The Touch of Faith

8. Remember last week Jesus healed and saved, or may I say exercised and saved a demoniac, or perhaps both of them.

9. And when the town's folks came out to see what had happened and realized that over 2,000 pigs were suffocated in the Sea of Galilee,

10. They were more concerned about what they lost in money.

11.

10. Than what they gained in two men who were healed and forgiven.

11. How sad. Some people place more value on gold and silver that perishes.

12. A sad sight. But I see the grace of the Lord.

13. Because when the man said, let me follow you, Jesus said, no, I want you to go home to your friends.

14. And tell them, I'm going to follow you.

15. How great things the Lord hath done for you and hath had compassion on you.

16. And it says he went and preached Jesus in the ten cities of Decapolis.

17. So that's grace to me that that man was left to be a witness to the men who had rejected Jesus.

18. How many of you had more than one opportunity to find the Lord before you did?

19. I know I had a few.

20. And Jesus had mercy on me.

21. But now Jesus gets in the boat and they go to the other side.

22. They traveled for once from the west to the east and now back from the east to the west.

23. And none too soon and some might say a little bit too late.

24. Well, let's see how the scripture reveals.

25. The providence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

26. So we begin our reading this afternoon in Luke chapter 8 and verse 40, Luke 8, 40.

27. And it came to pass that when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him, for they were all waiting for him.

28. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.

29. That would be someone that would be over the services of the synagogue, perhaps choosing the readers, perhaps choosing those who preached and taught.

30. He had a pretty privileged position.

31. Notice he doesn't come and demand.

32. Though he was the ruler of the synagogue, we're told he fell down at Jesus' feet and besought him that he would come into his house.

33. So here was a man that humbly sought the Lord, though he had a position of great authority.

34. For he had one only daughter.

35. So I believe the situation here is he had one child, a daughter.

36. And we're told by Luke that she was about 12 years of age, and she lay a-dying.

37. But as he went, the people thronged him.

38. And so now Jesus is interrupted. The scene changes. There's an intertwining of two needs.

39. We're told that Jesus was in a crowd, and remember the streets were very narrow, he was being jostled about, and lots of people touched him, even accidentally.

