I'm going to use the eighth chapter
of Luke for our main text, but I shall also be referring to
the fifth chapter of Mark. If you want to find both scriptures,
Mark also gives us an account of the woman who touched the
Lord. Great crowds followed the Savior. He often found it difficult
to move through the streets because of the number of people that
blocked his way. We're told here that a man named
Jarius, who was a ruler of the synagogue, came to the Lord Jesus
and told him that his daughter was dying. He wanted him to come
and heal her. And our Lord started to the man's
house, and the crowd just engulfed him. Peter said, the multitude
throng thee and press thee." Thousands of people were all
about him and they were pressing upon him. Yet, out of all of
this excitement, this impressed me, out of all of this excitement,
multitudes and crowds, how many of them actually really came
to know and to trust and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
actually touched him. Out of all of these multitudes,
how few really touched him. You know, the Apostle wrote many
a call. Many have religious impressions
and probably religious interest and zeal. Paul talked about those
people in Romans chapter 10. He said they have a zeal of God.
And as our Lord moved down these streets toward Jairus' house,
and this great crowd just engulfed him, thronged him, pressed upon
him, thousands of them. On this particular day, this
multitude gathered about him until Peter said, the multitude
thronged thee and pressed thee. But I can't find but a thing
said about them. I find in the word here it says,
somebody touched me. Somebody touched me. Peter said,
why do you ask who touched me when the multitude throngs thee,
the crowd presses upon thee? The Lord Jesus said, somebody
got in touch with me. Somebody communicated with me.
I perceive that power, that virtue is gone out of me. Is this story
not repeated over and over again almost every Sunday? Here's the
master. Here's the multitude. All of
them press upon him. They have excitement, zeal, impressions and interests,
but nothing is written about any of them. Nothing is said
about any of them except one somebody out of that whole crowd. Somebody touched me. And I think
of the multitudes that are going to the churches and cathedrals
and tabernacles and temples and chapels throughout this day. They come, they assemble, and
they go away. How many of them out of that
vast multitude, how many of them actually touch Him? Here and
there I believe somebody or somebody is left weeping over sin. Here
and there in this vast multitude, this tremendous crowd, somebody
has come in touch with the Lord. Somebody. Out of this great multitude
and crowd, I believe somebody, somebody has heard him say, by faith I
have made thee whole. Wouldn't it be wonderful if out
of the crowd assembled here this morning that somebody will really
touch the Lord? Do you see that picture? It impresses
me. Some people go to church, you
know, because their religion commands it. Some go because
their custom demands it. Some go to be seen or to see
or to socialize. Some go for religious refuge
from judgment. Some go to hear a man. But this woman came to touch the
Lord. That's what she was doing there.
She had one purpose for being in that crowd. She said, oh,
if I may but touch the border of his garment. She went there
to touch the Lord, and she touched him, and she went away blessed. Religious interest is not hard
to find. I think every natural man has
an interest in the supernatural. I think every natural man has
an interest in death, and judgment, and hell, and heaven, and what's
going to take place. I think every natural man has
an interest in who is God, or what is God, or where is God,
or why is God, or something about God. And here the Lord Jesus
Christ, the claims that He had made and had been made about
Him, brought the crowd. His sensationalism of the healings
and all of these things brought the crowd. They came. They left
their homes and they came to where He was. But somebody touched
Him. And nothing is said about all
these people. Nothing. Nothing is recorded
about all these people except they were there. But out of that crowd, somebody,
our Lord, just stopped. And he says, somebody touched
me. And Peter said, well, Master, the
people are pressing against you and there's thousands here. Why
do you ask a question like that? Who touched me? He says, somebody
touched me. power, virtue. There's been a
communication between me and somebody. The Lord knew it. That woman knew it. Nobody else
knew it. It went unseen, unrecognized,
unheralded. But he says somebody touched
me. I don't even know her name. It doesn't really matter. Christ
knew her. Her name's not recorded in the Bible, but you can be
sure it's recorded in heaven. Somebody touched me. The Lord
knoweth them that are His. He knows the somebodies. Because
God's electing love rests upon the somebodies. The Lord Jesus'
redeeming blood was shed for the somebodies. The Holy Spirit
of God has wrought an effectual work in the somebodies. Oh, to
be a somebody. That's all. Somebody. The crowd
was there. They came from everywhere. They
had enthusiasm and excitement and zeal and interest. They wanted
to know something about this great teacher, this great man,
tell me something about him, about his kingdom and about what's
going to happen, all these things. But out of that vast multitude
of which nothing is written or even remembered, God recorded
two or three times in this book, somebody touched me. Somebody
touched me. I want to look at four things
about this somebody. As I said, we don't know her
name. It really doesn't matter. The Lord Jesus knew her. But
the first thing I note about this somebody is what she did. It says in verse 43, And a woman
having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her
living upon physicians Neither could be healed of any, came
behind him and touched the border of his garment and immediately
her issue of blood stopped. The first thing I note about
this woman is this. She had resolved in her heart
not to die if she could find a cure for her problem. Now her life was ebbing away.
