Each spring in the United States brings with it the start of a brand new baseball season. Months have passed since the last game of the World Series the previous season, and now baseball fans can finally go back into the stadiums to watch their favorite teams compete in a brand new season.
The very first game of this new season is usually a very special event as the stadium welcomes people back into the stands. Air Force jets often fly over the stadium right before the first pitch, and many times the ball that is used for the first pitch will be delivered to the pitcher in a very special way. Instead of the manager handing his pitcher the ball like any other game, the ball on this first day will be brought in by someone parachuting down from the sky.
This example made me think of our verse passage that we will read in a moment. Watching someone free fall out of the sky is a rather shocking sight, because unless they pull on their cord to release the chute, a certain death will await them.
A parachute is a saftey device that is only good if you do one thing: pull the cord. You can jump out of a plane as many times as you want while wearing a parachute, but the only thing that is going to save you is if you pull that cord and release the chute. It takes a special quality to place your trust in that cord: faith.
Matthew 9:18-22 “While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”
This woman had a disease plague her for many years. In fact, in a different book of the Bible it tells us that she had tried to be cured from it by many different physicians but instead of becoming better she had only gotten worse. She must have seen or heard of the wonderful works that Jesus had done, because when she saw Him it caused her to do something. She touched His garment.
She told herself that if she could only touch His garment that she would be healed. She knew that Jesus had the ability to heal, and this faith in Him caused her to act on that faith by reaching out her hand.
Sin is a disease, just as much as cancer or palsy, and to be freed from it requires a cure. The cure for sin is readily available to everyone. It comes from the forgiveness found in Jesus.
But this cure only profits you if you make the decision to come and get it. When Jesus died on the cross, He took the sins of the world upon Himself and offered forgiveness. He has already come halfway and done His part. Now it’s your turn.
It takes faith and humility for a person to acknowlege that they are a sinner and need help. We cannot save ourselves. We have become diseased with the plague of sin, and we need an antidote. Jesus has that antidote, and all we need to do is come to Him. He is always ready and waiting to cure you. He has met you halfway already. You just need to meet Him there.
Jesus has given you the parachute. All you need to do is pull that cord, release those sins and meet Him halfway.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 