Gospel—John Kaiser
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Good evening.
You are each here more welcome than you know, or that I can express, or that you can imagine, or I can imagine.
I think.
If we all knew.
The love of God as we will know it, those of us who are saved.
We would.
Hardly contain ourselves in our seats tonight.
That's why I say you are more welcome than you know.
Let's begin my singing. Very familiar song and I'll take this ACC occasion to apologize to my fellow brethren for not bringing the hymn sheets this year. It was an oversight on my part.
It was on the list, but I didn't read the list.
Number 93.
Number 93.
What a friend we have in Jesus. You know most of the things that we sing in the way of hymns.
Are understatements. If they're true, they don't begin to fully express the truth behind them. It's just the opposite of the songs of the world. The songs of the world are generally overstatements.
The hymns tend to be hymns concerning the the Bible, the gospel concerning God. They tend to be understatements. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God.
In prayer.
Number 93.
Thank you God in prayer.
Followed by it, we are before the end of the.
Oh, that everybody here knows the history behind this young, but it's my privilege.
To spend several hours every week in a juvenile detention center and we have a golf, we have two gospel services and a Bible study. And we often sing this him. And when we sing this hymn, I tell them the story behind it because I think it's very significant.
This hymn was written about 150 years ago by a Irishman named Joseph Scriven. He lived in Ireland, obviously.
Umm, and.
He got to marrying age. He got engaged to a girl.
And the day before their wedding, if I remember the story correctly, the day before their wedding, she drowned.
Uh, he moved to Canada to start a new life, moved to Port Hope ON.
And it wasn't too long and he met another girl and he got engaged to her and she died of tuberculosis.
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And then?
He wrote.
What a friend we have a Jesus.
Verse 3.
Are we?
Solace means comfort.
If you don't have comfort in Jesus tonight.
This meeting is especially for you.
Tonight I want to talk about two women and three doors.
The two women are in the Bible.
And we'll begin with reading about one in Mark Chapter 5.
Mark chapter 5 and we'll start with verse 24.
And Jesus went with him.
And much people followed him and thronged him.
You know I started the wrong one.
Pardon me, I meant to go to Matthew 26 first.
I'll tell you why I went to Mark five first. I'm making thinking about this woman in Mark 5 for several days. But then I started thinking about this woman in Matthew 26 today and I thought she should be included. So let's go to Matthew 26 and we'll get back to Mark 5, Lord willing, Matthew 26 and verse 6.
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the House of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. And when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.
When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble you the woman? She hath brought a good work upon me.
For you have the poor always with you, but me you do not have always.
For him that she has poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily, I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world.
There shall also this that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
I wanted to start the meeting with three points about this one. I really plan to plan to spend more time talking about the other woman in Mark 5, but there's three things.
I just learned where the mic is. There's three things that are very significant here.
Notice this woman. We don't know who she was, We don't know her background. She came and she anointed the Lord Jesus with some expensive ointment.
And.
The disciples.
UMM has something to say about it.
It says when the disciples saw it, they had an Indian nation saying to what purpose is.
This waste, now you might have sympathized with them.
Umm, I'll, I'll confess, I'm not into using expensive ointments. And, uh, they had seen a lot of poverty.
But they were wrong.
They had been with Jesus three years, or maybe not three years by this time. They had been spent a considerable time with Jesus.
They were his disciples, they spent considerable time with Jesus, but they had not learned to appreciate Him.
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As this woman had, how she learned what what previous experience she had with the Lord Jesus, we don't know.
She doesn't say anything, she just comes in and anoints the Lord Jesus with this expensive ointment. Why do I bring this up? You know, we might look at the small number here. We might think of other similar situations where.
We say, what's the use? What's the point?
The point is that this woman honored the Lord Jesus. She was in the current of God's thoughts.
Which is why the Lord Jesus commanded her and said that.
Wherever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done.
Be told from memorial ever.
She had, consciously or unconsciously, she had God's thoughts.
You know, we might tend to. And there are people who do they, they believe that preaching the gospel is foolishness. It's a waste. They might say that this meeting here tonight is a waste. I look in the room and I'm sure most here, if not all, have heard the gospel before.
