[0:00] It's in Matthew chapter 14, verses 35 and 36. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased.
[0:13] And we saw to him that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched were made perfectly whole. When the men of that place had knowledge of him.
[0:27] Remember that, to a certain degree, the knowledge of the Lord and his work will have spread, not least through the storm. That he will have calmed. People will have witnessed that there was a storm on the lake.
[0:39] That it was suddenly calmed. That the ship that went out without Jesus in it came back with him in it. They would have wondered the miracle of that. They will be conscious of all that he's been doing up until now.
[0:51] And so this is a reaction by those of Gennesaret, which is on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. This is a reaction of them quite different from those of the Gadarenes, where the swine ran down the hill and were choked in the sea.
[1:07] And the demon-possessed man was healed. They wanted him to leave. They wanted him to go. But rather, what we find here in Gennesaret is, when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all the country round about and brought unto him all that were deceased.
[1:24] First of all, if we are going to have any benefit from the Lord Jesus Christ, we must know him. We must have knowledge of him. Now, in a very real sense, to know him is to love him.
[1:38] Yes, that's true. But we must have, at the very least, knowledge of him, when the men of that place had knowledge of him. If we have the knowledge, we can at least know where it is we might go.
[1:51] Remember that ignorance of Christ is the devil's great desire. He desires to keep people in ignorance of the Lord. This is one reason why, of course, the aggressive atheist movement nowadays wants to take Bibles out of hotel rooms, wants to take Bibles out of hospitals, wants to make sure there's no Christian input to school assemblies and so on.
[2:15] Why is that? Those of us who are believers, we think, well, you know, the number of people actually going to be converted from picking up a Bible and reading it in a hospital bedside. You know, it's minuscule number of people that might be helping just opening a hotel room drawer and picking up a Bible and actually reading it instead of watching the TV or flicking channels.
[2:32] We think, well, that's hardly anyone. The content of school assemblies, it's so diluted. It's so, you know, it's so weak and so just bite-sized for children.
[2:45] How can that possibly be something that will have a deep effect on people and yet the devil knows what we, in a sense, do not know? He knows that people have been converted and reached and touched by pulling out a hotel room drawer and finding a Bible in it and reading it and their lives have been changed.
[3:03] He knows that people have been helped in time of distress when they picked up a Bible beside their hospital bedside. He knows that the knowledge of Christ is, for his purposes, a dangerous thing.
[3:16] And ignorance of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of his greatest tools. If he can make it so that people can never hear, that they're not allowed to hear, then they will not be in a position to be saved.
[3:29] The Apostle Paul, of course, makes reference to this in Romans 10. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Fine. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
[3:40] And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? I almost wish that last bit wasn't in the verse there because it makes us all think, oh, that's okay.
[3:51] I'm not a preacher, so I don't have to worry about it. But it's a necessity that is laid upon us all. Not simply that we must have knowledge of Christ, but that we must be partly those who impart the knowledge.
[4:05] Those who spread the knowledge. If we have Christ within our hearts, we cannot help but live it. We cannot help but seek that others should find it. If we truly know Christ, it is the greatest thing we have ever experienced in our lives.
[4:20] It will have transformed our lives. We will want others to benefit from it. When the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all the country roundabout.
[4:32] Their knowledge, even if they would not heed his doctrine, even if they weren't witness, oh, yeah, you've got to heal this man. Send him in the kingdom of God. All they want, perhaps, some of them, is to be healed.
[4:44] All they want, perhaps, is self-interest. If the doctrine of Christ and the knowledge of the kingdom of God will not bring people to Jesus, let at least self-interest bring us to him.
[4:56] Because it is that which is for the best of our lives, the best of our souls, the best of our bodies, that will transform every aspect of our lives.
[5:07] This knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is where it begins. And it is the failure to act on that knowledge, which is one of the greatest condemnations that Jesus speaks of.
[5:22] In Luke 19, we read in verses 41 and 42, when he's come near, he beheld the city that is Jerusalem and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace.
