Ewald Frank

1985-05-15 19:30, Krefeld, Germany 

broadcasted on 2025-01-15

Mark 5:25-34: “The woman with the issue of blood believed and was healed!”

When the chorus was suggested "Read the Bible, pray every day" and we sang it, it came to my heart, how true what we sing is, "Read the Bible, pray every day," because it will strengthen our faith.

But I tell you honestly, another thought occurred to me:

Which Bible did Noah read?

Which Bible did Abraham read?

Which Bible did the prophets read?

They believed, because the Word of God had come to them.

We read the Word they heard. We read what God did in their lives and with what difficulty, yes, how difficult it is to believe.

If only we could realize tonight that faith has been given to us, that we only need to put it into practice, not arbitrarily, not as we want, but as God wants, simply to be led by the Spirit of God.

You know, our Lord did not always do things the way people would have expected. He often did things quite differently. Not only did He do on the Sabbath what others would not have done, but He healed someone that day in Bethesda and then went away.

One could have rightly asked, "Why did He leave all the others?"

Anyone who reads the Holy Scriptures might find something here and there that could perhaps be criticized according to human opinion. But our Lord knows everyone, and He knows who He has to help at that particular moment.

You all know, the angel touched the water, the next one who got in was healed. But this man said, "I have no one to carry me in." [John 5:7] And now He came.

Maybe the others could walk or help themselves a little. But there was one who couldn't, and the Lord helped him. He knows exactly what He is doing.

It doesn't always have to be right in our eyes, but in His eyes it's right every time.

Oh, that we could believe, believe for us, believe that God gave His Word to make us well, to help us, to give us clarity through truth, and to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised.

And that is why we are here tonight, not just to sing and pray, but to experience God anew, to trust Him anew, to be strengthened in our faith anew.

I have just read a word from the Gospel of Luke. I just hope that I can find it again. I have made a note of it. No, it's in the Gospel of Mark. I have also read Luke and Matthew, but what I am talking about specifically is in Mark, in chapter 5. I am sure we are all familiar with this. One of the best known in the Holy Scriptures. A woman was ill for 12 years. You can read about it in Mark 5, verse 25. I am particularly interested in verse 29.

And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

We believe without seeing, but when it happens, then we feel it, then we sense it, because then it is no longer faith, but an act of God that happened through faith and through the power of God, where faith and the power of God come together, that's where it happens and you can literally feel it in your body.

If God does something in the soul, we feel it in the soul.

If he does it in the body, we feel it in the body.

It is no longer ascending away in faith, as we sometimes call faith, but faith takes the thing it has believed. Faith does not come and go, but faith comes and takes with it, receives.

According to the scripture [Mt 7:8]:

He who believes, receives. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. And he who seeks will find.

This verse, or statement, goes straight to my heart.

The woman had decided within herself that she would touch the Lord, and she did. She believed that if she could only touch his garment, not even say good day or squeeze his hand, but if she could only touch his garment.

It says in verse 28, "For she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole."

And it happened, according to her faith, the moment she did what she believed, it happened.

She was healed, "for she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole."

She did not wait for hands to be laid on her. She did not wait for the Lord to pray for her. She knew in her heart that if she touched this man's clothes, she would be helped.

And it happened according to her faith.

But faith acted. Faith did not stand still. Faith has feet. Faith went towards the Lord.

Faith did not have a pious idea. But faith was there to do what was right at that moment, namely to come to the Lord, who is able to help anyone in any situation.

(28) For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

What are you thinking in your heart tonight? How will you or I be helped?

If we sit or stand there distracted and don't know what we want or should do, or if in our hearts, in the presence of the Lord, we were perhaps inspired to know what we should do, how we can draw near to the Lord in order to take with us what he has promised us.

She touched him and believed that she would be helped, and she was helped immediately.

I like to read the sentence again. I have underlined it with two colors:

(29) … And she felt in her body…

She felt it.

Then it was no longer faith. Then it was faith put into action. The faith that could take with it what God had promised.

We have faith, but where is the thing that we can take with us because of faith? Here, she felt it in her body.

There are people, and I am really not saying this to criticize or just to say something. There are people who feel the blessings of God in their bodies too.

And why not? Why not?

In the presence of God, your body is also blessed and you can feel it in your spirit, soul and body.

But here she not only felt the presence of God, she also felt in her body that she was healed from her suffering. She literally felt in her body that it had happened.

That is faith. That is faith.

Not a postponement to another time or a new invitation to believe or to believe correctly or better, but a firm decision in her heart, if I touch this man's garment, I will be healed.

And she felt in her body that she was healed of her suffering.

Is that still possible today? Is it still possible today for us to feel and experience it instantly?

