The Great Depression # 5

Illus: I heard of a preacher who was preaching a three-point sermon on the Second Coming of Christ, and he would close each of the main points of the sermon by saying, “HE IS COMING, READY OR NOT!”

When he got to the third point he got so excited he got on the edge of the pulpit and screamed, “HE IS COMING, READY OR NOT!” In the excitement of driving the point home, he fell off the platform into a woman’s lap. He apologized to her, but she said, “Preacher, you do not need to feel bad. You warned me three times you were coming if I was ready or not, I just did not believe it would happen.”

As I preach some of the things today on the GREAT DEPRESSION, I will try not to get too excited. I do want to talk to you about this GREAT DEPRESSION we are having.

I am not talking about the FINANCIAL CRISIS THAT STRUCK THIS COUNTRY YEARS AGO. I am talking about the EMOTIONAL CRISIS THAT WE ARE FACING IN THIS COUNTRY NOW. All over this nation we have people who are living in a GREAT DEPRESSION!

• The churches in America are filled with Christians who are legal dope addicts, because they are trying to cope with their emotions.

• Their medicine cabinets are filled with all kinds of legal prescriptions that the doctors have prescribed for them.

These people remind me of the woman that came to the Lord in Mark 5. She had visited many physicians trying to get help for her condition, but the Bible says she steadily grew worse.

Illus: The “many physicians” remind me of the three physicians that worked at a mental hospital.

These three physicians decided to choose three patients to be given a test to see if they were ready to be set free. They bring three men down to the pool area in a local recreation center. The pool is empty and they want to see if they'll jump. The doctors bring the men to the top of the 30 foot diving board and decide to proceed with the test.

• The first guy is dragged to the edge of the diving board and the doctors tell him to jump. The man jumps and falls 30 feet to the bottom of the empty pool to break both of his legs.

• The second man is then dragged to the edge of the diving board and is told to jump. He jumps and falls 30 feet to the bottom of the pool and breaks both of his arms.

• The last man is dragged to the edge of the diving board and is told to jump. He says “No.” Amazed, the doctors congratulate him and tell him he's free to go. Before he leaves, one curious doctor asks, "What made you decide not to jump?" The man replied, "I can't swim."

But listen, this woman didn’t have an imaginary problem; she was a sick woman that desperately needed help. Look at the scriptures concerning this woman. In verse 24, we read, “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.”

Look at Mark 5:25-34, we read, “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she 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 that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round 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.”

This dear woman had tried every physician she knew to try, but the Word of God says she steadily got worse. The reason she never got any help could be for a number of reasons. Maybe:

• She went to a lot of bad physicians

• She had an incurable disease

But she tried all that she knew to try and spent all that she had, yet she continued to grow worse.

WHY DIDN’T SHE GET THE HELP SHE NEEDED?