Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Let's go to Matthew 9 this morning.
[00:00:12] Matthew, chapter nine.
[00:00:15] Continuing our study in the Book of Matthew.
[00:00:23] This morning we will be in Matthew 9 and verse number 18.
[00:00:35] Verse number 18 down to verse number 26.
[00:00:39] The Bible says, while he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped him, saying, my daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
[00:00:53] And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. And behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
[00:01:21] And the woman was made whole from that hour.
[00:01:24] And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, give place, for the maid is not dead but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand. And the maid arose, and the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
[00:01:48] Would you pray with me this morning?
[00:01:51] Our Father, thank you for your word and thank you for the opportunity to study it. Thank you for the good songs we're able to sing that remind us of truths of Scripture and of your character. Lord, thank you for being our God, being faithful to us.
[00:02:07] Lord, I pray especially for those who are just dealing with grief.
[00:02:13] I know there are several, Lord, among us that are dealing with grief. There are several others that are recovering from surgery and others who are ill in various capacities. Lord, please have mercy and strengthen and help your people, Lord, as we look at your word here this morning, I pray that your word would truly come alive to us as we study it, as we examine it, as we try to see the truths that are on the surface, but also maybe some that are under the surface, that are. That are illustrative of spiritual truths that we need to see as well. So, Lord, help us to see more about your grace, your power, and lead and guide in the service. I pray especially you'd help me to say the things you would have me to say and refrain from the things you do not want me to say. Please guide us. And, Lord, please strengthen and help your people to grow in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:05] So these are. This is a story, actually. Two stories in one, two narratives in one. And this is covered. This narrative is covered in Matthew and in Mark and in Luke. But Matthew, where we are, is the shortest of these three. So you have basically one. You have two events, one of which is nestled between the other two, kind of as a parenthetical event to the broader story.
[00:03:32] But Matthew is the shortest of them. And there is actually a lot of information about these two healings that is not mentioned by Matthew. I'll just list them just to be more complete in our look at this story, because I will relate to these in a minute.
[00:03:54] There's a man who's called a ruler. Matthew doesn't tell us that he's a ruler of a synagogue, which is significant.
[00:04:02] His name is Jairus, or Jairus, depending on how you want to say it. But which is the Hebrew equivalent of the name Jair, which was a judge.
[00:04:12] He was a ruler of the synagogue and he fell at Jesus feet. Matthew says he worshiped him, which obviously implies him falling at his feet.
[00:04:22] Matthew does not mention that a crowd is thin thronging Jesus, which is significant, especially with the lady with the issue of blood.
[00:04:32] Matthew also does not mention that the woman had many bad and long experiences with physicians. He does not mention that the woman was poor from spending all of her money on physicians. Some of you know what that's like.
[00:04:49] He does not mention how that the woman's condition worsened even though she had had that kind of treatment.
[00:04:55] He also. Matthew also does not mention about the healing of the woman that she felt healed of her condition. It just states that the Lord healed her. Matthew doesn't mention that the woman felt healing before Jesus turned about and addressed her. He doesn't mention that Jesus felt the virtue leaving him. I'll mention that in a minute. He doesn't mention. Matthew does not mention that Jesus asked the one asked the crowd who touched his clothes, the disciples, believe it or not. I don't know why we always see the disciples chiding Jesus, for crying out loud. Now, it's not like they don't believe him. It's not like they don't know who he is. They do know who he is. And yet their flesh, right? That carnal nature gets a hold of them. It seems like every once in a while, does it not? It does you and me, does it not? You know, and you say things that may be out of line not only to the Lord, but also maybe to others. And here you have the disciples chiding Jesus. How is it you ask who touched me? Don't you see all these people?
[00:05:58] I slap them guys sometimes.
[00:06:03] Matthew also doesn't mention how that everyone denied Touching Jesus. This is funny because everybody was touching Jesus. That's kind of the definition of throng, right?
[00:06:14] He does not mention that the fear and the trembling of the woman because she could not be hid. He doesn't mention the fact that the woman fell down before Jes. And told him the truth and that she did so in front of everyone.
