When Salvation Is Impossible - part 3
026 When Salvation Is Impossible – part 3
INCURABLE DISEASE
Mark 5:21-34
March 15, 2026
If you were with us last week you know that
We are talking about when salvation is impossible.
I want us to begin this morning by turning to Psalms 107
TURN TO: PSALMS 107
Psalms 107 is a Psalm from an unnamed writer,
Which highlights for us the tremendous power and mercy of God.
When we read it we find it to be absolutely prophetic of Jesus.
It is all about a God who saves when salvation is impossible.
It rightly opens with a call to praise and thanksgiving
For God saving when we don’t deserve it.
(READ 1-3)
And then it turns to various scenarios of salvation
Where hope was lost until God intervened.
(READ 4-9)
We read there about a party that was lost.
· They were hungry and thirsty and close to death.
· They had exhausted every resource and had nowhere else to turn.
· But when they turned to the LORD and cried out to Him for salvation He delivered them.
How could our minds not be drawn to the feeding of the 5,000 or the feeding of the 4,000?
How could we not think of the woman at the well who was given “living water”?
Jesus is of course the bread from heaven and the water of life.
He satisfies the hungry and delivers the thirsty.
He alone is capable to do so.
(READ 10-16)
Here we have prisoners with a life sentence of hard labor.
· It was certainly their fault that they were there.
· They had broken God’s law and suffered justly as a result.
· But in their suffering they humbled themselves and cried out to God and He delivered them.
We think of the passage Matthew quoted from Isaiah about how Jesus was a light that shined in the darkness to a people without hope.
Matthew 4:12-16 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”
Jesus was a deliverer of prisoners.
He set those captivated by their sin free from it.
· We think of the woman caught in adultery due to be stoned for her sin.
· We think of the woman who was so grateful for her forgiveness that she wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
(READ 17-22)
Here we see fools who just do dumb things and suffer the consequences of such foolishness.
· They are rebellious, they won’t listen, and as a result their life ends up in misery.
· But when they cry to the Lord they are saved.
How many demoniacs has Jesus delivered?
He delivered Matthew from his tax booth
He delivered Saul from his legalistic way of life
(READ 23-32)
These were men on a voyage caught in the dangers of life.
· They suffered under a raging see and yet found deliverance.
We just saw that last Sunday morning
With the disciples on the sea in the midst of a great storm.
And yet, when they cried out to Jesus He delivered.
It is impossible situation after impossible situation
And yet Jesus routinely delivers.
He is the Savior when salvation is impossible.
(READ 33-43)
THAT IS THE JESUS MARK IS HIGHLIGHTING FOR US.
He is “THE AMAZING JESUS”
who saves when salvation is otherwise impossible.
Certainly Mark highlights that, that we might marvel at Jesus.
But MARK HAS ANOTHER REASON for this segment as well.
In this segment Mark is highlighting for us THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH.
In this section we see Jesus continually overcome impossible odds to save in circumstances when salvation truly seemed impossible.
· We’ve already seen Him deliver the disciples from a storm that would have
normally sunk the boat they were on.
· We’ve also seen Jesus deliver a man who was inhabited by a legion of
demons and deliver an entire region from his torment.
Today we’ll get a couple more examples of impossible situations
Where Jesus saves when it should not have been possible.
And yet we realize that each of these 4 scenarios
Are meant to prepare our minds for the 5th and final scenario
Where salvation did in fact prove impossible.
Mark 6:5-6a “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief.”
It really puts the importance of faith into perspective for us.
· A hurricane couldn’t prevent Jesus from saving.
· An army from hell couldn’t prevent Jesus from saving.
· An incurable disease can’t prevent Jesus from saving.
· Even death was no burrier to hinder the salvation of Jesus.
But unbelief…
When a man won’t believe salvation is impossible.
That is the thrust of this great segment in Mark’s gospel.
We are learning that Jesus saves those who believe.
Well THIS MORNING we come to the 3rd and 4th example of Mark.
THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY INTERWOVEN.
Not only do the stories happen on top of each other in the text,
But even their situations seem connected.
· We have a 12 year old girl who dies.
· We have a woman who has been basically dead for 12 years with a
hemorrhage.
Both face a problem that no one can solve,
But when they turn their faith to Jesus
What is impossible becomes possible.
And this morning I want us to look at one of those illustrations
And we’ll get the other tonight.
THIS MORNING I want us to look at the unnamed woman
Simply referred to as “The Hemorrhaging Woman”
Let me first give you the background which we’ll discuss more tonight.
(21-24) “When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet and implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.” And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.”
Jesus has now returned from the country of the Gerasenes.
