[0:00] Can we turn this one down? This one. I don't want to hear that much of me. If you can't hear me without that, then I shouldn't be preaching, according to Mr. Spurgeon.
[0:24] Thank you. Luke chapter 8. After the parable of the sower in the beginning of the chapter, Jesus does four miracles.
[0:37] Two miracles that we looked at last week where He overpowers the uncontrollable. He stills a storm and He frees a man in the clutches of a legion of demons.
[0:55] So Jesus shows His power against those forces from without. And these next two that we look at today, these two miracles we look at today are about those forces that work within us.
[1:11] The woman who is bleeding and the girl who is dying. So within... And so it's interesting.
[1:29] He talks about how Jesus overpowers those things from without as well as those things from within. So again, it's showing His sovereignty. So we want to read the text. We're looking today at Luke chapter 8 verses 40 to the end, verse 56.
[1:49] So, if you're able, please stand as I read Luke chapter 8. Beginning of verse 40. Remember, Jesus had gone across the lake to the other side, the opposite of Galilee, the Gentile area, the Gerardines, Gerasenes, and done the miracle with the demoniac.
[2:14] Now He's coming back. He's coming back to Galilee somewhere. So verse 40. When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.
[2:30] And behold, there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue, and falling at Jesus' feet, he implored Him to come to His house, for He had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying.
[2:56] As Jesus went, the people pressed around Him, and there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years.
[3:09] And though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment.
[3:25] And immediately, her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, Who touched Me? We're all denied it.
[3:37] Peter said, Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said, Someone touched Me, for I perceive that power has gone out from Me.
[3:55] And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, falling down before Him, and declared in the presence of all of the people why she had touched Him and how she had been immediately healed.
[4:20] And He said to her daughter, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
[4:32] While He was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore.
[4:45] But Jesus, on hearing this, answered, Do not fear. Only believe. And she will be saved.
[4:57] And when He came to the house, He allowed no one to enter with Him except Peter and John and James and the father and the mother of the child.
[5:09] And all were weeping and mourning for her, but He said, Do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping. They laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead.
[5:25] But taking her by the hand, He called, saying, Child, rise. And her spirit returned. And she got up immediately.
[5:39] And He directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed. And He charged them to tell no one what had happened.
[5:55] So it reads. Let us pray. Father, direct us. Today, open our hearts and our minds to hear. Show us the face of Jesus.
[6:07] We sang today to see your face. And we pray that you show us His face in these pictures with this man, this father, and this woman.
[6:24] And this woman. Show us what faith looks like that saves and show us the compassion of our Lord Jesus. We ask this in Christ's name.
[6:36] Amen. Please be seated. I read these stories and thought through these stories and pondered these stories and read them again and dug deeper and started connecting dots and all that kind of stuff I do during the week.
[6:59] What struck me was the hopelessness, the hopelessness of these two people.
[7:13] Hopelessness is the feeling of despair, misery, desperate. When things look bleak and all seems useless and futile and nothing will fix it.
[7:30] Nothing will fix it. It's too late. You're beyond hope. What are the causes of hopelessness?
[7:43] When do we feel hopeless? Hopelessness. Well, alienation can cause hopelessness when you feel forsaken and forgotten and rejected by others.
[7:55] You're a social outcast. Powerlessness can cause hopelessness because you're unable to change.
[8:06] You're unable to influence things and things just don't get better. You're stuck and feel captive and it may be a loss of something that makes you powerless, a loss of income, a loss of a job, a loss of physical abilities.
[8:31] I was joking with somebody who just turned 65 this last week. Yes, I do remember that I had a birthday. I don't like to remember them. But 65 makes you official.
[8:42] So the government says, yeah, you're needy now. You're done. Whoever the government is.
[8:56] Also, you have to be 66 in 10 months. Now, no. I was joking with somebody, it means, you know, not just over the hill but way down the other side.
[9:08] You know, kind of approaching bunny hills where it's easier but there's huge holes. Okay. My picture of getting older.
[9:20] My experience of getting older. Maybe it's that. When we feel hopeless, when we've been brought into a situation where things have been taken or where we've been cast out or we feel alone or where we feel powerless, we seek remedies.
[9:41] Maybe we seek some healthy remedies like counseling or speaking to somebody or we seek it in religion. Maybe we've tried other things as well.
