[0:00] Take that precious word and open to Mark, chapter 5, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 5.
[0:15] I'll begin reading at verse 21. When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him. While he was by the lake, one of the synagogue rulers named Jairus came there.
[0:36] Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.
[0:50] So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years.
[1:05] She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Yet, instead of getting better, she grew worse.
[1:17] When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak because she thought, If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.
[1:35] Immediately, her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once, Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.
[1:50] He turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered.
[2:02] And yet you ask, Who touched me? But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
[2:22] He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. Let's hear God's word.
[2:34] Well, in his gospel, Mark has been setting Jesus Christ before us, both his words and his works.
[2:46] And so after recording Jesus' words in the parables that he taught about the kingdom of God, Mark now is reporting four miraculous works of the king that prove that the kingdom of God has come in Jesus Christ.
[3:03] And what these four miraculous works have in common is that each one was hopeless without the Lord Jesus, the sovereign king of creation.
[3:15] I mean, what is more hopeless than 13 men in a rowboat on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a furious squall with the waves breaking over the boat and swamping it and just being seconds away from going to the bottom with them in it?
[3:34] The Puritans had a saying, If you want to learn to pray, go to sea. Go to sea because the dangers of the sea will soon have you at your wit's end. And that's when we pray the best.
[3:49] Or what's more hopeless than a man controlled by a legion of demons living inside of him, tormenting him, making him run naked, living among the tombs, night and day cutting himself and shrieking, unable to be tamed by chains.
[4:08] He was a hopeless case. And in both of these scenes, it was the person and power of the Lord Jesus that brought hope for the hopeless and rescued them out of their hopeless situations.
[4:22] Now today, we're introduced to a third hopeless situation. Next week, we'll look at the fourth. But what is more hopeless than this woman spoken of in our text?
[4:33] We're going to see many things about her. But they all add up to this one word, hopeless. Another hopeless case. And then once again, we'll see Jesus Christ himself this morning as hope for the hopeless.
[4:52] I trust we'll all see him afresh as such today. Some of you are still lost. Slaves of sin.
[5:03] Chained to sin and Satan. Unable to break those bonds and free yourself. You're ripe for God's judgment. Your case is hopeless. Others of you are believers who find yourself in what appear to be hopeless situations.
[5:21] And so may we one and all see the Lord Jesus this morning as hope. Just the hope we need. Perfectly suited to our needs.
[5:32] He makes the very valley of trouble to be a doorway of hope. Hosea 2.15. So, four points today. First of all, the woman in a hopeless situation.
[5:45] Two, her secret healing by Jesus. Third, her public testimony of her healing. And fourth, the reassuring words of her Lord. So we begin with the woman in a hopeless situation.
[6:00] Now we've gone from a demon-possessed man to a critically diseased woman. Both of them are hopeless and need our Lord Jesus.
[6:10] So we're told, having crossed the sea to set free this demon-possessed man, Jesus now returns from Gentile area to Galilee of the Jews.
[6:25] And he finds a large crowd waiting for him there. And the synagogue ruler, Jairus, begs Jesus to come and heal his dying little daughter. And so Jesus went with him.
[6:37] We'll see more on that hopeless case next week. So he's on his way to Jairus' house. And we read in verse 24, a large crowd followed him and pressed around him.
[6:49] And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had.
[7:01] Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. So the large crowd was glad to have Jesus back on their side of the Sea of Galilee. There were so many needy people, people that needed Jesus.
[7:15] But this crowd posed a problem. Our text says that they pressed around him. Literally, they thronged him. Luke says, the crowd almost crushed him as they were pressing to get near him.
[7:33] You ever been in such a pressing crowd? Everyone's pushing forward. The guy in front of you says, back off, Jack.
[7:44] And you say, I can't. The guy behind me is pushing me and the guy behind him is pushing him. And so we're all being pushed forward, whether willingly or against our will.
[7:57] It can become a dangerous situation as people have indeed been crushed to death at soccer stadiums and concerts. And so in this pressing crowd is a woman with a secret, a hopeless disease.
[8:15] She has this bleeding disease, a discharge of blood that left her in a weakened, anemic state. Now, it's one thing to be sick for a week or a month or a year even.
[8:31] But she's had this disease for 12 years. It's been a long, draining disease. It's hard for her to even remember what it feels like to be healthy.