1. Jesus had preached from a boat in Capernaum to a crowd that did not believe.
2. He preached a sermon they could not understand.
3. And then He turned His boat and sailed across the sea.
4. On the way He calmed the storm.
5. When He arrived at the other side He delivered the demoniac.
6. However the people did not want Him there and so He left and is now returning to Capernaum.
When He gets back the crowd is still waiting.
We read that “a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore.”
You almost get the feeling that He is staying close to the boat
So He can withdraw to preach again,
And perhaps even so that He can escape if need be.
But while He is there something happens.
A synagogue official had a daughter who was near death and he comes to summon Jesus to his home.
· And Jesus goes.
· We’ll look at that story tonight.
BUT AS HE GOES WE READ:
(24) “And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.”
The crowd won’t let up.
Today we’re taught that when you see an AMBULANCE
You should pull out of the way and let them through.
It is an emergency and they don’t need you slowing them down.
THIS CROWD HAS NO SUCH DISCERNMENT OR CARE.
Jairus is trying to take Jesus to his daughter
And the crowd isn’t helping at all.
They are all over Him and around Him even as He goes.
And this is where we approach our 3rd impossible situation:
INCURABLE DISEASE
We’ll break this story down into 6 parts
#1 HER ILLNESS
Mark 5:25-26
Here again we have details only Mark shares
· The purpose of the details is to make sure that we do not overlook the utter hopelessness of the situation.
First we read what both Matthew and Luke also tell us:
(25) “A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years…”
This is a woman has been bleeding for 12 years.
That certainly is not a good thing.
I suppose someone could say, “Well at least it didn’t appear to be life-threatening if she’d been living with it for 12 years.”
But that’s just the point.
There are more ways than one to measure “life-threatening”.
No, it had not physically killed her,
But it had most certainly stolen her life.
Leviticus 15:25-27 “‘Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. ‘Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness at that time. ‘Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.”
How’s that for living?
This woman was cut off from social activity for 12 years.
· She was perpetually unclean.
· If she lay on a bed it was unclean and no one else could lay there or touch it.
· If she sat on a chair it was unclean and no one else could lay there or touch it.
· If she touched anyone else they were unclean for a day and had to thoroughly wash themselves and their clothes.
This woman was a dead woman walking.
Disdained – Rejected - Alone
But this is where MARK takes you even further on her journey.
Luke will tell you:
Luke 8:43 “And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone”
Luke was a physician and he certainly tells her story from a viewpoint that is sympathetic to the medical industry.
Mark is not so understanding.
(26) “and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse”
It does not appear that Mark has too high a view of the medical industry.
· Mark seems to suggest they are shysters who will take all your money and not help you at all.
I chuckled a little as I read Matthew Henry’s comments on this verse:
“It is usual with people not to apply themselves to Christ, till they have tried in vain all other helpers, and find them, as certainly they will, physicians of no value.”
(Henry, Matthew [Matthew Henry’s Commentary: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1961] pg. 1375)
Mark would agree.
· This woman had seen “many physicians”
· This woman had “spent all that she had”
· This woman “was not helped at all”
· This woman “had grown worse”
What a testimony to the medical field and to her suffering.
To better understand hers Marvin Vincent shares some of the common cures of her day for an illness like hers.
“What she may have suffered will appear from the prescription for the medical treatment of such a complaint given in the Talmud. “Take of the gum of Alexandria the weight of a zuzee (a fractional silver coin); of alum the same; of crocus the same. Let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that has an issue of blood. If this does not benefit, take of Persian onions three logs (pints); boil them in wine, and give her to drink, and say, ‘Arise from they flux.’ If this does not cure her, set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her right hand, and let some one come behind and frighten her, and say, ‘Arise from thy flux.’ But if that do no good, take a handful of cummin (a kind of fennel), a handful of crocus, and a handful of fenugreek (another kind of fennel). Let these be boiled in wine and give them to her to drink, and say, ‘Arise from thy flux!’” If these do not good, other doses, over ten in number, are prescribed, among them is this: “Let them dig seven ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines, not yet four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let them lead her away from this ditch, and make her sit down over that. And let them remove from her that, and make her sit down over another, saying to her at each remove, ‘Arise from thy flux!’”
(Vincent, Marvin [Vincent’s Word Studies In The New Testament – Vol. 1; Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, MA] pg. 189)
MacArthur listed other remedies suggested in the Talmud:
“These included superstitious prescriptions like placing the ashes of an ostrich egg in a cloth sack, or carrying around a barleycorn kernel procured from female donkey dung.”
(MacArthur, John [MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Mark 1-8; Moody Publishers; Chicago, IL; 2015] pg. 258)
This woman had been put through the ringer.
· She was not better.
· She was worse.
· And she had been impoverished.
The main point is that HOPE WAS LOST.
Even if there was a new treatment
She wouldn’t have been able to afford it.
This was her life now forever.