40. And one of them was a woman having an issue of blood she had hemorrhaging for 12 years.

41. She had spent all her living upon physicians.

42. Neither of them had any children.

43. Neither of them had any children.

44. Neither could be healed of any.

45. And Mark says that she was worse than ever.

46. And that she spent all that she had, had nothing left.

47. Pity this poor woman.

48. She came behind Jesus and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her issue, her hemorrhaging,

her flow of blood

stanched dried up

Jesus said

who touched me

when all denied

Peter and they that were with him said

master

the multitude thronged thee

and pressed thee

and sayest thou who touched me

Peter was the lead there

Matthew tells us

Jesus said

somebody hath touched me

for I perceive that virtue has gone out of me

and when the woman saw that she was not hid

she came trembling and falling down before him

she declared unto him

before all the people for what cause

she had touched him

and how she was healed immediately

and he said unto her

daughter

be of good comfort

thy faith

hath made thee whole

I just want to read

I'm only going to cover

the woman

this afternoon

but I want you to see that

this may have caused

people to be very disappointed

that Jesus

delayed going to Jairus

that this situation

interrupted

his progress

his momentum

we're told that

while he

yet spake

to the woman

there came from the ruler

of the synagogue's house

saying to him

thy daughter is dead

trouble not the master

but when Jesus heard it

he answered him

saying

fear not

believe only

and she shall be made whole

before I forget

can you think of a parallel

situation where Jesus was

late

and he raised someone from the dead

Lazarus

that's right

he remained on purpose

and let him die

what a

what a wonderful passage

this is

where you have intertwining here

normally you have one

episode after another

and here we're

we're

we're in the

momentum of going to Jairus' house

and all of a sudden

everything stops

and Jesus

wants to pay attention to some

anonymous

person

that shouldn't have been there

ceremoniously speaking

and he stopped

to touch

as it were to

to heal her

and to speak to her

words of great comfort

so

you have

two

stories together

and how the Lord was ready for both

you ever had

a situation where

two events came together

unplanned

D. Ralph Davis

told the story of a woman who was

grieved as she was

sitting in a funeral service

some years ago and a gentleman walked in

and sat next to her and they were both

listening to the message and finally he turns to this

woman and he says, why do they keep calling my Aunt Mary

Margaret? And she said, this is

my relative's funeral and he

got the wrong church. The church he was supposed to

go to was across the street. His Aunt

Mary's funeral service

was across the street. Well, here are two situations

entwined and guess what happened after the funeral services?

They met up again in one of the parking lots

and it was a prelude to their marriage of over 25 years

from funeral services.

You never know.

If you're praying for your relative to get married

well, tell him not to miss funeral services.

Well, these two stories

become entangled. Jairus has a

very important critical need of

his 12 year old daughter to be kept

from dying. She's very close.

to death. And so they're, as it were, rushing to his house. But lo and behold, and perhaps

a horror to Jairus, is that Jesus stops, and for several minutes at least, he welcomes

the burden of this woman. But it's interesting how not only Luke, but Matthew and Mark record

both of the stories, but there are several things that are similar to the two stories.

Can you think of a few? Yes, they're both women. One is older and one is younger. The

number 12 is involved in both stories. One was 12 years of great joy. Jairus had his

daughter for 12 years.

What a blessing it is to have children, to have young people in your home. But then there

was another woman, perhaps living in the same town, that had 12 years of misery. I'm not

a woman, but those kind of hemorrhaging situations, I'm sure, can be very weakening.

And miserable. And again, it's like a man trying to compare his pain to a woman's in

labor. I'm not trying to do that. I'm not trying to say any pain that I've ever had,

but I can remember having a huge boil that was just oozing for days, if not weeks. And

it was debilitating. It was very painful, but mostly weakening of this.

Of the constitution of your body. And I can remember, I had a speaking engagement up at

our Toronto church, and I had a boil that was about that big on my side. And it was

still open and oozing, and I didn't cancel it. And I just remember being so weak trying

to preach. But you know, the Lord sometimes can use that, that he uses our weakness to

strengthen us. He is, remember, as well.

We consider this morning our rock, our strength. So 12 years of great joy and 12 years of great

misery. And then both have to deal with the touch of Jesus. One is the woman touched Jesus,

and the other, Jesus touched the young girl. But there was still the connection of the

touch of Jesus. And so we have these stories.

Providentially, intertwining, and like the funerals, ending up in a very joyful conclusion.

Jesus accepted this intrusion. He didn't say, hold on. He didn't say, you know, young

daughter, wait over here until we get back. No, Jesus was willing for his virtue to go

out. He didn't say, hold on. He didn't say, hold on. He didn't say, hold on. He didn't

say, hold on. He didn't say, hold on. He didn't say, hold on. He didn't say, hold on.

A lot of people touched Jesus that may never have been healed or were never saved. But

Jesus was willing to stop the momentum. He wasn't afraid of permanently losing this young

girl. It was the touch of the Master that made the difference. Whether it be the sinner

touching Jesus or Jesus touching the sinner, it's still the same. Jesus saves old and young,

represented by Christ.

these two women. Jesus is busy, but he's not too busy for you and me.

Jesus is listening to the prayers of others, and he listens to our prayers.

Jesus is near and dear to any and all who call upon him in truth.

So I'd like us to look at three things this afternoon regarding

this woman that was hemorrhaging for 12 years

and apply it universally. Sin has touched us miserably.

And I'm not saying that this woman had any particular sin because she was

hemorrhaging for 12 years. But like so many of

the sicknesses and diseases in the scripture, like leprosy, there is

an application to our sinfulness. If we had never

fallen, there would have never been any leprosy. There would never have been any illness. There had never been

any of these flow of blood kinds of

illnesses. All have come because we have sinned.

