Her disease
- diseased with an issue of blood… (vs 20)
- The disease meant that blood was constantly escaping her body when it shouldn’t be. And the inability to control this issue of blood caused all kinds of problems.
- And it is a graphic picture of sin.
- For instance things that shouldn’t come out of your mouth come out of your mouth; cursing, blaspheming God, lies, flattery, unprovoked anger, and all sorts of things pour out of your mouth like the stench of death.
- And because you won’t control it, that sin causes problems.
- Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
- She is constantly changing bloody bandages.
- Her disease brings shame.
- Sin brings shame and constant covering up.
- She is ever conscious of her disease.
- Sin forces other people to take personal steps to avoid being contaminated.
- She tried multiple medicines and remedies to treat the disease.
- Mark 5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
- It cost her everything. In spite of the personal cost, her condition never improved, and tragically was made much worse.
- Man’s attempts to remedy sin create more suffering and leave the person worse off.
- After having this for twelve years she has developed habits and behaviors that only exist because of this plague.
- To this day you have habits, behaviors, beliefs, that are solely the result of the sin you’ve been committing.
- Only the Lord Jesus Christ could provide the remedy. It is ultimately provided in a changed body fashioned after the Lord Jesus Christ.
Her desperate need to be changed
- This lady heard about the Lord Jesus Christ, left her home, fought through a crowd to get close enough to the Lord to touch his clothes.
- This lady wanted to be fundamentally changed. She’s utterly tired of living this way. The burden of this disease was too much.
- She desperately wanted to change. That is like repentance.
- Your greatest enemy preventing you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ like this is the fact that you don’t really want any changes in your life. You accept your sin. The people you choose to be around accept your sin. The habits you’ve formed around your sin are acceptable to you. And if your sin causes difficulty at your job, in your family, you’re convinced it’s someone else’s fault. So you’re part of the press around Jesus Christ who hangs around, but is never really changed by the Lord because you don’t want to be.
- If you’re baptist, you heard someone teach you about eternal security and you adopted that doctrine to cover your sin. Are you whole? No. Are you saved? No. Because you’ve decided on a belief that makes you comfortable in your condition.
- If you’re catholic, you heard someone teach you you’re part of the church and you adopted that doctrine to cover your sin. Are you whole? No. Are you saved? No. Because you’ve decided on a belief that makes you comfortable in your condition.
- If you’re nondenominational, you heard someone tell you you’re a child of God and you adopted that doctrine to cover your sin. Are you whole? No. Are you saved? No. Because you’ve decided on a belief that makes you comfortable in your condition.
- If you’re an atheist, you heard someone tell you there is no God and you adopted that doctrine to cover your sin. Are you whole? No. Are you saved? No. Because you’ve decided on a belief that makes you comfortable in your condition.
- Listen carefully, if your beliefs make you comfortable in your sin, you’re not saved and you’re not whole. And why would you think you are? You have no desire to be whole or to be saved from the sin that you’re OK with.
- If your beliefs are a way of ignoring sin in your life, friend, those beliefs aren’t bible beliefs and those beliefs didn’t come from God.
- This lady is going to be changed because she wants to be changed. She’s going to go to the only one who can change her.
- LISTEN UP HERE! Her faith is NOT used to justify her life. Her faith leads her to a justified life. Her faith is NOT what makes her comfortable in this disease. Her faith will be the way out of this old lifestyle.
- If your faith makes you comfortable in sin, that isn’t faith, no matter what verses you quote, who taught you, what religion you grew up in, that isn’t the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world says, your flesh says, the devil says, learn how to get comfortable in your sin. Jesus Christ says I came to take away your sin.
Her divine healing
- There is no old testament law that says touching the Messiah’s clothes will bring healing.
- So she thought of Jesus Christ the same way you think of a celebrity. If I can just get close to him or her! If I can just get their autograph! If I can just shake this athlete’s hand! WOW! Except this woman thinks of the Lord Jesus Christ this way.
- Maybe you met your favorite athlete. You didn’t go away whole after that.
- Maybe you were able to shake hands with your favorite singer. You didn’t go away whole after that.
- Maybe you got your idol’s autograph. You didn’t go away whole after that.
- If you treated Jesus Christ like you treat your idol celebrity athlete movie star singer, you’d be satisfied.
- The Lord was surprised enough at what happened that he stopped to see who it was that touched him. He’s asking a sincere question. In Luke 8 several deny they touched him, and the Lord explains further that he experienced virtue going out of him. That’s the reason he’s looking to see who received it.
- Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ makes the difference
- She thought it was the garment, but Jesus Christ corrects her and says it’s her faith.
- It’s possible to be close to the Lord Jesus Christ, even touch Jesus Christ, but have no virtue pass from the Lord to you.
- Repentance toward God is like this lady concluding I don’t want to die in this condition. And faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ says I’ve got to get to Jesus Christ who can change me.