She had had this problem for twelve years. Twelve years. And yet she was a determined
woman. She said within her mind and
within her heart, I have a serious disease. I have a serious problem. This problem will ultimately
drain my life away if I don't find a cure. But if a cure is
to be found, I'm going to find it. I'm going to find it. That's
just like you and I saying, I am a sinner. If there's salvation,
I'm going to find it. I am a lost soul. If a lost soul
can be saved, I'm going to be saved. I am a guilty sinner,
but if guilt can be washed away, it shall be mine. I have a sinful
heart, but if a hard heart can be turned into a broken heart,
then I'm going to have it. I will not rest until I'm healed. That was her attitude. She was
determined. She said, I have a serious problem.
It is going to destroy me. I am determined to find a cure. I am determined to be healed. I am determined to have this
blood flow stop. So what did she do? Well, she
did what most people do. She did the most reasonable thing,
I suppose. She went to the physicians. That's
what it said. She went to the physician. Now,
physicians are men set apart to deal with physical infirmities
and problems. So the woman went to the men
who were trained to help her. She went to the men who were
supposed to be able to help her. But they could not help her.
It says she had an issue of blood, 12 years, she spent all her living
upon physicians, and neither could be healed of any of them.
When the woman realized she had a serious illness, she determined,
if there's a cure anywhere, I'm going to find it. So the first
thing she did, she went to people who claimed to be able to help
her. And this is the course usually
followed by sinners who discover that they are sinners and who
long to be saved. What do they do? They turn to
the church. After all, that's what the church
professes to be here for, to help sinners. They turn to the
preachers, they turn to the preachers, they turn to the cardinals, they
turn to the bishops, and they say, you're educated, you're
trained in the things of religion, I'm a sinner, I need help, now
help me. And they meet with the same problem
this woman met with. They couldn't help her. They
couldn't help her. You know why they can't help
her? The first thing is they didn't understand her disease.
And the reason religious leaders and Sunday school teachers and
most preachers cannot help the lost sinner, the evil sinner, is because they
do not understand the need, the disease, the condition, the depraved
heart, the evil imagination, the depths of sin, the rebellious
will. The average preacher does not
know what happened in the garden. He does not know the results
of the fall, and consequently he cannot help the sinner. These physicians to which this
woman went, they didn't understand her disease. They didn't understand
her problem. They were helpless. They could
not help her. Her problem was not an outward
problem, it was an inward problem. And they couldn't deal with it.
And they couldn't help her. And the remedies they prescribed
only touched the outside. They only touched the flesh.
One of them said, take hot baths. One of them said, exercise. One of them said, Do this, that,
and the other. All of these things only touch
the outward part. Her disease was within. Her problem
was within. And we go to these preachers
today and they say, be baptized. They say, take communion. They
say, make a decision. They say, join the church. They
say, turn over a new leaf. They say, do the best you can. They prescribe all of these remedies. Make clean the outside of the
cup. But our problem is within. Our problem is a root. It's a
nature. It's a seed. It's a person. It's an old man. It's a spirit. It's a being. It's an attitude. It's an enmity between us and
God. And the religious man can't touch
it. And he doesn't realize that only the hand of God can heal. It's impossible with me and only
the hand of God can make whole. Only the hand of God can regenerate. And this woman, she realized
her problem. She had a disease that was draining
the life out of her and was destroying her. And the first thing she
did, she turned to the people who had their shingles hung out,
M.D. They couldn't help her. They
didn't understand her disease. And all the remedies that they
prescribed couldn't touch her disease, it couldn't get to the
source of her disease, it couldn't get to the root of her disease,
and she spent everything she had. She spent everything she
had. Turn to Mark, chapter 5, verse
26, and listen to what it says here. No pretense on the part of this
woman. She spent everything she had. No hypocrisy here. She was
dedicated to finding a cure. She was so resolved that she
spent everything she had for 12 years. She was sincere. She wasn't playing at this thing.
