Woman with the issue of blood crawled through the crowd. She touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. She stopped God. It was a healing and deliverance. For the rest of her days, she celebrated. Those 12 years of affliction did so much for her and for those who read about her. (Luke 8:42-46)

Speaker(s): Peter Westera
Sermon 12511
7:00 PM on 5/17/2023

P. Pete Westera –

Hello. Man, I enjoyed those guys up here and Ruthie. It was fun watching Coach sweat! By the way, anyone
notice how well dressed Scott Dubay was? There’s no stains on his pants. Almost stylish I would
say. It’s pretty rare. No! Actually, we graduated many, many years after those guys. Me and Bree
Wyer and Dougie Brooks, Dougie Dunbar. Just a few short years before Ruthie we graduated!
And all of us sent our kids to this school happily. And our parents – my mom is here I think
somewhere – our parents they lived, I would say they lived in poverty to send us to school. They
had nothing. We couldn’t even afford a car, but we went to the church school. They had amazing
convictions to send us, and we took those convictions and ran with it and did the same thing.
Praise God it worked. It worked.

Some of you, your kids are not here or whatever. It doesn’t matter. The Word does not return
void. There’s something inside. It doesn’t leave. It was not done in vain. In heaven we will know,
right? Praise the Lord. Turn to Luke 9. I was, we heard an amazing message from P. Schaller
two weeks ago who is, by the way, I think right now on a plane. Easily, defintely, two nine-hour
flights from India. He called me, so we just pray for him that he would have so much rest on
these plane rides, that he would wake up thinking he was in first class. That would be amazing.
He lands like – wow! What a ride! Just thinking of him way up there right now.

P. Schaller preached this amazing message on Luke 9 about the woman who had the issue of
blood. It really touched me. I mean it really touched me. I’ve been thinking about it for two weeks
straight. I went to spring rally and preached a message about it. And I got the call yesterday to
preach, so I got up early this morning. I said I got to find another message. We’ve been a little
bit busy in our house, and I couldn’t find another message. Every message just sounded more
like the message I preached at spring rally. A couple of false starts, so I said okay. I’m just going
to preach the same message, because it was, it hit me so much that I can’t leave it.

So, Luke 9, we’ll go verse by verse. If you were at the spring rally, I’ll try to be a little more
detailed. You probably need to hear it again anyways, right David? (Prayer). This amazing story.
I actually fell in love with this. It’s 8. I’m sorry. Did I say 9? I said 9. In vs. 42 we have the
scenario where Jesus is on his way to Jairus’ house to heal his daughter. And just in case we
forget, this is a story about him. It’s not about the woman. It’s not about anybody else. It’s about
Jesus. Jesus is the superstar in the story. Everything depends upon him. Everything revolves
around him.

But as you well know, people are crowding him, you know. I think my mom used to say I have a
wild imagination. But I love using our imagination to imagine these scenes, because they were
probably incredibly intense. Jesus is going from city to city walking all over the place healing
people. And maybe thousands of people walked from many, many miles away to see him, to be
with him. And they were pressed up against him. They could not move. And surrounded maybe,
I don’t know. I don’t know. I would imagine five deep, ten deep. A huge crowd walking through
the streets trying to get to Jarius’ house.

And then we have in vs. 43 this amazing story begins, and we can also read it in Mark 5. But the
woman having the issue of blood for 12 years. Three things about her that I want to point out.
#1. Her disease was incurable. She could not get it fixed. She went from physician to physician.
Spent everything she had and couldn’t fix it. Nothing she could do, nothing anybody could do to
heal her. She was unclean according to the law. If she was sick and had this illness, this
problem, she was unclean to the point where she would not be able to enter the temple. She
was ostracized. She was an outcast, separated from society, probably from her family. If she
had a husband, she would probably not be with him. According to the law, she was very, very
alone. And also, you know, not allowed to be with people. Not allowed to live a normal life.
Twelve years she suffered. Twelve long difficult years, painful years, lonely years. Dark, you
know, from one attempt to another trying to fix herself.

And in Mark 5, it says it was getting worse. In other words, she’s dying. She’s got nothing left.
She’s at the end of her rope. It’s sad. And she probably gets word that Jesus is coming to town
or the next town over or whatever or passing through. In her desperate state, she thinks to
herself, this is my last chance. A little tiny glimmer of hope. She’s heard about the miracles no
doubt. She’s heard all the stories. She’s heard about Jesus of Nazareth. She’s heard that he
may be the Messiah. People are talking about that. It’s not like, you know, CNN or Fox was on.
The only thing to talk about. The only action. There was no Netflix. There was just what
happened when Jesus came to town and she knows about it.

And in vs. 44, she sneaks up behind him. She cannot face him. She cannot. She’s not bold
enough. She knows her problem. She knows what she is. She knows that she doesn’t deserve
to go boldly up to him and demand to be healed. So, she has a plan and she sneaks up behind
him.