[8:43] Some of you suffer from the weakness of long COVID. Long COVID. What? Two years? This lady has had 12 years of this long disease.
[8:57] But her suffering was not only long, it was intense. The word for suffering in verse 29 is the same word that's used for torture when they brought Paul in and they wanted to get him to talk and tell, why is the crowd so angry at you?
[9:10] They were ready to torture him to get him to speak. And so, it's a word that speaks of a painful affliction. Furthermore, verse 26 says, she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors.
[9:25] Some of you know that curative treatments can be as bad or worse as the disease itself. And that's true not only today, but you can imagine what it was like before modern medicine, what some of the treatments must have been.
[9:40] And so, she went from one doctor to another. And each time, no doubt, her hope rose. Maybe this time, this doctor, this treatment, only to have that hope dashed once again as indeed the treatment, no one could cure her.
[10:02] And worse yet, in the process, her disease reduced her to poverty as she had spent all she had and though her money was gone, her disease remained and only grew worse and worse, not better.
[10:19] And so now, she's all out of money. She's all out of options. There's nothing more she can do. Does not Mark paint a pathetic picture of this hopeless woman?
[10:33] But it's even worse because her disease excluded her from social and religious activities. It drove her into isolation. We saw that's what the demon did to that demon-possessed man.
[10:47] She, by her disease, was driven into isolation. According to Leviticus 15.25, her discharge of blood made her ceremonially unclean under the law.
[10:59] And so, she's unable to enter a place of worship, symbolically defiled and unfit for God's presence. Much like the leper was and had to remain aloof and outside and away from people because if this woman touched anyone else, that person then became ceremonially unclean.
[11:20] And if she sat on something and someone else later came and sat on it, they would become unclean. And so, her 12-year disease had made her something of a social outcast.
[11:34] So, she's a woman in the crowd with an embarrassing secret. This incurable, worsening disease. What a pitifully hopeless woman she is.
[11:47] But then, somewhere, she heard about Jesus, the healer from Nazareth. Now, that's not surprising to us because he's been healing many people in that region of Galilee as we've seen already in the Gospel of Mark.
[12:02] Back in chapter 1, the whole town of Capernaum gathered at the door bringing to Jesus all their sick. And there were many of them with various diseases. And no matter what the disease was, each one went away healed.
[12:20] We wonder if the doctors had to find other work. There weren't anybody sick and disease anymore in Capernaum. And that kind of news doesn't remain hidden for long.
[12:30] It spread like wildfire. So that in chapter 3 and verses 8 to 10, we read, when they heard all that Jesus was doing, many people came to him from Judea in the south, in Jerusalem, from Idumea, a foreign nation in the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon to the north.
[12:52] They came from all over such that he had to have a boat ready to keep the people from crowding him and he would put out into the water. For he had healed many, it says, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
[13:09] That's chapter 3, verse 10. So, when this hopelessly diseased woman heard about Jesus, her hope revived yet once more.
[13:21] It was her last hope. It was her only hope. She's out of money. Oh, but this physician doesn't charge anything.
[13:32] This great physician perfectly fits her need. Others went to him with nothing to offer and came away healed. Why not me, she says.
[13:44] And that hope grew into faith and she kept saying to herself, it's a repetitive tense in the original. If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.
[13:57] If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. She had heard of others and now she personalizes it to herself. But she's got another problem, doesn't she?
[14:09] And that's, how will I get through this crushing crowd to Jesus? And how many people will I touch along the way, thereby making them ceremonially unclean?
[14:19] And what will Jesus think if he finds out about my disease? If I reach out and touch him? But she's desperate. No one else can help her.
[14:32] And driven on as well by her faith, if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. And this 12 years of suffering will be no more. Gotta get to Jesus.
[14:43] Gotta get to Jesus. I know he's the answer to my need. And she believed. And therefore she put her head down and somehow she weaseled her way through this crushing crowd until she's almost to Jesus.
[14:59] And that brings us to our second point. Her secret healing by Jesus, the hope of the hopeless. Verse 27 tells us she came up behind him in the crowd.
[15:12] Notice she's sneaking up behind him so as not to be noticed. and she finally gets close enough and reaches out and touches his cloak.
[15:23] Luke says it was just the hem of his garment. Verse 29 says immediately, as soon as she touched his garment, immediately her bleeding stopped and she knew it.