We even see later that her illness is referred to as (29) an “affliction”
We saw that same word back in 3:10.
It is a word that doesn’t just refer to misfortune,
But ultimately to the judgment of God on a person for sin.
It was believed that this woman was suffering
And suffering because she deserved by reason of her sin.
AND YOU CAN PROBABLY SYMPATHIZE WITH HER A LITTLE HERE.
You may not have ever been on a boat in a cyclone.
You may not have ever encountered an army of demons.
But you are probably much more sympathetic
To what this woman is dealing with.
It is an impossible situation.
It is AN INCURABLE ILLNESS
#2 HER PLAN
Mark 5:27
Mark says that this woman had heard about Jesus.
We don’t know what she heard or when she heard it.
HOWEVER Luke records this story about the woman in the 8th chapter of his gospel account.
But in the 6th chapter Luke recorded this:
Luke 6:19 “And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.”
Maybe this had been a common occurrence as part of His healing.
· Since the crowds were indeed huge
· Since He was in fact healing them all,
· It may have been that one of His solutions was to allow people to touch Him.
It would seem this woman had heard one of those testimonies.
So here she is in the crowd and SHE HAS A PLAN.
(27-28) “after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”
At this point it is important to NOTE THE EXISTENCE OF HER FAITH.
This is the point that hung me up a little this week.
ON ONE HAND you can’t help but wonder how she is any different than anyone else in the crowd.
· She isn’t coming publicly to ask Jesus about the gospel.
· She is clearly there for healing.
· She is part of the crowd and trying just as hard to get to Him as everyone else.
Where it not for what Jesus does and says
We wouldn’t be able to see anything different about her at all.
HOWEVER, Jesus will commend her faith in a moment.
So whatever we think of this woman, we know she has faith.
AND THIS IS THE POINT.
She has faith, but…
· It is clearly small faith
· It is little faith
· It is secret faith
· It is timid faith
· To some extent it is even a late faith since she has gone to every other option before coming to Jesus.
Perhaps to put it another way.
Her faith is not impressive to us.
There is nothing about this woman that we would find impressive
Just by looking at her and her attempt to touch the garment of Jesus.
Even Matthew Henry commented about her as one who comes “clandestinely to steal a cure”. (ibid pg. 1375)
And that’s the point.
· It’s not a big faith.
· It’s not a bold faith.
· It’s not an outwardly impressive faith.
· But it is real faith.
The Lord never tells us that He only hears or responds to great faith.
He tells us that He responds to real faith, no matter how small.
Matthew 17:20 “… for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
That is this woman.
She has a plan to sneak in, touch His garment, and get out with a healing.
And…IT WORKED!
#3 HER HEALING
Mark 5:29
· This was not a medical treatment, this was a miracle.
· This was not a recovery, this was a miracle.
Jesus did a work in her body
To immediately heal whatever was causing her to hemorrhage.
The bleeding stopped and she could feel it internally that she was better.
She had received what she came for.
And we simply remind here that nothing is impossible with Jesus.
Even illnesses that the medical profession has no answer for.
I GET IT…
We know that Jesus does not heal every single illness.
· We have all had loved ones succumb to illnesses at various times.
· Certainly death is appointed for all men and so healing cannot always happen.
· Some illnesses even serve a greater spiritual purpose.
· This body (flesh and blood) cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Sooner or later everyone has to succumb to an illness.
BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT.
The point is that Jesus can deliver from anything.
If He does not, then we trust that He has a sovereign plan for our good that is far better than physical healing even if we don’t understand it.
BUT TAKE HEART AT THIS MOMENT THAT JESUS CAN FIX IT.
He can heal diseases that medicine has no answer for.
He did that here.
This woman received a miraculous healing.
She was finished, but Jesus was not.
#4 HER RECOGNITION
Mark 5:30-32
I don’t want you to misunderstand here
Because I think it can be a little misleading.
(30) “Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?”
One might be tempted to read that and think that
Jesus was totally oblivious to healing this woman.
Like He wasn’t aware of her, or that healing was happening
Until it actually did, and then he was clueless as to who He healed.
That is NOT the case at all.
Jesus knew this woman.
· He knew her faith.
· He knew she was coming.
· He knew when she touched Him.
· He made a conscious decision to heal her and He did it.
None of that was done without the sovereign will of Jesus.
There is no power in His clothes
There is certainly no way to tap into the healing of Jesus
Apart from Him knowing it. That would just be absurd.
Jesus doesn’t ask this for His benefit, He asks for yours and mine.
He wants everyone around to know that a woman was just healed
And He wants everyone to know why.
So He asks “Who touched My garments?”
Now the disciples respond as you would think they might.
(31) “And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
· They think it’s absurd to ask such a question when everyone is pressing in on Him.