[9:54] We've tried ways of escape and drinking and drugs or something maybe worse. Whatever we try, whatever remedy we try, it doesn't work.
[10:07] Nothing fixes that sense of hopelessness. Is there any hope? Well, we come across two stories today where people, I believe, were absolutely desperate and feeling hopeless and they found something in Jesus.
[10:26] They found hope. And in these two miracles that Jesus does, I believe Jesus' miracles are real miracles that Jesus acts on people, real acts of power.
[10:41] He actually heals people. I take the word as truth. But I believe Jesus did miracles to point to something else. miracles. Because miracles, as wonderful as they are, are still temporary.
[10:57] The raised person from the dead is going to die again. So miracles are temporary and miracles are rare. That's the very definition of a miracle.
[11:09] Rare. And for all the healings that Jesus did, it was a drop in the bucket of all the people that had needs.
[11:20] So I believe Jesus did miracles because he had compassion and care about people, of course. But for a greater purpose, to point to something greater.
[11:35] To point to the real miracle, to point to the future miracle, to point to a greater promise and a greater hope that few capture, like Abraham.
[11:46] So, first I want you to notice that Luke frames the story. He does this a lot. You know, he kind of does that sandwich where he opens and closes with something and then there's meat in the middle, right?
[12:02] My friend Dan likes to call it a sandwich. You know, the bread on the outside and the meat in the middle. Well, this one's not that kind of a framework. This one starts with one story of the man, right?
[12:15] And then it gets interrupted as he's on the way to heal the man's daughter. It gets interrupted by this woman who comes and her problem. And she didn't want to get any attention, but still Jesus stopped and delayed the process to the man's house so that by the time the whole thing with the woman's over, people come and say, it's too late.
[12:37] Your daughter's dead and don't bother the teacher. It's over. And then, so then Jesus proceeds anyway. So you have two stories in one.
[12:47] They're intertwined. And Luke isn't the only one that does that. Matthew tells the story the same way and so does Mark. They intertwine them. They start with the one and interrupt with the other and then come back to the first one again.
[13:03] Just interesting. It's the Holy Spirit saying these two belong together. These two miracles are to be understood together. These two people are to be understood together and yet they're two very, very different people.
[13:20] You have, in verse 41, you have this man who has a name, Jairus, who has an official title, who is a ruler of a synagogue.
[13:33] He's a prominent leader. And then you have this woman who we don't even have a name for. And she's not prominent at all.
[13:46] In fact, she's an outcast. He has honor and a status and she has nothing. He has means and resources.
[13:57] She's destitute. She spent all that she had trying to get fixed. So they're very different people, but they have things in common.
[14:08] They both have a common desperation. They both come to Jesus desperate, out of hopelessness. Jairus has a 12-year-old daughter dying.
[14:24] And the text reads it as if she's at the point of death. I mean, time is of the essence. And then the woman has been suffering 12 years.
[14:38] She's been suffering as long as the daughter's been alive. Both come humbly. Both fall at the feet of Jesus. The woman has faith that Jesus will deliver.
[14:52] She just doesn't want anybody to know. She wants to touch the fringe and be done and get out. And Jesus doesn't let her get away.
[15:03] And then the father's called to believe. So really, the message is a composite of these two. Both have faith or are called to faith when it's hopeless, when everything is lost.
[15:18] The woman has spent everything. She's tried every remedy. Nothing works. It's hopeless. The man has a dying daughter, and by the time Jesus is able to move on, she's gone.
[15:31] It's too late. It's hopeless. And yet, Jesus talks about faith and salvation. He says to the woman in verse 48, after she confesses, He says to her daughter, your faith has saved you.
[15:50] Now, I know a translation puts it, has made you well, but it is the word for salvation. And I believe that's exactly what Jesus meant because in Mark's gospel, as he tells the same story, Jesus says, daughter, your faith has saved you and healed you.
[16:12] So he's not just talking about physical healing, he's talking about something bigger, bigger, bigger than physical healing. healing her faith and saved her. Big type.
[16:24] Eternal type. Not temporary. So, and then he says to the man too, when he hears that it's too late, his daughter's dead, he says to the man in verse 50, don't fear, believe, and she will be saved.
[16:41] So there's a different kind of faith. It's not faith that has saved, it's a faith that will, a faith that will save. So two different perspectives.
