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Jairus: Religious leaders driven to the ground.
The following sermon was preached by Timothy Williams.
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Jairus
Luke 8:40 – Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.
Crowds of people were always looking for Jesus Christ, or coming to Him and wanting something from Him; excited about His presence and the fact that He’s showing up. It says they welcomed Him. They were looking for Jesus Christ. But they won’t be touched by Jesus as we will see here in a moment. You could be right next to Jesus Christ; following Him, looking for Him, praying, and all the things that people do, and yet never really be touched by Jesus Christ.
Luke 8:40-41 – Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue…
Jairus was a ruler in the church, and people who look up to him as an example will learn a lesson of faith. The desperate need in his life drives him to a place of faith. Jesus does that in our own lives. He pulls back from us, and He causes us to dry out. He puts us in the desert, and He puts us in places where we will hunger and thirst for Him. And even though we might be a synagogue ruler, even though we might have led a religious life, even though we might have worshipped the Lord for years or even grown up in the church, we get to a point of desperation like Jairus.
Luke 8:41 – Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet…
He was so beyond himself that when he came to Jesus Christ, he was at the end of his rope. He just fell down at His feet and began to plead with Jesus Christ to interact in his life. He wanted the touch of Jesus in his life.
Luke 8:41 – …pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
So Jairus came in humility and meekness, and fell down before the Lord. He was really beside himself. It’s not like he said, “Okay, I will go see Jesus Christ. I want something from Him and so I’ll fall down and act like I’m humble. I’ll plead and pray.” This man was in desperate need. Jesus Christ waits for the same thing to happen in our own lives. When we get beyond the games, and we get beyond the false humility, and we just finally fall down before Him and say, “I need you to come to my house.” This is what happened here.
Luke 8:42 – …because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.
We see the crowds coming to Jesus Christ. We see them praying, pleading, and looking for Him. Then we see them excited about Jesus coming. Even today we see people dancing, singing, going to church, worshipping, and all the things that crush Jesus Christ. They come to Him and crowd around Him. They look eager, they look zealous for Him, but they’re not being touched by Him.
Luke 8:43 – And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.
Crowds of people gather around Jesus Christ, but they’re slowly bleeding to death. And like a lot of us, we did all the things that we thought we were supposed to do. We went to church, we served, we prayed, we gave, and we sacrificed. We did everything that we thought we were supposed to do. We thought we were finding Jesus Christ. We could say, “Jesus Christ is right here, I’m pressing up against Him, I’m right next to Him, and I can see His garments. I can hear Him speak, I can see Him do the miracles. Jesus Christ is literally right here in my household. He dwells with me. He answers prayers. He’s everywhere that I say He is because I am next to Him,” and yet never really be touched by Jesus Christ. And a lot of us sense inside that we were slowly bleeding to death, just like this woman.
Luke 8:43 – And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years…
Didn’t each of us sense inside that we were slowly dying, even as we went through all this activity? Even as we sought after Jesus Christ and did all the things that men, books, and sermons tell us to do, inside we knew we were slowly dying day by day. We weren’t gaining ground at all. If we would have sat down and really analyzed we would have said to the Lord, “Hey, I’m dying. Something’s not working.” We kept trying to get well. We’d go to see doctors, we’d turn to friends, we’d go to therapy, we’d read books, we’d do all kinds of things, but the bottom line was that we were slowly dying. We were not yet at the end of our rope. But this woman and Jairus were at the end of their ropes. They fell down at His feet, they pleaded, they had faith, and they were beyond themselves completely. They had come to a point that if Jesus Christ didn’t save them, they were totally lost. They’re not holding on to anything anymore. They couldn’t say, “My prayers or my serving will get me through” or “My belief in God will get me through.” They must have a touch by Jesus Christ. They know that no man can help them and no man can solve the problem, not even themselves. Jesus Christ wants us to get to this point.