But that’s not what Jesus is asking.
What He is asking His disciples is
If they recognized the miracle that just occurred?
He is asking if they recognized the faith of this woman?
(32) “And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.”
· He knew who she was.
· He was not randomly scouring the crowd.
· He was looking for this specific woman.
He is going to bring her forward to make a point.
#5 HER CONFESSION
Mark 5:33
The woman realizes she has not escaped His notice.
She knows who He is looking for and she comes forward.
And you notice that she is now in the exact same state of everyone else after they witness the miraculous saving power of Jesus.
(33) “But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.”
· Just like the disciples in the boat.
· Just like the crowd on the other side of the lake.
She is filled with PHOBEO
She is in awe of God.
And she came “and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.”
Again, this is NOT for His benefit, He knows what happened.
This is for the benefit of the crowd around her.
· She humbled herself
· She explained publicly what she believed,
· She confessed what her faith led her to do,
· She testified what the result of it was in her life.
That testimony is what Jesus was looking for.
He wants this crowd to know what happened here.
#6 HER SALVATION
Mark 5:34
The announcement of Jesus here says it all!
(34) “And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
When you read “made you well”
It is the Greek word SOZO which is generally translated “saved”.
Jesus just said, “your faith has saved you”
Certainly not her faith, but rather the One in whom her faith was placed,
But you understand the point.
And then He said, “go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”
Jesus healed this woman for sure.
But Jesus also saved this woman.
That is why she was told to “go in peace”.
There is no peace for the wicked,
But for those who have been forgiven there is.
Jesus just announced to this crowd
What they had all failed to understand.
He didn’t simply come to heal sick people.
He came to save sinners.
You may think it difficult to heal this woman’s 12-year affliction,
But that is nothing compared to saving this woman from her sin.
That is the announcement this crowd needed to hear.
That is the announcement you and I need to hear.
To make sure that we don’t get our needs mixed up.
· No matter our infirmity, we have no greater need than forgiveness.
· No matter our illness, we have no greater need than salvation.
This crowd was tempted to look only for the healing,
Jesus wanted them searching for salvation.
This woman found it, and Jesus alone supplied it.
But what we especially love about this story is that
Jesus healed her and Jesus saved her
Even though her faith was not initially impressive.
· Her faith was not loud.
· Her faith was not bold.
· Her faith was not even visible to anyone else.
Her faith was secretive, timid, small, and shy.
But it was real faith.
And that was enough to solicit salvation from Jesus.
I hope you understand what GOOD NEWS THIS IS FOR US.
For who among us thinks their faith great enough to save their soul?
Fortunate for us Jesus saves based on the presence of faith,
Not the greatness of it.
We learn here that EVEN SMALL FAITH IS POWERFUL.
WHY?
Because God loves faith!
Psalms 147:11 “The Lord favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.”
Faith is the currency God responds to.
· You can’t purchase God’s favor with money.
· Your works are a filthy rag before Him.
· Your family pedigree is fallen and defiled.
· Your words cannot be trusted.
But faith. Faith God accepts.
He loves it!
Psalms 18:30 “As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.”
Psalms 32:10 “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.”
Psalms 33:18-19 “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine.”
Psalms 34:22 “The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”
Or consider the prophets:
Isaiah 26:3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”
Jeremiah 39:18 “For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the Lord.’”
God loves faith.
God responds to faith.
Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
And you notice that none of those passages say anything
About the degree or size of faith.
While it is true that Scripture references both great and small faith
And certainly our faith should be ever growing,
But God responds to faith in even its smallest measure.
This woman proves that.
And I hope you find that encouraging.
None of us have it as our ambition to be people of little faith,
But how comforting it is to know that when my faith is small,
It is still valuable to God.
He healed and saved this woman despite the timidity of her faith.
And thus Mark’s point rings true yet again.
FAITH MATTERS!
It is what Jesus expects and it is what Jesus deserves.
Even though it was crowded.
Even though He was on a different errand.
Even though no one else recognized it.
Jesus was motivated and moved
To recognize and honor the faith of this woman.
HER FAITH WAS SMALL, BUT IT WAS REAL.
We know it was real because
Even though she did it secretly, she did cry out to the Lord.
And that is what we said at the beginning throughout Psalms 107.
· Every one of those trials.
· Every one of those dilemmas.
· Some were of their own doing.
· Some were the consequence of a fallen world.
But all were delivered for doing the same thing.
Psalms 107:6 “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.”
And that same statement was repeated in verse 13, 19, 28.
That is the calling.
Trust in Christ and call out to Him!
You say, “But I don’t have great faith.”
Then give Him a small one.
The power of deliverance is not in the greatness of your faith.
The power of deliverance is in the great Savior who responds to faith.
Romans 10:11-13 “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”