Hello, and thank you once again for joining us for the Crossroads Baptist Church radio and podcast ministry. I am Pastor Jeffrey Lynn, and today we're going to be looking at a miracle within a miracle. We're going to be looking at the healing of the woman with the issue of blood found in Mark chapter number five. Now, before we read in the scriptures and before we pray, I just want to set the stage here for what's happening in the life and ministry of Christ at this time. this, what we're about to read about, this man, this Jewish ruler, he comes to Christ for help. And at this time, the Jews would kick out of the synagogue anyone who considered Christ as more than a blasphemer. The official position on Christ from the rulers was that he was a fake and a heretic, and they were seeking to find ways to destroy and discredit him. So this man, just by coming to Christ for help, has risked his status, his wealth, his relationships within community, all to seek the help of the Lord because his little girl was sick. And he knew if anyone can help, Jesus can help. Every day today around this world, people risk being cast out, being cut off, or even being killed in order to come to Christ. And they do so because, like this father we're going to read about, they realize that life, eternal life, is through him alone. When life and death are at the forefront, what matters most often changes. It's no longer, oh, I might get kicked out of the synagogue. It's, oh, my daughter might die. I need to go to this man called Jesus and get some help. Now, if you turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 5, we'll read some verses to begin, then we'll pray. Mark chapter 5 and verse number 22 is where we're going to start. The Bible says here, And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live. And Jesus went with him, and much people followed him, and thronged him. So, this is where we find ourselves, and we're about to meet this woman that we're gonna spend the rest of our time talking about today, and I hope it'll be a blessing to you. Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for your word. Help us now as we study it together. Help it to be real and true to our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So we have this Jewish leader who has come to Christ for help, and Christ is on his way to meet the man's daughter to try and help, and we know eventually that he would be raising her from the dead. At this point, she's not yet dead, and so he's on his way to help, and he's being thronged by this multitude. Verse number 25, the Bible says, And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." Now this lady, this woman, I believe she is a picture of the church. And the reason I say that is if you look back throughout all human history, there's essentially Israel and the Gentiles. And for thousands of years, God dealt solely with Israel as far as who he gave his law to, who he gave his word to, who he provided miracles for, and all these things. It was just Israel. And today, in this age of grace that we live in, this period of the church age, We have stepped in as these Gentiles, as this certain woman, the Bible says, who just steps in out of nowhere while God is dealing with Israel, and the Lord helps us. And it's all through faith. And then at the end of time, you know, the thousand-year reign of Christ, God restores Israel again. And so there's all this time that God spends on Israel, and then there's this little time in between that's for the church. And this woman in this story, it kind of symbolizes that. Because the story starts with Jairus' daughter and it ends with Jairus' daughter. And in the middle we have this woman that, you know, we don't know for sure that she wasn't a Jew, but it certainly seems to reason the Bible did not declare her as one. And we see from her claim that she didn't really know much of the scripture because she said, well, if I just touch his clothes, I'll be made whole. That's not a scriptural declaration, but it is faith. It is faith. Now, it may be faith in something that wasn't promised in the word of God or wasn't promised to her, but she had faith that this man, Jesus Christ, that she had heard about could heal her. And she said, if I just get to him, I'll be better. Boy, if people could have faith like that today, just uncomplicated faith, just, I need Jesus in my life to make things better. This woman was made worse by everything she tried. Her money didn't help, all the doctors didn't help, and in fact, it made it worse. Today, Gentiles, people who aren't of the nation of Israel, all throughout human history, they have tried, through paganism, through idolatry, through atheism, they have tried to make sense of the world without the one true and living God. and it fails every time and they're made worse for it. Now, I see this woman coming by faith to Christ, and of course, it's a good picture of salvation. The Bible says, Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It is faith that saves a sinner. It always has been, and it always will be. The Bible talks about Abraham being justified by faith. And all the people in Hebrews chapter 11, that great hall of faith, you know, it talks about looking back at these, they died in faith. having not seen the promise, but they believed. And so it's always been faith that saves a sinner. In Mark chapter 5, we'll pick back up in verse number 29 here. The Bible says, And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned to him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude flogging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Now, this is such a blessing because, as I said, you know, the Bible, the Word of God, so much of human history has dwelt on Israel. But as a Christian in the church age who is not born of an Israelite heritage, I am thankful that God turned to the sheep of another fold. He didn't just focus on his nation. He determined to make a people for himself that was not a people. If you look at 1 Peter chapter 2 with me, 1 Peter chapter 2, we do know that his ministry was at first directed, even Christ's ministry was at first directed At the Jews, we see in Matthew 15, 24, but he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And so we know that, you know, that Jew has always been in focus, but we do know that he also told us in John chapter 10 that he had sheep of another fold. That's us. If you're not a born Israelite today, you are that sheep of another fold. You're a Gentile. And in first Peter chapter two and verse number nine, first Peter chapter two, And verse number nine, the Bible says here, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We are a people that God had not chosen. We are a people that God had not created. And yet now, whether you are Jew or Greek or barbarian, the Bible says, if you are saved, you are now part of that body of Christ. And the Bible refers to you as a peculiar People, referred to us as peculiar people. Now, modern day use of that word, you know, we think it means strange, but that's not what it means. If you look in the Webster's 1828 Dictionary, the word peculiar means belonging to a person and to him only. Now that's a blessing. You go back and read that verse again that God has made us a peculiar people. That means we belong to him. We belong to him and him alone. We don't belong to the devil. We don't belong to sin. We don't belong to this world. We belong to Christ. And that's a blessing. So this unknown woman, she comes to Christ by faith while he was dealing with Israel. And in that healing, we find something that's unique to only her. In the whole scripture, the whole word of God, Mark 5 30, the Bible told us that virtue had gone out of him. You don't find this in Abraham's life. You don't find it in Isaac's or Jacob's or David's or Solomon's or Gideon's or Moses or Joshua's or anybody else's, or even in the New Testament, any other healing of Christ. You never read about Jesus having virtue go out of him and into someone else. What could that possibly be a picture of? Well, look with me in your Bible at John chapter 15 and verse number 26. John 15, 26. Here the scripture tells us, but when the Comforter is come, and if you have the true Bible, the King James Bible for the English-speaking language, that Comforter, that word is capitalized, because that's the title of the Holy Ghost. When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. So we have a Comforter that has come. We have a comforter in the Holy Spirit. We also see in Colossians 127, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This woman had virtue come out of Christ and go into her. And that is a picture, a clear picture of the New Testament believer, of the church age believer who has the Holy Spirit sent from God, sent from Christ to us and into our hearts to dwell. That's a blessing. You don't find that anywhere else in the scriptures. This woman, she came to Christ by faith. We know nothing of her lineage, just that she had an issue of blood that was 12 years long. She wasted her wealth on doctors that could not heal her. She was made worse by all those who tried. And when she came to the end of herself, she heard about a man named Jesus Christ. And by faith, she said within herself, if I can just get close enough to him to touch his garment, I'll be healed. And she was, and she received virtue from the Lord. And if you think back to what we read in Mark chapter five, verses 30 to 33, after virtue had gone out of Christ, he turned around and he said, hey, who touched me? Of course, his disciples thought that was kind of an odd question, considering the multitudes thronging him, but he knew. He knew the individual. He looked for her. We see this confirmed again in the book of Luke. He looked for her, and she knew that she was not hid, and she came forward. It's a blessing to know that God knows those who are his. If you've been healed from the plague of sin, if you have been saved by the grace of God and been made a child of His, you've been given that Holy Spirit of God, He knows who you are amidst the eight billion people on this planet today. He knows who you are and He will never forsake you. He always knows right where you are. Today as we consider this woman, we consider her, you know, she had this issue of blood, she had this disease that was plaguing her for 12 years. And she had this trouble and nobody could help her. She came to Christ by faith. She was made whole because of her faith. And virtue went out of Christ into her. Now Christ would go on and he would end up raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead. He would get back to his dealings with Israel. But it's a pretty amazing picture here to see. that in the midst of all of human history, while Christ is dealing with Israel, he creates for himself another people, a people that were not of that fold. And that's a blessing because now the gospel, the salvation, it's open to all men and all men can have that truth. The trouble is, the problem is this woman, the only reason she could get help, the only reason she could seek Jesus and touch his garment and be healed, is because somebody told her about it. She heard about Jesus. And because of what she heard, she said, that's what I need. Today, we have been given a great commission. We call it the Great Commission that God has given us. You find it in Matthew 28. You find it in Mark 16, 15. You find it in Acts chapter one, several places in the Bible. You find what is called the Great Commission. is a charge from God to every Christian, every person who's been saved by the blood of Christ, who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul. It's the call from God to us to not just be saved and sit around and enjoy it, but to be saved and go tell someone about him. to spread the gospel and to share it with every creature, the Bible says, to share it with every nation. And we do this through foreign missions. Certainly, we send people and missionaries around the world to preach the gospel. But more and more, our own neighborhoods, we have people growing up having never heard. a true recollection of who Christ is. There's a lot of false Christs in America. There's a lot of false religion in America. But Bible Christianity remains. And if you are a Christian, if you are saved by the grace of God, and you have a Bible, and you have some knowledge of Jesus Christ, you may not understand or realize how much people need you to share that truth, to share that faith. Just like this woman, she would have never been healed had she never been told that there's a man named Jesus Christ and he can help you. That's the message that we have today for you. And if you're saved, that's the message I hope you carry to everyone else. And if you're not, I hope you'll trust Christ today. God bless.