Now we're going to look at Mark,
the fifth chapter, and our message will begin with verse 25, but
let me establish two things by way of introducing the message,
the first of which is this. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, our Savior and Redeemer, is the fountain the only fountain
of all spiritual blessings. There is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that flood lose all their guilty stains. There's nothing that
God Almighty has for any son of Adam that is not found in
Christ. There's nothing. There's nothing
by way of mercy and grace. Now, hell's not in Christ. Punishment
of sin's not in Christ. That's because we're not in Christ.
But every spiritual mercy, grace, gift, and love that God has for
any son of Adam is found in Jesus Christ. It's not found in the
church. It's not found in the law, it's
not found in any religious traditions or ceremonies. Everything God
has for the sinner is in Christ. And another thing, everything
I need is in Christ. I don't need anything but Christ.
In Him dwelleth all the fullness of God. All the fullness of God
dwells in Him, and I'm complete in Him. John said, in Him was
life. And the life was the light of
men. God has given us life and that life is in his son. And
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, but of him, of God, are you in
Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, all the wisdom I need,
righteousness, all that I need, sanctification, all that I need,
redemption, all that I need. That as it is written, he that
gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. Now let that be established.
That's the fact of facts. That's an undoubted truth. Everything
God has for any man is in Christ. Every spiritual blessing, every
good thing, every good and perfect gift cometh from Him. A man can
receive nothing except it be given him from above. Come unto
me, he said, I'll give you rest. I'll give you peace. I'll give
you life. He said, I am the bread of life.
I am the water of life. I am the door of life. I am the
way, the truth, and the life. Everything is in Jesus Christ.
All right, here's the second thing now. Now let that be established,
please. If you don't hear anything else
tonight, hear that. Don't go to the Catholic priest.
He doesn't have a thing for you. Don't come to me. I don't have
a thing for you. Don't turn to any human being.
Put no confidence in the flesh. Turn to Christ. Lay hold upon
Him. This woman said if I can just
touch Him. It's not me touching. You don't
touch the television. Don't dare lay your hand on that
thing. Don't touch me. Don't let any... I see this...
Silly looking guy with a funny hat from Rome running around
touching people and they just fall out, you know. Don't touch
him. A man can't give you anything but his corruption, that's all. Christ is the fountain of life.
Christ is the well of living water. He said if you knew the
gift of God, you'd ask of me and I'd give you living water.
I'd give you living water. Get in touch with Christ. Cut
some of these Ties that you have with the flesh. Some of this
dependence upon denominations and rituals and church membership
and the old experience. Cut that tie with the old experience
and be done with it. Nothing in experience. Nothing
in it. It's all in Christ. If you haven't
laid hold on Him before, do it tonight. If you haven't reached
out before, reach out tonight and touch the Lord as He passes
by. You'll find He's not too busy
to hear your heart's cry. He's passing by this moment your
need, every need, and everything I need is in Christ. Reach out
and touch the Lord. But the second thing now, and
I can't explain this, I just know it's so. Now if you want
logic, you better go somewhere besides the Bible. You better
go somewhere besides the Bible. You better go to a book of theology
if you want logic. But if you want truth, go to
the Bible. You see, this is God's truth, and I can't comprehend
God, for could I be God? He said it's too high for you.
It's higher than the heavens. You can't attain unto it. It's
deeper than hell. You can't reach it. It's broader
than the sea, and you're confined to one little spot. I know this. I know that it's faith that puts
me in touch with Christ. It's faith. Christ is the fountain.
It's the same thing. There's the fountain. There's
the living water. There's what'll quench my thirst.
There's what'll satisfy and meet my need. Everything's right in
there. I can bite my hand and it won't satisfy me, but my hand
will bring that water to my mouth. I drink. If I don't drink, Charlie,
I'll perish. If I don't drink, I can sit down
right beside the well and go to hell. That's right. It's there. It's there. And the
arm didn't satisfy my thirst. The arm didn't make any contribution
to the satisfaction of my thirst. The life was in the water. The
satisfaction's in the water. The relief's in the water. The
strength's in the water. It's all there. I've got to pick
it up. That's what the Word of God teaches.