Our Westminster Confession of Shorter Catechism

says, question 17, into what a state did the fall bring

mankind? The answer is the fall brought mankind into an estate of sin

and misery. The misery of guilt, the misery of condemnation,

and the misery even of afflictions, physical afflictions and mental afflictions.

Hospitals, psychiatric

wards, ambulances,

all attest hospitals to the fall of man.

The uncleanness and filth of sin

is represented by the issue of blood.

The flow and the discharge of blood, very embarrassing,

but it had to come public because

this woman for 12 years was not allowed into the synagogue.

You read Leviticus chapter

I think it's chapter 15, but

this woman could not be near anyone

or else ceremoniously

if they had touched any of their furniture

or she had touched them

or touched food,

they would be unclean for a day

and they would have to come public.

This was public.

This woman was an outcast.

She was living in isolation.

If she was married,

she was not able to live with her husband.

He probably tried,

but he didn't want to be an outcast.

But I can't guarantee that,

but she probably lived in isolation.

You think of Job's boils,

how he had to be in isolation all those months.

Isaiah 1 describes the condition of Job and others

that from the head to the tail,

there's wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.

How about Lazarus' sores?

In the parable in Luke 16.

Oh, our sin has brought filth and immorality

and deceit and hatred and idolatry

and unbelief and greed

and an unforgiving spirit and a profane mouth.

Not to disparage this woman.

I'm not saying again, please,

that there was anything that she had ever done

that brought this condition upon her

like the man that was born blind.

Yes, he was a sinner.

He was conspiring.

He was conceived and born in sin,

but the disciples said,

did this man sin or his parents?

And Jesus said,

basically, it's the fallacy of the either or.

It's not either or.

It's the third.

None of them sinned but for the glory of God.

But think of this poor woman's misery.

Weakening.

She felt sick all the time.

She felt drained.

And Mark tells us she grew worse

after these years.

Nothing bettered, he says.

And she was bankrupt.

She spent all her living upon physicians.

And remember, Luke's a physician.

And he's throwing himself under the rug here.

But he's not blaming the physicians.

They couldn't do anything about it.

They would have to say,

God has to work.

But they took her money.

That's the sad part.

Surely, at least the second or third doctor

should have said,

well, the former two haven't done anything.

But is there something written between the lines here

of the greed of the doctors?

You know?

The doctor knows he's not going to be able to help you.

Is he still going to charge you the rate?

I can remember my wife and daughter

took my daughter's dying cat to the vet.

The cat was on its way out.

And basically,

the physician took the temperature.

I don't know if he did anything else.

That's it.

And the cat died on the table.

Is there any charge?

It might have been $50.

Can you believe it?

Just brought, okay,

I'll change out the paper toweling

on the operating table.

Luke doesn't impugn the doctors.

But this is a picture,

of us being unclean,

perpetually.

We dwell in isolation.

You know, that's a picture of hell.

Hell is not a society.

There's not guffawing and feasts in hell.

If you're in misery and you're suffering

and you're next door,

and you're in the same room

with the same kind of person,

you're not going to have fellowship.

Remember Joel Beakey gave the story

of when he was a kid,

when he was a real young preacher,

he was visiting someone in the hospital.

And he went into the room

and it was a room with two beds.

And the one he was visiting

was moaning and groaning,

just could not get any peace,

had no ability to interact.

And he said next door

was the same kind of person,

so much pain and misery,

he couldn't interact.

They weren't able to interact

with each other.

There was no communion.

There was no society.

Even though they were

in the same room together.

So put a million people

in hell together,

there's weeping and gnashing.

There's not laughter

and guffawing

and feasting.

But this poor woman

could not feast.

I wonder if she even smiled

for 12 years.