We have to ask this question: if she was sick, if she was frail, weak, how did she get near him?
How did she muscle her way through presumably many men to get close? At the spring rally in
the afternoon, I was reading this and trying to imagine it. I thought to myself I bet, I bet she went
down. I bet she crawled. I bet she pushed her way through the legs of people. And it makes
sense cause we know, we know where she got a hold of him when she stretched her hand. It
doesn’t say she touched his head or hair or shoulders. No, she probably – I don’t want to add to
the Bible – but probably with the last breath, little energy she had left, somehow managed to
crawl getting kicked around, pushed around; reaching, reaching just barely, just barely touching,
touching what? The hem. The very tiny frailed edge.

The border of his garment. Just a little, tiny, weak, quivering fingers, no strength grabs it. And we know what happens.
In vs. 9, it says immediately, immediately healed. Immediately healed. She backs away and she
knows it immediately. I don’t know what she’s doing but she’s saying something happened and I
know it. I am healed. And the thing is that, you know, that was only the beginning for her. The
physical healing that she experienced is only the very beginning, a little prelude, a little, tiny
taste of what was about to come. Because Christ had in mind for her much more than physical
healing. He would not have been satisfied to just merely heal her physically. She would see
Jesus.

And the rest of her life, every single day that she lived maybe to be very old and very healthy, all
of eternity, actually right now in heaven, this woman thinks of her 12 years as the greatest thing
that ever happened to her. It was the blessing. I suffered. I was dark. I was alone. I was in bad
shape. I was in trouble. I was so alone, but I do not think negatively about those years. Actually,
that right there, those 12 little years led me to see Jesus. And we know, you know, we know that
Christ stops. He stops. This little, frail woman stopped God dead in his tracks like nothing else
matters.

Maybe in a way, involuntarily, Jesus had to stop. He had to. He – she demanded it of him. She
demanded it. Her touch, her reach, her desperate state, her hope, her faith demanded that God
would stop and turn around and face her. And as he faced her, forever, forever, all those years
that the locusts have eaten are turned around. And she is no longer able to hide. She is no
longer able to hide in a corner or run away.

vs. 45. Why are you saying who touched me? She touched Jesus differently. Something about
her touched Jesus differently than anybody else. I don’t want to be negative, but you can go
through GGCA like I did and be very close to Jesus and not stop him. Not turn him around. Not
know him. You can go to Bible college and not know him. You can sit in this service. You can sit
in many services. You can spend a decade or two being very close to Jesus intellectually, all
your knowledge, everything you know, your degrees, and not have Jesus stop dead in his tracks
and turn around. Many, many do. Many do. The sad reality of Christianity is that many don’t
know him.

That verse in Isaiah 64:7, can you imagine the power we have. Can you imagine that we have this
ability. We have the ability for Jesus to stop, to turn around, and to face us. I dare not say it, but
I think that when we live by faith, God has to respond. He has to. Some law. Some greater,
higher, bigger law forces him, forces him to turn to us when we seek him, when we reach for
him, when we go down low, it has to be this way in heaven. The law of heaven. Jesus Christ
responding to my cries, to my reach, to my touch.

Peter’s response natural as always. I like to call him Pete. He’s a lot like me. My name’s sake.
You know, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? I’m in Christian school.
What are you talking about? I’m in church every week. What are you talking about? I’m in
church every week. I can quote the books of the Bible. How many verses do you want to know.
Are we low? Are we reaching? Are we stretching our life towards him? This applies, this applies
for the saved or the unsaved. We never stop. When we are unsaved, we have to reach for
Jesus. We have to go low. We have to reach for Jesus. When we are saved, we don’t stop. We
never stop. It never stops being about Jesus. It never stops, you know, we need him. Everything
in me knows it.

If we continue reading here, vs. 46. The word “virtue” is that power word. DUNAMIS. One
person, one commentary said, like Jesus perceived dynamite leaving him. I love that. The
immense power of Christ himself, healing power, life, leaving him. Transferring from his body to
her body. A connection. A channel. Some kind of passage way. Not to sound weird, but you
know, I don’t want it to sound like a Star Wars movie, but something left him. A piece of him. A
flow. A flow of life. Zoe life leaving Jesus Christ. Rushing out of him immediately. Immediately.
Like if it was waiting. Jesus Christ full of life, full of virtue, full of dynamic energy and power and
any other word you want to add to it. Just waiting inside of him to be touched finally. Finally,
someone is touching me. Finally. I can share what I have.

Probably desperate for that touch. If we know our Savior, he was desperate for that moment,
desperate for that little connection with this woman. Instanteously, she is healed. Instanteously,
something else happens. The woman saw she was not hid. Wow. This story is starting to sound
more like me every minute. And you, also. When we touch Jesus, we don’t hide anymore.
There’s no more guilt. No more shame. There’s no more hidden secrets. There’s no more cold
God, far away God. I know I have to come out. I have to face him. Luke 8:47, what a beautiful
scene. Can you imagine seeing the scene. I hope we get to see it somehow. I don’t know how
that works. I want to relive it with her and Jesus. Re-enact some way.