[00:06:27] He doesn't mention that the people came from the ruler's house to tell him that his daughter was dead and that it was no more use in asking Jesus for help. He doesn't mention that Jesus told him not to fear, but only to believe. Matthew doesn't mention that he only allowed that Jesus only allowed Peter, James and John, as well as the two parents to. To go into the room where the daughter was laid.
[00:06:53] Matthew doesn't mention the word that Jesus gave, which is talitha cumi, which is to say, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. Matthew doesn't mention that the girl's spirit returned to her, that she walked, that she was 12 years old, that Jesus told them not to tell, or that Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
[00:07:14] Now, the fact that Matthew leaves out all of that information. Matthew was there, okay? Now, he didn't go into the room, but obviously he spoke to Peter, James and John, who were in the room once they came out of the room, which I'm sure that's no doubt where he got his information.
[00:07:30] But that doesn't mean that Matthew, though Matthew's account of this is not fully complete, it doesn't mean it's in any way untrue. It's actually completely true everything that Matthew says.
[00:07:43] Now, as we go to verse number 18, I want to draw your attention there in the book of Matthew. You see, it says here, behold, there came a certain ruler, ruler of the synagogue. Jairus.
[00:07:59] That this is really the first primary instance that we have in Matthew that shows openness of a ruler or a person of position, of authority who approached Jesus in this way. There was one other instance prior to this that was mentioned kind of in passing when a ruler approached him and said, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus answered, remember, he answered and said, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he was like, yeah, I'm good. And I kind of inserted that, but that's definitely implied.
[00:08:38] But this is the first time you see a ruler, which is notable, that he approaches the Lord Jesus, obviously broken, obviously believing. And it's Notable because generally the rulers seem to be the most resistant to approaching the Lord Jesus. In fact, what we find is. And just take a note, okay? Just take a note. The rulers, the scribes, the Pharisees, the people of authority, the people who were recognized by their reputation in religion were often cynical and critical.
[00:09:16] Those are the people that was their primary characteristic as it related to the Lord Jesus. They rarely came to him with openness. They rarely came to him with the benefit of the doubt. It was always looking for something, trying to catch him in his words, critical. That is not a godly characteristic, right? That's just not a godly characteristic. It has been a characteristic of many people who are independent Baptists.
[00:09:48] It seems that some Baptists have had the practice of everything goes right. There's no use in being critical or having any kind of discernment at all, right? Those exist, just anything and everything. And then it seems that some have erred. And listen, our church, we'll cover this in Sunday school, so don't worry. Our church is independent Baptist, okay? But one of the bad aspects of that group has been the tendency to hate on everything without even knowing what it's about. Just hate it.
[00:10:23] Just that default criticism. Listen, we should be discerning. The Bible says to prove all things, hold fast that which is good. But that doesn't mean our spirit has to be bad. That's one thing I really appreciate about Brother Stewart. When he was the pastor, he always emphasized, rightly so, always emphasized the spirit in which something is done. And that is so significant, it is so important.
[00:10:49] So as they say, you can disagree without being disagreeable, right? So this ruler comes to Jesus, unlike many of the other rulers that came to Jesus, despite his place and his reputation as a ruler of the synagogue, in essence, the pastor, right? Of the church, the Jewish church, if you will. And no doubt this man was much older than Jesus. Being a ruler. Jesus was only in his 30s, his age. Many times they commented on the fact of his age. So you think, well, it's only 10 or 20 years. That mattered. That mattered a lot. And they pointed it out. People didn't want to believe Jesus just because of his youth, right? Relative youth.
[00:11:32] This man also held an official position and Jesus did not. In other words, all these people came to Jesus. He had no formal training that we know of, and yet they called him Rabbi, right? He had no formal training. And they wondered from whence had this man, this knowledge. Remember, even in his hometown, they knew he had not gone to school, formal religious school. So how is it you know, so for all of those reasons, the rulers aren't interested in Jesus. You know, they're just. They're not. In fact, I would like you to take a peek at John chapter 12 really quick to kind of get some background here. John 12:40, around verse 42. If you look at that, John 12, number 42 says this. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers.