But are we seeing it the way God sees it? Faith sees.
Things the way God sees them doesn't say we see everything the way God sees everything. Not suggesting that, but faith enables us to see what God.
Wants us to see, as he sees it, this woman. This was an act of faith. It would not have been commended otherwise.
She had an understanding of the value of the Lord Jesus Christ and so.
The first thing we learn here is that God does not think the way we do.
We need to understand that and never forget it.
This is something I stress so often when preaching to the boys at the detention center. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. That's why we're told to repent over and over in Scripture. Repent. The word pant means think. Repent means to rethink. And every one of us says in Acts chapter 17, God commands all men everywhere.
To repent. And so everyone in this room now knows why you're here, because repentance is something that's ongoing.
We all naturally think wrong thoughts, and we need to have God's thoughts.
So first thing, God doesn't think the way we do. Second thing.
This was not a waste. Yeah, so we understand that now. We know that the disciples thought it was a waste, but they don't understand the character of God.
If they left God out of the picture.
Did it ever occur to you that God never wastes anything?
God never wastes anything. You remember the Lord Jesus when he fed the thousands, He told his disciples to gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.
Its characteristic. God does not waste anything. We waste things, we waste time, we waste money, we waste effort, we waste emotion, we waste our thoughts, we waste our lives because we don't know how to manage things. That's not God's problem. He knows how to manage everything. He's totally efficient. God never waste anything. It's wonderful to know that.
Even the things that we waste, as depicted in the feeding of the thousands, the people threw the stuff down and the Lord gathered it up or had his disciples gathered up. The things that we waste, God can do something with Him.
You may look over your life and say my life's been wasted. A good part of my life's been wasted.
Wait till you see.
What God has done with what you've neglected.
You know, when we get to glory, those of us that are going to be there, we're going to look back at the most mundane things in our lives and we're going to see every second in every circumstance glitter with the grace of God.
God is going to turn it all for good.
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If there's someone here tonight that's depressed.
You're feeling defeated.
Don't leave God out of the picture.
He's capable for everything. He can manage everything.
The third thing we see in this sorry and we're gonna see in the next one is that God is interested in individuals. This woman walks in, doesn't appear that she was invited, doesn't appear that she said anything, doesn't appear that she was welcome.
But the Lord.
Spent some time speaking about her and I want you to know that God is interested in individuals. It's another thing I try to stress when I'm speaking to the.
Boys and girls at the juvenile detention center, because so many of them feel unwanted. They feel their lives are worthless. Nobody wants them. Nobody cares. God is interested in you tonight, more interested in you than you are yourself.
He's more, I say that again. He is more interested in you than you are.
He's been thinking about you longer. He knew about this evening.
Before you were born.
And so you're here tonight.
For his purposes, the Bible says the steps of a Goodman are ordered of the Lord.
There was this was, there was no, this was no accident. This incident we read about in Scripture. The Lord was in the right place at the right time.
This woman was in the right place at the right time.
And you're here tonight.
And I hope you understand this God's purpose to encourage you to bless you.
To help you tonight.
Now let's turn to.
Mark 5.
Mark chapter 5, verse 24. We're jumping into the middle of a story. There's a story within a story.
It says Jesus went with him. That's a ruler. We won't read about his story and much people followed him and thronged him. And a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things with many physicians and has spent all that she had and was nothing better, but rather grew worse when she had heard of Jesus came in the press behind and touched his garment and said.
If I may touch but his clothes.
I shall be whole and straightway. The fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the plague.
And Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned and.
And about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, There were Thou seest the multitudes thronging thee, And sayest thou who touched me? And he looked about, around about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
And he said unto her, Daughter, Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go in peace and be whole of thy plague.
Again, here's a woman not named. We don't know what how she knew about the Lord Jesus, but she had faith. She came to Jesus.
Came behind unobtrusively.
Hoping not to be noticed.
She came to the Lord Jesus.
And thought, she said within herself, she was speaking to herself.
If I can only touch his clothing.
Another place says the border of his garment and because this story is told in two other Gospels. And so she she was just wanting to touch the Lord Jesus. She had faith that just this indirect connection with Jesus.
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With healer.
