to all these different positions.
They couldn't help her. But they still took all she had.
They took everything she had. She wasn't getting anybody. They
weren't helping her at all. And we did that spiritually.
We tried Dr. Law, Dr. Ceremony, great temples,
priesthood, ceremonies, burning candles, special days, special
services, sacraments. An old place, been in business
a long time in this in this religious business, popular with a lot
of people, impressive, but one thing about it, they can't put
away sin. No matter what they prescribe
for you, it won't put away sin. It won't do it. So when we try
doctored denomination, find the right church, find the one with
the right name, Church of Christ, Church of God. a good scriptural
name, the right church, with the right baptism, we gotta get
the right baptism, and the right communion, and defenders of the
faith, and all of these things. But you know something? With
all these things that are exactly right by human standards and
human decisions, would not make the heart right. The voice won't
do it. But we spend a lot of time with
them, and spent a lot of money on them. Then we thought we'd
try Dr. Charismatic. Lots of people were
going down there, you know. There's lots of things going
on down music. They've got the best music, somebody
said. And everybody's happy while they're
there. And everybody claps their hands
and waves their arms and they speak in tongues and they're
healing folks and have good fellowship and good feeling. Wonderful. We get caught up in that. But then we get away from it,
away from the frenzy, away from the crowd, away from the preachers. They're nothing but cheerleaders
to keep people pepped up. We get by ourselves, and the
old sin is still there. The old problem. That's why when
she went to this doctor and that doctor and the other, they gave
her things to take. When she went back home, it was
still there. He says she was no better. She
grew worse. She was no better. She grew worse.
See, religion, when you get the wrong religion, when you get
a false foundation, you're certainly not better, but the bad thing
is, you're worse. You've got what you didn't have
before. You've got a foundation. Let me show you that. Turn to
Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28. This is a danger. You say, well, they're not hurting
anybody. Yes, they are, too. They're giving people a false
foundation. They're giving them a refuge of lies. They're giving
them a refuge to hide in that they think will keep them from
the judgment of God. See, the only way that I can
miss the judgment of God is to have my sins paid for and put
away, taken from me, forgiven, forgiven by God, accepted in
Christ. Now, if I get and hide in a false refuge, And I think
I'm in a safe place when the refuge, when the overflowing
scourge of God's judgment comes through. It's coming after me. The only place to hide is in
Christ. The only safe place from the judgment is in Christ. Now
listen to this, in Isaiah 28, verse 14. Now wherefore hear
the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which
in Jerusalem. These are preachers. These are
these rulers of the synagogue, you know. They rule the people
in Jerusalem. They preach to them, lead them
in ceremonies and sacrifices and all these things that they
say. That's where you hide. Because you've said, we've made
a covenant with death, we're not afraid to die. With hell
are we at agreement. We're not afraid of hell. When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through the wrath of God,
the judgment of God. He won't come unto us. We have
made lies our refuge. We have a refuge. We have a hiding
place. But it's lies. Under falsehood
we've hid ourselves. We've got a refuge. It's a refuge
of lies. We've got a place to hide. But it won't stand up. And God
says, listen, therefore, Here's the refuge. Thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I lay in Zion. I lay a foundation. I lay in
Zion, in the church, a foundation. A stone, rock of ages, cleft
for me. Let me hide myself in thee. That's
Christ the stone. A tried stone. He'd been tried
by the law, tried by God, tried by Satan, tried by men. He'd
been tried, yet without sin. A precious cornerstone with precious
blood, precious redemption. A sure foundation. You want to
hide somewhere? Hide in Christ. Find Him. Lay hold of Him. Build on the
rock. And he that believeth never shall
make haste. He won't have to run. He'll never
run. He'll never be ashamed. He'll
never be condemned. There's no judgment to them who
are in Christ. There's the foundation. But let me tell you now, verse
17. Judgment, I'm going to lay to the lion. And righteousness
to the pommel. What's a lion and a pommel? You
men that lay blocks or bricks, you know what a, or build houses.
That lion apparently comes straight down. Straight down. That's perpendicular. That's
straight. Don't trust your eyes, they'll deceive you. You'll miss
it, but that line, that plummet, and then there's this line sketched
all the way across here. Lay those blocks, lay those up,
keep it on the line. God's judgment is straighter
than your plummet and straighter than your line. It's straight. To append in one part of the
law is to be against the whole law. To come short in one place
is to be far short of the glory of God. I'm going to lay it to
the line, lay it to the plummet, and to hail! It's going to sweep
away these refuge of lies, and the waters are going to overflow
your hiding place, and your covenant with death is going to be disannulled,
and your agreement with hell will not stand. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, you'll be stalked and trodden down by
it. So you're not better, no matter
what they tell you, if you're hiding in a false refuge. If
you're in a refuge of lies, you're worse off because you think you're
well. I'm all right. You're all right. I'm okay. You're
okay. I feel so good. I remember when
I was saved, I was there when it happened. You've heard all
that sort of thing. Christ is the foundation. Christ
is the cornerstone. Christ is the precious stone.
Christ is the tribestone. Christ is the refuge. She wasn't any better. She was
worse. Look at verse 27, Mark 5, verse
27. When she heard of Jesus, when
she heard of Jesus, she came in the press and the crowd behind
him and touched his... I tell you, this is the most
important, most important little simple statement that you'll
read today, when she heard of Jesus. That's where it all is. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. Boy, may
I wonder who she heard preach. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. But I wonder when she heard it.
When did she hear it? What difference does it make?
