MP3 Audio

Matthew 9:20-22 – And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

Mark 5:25-34 – And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, 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? 32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. 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. 34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Luke 8:43-48 – And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 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 for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

I. Introduction.

A. I will be using Mark 5:25-34 as my main text, but will notice some points from the other two passages.

B. The one point of this message – to show that it is one thing to know what to do, but it is quite another thing to actually do what you know to do.

1. I have three examples: (1) The woman healed of the issue of blood, (2) The two blind men who are healed, (3) The leper who is healed.

2. Each of these do what they know they should do, not what they "feel" like doing.

C. This miracle occurs in the middle of another miracle.

1. You may be one that is in the middle between two events as far as God in concerned.

a. But at least you are in the middle, and you receive the blessings of God.

b. Even though you are in the middle of miracles, you still experience a miracle, which is very precious to you, as you now know the power of God in your life.

c. You still are healed, changed and will never be the same.

II. Here is a woman who suffered 12 years.

A. This is a long time by our reckoning, yet the intention of it all was to honor Christ in these few verses of Scripture.

1. All the suffering of this age can be used to honor and glorify God, if we would only do it.

2. There is no mention made of who this woman is: Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, married or single, famous or infamous.

3. All we know about her is that she has suffered from an issue of blood for 12 years.

B. The woman had spend all she had on physicians, but none were able to cure her.

1. Reading between the lines, the scriptures seem to indicate this woman had been wealthy, or at least she had enough, but now she has spent all she has on physicians, none of whom could cure her.

a. She is evidently now poor, as she has spent all she has.

b. The physicians have her wealth.

c. The woman’s health is gradually getting worse – the physicians of this world have done her no earthly good.

2. The issue of blood for 12 years would leave her exhausted, weakening and wasted, and without any place to turn.

a. She was ceremonially unclean, therefore she should not have been in the crowd of people, much less touching any of them, because they would become ceremonially unclean.

b. Her uncleanness would shut her out of the house of God, out of public prayer and out of public worship.

C. It is wonderful to know that although she would be cut off from worshipping publicly with the Jews, she was not banned from contacting Jesus.

1. Sinners take notice: the world, especially the religious world might consider you unclean because of your past sins, and your past rebellion.

2. But you can still contact Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness of sins, and cleansing from his holy throne.

D. I don’t know when she heard of Jesus, but she tried that which she believed would help her.

1. Perhaps she got advice from friends, neighbors and family members.

2. All this advice is well intentioned, but none of it will work.

E. Notice the woman’s faith in Christ.

1. She had to make an individual decision to come to Christ for help.

a. Her decision did not heal her, Jesus healed her.

b. She had to trust the power of Jesus, not her decision.

c. Many today believe their decision to do something religious is what saves them, but that isn’t true – Jesus is the only one that can save or heal.

2. The issue of blood was such that she would not speak publicly to Christ of her problem, but faith in Christ forced her to approach Christ the only way she knew how.

a. Mark 5:27 – The woman came in the press of people behind Christ.

b. Her intention was to slip up behind Jesus, touch his garment, receive healing, then slip away.

c. She was confident, full of faith, that Christ could heal her, but she did not want to be noticed because of her affliction, and present distress because of it.

3. The plan to touch his garment for healing was without precedent.

a. Where she got such a notion is not known, except that the masters touch was able to heal.

1.) Her contriving to touch his garment in secret is almost like worshipping relics for salvation.

2.) It is plain to see from the words of Christ the woman was not worshipping relics" or devising a new plan to come to Christ.

3.) Her faith, given to her and operated on by the Holy Spirit, had caused her to be healed.

b. It seems reasonable to any Bible believer that if touching an unclean person transfers that uncleanness, then touching a clean person would transfer that cleanness.

1.) Leviticus chapter 15, verses 5, 7, 10, 11, 21, 22, 27 make sit abundantly clear that touching an unclean person transfers that uncleanness.

2.) If this is what the woman was thinking, it is clear she got her idea from the scripture, revealing that she was a Bible student.

a.) When she was facing such terrible, continual suffering in her body, she began to search the scripture for what to do.

b.) Her study would force her to be ready to accept Jesus Christ and his power when she heard of him.

c. The woman’s healing by touching the garments of Christ was soon passed down to others.

1.) Matthew:

a.) Matthew 9:20,21 records the woman’s thoughts about touching the garment of Christ for healing.

b.) Matthew 14:34-36 records that others touch the hem of the garments of Christ and were healed of whatever disease they had.

2.) Mark:

a.) Mark 5:27 repeats the woman’s thoughts, as recorded in Matthew, concerning her touching the garments of Christ in order to be healed.

b.) Mark 6:56 states, And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

3.) Acts 5:15 states, Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

d. It must be noted that touching the garment of Christ did not actually heal.

1.) It is not be a sequence of events that miracles occur, but always by the power of God.

2.) We should never confuse "methods" with the pure operation of God in salvation, or in healing, or in church operation, or in anything else.

