Touching JESUS
Date: 27 April, 2014
Text: Mark 5:21-34
Title: Touching God
Theme:
Proposition:
Rhetorical:
Introduction: I love to read. When I was in highschool, I would dissappear with a book and read it that day. I still enjoy reading but now I read more biographies or devotional books. Back then I read fiction. I loved storied that would pull you into them with human interest and mysteries.
Interestingly, God's Word is not only true, it is full of wonderful short stories. God did not give us a boring book. I think many people would be suprised to find that the Bible is interesting reading. (Probably many people start in Genesis and quit in Exodus. They don't kow about the book of Judges, Kings, Gospels etc.
Hopefully they know about Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, Sampson and Delilah, Joshua and Jericho, Jesus and the cross, Paul and the shipwreck and on and on we could go.
Our story this morning began on the other side of the Sea of Galilee with a demoniac who no man could tame. Jesus tamed him by casting out the demons and this man is now clothed and in his right mind. Sadly, the people of that place ask Jesus to leave. He has just arrived on the other side of the sea of Galilee and immediately a wealthy father, Jairus, is pleading with him to save the life of his child.
21 ¶ And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
(Marvelous story of God's power over death - but we aren't going to look at that story this morning.)
24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
exp. Many of these were just thrill seekers. Others like Jairus had an urgent need for JESUS.
Among those in this crowd is, "25 And a certain woman...." The Bible gives us Jairus' name but not that of the woman. She is just an unnamed (unimportant) poor woman. I believe she is a young woman as Jesus refers to her later as "daughter." Jesus was only in his early thirties. She has not come to Jesus on accident. She is there because she needs to come into contact with Jesus. WE OUGHT TO BE HERE THIS MORNING BECAUSE WE NEED TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH JESUS.
Why have you come to church this morning? Habit, law, tradition, morality....
Or come this morning to meet with Jesus?
I. What God used to drive her to Jesus.
A. She had a physical burden.
....which had an issue of blood twelve years,
quote: Warren Wiersbie in his Bible Exposition Commentary says, "Jairus was about to lose a daughet who had given him twelve years of happiness and the woman was about to lose an affliction that had brought her twelve years of sorrow."
exp. For 12 years she had suffered from this issue of blood which had not stopped. This was not only a physical burden, it made her unclean in her society and an outcast.
Leviticus 15:25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her 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: she shall be unclean.
app. She could have thought, "I don't want to come to Jesus just because I have a physical need." But instead, "She ran to Jesus because she had a great need." It's ok this morning to let your needs bring you to Jesus. Many people have been brought to Jesus in just this way.
B. She had taken many painful "remedies."
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians
exp. I don't know what remedies they had offered her. But, her affliction made her bold to try anything that hinted at healing her of her infirmity.
quote: "Desperate times call for desperate measures." She spared no pain to find a remedy for her condition.
app. She would have been better off to go right to Jesus. She would have been spared additional suffering. Some people in their search for satisfaction for the need in their heart try drugs, alcohol, lustful pleasure, gamling, spiritism, etc.
C. She had consulted with many different authorities.
of many physicians,
exp. One doctor would say, "This is the answer." Another would say, "No this is what you need to do." (This was a difficult problem for Dr.'s to remedy.) She didn't need physicians she needed the Great Physician.
ill. Young man in Pastor O'Gorman's church. (He had been an addict and a drug dealer.) Mayor in Arklow Ireland asking how he got his life straightened out. "I tried many things, many times and nothing worked. I tried Jesus once and he met my need." He's now going into the schools and sharing his testimony of God's deliverance from drugs.
exp. We have needs in our life that God has given us that no plaster is going to fix. It may be physical, spiritual, financial, etc. AND THE ANSWER IS GOD - NOT MAN.
D. She has spared no expense.
and had spent all that she had,
exp. We have no doubt this morning that she was really burdened by this condition. She emptied herself of every bit of money she possessed but she could buy her health.
note: You can buy a lot of things in life - but you can't buy happiness. You can't buy health. You can't buy eternal life.
Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
note: Praise God there are things in life that must be met by God or they won't be met at all. How else would you awaken the heart of a sinner to HIS NEED for Jesus?
ill. I'm sorry the thief on the cross died for his crime. But, I'm glad that his cross next to Jesus gave him a first hand awareness of what Jesus was doing because OF HIS SIN AND THAT HE GOT SAVED THROUGH HIS CROSS OF SUFFERING.
app. I don't want anyone in this community to suffer. But, when they suffer, I want that suffering to bring them to the end of themselves so that they want Jesus.
E. She had utterly failed.
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
exp. Her case was hopeless. AMEN. It was impossible. AMEN. ONLY GOD COULD MEET HER NEED. amen.
question: Do we have any doubt this morning that what Jesus would do in her life was genuine. Everybody knew that she was unclean. Everybody probably talked about the fact that it must be God's judgment on her because she could not get rid of it. Everybody would know that when Jesus healed her it was with a power that was not of this world, because this world had failed.
app. Praise God for times where God proves to everyone that it is impossible, so that when He does it - HE GETS THE GLORY.
II. How she approached Jesus.
A. She came because God brought the truth about Jesus to her ear.
27 When she had heard of Jesus,
exp. God in his mercy had let her hear about the GREAT HEALER, who was working in her day.
ill. Remember that little servant girl that cared about her master's leprosy. She said to his wife... II Kings 5: 3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
exp. Perhaps some little child in faith or other friend in faith had pointed her to Jesus. Somehow God in His mercy allowed her to hear about Jesus.
ill. Walt Schmidt - heard the Gospel on the radio as he drove his pickup truck in CO. Pulled over on the hard shoulder and accepted Jesus Christ into his heart.
app. Something in this woman's heart said, "Jesus must be the answer."