[00:12:33] So this is admittedly a little bit different of a group than the ruler of the synagogue, right? That would be one synagogue, but this is a little bit higher up. But the principle still applies among the chief rulers. Also, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. You know what this is? This is politics. That's what it is. Politics affecting. And I don't mean politics in the Republican, Democrat sense. I'm referring to politics in the human sense.
[00:13:07] This is political things dictating our religious convictions, our faith toward the Lord. That's not a good place to be in lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Verse 43. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
[00:13:28] Peer pressure, right?
[00:13:32] So based upon this, you know, now this is a little bit John, the book of John. The events in the Book of John, generally speaking, are a little bit later in the timeline of Jesus life than where we are at Matthew. But the principle is true, which is there was a movement afoot to actually threaten people if they confessed faith in Christ.
[00:13:57] And in Luke 13, we won't look there, but in Luke 13, there was another ruler of the synagogue that actually got angry at Jesus because he healed someone on the Sabbath day. You remember that he called Jesus out, if you will. And so generally speaking, a ruler was not someone who would be open, who would be willing to come to Jesus. So the question I have to you is this.
[00:14:21] Why is this man coming to Jesus?
[00:14:24] Why is this man coming to Jesus? If there's a movement, you know, generally speaking, to fit in, you would probably be pretty critical of Jesus. If you're a ruler of the synagogue because of your reputation, because of the threats, whatever, why is this man coming to Jesus? What is the catalyst that brings him to our Lord? You know what it is?
[00:14:47] Tragedy. It's affliction.
[00:14:50] This man is maybe. Can't say for sure, but probably, maybe, perhaps. I think it would be reasonable to assume that he likely would not have gone to Jesus had it not been for this affliction. His little girl, his only daughter, I think Luke tells us, his only daughter, who is 12.
[00:15:11] Now, you can't say as much for 12 year old boys, but. But 12 year old girls are cute, right? 12 year old boys are kind of in that range where they start to get kind of wonky, you know, early middle school.
[00:15:24] But girls are still cute. Girls like stay cute, it seems, until they become adults, it seems.
[00:15:34] I was not implying that they stopped being cute, okay? I was not.
[00:15:40] You people, I'm telling you, put words in my mouth. I feel persecution up here as the preacher.
[00:15:48] But girls, this is his one, this is his doll, as his baby doll, as they might say or whatever. His, you know, his daughter.
[00:15:56] And obviously there's affection here, there's love here. And those of you who have kids know what I'm talking about. And those of you that don't probably still know what I'm talking about, right?
[00:16:07] He.
[00:16:09] I think we could assume that this has brought him to a different place in public. Now they're thronging him. The ruler of the synagogue, the man of reputation is coming to Jesus. He doesn't care anymore. He doesn't care about reputation. He doesn't care about what might happen. He doesn't care what the Pharisees think.
[00:16:27] Because what has happened is his affinity and his affection and love for his daughter has brought him basically brought him to his knees and maybe brought him to a place where he is willing in an extremity, in desperation to do something that maybe without, he wouldn't be willing to do.
[00:16:48] Take a peek real quick at Psalm 107, if you would.
[00:16:55] Psalm 107.
[00:16:57] You all are familiar with this psalm, but I'll just read a couple of verses, a few verses here.
[00:17:03] Psalm 107 is this kind of. They have these stanzas of these things that these different groups of people who are, who are in trouble, and in their trouble they cry unto the Lord. As an example, verse 4, Psalm 107. 4 says this. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then this is the part that's repeated. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. But notice verse number 11.
[00:17:35] It says verse 10 says, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron.
[00:17:43] Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High. He brought down their soul rather with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. You see that here's a man. Who is this man? He's in irons. Why is he in irons? Why is he chained? Why is he in prison?
[00:18:06] Because he's being stupid.
[00:18:09] Right. He's violating the laws of man, it says, because they rebelled against the words of God. You see that? Here's a man in jail. Here's a man in prison.
[00:18:21] All right. Look down at verse number 16.
[00:18:26] For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars in sunder. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Now this man's not in prison, but he's been stupid. He's been foolish. It's gotten them in trouble. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. In other words, he's sick because of his foolishness. And they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. So you have somebody in prison.