[16:52] So let's look at these two. We look at the father and the woman. We're going to look at the woman first because her story is told complete. So in the woman, in the desperate woman, we see, let me summarize it this way, we see when all remedies fail, when all remedies fail, faith seeks Jesus' power.
[17:26] When all else fails, when everything else you've tried, everything you've tried to find peace, everything you've tried to find hope, every remedy that you've tried that just leads to more hopelessness, when every remedy fails, faith seeks Jesus' power.
[17:48] That's what this woman does. Notice her desperation. Verse 43. How does he describe her? There's a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.
[18:04] It's a desperate, hopeless situation. She has a 12-year affliction. It is a bleeding disease of some kind, which makes her, if she's bleeding, and a Jewish woman, what does that mean?
[18:22] She's unclean. What does that mean if she's unclean? She can't be around. She can't be around. She's isolated. Exactly. She's isolated. She's excluded. She's like a leper.
[18:35] Now, in Israel, every Jewish woman dealt with that every month. They had a bleeding, right? They bled every month, and so there was a period of time where they were unclean, and then they'd get cleansed, and they'd come back, and they'd interact, and worship, and all that kind of stuff.
[18:49] This woman never had that for 12 years. Afflicted. Suffering. Alone. Isolated. Untouchable.
[19:00] So interesting that she comes in a crowd touching all kinds of people, and then she's touching, you know? She's making everybody unclean. She's breaking the law. What a radical.
[19:13] Jesus calls it faith. She sought out every remedy, it says. She spent all her, everything extra that she had.
[19:23] She spent it in the hopes of getting cured. Of course she did. Of course she wanted curing it. Of course. But nothing.
[19:33] Nothing. Nothing. In fact, Mark's description says she not only didn't get healed, but she got worse by these physicians. Now, Luke, being a physician, maybe is kind of being gracious to those, you know, holds back on that part.
[19:50] I don't know. No one able. I mean, that's the point that Luke writes down. No one is able. She could not be healed by anyone.
[20:00] No one could heal. No remedy. No, not one. No, that's not. That was the first verse of the song. It says, that was kind of along those lines, and now I forgot what it was.
[20:13] But Jesus isn't the one that... Okay. No one. Later, look back at the first verse of the first song we sang.
[20:23] You'll see this woman in there. So, verse 44, so she comes to Jesus, and we see her faith. We know it's faith because that's what Jesus calls it later in verse 48.
[20:35] Her faith. Now, it starts small. It starts small, and in fact, it starts in secret. She sneaks up. Do you see her?
[20:47] She wants to be unseen. She doesn't want anyone to notice. She comes up behind him in a crowd. No one will notice, and she just wants to touch, not even touch his flesh, just touch the fringe of his robe.
[21:07] It could be referring to, for a Jewish man, would be wearing four cords that come out the four corners of his garment, which would be the blue cords that reminded them of the law.
[21:22] They were to wear these tassels or long cords. So, it could be that she just touched one of those. And, she's immediately healed.
[21:42] I wonder how that felt after 12 years. I wonder how that felt. She knew she was healed. She knew it immediately. Something changed.
[21:55] She knew it. But she wasn't alone. Verse 45 says somebody else knew. Jesus said, who touched me? Now, you know, Luke sets up the scene.
[22:07] It's kind of comical. Everybody's pressing around him. And then, here comes this woman in this crushing crowd. And Jesus stops and says, who touched me? And, everybody denied it.
[22:19] Although, everybody's touching him. Everybody denied it. No, he didn't touch you. I was over here. That was, you know. And Peter's like, come on, Lord. You're surrounded by a crowd and they're all pressing in on you.
[22:30] What do you mean nobody's touching you? Everybody's touching you. And Jesus pushes it further. He's not going to drop this. Verse 46. No, somebody touched me.
[22:43] For I perceive that power has gone out of me. So, this is something different. This is a different kind of touch and a different kind of feeling. Jesus obviously knew everyone was touching him and crowding him.
[22:55] But he felt somebody touch him in a way that he experienced a change. He experienced power going up.
[23:08] I don't know what that's like. But Jesus did. He knew something happened. He is the vessel of the Father. And when the Father decides to heal somebody, he will heal through Jesus.
[23:22] Remember, Jesus is a man. He had emptied himself. Remember, I read one scholar, well-known scholar, who said that when the power went out, Jesus knew because he was drained.
