And is this worse than our sinful case? Are not the devils that possess us as real and powerful?
II. An example of the cleansing power of Christ.
We know nothing about how she had come under His merciful eye, nor any of the circumstances of her healing, but only that this woman, with whom the serpent was so closely intertwined, as in some pictures of Eve's temptation, was not beyond His reach, and was set free. Note--
There is _no_ condition of human misery which Christ cannot alleviate.
None is so sunk in sin that He cannot redeem them.
For all in the world there is hope.
Look on the extremest forms of sin. We can regard them all with the assurance that Christ can cleanse them--prostitutes, thieves, respectable worldlings.
None is so bad as to have lost His love.
None is so bad as to be excluded from the purpose of His death.
None is so bad as to be beyond the reach of His cleansing power.
None has wandered so far that he cannot come back.
Think of the earliest believers--a thief, a 'woman that was a sinner,' this Mary, a Zacchæus, a persecuting Paul, a rude, rough jailer, etc.
Remember Paul's description of a class of the Corinthian saints--'such were some of you.'
As long as man is man, so long is God ready to receive him back. There is no place where sun does not shine. No heart is given over to irremediable hardness. None ever comes to Christ in vain.
The Saviour is greater than all our sins.
The deliverance is more than sufficient for the worst.
'God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.'
Ezekiel's vision of dry bones.
III. An example of how the remembrance of past and pardoned sin may be a blessing.
Mary evidently tried always to be beside Him. The cure had been perfect, but perhaps there was a tremulous fear, as in the man that prayed 'that he might be with Him.'
And so, look how all the notices give us one picture of a heart set on Him. There were--
(a) Consciousness of weakness, that made her long for His presence as a security.
(b) Deep love, that made her long for His presence as a joy.
(c) Thankful gratitude, that made her long for opportunities to serve Him.
And this is what the remembrance of Jesus should be to us.
IV. An example of how the most degraded may rise highest in fellowship with Christ.
'First' to her, because she needed Him and longed for Him.
Now this is but an illustration of the great principle that by God's mercy sin when it is hated and pardoned may be made to subserve our highest joys.
It is not sin which separates us from God, but it is unpardoned sin. Not that the more we sin the more we are fit for Him, for all sin is loss. There are ways in which even forgiven and repented sin may injure a man. But there is nothing in it to hinder our coming close to the Saviour and enjoying all the fulness of His love, so that if we use it rightly it may become a help.
If it leads us to that clinging of which we have just spoken, then we shall come nearer to God for it.
The divine presence is always given to those who long for it.
Sin may help to kindle such longings.
He who has been almost dead in the wilderness will keep near the guide. The man that has been starved with cold in Arctic night will prize the glory and grace of sunshine in fairer lands.
Instances in Church history--Paul, Augustine, Bunyan.
'Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before you.'
The noblest illustration is in heaven, where men lead the song of Redemption.
God uses sin as a black background on which the brightest rainbow tints of His mercy are displayed.