Luke 8:44 – She came up behind him…
She wasn’t bold enough to come in front of Him. Humility had done its work. She felt weak, empty, and ashamed. She felt totally beyond what she was able to do. She didn’t come in boldly before Him with the kind of “faith” we see in the church today demanding something from Jesus Christ, did she? Gone is the arrogance and pride. Gone is the boasting, flashy show that seeks God by trying to get a blessing from Him. What does it say? “She came up behind him…” She wasn’t about to come face to face with the living God and expect to get something from Him. She didn’t have the kind of boasting arrogance that we find in the church today. All she felt she could do was try to sneak in and touch His garment and then sneak back out, hoping God would not notice what she did. That’s how humble and meek she had become because of the bleeding.
A lot of you in this body experienced that bleeding for many years and then by the time you finally were going to be made well, you thought it was beyond hope. And all you felt you could do literally was sneak in and maybe grab something.
Luke 8:44-45 – She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
This doesn’t make sense to them at all. The crowds are crushing Him to death and yet He stops in the middle of all this and says, “Who of you touched Me?” Now notice what Jesus Christ does. He draws this woman out into the open and out into the light. He’s actually increasing her anxiety. Pretend you are this woman. You come in all this weakness, pain, and turmoil. You finally touch God, you’re made well, and you’re afraid of what will happen. You don’t know who the living God is. You don’t know how He relates, you don’t know how He will deal with it, you have a fear and trembling, but instead of making it easier, He makes it harder. He went around the crowd asking, “Did you touch Me? Did you touch Me?” She probably watched this and thought, “I hope He doesn’t get back to me.” So the anxiety was beginning to build. Just think, if you were caught in something and somebody began to go through the room and ask, “Was it you? Was it you?” you would feel anxious. He didn’t make it easier for her.
Contrast that today with how the gospel’s preached to most people. We make it so easy, so convenient, and so smooth; there’s nothing to be afraid of or struggle with. Now all you have to do to ask Jesus in your heart is bow your head, close your eyes and everybody else will close their eyes too so you’re not embarrassed. Then you raise your hand and somebody will pronounce that you’re saved. Yet Jesus Christ brought the light. He drew out this woman into the light; He brought out the fullness of the humility so she would have a relationship with the living God.
Luke 8:45-46 – “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me…”
Even Jesus was dependent upon the Father for this kind of wisdom. Even He didn’t know exactly who the woman was at that moment. He received from the Father minute by minute the wisdom necessary to deal with the situation. So as you begin to preach the gospel, as you begin to walk as Jesus walked, you may only have enough wisdom to say one thing to a particular person and the wisdom will come later as to what you say and do next.
Luke 8:46 – But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
And all I could do was think about how powerless most of us are in terms of the presentation of the gospel. We don’t live our daily life interacting with people and all of a sudden feel the power of God flowing through us to deal with somebody’s life. We talk and debate, we discuss and show scriptures, but how few times can we say that we felt the power of God move out in terms of somebody else’s life. Let us get the humility of Jesus so that when we present the gospel, we sense that though crowds of people press in around us, there is that one person to deal with. One person who will get the power of God. Ignore the rest of the crowds, they’re just pressing in to get whatever they want, and just deal with people who have true humility.
Luke 8:47 – Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet.
You would think this would be the opposite of love. She desperately sneaks in from behind, she’s been dying for twelve years, she’s had all kinds of pain and suffering, and then we make her suffering worse. We have to understand that love will draw out everything about us. God wants all of us and so we need to present the gospel to people in such a fashion that God will draw out all of who they are in order to completely humble them to have a relationship with them.
Luke 8:47 – Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet.