Have you ever had an indirect connection with Jesus?
If a friend invited you here tonight, if your parents brought you here tonight, that was an indirect connection with Jesus.
But you know the Lord Jesus wanted more than that. He wanted more than an indirect connection. But notice the indirect connection was all that was needed. Why? It was faith. She just touched his clothing.
It was an act of faith.
You know, sometimes people say, I'm not sure I have enough faith. It's not the issue of how much faith you have. It's the the question is, who do you have faith in?
Have you touched? Have you had this contact with the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? You know this woman, she might have stayed in the crowd and she might have gotten close and.
If she hadn't touched him, would she have been healed?
It took the touch, a simple contact with the Lord Jesus. You know, we sang this hymn. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. That's how we touch God. That's how we touch the Lord Jesus. Prayer. He hears, He's sensitive.
Far more sensitive than we are. He's listening.
And so this woman gets behind him, and she says it may touch his clothes. I'll be whole. And straight away the fountain of her blood was dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of the plague. And Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? Now I wanna know that. I want you to notice there's two knowings in this story.
Jesus knowing and looking verse 33 it says.
The woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her.
Knowing.
God has given us this book so we can know.
It says in first John chapter 5 verse 13, these things are written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
So often that's been my privilege to preach the gospel.
I've been preaching the gospel since I was 13 years old. 57 years.
My grandfather started taking me into jails with him at that age. And so often I've talked to people and say, you're going to heaven. Always say yes, yeah, I'm going to heaven. Are you sure? Well, they say, I hope so.
Who are you trusting?
You say you hope so.
Is God not reliable? Is His Word not reliable?
The word of God says that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The word of God says the way to the sin is death, but the gift of God.
How hard is it to get a gift? The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The word of God says as many as received him to them. He gave the power to become the sons of God.
God has given us a book so we can know what's interesting. That knowing first mention here is the knowing of the Lord Jesus. He knew all about this woman.
He knew about her before she approached him.
But he also knew that he had touched her, that she had touched him. He knew that she had touched him.
You know there's a verse in Scripture that says the Lord knows.
Them that are His. And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord knows who are His in this room here tonight.
Are you his? Do you know? You can know. That's why you're here tonight, so you can know. It's a wonderful thing to know.
You know, if this building caught fire, you'd wanna know where the exits are, right? You probably already do. Aren't you glad?
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It's a wonderful thing to know.
This woman knowing.
Jesus knowing, excuse me, verse 30 in himself that virtue had gone out of him and virtue just means power had gone out of him, turned about in the press, that's the crowd and said who touched my clothes? If you read this story in the other Gospels, you would understand why the disciples interpreted it here, who touched me? Because that's what the Lord Jesus also said in the other gospels, who touched me touched his clothes.
It's the simplest contact. He recognizes it, he feels it. You know, talking about indirect contact.
There's such a thing as indirect negative contact too. You know when the apostle Paul.
Before he was saved, he was called Saul. When Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, was arrested on the road to Damascus, the Lord Jesus said to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And Jesus was in heaven.
And he got, he took very personally that indirect contact where Saul was persecuting Christians.
And Jesus said to Saul, why do you persecute me?
You know.
God.
Is involved in your life. He's very conscious, more conscious of you, of everything you do than you are.
Conscious of your thoughts.
You know, umm.
God holds us responsible for our thoughts. We could look at some stories about that too.
So he said, who touched me? And the disciples thought it was strange. Why would he? He's got a crowd around him. But you see, the Lord Jesus could tell the difference between a touch of faith and a touch of a mere crowd.
Have you touched the Lord Jesus in a positive way tonight or have you touched him in a negative way like the like Saul did? Have you been against him or have you trusted him?
You know, it's one or the other. There's no neutrality.
So he says, who touched me and he looked around to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her. You know, the the Scripture says the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. It's a wonderful thing to know your relationship with God.
And you could know it tonight.
It's a wonderful thing to be ready to meet God.
So she came, fearing and trembling before him. Why? She didn't really know him. She had trusted him, but she didn't know his heart. She knew something had happened, but she didn't have peace.
And you know, there are those who who recognize power in the person of the Lord Jesus, but they don't have peace.