Thy faith, He said, hath made thee whole. Thy faith hath saved
thee. All things are possible to them
that believe. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. Lord I believe, help my unbelief. The fountain will be tapped by
faith. That's so. That's so. He says by faith Abel offered
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. He said by faith Enoch
walked with God. And he had this testimony, he
pleased the Lord. By faith, Abraham left his father's
home and went to a land that God would show him, not knowing
where he was going. By faith, Noah, being warned
of things not seen, prepared an ark to the salvation of his
family. By faith, Moses left Egypt and
regarded even the reproach of Christ's greater riches and the
treasures of Egypt. By faith! By faith. Hold that scripture there and
turn to the book of John. Listen to this. You know, John
chapter 3, the Philippian jailer came to Paul and Silas in the
prison. He was troubled, troubled, confused,
fearful, near suicide. He didn't know a thing, ignorant.
Just fearing God, surrounded by the power of God, and the
shaking of the prison, and the earthquake, and all these things,
and scared to death. And he just fell down before
Paul and said, what must I do to be saved? And I can just hear
some of the dear Reformed brethren, well, now you've got to see yourself
lost. You know, you've got to be a
quickened sinner, or a wakened sinner, or a troubled sinner.
He said, I'm just a sinner. I don't know what all these definitions
are, but I'm just in trouble. What must I do to be saved? Well,
the Board of Deacons will meet next Wednesday, and we could
take up your application. I don't have until next Wednesday.
The thief on the cross might have said that too. But I tell
you, you could unite with us if you'd wait six months and
prove that you are a believer, and then we may... What must
I do to be saved? Paul says, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he said. And the
Ethiopian eunuch, Philip talked to him about the gospel. He said,
I want to be baptized. What are the conditions for being
baptized? And Philip said, if you believe,
you may. He said, I believe. Look at John
chapter 3. Verse 18 says, he that believeth
on him, is not condemned. He that believeth on Christ is
not condemned. That's pretty clear. That's about
the plainest words you can make. It's not he that preaches or
serves or works or attains a certain righteousness. He that believeth
is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already because he has not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Look at verse 36. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. My friends, the source of all
spiritual mercies, grace, blessings, love, everything God has for
the Son of Adam is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's there by design,
God purposed to save a people. He purposed to redeem them in
His Son. He made His Son the eternal surety. It's there by decree. God decreed
that all things should be in Christ. It's there by death. Christ died that He might be
Lord of the dead and the living. It's all in Him. By design, by
decree, and by death, Christ purchased the right to redeem.
He has the right to redeem. He has that right by God's design,
by God's decree, and by His own death. It's all in Him. It's
all vested in Him. It's all put in Him. You know,
when Joseph came down to Egypt, God gave him an understanding
of the famine and of the years of plenty. He said there'd be
seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. And
Pharaoh said, well, I'm going to put you in charge of the storehouses.
And he said, now God's given you the wisdom to see this, and
God'll give you the wisdom to save us. So Joseph stored up
food during the seven years of plenty, and then when the famine
struck, they had plenty to last them. And people come to Pharaoh
and say, we want some food. You know what he always said?
Go to Joseph. Go to Joseph. If you want food,
go to Joseph. Joseph's in charge. He's in charge
of the storehouses. Well, in this case, and that's
the reason the tight won't walk on four legs, our Lord Jesus
Christ is not only in charge of the storehouse, He is the
storehouse. He's not only the dispenser of
the grain of life, He is the grain of life. He's not only
the giver of the bread, He is the bread. He's not only the
altar and the offering and the priest, but the one to whom it's
offering. He's everything. You can't make too much of him.
You can't do it. And faith puts me in touch with
Christ. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Nobody will be
saved without faith. And it's your faith. God gives
it, God grants it, God enables you, God quickens it, God Almighty
supplies it, God woos you, God draws you, but you believe. That's
right, he says, thou shalt confess with thy mouth, not somebody
else's mouth, thy mouth, and believe in thine heart, God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Let me show you
that in our scripture, Mark 5, 25. Mark 5, 25. And I want you to look at the
text and see this story. And this is not a parable. This
happened. And these examples of healing,
are not just to show you that the Lord has the power to heal. He who made the sons can certainly
give healing to his people. He has healing in his way. He
who made the eye can certainly heal it. He who made the ear
can certainly tune it. God can restore my hearing. I
don't have any doubt about that. Being hard of hearing is sometimes
a blessing. You can't turn me off like I can turn you off.