Could you or me,

if we were moaning and groaning

and getting worse and worse,

could you or me,

if we were moaning and groaning

The only way someone

would ever interact with her

would be their willingness

to become unclean

and have to go to the priest

and offer a sacrifice.

But you can read

the situation of uncleanness

in Leviticus 15,

verses 25 to 30.

And again, no synagogue.

What a privilege we have together

to hear God's word, right?

We're able to come to God's word.

We're able to come together.

No one is carrying us into the service

or we're not having just to look online.

What a blessing it is

when we are sick

and we can listen to a message

and watch a message.

I hope you're encouraged

listening this afternoon,

though you may not be able

to make a public service.

But this woman was not able

to be in a synagogue.

She didn't have internet.

She didn't have video.

She didn't have any other way.

And I suppose there was

no priest

or a Pharisee

that was willing to go into her home

or even stand outside

and minister to her.

She missed all that

for all those years.

Social isolation.

She was an outcast.

Like Job.

I don't know if she was

a Christian woman before this.

I'm suspecting not.

Most went to temple

or seminary

in this case synagogue services.

That was the thing to do.

Fifty years ago,

most Americans

went somewhere to church

on Sunday mornings.

You can't believe that anymore.

I wonder if one person

out of a hundred houses

attends church

on a Sunday morning anymore.

And so,

we're taught here

sin has touched us miserably.

People are

miserable

and it may be

and it may not

associated with their fall.

Don't think that the world

is any happier

even though the Bible says

there's

temporary

joy

in sin.

But they got to wake up

the next morning.

They got to go to work

the next morning.

I was in

the store the other day

and I knew a couple

that had just come out of work

at three o'clock.

And the guy was already

down in the dumps

because he had to go to work

the next morning.

It's three o'clock

in the afternoon.

It's eight hours off.

He's got

the rest of the night

and he's already discouraged

and he has to go back

in the morning.

That's the way it is.

Don't think the world

is any happier

only when there's drunkenness

or only when there's

a party

or other situations.

They got to look at themselves

in the mirror.

They got to see that

there's no hope

beyond this world

and our prayer

is that God

would undeceive them.

The devil wants them

to ignore them.

They got to see them.

Ignore that.

Ignore what they see

in the Bible

and what others tell

them about themselves.

But secondly,

thank the Lord

that even though sin

has touched us miserably

and we're miserable sinners,

we have to admit that

without Christ

we're miserable sinners.

The Savior is just

a touch away.

He's just a touch away.

Jesus was going

that way

and she obviously heard

that Jesus was coming.

Who's Jesus?

And they told her

about the one

who healed the sick

and the lepers

and raised the dead.

That he cares.

He's not some

greedy

Pharisee

taking advantage of you.

He is the Son of God

and Jesus is passing by.

Don't miss him.

But I wonder

if anybody told her

that she has hope.

God worked in her heart.

There had to have been

others in that town

that had similar

sicknesses and weaknesses.

And how many said,

oh, there's no use for me.

Oh, that's just,

we're just hearing this.

He certainly doesn't

have time for me

or, you know,

I'm afraid that

if I go to him to heal

that he's going to want

something out of me.

He's going to want

something out of me

religiously,

permanently speaking.

But this woman said,

I'm going to put a hood

over my head

and I'm going to

go with the crowd anyway.

I'm going to risk it.

I want to touch Jesus.

I believe that he can heal me.

Jesus was passing by.

Now do you see why

providentially

he had to be rejected

by the church?

He had to be rejected

by the church.

He had to be rejected

by the church.

He had to be rejected

by the Gadarenes.

He had work to do

on the other side

of the lake.

He had a woman

to heal

and to save

and he had a young girl

to raise from the dead.

Jesus is never early

and he's never late.

He's always on time

for you and me.

Do you believe that?

What about our prayer requests?

So often we say,

Lord, are you not late

to save me?

Are you not late to save sinners?

Are you not late, Lord?

Why will you not

answer prayer?

