Touching the Master

Expository Sermon Outline
Luke 8:43-44
Arden June G. Dumpasan

Focus Statement: Touching the Master!
Function Statement: We can touch God through thoughts, words, and actions.

Introduction:

In an ancient village, a parable tells, all the people were blind. One day while walking on the road, six men from that village came upon a man riding an elephant. The six men, who had heard about elephants but had never been close to one, asked the rider to allow them to touch the great beast. They wanted to go back to their village to tell the other villagers what an elephant looked like.
The rider agreed and led each of the six men to a different part of the elephant. All the blind men touched and stroked the elephant until they were certain they knew what the animal looked like.
In great anticipation they returned to their village to report their experience. The villagers gathered around to hear about the elephant. The first man, who had felt the animal’s side, said, “An elephant is like a great thick wall.”
“Nonsense,” said the second man, who had felt the elephant’s tusk. “He is rather short, round, and smooth, but very sharp. I would compare an elephant not with a wall but with a spear!”
The third man, who had touched the ear, took exception. “It is nothing at all like a wall or a spear,” he said. “It is like a gigantic leaf made of thick wool carpet. It moves when you touch it.”
“I disagree,” said the fourth man, who had handled the trunk. “I can tell you that an elephant is like a giant snake.”
The fifth man shouted his disapproval. He had touched one of the elephant’s legs and concluded, “An elephant is round and thick, like a tree.”
The sixth man had been allowed to ride on the elephant’s back, and he protested, “Can none of you accurately describe an elephant? Clearly he is like a gigantic moving mountain!”
To this day, the men continue to argue, and no one in the village has any idea what an elephant looks like.
What does Jesus look like?

I. “And Jesus said, who touched me? v 45

A. A woman, having an issue of blood twelve years, found her way to the Master, touched the border of his garment: v 43

1. Saying, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole”
2. She had before this spent all her means with the physicians without recieveing any help – v 43

B. She was healed instantly, but was too timid to openly express her gratitude to the Lord: v 44

II. “Who touched me?” v 45

A. Purpose of our Lord’s question:

1. He knew well who had touched him; for he knoweth all things .
2. It was not the common touch, as the disciples said.
3. It was the touch of faith by a sick woman, who believed that He would heal her.

B. Secret of the effects of her touch:

1. She touched the fountain of life .
2. Virtue left him and entered into her being –

C. The searching question by our lord:

1. Reveals a public obligation on our part to God –

Examples:
a. The healing of the ten lepers –
b. The man carried by four –
c. The centurion –

2. To men –

Examples
a. The woman of Samaria –
b. Mary, who saw her risen Lord –
c. The blind man that received his sight –

3. It is one of God’s means to make converts for the truth.

4. That was true on the day of Pentecost –

5. also of the healing of the impotent man –

III. Touching the master v 46

A. The various touches:

1. There is, as revealed in our opening text, the touch of faith; this touch brings blessing to us –

Examples
a. The theif on the cross –
b. The touch of a pleading mother in behalf of her daughter –
c. The touch of the centurion –

2. This touch honoured the Saviour; it gave glory to God –

B. There is the touch of unbelief:

1. We think of the people in his own country –
2. Think of the attitude of the disciples after His resurrection –

C. Our text offers a threefold lesson:

1. Let us be very careful of how we touch the Master!
2. It will affect Him and us.
3. It may be the difference between life and death; between salvation and damnation
4. There are a number of ways to touch the Lord of glory –

a. We touch Him with our thoughts because He knows them like an open book –
b. We touch Him with our words because He says, “That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment for thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” –
c. We touch Him with our actions; deeds by us can bring deep sorrow to Him and to us

Examples
i. Think of Peter when he cursed, denying the Lord; its effects –
ii. Judas, when he sold the Lord of glory for thirty pieces of silver –

Application:

If we have problems of any kind, lets us not forget to touch the garments of Christ. Come to him and he will heal us from any kind of sickness physical or spiritual.

Conclusion:

The Woman’s contact with Jesus healed her “from the moment”. None are too unclean, too isolated, or too hopeless for Jesus to save.