We saw Jairus, the synagogue ruler, falling at Jesus’ feet. We see the same thing with this woman also, who’s bleeding. She falls down before the feet of Jesus Christ. Crowds of people pray, but do not fall down. Crowds of people seek after the Lord, but those beyond themselves just fall down at His feet and plead for Him to interact, to talk, to touch, to do anything. It says “In the presence of all the people…” God draws her out into the light to declare what she has done, to show that this is true faith, this is what it means to seek the living God. In the presence of all the people, she told why she touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Let us do the same thing. Let us preach in the same way, and let the Holy Spirit guide us so that people have to stand up and declare, “This is the Living God and this is how He acts. This is who He is.” Let there be a contrast between those who have touched God and the crowds of people just crushing Jesus. Let there be a distinction between those who love righteousness and holiness and those merely religious. Let there be enough fear and trembling within those who love God to be a blessing and draw out the same fear and trembling others who also would love God.
Luke 8:48 – Then he said to her…
Once she was in the light and once the fear and trembling was complete, what does Jesus say?
Luke 8:48 – Then he said to her “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
But she didn’t hear those words until the brokenness and healing was complete. Most of us would have been satisfied with the physical healing. We’d have jumped up and down, held her up, and said, “This is a godly woman and God has touched her life.” We would not have dealt with the pride that was hiding inside her. We would not have drawn her into the light because we would have used her healing for her own benefit. She would have been left just as injured and still bleeding because, though she was healed physically, inside her spirit had to be made well also. “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Let us not say these words to people until they have done what she did. Until they come into the light with fear and trembling, until they come in with all their fears, anxieties, and who they are and finally surrender those to the Lord. Then we can say, “Go in peace,” then we can say, “God has forgiven you,” but not before-hand. We only keep them bleeding, we only keep them injured when we smooth it over way too soon.
Luke 8:49 – While Jesus was still speaking…
Picture this: Within this crowd of people a grand miracle takes place, with this godly woman’s example. Jesus Christ draws her out into the light and while He’s still speaking, while in the middle of this miracle, another miracle will take place. But they can’t respond to the miracle that will happen; they can’t even appreciate what just happened to the woman. This is why miracles do not convince anyone permanently to seek the living God.
Luke 8:49 – While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.”
They can’t even appreciate the miracle that just took place in this woman, can they? The crowds had no more faith once they saw the miracle than they did before. They didn’t have humility and surrender. Even though they might have danced, prayed, sang, talked of faith, and quoted scriptures about faith, the very minute another need came up, they had no faith for it. “Don’t bother the Teacher, don’t bring Him in: She’s dead. There’s nothing He can do. Just go on your way,” because their hearts had not changed.
Luke 8:50 – Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
We hear this kind of conversation in our own body. I’ll say, “Why don’t you give this tape to somebody.” And you’ll say, “Oh they’re not open, they’re not interested. They’re dead, nothing can happen.” When we talk about situations that come up in your life I’ll say, “Well, God can deliver.” You respond, “No, no, it’s hopeless. It’s impossible.” Yet, you will declare that God is in your life, that He’s the Lord, that you love Him and that everything else is fine. But when it comes to this need, it just won’t work. You list all the reasons why it should fail; she is dead, everybody’s mourning for her; she will not rise again; there’s nothing that can happen; don’t bother Jesus Christ; don’t pray about it. Just give up on this situation. Give up on yourself, don’t worry about it, don’t have any faith, there’s nothing more you can do about it. We come with our facts, we come with our wisdom and all our logic and the bottom line is we just won’t fall at His feet in fear and trembling, and we won’t say, “I gotta have it. I need You. I want to be in a relationship with you.”
Luke 8:50 – Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
We’ve seen over and over again that you must completely disregard what the crowds say. If you listen to the crowds and your own voice, you will never have a relationship with God. Being a Christian is the most impractical thing any man can do. Outwardly it seems the most foolish thing a man can do and it’s the most impossible thing to try and live.
Luke 8:51 – When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother.