[00:18:58] Then you have somebody who's being foolish. Now he's brought low with illness, thinks he's not going to be good for this world much longer.
[00:19:06] And then you go down to round about, verse number 22, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.
[00:19:24] Verse number 26. They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because of their of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. See that you have Guy in prison because he broke the laws of man. You have a guy who's brought low in illness because of his foolishness. Right now you have sailors that are being tossed about with their on the ship in the storm.
[00:19:58] Can't see land in the dark, if you will. Just absolutely terrified. What do you see in all three of these cases? Here's what you see.
[00:20:06] You see people who in all three cases cried out to God and did so because of their affliction.
[00:20:18] Because of their affliction, whereas otherwise they might not have.
[00:20:25] If that fool who had been messing around in sin had not been sick and brought low as a result of his foolishness, do you think he would have called out to the Lord? Probably not.
[00:20:36] If that guy had not been incarcerated and put in chains and had been suffering affliction in prison because he violated God's law.
[00:20:44] Do you think he would have been calling out to the Lord? No, the man's a criminal. He's not interested in the Lord. He's not interested in righteousness.
[00:20:53] Those sailors. Think about sailors and their typical, you know, for many, many a year, right. Many generations, sailors have been known for their.
[00:21:03] The baseness of their character. Right. And that's true now, is it not? Brother Jim. Brother Jim's been on floats. He knows what that's like.
[00:21:12] Are those people generally people that call upon God?
[00:21:16] No, but here they are. Why? Affliction.
[00:21:21] Affliction.
[00:21:24] So you have the Lord bringing people low, the Lord afflicting people, the Lord troubling people. Now this is. You think, well, God's good. Yeah, he is good. But this is God's activity because he's bringing people in their distress and in their affliction to himself. He's using it to bring them to him, whereas otherwise they might not.
[00:21:53] So the question is this, how can we say that these kinds of extremities, these kinds of distresses, how can they be considered evil if they were the direct cause of one turning to God, is it not then ultimately good?
[00:22:14] You know, especially when you look in the light of eternity, then this is a hard thing to wrap our brains around. But you think about this man. The reason he's coming to Jesus is because his poor little girl is right at the point of death. He is troubled. But that brings a ruler of the synagogue who might not otherwise seek Jesus at all and might be critical. It brings him to a place of desperation and it totally alters his orientation, if you will, toward the Lord Jesus. And now he's going to him.
[00:22:47] Ultimately, that's a good thing. In the light of eternity, although the distress and the trouble and all of those things in our lives or in the lives of a person without God, we might look at them as evil. We might feel great compassion and pity. And indeed we should.
[00:23:03] You think about the earthquake that happened in Myanmar and in Thailand. I saw a video of a. And I've been to some of these places. And the skyscraper in Bangkok, with the crane that came, the skyscraper fell. I mean, we're talking 30, 40 floors. Probably the one I saw in construction, under construction, and the whole thing collapsed and the crane fell. And there was a shot that actually saw the man in the crane fall out of the crane as it comes down. You could see it in the video.
[00:23:43] You think of people who are suffering, whose family members, I think at the last count was a thousand.
[00:23:49] They estimated a thousand people have died. People have lost their homes, people have lost their livelihoods in many places over there, there's no insurance. Insurance. There's no insurance. Their house is gone. They went like that overnight. From an average middle class person with a little bit of money in their pocket and in their bank account to nothing. There's no backup, there's no backstop.
[00:24:17] And I don't say this hardly, but if those people, as a result of that, would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in a heathen land, would that not be ultimately good to bring them in the light of eternity to the Lord Jesus? And it sometimes does.
[00:24:44] I know you remember last mission conference Brother Sorrell preached, Remember he talked about the tsunami? He was in. He was in Sri Lanka when the tsunami happened in 2004. You remember that?
[00:24:54] And that was the catalyst. And he said people's hearts were different.
[00:25:00] People's hearts were different as a result of that tsunami.
[00:25:03] They were open, whereas before they had not been. And he was there to minister to them. I'm just saying the ways of God are past finding out. Are past finding out.