Because they haven't gotten to know him.
And so he said to her, I said, well, excuse me, verse 33 again She, the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing it was done her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth.
She confessed to him what she had done. You can read about it a little bit more detail on some of the other gospels.
I want to talk to you about confession for a moment. Confession is important.
You know it says in script in Romans chapter 10 verse nine, if you will confess with your mouth.
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. You will be saved.
Have you ever confessed Jesus as Lord? It's a wonderful thing to confess Jesus as Lord. Why is it wonderful? Because it says if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, you'll be saved. It has a practical effect in our own lives, speaking up for the Lord.
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And so this woman, she came and confessed to him, to the Lord Jesus.
And he says two things to her.
Uh, three things actually says daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now this is an this word. Faith is a very misunderstood word. A lot of people say I have faith, but all it is is self-confidence.
Faith is taking God at His word. Faith now this.
This, this woman had heard. Obviously she'd heard something about the Lord Jesus.
And she?
Acted on what she'd heard, that's faith. Acting on what you've heard from God about the Lord Jesus Christ, That's faith. I wanna express, explain faith a little bit.
I like to tell the story of Brian and Laura.
Years ago there was a fellow that came to work with me. His name was Brian.
And.
He was just out of high school.
Maybe he'd had one job before he came to work at Bible Truth Publishers. But.
He was a young guy and maybe 20.
And after you worked a little while, he saved up some money and he bought himself a beautiful yellow motorcycle.
And I watched him enjoy that motorcycle for a year or two. He rode it to and from work and good weather and.
And then I noticed it wasn't, he wasn't riding anymore.
And I said to Brian, Brian, what happened to your motorcycle?
Oh, he said. I'm getting married.
Now I want to tell you how that worked. Let's turn to Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11 verse one. It says now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things.
Not seen.
Well, Brian had met this girl named Laura.
And it turned out he liked it pretty well, and she liked him. And he proposed and she accepted. She promised to marry him.
He had a hope out there because faith and hope go together. He had a hope out there.
And his faith in Laura's word made that hope that was still months away.
A present.
Actionable reality. He wasn't married to her yet.
But he sold his motorcycle to pay for the honeymoon. He believed Laura. And that future thing, that distant, that unseen promised thing, that hope, became something that, in his present, made a difference.
It was the same with this woman who came to the Lord Jesus. She says If I can just touch the heaven's garment, she had a hope.
She reached out and that hope became a reality.
Now have you trusted the Lord Jesus?
Have you come to him in faith?
He knows.
Let's turn back to our story.
Mark chapter 5.
I should point out to you.
Then Luke in Hebrews Chapter 11 it also says a few verses further down. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Faith is a requirement. This book requires faith. A relationship with God requires faith.
In God you need, you need to take God at His Word.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. If you're trying to please God on your own terms, you're wasting your time. Would you, if you want to, went to work for an employer on your own terms, would you? Would you keep your job long? No. If you want a relationship with God, it has to be on his terms, and his terms are faith, he says. You have to trust me.
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So he that comes to God must believe that he is.
Are you dealing with somebody real, somebody you can't see and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him? What does that mean? God is a rewarder means God is responsive.
A rewarder is somebody who dispenses something as a reward for some action performed.
God is a rewarder. He is responsive. He's responsive to both good and evil. He's a rewarder, it says here in.
Hebrews, eleven of those that diligently seek Him. In other words, God's not interested in a casual relationship. He loves you. He loves you deeply. He paid a tremendous price for your salvation.
A casual relationship is an insult.
So back to our version, our passage in Mark 5.
Hmm.
Mark five verse.
34 He says, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.
He calls her daughter. He says he's compassionate. I want you to know the Lord Jesus is compassionate.
This was woman, I don't suppose had endured much compassion, that experience much compassion in her life. She had a an affliction which did not make her attractive. It was a an affliction that was distressing to her.
She was in need of comfort, and most people are.
Most people.
In this world are more miserable than anybody else suspects.
So this the Lord Jesus says to her, daughter, Thy faith has made thee whole.
Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. Two things go in peace.
That's relationship. Go in peace. Do you have a relationship with God? Are you at peace with God tonight?