Have faith in God.

I'm looking in the mirror,

brother and sister.

I'm looking in the mirror

of God's word.

Jesus cared for the people

that just rejected him.

Remember,

he left the demoniac

to be an evangelist.

The very people that said,

we don't want you anymore.

We're more concerned

about the finances we lost

and all the money we lost.

And all those pigs that drowned.

And about,

they should have all fallen

on their faces and said,

Lord, thank you

for saving these demoniacs

and delivering them

from the power of Satan.

We want to know more about you.

No, get in your boat

and take your disciples with you

and let us never see

your face again.

But Jesus said to the demoniac,

the former demoniac,

you stay and tell them.

Go around,

tell them how great things

that God did for you.

And he knew he was the son of God.

He said,

he went around telling them

what Jesus did for him.

The Jehovah Witnesses would say,

you're mistaken.

Jesus is not God.

But that man wasn't mistaken.

There was work to do

on the other side of the lake,

so let's go.

A girl is dying and suffering.

A woman is pining away and suffering.

We've got work to do.

Let's keep that in mind

while we're living.

There are people around us

that need the Lord.

There are people around us

that just need a word of comfort.

A tap on the shoulder,

an arm around the neck,

a gospel tract,

just a few minutes to talk to them

about their life, right?

Let's keep that in mind.

There's work to do for the Lord.

There are people that need the Lord.

None too soon.

Though Jairus may have thought,

oh, if he'd only gotten there sooner.

No, he'll find out, won't he?

Jesus must rescue Jairus

and the anonymous elect sister now.

Twelve years.

Debilitated.

But that's okay.

That's not too hard for the Lord.

He cured a man.

A man who was 18 years a hunchback.

You can remember growing up

and going to Little League

and one of the coaches

was a hunchback.

Felt so sorry for him.

He had to look up

in order to see you

and it was so sad.

He was hunched over.

May have been like a 5'10 man

and he was hunched over

to be about 5'5".

It was horrible.

The misery.

Jesus,

Jesus healed someone like that.

38 years blind

and he healed.

Hurry was the word.

Now they heard Jesus was there.

Hurry.

Was Jairus impatient and urgent

when Jesus stopped?

What was he doing,

brother and sister?

What would you have been doing

if you knew Jesus was nearby

and your daughter or your son

were in bed and they're dying?

And the crowd is moving

towards your house

and Jesus is moving

and all of a sudden he stops

and he turns around

and everything stops.

What would you have done?

Am I throwing Jairus under the bus

to say that he was probably saying,

oh, come on, please, please.

I hope he, please, why has he stopped?

Aren't there a lot of people touching him?

Why did he ask who touched me?

Is he, is he, is he not understanding?

Is he not concerned?

Because remember, Jairus had only one child.

This 12-year-old girl and she was dying.

He was desperate.

He was urgent.

Do you have any desperation in your prayers?

Any urgency in our prayers?

Our loved ones are a heartbeat away.

Have we lost our urgency?

Sin has brought misery

and Jesus is just a touch away.

Keep that in mind.

Though he's gone to heaven,

he's here because he's the son of God

and he's omnipresent

and he's still as powerful as ever.

He's strong to save.

And though you and I can't be in Michigan,

or in West Virginia,

or in Tennessee,

or in Wisconsin,

or in Utah,

though we can't be in some of these places

where our loved ones are,

Jesus is there.

Jesus can pass by any moment.

Right now where they are.

He's just a touch away.

But the third thought is just touch him.

You've got to touch him.

He's got to touch you.

And you can be healed.

You can be saved.

You've got to get to Jesus.

Our loved ones have to get to him.

He's got to get to them.

We cry, Lord, come.

Go to their house.

Lord, go to their heart.

Go to their mind.

Here is a woman stealthily going to Jesus.

Remember, they all,

they all wore robes.

So you could hide yourself.

You can't in these days,

but you could hide yourself.