[23:35] I'm like, no. No. It's not his physical power. It's not his human power that did this. It was God's power that came through him. Remember, after he was baptized, he's talking about the power of the Spirit was upon him and talked about other times when he healed because the power of the Lord was with him.
[23:54] So Jesus noticed as the vessel that the power went through him and went out of him. Drained. Give me a break. If I mentioned his name, you'd know exactly who he is.
[24:08] Some of our heroes disappoint us sometimes. Doesn't matter. He knew. And he pushes the issue. No, somebody touched me.
[24:19] Now, imagine this woman, right? She snuck up. She did this. She's all healed. She's probably melding or whatever back into the crowd and hiding again.
[24:30] She doesn't want to know. In fact, it says, verse 47, when the woman saw that she was not hidden. Not hidden from who? Who? I don't think anybody in the crowd noticed her.
[24:48] Somebody noticed her. And probably when he said who touched me, he's probably looking right at her. Wouldn't be surprised. He's looking right at her. That's how she knew she was not hidden.
[25:00] But Luke just says she knew she was not hidden. She wanted to hide. Is your faith like that? Experience God's healing but you just want to hide?
[25:14] I just want to keep it. I'm not an extrovert. I don't want to talk to other people. I don't want to do that. Anybody relate? No? Oh, you see, you're chicken. You don't want to sing.
[25:27] A lot of introverts are like that. I don't want to. Just let me have my Jesus in me and we're okay. Just keep everybody else out of it. What's Jesus say about that?
[25:39] Nope. Gotta come. Gotta come. Ah! Come on, Jesus. I don't want to come. And so how does she come? Verse 47. When she saw that she was not hidden she came trembling.
[25:52] She's shaking. The Greek word is tremor. She's trembling. Like, she's shaking. This is the last thing she wants to do is be exposed to everybody.
[26:10] Maybe if Jesus was alone it'd be okay but this whole crowd thing. Well, she chose the crowd. So her faith starts small but what I believe Jesus is doing is drawing out the rest of her faith.
[26:28] See, I think faith starts by coming to Jesus and faith is completed when we confess our faith with our mouth. Confession is critical in the Christian faith.
[26:43] Public knowledge, public witness is critical in the Christian faith. It's not about earning anything. It's about stepping in faith and showing who you are.
[26:54] And Jesus won't let this woman hide. Bless her. I mean that in a good way. Not in a southern way.
[27:05] Or wherever that comes from. I understand. I love to hide in the crowd. God. So then it's not until after she confesses that Jesus affirms and confirms her faith.
[27:25] Verse 48 after she's done confessing and she tells what a confession too. Verse 47 she declares in the presence of all the people why she touched him and how she had been immediately healed.
[27:43] That's a full confession. Not just what she did but why she did it and what happened to her. Remember how Jesus told the demoniac right now go tell what God has done for you.
[27:56] That's your testimony. Tell what God don't tell what you did. Tell what God did. That's your testimony. Nobody cares what you did. We want to know what God did. And she says this is why I did it and this is what he did.
[28:14] He didn't even know he did it. Well he knew as soon as it happened. He calls her daughter. Interesting.
[28:26] So we have two miracles and now we find out we have two daughters. You know we have the 12 year old daughter and now we have this daughter. She's now a daughter with capital D daughter.
[28:39] She's been isolated but now she's included. Now she's now she's back in the fold. She's in the better fold. Jesus' fold. He calls her daughter. She's now family with Jesus.
[28:50] She's now adopted in and included and all the stuff that comes with that. daughter. I think that's really significant that he calls.
[29:01] Then he says your faith. What you did was your faith. You're sneaking up. Even though you're sneaking you're coming to me and then you confessed what you did. You just declared.
[29:13] You gave your witness and that's faith. Your faith has saved you. Has saved you. Not just healed you. Not just your faith that has brought you temporary healing.
[29:27] But your faith has saved you. It has delivered you. Not just from a physical affliction but a real affliction of your soul.
[29:41] You have been delivered. You've been saved from the effects of sin. So Paul says the wages of sin is death.
[29:52] So what do I mean by wages? That's what we paid for. That's what we earned. That's what we deserve. We deserve death. And everything that comes before it.
[30:03] So the effects of sin. The desert of sin. The wages of sin. Is all of the stuff that leads up to death.
[30:15] Our disease. Our weaknesses. Our lameness. Our paralysis. Our blindness. All those things. Our aging.