[00:25:18] You see, going Back to Matthew 9, it is by these kinds of things, like we see with this man with his daughter.
[00:25:33] It is by these kinds of distresses that God shows us. God shows people that do not know him. God shows people whose hearts are hardened, that he shows with unmistakable clarity that we are absolutely powerless, we are absolutely helpless. That the opinions of others, of us is of little consequence and that our pride and our arrogance is foolish. He teaches us not with words, but often with things like this.
[00:26:05] And he changes people's hearts in this way. That's what he does.
[00:26:10] And here this man is seeking the Lord Jesus.
[00:26:13] Now, in verse number 18, we see this great faith. But come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. That's Peter, James and John, verse 20. And so we go into the parentheses here, and behold a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years, came behind him and touched the hem of his garment. Think of this woman that has been diseased with blood, diseased with an issue of blood. So she has an illness where she. I mean, I'm trying to be discreet here, where she's passing blood for 12 years. But the rob's a nurse, right? What is the effect of that upon a human body? We're talking about chronic anemia.
[00:26:58] Anybody here ever had anemia? You know what that's like, right? No energy.
[00:27:05] I mean, just total and absolute fatigue. Like 12 years of your life.
[00:27:12] Think about the effect.
[00:27:13] Think about the effect of this.
[00:27:17] This woman would have been.
[00:27:20] Hear this now. She would have been unclean.
[00:27:24] From a ceremonial perspective, this is Leviticus, chapter 15, verses 19 and 25.
[00:27:29] In Leviticus, it said if anybody, man or woman, that had an issue of blood was passing blood, that that person was unclean so long as that issue persisted.
[00:27:40] So this lady has been unclean for the past 12 years. And that means she would have been unable to interact for 12 years to interact with anything related to the temple whatsoever. She can't go in the temple, she can't go around the temple, she can't give a sacrifice. She can't do anything related to the temple of God at all because she's unclean.
[00:28:03] Not only that, she would have had to keep distance from everyone because anyone that touched her or anything that she had touched would also be unclean and unable to interact with anything related to the temple. So what does that mean? That means people ain't going to be around her. If they know what's going on, they know her illness, they're not going around her.
[00:28:26] She's going to be withdrawn from society. And besides the ceremonial part and besides the personal part, she has this illness.
[00:28:39] Constant loss of blood would totally, for 12 years would have totally destroyed her quality of life, would it not?
[00:28:46] She would have been constantly weak and fatigued. She would have been excluded socially, she would have been lonely. She would have lost any kind of family life.
[00:28:55] Right?
[00:29:00] Not only that. I mean, this is a sad state. Not Only that, Mark 5:26 tells us that that she was now impoverished because she had spent all of her living on physicians and she was no better, but actually was worse. That's what Mark says she was. Not only was she not better, but she was worse than before. Her health was worsening.
[00:29:29] And then not only that, but her visits with the physicians themselves were painful. He says she suffered many things of physicians.
[00:29:39] So even the visits to the doctor, which is supposed to be a way maybe they can help me, actually caused her more suffering than even her illness.
[00:29:49] Man, what a terrible state to be in.
[00:29:54] This moves us. I mean, it moves me thinking about this lady. For 12 years of her life, her life is just a wreck, a wreck.
[00:30:03] But this woman's condition is actually a wonderful and an apt picture of sin and how sin has long harmful effects upon the sinner himself.
[00:30:21] You know what sin is about? Sin is not just a matter of. Sin is not just a matter of heaven and hell. Of course, ultimately that's all that matters.
[00:30:31] Life as A result of sin is minor compared to eternal death in the lake of fire. We know that. But think about how it wrecks the lives of people who are alive before they even get there. Their life's a wreck. Sin wrecks their life. It destroys it. I mean, listen, even as a believer. Even as a believer, that should be a warning to us.
[00:30:56] If for no other reason. Yeah, you might not be going to hell. But listen, if you walk in disobedience to the Lord, and if you and I are. We live a life of rebellion against God, we. Sin is going to have a price to pay. It is going to wreck your life and my life. Besides the fact that we have a God who is going to correct us and chasten us and bring. I was back in line.