We cannot ask in detail how they felt it. It was certainly as she said, that "she felt in her body that she was healed of her suffering." And the Lord says, "Power has gone out of me, healing power." [Mk 5:30] And he turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

Yes, who? It was the woman who was healed.

The crowd only pressed him, but the woman touched him in faith. Many crowded around the Lord, as it is written, crowded. Peter says "the whole crowd is pressing around you," but here was a woman in the crowd who did not press. She believed and she went home healed.

She felt it in her body, that she was healed of her suffering.

Why shouldn't the same thing happen tonight? Why not? Jesus Christ is the same. He is risen. He is alive. And according to the Holy Scriptures, "He is a faithful high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities."

We can come to him, believe him, but we must know in our hearts what we want from him, not absentmindedly, but very definitely. We must bring the matter at hand to him, and then we will be able to take it with us, if it is in his will.

Who touched me?

And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

The disciples might have wanted to say, "Everyone is pushing and pressing you."

But he looked over the crowd to see her who had touched him. He still had something to say to her. People who experience the Lord, he also has something to say to them. He turns to them and finds them in the midst of thousands. He has them right away.

It says here, "And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing."

Had done what? Had touched him, in faith.

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.

We notice the word "save" is applied to both soul and body, to healing and to redemption or salvation.

He said, "My daughter, your faith has saved you."

Faith is a saving faith, a healing faith, because it puts the power of God into action through the obedience that God imposes on us and that we can fulfill by grace.

Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

I was mainly concerned with this statement here, "and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague."

People who have ever truly experienced a supernatural healing know the day and hour of the moment it happened.

That's just the way it is.

And there are also healings that happen.

As Mark 16 says, "It will be better with them." [Mk 16:18]

You can't tell the Lord what to do. He already knows what he should do.

But here, in this case, it is so faith-building to know that people can come to the Lord, came to the Lord, and that they were helped, helped by Him through the faith and trust they put in Him.

We would think: All the world was glad.

And in the very next chapter we read a sentence: "And they were offended at Him." [Mk 6:3]

Everything always runs parallel.

In Mark chapter 6:

He went out and came into His own country and His disciples followed Him.

He was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and many came to hear Him and were astonished and asked, From whence has this man these things?

And what wisdom is this, which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

And now it comes:

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Those who see the human side will be offended even today, and that must surely be the case.

But those who see the divine side become normal. They will come out of their madness and experience God.

He was neither a carpenter nor a carpenter's son, nor was he the son of Mary. He was the Son of God.

Not once did he call her mother. Not once. Every time he called her a woman, she was only the vessel God had chosen to bring His Word to fulfillment that a virgin would conceive to give birth to Emmanuel. [Matthew 1:23]

But these people looked at Him, and they saw all the miracles, marveled at His wisdom, and were offended.

Some rejoiced immensely. They overlooked the earthly. Perhaps they had no explanation either. They didn't need one.

Does God need it? Or does He have to explain everything to everyone?

God doesn't want to say as much as people want to know. He has told us what we should know. He has told us that. He has told us what we should know.

But all our special sessions and special wishes are not in His program.

He wants us to believe and trust Him unwaveringly. Especially if, as happened here, the wisdom of God, the miracles of God, and the blessings of God have been revealed – then human relationships, like who is this, is this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and his sisters, didn't they all live with us? [Mark 6:3] – that is then no longer the question. That is not the question of true believers.

The woman who was healed did not have such questions, nor did anyone else in whom God glorified Himself.

Whoever comes with all these questions that cannot be dealt with, are all those in whom God could not glorify Himself.

A person in whom God glorifies Himself, revealing His unsearchable wisdom, grace and power through salvation and healing and everything that goes with it, his questions have been answered.

Who is this, carpenter or not carpenter, or sisters or brothers?

They have recognized, God is at work here.

And that was the end of the matter for them.

But those who were amazed, asked, "where did this man get this extraordinary wisdom that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?"

Yes. And their thoughts went to the carpenter's workshop, and then to Mary, and then to the four brothers, and then also to his sisters.

And the result?

And they were offended at him.

What have we heard and said often enough? Paul expressed it, "To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life." [2Kor 2:16]

Simplify this for me. To one we are an offense, and to another we are a blessing.

But so was Christ.

He was the rock of offence to some, and the rock of salvation to others. [Röm 9:33] To some, the stumbling block over which they all fell, and to others, the precious cornerstone, and to them, he is also the capstone today.

Who can change it?

Sometimes the focus is on earthly things that have nothing whatsoever to do with the cause of God, and people take offense and can no longer cope. But basically, these people have not come to terms with themselves. If they had come to terms with themselves, they would have had no problem coming to terms with what they have seen and heard here.