[30:26] Oh, hey. Happy birthday. Thank you. You're dying. No, I'm just teasing you. But it's true.
[30:41] The wages of sin is death. That's what we deserve. That's what we've earned. That is the effect of sin. That when we die, it is the proof that we are sinners. Even...
[30:53] What did Jesus say to Mary, right? Lazarus is dead. He says to Mary, what? I'm the resurrection and the life. When he believes in me, we'll have eternal life.
[31:09] Even though he dies. Even though there's death. So, I believe when Jesus is saying this to this woman, your faith has saved you.
[31:29] He's speaking about something bigger. He's speaking about a bigger promise, a bigger picture than just a physical healing.
[31:44] I don't remember if I already said, but when Mark tells the story, he uses two words. Luke says that Jesus said to her, your faith has saved you.
[31:55] When Mark records the same story, he says, Jesus said your faith has saved you and healed you. Yeah, I did tell you that already. Oh, that's extra. In case you missed it.
[32:05] So, I look for these words. Faith. The connection of faith and salvation in Scripture. So, I look for this connection of these two words. Where do they come together?
[32:18] Well, in the New Testament, they come together a lot. In Romans 10, Paul describes it this way. What does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.
[32:29] That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
[32:40] So, there's you will be saved. There's you're saved and connected with faith. For with the heart one believes and is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
[32:53] And that's what the woman did. She believes and she confesses. For the Scripture says everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
[33:07] For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[33:19] So, faith is described as a calling on the Lord. Coming to the Lord. Calling on the Lord. That's why we need saving. I know why I need healing.
[33:31] My body tells me exactly why I need healing. Why do I need saving? Does my body tell me that? No, my body just tells me that I'm in pain or whatever.
[33:42] But my soul tells me that I need saving. My soul tells me. My soul feels the misery of sin. I feel sin deeply. I've been afflicted by the effects of sin.
[33:54] And I'm desperate for relief. The effect of sin is not just the physical dimension, but the spiritual dimension, the mental dimension, the inner dimension, the soul dimension.
[34:11] I mean, my mind is corrupted and I can't stop that. And then my soul is weak and my soul is thirsty and my soul is discouraged and downcast.
[34:24] And so, how do I heal that? You can't take a pill for it that way. You can take a pill to numb it. You can't fix that. That's what we need saving from.
[34:37] And we know that. Before we come to Christ, we know that. We know that. We know we need healing. But what do we do? We try all kinds of different remedies. We try stuff to numb the pain or escape the pain.
[34:50] But we find that all these remedies we try, these man-made remedies that we try, or self-made remedies we try, are unable. They're false.
[35:05] Nothing's able to heal us. Nothing can fix us. It's just like the woman going to all these physicians trying to get fixed. We can't fix it. We can't fix ourselves. And that's a really good spot to be when you come to Jesus.
[35:22] Because you know He's your only, only hope. When you know you cannot fix us. When you finally admit that.
[35:35] So this physical affliction of this woman pictures our real spiritual condition that we suffer with for years before we come to Christ.
[35:51] We're plagued by sin. Sin makes us blind to truth. It makes us deaf to the Word of God. It makes us lame, unable to walk.
[36:02] And so we see this miracle that Jesus does to picture a greater healing. Without the power of Christ, without touching the fringe of His robe, you know, if we could just touch the fringe, I don't have to impose on Him, I don't have to bother Him, I don't have to disturb Him.
[36:26] If I could just touch the fringe of His robe and I could find healing, that's good enough for me. Then I can disappear into the crowd again. For all that Jesus doesn't allow you to do that, that's a good start.
[36:42] It's still faith. It's a good start. Even if that's where you start. If you just, I don't want to stand up and raise my hand. I don't want to come forward. I don't want to, I just want to kind of sneak up behind Jesus and just take the robe and then I'll disappear into the crowd.
[36:56] Then you'll deal with Jesus, but it's a good start. Okay? Because Jesus still calls it faith. Without His power, we're spiritually lost.
[37:09] We're without hope. So when all remedies fail, faith, faith, faith, real faith, seeks Jesus' power.
[37:21] Now let's look at the other picture that starts, gets interrupted, and then picks back up. And in the Father, in this desperate Father, we discover when all hope is lost, faith, trust, in Jesus' promise.
[37:45] Faith, trust, in Jesus' promise. Because Jesus calls this man to trust Him. He says to the woman, your faith has saved you. You're good.
