Text: Mark 5:25–34 “ 28 …because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I shall be healed.” Mark 5:28 Introduction There are moments in the Bible that are dramatic because everyone can see what is happening. The Red Sea parts, the walls of Jericho collapse, Lazarus gets up and walks out of his own tomb alive. But then there are moments when something extraordinary happens almost unnoticed. We find one such moment or event recorded in Mark chapter 5. Jesus is on his way to the house of Jairus whose daughter was dying. As He walks along He is surrounded by a crowd of people and they are pressing against Him from every direction. There is noise and confusion. There is urgency. And somewhere in that crowd is a woman. Now we are not told her name or where she was born. We do not know her family or really anything else at all about her up to that point. And after this day and event we are discussing we don’t know what became of her. But we know one thing about her: She believed that...
There are some sins we recognize immediately. If someone lies, steals, curses, commits adultery, gets drunk, or mistreats another person, we usually know how to identify that. Those are sins of commission — sins where a person actively does what God has forbidden. But James reminds us that there is another kind of sin. Let’s read what he has to say. Now I like the King James Version of this verse better than other translations but here is what it says: “ 17 Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17 It is quieter. It is easier to excuse. It often looks respectable from the outside. It may sit in a church pew, sing the songs, bow during the prayers, listen to the sermon, and still remain guilty before God. James speaks of the sin of omission — not doing wrong, but failing to do right. He says, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” That verse ought to make every honest heart pause...