[5:39] But now they are hid from thine eyes. If thou hadst known, if thou was knowledge of the fact that Christ has come amongst them, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace.
[5:54] But now they are hid from thine eyes. John chapter 1, verse 10, we read, He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not.
[6:06] The absence of the knowledge of Christ sends multitudes to hell. It is this knowledge of Jesus which must be acted on.
[6:18] Because we go on to read in John 1, He came unto his own, his own received him not. Even some who have knowledge of him will not receive him. They will reject him. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
[6:36] But how can they believe in him in whom they have not heard? How can they hear without a preacher? One who will make known. It doesn't have to be somebody formally in a pool, but it may be somebody just conversationally mentioning what Christ has done in their lives or the importance he has been to them.
[6:54] Ezekiel puts it thus, chapter 2, verse 5, They, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are a rebellious house, yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
[7:06] Now, the men of Gennesaret, they knew there was a prophet amongst them. They knew at the time. Some places like Chorazin and Capernaum and others that Jesus criticizes, they perhaps would not know until afterwards just how privileged they had been.
[7:23] But the men in the land of Gennesaret, when they had knowledge of him, they sent out into all the country round about. To know of Christ is our first mate.
[7:35] We cannot be saved by one of whom we have not heard or whom we do not know. Now, how do we get to know him? Well, yes, you hear about him from other people. You hear the testimony of other people.
[7:47] You hear the conversation of other people who know Christ as their saviour. But that only takes you so far. You cannot, in a sense, go secondhand. You cannot be saved by somebody else's faith.
[8:00] If we would know Christ for ourselves, then we must seek him where he is to be found. And the reliable place where we find him is in his word.
[8:10] It is in the gospel accounts. It is in the letters of the apostles that talk about his work and his spirit. It is in the Old Testament that prophesies his coming and prepares the way for the Lord.
[8:21] The Old Testament and the New Testament are all about Christ. It's not just the gospel accounts. But we start there. And we start in the gospel accounts. And we find Jesus there as he really is.
[8:35] Not some drippy, sentimental, modern-day version of him. But rather the real Jesus we find in the gospel accounts. And as we encounter him and we recognize that he is alive.
[8:48] And that he desires to be involved in our lives. We pray to him. And as we pray to him, we make contact with him. Because the Lord has said that those who seek him shall find.
[9:00] And that he shall be found of them in a hay of his grace. He will reach out to them who are reaching up to him. And those who seek him, he will make that contact with them.
[9:11] None shall be turned away from Christ. The knowledge of Jesus is that which we must have first. If we are going to reach out, as it were, and touch him.
[9:22] We must seek him where he is to be found. And while he is to be found. Because why are the men of Gennesaret doing it? Why are they saying, oh, send out a place roundabout, bringing everybody who's sick.
[9:33] Why don't they just say, oh, that's great. Jesus is here. Well, you know, mention it to the martyrs. And if they have time to sort of easy, easy, bring the people who are sick. Well, that's be okay. No, there's a sense of urgency here.
[9:45] They know that Jesus moves around from place to place around Galilee and then into Jerusalem and then back again. They know he's here. They know he's here for a time. But they also know he's not going to be there forever.
[9:57] So they have to act while there is the opportunity. They have to act while he is near at hand. And the men of that place had knowledge of him. They sent out into all that country roundabout and brought unto him all that were diseased.
[10:14] Now we think of disease. Yes, we think of maybe leprosy or those who are lame or have a palsy or blind or whatever. And all these things are true. But there's also a further sense of this diseased.
[10:27] What does it break down as word-wise? It means dis-eased. We are not at ease. We are not at peace. We are dis-eased in our lives.
[10:39] Whether we are hailed and hearty in a physical sense, whether we have our bodily and physical health or not, we are dis-eased. In the sense that we are not at ease.
[10:50] We are not at peace. We are not one with the Lord as we ought to be and as we were designed to be. And two, we are at one with Christ. All that were dis-eased.
[11:03] Yes, in the original context it means those who are physically ill. But there is also likewise a deeper application here. All humanity is dis-eased.