She was dying and knew it. And she wanted to be healed and
she spent everything she had. And verse 26 of Mark 5 said,
And she suffered many things of many physicians. These people
would admit they couldn't help her. Some of them might have
been sincere, I don't know. But they would admit that they
couldn't help her, and she suffered. What did she suffer? Mostly disappointment. I'm sure she suffered through
some of their rituals and through some of their quack remedies.
I'm sure that they put leeches on her and bled her and probably
cut her flesh and bled her and probably put her through all
kind of rigorous things that caused her pain, but she suffered
mostly disappointment. And I think that's what happens
to some of you. You get to realize that there's
something wrong between you and God, that you have an evil heart,
an evil nature. a sinful heart, a sinful nature. And you want to be saved, you
want to be redeemed, you want to have a relationship with God,
you want an interest in Christ, and you go to these folks that
have their shingles hanging out, D.D., T.H.B., Master of Divinity,
and you say, you're a physician of souls? Yes, sir, I'm a doctor
of souls, you know. Well, help me. Well, he doesn't
understand your disease and he prescribes that you that you
knock on doors and witness, or prescribes that you tithe, or
prescribes that you get baptized, or prescribes you to join the
church, and you do all these outward things, and you just
get all fired up with religion and zeal, and you sing in a quartet,
and you play an instrument, and you teach a Sunday school class,
and you get to be a deacon, and you do all these things, and
it's still down here, that old issue is still there. That old
wretched heart is still there. That old evil nature is still
there, and that's so disappointing. You know, I imagine that some
of these fellows prescribed some things that helped this woman
temporarily. A good hot bath makes anybody
feel better. Maybe a good night's rest makes
anybody feel better for a while. Maybe when people join the church,
you know, they feel good for a while, but the disease is still
there. The problem's still there. The evil heart's still there.
They were not reluctant to take her money, although they couldn't
help her. This is what distresses me. I say some of them may have
been sincere. I don't know. But this blessed
dear heart for 12 years spent all of her living and was no
better. No better. In fact, she actually
grew worse. And our Lord said that. He warned
these false preachers. He said, you come from sea and
land to make one proselyte to your religion, and after you've
made him, he's two-fold more the child of hell than you are.
Bless her heart. She was so sick. She was dying.
She knew it. And she'd gone to the people
who were supposed to help her, who professed to be able to help
her, whose business it was to help, to heal, to cure. And they
couldn't help her because they didn't know what was wrong with
her. And the remedies they prescribed couldn't touch her disease. And
she spent everything she had. She was so dedicated and determined
and sincere. And she was disappointed on every
hand the disease was still there after she'd gone through all
the rituals and rigmarole of their quack remedies. Look back at Mark 5, something
happened. Let's see what somebody did at
last. Somebody. It says, verse 27 of Mark 5,
when she heard of Jesus. Oh, blessed day. Blessed day. When a sinner, by God's grace,
hears of Christ. It looks like that some of these
positions of souls this morning would be preaching the position
of souls, the Lord Jesus. She heard about Christ. Somebody
among the thousands of advisors finally told her about Christ. Men are not going to look to
Christ or call on Christ until they hear of Christ. Do we realize
that? Romans 10, 13 says, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how
shall they call on him in whom they not believed, and how shall
they believe in him of whom they've not heard, and how shall they
hear without a preacher?" This woman, dying, frail, pale,
weak, wasted, now broke, disappointed, somebody came along one day and
said, Elizabeth, I know somebody can heal you.
I know somebody. Elizabeth, man can't help you.
All of these remedies can't meet your need and heal your disease.
Elizabeth, I've heard about a wonderful person named Jesus of Nazareth,
and many believe he's the Messiah. Many believe that he's the Christ.
Many believe he's the one of whom Moses wrote, that prophet.
Many believe that he is the fulfillment of all the prophecies. Many believe
that he is the fulfillment of all the promises of God, that
he's the son of David for whom we look. Many believe that. Elizabeth, I believe it. And
people have been healed by touching him. by coming in contact with
him. And dear Elizabeth said, is that
true? And the woman said, it's true. Oh, she said, if I can
but touch the hem of his garment, I'm determined. I'll go to Jesus,
though my sins like mountains round me rose. I know his courts,
I'll enter in whatever may oppose. Out to the gracious King approach,
whose mercy whose scepter mercy gills. Perhaps he will receive
my touch." And then the sinner lives. I can but perish. If I
go, I'm resolved to try. For if I stay away, I know I'll
forever die. And she, the Scripture says,
she heard of Christ and she came to Him. Now, she didn't come
to Peter. Oh, I know how intrigued we can
become with men. Americans are hero worshippers.