Because of our lack of faith, we often have to be excluded from certain situations in Jesus Christ. How many things we miss in Jesus Christ simply because we don’t have the faith for Him to bring us into His confidence and to teach us. Even among his twelve disciples, a separation sometimes occurred where three were allowed to come in, but others were left on the outside because of their lack of surrender, their lack of faith. Let us have rich faith and we will see God do things in our lives and other people’s lives that we cannot even envision right now.
Luke 8:52 – Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her…
So Jesus Christ walks into the situation to see wailing and mourning; the facts are very clear, but Jesus Christ has a different perspective on every situation. Christians possess a different perspective on every single situation in this world. We walk into a funeral and we have a totally different perspective than everybody else in the world. We walk in on their parties and events, and we have a totally different perspective on all of those things. Verse 52 says,
Luke 8:52- Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”
Do they react in faith? Not at all!
Luke 8:53 – They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
So we have the facts. So we walk in declaring, “But God can work, He can deliver, He can do this in this person’s life.” Usually the reaction is to scoff and laugh and say, “You just don’t know the facts. The girl is dead; there’s the body. This is what we’re mourning about. Jesus Christ, You do not know what You are talking about” If we will be ambassadors for Him, if He will work rich faith within us, our behavior, our attitudes, and what we see will be totally different than everybody else. They will laugh at you. They will think you’ve totally lost your mind.
Luke 5:53-54 – They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!”
You have to love the prayers of Jesus Christ. How short. It was not a loud, boisterous kind of prayer. I mean, we’d have a prayer meeting, jump up and down fast, run around, hold a revival meeting, and take up an offering too while we’re at it. He just simply went in and said, “My child, get up!” No long-winded kind of prayers because prior to that He prayed in the desert with loud cries and tears before God, and so when He spoke and when He declared, He spoke with power. And let it be a lesson for us also. If we hope to speak before men with power, we must come into a relationship with God in the quiet times of our prayers, when we’re alone, when we’re driving, or whatever we’re doing. So that when the situations come before us, when a dead person lies there, we’ll know how to deal with it. But usually we’re so out of tune with the Lord, we wait until the situation faces us, and then we ask, “Okay God, what am I supposed to do?” God says, “Well, just raise him from the dead.” “I don’t have the faith for that.” Then we have to run back and spend about four years getting the faith to raise a person from the dead. Let us be like Jesus Christ. So full of the Spirit, so in tune with God, that when the time comes, you can simply say, “Get up.”
You have to love the first word in verse 54 the most; the word “But.” It’s got to be one of the grandest words in Scripture. Yes she’s dead, yes everybody’s mourning, yes they’re laughing at you, yes all of these things are true, but our God lives and our God works. He is different and He will work in all situations, so the biggest word that we should have in our life is “but.” Yes I am a sinner, yes I need to change, but He lives. Yes, that person appears dead, that person appears cold, it doesn’t look like they’ll come to Jesus Christ, but God told me to reach out to them.
Carla and I like to have these little debates. I’ll say, “Why don’t we do this over here?” She’ll have her “buts.” “But what about all these problems?” Then I have my “buts” and then we just go to God to see who wins.
Luke 8:55 – Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
We have to do our part. God wants us to be so dependent upon Him that we’re not impressed with the miraculous. Could He not have raised her from the dead and given her a full belly at the same time? Why is this necessary? Because we need to do our part and let me tell you, to be fed by God is as much a miracle as to raise somebody from the dead. When you think about the arrangement of the universe, the position of the sun and the earth, and the vastness of the whole universe, yet the sun is in the right place at the right time to grow food. That is as much a miracle as to raise someone from the dead. There is no difference. So the miracle still continues. I guarantee you as these parents fed this little girl, the miracle was still continuing for them. Let our eyes be opened and everything will become a miracle and we will take nothing for granted.