Oh, that God could really help me, and that God could really help us all in this way, give the sick a healing, that they could feel it in their bodies, and if there is a lack in the soul, to feel in the soul that God has helped. And why should he not also include our spirit, that soul, spirit and body are blessed by God, as he has promised.

And then the Lord makes this declaration.

But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.

There is another incident, where he said, "I have not found such faith in Israel." [Mt 8:10]

He was amazed at the faith.

And in one case, in this one, in his home town, in this German Bible it says, "in his father's town." His father's town is in heaven, not on earth. Sometimes you have to correct things.

But he was here on earth. He was completely human, God in human form. And as you can see here, 

"he said, a prophet is not without honor, but in his own home town and among his own kin and in his own house. 

And he could dare do no mighty work."

Strangely, our Lord, to whom all power is given, in heaven and on earth [Matthew 28:18], could not perform a miracle where no one believed.

He only laid his hands on some who were weary and heavy laden, so that they might be healed. As it says here, "He laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them," but miracles could not be performed.

He, the Son of God, the King of kings, to whom was given all power in heaven and on earth.

Do you know when God will be able to reveal himself to us? When we believe him with all our hearts, and trust in his word, and obey what Paul said:

From now on we know no one after the flesh. [2Kor 5:16]

They knew him after the flesh, saying, "Huh, this is the carpenter, we have just seen him sawing or planing." But now he wasn't here in a workshop, now he was on duty, in his commission. It was part of what had to happen.

What does the other thing have to do with this?

"And they were offended at him," offended because they couldn't tell the difference between what God was doing now and what was happening at that time.

May God give us, who are living now, grace, grace to understand him in what he is doing and to go along with him.

Not to drag earthly arguments into the spiritual realm, but to trust the Lord completely and totally.

If we, as a church, respect the word of God and believe that God has placed ministries into the church and we have the confidence that he has not only placed them, but has placed them for a ministry, for a purpose, and we really have that faith, then I say to you that God will confirm his given word.

There is no other way.

But faith must be scriptural. And the moment it is scriptural, God will reveal himself. Then we will marvel at the things that happen.

Otherwise, we will marvel at what does not happen.

It is always necessary that we believe according to the scriptures.

Who was it?

I think Ananias, who was suddenly told, it is written so beautifully, "when he saw that he believed, he said to him…" [Apg 14:9]

There must be faith, not just any faith, faith in the very specific thing and for the specific thing that we ask of God. And it must happen at that moment. We must be able to feel it in our bodies.

Let me ask you, we are among ourselves today, who has ever literally felt a healing in their body?

There is one, there is one. Of course, I can raise my hand. If I told you where it was, you would go home smiling. But it's real. You can experience God on the spot.

But it's divine inspiration. It's the moment and the hour that God has made for it. And suddenly we get in and we are helped.

This woman felt it in her body that she was healed.

May we feel in our souls today that the Lord has healed us in our souls, in the body that he has healed us in the body, in the spirit that he has healed us in the spirit, so that by the grace of God we are healthy in spirit, soul and body, healthy for his glory.

And I am convinced that God will help us to believe as the scriptures have said.

And then he will be able to confirm his word.

May God put into everyone's heart what he should tell them, what they should ask for, what they should give thanks for, that we meet the Lord today as we are, but always with a believing and thankful heart.

Blessed be his name.

Amen.

Holy Father, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your precious and holy word.

Faithful Lord, you who have commanded us to proclaim your gospel, we ask you that under the proclamation of the gospel, you do what we are told in the gospels that you once did.

Lord, only where this happens is there a true proclamation of your gospel, which is the power of God.

Faithful Lord, let it soon be revealed. We come to you and want to touch you in faith because we know that power comes from you.

Lord, we too can testify that we were helped on the spot. You have saved, you have healed, you have blessed. Hallelujah! And then you looked over the crowd and found everyone in whom you could glorify yourself and called them to follow you.

O Lord, I thank you, you are the same and you will do the same in the end. To you, the faithful Lord, be praise and honor, glory and worship.

Once again I ask, faithful Savior, that you will do the same things under the proclamation of your Gospel that you did then and that were written down for us in the Gospels. Lord, do it by grace.

Now I ask you to bless all my brothers and all my sisters, even here in this place, in this neighborhood, in this country, in eastern and western Europe, all over the world.

Bless your blood-bought multitude, raise us from the dust and let us find grace in thy sight.

Bless us tomorrow in Paris, O God.

Bless this weekend in Milan.

Bless us here. Bless Brother Russ, Brother Schmidt, all the brothers here, who carry your work on their hearts, who pray and supplicate that you bless.

Lord, we thank you for this evening, in Jesus' name.

Amen.