And look, look at her trying to get through

and trying to weave through the crowd

like a running back trying to,

no wonder others were jostled.

And she got to him.

You know who we call her?

Lady Nicodemus.

You remember Sheffy called a woman

that was from the elite party.

She was a part of town up on the hill

and she came down to the tent meetings.

If any of you have seen the film Sheffy.

And she came stealthily on her white horse.

I don't know if it's true.

But people like that

come to the outside of services,

tent meetings,

and maybe behind bushes they're listening.

They don't want anybody to see them

or there'll be the laugh of the town.

In her case,

they'd be horrified

if they knew she was there.

But she came in secretly.

Lady Nicodemus.

A sea of robes all around her.

And she just said,

if I just touch the hem of his garment,

if I just touch his clothes,

I will be healed.

You see, is that superstition?

Magic?

Do you think there's magical,

magical clothes?

Is our faith perfect when we get to the Lord?

Did you have perfect faith

when you got saved?

When they just saw the shadow

of Peter's handkerchiefs?

They were healed, it says.

Was that superstition?

Doesn't God save us despite ourselves?

Amen.

Are we looking for perfect conversions,

perfect prayers?

I think sometimes we're just

thinking people,

it ought to be perfect to walk in here.

Jesus sat with sinners.

He wasn't looking for perfect conversation

and perfect repentance.

Sometimes we're happy if people have their ties

perfectly set.

Their language is all,

they're all moral and they're in church.

It's like someone said,

what does it mean that people go to church every week?

It means that they go to church every week.

It's all it means in many cases.

But is our heart in church every week?

Is our heart in our Bible readings?

Is our heart with the Lord?

But is it a leap of application?

That the robe of Jesus

is a picture of his righteousness?

Now she didn't have great theology.

I don't think she was coming saying,

well his robe is a picture of his righteousness

that I need imputed to me.

And the hem of his garment

is the finished work of the garment.

And I know that Jesus is going to make atonement for me

and going to finish the work for my salvation.

We know that's not her.

That's not her mentality.

She was just saying,

it's part of Jesus.

Whatever part Jesus plays

is saving brother and sister.

Everything he did is for our salvation.

His life and his death and his resurrection.

Every part that Jesus did,

played,

is for our salvation.

We had no part.

Our trust is in Christ alone.

Though the Bible does speak of

robes of righteousness

and the finished work of Christ,

she was just wanting the connection to Jesus.

Just touch Jesus.

All that our loved ones would just touch Jesus

and trust him.

Touch is a synonym for trust,

for faith.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you'll be saved.

The Bible says so many ways.

Call upon the name of the Lord

and you'll be saved.

Peter just said,

Lord save me.

And Jesus touched him.

And he was into the boat.

Maybe this woman,

you know,

after she touched Jesus,

the Lord says that virtue came out of him.

What power.

The word for power.

You see how the Lord was feeling

in a sense drained all the time.

His saving power was constantly being given

and given and given and given and given.

And yet there was more power to give.

There were more people that would be saved.

But can you imagine,

Peter gave this woman a little bit of an escape route.

Peter had this airtight logic, right?

Like somebody said,

Lord, what do you mean who touched you?

Peter always stuck his foot in his mouth, didn't he?

Just like I do.

Lord, everybody's jostling to touch you.

What do you mean who touched me?

You've been touched a hundred times.

And he ignored her.

Maybe she thought,

yeah, Peter's now diverting attention from me.

Not so.

The Lord pays attention to each one of us.

Nobody distracts the Lord from you and me.

He loves each one of his people.

Don't think you're not significant.

He died for you.

Is that not significant?

He cares for your prayers.

He hears your prayers and my prayers.

He cares for you and me.

So he ignores Peter.

And he's looking for the woman.

Of course, in his omniscience, he knows where she is.

But he wants her to come.

You say, Lord, why would you embarrass her?

She's embarrassed.

She's now clean.

She's now whole.