[15:36] She felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. What a moment of joy it must have been. But she wasn't the only one who felt something.
[15:48] Verse 30 says at once Jesus realized that power had gone out of him. So just as quickly as she felt health coming into her body, just so quickly Jesus felt power going out from himself.
[16:08] Now let's be sure of this. There's no healing power in Jesus' garment. No, the power was all in Jesus himself. He felt it come out of him.
[16:22] And then the horrifying moment for the woman when Jesus turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my clothes? Well, no one came forward.
[16:38] And so his disciples answered. And Luke tells us it was Peter. Peter, we're not surprised that he would be the spokesman. And he says to Jesus, you see people crowding against you and yet you can ask who touched me?
[16:52] Well, it's clear, Jesus. Everybody's touching me. As if Jesus could not discern the difference between an accidental bump of the elbow and the deliberate touch of faith to be healed.
[17:05] Jesus is not falling for Peter's foolish explanation. He felt the power go out from him. And so verse 32 says Jesus kept looking around to see who it was who had done it.
[17:24] Can you imagine how uncomfortable this woman must have been at this time? As Jesus' eyes just kept searching the crowd and must have crossed with her view and her vision.
[17:38] She's trying to remain hidden. But he's clearly not moving on. He's not heading to Jairus' house. Time out. We're staying here until I find out who touched me.
[17:51] He's not going to let her slink back into the crowd undetected, is he? Why is he doing this? Not to embarrass her. No, he's requiring this woman to tell what the Lord had done for her.
[18:06] She's believed in her heart, but she's not yet confessed with her lips. Romans 10.10, for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it's with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
[18:23] Heart and mouth believe and confess. We can understand her slowness to confess.
[18:34] We can understand her fear of the crowd and what they might do and say about me if they find out that coming in contact with her that they've been made ceremonially unclean.
[18:48] And also we understand her fear of what would the Lord Jesus think if he finds out about my disease that I would have the audacity to reach out and touch him. And even though she fears, Jesus will not let her remain a secret believer.
[19:07] Rather, he draws from her a full confession with her mouth. And this brings us to the third point, her public testimony of her healing. Luke 8 47 says, then the woman, seeing she could not go unnoticed, oh, those penetrating eyes of Jesus, she realized, I've not gone unnoticed.
[19:31] She came trembling and fell at his feet, and in the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. That's Luke.
[19:42] Our text says, she came trembling with fear and told him the whole truth. The whole pitiful story, 12 years with this bleeding disease, all the doctors that were unable to heal her.
[19:59] But having heard of Jesus and healing others, how she thought if I could just touch your garment, I would be cleansed.
[20:11] And how it happened exactly that way, immediately upon touching him. So she gave glory to Christ. Christ. And that leads us to the fourth place, the fourth point we see, the reassuring words of her Lord.
[20:28] Verse 34, Jesus said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. You see, it's far from the scolding that she might have feared.
[20:41] She's warmly welcomed by Jesus into God's family with this endearing term, daughter, daughter. And then Jesus praises her publicly for her faith.
[20:53] Your faith has healed you. And then he gives her words of assurance, go in peace and be freed from your suffering. You see what Jesus is doing.
[21:06] Her disease was not visible to people. He's affirming the healing that has taken place. She claimed she was healed.
[21:17] of this discharge of blood. And Jesus is now verifying it lest any should doubt that it happened. What we see is that Jesus is not defiled by her touch, but that her uncleanness is cleansed by his virtue and power.
[21:40] And notice how he attributes the healing to her faith. Your faith has made you well. Jesus here is speaking in shorthand as we might say.
[21:53] We know there's no healing power in her faith. Contrary to the word of faith movement, there is no healing power in anybody's faith. There is no healing power in her hand that reached out and touched Jesus.
[22:08] There is no healing power in Jesus' garment. No, all the healing power came from Jesus himself. He felt it go out from him.
[22:21] But since this healing power was accessed by faith, he attributes it to her faith in shorthand. Faith was the instrument.
[22:32] Faith was the means by which she received the healing power from Jesus. So he praises her for her faith that persevered through many temptations to stay away from Jesus.
[22:45] Hers was a faith that brought her through every difficulty to get to Jesus and healing in him. And we see that often in the gospels that Jesus commends people for their faith.
[23:01] So he does with her in front of the whole crowd. And the result of coming and being healed, noticed, was peace. Go in peace.
