Turn with me if you would. This morning to the portion of God's Word that we have read together in Mark's Gospel, Mark's Part. We wish to take as our text this morning, verse 34. He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of thy faith. and the daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go, in peace, and behold thy slave. There are many contrasts that we find in the scriptures. We saw one of these contrasts last week between those of the Catholics who wanted Christ out of their way, out of their course. They pleaded with him to leave after the swine The contrast between him and Jairus who pledged with the Lord that he would come and be with them in his house. He pledged for his little daughter. We saw last week that contrast. Now there are many contrasts in Scripture. There are no contradictions in Scripture. There is nothing that contradicts. opposing, two completely different opposing things in scripture that just cannot be reconciled. There are many deep things in scripture but there are no contradictions in scripture but there are many comparisons that you can make in scripture and we want to make two of them this morning. We want to look at two comparisons. We want to first of all compare this woman that comes and touches whose whole incident is interrupted by this woman. So we want to compare this woman with Gerard. Then we want to make a second comparison, that is the comparison that we have between Christ and the many doctors and physicians that this woman had actually visited for the previous 12 years. So there are two comparisons that we simply want to make this morning. It's the Lord and the this woman and Jairus. And you see the immediate comparison in the way that she approaches her Lord. You can think of Jairus hearing that Jesus is back in the coast again, possibly having thought that when Christ left there to go over into Decapolis that he wouldn't perhaps see Jesus again or that the opportunity that he had had perhaps of going to him was passed. Hearing that Jesus was back in Capernaum, he makes his way from the bed of his sick daughter, his little daughter, his only daughter. She's dying on that bed and we saw that last week how he would leave there, perhaps having to wrench himself away from that bed. But he comes down to the Lord Jesus And he's the ruler of the synagogues, so they make way for him. He peeks in and he publicly, in the most public way, pleads for his little daughter. Now there's a complete contrast there to this almost private way that this woman approaches the Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis is very public. And then he pleads with the Lord for his little daughter and Jesus gets up and they go together. The tumult around the Lord is hindering his progress but nevertheless he makes his way. And it's the most public display. But yet we then read of this woman coming in behind in what is a very private way. She thinks to sneak in. and that she would receive her blessing. Now we saw last week how Jairus must have felt when this all took place. He's wanted to go down in secret. We saw how even this woman coming in must have been a blessing because he never saw these servants or these people coming from his own home. And what a blessing that was. He never heard of it until this incident's over and then they come and say your daughter's dead. And Jesus immediately comforts her and says, have you seen them coming? And that would have been a terrible heartbreak for her because she would have known by them coming. But this woman comes in and she's coming in very privately, in a very timid manner. Now why is it that she comes in in such a timid way? Well perhaps when you begin to understand something of it, you can begin to understand She's a woman. She's a woman. Now you will find with all the religions in the world, there's only one real truth, one real religion, and that's the Christian religion that gives dignity to women. People think that the Christian religion does the opposite. And the dignity that Christ bestows upon her is evident when he says, Daughter! See the dignity he lays upon her. Daughter! Thy faith has been acknowledged. But she's a woman coming in like, you know, I think I mentioned before that the Muslim faith, I think it's their woman to cover their faces. It's their woman to walk five paces behind the men. What degradation! The Christian religion gives dignity to women because it acknowledges that men and women have all been created in the image of God. It identifies different roles and how dignity the scripture gives to a woman when it says that that woman is given the responsibility of the home and the family, of raising children. Even the feminist movement, degrade women, as though raising children, being from the home is somehow out of order, that's not what women want. What greater role could a woman ever play than being a family, raising children? There is no greater task. And Jesus here, but this woman comes in behind, she's not like Jairus, who's standing beside the law of Jesus. Now here is a woman, but here is a woman who's been ill for 12 years. Now that must have robbed her of any confidence that she may have had. And you see how that condition would have separated her off. She wasn't even allowed to go on in worship. She was untrained and had been untrained for 12 years. And this condition played in her mind day after day after day. Can you imagine a woman like that? How it must have sacked her confidence. Any confidence that she may have had. And rather than getting