This woman healed. Secure. Confident. Somehow knowing she couldn’t hide anymore. Somehow knowing that she
had gained the right. Somehow worth came all over her and she gets up and goes to him and
falls to his feet. It is me. I did it. I touched you. I belong here now. I can look you in the eyes. You
and me will forever be one. Nothing ever will change it. Today, in heaven, she’s still looking at
Jesus. She’s still fully aware of that moment of security, of positional truth, of the finished work
of grace. Jesus Christ touched her forever. And then Jesus says, “daughter.” Whenever I hear,
you know, the language of a orphan, you know, becoming a child which is repeated in the Bible,
it breaks us. Abba, Father. She is now thinking, Abba, Father. He says daughter and she says,
wow! God just called me daughter.

There’s nothing greater that could happen to a person then
when Jesus Christ says daughter or son to us and when we can hear it and realize it. Jesus
Christ, our Father, Abba Father.

I have to wonder. It says here, vs. 48. And for some reason it bothered me, because it sounds
like you have to have a lot of faith. And immediately I’m like my red flag goes up. I don’t know
how to have more faith. How do you acquire more faith? Where do you buy that? Where do you
stock up on faith in life? It sounds like something I got to do. Is it intellectually that I get faith? Is
it somehow a memory thing? Do I have to memorize the Bible? Do I work harder? We know, we
know this is not it. It wasn’t that she somehow acquired the ability, the skill to have the faith to
move God. What she had was the realization that she needed a Savior. That’s all she had. She
had nothing else. I doubt she knew much more about Jesus. I doubt she had any idea about
redemption or the cross, the coming cross or even the Old Testament or the books of Moses or
the Law. I wonder how she really even knew.

All she needed to know, all I needed, all you need to know is that today I need Jesus. I just need
you. I’m in trouble. I need him more today. The definition of maturity: I need him more today than
I needed him yesterday. That’s it. Her faith came from her realization that she was in trouble.
Diseased. And that’s the same for me, you know. I’m in a desperate state without him. The
psalmist says it. Open your mouth and I will fill it. That’s what I need. More of Jesus. More of
Jesus. I want the virtue of God to pour out of him into me, not just for salvation but all the time. I
want a piece of Jesus. I want more of him.

And dare we say it, this has happened to us. If you don’t know that you need Jesus because
you’re unsaved, or if you think you’re doing pretty good as a Christian, just study Jesus. Study
his nature, his holiness, his righteousness, and immediately something will become very clear to
you. There’s something wrong with me. I am diseased. I need a piece of him. I desperately need
a piece of Jesus. You know what? I’m so sure I need him, I’m going to get down low. I’m going to
reach for Jesus some more. Not through strength. Not through skill. Not through power. Not
through self-discipline, will power, ability. None of that. All of those words do not belong in
Christianity. Humility. Lowness. We can get through to God. I just need to touch a little piece of
him, and it will stop him. It will turn him around. It will force him to see me.

Apart from him, we can do nothing. Nothing. Nothing I do in my own strength has anything to do
with him or his kingdom. If I can figure it out to stay low and reach, then I will connect with him. It
will be me and him all the time. If I fail, that’s okay. It just reinforces my knowledge and my
awareness of my need for him. That’s the best that my failure can do. Reinforce my need for
Jesus. Reinforce my need to go low. Reinforce my need to reach for him. I need a spiritual
instinct like she did. Somehow, she knew enough. Just barely she knew enough, and she got it
done. And she’s in heaven. And she’s with Jesus. And she’s healed a thousand times over in a
thousand different ways. In more ways than she could ever imagine. In more ways than she
could ever ask for, he healed her. He changed her.

I don’t want to be occupied with my problems. I don’t want to run around the country trying to fix
my problems. I am very much like that, but I don’t want to be going bankrupt spiritually or in my
soul trying to fix my problems. That’s not the point of my problems. The point of my problems is
that I could receive virtue. Jesus, help me to see it. Help me to stop striving and living in it and
thinking about it and campaigning and maneuvering with the energy of the flesh maintaining my
life and maintaining my direction and maintaining or avoiding heartache and pain and the cross
and all of these kinds of words.

The whole idea is that I receive virtue from God. And you know what? He’s still waiting. Always
waiting for us to touch him. Not through some magical, mystical faith that you have acquired.
But through humility, the heavens will open up to us. If somehow by the example of Jesus Christ
himself we are humble and we reach for him and we recognize our need for him, and in that
move, in that action, in that reaching, Jesus calls it faith. I call it a response to my Savior. But
Jesus says that’s faith. That’s all it is. That’s all it is.

I remember I asked my mom one time, how come you have such strong faith? Why do you have
such strong faith? I have no faith. You have tons of faith. She’s like confused. What are you
talking about? I just need Jesus. I just need Jesus. That’s all I know. I know nothing else. That’s
the same for all of us. And that’s the same for that woman. I want to know her name. We’re
going to go to heaven and we’re going to meet her. We’re going to sit down, and she’s going to
tell us all about it. She’s going to say, guess what? Nothing’s changed. I still need him. Guess
what? He’s still waiting for us. He’s still waiting to share a piece of himself with us. He still wants
to share the virtue that is inside of him with us.

And it doesn’t matter, I don’t care if you are 12 or 50 or 80, this is your game plan. Stay low.
Very low. Don’t worry about the problems. Easier said then done. Reach for Jesus. Amen. Let’s
pray.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.