They've got to have their war heroes and their sports heroes
and their religious heroes. And they got their heroes' pictures
in their Bibles and their names. Billy Graham puts out his own
Bible now, the Billy Graham Bible. Got his name and signature, and
everybody worships heroes. I know how intrigued we can become
with men and how intrigued we can become with historical places. People want to go to the Holy
Land and they want to touch the tomb and touch Calvary and touch
something else. We can become so intrigued with
those things, old things, religious things, relics, historical things. But this woman said, I've got
to get to him. I must get to Christ, I must
get to Christ. That's what she said. If I may,
verse 28, she said, if I may, but touch, if I may touch but
his clothes, look at the faith, I shall be whole. Here's the Lord walking down
the street, and the multitudes all around, thousands and thousands,
and there's excitement and And they're saying all these things,
over here, over here, over here, hail, king of the Jews, are you
the Christ? And on and on and on. When are
you going to set up your kingdom? What shall be the sign of your
coming? What shall be the end of the world? What, what, what,
when, where and how? And our Lord just pressed on
through them and finally He stopped. He said, somebody touched me.
Somebody touched me. Peter shook his head, and he
said, Lord, I don't understand you. People around here, hundreds
and thousands of them, they pressed up against you and pushed you
so you can't hardly take a step. And you say, who touched me?
He said, somebody touched me. Somebody. We know who it was. Oh, bless her heart. Twelve years
she'd been waiting for this moment. She'd tried all the religions,
and the baptisms, and the laying on of hands, and the speaking
in tongues, and the excitement, and the dreams. She'd read all
the tracts, and she'd gone to all the revivals, and the Bible
conference, and everything else. And these folks had told her
to do this, and do that, and do something else, and do the
other. And finally somebody one day told her about Christ. He
died for sinners. He arose for their justification. He intercedes for their redemption. If you can get to Him, if you
can lay hold upon Him, if your heart can get in touch with Him,
you'll be made whole. And bless her heart, she determined.
She pushed them all aside. I imagine she crawled there. She was so weak. But He was coming
by, and she was so anxious. And when He came by, she just
reached out. and touched the Lord. And immediately she was
made whole. She touched Him secretly. Let
me tell you something. She wasn't supposed to be there.
No, sir, not according to Leviticus chapter 15. According to the
Levitical law, she was supposed to be confined to her house,
and she knew it. That's right. That's what it
says. She's supposed to be confined to her house. She had a deep
sense of her unworthiness, her uncleanliness. That's what they
were called, unclean, this particular problem. She had no right to
be in a crowd. She was supposed to be at home.
And you and I got no right to be in His presence either. We're
unclean. We're unclean. We have no rights.
We have no claim on Christ. We have no worthiness. We're
under condemnation. But she came. She dared to come. As a beggar, as an unclean beggar,
she dared to reach out and touch the Lord. And what happened to
the old somebody? Well, let's look at Mark 5 again.
What happened? It says here that somebody touched
me. And somebody straightway, verse
29, the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in
her body she was healed of the plague. And Jesus, immediately
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned about
him in the press and the crowd and the multitude, and he said,
Who touched me? Well, she was made whole immediately,
not gradually. Not gradually. To come to Christ
is to be saved immediately. Not at some future date, not
in eternity, but right then, as soon as she touched the Lord,
she was made whole. You see what I'm saying? I don't
work out any four steps to salvation. Repent, believe, confess, and
be baptized. If you ever get in touch with
Christ, you'll be healed. Secretly, personally, privately. If your eyes ever turn and look
to Christ, I'm not talking about these fleshly eyes, I'm talking
about eyes of faith. If you ever see the Son in His
glory, in His redemptive power, in His beauty, if you ever look
to Christ, you'll be healed. There are no steps to it. There's
no gradual process to it. There's no, you do this and God
will do that to it. It's look unto me and be your
Savior. You know what it said, John?
You look to me. I don't care how weak and weary you are. He said, come unto me all you
that are weary and heavy laden. I don't care how pale and wasted
you are. I don't care how wicked and unclean
you are, I don't care how long the disease has gripped you,
I don't care how many failures you have experienced and how
much disappointment through which you've gone, if you can but touch
Christ, you'll be made whole. Look to me. Look, Peter can't
help you, James and John can't help you, the Bible can't help
you, the baptism will pull all of these relics and ruins of
religion. You can go to the Holy Land until
you spend all your money and wear yourself out. But if you
can secretly, like this dear woman, reach out and touch the
Lord, not with these hands, but with hands of faith, with empty
hands, with weary hands, with shaking hands, With unclean hands,
the great physician has healing in his wings. He is white. When the darkness comes in contact
with the light, the darkness goes. That's right. Just as soon as death touches
life, death is gone, because life prevails. That's right. Just as soon as your sins come
in contact with his cleansing, atoning, redeeming blood, your
sins disappear, because the blood maketh atonement for the soul.