better she was growing worse. There didn't appear to be any cure for her. Rather than getting better, she was getting worse and worse and worse. It's not only that she was a woman who had this illness. Who was she? We noticed last week that probably of all the people that came to Jesus, Jairus was the one that the disciples remembered. He is a man that comes to Jesus, pleading for his little daughter. Who would forget that? They didn't forget this man. They don't know the name of the leper, they don't know the name of the man who was lured down through them, they don't even know this woman. Why don't they remember this woman? Because this is just a certain woman. Who is she? She's nobody. There's Jesus walking to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, a very important man in the city. One of the most important men in that area you've come across, a ruler of the synagogue. And here's a certain woman, she's nobody. Is she going to come before the Lord Jesus and say to Jesus, stop here. Can you deal with me? She's coming in behind Jesus' cross, and she's nobody. a certain woman. And not only is she a woman that's been ill for 12 years and she's really nobody in comparison to this great man Janus, she's in poverty. How do we know she's in poverty? Who says she's spent all her life for the past 12 years and now she has nothing left? that this woman has spent nothing this woman is in poverty because every time she gathered any money that she had at all she would spend it on these physicians and these doctors and we are told that she had spent all her living in some of these physicians and she had nothing left so she's not rich She's poor, and she's ill, and has been ill for 12 years. She's had so many disappointments. So when she comes to Jesus, she comes in to him, and she says, I'll just touch the hem of his garment, and I'll be a blessing. Now, if you want to notice A couple of things about that. Here is a woman that's nobody, that's in poverty, that's ill, that has no standing in the community. In fact, is cut off from the rest of the community. Can't even go into the synagogue because she's unclean. Is segregated from everybody else. Everybody else knows it. And yet Jesus stops. and turns around and speaks to her. He knows that woman's there. Every one of us here today, we may not be high and mighty. We may not have the riches of this world. We may in fact be ill. We may have many things wrong with us. But the Lord Jesus can't stop and spoke to this woman. He said, who touched me? The head of my daughter. Who touched my clothes? And Jesus stopped from going to the house of the sinner, the room of the sinner, of all people. It's as if there's a great contrast being driven to us here. Because Jesus stops from going to And yet he stops and he deals with this poor woman. Now Brendan, it doesn't matter who you are today, who we are. It doesn't matter whether you're a big congregation or a small congregation, whether you're in poor denomination or whether you're not in poor denomination. It doesn't matter who we are. When we come and we seek the blessing of the Lord, he will stoop down to the very lowest. He will stoop down and he will deal with even this woman. What a wonderful encouragement we have there. But there's another contrast here and that's a contrast between the Lord Jesus Christ and all of these physicians. She had suffered at the hands, you can imagine this woman couldn't you? You can imagine her for 12 years she's had this condition and she's gone to this doctor, that physician, this physician, he'd come to me and I'll cure you. and at the end of the day she was no better. Maybe some of the symptoms are a while were dealt with and at the end of the day her condition was getting worse and worse and worse and they took her money. I wonder what sort of things they asked her to do. I wonder what strange schemes they had for her to be rid of this condition. I wonder what wonderful antidotes that they had and they were She suffered because every time they gave her hope, these hopes were dashed. But now she comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ says to her, as it turns round and says, who has touched the head? Who has touched my toes? We saw last week how the disciples, when they say, what do you mean? They're as much concerned for Jairus as they are for anything else. Jairus is a doctor, isn't he? and he stops and he turns and he asks, who has touched mine? What power of virtue has come out of me? Jesus knew her name. When she simply even touched the hem of his garment, Jesus knew. She thought she could hide it from him, but Jesus knew exactly who she was. And he knew her failings. He knew her lack of faith. Yes, lack of faith. She thought that she could come in and touch the hem of his garment and he wouldn't know her. She's telling him who the Lord really is, isn't she? See that faith that is maybe not knowing everything about the Lord, yet there's faith there. She comes in and touches the hem of his garment He knows. He knows. And he encourages her. And you know it's wonderful, we often think, I've said this before, we often think how the Lord when he turned, he knew who she was. But you know, she knew that he was talking about her, which is justice as a reason. There was a count there, they were all touching the hem of his garment. said it was me. And the one. And the one. How did she know? See it's just as when Christ's word came home to her heart, she knew that Jesus was speaking to her. Have you ever been in God's house? You can sit down at the sound of the gospel. Maybe Jesus has passed by many a time. Maybe you come in and you thought well I'll maybe just touch the head of his garment but he's already passed and you walk out the door. But this day when Jesus is passing his head is there. And you stretch out and you touch it. And you know that that day Jesus Where ever else there is hearing and listening to a sermon, Jesus has spoken to me. She knew that. And in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, daughter, how that must have put her at ease. She's a poor, helpless, What's he going to say to her? He says to her, daughter. No woman. Daughter. The psyche of slavery. What a contrast. What a contrast. All these And this Messiah speaks to her by faith and safety. I know you've got nothing. You can't give me any more. You can't pay me for what I will do for you. What I have done for you is free. Free and full of cure. had made it all. What a contrast isn't it? Jesus says come, bow, without money, without price. You can't come and you can't purchase what I will do for you. Jesus with all his money, with all his power can do nothing for his Jesus was there and Mother Kumai arrives to see her today and she arouses off the page for nothing and this woman cuts in behind and touches and he says, daughter, thy faith has made thee whole and what we see here in the faith of this woman It begins off very selfishly. But we have a picture really of how the Lord not only deals with our temporal needs. This woman has a temporal illness. She has a condition that she comes in pain seeking that the Lord would cure her. Is that not the way the sinner comes? Very often when the sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ it is because Christ reveals to him his own sinful condition. And he comes and nearly touches the head of his garment. Very much a service man, isn't it? It's me. I want salvation. And that faith comes first that draws us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people come to him, like this woman, thinking some superstitious Jesus tells her, it's thy aid in me. I'm the only one that would give you a cure, not the gardener. He's not going to let her go away thinking that the dear gardener is itself some magical superstitious power. You might think today, people might think today going to the Lord's table, going and might in itself have some superstitious power, then it actually becomes the body, it actually becomes the bread of the Lord Jesus Christ. No. Jesus says to us, you sit at that table, the bread and the wine, they have the power, but as you look past them, and by faith, you look to me, and trust in me. And that's what he did with this woman. Seeking her faith. Faith sufficient to come in and touch his garment. But what followed on from faith? Love. Love of Jesus Christ for who he is and what he's done. That's so often the case isn't it? When the Lord brings a sinner, he comes in faith, seeking salvation. And when he receives that salvation, he comes to love the one from whose hand he has received that salvation. He says to this woman, don't look to the head of the camel, look to me. He says, who touched my clothes? And the disciple said, look at the multitude following me. And he says, who touched me? And he looking about, she came forward and she said, she came trembling and told him what she had done. What a contrast between the false physicians that she had gone to before, who were saying to her, do this, do that, do the other. And she suffered at their hands doing many things. They come to know the plague and the condition as sinners and they go and they do this, they do that and they do the other. And they suffer and suffer and suffer. Because there is never a cure. Until they come to Jesus Christ. And then Jesus Christ says to them, it's not what you do, it's what I have done. It's altogether important. It's not what you will do. Have you come then? Have you perhaps touched the edge of His garment? But have you been heathen from touching His garment? To them speaking to you and saying, it's faith. And from faith, it's faith that works by love. Love in Jesus Christ. I know this is an odd pastime for her, because it wasn't just that it was a free, it wasn't just that it was a free condition that was dealt with, it was a total condition. It was full and free. When we read how these various physicians, they, she suffered in their hands, she was in poverty because of them, and yet from that whole situation. In one moment of time, Jesus cleansed her and cured her of her condition. And not only do we read that she was cleansed, but she even felt it within herself. She knew it within herself. She felt people stand up to of the sinner that comes to the Lord. To maybe tarry many roads and avenues to get rid of sin, to rectify and to deal with his condition. And for many, many years after a long time you can be wrestling, you can be greed, maybe a person has no worries for many, many months, maybe even years. Trying various things to get an answer to the condition that they are in. And then, of a moment, they are drawn to Jesus Christ. Son, Daughter, go in peace. Thy sins are forgiven thee. your condition is no longer there. Jesus as we said the other day, last week, was only pointing in all these instances to the fact that he was on his way, not just to deal with these outward maladies, not just to deal with the death of this young woman, this young daughter, because while death was a step too far. Jesus had raised one already and yes Jesus had said I am