[11:15] All humanity suffers from the fatal disease of sin, which will be the death of us eternally. Unless we have it dealt with by Christ. They brought unto him all that were diseased.
[11:27] And besought him, pleaded with them, that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched were made perfectly whole. Now, why a hem of his garment?
[11:39] Well, if you turn back a few pages, you'll find in chapter 9, verses 20 to 22, you'll find the account of the woman with the issue of blood. Which is, took place probably in Capernaum, which was quite near to Gennesaret there.
[11:52] They'd have heard about this woman. But behold, a woman which was diseased when the initial blood twelve years came behind him, touched the hem of his garment. For she said unto herself, if I may let touch his garment, I shall be whole.
[12:04] And Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman is made whole from that hour. So that word will have spread. People talk about these things.
[12:15] People mention them. The conversation, the gossip will have gone round and about. And people thought, well, it worked for her. So why would it not work for us? They'd be sought in that they might only touch the hem of the garment.
[12:27] And they're almost, as it were, asking permission. They'd be sought in. The woman sought to do it almost privately, almost sneakily, if we can use that term. Although we don't want to denounce the quality of our faith around it.
[12:40] But she sought to do it secretly. She didn't want it to be known for obvious, personal, embarrassing reasons. She didn't want a big fuss. But in the other gospel accounts, of course, Jesus says, virtue had gone out of him.
[12:52] He felt the power flow out of him when she was healed. And then she had to confess everything. And that's when he blessed her and said, Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee. May be whole.
[13:02] Go in peace. So the touching of the hem of his garment, it's not Jesus physically noticed. It's not his hands, his feet, his actual body. And there is something here, I think, which is perhaps encouraging for us.
[13:16] First of all, there is they are asking that they might only touch the hem of his garment. They're mean enough to ask. Now, Jesus, no doubt, would reach out his hand and touch as many as sought it or wished it.
[13:29] But if they're only asking to touch the hem of his garment, no doubt he's going to get permission for that. If they're asking his permission, he's not going to withhold it. And why the hem of his garment here?
[13:40] They've heard that it will work. But as I say, for us, there is something encouraging. It's not the physical body of Jesus they are touching. Not the physical body.
[13:50] It is that which maybe is special and is taken to have power because he wears it all. Because it belongs to him. It is close to him. It is, in a sense, part of him.
[14:01] But it's not actually him physically. Now, remember that the church nowadays and for 2,000 years has not had Jesus physically amongst them.
[14:13] And our inclination, inevitably, certainly mine in the past and at times always, has tended to be, if only Jesus was here in the flesh. If only he was here physically.
[14:24] Wouldn't that be so wonderful? We could listen to him actually speak. We could touch him. We could be healed of all our illnesses and diseases. Yes, if you happen to be blessed enough to be within physical touching distance of the physical presence of Jesus, that's great, except we live in Scotland and he was in Palestine.
[14:44] Not much use to us then. Or even if we were in Judea and we were in Jerusalem, he was up in Galilee. Not much help then. Or he was on the other side of the Jordan and you couldn't get across to him.
[14:56] Or else he was in the next door city but you were bedridden and you couldn't get to where you were. You know, it's all very well. But what we mean is, if only he was handy for us physically.
[15:08] If he was right here for us, wouldn't that be wonderful? It is part and parcel of the physical presence of Jesus in the world that it is constrained. It is constricted.
[15:20] In a way as it was then, which it is not now. But the message, the power, the spirit of Christ that has been taken around the world by his apostles and then his disciples in subsequent generations, his believers, his saints, his missionaries, his preachers and so on.
[15:39] Those who have taken the good news around the world have done so in the absence of the physical body of Christ. That which people have touched, that which has changed their lives is in a spiritual sense the hem of his garment.
[15:56] It is that which belongs to him. It is that which is brought by his people. You could say the church if you like. But it is also that which they hear his word and there is power in his word.
[16:08] They have his spirit given to them that brings the word alive. That same spirit changes their lives. Sometimes it heals people physically still. Certainly it heals their souls.
[16:20] It cures their dis-ease. But it is not the physical body of Jesus anymore that is touched. It is a spiritual touch, a spiritual contact.
[16:32] Now, if we say, oh yeah, but wouldn't it be so much better if he was there? Well, that's not what he himself says. John 14, remember what he says at verse 12.
[16:42] But verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.
[16:56] Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Greater works, well, as we've mentioned in the past, it's not that it's necessarily different works.
[17:07] People are still healed, whether in mission hospitals or whether with, yes, faith healings or whatever, in those places and times when it may still happen. But, you know, mission hospitals and people who seek to help and those who seek to minister mercy in the name of Christ.
[17:23] There are orphanages and mercy works and outreach to the homeless and so on. All of this that is done in the name of Jesus, it shows the love of Christ in action.
[17:34] But the point is, it is multiplied throughout the world. When the Celtic saints brought the gospel to our shores in the 500s AD, Christ had already been ascended up into heaven for 500 years.
[17:48] There hadn't been a physical presence of the physical body of Christ on earth for five centuries. And we were comparatively slow in getting the gospel here in this country.
[17:59] It had already spread into Germany and Gaul and Spain and eastwards toward India and so on, down into parts of Africa. And all of this without the physical presence of Jesus.
[18:12] What has been touched, what has been received, the power that has flowed into these peoples who have received, and received healing for their dis-ease, the sin, the suffering, the sorrow, the misery that is in their lives apart from Christ.
[18:26] This has been simply by touching the hand of His God. They have touched, as it were, the Word of God. They've received the Word. They've believed it. They have been changed.
[18:38] The presence of the Church of Jesus Christ, that living body, that bride of Christ, has shown Christ in action. The greater works that He was able to do, reverently we have to say it, but greater works that He was able to do in the physical days of His flesh, confined within that, we think, three and a half years of His life, has been multiplied phenomenally around the world.
[19:04] Without the physical, fleshly presence of Jesus in the world. They didn't touch His physical body. They besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment.
[19:17] Now, this is what they touched. This is what is still, as it were, touched nowadays. The hem of His garment. That which belongs to Him. That which is, in a sense, part of Him.
[19:28] It is special because it is His, but it's not the physical body of Jesus. There is blessing in it. Just like, you know, the healing, as it were, ointment that flows down.
[19:41] In Aaron's beard, you know, that precious ointment on the head that down the bearded flow in Aaron's beard. And to the skirtstead of His garments go. The hem of His garment is wet with the ointment that anointed His head.
[19:55] And that healing, as it were, power of Christ to heal the souls, the lives of all who touch Him. All who are brought into contact, if not with His body, then with the hem of His garment.
[20:09] With those who know Him as their personal Savior. With His word. With His spirit. As they pray to Him. And this is not just a low 80-30 mysticism. So this is real.
[20:20] And anybody who has had their life changed, transformed by the power of Christ, knows how real it is. And knows why the devil wants to keep people in ignorance. Knows why he wants people to think, Oh yeah, but that's not really real.
[20:34] That doesn't actually work. Doesn't change people's lives. We can show you people whose lives have been changed. We can introduce you to people who have been cured of addictions.
[20:45] Who have had tumors healed and disappeared from their brains. Who have been transformed physically and mentally, as well as socially, in their lives. Their lives have been transformed.
[20:57] Their families have been transformed. Their working ability has been transformed. Their lives have been completely changed from the dis-ease by which they were afflicted.
[21:09] To being made, what do we read here? Perfectly whole. Now, he's not very made perfect in the sense of sinless. Of course not. Nobody is sinless except Jesus himself.
[21:23] But if you're made perfectly whole, It means that you were restored as you ought to have been at the first. Now, it doesn't mean, for example, let's say somebody was a leper.
[21:35] And they touched the hem of Jesus' garments and their leprosy leaves it. It doesn't mean, oh well, it means there's not going to be a little group or blemish. There's not going to be a mole or anywhere on them. They're not going to have a spot, anything.
[21:48] Or they're not going to have, perhaps, a little gash in their eyelash or something like that. There's still going to be blemishes and imperfections in this fallen world, in our fallen bodies, as it were.
[21:59] But made perfectly whole means restored as they were. It doesn't mean sinless. It doesn't mean unblemished. It doesn't mean they've got the equipment of their resurrection bodies.
[22:10] It means that that which sin and the fallenness of this world have visited on their bodies and in their lives has been reversed. They have been restored.
[22:20] They have been made perfectly whole. No longer broken. No longer fractured. No longer dis-eased. But rather perfectly whole.
[22:34] Because they have touched the hem of his garment. That power is there. Not simply in the body of Christ physically.
[22:44] Not simply in that which is physically his garment. Even if the Turin shroud had been real, there wouldn't actually have been sort of magical powers if you touch it. It is in a spiritual sense that which receives and continues to bear in it the power, the love, the reality of Christ.
[23:03] He works through that. He works through it. He works through his church. He works through his people. He works through his word. He works in this world because he is alive in this world.
[23:14] And he desires still to heal, to help, to change lives. As many as such were made perfectly whole. But we must come into contact with Christ.
[23:29] That which he begins, he will complete. Just as Paul wrote to the Philippians, chapter 1, verse 16. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
[23:41] It doesn't mean there's nothing to be done day by day. You get your body completely healed. You're still going to feed it. You're still going to wash it. You know, if you don't, if you don't clothe it, if you don't look after it, it will still deteriorate.
[23:55] If you don't give it the fruit of nourishment it needs, it will still perish and die. You've got to do the maintaining of that body. Just like you've got to do the maintaining of your soul. It's not enough to say, oh yeah, I had Damascus road conversion.
[24:08] That's me now. I'm completely fine. So I don't need to pray. I don't need to read my Bible. I don't need to go to church. I don't need to nourish this faith. Because I'm sorted. That's me. Well, your body could be in absolutely A1 perfect condition one day.
[24:21] But if you don't feed it, if you don't clothe it, if you don't give it sleep, if you don't give it hygiene, if you don't provide it all the things it needs, it is going to deteriorate.
[24:32] The muscles that are not exercised will just atrophy and shrivel and they will no longer be able to function. The body that is not fed will gradually just eat away all its reserves and will die.
[24:43] The organs will pack in. If you don't give it water, it will die of thirst. If you don't exercise it, nothing will work. If you don't keep it clean, it will breed disease and so on.
[24:54] You've got to do the maintaining of it. And once we are brought to Christ, once we know Christ and have touched Christ, there is a maintaining and ongoing relationship with Him.
[25:05] We're going to look at that a little bit more this evening. Lord, what? But as many as touch one may perfectly hold, there has to be that contact with Christ.
[25:17] It's not enough to say, okay, got my Bible. That's it. They're on the shelf. I can go back to it any time. That's not contact with Christ. That's not touching Him. You've got to open it. You've got to start reading it.
[25:28] And, you know, sometimes you hear again and again stories of people who, once they begin, maybe they haven't read the Bible before, but they begin, whether they begin in John or Matthew or Mark, whatever it is, they don't just say, okay, well, I've read a few verses now.
[25:40] I've read a chapter. That's it for today. Put it back on the shelf. It's like they can't stop. They keep turning pages. They keep on going. They keep on going page after page, chapter after chapter. And they curl up in the soapbox.
[25:51] I'm out of coffee. And they keep going. And they keep going. And they can't stop until they've read up a whole gospel. And they keep on going. And they keep on going. And they keep on going. And they just can't stop. They've got to find out more about Jesus.
[26:03] They've got to make contact with Him. And that's what we've got to do. We've got to maintain that contact with Him. We've got to make that contact with Him. Because the thing is, despite what we've said about the church and about the Lord's people and about the power that's in the word and His spirit, as the hem of Christ's garment, we don't have any power in ourselves.
[26:24] Nobody in the church of Jesus Christ has power in themselves. It's the extent to which Christ works in and through that, which can help others, which can spread His word.
[26:35] We've got nothing. At the end of the day, we're just flesh and blood unless Christ lives in us. We are just waiting to die. This building is just wood and stone and glass.
[26:46] There's nothing specially magical or holy in it. It's just that the Lord covenants to meet with His people where they gather. It is the Lord who is the life, who is the power, who is the strength.
[26:59] It is because the hem of His garment is His garment that there is power coming from it. It is with Christ that we must make contact. As many as touch were made perfectly whole.
[27:13] But not those that just stood at the edge and said, oh, that would be interesting. Oh, I can't be bothered today. Oh, that's happening for a lot of other people, but I don't suppose it will happen for me. You know, you've got the knowledge of Christ and the presence of Christ you're going to touch.
[27:27] You're going to make the contact. And having made the contact, you're going to maintain the contact. If you would have Christ in your life, ask. Ask and it shall be given.
[27:39] Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. No ministers or elders or churches can do that for you. Only Christ can answer your prayer Himself. Only Christ can enter your heart.
[27:50] Only Christ can change your heart. And you learn of Him and His Word. But this truly is the Bible that is open before you. It is, as Psalm 119 says, verse 105, I think it is, a lamp unto your feet and a light to your path.
[28:07] It is the devil who wants to keep you in darkness. It is the devil who desires people to have this ignorant surprise. But the more we know of Him, the more light is shed into our heart, into our life, into our minds.
[28:23] We must be able to touch Christ. As many as touched were made perfectly whole. You reach out and touch, you make contact with Christ through His Word and through praying for Him because He does hear.
[28:37] And He will answer. And if you don't believe me, try it. What did Jesus say to His disciples? He said, oh, Master, where are you staying? He said, well, you see that house just over there?
[28:48] Just behind that one. And go on, two more houses. That's where I'm staying. He just said, come and see. And I remember when Andrew went to Peter and he said, oh, we find the Messiah.
[28:58] He says, oh, no. He said, come and see. Oh, Philip comes to Nathaniel. Does any good thing come out of Nazareth? He said, come and see. This is how you put it to the test.
[29:08] Oh, I don't believe that reading the Bible and praying to Jesus and everything is actually going to change anything. Okay, come and see. Try it out. Put it in a reverent sense to the test.
[29:20] But be serious. And be sincere. And be honest enough that when you try and when you do, to believe and recognize that He has the power to answer and to change and to cure the dis-ease of your life.
[29:38] You are not at ease without Christ. None of us is. That's why He says, come unto me, all ye that labor unto our heavy laden. Without ease will I rest.
[29:49] And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
[30:04] He doesn't mean, ah, it's no bother carrying my yoke. It's no problem. It's a cinch. No. What does He mean when He says easy? It's the opposite of this. Ease. There is an ease.
[30:15] There is a contentment. There is a fulfillment. There is a satisfaction in bearing my yoke. Because you know, in bearing the yoke of Christ, that you are doing what you were always meant to do.
[30:28] You've found the niche. The square peg has found the square hole. The round peg, the round hole. You have found that you fit exactly where you were meant to be when you are fitted with Christ.
[30:41] It is the fulfillment. It is the purpose for which you are designed. And when that purpose is achieved, when you reach that wholeness, then not only are you made perfectly whole in touching Christ, but you are enabled to maintain that and to build on that and to go on in that until you are ripened for glory.
[31:10] And what happens in glory? We are with Him for all eternity. And we are perfected there. Here you touch Christ. You make contact with Christ.
[31:23] You will be restored. Made perfectly whole. You cannot improve on what Jesus has done in your life. This was the problem you see that Paul found with the Galatians.
[31:34] They got Christ. They've been converted by the Spirit. We can just actually add to this a wee bit by adding a wee bit of the law, adding a wee bit of regulation and circumcision and a few commandments here and there.
[31:47] And we can just gild the lily a wee bit sort of thing. And we can improve on what God has done. You know, it's an insult in some ways to, you know, if the Queen had given you an invitation to a banquet at Buckingham Palace, and then at the door you were asked for your invitation, you said, well, yeah, I had one, but I didn't realize.
[32:08] So look, I made my own one here. I think my one's much nicer than the one that Our Majesty sent me. And the door was going to say, well, this one doesn't count. This isn't real. Oh, yes, but I made it myself. Well, that's fine, but that's not the one. We were saying, yeah, but I improved on it.
[32:20] No, you didn't improve on it. You can't improve on what Christ has done. You can't add a wee bit of the Old Testament law. You can't add a wee bit of Islam or Hinduism or throw in a wee bit of all the religions of the world and say, look how wonderfully diverse and yet united we are.
[32:36] You cannot put in that which is poisonous into that which is wholesome and expected to be improved. That which is of men, that which is the inventions of men, that which is of the world, will only detract from that which is of the purity of Christ.
[32:53] As many as touched him were made perfectly whole. Once you have Christ, you cannot improve on him with man-made inventions.
[33:05] Make that contact with him. The men of that place had knowledge of him. And when they did, they sent out into all that country round about and brought out to him all that were disheased.
[33:19] And all of us are in that case, one way or another. And besought him. They pled with him. They asked him that they might only touch the hem of his garment. We heard what happened with the woman with the issue of blood.
[33:30] We just want what she got. We just want that kind of healing that she had. We've heard that it's happened to others. Could it really happen for me? The answer is yes. The answer is that Jesus does have a care, a concern for you and for someone like you.
[33:45] You want to remember, in the days of my youth, I used to believe that the Lord couldn't possibly be interested in me. Because I could understand how he would be interested in super saints who were really godly, devout, and holy.
[33:58] And I can understand how people who were really down and out drug addicts in the gutter. And those whose lives were really broken and ruined. Or a life of crime and all the rest of it. If they were converted and turned, wow, what a spectacular conversion and change around that would be.
[34:13] That would really bring glory to God. And I could see how he'd be interested in them at one end of the scale. And I could see how he'd be interested in the super saints at the other end of the scale.
[34:23] But me, I was just dead ordinary. I wasn't a drug addict. And I wasn't that criminal. And I wasn't really sort of down and out at one end of the scale. And I certainly wasn't super holy at the other end.
[34:34] I was just ordinary. I was just sort of plodding along, kind of going to church, trying to do my best sort of thing. And I was very ordinary. And I thought, God can't be interested in someone like me.
[34:46] And until such time was sounds converted, that's what I continued to think. But God didn't have an interest in the likes of me. But God does have a care and an interest for the ordinary.
[35:00] For the unspectacular. You dig a diamond out the mine, it doesn't glint and glisten when you pull out the rock. It looks very dull and very odd.
[35:11] It's surrounded by lumps of rock. It's going to be chipped away. And it's going to be cut. It's going to be polished. But the diamond is there. And somebody who is an expert will be able to see in that lump of rock, Oh yes, look, there's all the diamonds inside there.
[35:25] It's got to be chipped away. It's got to be cut. It's got to be polished. The Lord may choose to chip away at your life. He may choose to make slices in your life. He may choose to polish or grind down aspects of your life.
[35:37] None of which may be enjoyable at the time. But what is he doing? He is making up his jewels. He is polishing his diamonds.
[35:49] He is making ready his people who seem so ordinary and so nothing. And that's what we are by nature. But then we touch the hem of his garment.
[36:01] And we touch Christ, as it were. And as many as touch are made perfectly whole. Restored to what we were always meant to be.
[36:13] Your life is dis-ease. Not whole. Not as it ought to be. Not as you know you want it to be. Not as Christ intended it to be.
[36:23] You've got to come to him. They saw to him that he might only touch the hem of his garment, as many as touched were made perfectly whole. That's where you've got to go. You've got to go to Christ.
[36:35] Not to me. Not to church. Not to elders. Not to individuals. Yes, you can ask advice or help or guidance or whatever. But no individual here can change it for you.
[36:46] Only Christ has the power to do it. That is where you must go. They be certain that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched that contact with Christ were made perfectly whole.
[37:04] And the Lord blessed us in these few days.