[00:31:19] It ain't worth it, man. It's not worth it.
[00:31:23] But think about this woman's condition as a picture of sin.
[00:31:28] A man cannot free himself from sin. Just like this woman tried to go to the doctor, tried to go to the physician. It did nothing. You know why? Because she had an illness that was incurable, right? Whatever the. Maybe it would be curable these days, who knows? But whatever the cause of it was, there was no cure. In other words, it's like a sinner whose nature is broken. You know, he's just a. He's just wholly given to it. Why? Because of his nature. That's. He's broke. Just a broken, destroyed, corrupt sinner. This is how God describes it. Not just people with a few mistakes and faults. No, no, no, no, no, no. The Lord describes people without God as wholly broken.
[00:32:09] Wholly broken. Not only that, just like this woman. It makes sin is what makes. It makes us unable to approach the Lord. This woman could not go to the temple.
[00:32:22] You know, many people that are. That have sin like this and live a life where it's wholly given to it, right? This is the picture of this woman who just. Her life is all about this disease. She can't go to the temple. She wouldn't. She wouldn't dare.
[00:32:37] Not only does it we can't approach the Lord, but it also brings harm and great suffering upon the man himself, the sinner himself.
[00:32:44] That's why Isaiah. It's not just about whether you go to heaven or whether you go to hell in the meanwhile. Have you ever seen people addicted to drugs, people addicted to alcohol? Have you ever seen people who have been adulterous? Have you ever seen the way their life is destroyed? There's no good in that.
[00:33:02] It's just pure suffering. 100% that's a pitiful state to be in. It's a miserable life, in other words. Listen, we know that salvation is not just about us having a happy life because there's temptations, there's afflictions that come along with that. The Lord already told us that. But, man, it's a whole lot better than what you have without the Lord giving yourself to sin and it just doing its thing and destroying you.
[00:33:28] People, listen, they don't know it. They don't know it.
[00:33:33] They have no idea. They think everybody, everybody lives like this.
[00:33:38] But we don't.
[00:33:41] We don't listen, God's people who walk with him don't live miserable lives.
[00:33:47] Sin does not bring that kind of affliction on them, right? That's why they're happy. That's why they have joy. That's why they have peace. And even in their dark days, right? I'm thinking Sister Judy, Sister Karen, bad things happen.
[00:34:05] Listen, we had a funeral here on Wednesday for Ms. Barnett. And that was. It was sad. A lot of people crying over here. Sister Karen was crying, but it wasn't like the other. It wasn't like the other.
[00:34:20] It wasn't sorrow like that.
[00:34:23] Hopeless sorrow. It wasn't like that at all.
[00:34:27] So even in our darkest day, the child of God is. Their suffering is not like the other.
[00:34:36] Not only that, our sin also brings harm upon others and causes them to withdraw from us.
[00:34:47] He was like, you know what? I don't want to be around that guy.
[00:34:51] You and I sometimes have had to make difficult decisions like that because of people involved in sin, right?
[00:34:56] Destroys relationships. And lastly, and this is just, I guess the least concern is sin destroys our financial place, just like this woman. It'll eat your money alive.
[00:35:09] With all of this, she was unable to approach the temple's courts, but she was able to approach the Lord Jesus, right?
[00:35:22] It was not allowed for her to go into the temple, but it was allowed for her to go to the Lord Jesus. Now, she wasn't supposed to touch him, but of course, anybody unclean, touching the Lord Jesus doesn't make him unclean. Like the law said, it was actually the reverse.
[00:35:36] And in, I think it's Mark 5:30, it says that Jesus virtue went out of him. So think about this. Something in him, a power in him, his power. That's what the word virtue, it's also translated as power. His power was imparted to her. In other words, something. The power in him affected her. Think about that. Is that not what happens when a person who's broken by sin comes to the Lord Jesus. Their life's wrecked by sin. That's its natural effect. And what happens? They come to the Lord Jesus and they touch his garment by faith. And they trust in the Savior and a power in him comes upon him, that person.
[00:36:30] And all of those effects like that are reversed, are healed. Now think about it. With this woman. She immediately this illness is stopped. Her blood is cleansed, she's fixed.