[37:56] Your faith is completed. Your faith has saved you. To the man, He says, don't fear, only believe. She will be saved.
[38:06] So the promise is yet to come. It's not there yet. See? So when all hope is lost, faith still trusts in Jesus' promise.
[38:19] Though we don't have it, it trusts His promise. That's hard to do. It's hard to trust in the promise when all the other promises have been broken.
[38:34] So we see a Father's desperation. He comes. And Luke tells us it's a surprise. because the word behold is there. Is the word behold in your text? Ah, you have a new translation, don't you?
[38:46] You have a newer translation after 1977 and then they took the word out because, you know, they don't need that word. We don't use that word anymore. I don't know why Luke used it, right? Do you think words of Scripture should be tossed out because, you know, we don't use them?
[39:06] No! There's a reason Luke put the word behold in there because it's a word that says, look! Did you see that?
[39:17] It's a ruler of the synagogue. Can you believe that? The last person I would expect to come and fall before Jesus' feet would be Jairus.
[39:29] that's why the behold is there. Did I tell you a story? I preached through Matthew when I was beginning ministry and I was using the New American Standard Version, 1977 edition, and it had the word behold in there.
[39:50] And time went on and I got a new Bible. I got the NASB update. All that means is they take words out. And you can't get the old version anymore.
[40:05] I hate updates. When they take words out that matter. And I didn't discover it until I was preaching a Matthew sermon in my buddy's church and I just got the new Bible and I come to that and the behold's gone.
[40:22] It's gone! I'm like, how do I make that point? So I told him. Trust me, it's there. Anyway.
[40:34] Sorry. Behold the ruler. It's a surprise that here he comes humbling himself before Christ. He is so desperate. Okay? This might mean the loss of his position.
[40:46] His other synagogue ruler friends might say, Jairus, is it true? Did we hear you fall before that false teacher?
[40:59] Did we hear that you were imploring him to come to your house? Is it true? It might mean he lost his position. It might mean that he risked everything because his daughter was dying.
[41:12] That trumps status. It trumps honor. It trumps position. He's so desperate.
[41:26] His daughter is dying and about to die. So that is a crisis. So he comes and Jesus is starting on his way and all of a sudden this woman, this woman, where did she come from?
[41:37] Jesus, we need to get going. My daughter is dying. This woman. And then Jesus stops. Jesus, what are you doing? Everybody's touching you. Come on, you've got to get into the house.
[41:49] My daughter's dying. Time is of the essence. And by the time Jesus is done with this woman, the delay has gone on and now what?
[42:00] Verse 49. While he's still speaking to the woman, right? He's still telling your daughter your faith has saved you. Go in peace. While he's still saying those words, verse 49, someone from the ruler's house came and said, your daughter's dead.
[42:16] Don't trouble the teacher anymore. It's too late. All hope is gone. It's too late. You didn't come quick enough. Why did he delay?
[42:29] Why did he delay? Why did he have to do the whole who touched me thing? Why did he have to do that? Why is he dealing with someone else when I'm more important?
[42:42] I don't know. See where I go. That's too late. Well, they say that to the synagogue ruler, but verse 50 tells us that Jesus overheard this.
[42:58] On hearing this, he answered him, do not fear, only believe. She will be saved. She will be saved. Same word again. Faith and belief.
[43:09] Faith and salvation. Don't fear. Don't fear. When God delays, don't fear.
[43:22] When God's taking his time with your request and your need, don't fear. Okay, that's like saying, you know, don't think about anxious thoughts or something.
[43:38] You know, it's like, you know, the negative. Now I'm afraid. You told me not to fear. Now I'm fearing. Don't fear. Only believe. She will be saved.
[43:53] So there's the promise. Trust in the promise. She will be saved. You just have to wait. She's not saved yet.
[44:04] But don't fear. Only believe. But her condition got... If you'd have been earlier, you might have been able to save her before she died. Now she's dead. Can you trust God's promise when all is lost?
[44:27] Can you? I mean, that's when everything's... When it's over. When it's done. It's too late. Can you trust His promise? What's His promise?
[44:39] What promise do we trust? He's going to restore that money into your bank account? No. What's His promise?
[44:52] He's going to change that boss's mind and get your job back? No. What's He going to... What's the promise? That you will not get any older and you start getting younger?
[45:05] I mean, what's the promise? He will never leave us a forsakenness. Even though it feels like it. It seems like it. Hmm?