[23:15] Shalom. The well-being of body and soul. Jesus declared to one and all that she's no longer unclean, ceremonially unclean. She's been cleansed of her defiling disease.
[23:29] She's therefore reinstated into the social and religious life of the community. So all her fears were melded by Jesus' kind words, and her faith was rewarded with being freed from her suffering and shame.
[23:43] Well, that's the account Mark gives us of this glorious event in Jesus' life. Let's not miss the heart of Jesus in it. His heart for the hopeless.
[23:55] He brings hope where there is none outside of him. He is the hope of the hopeless. So, application, bring your hopeless problems to him.
[24:08] Bring your hopeless problems to him in faith. So these acts of healing, we've said this before, it bears repeating, that these acts of healing are demonstrations of Jesus' deity, that he is indeed God.
[24:24] They're demonstrations of his love and power. They're demonstrations not only of that, but they're also foretastes of his coming kingdom and what he will do when he comes.
[24:35] at last, to reverse the curse and make all things new for his people. In a new heaven, a new earth, new bodies, perfected souls.
[24:48] Though that's true, these miracles also provide pictures of salvation for us. We saw it last week in that demon possessed man, how it pictures for us every sinner enslaved to Satan's power and lies, whether possessed or just deceived by Satan, and how he dehumanizes and destroys people both in time and eternity.
[25:17] Well, in the same way, a similar way, this woman's disease pictures the sinner's hopeless state. So let's draw four spiritual lessons of salvation illustrated for us in this woman's case.
[25:32] The first is we too have a dread disease, the disease of sin. The Bible is so clear on this fact. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[25:48] It's a disease we all have. And we've had it for a long time. Some of you a lot longer than 12 years. Remember what David said in Psalm 51, 5, Surely I was sinful at birth.
[26:03] Sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yes, I was alive in the womb when I was first conceived and I came into existence as a sinner. From conception, a sinner.
[26:18] You see, sin is not only what we do, it's what we are. We are sinners, and therefore we sin. We have a sin nature that is prone to wonder.
[26:32] We all like, and that's why we all like sheep have gone astray. We each have turned to his own way. Why? Because we have this sinful nature. Every last one of us. It's like we come from the womb and we're set down into this world, and which direction do we go?
[26:47] Godward? No, our back's toward God, and we've all gone astray. Why? Because our wayward heart gives us wayward feet that refuse to submit to God's law.
[27:01] Neither indeed can we. And so our disease is not just outward acts, but it's a living power of sin, a principle of sin that defiles everything that we do, just like this woman.
[27:14] It's a defiling disease. It's our sin that makes us unclean before God and unfit for his holy presence. Habakkuk 1.13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil.
[27:30] You cannot tolerate wrong. Isaiah 59.2 Your sins have separated you from your God, is what the Lord says. And so our sins defile us and will separate us from God, not only in time, but in eternity.
[27:46] if they're not cleansed. Our sinful nature then defiles everything we touch. Kids, it's like somebody that's got chocolate all over their hands. And maybe they're trying to take their shirt off and as they unbutton their shirt, what's happening?
[28:02] Everything they touch is becoming dirty. And because we have a sinful nature, everything we touch, we defile. There's not a thing that we do as we ought to do when we're lost in sin.
[28:16] It defiles everything. So that the Bible says that even the plowing of the wicked is sinful. Why? Because from their hearts they don't plow unto the Lord and for His glory and recognize His goodness.
[28:31] No, they plow for selfish reasons. They live for themselves. And that's the defiling disease of sin. It turns us inward to live for self and not for our good and gracious King.
[28:47] And then it's a deadly disease. Our sin has sunk us in a hopeless debt that we owe to God's holy justice. And it's because God is holy and good that He must punish sin.
[29:00] And the wages of sin is death. Not just physical death, but the second death, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, Revelation 20, 14 and 15, 21, 8.
[29:19] So, it's a disease we all have. It's defiling. It's deadly. And like this woman, it's incurable. Jeremiah says it so clearly, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
[29:35] He says again in chapter 30, your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing. There's no remedy for your soul, no healing for you. Well, who then can be saved?
[29:47] The disciples ask. And Jesus says with man, this is impossible. It's an incurable disease, this disease of sin. But with God, all things are possible.