[00:36:47] She's no longer sick anymore, just like that. That's the instantaneous power of the Gospel of Christ. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Do you know the same word? This virtue is this word, for it is the power of God. Same word, translated virtue, translated power. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And listen. When a person trusts in Jesus at that very moment and listen, please. At that moment, that person is healed.
[00:37:21] It's instantaneous because it is an act of the power of the miraculous power of God. Listen, Salvation is not something we grow into. We get better and better and better and better. We do grow as a believer. We grow.
[00:37:36] But the moment that we by faith touch the Lord Jesus, right? That's what she said. He said her faith saved her, right? The moment we by faith touch him in that instant, a miracle of the power of God does something in us.
[00:37:54] We call it the new birth. We call it a new creation. There's different ways to describe it, but it is real and it is true.
[00:38:04] And it totally transforms us and heals us. And think about what happened with this woman after she had been healed. What happened? Her illness is better. You know what's going to happen. She starts to feel better.
[00:38:16] She don't have to go to doctors anymore. So she's able to have some money, right? All of a sudden her family can be around her.
[00:38:24] And now she has access to the Lord in his temple.
[00:38:29] Because she's clean, she can approach the Lord, right?
[00:38:36] All of these effects come directly from the immediate healing. So all of those things didn't happen immediately, right?
[00:38:45] But the healing was immediate.
[00:38:47] And as a result of the healing, all of these other things start to fall into place. The misery is replaced with joy.
[00:38:56] What was loss of fellowship and family. And all those things is replaced with fellowship. What was once alienation from God in His temple, she can now go there and take part in the worship.
[00:39:11] All of these are secondary effects from the healing. In other words, we can say it like this. And this is. I love it. This is a summary word. She was made whole, right?
[00:39:23] In an instant.
[00:39:26] I'm just Listen, I'm out of time. I got more to say. I got. I got. Let's see. 1.
[00:39:41] Sometimes we concentrate, and rightly so, upon that moment of the miracle of the new birth, the new creation, when, as Charles Wesley put it, he says, in fact, I have it in my nose.
[00:39:57] Oh, no, he's opening his Bible back again.
[00:40:05] You know this song? Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature's night. You see, you think about this. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the flunging, the flunging, the flungin delamed the dungeon flamed with light My chains fell off, My heart was free. So you think about the miracle that God does in it did in you. When you put your faith in Christ, you think about the miracle he does in a sinner who is broken by sin. The long misery of a life, that sin has just destroyed him. And in a moment, God does something in him, the effects of which will be, will grow and grow and grow and grow into a life of joy and peace and communion with God. And it always, because of that moment that Jesus on a spiritual level, healed us, made us whole.
[00:41:05] So when the Bible says we're saved from sin, right? He died to save us from sin. Yeah, that's heaven. That's hell. That's Lake of Fire. That's that, too. But, boy, it's all these other things as well, all these other detrimental effects of sin that destroy us and make us miserable and make us make life just unbearable. And then, as they say, all this in heaven too, right?
[00:41:32] Man, what an act of power the Lord does in his people when they come to him and just touch the hymn, just the hymn.
[00:41:42] It's interesting that the hem of the garment also. I think it's Luke. I think it says the border of his garment. You know, the Jews were supposed to have special things sewn into the border of their garment. You know that.
[00:42:00] Like tassels, like an edge, a blue edge. That's what the Old Testament says. Now the Jews have taken it to its nth degree. Now they have laws and rules about everything and all that. But indeed, it was in the Old Testament. There was supposed to be an edge around the border. It's supposed to remind them of God's law. Jesus being one who was under law and kept the law, even the small things would have had a border around his garment.
[00:42:25] Think about it, way back in the Old Testament, when God said. And you're like, why do you have to have a border?
[00:42:34] I think probably because of this moment, because that little tassel is the thing that woman's going to touch. And the reason it's there is because several thousand years prior, the Lord commanded that the Jews put a little border on their garment.
[00:42:56] And that's what she's going to touch. Isn't that amazing?
[00:43:01] The power of God. The power of the gospel unto salvation. Let's pray.