III. There was a great throng around Christ, but his power went to the individual who had faith.

A. Christ might be busy with others, but every individual who seeks his power is dealt with individually.

B. Christ was very well aware of her secret plan, and accepted it, honored it, and caused her to be healed by it.

C. She believed if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would be healed.

1. Was this some sort of personally contrived scheme for healing?

2. Why did it work?

3. Because Christ ordained it should work, because of her faith, not because of following some sort of program, or plan.

D. There is no such thing as following a particular plan, therefore you can be saved.

1. On the back of many thousands of tracts, there is a simple prayer and a "stepped" plan for being saved.

2. These tracts declare that if you follow the plan outlined in those few steps, you will be saved.

3. Notice this woman did not follow any previously known plan to be healed.

4. Her heart was broken, she was broken, she had nothing to give, but Jesus understood her broken heart and lack of gifts, and gave her healing.

5. God looks on the heart, not on following a particular outlined "stepped" plan.

IV. There is a touch, then there is the touch.

A. Mark 5:30 states, …Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him…

1. What is this virtue that went out of Christ?

a. We often think of virtue as purity, moral excellence and righteousness, or cleanness, therefore we reach the erroneous conclusion that Christ is unclean at this point, because the unclean woman (with the issue of blood) had touched him.

b. Virtue is, however, defined as power, strength, or ability.

2. Christ knew power had gone from him to the woman.

a. Christ did not ask, "who touched me" because he did not know, but he wanted everybody else to know.

b. There is no such thing as "secret miracles".

B. Many people were touching Christ, but none of them were healed, only the woman with the issue of blood.

1. Many could touch Christ and have no faith at all, but some, no doubt, were following along to see a miracle, the raising of Jairus’ daughter.

2. There was healing faith in their midst, but they were not aware of it.

3. They were aware only of that which they could see with their physical eyes, because they did not see with the eyes of faith.

C. Mark 5:29 – She was healed immediately.

1. She felt in her body that she was healed.

2. It didn’t take the Lord many days to produce this healing, but it occurred immediately.

D. Christ would not let her go her way when she knew she was healed, and could have easily slipped away from Christ, and the crowd of people.

1. Christ stopped and asked, "Who touched me?"

a. It was an odd question to the folks around Christ, but not to the woman.

b. She knew she was caught!

c. Christ called her "daughter", giving her comfort, peace and contentment, which she could never have received if Christ has let her go her way after she was healed.

2. The fact that Jesus declared he did not know who touched him with healing faith reveals that God is the one who did the healing, and Christ was the instrument.

a. It is apparent that Jesus’ back was to the woman, but the face of God was directed toward her.

b. It is also quite apparent to me that Jesus knew and understood the power of healing given to him by his Father had caused this great healing to take place.

3. "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Christ explains to the woman her faith, not following her contrived plan was what made her whole.

a. Mark 5:34 states, And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

b. The woman was already healed when Jesus said these things.

c. Jesus did not say these things for the benefit of the woman, but for the benefit of those standing by.

E. Notice the varying emotions of the woman.

1. She must have been very sorrowful as she continued with the issue of blood for 12 long years.

a. She must have been full of anxiety as planned on "sneaking" up on Christ and touching his garment.

b. She must have been very elated when she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

c. She must have immediately been filled with fear and trembling when she heard Christ say, "Who touched me?" because she knew who he was talking to.

d. She must have been filled with fear because she knew she was "caught."

2. Mark 5:33 states But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came…

a. Compare the "came" of Mark 5:27 with the "came" of Mark 5:33.

b. She hoped to avoid coming face to face with Christ by sneaking up on him, but Christ would not allow her to avoid a face to face confrontation.

c. When Jesus utter the first word, "Daughter," I am sure the woman was flooded with relief.

d. The confrontation she hoped to avoid brought her much comfort, peace and long lasting fulfillment.

F. The story of this miracles immediately stops at this point.

1. Notice Mark 5:35, While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

a. Christ did not even get through speaking to the woman when another voice interrupted him, drawing the attention of the crowd back to Jairus’ daughter.

b. The multitude of people are anxious to see a miracle, but they missed the miracle in their very midst, because they did not understand the difference between a touch and the touch!

2. The multitude could easily jump from one miraculous event to another miraculous event, but the woman was changed forever.

a. The multitude often does not see the change for the good in the individual, choosing instead to look for the negative in all events, and then looking forward the whatever lies ahead.

b. It is always good to be thankful for the good God does for us.

3. I do not know what this woman did with the rest of her life.

a. It would seem reasonable to believe she spent the rest of her life glorifying God for her miracle he performed in her life.

b. It seems very reasonable to believe she remained grateful for her health the remainder of her life.

4. When folks are saved by the everlasting grace and mercy of God, it seems reasonable to believe they will remain true to Christ who has given them relief from their wickedness and rebellion.

5. It seems reasonable to believe those who are not true to God the remainder of their lives were not redeemed to start with.