Faith, Seeking, Touching, Healing

N.T.#101 "Faith, Seeking, Touching, Healing"

June 28, 2023

Matthew 9-Part 9

LET IT GLOW

Old bottles were not strong enough to contain the new wind, illustrating that Christ brings new life to a believer. We need the old time religion where Jesus is the only way to heaven, the Only Savior, cleanses a dirty heart of sin and makes it new.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  (2 Cor. 5:17)

We need the Bible upheld as Truth, not new ways or new methods to peace and love, but that which only Jesus can give. No substitutes here. Only Jesus paid the price for us, so we can be set free from the bondage of sin. Have you been freed yet?

Next, we read of 4 healings as others request it on the behalf of others. With no chance to even catch His breath, Jesus was approached by a leader of the synagogue of Capernaum, Jairus. The man bowed before Jesus and begged Him to come to his home to lay His hand on his daughter who had just died. His faith believed Jesus could restore the 12-year-old girl to life. It was a a cry for hope and help by a father. So Jesus and His followers went immediately to the man's house.

LET IT GROW

Yet, while on their way to the man's house, a woman in the crowd approached Jesus. She had a 12 year old problem-hemorrhaging for such a long time. If only she could touch the hem of His garment, she would be made well.  She would have been considered unclean so the woman did not want to touch Jesus, thus causing Him to be ritually impure. So she simply touched the hem of His garment. There was no way Jesus could have felt her touch his outer robe, the tassels hanging on it, surrounded by people. Yet, her faith touched Him as power and life transferred to the woman. 

Virtue left Jesus. Virtue (dunamis, doo'nam'is) means  miraculous power; strength. 

(We get our word dynamite from this Greek word.) 

Jesus turned to the woman, saw the woman, adopted the woman, and made here whole. He saw the sick woman's desperation and need, along with her faith. Jesus asked who touched His clothes. Jesus knew a miracle took place. (The woman received healing.) Don't you think the answer was quite obvious; a woman kneeling down, behind Jesus? 

What did this woman do? She told Jesus all the truth, with fear and trembling.

What did Jesus say? In Mark 5:34, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Wait a minute. The woman was healed before she told Jesus her problem. Did you notice that? New to me. I knew it, but did not realize the sequence until now, the importance. The woman was not rebuked, but adopted into God's family as a daughter. She was made new-body and soul.

Are you in need today of being made whole, friend? Come to Jesus by touching His heart with your faith in Him.

LET IT GO 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Are you seeking the Savior?