[30:00] So, our greatest problem, it's not our finances, it's not our physical health, it's not our relationships, it's not our world and our nation. No, our greatest problem is this dread disease of sin.
[30:11] We have sinned against a holy God, and he must punish sin because he's good and just. And that has effects not only for this life, but for eternity.
[30:25] So, that's the first lesson, we all have this disease of sin. Secondly, our first response when we realize something of this disease of sin and guilt, the first response is not to come to Christ for healing, but to make all kinds of attempts to save ourselves.
[30:41] We seek a man-made cure first, just like this woman illustrates for us. Before she came to Jesus, she had sought a cure with many doctors.
[30:53] Some run to doctor world and just try to drown out the guilt and condemnation of their conscience because of their sin.
[31:05] and they try to drown it out with alcohol and drugs or by plunging themselves headlong into sinful pleasures, trying to sear their conscience and just forget about it.
[31:23] Others belittle it. We're all sinners. No one's perfect. Others go to counselors and churches who will tell them that their guilt complex is owning to the fact that they were raised in conservative religious families that use religion as a tool to control their behavior by threatening them with hell.
[31:47] And so the cure to their guilt complex is to shed all such thoughts from your mind. There is no such thing as hell. God is all love. There is no wrath in God.
[31:59] And however successful they are at freeing themselves from guilty feelings, the facts remain that by their unrepentant heart they're treasuring up wrath for the day of God's wrath when His righteous judgment will be revealed, when He will give to each man according to what He has done.
[32:18] Romans 2, 5, and 6. But there are some who realize the seriousness of their problem and so they run to Dr. Religion for His self-help medicine of turning over a new leaf, trying to clean up their act, to stop their sinful ways.
[32:38] Maybe they go to Dr. Penance and try to balance out their evil deeds with their good deeds and to pay for their evil deeds by doing good deeds.
[32:50] Some run to Mount Sinai's clinic to try to keep the Ten Commandments, thinking if I can just work harder at these, then I will be cured of my sin and guilt.
[33:01] You know, that was really the Pharisees, wasn't it, what they were doing? But try as they might, they couldn't stop sinning. All they did was trade sin for sin.
[33:14] So they didn't murder, they didn't perhaps commit outward adultery, but they traded those outward scandalous sins for self-righteousness and pride which God hates as an abomination and opposes the proud.
[33:34] So they just traded sin for sin. No one can stop sinning. It's an incurable disease. And so having spent all of her living on doctors and medicines that could not heal, this woman finally came to Jesus as the last resort, and that perfectly portrays many sinners.
[33:55] sinners. And that's the third lesson, that it's only when we see that our own efforts are futile that we finally look away from self, outside of ourself, to Jesus Christ for cleansing and healing and salvation.
[34:12] When did the prodigal son get up from the far country and go home to his father? It's not while he still had money in his pocket. Not while the good times were still rolling.
[34:24] Not when his friends were all around him. It was when all his money was spent and all of his resources were gone. When all of his friends had forsaken him. When all other attempts had failed.
[34:38] No other option was left. It was only then that he turned and went back to his father. Blessed Jesus to bring us to that point where we see there is no answer anywhere else but in Jesus Christ.
[34:56] Because it's only when we come to despair of any hope within ourselves that we do look out and run out of ourselves to Jesus for salvation.
[35:09] And when we look at him as he's found in the gospels, what do we find? Well, we find he is a savior that perfectly meets my needs as a sinner. I have a record of sin in heaven.
[35:24] He has a record of perfect righteousness. I have a debt to pay that I will not be able to pay for all eternity. Jesus Christ has paid the debt on Calvary.
[35:39] My friend, what more could you want in a savior than what's found in our Jesus who perfectly meets our greatest needs? Himself. His works, not ours.
[35:52] His obedience, not ours. His death, not ours. And just as this woman was only saved when by faith she reached out to Jesus.
[36:05] So it is that your faith will save you. Many of you have been saved. It was your faith, shorthand, that saved you. Now, it's clear that this Jesus is a wonderful savior, but he doesn't save everyone.
[36:26] But only those who trust him, only those who believe on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And so it's those who with the instrument of faith, the empty hands of faith, receive Jesus Christ and salvation in him.
[36:48] They are the ones that are saved by this great physician, trusting what he's done for sinners, his death, his life. You see, the saving merit is all in Christ.
