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Jesus is the Great Physician. (Touch of Faith)
Text: Luke 8:43-48
The curse that’s killing her
- Her symptoms – We are told that she suffered from an issue of blood. This literally means that she was hemorrhaging, or bleeding, from some part of her body. Whatever may have caused this internal hemorrhage, she was a very sick woman
- Her suffering
- Physical suffering – From the constant blood loss, this poor woman would have been weak and anemic. She would have had low energy. She would have been a weak, pathetic creature! We are also told that she tried all the remedies of the physicians of her day but nothing worked.
- Social suffering – She probably wouldn’t be married. How difficult would that be to have a close private relationship with a young man? If she worked around others she’d have to change regularly and make sure she wasn’t contaminating others. Socially, this poor lady would’ve had a very difficult life.
- Emotional suffering – She is lonely, isolated, and desperate! Can you imagine her greatest accomplishment day to day is cleaning herself and not contaminating other people? Her best relationships are with doctors she must pay to see but left her in this condition.
- Religious suffering – This disease prevented her from being a part of many of the religious activities and celebrations.
- Financial suffering – She spent all she had to fix herself, but couldn’t. She’s broke and destitute because of her disease.
- Jesus Christ came to remove the curse. He didn’t come to start of social club. If you believe that, church is a religious club and you just happened to pick or grow up in the “right” one, your views of Jesus Christ aren’t views you got from any Bible.
Her hope in Jesus Christ
- Somewhere, from some source, this poor woman heard about Jesus. She heard about Jesus healing and helping people. No doubt she had heard that there was power in his touch. But, she didn’t want Him to touch her. She wanted to touch him. She didn’t even want him to notice she was there.
- Regardless of where she heard about Him, she knew she had to get to Him. She was desperate! When real help is available in Jesus Christ, why should you carry this burden one more step by yourself? Why should you fight your battle even for one more minute without real help? Why should you live defeated for another day?
- Faith in her life:
- She’s tired of living under the curse and she wants to be clean. That’s where it starts. That’s repentance. I’m tired of my sin.
- The next step is faith in Jesus Christ! She has to get to Jesus Christ.
- It wasn’t her touch that cured her, it was her trust!
- Jesus’ clothes aren’t magic. If we had the same clothes Jesus was wearing that day here in church, those clothes would offer no help, no curing ability. What makes her whole is the power of God and her faith.
Her healing in Jesus Christ
- When she was near enough to him, she reached out a trembling hand and touched his garment. In other words, she held onto him until she got what she came after! Instantly, she felt the change in her body. She knew she was a different woman! She was a different woman because of Jesus Christ!
- As soon as this woman touches him, Jesus knows something has happened. Who touched me? Of course, there were dozens of people touching him and bumping into him, but her touch was different, it was a touch accompanied by faith. Many touched him, but only one touched him with the fingers of faith!
- Notice that He calls her daughter. This signifies the fact that they are in a different relationship now. You see, she got more than physical healing that day. All her adult life, she has been an outcast, a nobody, dwelling in isolation and loneliness, but now, she hears that she is part of the family of God!
- How you heal from hurt depends on your view of God.
- The LORD is capable of making you whole.
- You decide.
- He tells her to go in peace. She had already been healed and she knew it, but these final words of Jesus, thy faith hath made thee whole. Her life would never be the same ever again! She had received a brand new life from the hand of the Master.
She’s an example
- You’re tired of living under your curse.
- You must want to be made whole and begin to seek that out.
- You must get to Jesus Christ because he’s the Great Physician.
- By faith trust that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for your sin and rose again.
- By faith lay hold on that eternal life.
- Let Jesus Christ change you from what you are to what he wants you to be! From that point, you won’t leave the same. You came cursed and suffering and you’ll leave whole and at peace with God and part of the family of God!
You know, in that crowd that day, there were dozens of people with physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. But, only one lady got any help. Why? Because she came to him for help! She believed he could help her and she did whatever she had to do to touch him. Don’t be one of those people who brush up against Jesus this morning and leave unchanged. The Great Physician is Jesus Christ who came to remove the curse of sin and death. And right now you’re under that curse.