I want you to know that peace is not a dead relationship. Peace with God. The peace of God, Scripture says, passes all understanding. It's it's something dynamic.
It was a hymn written Oh, the peace forever flowing from God's thoughts of his own Son. Oh, the peace of simply knowing on the cross that all was done.
It's a dynamic piece. It's an enriching piece.
You know, umm, I can walk into an empty house and that's one kind of piece.
But I can walk into a house full of love, and that's another kind of piece. What should you prefer?
An empty piece The world. There's many people in this world that go on with an empty piece. They they've put God out of their lives. They have developed a seared conscience and nothing troubles them.
At least nothing they'll admit.
But it's an empty piece. It's a dead piece.
And it's not going to last.
The Lord Jesus said I have come, let's turn to it. John, chapter 14.
John, Chapter 14.
Umm verse 27. Lord Jesus said to his disciples.
To His disciples, those who believed in Him, who trusted Him. Peace I leave with you, My peace I giveth you not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. The Lord Jesus gives a peace that this world knows nothing of. This world tries to make a compromise peace and negotiating peace.
The Lord Jesus went to the cross and made a total peace.
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He took care of every issue between you and God, if you'll have peace from Him on God's terms.
So he says to this woman back in Mark 5.
Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. This is a promise.
In other words, this wasn't a temporary thing. She was cured for life.
She was cured for life.
You know God.
Is interested in the relationship and he's interested in the issues that mar the relationship. So we have these two theories. Two things here. Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Now this woman, it says she'd had this problem for 12 years. 12 years is a long term problem. Maybe there's someone here tonight who's been struggling with an issue for 12 years.
For a long time. Or maybe it feels like 12 years.
Maybe it's longer?
The Lord Jesus can make you whole of that plague. He can do it.
Now we've talked about the two women.
And, uh, you may wonder what this thing's up here for.
And I'm talking about the two 2 doors. 3 doors.
And I'm just knowing that most of us have the background. I'm not going to explain a whole lot, but I'm going to give you a presentation, something to stick in your mind, because I know visuals stick in our minds. And this is a visual I've never used before.
I when I found out I had this responsibility.
I thought of I have a whole collection of visuals I've used over the years and I couldn't think of 1 to use and then this came to mind and so I want you to consider it.
We'll call this your life Room.
It has three doors.
You came on in one of those doors.
And that door of birth.
Is one way.
You came in.
And you can't leave that door. That's the wrong one here.
Got the wrong one.
You can't go back, You may say. I wish I'd ever been warned. A lot of people said that.
A lot of people change their mind about it too.
That's a door, that is, it opened once you came in and it shut.
By the way, in scripture.
Let's look at a verse.
In Revelation chapter 3.
And read this verse 7 here that says.
Revelation chapter 3, verse 7.
These things and and to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia, right these things, saith he that is holy.
He that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth.
And shutteth a No man openeth.
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Anyone want to guess what these other two doors might be?
There's only one door into life in our lives, but there's two doors out.
Heaven and hell.
Serious. Now you may say, well, maybe one, maybe one door is death, but that's superficial. Let's get down to what's really sobering, serious reality.
There's 2 doors for exit.
Heaven and hell.
And someday.
God is going to say it's time to leave.
Let me ask you.
Which door are you going out?
I want to tell you this is not a picture of my life room.
You see, years ago I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
And that door for me is locked, and this door for me is open.
Sometimes I.
Like, like tell the young people that if I die tonight, I go to heaven and I say why? Oh, because you're good. No. No.
It's because Jesus died for me.
This is a picture of my life room. This door is open. For me. That door is forever shut for me. That door is shut. Now let me ask you a question. If I were to draw your life room.
What would your doors look like?
I wanna tell you something.
It may be this.
Maybe that God is still offering.
To save, to bring you to himself, skip yourself. Remember, says in in.
Which quoted in Hebrews 11. He that cometh to God must believe.
Have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ?
If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, hell is blocked for you. But I'm going to tell you something if you die.
Very serious thing.
I want you to remember this and think about it.
What your life room looks like.
Where you're going to go? Where you're going to spend eternity? With whom?
With whom are you going to spend eternity?