She's now able to go to the synagogues

and go back to her family

and go into the market and do business.

And she's able now to be a full-blown citizen again.

He wants her to be bold.

He wants her to testify of his grace

and of her newness of life

and the fact that her life is now complete.

He wants her to be bold.

He wants her to testify of his grace.

Her being in the crowd

did not make anybody else unclean.

They were all pure.

And her touch to the Savior

did not make him unclean.

He made her clean.

Jesus does not contract sin

when he becomes a sin offering for you and me.

The panic of exposure.

Don't worry, young lady, if she's younger.

Jesus knows his own.

He wants his own to step forward.

He wants them to know.

And besides, I think that he wants to save her

besides healing her

because there were people that got healed

without being saved.

Oh, how often you hear people say

when you ask them,

are you a Christian?

Well, I had an operation

and I was hanging over my gurney.

So if you got healed,

thank God for his goodness.

But you know his grace.

Having a drink of water is his goodness.

Having food is his goodness.

But are you saved?

That's the key.

So this woman comes back

and he calls her daughter.

It's the only time in the New Testament

Jesus comes up and just says to someone,

daughter.

Now the daughter of Jairus is dying.

But Jesus comes to this woman

and he calls her daughter.

I believe there's salvation taking place,

not just healing.

He says to her after she comes to Jesus,

trembling, verse 47,

and falling down before him.

And now she apparently opens up her hood

so she can speak for everybody to hear.

She's not ashamed.

She declares unto him before,

for all the people,

go home to thy friends, he told the demoniac.

You see the parallel?

Don't be silent.

Who confesses me before men?

I will confess before my father

and all his holy angels.

She declared unto him before all the people

for what cause she had touched him

and how she was healed immediately.

Now here's salvation, brother and sister.

Daughter.

How precious.

Daughter.

How comforting.

How touching.

Be of good comfort.

Thy faith hath made thee whole.

You have had saving faith.

It's your faith.

I gave it to you.

But those last words,

go in peace.

He doesn't say that to a lost sinner.

What does he say to a lost sinner?

Flee from the wrath to come.

Go troubled until you get to Christ.

Go troubled.

Remember D.L. Moody said

to that crowd in Chicago,

go home and think about it.

And it was the night of the Chicago fire.

And hundreds of those people

that had heard the gospel perished.

He said, I'll never do that again.

I'll always give a challenge

at the end to believe on Christ.

Not an altar call,

as it were,

to force decisions

and to give people false hope.

You can remember D. Martin Lloyd-Jones

in London saying to Billy Graham,

Billy, I'll support you

if you stop your high-powered invitations

and you stop having liberals

on your platform.

I'll support you.

He wouldn't do it.

1953.

I'm not saying there weren't any people

saved in those high-powered invitations.

But how many people were sent back

to their liberal churches

and not, if anybody comes forward,

make sure they go to good churches in London.

They were being sent to Roman Catholic churches

and liberal churches.

I'm not saying he never saw people saved.

But you don't do wrong

in order to have a chance to do right.

This man, or this Savior,

said to the woman,

go in peace.

We only have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This woman was saved

by Jesus.

He had time for her

and he took time.

He stopped to talk to her.

You know, perhaps for the first time in her life

she had a beaming face.

Not just because she was dried and healed,

but she was forgiven.

She had,

hope of heaven

and peace with God now

through Jesus Christ.

Do you and I have peace with God?

Peace that's from God?

Peace with God?

And the peace of God

that passes all understanding?

Billy Graham's son

is preaching the gospel.

We've given to the organizations

of the Samaritan's Purse.

That's the gospel of faith.

Franklin does preach the gospel.

He's careful.

We ought to be careful

to not give people false hope,

to give people true hope.

That through Jesus

we can say,

be of good comfort.

Your faith has made you whole.

Now you can go in peace.

Now you can set your

head on your pillow tonight

and not be afraid

if you die during the night.

the night to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord