THE TOUCH THAT SETS US FREE
MARK 5: 25-29
25) And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26) And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27) When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28) For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29) And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
For any one who has been touched by Jesus, there has been a change in their life. When you were touched by Jesus, what changes did you notice? We all know the story of the woman with the issue of blood, how she knew that all she had to do was to touch the hem of His garment and she would be made whole. She pressed through the crowd just to get close enough to touch Him, she actually had to work to be able to get close enough to be touched by Jesus, but she didn’t give up. And just look around at our churches on any given Sunday, how many members are missing? How many Christians felt like it wasn’t worth the drive to receive a touch from the Master. Or how many thought a football game or a Nascar race was more important the coming to God’s house.
When you receive that touch from Christ, it will set you free from a few things:
I. HIS TOUCH SETS YOU FREE FROM SIN:
I don’t know about you, but when He touched me, it changed my life.
You can’t be touched by Christ and not be changed.
My hang-outs changed: I no longer went to the same places I used to go.
A Christian has no business in the club or at Coyote Joe’s.
A Christian has no business at the pool hall.
“ But I just go and hang out, I don’t do anything wrong”
Avoid the very appearance of evil
My friends changed: I no longer hung-out with the same crowd
I’m not telling you to abandon your lost friends, but I am saying you if you keep hanging with the same crowd, sooner or later they will bring you down. You are known by the company you keep, if you hang out in the landfill long enough, you will start to stink.
My language changed: I no longer used the curse words anymore
one of my biggest pet peeves is a person who claims to be saved, but the still use the foul language.
For someone who cusses like a sailor and the next breath they are inviting you to church.
Do you realize how much damage that causes to your church?
“ But preacher, I only cuss when I get really mad.”
So what you’re saying is that everytime you get mad, you destroy your testimony for all those around you.
II. HIS TOUCH SETS YOU FREE FROM YOURSELF:
When you get touched by Him, your attitude towards others changes. You’re no longer looking out for number one,(self) you’re now looking out for number One,(HIM). When He saved me He replaced my old selfish nature with a Christian one. How many of you know what Christian means? It means to be Christ-like. And through-out His entire life here on earth, I challenge any one of you to find anywhere in the Bible where Christ put His own needs before the needs of those around Him. Read this book from cover to cover, you’ll never find one instance. Christ set the example for us to live by, He put His time and energy into serving others, everything He did was for others. He came to this earth as the King of the Jews, yet He stooped to wash the feet of His disciples, He put all of His human pride aside to wash another man’s feet. He was the Savior, yet He did the job of a servant. When’s the last time we put our pride aside to do something for our fellow man? And I don’t mean doing something for another church member or only for the people you like, remember Christ also washed the feet of the one He knew was about to betray Him. When’s the last time you swallowed your pride and helped someone who has done you wrong, or someone you really don’t like? It’s easy to be nice to those who are nice to us, but the true meaning of being Christ-like is helping that neighbor you can’t get along with. According to 1 John 2:6 - if we say that we know Him, we ought to walk even as He walked.
During His 33 years here on earth, who did Christ focus on? He focused on the sinners, and getting them saved. For us to be more Christ like, we need to get out of our little comfort zones and quit waiting for the sinners to come to us, we need to stop waiting for them to come to church and we need to go and get them. it’s time we stop talking and start doing. We can talk the talk, but are willing to walk the walk? Baptists are notorious for sending money to foreign countries to conquer the mission fields, and don’t get me wrong, I am not against foreign missions, but too many churches are sending money to missions and that’s it, well the first mission field we need to conquer is Gaston County or Lincoln County.
Again, please don’t misunderstand me, I am not against missionaries, I believe churches need to support missionaries, but we need to also remember that not all mission fields are foreign. Any church that doesn’t have a visitation program should be ashamed of itself. God’s word tells us in Luke 14:23 to
Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
As Christians we need to stop acting as though we are afraid to share what we have. We have been given the greatest gift that God has ever given, we have been given the gift of His salvation, and we need to share it with a lost and dying world. He has made a place for us in Heaven and we need to tell others about it. After all, if we are ashamed of Him here on earth, then He will be ashamed of us in Heaven.
In closing, I just want to ask, have you been touched by the Master?