That, you know, that is a blessing sometimes. God made the ear. He can tune it. He made the heart.
He can make it pump. He can make it stop. Life's in
the hands of our Lord. So these stowers are not just
to convince us the Lord Jesus can heal. They are to show us
how He saves. That's what these stowers are
about. Every parable is to show how God saves sinners. Every
example of healing is to show how the Lord heals the heart
and heals the soul. So here's a woman, it says verse
25, she was a certain woman. Not a parable, she's a real person.
She had a name. I don't know what her name is.
Maybe her name was Betty, or maybe her name was Elizabeth.
But she was a real woman. And she had a family just like
you do. She was a daughter of Adam. She
was a member of the human race. She wasn't some special person. She was just a typical woman.
Just a plain, ordinary woman. A certain woman. All right, the
second thing. But this woman, verse 25, had
a need which caused her much distress. She had a need which
caused her much pain. She had an issue of blood, a
hemorrhaging. This was a disease within. You
couldn't tell it outwardly except to see its effect on her. There
was no breaking of the skin. There was no obvious signs outwardly
that she was a dying woman, but she had a disease for 12 years,
for a long time, and it was a fatal disease. It was a blood disease.
See, I'm going to be here long. And you couldn't tell it. You
see her there, and she looks just like any other woman, a
certain woman. She knew it. She lived with it.
Now you ladies, I tell your husband in the pulpit, here they're sinners,
and you go home and tell them how good they are. And parents,
I tell your children what great sinners are, and you pat them
on the head and say, you're a good little boy, you know. You're
just tearing down everything I'm preaching. You see them,
they don't have any outward sign, but I wish you could see their
little mean rotten hearts. That's right. They're full of
hell itself. Did you know that? That sweet
little son of yours would be another devil if God turned him
loose. And that's so. And this woman, you look at her
there and there she stands and there's no visible, there's no
outward sign, there's no visible breaking out, she doesn't look
grotesque and ugly, she's just a plain simple woman who's rotten
within. Dying. Plagued. That's right. And that's what
I got, that's what's preaching to you tonight without Christ.
And that's what's sitting out there if you're without Christ.
We're without Christ. We have a fatal disease. We got it from Adam. And it's
in here. It's in our bloodstream. It's
in our veins. It's in our heart. It's a blood
disease. We've got bad blood. We're evil
within. The only reason any man is commendable
in any way is because God's restrained him. Did you know that? That's
right. The only reason anybody here
has any commendable virtue is because God either restrained
him or gave it to him. Restrained his evil or gave him
grace. Now that's so, that's so, Joe.
That's the only reason that you are a likable person, a commendable
person, a gracious person, a person that knows anything about this
Bible, is God not only restrains you, but he's been gracious to
you. That's so. All right, she had an issue of
blood 12 years in verse 26 and she this this is applicable our
day She had suffered many things of many physicians. There are
many there are many fellows out there that uh That she'd been
going I can just see her going from one to the other. They all
got their shingles out You know doctor this and doctor that and
doctor the other They couldn't help her because they didn't
understand her disease. They didn't have the cure because
they didn't know what they were working on. And that's what's
wrong with so many of these soul healers, so many of these preachers.
I told a man in a study, I heard a preacher last night on the
television, and he was preaching along, and he said this. He read
that passage of Scripture where the Apostle Peter said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And he said, Blessed
art thou, Simon, Peter, blessed art thou, Peter, thou art a rock,
and upon rocks like you I'll build my church. That's what
he said. On rocks like you. Christ didn't say that. Oh, my soul. She'd tried all
these fellows. She'd gone to this one, he told
her, be baptized. She'd gone to this one, and he
told her to study the catechism. She'd gone to this one, and he
told her to do this, that, and the poor lady wrote me the other
day. I got a letter. She gets $20 a week allowance. She's way up in years. And she
gets a little income, but her son handles her income. She's
saving money for an operation. And she's got a little money
put away for an operation. And she's been to different preachers
knowing how much she ought to give to the church. And every
one she talks to is so strict on tithing, you know. And one
of them said, now if you borrow any money from your son, you
have to pay a tithe on what you borrow, you know. Poor lady's
so confused. These soul healers, they're not
bashful. They're not bashful at all. Misery
loves company. They'll tell you something to
do, even if it's wrong. And she'd gone to these fellas, you know,
and gone, and she spent everything she had. She invested her time,
her money, her effort, everything into these fellas. She invested
everything, and she wasn't any better. She was more confused
than ever, and hurting worse than ever, and bleeding worse
than ever. And I'll tell you, after you've
been around all these soul healers and all these self-styled preachers
and evangelists and saviors and soul winners. I tell you, you'll
be worse off, too, than when you began because you'll be wrapped
up in their tradition and self-righteousness. They'll give you an experience
to hide in. They'll give you a refuge to
hide in. They'll give you a baptism to hold to. They'll give you
some commitment to look back to. They'll give you something.