the resurrection and the life. They did not know that. Those of Jesus' house came and said to him, don't trouble the master, your daughter is dead. And as far as they were concerned that was He could heal the lepers, He could heal the sick, He could even maybe heal this room. But He could do nothing for them. How wrong they were. Because Jesus was on His way to Calvary. But He was going to do even death itself today. Isaiah chapter 25 that we read of that when the King of Kings would come, when Messiah would come, all the enemies of God's people would be put to death. Even the last enemy itself. You're now, your condition has been dealt with, fully dealt with. You can go in peace. But I want you also to notice that Jesus didn't leave this woman with this healing. Virtually I ran out of her and she was now cleansed and she was now free. People would see her. She couldn't have had enough. Twelve years she has How are you? How are you feeling? Peter says, be always ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you. But Jesus didn't leave her for other people to recognise that she had been cleansed, that the Lord had touched her, that power had come into her life and that she now was there acknowledging. She had to come out and acknowledge what the Lord had done for her. She had to acknowledge that. the Lord through her. And it's as if he's saying to her, if you are going to know the blessing, if you are going to know the blessing that I have given to you, then you need to profess that. And you need the strength that grace can give to you. You sometimes can have the weakest, the most timid, this woman was a timid, Powerful woman coming in, thinking that she could touch the head of his garment and get away with it. Nobody will know that God's grace and God's word made her strong. Strengthened her. We ought to trust in God's strength. Whenever he would call us to testify to his name. I've lost faith. The Lord's table, when we are at the Lord's table and you go forward to that table and you say, Lord, he's my Lord. These people that I'm sitting with, they're my people. And I want publicly to let you know, that's where I am. Not outside of the table, but I am in the table. The Lord Jesus was saying to this woman, you cannot and ought not to receive such a blessing and yet not have the strength to show it to whom so right. And it doesn't matter who James is there. You are in the presence of the ruler of the synagogue. One of the most important men in that era. Perhaps little did she know that she was in the presence of someone even greater than that. She was in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Glory. and confess before those who were standing there what he had done for her. The last psalm that we sing today, come and I'll tell you what the Lord has done for my soul. What a wonderful testimony she had. She started off with faith that was weak, that was self-centred, wanting a cure, faith that was very timid, And now she's given the grace, not to her faith in a garden, but to her faith in the person that's standing before her. And such faith that you would imagine how love would go out to her. It was faith that issued the love. So often that's the way we are. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ because we're in great need, but we don't stop there. He draws us to see not only what he can do for us, but he shows us the glory of the work he's done. And it's in him. You can imagine her being aware of Joyce. The Lord had blessed her. The Lord had given her this blessing. She was now what she had dreamt, could only have dreamed of for 12 years. She now enjoys it. And she got it at the hand of probably the last person you were able to talk to. And she got all of a sudden a fullness of purity that she could only have ever imagined. That's the way the sinner is. Come into the Saviour. He blesses you more than you can ever ask or think. Then the men break in. You see it's not just the poor. It's not just this woman who has problems. Even the ruler of the synagogue. For all his power, for all that he may have, money, for all that he may have, even he's a man indeed. And they pray for him. Don't bother the master, your God is dead. And we are told immediately, Jesus said of this, he said, don't be afraid, only believe. Only believe. Believe whatever I do, I will do it well. Do you believe today? As the Lord Jesus passes by in the preaching of the word, the head of his garden passes to a congregation. Have you reached out and have you touched even the head of his garden? Or does he pass by once again and you know nothing of him? Let us pray. We thank you for the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not by some superstitious means that we come, and it's not by crosses or anything else that we come, but we come to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Even touching the head of his garment, that we would look from that garment to the person who is able to do for us more than we ever think, we ever imagine. Free and full celebration to all who come to Him. Even with that small faith. Even that trembling faith. Even that faith that has so many misconceptions about Him. That faith that thought it could touch His garment and sneak away. O Lord, we praise Thy Name. for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would stoop down and stop and deal with even this poor sinner, this poor woman. Lord, we pray that if ye too would touch the hem of his garment, that we would be whole. Pardon us all our sins, for Jesus' sake. Amen.