[37:01] Faith doesn't earn salvation. It's not your faith that obeyed the law perfectly. It's not your faith that paid for sin. It's not your faith that suffers and dies under condemnation.
[37:12] Jesus, the savior, did all of that and more. He does all the saving work. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds, we are healed.
[37:27] blessed doctor, great physician, great method of healing.
[37:41] The diseased with sin is me. I come to the great physician and he's wounded and I'm healed.
[37:53] Amazing, amazing salvation. And so again, today, we've seen Jesus, the hope of the hopeless.
[38:05] And what's more hopeless than a hell deserving sinner qualifying himself for eternal life in heaven with a holy sin-hating God?
[38:18] Now that's an exercise in futility. That we would try to qualify ourselves for heaven when he hates sin and will not allow it in his presence.
[38:31] And even if I could live sinless from now till I see him in judgment, it would not take away any of my sins of my past. What's more hopeless than that?
[38:43] A sinner trying to find salvation without the savior. No chance, no hope. No, with man, this is impossible. Jesus says. Oh, but with God, yes, even this is possible.
[38:57] So he sent his eternal son into the world on a saving mission to save sinners. And he said his name will be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.
[39:12] And so Jesus is the hope of earth and the joy of heaven. Is he your savior? Are you trusting in his works, his life, his death, his resurrection, his session at the father's right hand to keep and to hold all those that are his to the end?
[39:37] Well, if so. Your faith has saved you because it's brought you to the great physician. And if not, why not? He turns none away.
[39:49] We see that in his healing miracles and he says the same is true of his salvation. I will in no wise cast anyone away that comes to me.
[40:04] I will heal their waywardness and love them freely. Hosea 14 for for my anger has turned away from them. Where does anger get turned? Where does God's anger get turned away from sinners?
[40:16] At the cross where it fell on Jesus. That it might be turned away from every sinner that comes and pleads the blood of Jesus. Be merciful to me, a sinner for Jesus sake.
[40:32] And you find him not only willing, but delighting to save sinners. That's what we found, isn't it, saints? You came sick.
[40:43] And diseased. You could go home today cleansed from all your sins. Ready to meet God. At peace with God.
[40:53] Go, Jesus says. Go in peace. And be set free from your suffering. Well, the last lesson is simply when Jesus saves us, he wants to be honored for it.
[41:07] He doesn't let this woman walk away secretly healed, but will have her give glory by testifying in public to her, to the Savior's power and mercy.
[41:19] And I wonder if he's saying to anyone here this morning, you've believed in your heart on me. But have you confessed me?
[41:33] Who touched me? Who was it that reached out a hand in faith and is trusting in Jesus? But is still trying to be a secret Christian?
[41:45] No, Jesus is calling on you to profess him with your mouth and to do that in the way of his appointment, which is that those who have become followers and disciples of Jesus are to be baptized and added to the church where they might then be taught to obey everything that he's commanded.
[42:04] You remember Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost and the Jewish Jerusalem sinners' hearts were pierced and they said, what should we do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.
[42:17] And that day, 3,000, those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number in the church in Jerusalem that day.
[42:31] If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it's with your heart you believe and are justified and it's with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
[42:45] It's the same lesson that Jesus taught when the ten lepers were cleansed. You remember they all went off and only one came back to give thanks to the Lord.
[42:56] And Jesus says, were there not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned but this Samaritan to give glory to God?
[43:09] Do you know the bottom line reason why God saves anyone? It's to manifest his glory, the glory of his grace. So if you've been saved, have you confessed the glory of God's grace in saving you?
[43:25] God's grace in saving you? That's the application that we see in this lady's life. Well, let's pray together. Lord Jesus, your words are wonderful, your works are wonderful, and none more wonderful than the gospel, none more wonderful than your work of salvation.
[43:50] salvation. And it is such a wonderful work that this ought to be on our lips continually in telling others what Jesus has done for us, just like that demon-possessed man that was sent home to tell all over the Decapolis what the Lord had done for him and how he had had mercy on him.
[44:13] Forgive us, Lord, that we've kept this far too secret when others around us are still plagued with this disease of sin that they cannot cure.
[44:24] Only you can. So give us boldness, give us love, give us grace to go to this world and to tell them there's hope for the hopeless in Jesus Christ.
[44:36] Thank you for that grace that has found us in salvation. In Jesus' name we thank you. Amen. Amen.