I wish we'd quit running around to these physicians that can't
heal, can't give you anything but heartache and disappointment,
and get to Christ. Now wait a minute. Luke chapter
8 again. And the Lord said, Who touched
me? And the disciples said, Many touched you. He said, Somebody
touched me. Verse 47, And when the woman saw that she was not
hid, she came trembling and falling down before Him. She declared
unto Him before all the people why she had touched Him. What
did our Lord do? He brought this woman to a public
confession of her faith. That's right. Our Lord has no
secret disciples. If you deny me before me and
I'll deny you. If you confess me before me and
I'll confess you. She was saved in secret. She
was healed in secret. I don't tell you to come down
to the front and be saved. I don't tell you to be baptized
and to be saved. I tell you to look to Christ
and be saved and then you confess Him in baptism. Our Lord wouldn't
leave her. She crept from the corners and
from the darkness and in secret. And she reached out and touched
him and she was healed. But he wouldn't leave it there.
He could have gone on. But he stopped and he said, Somebody! Come on out, somebody! And somebody
came out. And he said, Why did you touch
me? And she said, Before all the people, Lord, I've been so
sick all these years, dying. Nobody could help me. And I heard
about you, and I believed what they told me. I believed the
good news. And I knew, I just knew in my heart, if I could
touch you, I'd be made whole. I just knew that. And Lord, I
know I'm not worthy and I'm unclean, but I touched you, and I've been
made whole. And that's when our Lord gave
her assurance in verse 48. He didn't give her assurance
until that public confession was forthcoming. And then he
said to her in verse 48, Luke 8, Daughter, be of good comfort,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace. Are you a somebody who's weary
and worn and heavy laden, a somebody who's Disease is so deep-seated
that nothing and nobody's ever been able to touch it. With all
your resolutions, with all of your religious interests, with
all of your studies, and all of your memorizing scripture,
and all of your doctrine, it's never been touched. You've never
had peace. You've never felt that disease
to be put away. You've never felt a communication
with the Living God. Why don't you go to Christ? Why
don't you quit playing church and turn to Christ? Why don't
you quit trying to find what cannot be found, and that is healing in the arm
of the flesh, and why don't you look to Christ? Reach out and
touch the Lord. Let's sing that, Carolee. Reach
out and touch the Lord while He passes by. You'll find He's
not too busy to hear your hearts cry. All this old vast multitude,
He's too busy for them. They don't want Him anyway, but
somebody He said, somebody touched me. He got time for them. Somebody touched me. I want to
touch the Lord this morning, don't you? I tell you, it's so
distressing. Isn't it distressing to you,
the religion, the phony positions of souls, the people making merchandise
out of folks. They're spending all they're
living. They're spending their social security checks and their
little bit that they got. And they're not being fed, and
they're not being healed, and they're not being held. That's
so tragic. Under God have mercy on them
and He won't. They're not reluctant to take
the people's money, but they can't help them. They can't help. Salvation's free. It's in Christ. It's free grace. You don't buy
it, earn it, merit it. It's free. Just touch Him. Just reach out and touch the
Lord. But don't go anywhere for salvation where it costs you,
because it's free. Don't go anywhere for salvation
where you feel obligated. It's free. Don't go to any human
being to help you find the Lord. He's right in your heart. He's
on your lips. The very word you use, Lord Jesus
Christ. We're going to sing, Reach Out
and Touch the Lord. When you say the word Lord, salvation
is right there on your lips. It's up to you to receive it.
That's right. Let's stand and sing. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your heart's cry. He is passing by this moment
Your needs to supply, reach out and touch the Lord as He goes. They're all over the world, religious
congregations, with excitement and emotion and zeal and enthusiasm
and doctrines and tradition and customs and ordinances. just
like they were as he walked down that street. But that somebody
touched him. That somebody touched him. Would
the God that you this morning in your need would be that somebody
and touch the Lord. Not me, not anything you can
see or feel or hear, but Him who is everywhere. who died on
that cross was buried and rose again. Touch Him. By faith. Sing it one more time. Reach
out and touch the Lord as He passes by. You'll find He's not too busy
to I'm going to speak tonight, the
Lord willing, on a cure for heart trouble. There is a cure for
heart trouble. I'll be speaking on that subject
tonight. I'll ask Frank Tate to dismiss
us in practice.