And she was just worse, worse! Look at that next verse. Here's
the good news. She heard of Jesus. Now what's the word heard? She
heard. Somebody, some person, somebody
told her about Christ. Now that, you see, that's what
I want to do. That's what I want to do on the
television. That's what I want to do on the
radio here in the pulpit. Our missionaries, wherever we
go, I want to tell some folks about Him who is all in all. That's what I want these young
men to do who go out. I want them tonight, Darwin's
preaching down in Louisiana right now. I hope, Joe, he's telling
them about the Lord. I believe he is. I believe he
is. Because before a man can trust
Christ, he's got to hear about Christ. God had chosen by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And somebody
told her who Christ was. Somebody said, well now, did
you know that the Christ has come, the Messiah has come from
God? Do you know who he is? He's Jesus
of Nazareth. Do you know he has the power
to heal? He has the power to save? He has the power to redeem? He came down to this earth and
kept the law and died on the cross, was buried and rose again.
He's gone back to heaven where he sits on the right hand of
God. That's our message. Our message is Christ. Somebody
told her about the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody wasn't preaching
that day on the importance of being a member of a New Testament
church. Somebody wasn't preaching that
day on whether he's sublapsarian or superlapsarian or just lapsarian
back into something else, you know. Somebody was preaching
the gospel that day. Somebody wasn't preaching that
day splitting hairs about whether this was true or that was true
or whether you ought to do this or do that. Church government
ought to have elders, ruling elders and teaching elders. And
I think sometimes when folks come to hear us and they sit
and listen to us and we solve all these impossible problems,
and they go away just as empty as when they came. Didn't meet
any need. But somebody was talking about
the Lord Jesus, and she heard about Christ. And she found out
He was in town, and it says in verse 27 that she came in the
press, and she reached out and touched Him. This is what faith
does. Faith will and faith must. Yes,
sir. Faith will and faith must touch
him. Now, I'll say this to you. You
think about this. Brother Ed Wallen, he was with
me last week in the Bible conference, and we talked about this experience. He was sitting right there where
Bob is. He'd been to Coleridge. He was a sergeant in the Army.
Some of you may remember. Some of you might have been here.
He's sitting right there where Bob is. Years ago, he'd come
back from Korea, and he'd been in the Army several years, and
his wife was a member of this church, and he came with her
to the service. Brother Barnard's up there preaching. And he got
hold of some good preaching. He got hold of the gospel, told
about Christ, the gospel. And he said, I want all of you
to bow your heads. He says, there's somebody here
tonight that's lost, that needs a Savior. that needs Christ,
would you raise your hand and let me pray for you?" And old
Ed put up his hand, Bob, just raised his hand. And Father said,
son, I'll pray for you. And so we had prayer, and he
said, I want to stand and sing a song. Now you, you who want
to trust Christ, you trust Him, you believe on Him, you lay hold
of Him, you reach out and touch Him. You trust Him right now. And
so we sang and nobody moved. I remember this like yesterday.
And he got through, and we didn't have all this up here, we was
a little poor then, we didn't have all this fancy stuff, but
Roth finished preaching and he walked right down and right smack
up to Brother Wallen. And he said, son, he said, why
didn't you trust the Lord tonight? Why didn't you trust the Lord?
And Ed said, well, I wanted to, but I couldn't. Roth said, son,
you're a liar. Now you don't call too many book
sergeants in the Army a liar, but Rothwood, you know, he was,
he's able to do that. He said, son, you're a liar.