B. She was timid in her approach.
came in the press behind,
exp. She didn't have the courage to come right up to Jesus and ask for healing. She purposely came with the multitude and snuck up behind Jesus.
ill. I mentioned Nicodemus last Sunday. He boldly helped Joseph of Arimathea bury our Lord. But, remember the first time he came to Jesus, he came by night. Nicodemus was a bit more bold in his approach as he climbed a tree to see the Lord.
app. She was not a type A personalilty. She appears to be a very timid and shy individual. But, she wasn't going to let her fear keep her from Christ.
C. She was supersticious in her understanding.
and touched his garment.
exp. Jesus had no revelation written that expressed divine healing through the clothing of Jesus. Later the apostle Paul would have an unusual similar enablement by God.
Acts 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
app. People come to Jesus in different ways. I grew up in a Christian home. I just read a book about young people who grew up in gangs in NYC. But they came to Christ and so did I. She wanted to come to Jesus and she came the only way she knew how. (The key is - you need to come to JESUS.)
III. Why she reached out to Jesus.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
exp. She believed that Jesus had the power to completely take away a disease that no physician had been able to remedy.
question: This morning - "Do you believe that the reason you have not succeeded in having your need met is because only JESUS can meet that need?" She became so convinced of it that she was not going to be stopped in getting to Jesus.
Mark 9: 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
note: Jesus wasn't speaking to him about salvation - HE WAS SPEAKING TO HIM ABOUT HEALING HIS SON OF DEMONIC POSSESSION.
app. We are not going to put on a healing show this morning, but we ought not be afraid of teaching that GOD HAS THE POWER TO HEAL IN ANSWER TO MAN'S FAITH. (I could qualify this this morning, but I'm not going to because I don't want to diminish the glory of God's ability to heal.)
QUESTION: Are we going to read this story in the Bible and be guilty of what our world is guilty of by saying, "Well that was then and this is now." We are reading about the Healer HEALING A WOMAN AND LET'S TAKE IT BY FAITH AS THIS WOMAN DID. SHE REACHED OUT BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED THAT JESUS WOULD HEAL HER.
IV. What happened when she came into contact with Jesus.
A. She experienced immediate physical healing.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up;
exp. Amazing truth this, as soon as she exhibited faith in the power of God to heal her, she was healed.
question: How do I know this mornig that she really believed if she touched him she would be healed? she touched him.
note: I know this morning whether or not your really believe Jesus can save you from @#!*% by you repenting of you sin and trusting Him as your Savour. HOW. By whether or not you have humbled your heart and asked him to save you. If you haven't gone to him in prayer asking Him for that salvation, you don't really believe it.
question: How do I know that the Ephesian believers trusted in God to deliver them from Satanism? Acts 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
app. Don't say God can set you free from sin by saying it with your mouth while holding it in your hand. Prove your faith by getting rid of the vices in your life. SHE WAS HEALED AS SHE ACTED ON HER FAITH IN JESUS.
B. She knew that she was healed.
and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
question: When you got saved - did you know that you were saved? Our experiences are all different and yet God gives us an internal understanding of what has taken place.
ill. Young man, "I feel different. Did you feel different when you go saved?" I told him I did. I was just a little boy but I felt a lightneness in my heart and an experience that I have never forgotten.
app. I've had an experience like that at different times. But, there have been times when I have come to Jesus with a need and left knowing that the need had been answered.
C. A transaction took place between Jesus and this woman.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him,
exp. What took place in that woman's life was BY THE POWER OF GOD.
def. virtue: 1) strength power, ability
1a) inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth
1b) power for performing miracles
1c) moral power and excellence of soul
note: When the power of God touches your life - you are changed.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
app. Salvation is not a process - it is a crisis. It is not gradual - it is immediate. The transactions that take place between us and God are immediate as is the case of this woman.
1Jo 5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
V. How Jesus responded to her forwardness towards Him.
A. He called for her to publicly confess Him.
1. He wasn't going to let her hide in the crowd.
turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
exp. The disciples said, "tons of people touched you" and yet they had not really touched Jesus. All of those people were around Jesus - but they didn't touch him BY FAITH.
app. You can be here in our service and thought Jesus were to walk these isles every Sunday and every Thursday - YOU WOULD NEVER BENEFIT - because you are not reaching out to him by faith. When you do - HE DOESN'T WANT YOU TO HID IN THE CROWD.
Ps 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
2. His all seeing eyes met hers.
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
exp. Eye contact is a powerful thing. Can you imagine the eyes of the Lord Jesus finding this woman and her looking into the face of the one who had just powerfully changed her life.
app. I don't want to get too touch feely this morning, but I know when God wants to communicate His personal interest in us to our heart, He has no difficulty doing so.
ill. I can only speak from personal experience. When I surrendered my life to do whatever Jesus wanted me to do, I did so without reservation because I knew that HE WAS SEARCHING FOR ME.
app. Is God searching for you this morning? He wants you to respond to His search. She did.
3. He let her share a public testimony of His power.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
exp. What a testimony of His power for all to hear. How the heart of Jairus should have been encouraged. If God could heal this woman, surely he can heal my child. Jesus didn't want to just physically heal her - he would spiritually save her as well.
B. He established her in the faith.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
exp. She couldn't go with his blessing of peace without the cleansing of her sin and imputing of His righteousness. "There is no peace saith my God to the wicked." (Is. 57:21)
app. Have you gone with His peace? Yes he can heal you physically and meet your temporal needs. But, you must come to Him in saving faith.
conclusion: What a great story - BUT IT ISN'T JUST A STORY. It is GOD'S HOLY UNERRANT WORD. Why have you come today? She came to meet with Jesus. She came with a problem and left with His peace. Will you do the same?