[45:21] That all things work together for good. All bad stuff will work together for good. That's a promise.
[45:32] And His promise that Paul reminded us of is if all who call upon Him, all who call upon Him will be delivered.
[45:52] not from your temporary problem, but from your eternal problem. Can you trust... Can you trust Him when He delays His answer?
[46:05] What do you lean on? How does Solomon describe trust? Right? Faith? Trust the Lord with all your heart? Lean on and your... I don't understand.
[46:15] I don't understand. That's what trust means. Trust means not leaning on my... Not trusting on what I think. So He's called into faith and now He comes to the house, verse 51, and we see the deliverance.
[46:35] We see the salvation. But some odd things happen. He comes into the house, verse 51, and He doesn't let anyone else enter except, you know, the inner three, Peter, John, and James, and then Mom and Dad.
[46:49] So that's interesting that it's a private deal. When He's been... He just did the woman in a huge crowd. And here's a woman that would like to be in private, but He makes it a public...
[47:01] You know, and here's a public guy that He makes into a private thing. It's just interesting. It's just why? Why only a few get in? Right?
[47:11] Why just... How come Bartholomew get to go in? You know, just these inner three. They're the same ones that get to go see the transfiguration. They're the same three that are the only ones that get to go pray with Him when He's bleeding out of grief in Gethsemane.
[47:30] Those three. Jesus leaned on His closest witness. And we know from John who tells us that of the three there was one that He really loved.
[47:45] Now, John tells us that of himself aside, but, you know, He's under inspiration so I'm sure it was true. He was the closest to Jesus.
[47:57] Jesus had close friends. So He takes in the few, only a few witnesses, and then He says to the weepers, you know, verse 52, there are people weeping and mourning, and they're beating their breasts, they're wailing.
[48:18] But He said, do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping. You know how you can be in a moment of grief and still laugh? Yeah, I mean, grief is weird.
[48:31] Right? You can still be struck by something, you still laugh. I mean, not joyful, but you kind of still laugh. And I think that's what they're doing. Because they knew she was dead.
[48:42] It's ridiculous. He said something totally ridiculous. And it just coughed up laughter from them. And then He goes in along, verse 54, He takes her by the hand and He says the word.
[48:54] He speaks a word. Child, rise. Child, rise. Mark, who's writing to a bunch of other people, not just Gentiles, he translates the Aramaic.
[49:09] He says that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, which is what He spoke in. And He said, Talitha, Kaum. Right? And then Mark translates the Aramaic into Greek, which now we translate into English, which means little girl, rise.
[49:29] It's interesting to know Jesus spoke Aramaic. That's what He spoke. He speaks those words and immediately her spirit returns and she got up at once.
[49:42] Interesting, her spirit returned. That's an interesting way to describe it. Her spirit returned. Where was it? Was it? Woo! I'll bring us. Where was her spirit?
[49:53] Well, when we die, right, our soul separates from our body. Spirit, remember when Jesus died, He said, Father, in your hands, I commit my spirit.
[50:04] I commend my spirit when I die. I let go. My spirit leaves the body. So, she was dead to the sense where the spirit now returns. Whatever that is.
[50:19] It's now unanimated again. You know, when God breathed into Adam, what happened? He became a living spirit, a living soul. It was animated, alive, and she now becomes alive again.
[50:35] Interesting that He says sleeping too, right? That's a Christian way, a New Testament way of talking about death, asleep, because when Christians die, it's temporary.
[50:48] Right? We'll be reunited. We'll be raised up. We'll have new bodies. It's not the end. In other words, it's not a permanent thing. And then He has this oddened structure.
[51:01] Verse 56, the parents are amazed. He charged them not to tell anyone what happened. That's, why not? When He raised the widow's son back in chapter 7, that was public.
[51:14] That wasn't in there. That was public. Everybody's, and everybody raved about it, right? Everybody knows. It was very public. Too late to say, don't tell anybody.
[51:27] And this one, you wonder, He says, don't tell anybody, but the people do that were in the house already knew she died and when she comes out, it's not like, don't tell anybody.
[51:38] You know? It's like, yeah. So what is He asking? Don't tell anybody what happened. Luke doesn't tell us.
[51:50] all we can do is theorize and maybe it's that Jesus doesn't want that kind of publicity. He doesn't want that kind of focus because His ministry, though it includes miracles, it's not, His ministry is not about miracles.