Boy, his face turned red. His veins stood out like a couple
of fingers right there, you know, and he, Roth didn't stop. He
said, if you'd have wanted to, you would have. And just turned
and walked off. Boy, Ed went home that night.
He told his wife, you'll never get me back in that place. Never! Never! Lou said, what's the problem? I said, the preacher called me
a liar. She said, Brother Barnard? Yes,
he called me a liar. She said, why'd he do that? Well,
I said, he told me, he asked me why I didn't trust the Lord,
and I said, well I wanted to, but I couldn't. He said, you're
a liar. She said, well you are. I wouldn't advise that to you
wives, I wouldn't. I mean, he's already lit up,
don't do anything. But that's what she did. She
said, you are. He said, what do you mean? She said, if you'd
want to, you would have. People do what they want to do. And
I'll tell you this, she said, if you ever get lost, you'll
trust him. If you ever get lost. Well, he did. He's now pastor of a church down
in Alabama. But this woman here was in trouble. And Christ was
her only source of mercy. This woman was dying. Christ
was the only source of life. This woman was drowning in disease
and misery, and Christ was her only help. But if you ever get
in that shape, you'll reach out too. Like Brian Bartimaeus, Jesus,
the son of David, have mercy! They said, be quiet. He said,
I'm not going to be quiet until he has mercy. The thief on the
cross, Lord, please remember me. We're just not lost yet. This woman, this woman's in trouble. This woman's dying. And Christ
is her only hope. And He's your only hope. And
I tell you this, that sink or swim, I'm going to Him. I'm going
to knock on His door till He opens it. I don't believe that
stuff about Him knocking on my door and I won't open it. I'm
knocking on His door. That's right. That's right, I'm
knocking on his door, he's the light, I'm coming Lord, here
I'm coming to thee. And she reached out, she knew
her need, she knew her disease, she knew her inability, her helplessness,
she knew he could meet her need, and she reached out. I'm not
telling you to come to me, or the front, or a bench, or a pool,
or a wafer, or whatever, I'm telling you to reach out and
touch Christ. Pull on your face before Him.
Lord, save me! I won't let you go till you bless
me. The kingdom of heaven suffered
violence and the violent take it by force. But brother, let
me tell you something. Faith reaches out. Faith must. It will. It has to. And I'll
tell you this about it. Look at the next verse. And straightway,
do I believe in instantaneous conversion? I certainly do. I
believe the moment you believe, you're not condemned. I don't
care how strong your faith is or how weak it is. I don't care
how frail it is or how great it is. The moment that you can
trust Christ alone, believe on Christ alone, rest in Christ
alone, the moment, straight way, you are saved. You are not condemned. You're not condemned. That little
baby that's born from its mother is a frail creature when it first
comes forth from the womb. It's a delicate, frail creature.
It needs attention and help. But it lives just as much as
I live. It's got the breath of life in it just as much as I
have. And that person with the weak faith, with the infant faith,
with the childlike faith, is just as much a child of God as
John Halsom's a child of God. Just as much. That's right. Instantaneously. I don't think
the Lord saves next week, next month, next year. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. The moment you believe. I can't
believe for you. I'm just saying this woman, this
woman reached out and touched him. That's not the conventional
way to come. You say, there is no conventional
way for a person that's in need. One may reach out and touch him,
another may fall at his feet and ask for mercy, another like
the harlot may pour the precious ointment on his feet, wash him
with her tears and dry him with her hair, another may come another
way, but whatever, if you're in need, you just cry out. You
just cry out. You just cry out to Christ. And
she was healed immediately. Watch the next verse. There's
got to be an open confession. Our Lord demands it. Our Lord
expects it. Our Lord is going to bring it
forth. He stopped and He said, who touched me? Come on, who
touched me? Who touched me? Jesus Christ
is passing by and out here tonight are needy creatures. We've got
an issue of blood It's more fatal than hers. It's more dangerous
than hers. It's more corrupt than hers. It's more devastating
than hers. And I'm helpless and hopeless,
and I'm going to reach out and touch him. Are you? I said, Lord,
here I am. Save me. I'm going to touch him.