Well, I wonder how she happened to hear it. It's of no importance. But she heard of Jesus. That's
the important thing. She heard who He is. Son of God. Son of man. He's the Messiah. That's what that woman at the
well said. The Messiah's coming. And when He comes, He'll tell
us all we need to know. And our Lord said, I will speak
to them. She heard of Jesus. Who He is. What He did. Why He did it. And you know what she said? Verse
28, when she She heard of Jesus, and it says here in verse 28,
she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I'll be made whole. Her confidence was born of what
she heard. And what I just read over there
in Isaiah 60, God said, he says, now you're going to run into
all these different refuges, covenant with death and agreement
with hell and all that, and you just put that aside. I lay in
Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation. And he that believeth on him
will never make haste. Now that's it. And based on that,
if I touch him, I'll be made holy. If I can get to him. She said if I can touch him, I'll be made whole." You can
be sure of it, you can rest in it, you can bank your hope for
eternity in it, if God Almighty declares it, come unto Christ,
you'll make me whole, come unto Christ, you'll make me whole. So she came, let's look here,
and straightway, verse 28 says, "...if I touch but his clothes,
I shall be whole." That's faith, isn't it? She believed him. So straightway, she touched him,
and the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in
her body she was healed of the plague. She came to Christ. Not
to a preacher, not to a counselor, not to an altar, not to an inquiry
room, she came to Christ. Never mind that that big crowd
around him was touching him, and nothing happened for them. They didn't believe in him. They
didn't know who he is. They didn't have that faith,
but she did. That didn't stop her. Never mind
that he wasn't going to her house. She heard that conversation back
there with Gerise. She heard Gerise say, fall and
worship the Lord and say, I've got a daughter, would you come?
He said, I'll come. She said, I'll touch him, I'll
be made whole. Never mind he wasn't going to,
never mind that nobody knows her name. I know one that did. He knew her name. He knew her
all eternity. This was all in his plan and
purpose. Oh, I tell you. He, this is what she was thinking,
he's God's son, he sent to save sinners, and I'm a sinner, and
I'm going to get you. Well, let's look and see what
happens here. And the Lord Jesus, in verse 30, said, immediately
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, he turned
about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? Who touched
my clothes? And his disciples said to him,
Lord, you see the multitude thronging you, and you say, Who touched
me? You say, Who touched me? The Lord Jesus He's telling us
something here. He's really telling us something
we need to see. Many had touched him. Many had
touched his garments. Many reached for his hand, I'm
sure, with no effect. None whatsoever. They knew he
was Jesus of Nazareth, all these things. But this woman, one touch,
brought eternal salvation, eternal glory, and made her whole. What was the difference in her
touching him and them touching him? Number one, it was a touch
of need. She needed him. Oh, how desperately,
desperately she needed him. And she touched him out of a
need. Secondly, it was a touch of desperation
and inability. No one No one could help her,
heal her, or do her any good except Him. She knew that. She
said in her heart, if I can touch Him, I'll be made whole. I'm sure of it. I'm sure of it. Thirdly, it was a touch of faith. She trusted Him, believed Him.
She knew that if she could make contact with Him, His Health would flow into her. His
life would flow into her. And she touched him. And then in the last place, she touched him and she was made
whole. It's never failed. It's a touch
of need, it's a touch of desperation, it's a touch of faith, and it
was a touch that'll never, ever fail. It doesn't matter who it
is. That's right. That's right. Well, he turned to her. Let's
see what he says here. He turned to her. Verse 32. And he looked about to see her
that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling,
said she had broken the law. To get to him, she had broken
the law. She wasn't supposed to touch anything or anybody.
Nobody was supposed to touch her. She was unclean. She was
like a leper. But she determined to get to
Christ, regardless of what this law said. And she was afraid. So trembling, knowing what was
done in her, she came and fell down before him and told him
the whole truth. But you know, that's what the
Lord requires of us, a confession. That's right, a confession. She
made this confession and that's when she was already healed.
She's already made whole. But he required of her a confession. He said, daughter, thy faith
hath made thee whole. Now you go in peace and be whole
of thy faith. You see, our Lord, his greatest
glory, and be careful how I word this, now his greatest glory
is not only that he is love. He is love. But his greatest
glory is his purpose and willingness to share that love. To share that. And we love him
because he first loved us. He loved us. He came to us. He
called us. But we respond. If you confess
me before me and I'll confess you before my Father which is
in heaven. Well, he's already confessed us before we ever confess
him, but what he's saying is we will confess him. I'll show
you something else. The great, great glory of our
Lord's grace is not just the fact that he has grace. He's
a God of all grace. But that's not his greatest glory
just because he has grace. His greatest glory is his willingness
to give it to the guilty. I will, he says, show me your
goodness. I'll show you my goodness. I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll be merciful
to whom I will be gracious. Showing it. Showing it. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
just glorified by dying. He's glorified by the person
for whom he died. Guess if a righteous man will
one die, yet for a good man some will die. But God committed his
love for us, and while we were sinners, Christ died for us as
his greater glory. His love is manifested, his grace
is given, and he dies for the guilty. And she's a token of
it, and she's going to confess it. That's right. How could we not? How could we
not confess if someone does something that miraculous for me? The most, I guess the dumbest
thing, I'm going to tell somebody how good they are. You see what
I'm saying? I'm going to tell somebody. I'm
going to confess him. I'm going to line up with him. That's right. Well, maybe he's
not going to your house, but he's passing by. He's passing
by. Maybe there's somebody here that's
never reached out and touched the Lord. But I tell you, if
you do, you shall be made whole. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn, brother.