The woman in the crowd

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 29 JANUARY 2023 pm

MARK 5 VERSES 24 – 34

The woman in the crowd

This is where we find this woman - in the middle of the crowd.  Verse 24 “and Jesus went with him and much people followed him and thronged him.”  We get a picture of what was happening in this situation.  Jesus was in the midst of a great crowd of people.  They were virtually carrying him along.  We find this woman in the midst of the crowd.  She came with an ailment to be healed of the Lord.  She was here because of what had happened in the life of another.  The verses before explained why there was a great crowd in the street.  On that day Jairus, a man who had a daughter ill had taken a turn for the worse. The situation looked helpless.  We feel sympathy towards this child.  There was nothing he could do for her.  I am sure Jairus brought the best medical advice but nothing would suffice on this particular day.  Someone comes to Jairus and tells him of Christ and how he would heal her.  He came to Jesus and asked him to come to his house.  Many people followed him.  As they set off for Jairus’ house a woman in the crowd was healed.  She was healed because of what had happened in the life of another.  Maybe as we sit in a crowd tonight that same Saviour is passing by,  He will come to you where you are.

This woman’s complaint.  It tells us in verse 25 this woman came with a complaint – she had an issue of blood and had suffered for some 12 years.  In verse 26 we read “she suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing the bettered but rather grew worse.”  None of these doctors could help her in the situation she was in.  A terrible situation to be in.  She endured it for some 12 years and longed to be free.  She could not find a doctor to heal of her disease.  It would affect her physically, mentally and spiritually.  She was not allowed to go into the place of worship because of her uncleanness.  Her illness cut her off from society and friends.  Totally isolated for 12 years.  It would have been the darkest time of her life.  We can liken this complaint to sin.  Every one of us has been born in sin and shapen in iniquity.  Sin can affect us physically, morally and spiritually.  It is a serious problem and you have that problem in your heart.  Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.  That soul of yours will go out into a lost Christless hell for all eternity.  This is the word of God.  We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  God has a mark tonight and we come so far short of it.  We can never attain that mark.  We can live the best life we can but never get to that mark.  Jesus came down into this sin cursed world and on the cross he gave his life.  Why?  That he might meet the mark God set for you and me to get to heaven.  If that is not love I don’t know what it is.  John 3 verse 16.  Sin separates and will separate us from God for eternity.  The bible says Jesus himself, the Son of the living God died in your stead.  He also said “where I am you cannot come.”

The woman was concealed.  She “came in the press”.  The word “press” used here is the Greek word for the crowd.  She thought she had the perfect hiding place.  She mingled with the crowd and as Jesus passed by she touched the hem of his garment.  The people pushed on either side of him.  He knew he had been touched.  He is waiting for you to come to him tonight, to trust him.  Zacchaeus in Luke 19 was living in Jericho when Jesus came by one day.  He wanted to see him, to learn more of him.  When he came out through his door he realised he was not the only one who wanted to see Jesus.  He couldn’t see over the crowd because he was little.  The crowd was hindering him.  Sometimes in the crowd we feel safe and secure.  No-one else sees us.  But Jesus knows all about us.  He knew all about Zacchaeus.  He stopped at the exact tree he was in.  He told Zacchaeus to come down.  Maybe tonight you are concealed in the crowd.  You are worried about friends and what they will say.  You are happy to go to church, to say your prayers, to read your bible, take communion.  You think to yourself ‘what else could God expect?’  God sent his son to die for you.  Maybe people don’t want you to go down the line of being saved, to just sit where you are.

This woman’s confidence.  How do you come to the Lord?  Just as you are.  In Acts 16 the jailer came to Paul and asked “what must I do to be saved?”  Paul could do nothing for him.  If he could have lifted him and taken him to the gates of God’s heaven he would have done it but no.  All he could say was “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”  This woman came to where Jesus was.  I am sure she had heard of others who had been healed and maybe thought ‘if he can do that for others he can do it for me.’  That Saviour can save you.  You can leave with the assurance of God’s blessing on your soul.  For 12 years she had used her money to provide a cure.  Now she believed that if she could touch the hem of Jesus’ garment she would be healed.  It was her moment of realisation.  Only the Lord could save her.  Maybe we can try the various “doctors” today.  You can sit Sunday morning and evening in church but it will not save you.  You can try to do the best you can but it will not be enough.  Even your friends could take you to the gates of heaven but they will never take you through those gates.

The woman’s challenge.  “If I could only touch the hem of his garment.”  The challenge for us is if I could only get to the cross I will be saved.  No longer could she be in the crowd, she had to step out.  Maybe the challenge comes to someone tonight.  Maybe you realise you need to be saved.  What is God asking of me?  To step out from the crowd and come to him.

The comfort.  For 12 years she suffered and in an instant she was healed.  Jesus said to her “Daughter thy faith hath made thee whole.”  What a wonderful comfort the Lord gives.  He can give you that assurance.  He is the Saviour you need.  He can save you.  It doesn’t matter that you didn’t come to be saved.  You are in the crowd – step out and be saved.  Don’t put it off to another night.  Step out and follow Christ.  Perhaps God is asking you to step out and follow him.  It is your decision.