And then he says, who touched me? I said, I did. It was me.
I did. Yeah, she came, she came to him
and fell on her knees and worshipped him, and she admitted, she said
it, she told him the whole thing. You know, I like what the disciples
said here. Our Lord said, who touched me? Now watch this. And
the disciples said, well, you see the multitude. Our Lord said,
yes, I see the multitude, but somebody in that multitude sees
me. That's right. Somebody in that multitude sees
me. Somebody in that multitude has
some discernment. Somebody in that multitude has
some understanding. And she came and told him all
things. And watch the next verse. And he said to her, now watch
this. He said to her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole,
go in peace. And behold, you have the word
of the Lord for you. Now watch this. She had that
need. Weakness, infirmity, inability,
powerlessness. She hadn't found any satisfaction
in all these false, phony physicians. And she heard the gospel, the
truth. She heard of his redemptive glory,
character, and power. And she said in her heart, this
is faith. I can touch him, I behold. And
their paths crossed by God's grace and she touched Him. And
she knew she was whole. She said she felt it. That's
what it says here. And she felt in her body that
she was healed. She felt the power of God in
her soul and body. And she knew that. And some of
you know that. But you say, I don't have any
assurance. And I don't know that I'm on
the right track here, but I kind of believe I am. Her assurance was given her by
Him. By Him. By His Word. After she
confessed Him. After she confessed Him. In other
words, she was healed. Her healing didn't wait on her
confession, Jay. Her healing didn't wait on her
confession. You know, you've got to have something to confess
before he can confess. You've got to have a relationship
to own before you can own it. You've got to have a relationship
with which to identify before you can be baptized. You see,
they heard, they believed, and they were baptized. And assurance
follows this, confidence. This woman was healed by her
contact with the Lord, by His strength and grace. And then
He singled her out. Now, she'd have slipped off in
the crowd. I don't know the results, but
he called her out. He said, who touched me? Who
touched me? He knew who touched him. He wanted
to hear from her. And she came and fell down and said, I believe,
I believe. I was weak and infirm. She told
him the whole truth. She said, I've tried all these
other people and I've tried everything and Lord, I knew you could heal
me and I touched you. And he said, your faith made
you whole. Go in peace. And this is what I believe, that
where baptism and a confession of Christ, a public confession
of Christ. He said, if you confess me before
me and I'll confess you before the Father, then the confession
does not save, Christ saves. Baptism does, and we get this
thing all twisted up. And somebody says, well, you
got to be baptized in order to be saved. No, sir. That woman
touched Christ and was healed. He's the fountain. He's the source.
He's the light. But he singled her out for an
identification, for a declaration, for a confession. And she told
him and the public all that took place. And he gave her, Jay,
a word of assurance. He gave her a word of assurance.
And I've had this very thing happen. I've had people be, I've
had them trouble. They say, well, brother man,
I believe, and Christ is my only hope. I say, well, have you confessed
Christ? Have you owned Him? Have you
stepped out and declared the truth? Well, no, I never have.
Well, why don't you walk in the light God gave you? Has anybody
here touched Him tonight? Then I call on you to make it
known. Not saying that it, that doesn't heal you, that doesn't
save you. But our Lord insisted upon it, didn't he? He could
have let her go, but he knew that something had taken place
between him and her, that virtue went out of him, strength and
life. It went into her. And Bobby wanted to hear from
her. He wanted to hear from her. And he heard from her too, because
she wasn't ashamed. Whosoever believeth shall not be ashamed.
She came out and told the whole truth. And I, of course, I'm
always fearful that we get people to do things and say things and
confess things that haven't taken place. But we've got to. We've got to invite. We've got
to press. We've got to persuade men. We've
got to, as ambassadors of Christ, exhort men to declare your faith.
Declare your faith! Reach out and touch the Lord.
Make it known. And assurance will follow. Our
Father, for the word, we give thanks for this beautiful picture
of redemption, of our Lord Jesus Christ dealing with the needy,
meeting the need of a helpless sinner. And that's what he did
for us, and we boldly confess him. before the world. He is my Lord, my hope, my refuge,
my salvation. Give understanding to all who
are here in regard to themselves and their needs and in regard
to Him who meets every need. In His name we pray. Amen.