[52:06] His mission is to preach the gospel. His mission is to set captives free. And He does set captives of physical captivity free, but that's not His mission.
[52:19] His mission is to set people free. Forever. Released. That's His mission.
[52:31] And maybe that's what He's saying there. So what does faith look like when we're desperate? So He calls His Father to trust. Trust the promise.
[52:43] And for Him, He didn't have to wait long, did He? I mean, however long it took to get home and then He sees His daughter live, so He didn't have to wait long. But that's not always true when He tells us to wait.
[52:54] When we pray for something, when we ask for something, we're looking forward to a promise of God that He will make all things good. When?
[53:09] So, Scripture talks about somebody that had to wait a long, long, long time for God's promise and still didn't see it. Okay?
[53:21] Kind of like us. We might not get to see how the good comes. His name was Abraham. Heard of you?
[53:32] Abraham. He was known for faith. So here's what Paul writes in Romans 4 about Abraham. He says, As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations.
[53:44] Speak Abraham. I have made you the father of many nations. In the presence of the God in whom He believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
[53:58] interesting description of God. Speaking of Abraham, In hope He believed against hope that He would become the father of many nations even though He didn't have a son yet.
[54:16] He believed against hope that He should become the father of many nations as He had been told, so shall your offspring be.
[54:28] He did not weaken in faith when He considered His own body, which was as good as dead since He was about a hundred years old. See, there's not something wrong with thinking about when you get old how you're as good as...
[54:41] Okay. See, Abraham encourages me. He had this whole, you know, yeah, but I'm about dead. And Sarah said the same thing to him. When he considered his own body, and he did not weaken in faith when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.
[54:57] Didn't say she was old, just said she was barren. So, nice. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God.
[55:08] There it is. The promise of God. But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
[55:24] That's faith. Fully convinced that God is able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith... Watch. Now Paul turns this and applies this to us now.
[55:38] That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words that was counted to him were not written for his sake alone.
[55:49] Paul's quoting all the way back from Genesis 15. It was not just written for him. It's not just about Abraham. It's about us. In other words, the words of Scripture are not just about Abraham and David and this woman and Jairus.
[56:04] The words are about us. Okay? It wasn't just written for his sake only, but for ours also. Also, it will be counted to us who believe in him who raised him from the dead.
[56:18] Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification. That's what it's about. That's the promise.
[56:29] The greater promise. Abraham had the promise of becoming a great nation. He saw one son and he saw some of...
[56:41] He saw Isaac's sons. Did he see any of Jacob's sons? No. But he didn't see a great nation. He was also promised land.
[56:56] You know, and remember, Abraham got to the land and what did he say about the land? Ain't it... There's people here. It's... You know, it's...
[57:06] This is the promise land. No, they ain't the promise. They were looking for something eternal. So Abraham got it early on. Do we get it? We're looking for the answer now.
[57:19] We're looking for the solve now. We're looking for the relief now. And God is saying, I got a much better relief for you. Much bigger relief for you.
[57:31] He was delivered up for our transgressions. And he was raised for our salvation. So the miracle picture is greater promise.
[57:42] Miracles are not random acts. They are proof that Jesus keeps his promise. The power is not just to raise the dead in temporary life. The power is about faith in a greater resurrection.
[57:56] So let me close where we started. Hopelessness. Are you in a place right now where you feel hopeless?
[58:09] Desperate? Where... you can't fix it and nothing fixes it and maybe it seems too late.
[58:21] I mean, you made some choices and now you're getting the consequences and it's too late. and you've cried out to God and maybe you feel like God's not listening because maybe you don't deserve it.
[58:43] Well, that's true. because he never answers based on our deserving it. Thanks be to God.
[58:55] Thanks be to God. See, it's not about what Jesus promises is not about fixing our physical temporary problems though he cares about that.
[59:13] His great promise is to save us from the eternal effects of our sin. Of our sin. Of our brokenness.
[59:26] Of our ignoring him, rebelling against him, dismissing him though we believe in him. His promise is to save us from that.
[59:44] from everything we deserve. When all hope is lost, faith continues to trust in Jesus' promise.
[59:59] Let us strive to believe and pray increase. Right?
[60:09] I believe increase my faith. Help my faith. let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the pictures that Jesus brings.
[60:24] Bring what we need to hear from this home to our hearts. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.