Luke 8:56 – Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
How unlike the church today. Books would have been promoted about her before she was thirteen. It would have been a best-seller. They were astonished, they were awed by what was going on, but Jesus told them to be quiet and keep it to themselves. Later on, Paul said in his teaching, “If you’re going to boast, boast that you have food to feed her once she was raised from the dead. Don’t talk about the fact that she was raised from the dead, talk about the weaknesses so that people aren’t drawn to Jesus Christ because of all the miracles and entertainment they can get from Him.” Though the crowds crushed in, they’re not touched like this, because they want something from Jesus Christ.
Let’s back up and look at this all over again because there’s more to be gleaned from all of this.
Mark 5:21 – When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.
You know, most of us would be all excited at that point. Every preacher dreams that wherever he goes, large crowds will follow him and listen to his message. But again the large crowds mean nothing. The one or two individuals who can touch Jesus Christ, who have that humility are the important ones. Focus on them and say to them, “Who touched the living God? Who’s in tune with the living God?” It may be one or two people. It may be nobody in the crowd. It may be somebody else completely.
Mark 5:22 – Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet…
You know, God wants our prayers alive. He wants “hot” prayers. He wants us to seek God with all of our heart, not just sitting around in our quiet time with a cup of coffee, with the One-Minute Bible saying, “Gee Lord, I’d sure like to have You in my life today.” He wants us falling at His feet saying, “I have to have the living God. I don’t want to live another day unless You are fully in my life, unless You take this sin from my life, unless I can walk with You today.” He wants hot, alive prayers, and if He must make our twelve-year old daughter sick to make us cry out to Him, He will try it. Too bad not everybody cries out.
Mark 5:22-23 – Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him…
Now look at the cry here, look at what God is drawing out, look how God is using even sickness to draw out a full surrender to Him.
Mark 5:23 – My little daughter is dying…
That’s the cry of a father toward a daughter. And he’s not asking anything for himself, but his daughter, his little daughter whom he loves, he is asking God to touch and deliver her. So God uses the things in our life that are so precious to us to get us to cry out to Him to surrender everything to Him, to gain faith from us. “My little daughter is dying.” How many Christians run in and say, “It’ll be okay, everything’s fine, don’t worry about it, Jesus Christ is with you, in everything we’ll pray, we’ll seek God. We’ll be religious over here.” But finally the synagogue ruler and all that religion went out the window and he had to fallen on the floor at the feet of Jesus to cry out to the living God. That’s what God’s trying to work, that hunger and thirst for righteousness. He says,
Mark 5:23 – Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.
And Jesus Christ responds to his measure of faith. I want you to notice something here, that so many times God will respond to what we ask Him to do, but it’s always according to the faithful which we come to Him. In other words, the woman believed that if she just touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would be made well, right? And Jesus honored that faith. This man believed that if Jesus Christ would come to his house and lay His hands on his daughter, she would be made well. And in every case, God responds to that direction of what they believe He will do—to what measure of faith they have.
Luke 7:1-4 – When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him…
We see throughout Scripture this “pleading earnestly.” You know Jeremiah 19:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Hosea 7:14 says, “They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds.” Get up and fall at the feet of Jesus.
Luke 7:4-6 – When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them…
Jesus responds to the measure of faith with which He sees. The same thing holds true in our own lives, to the measure of our faith and it will be done to us. If you don’t have the faith to go in, or if you’re not a Peter or a John and you can’t be brought into the inner sanctum, then you’ll be left on the outside. So the greater our faith in God, the more we will seek Him.
Luke 7:6 – So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.”
In every case where you find faith you find humility. In every single case where somebody is touched by the living God, you find this brokenness and humility down here. And as long as we hold on to our pride, as long as we hold on to self, we will never feel the power of God in our life. We’ll see it in other people’s lives, we might touch up against Him, we might be crushing Jesus Christ, but we will never feel what they feel right here.
Luke 7:6-7 – So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
The deeper the humility, the richer the faith. Oh, let us have the insight of Jesus Christ. How mistaken many of us would be if we were doing some miracle or something and somebody sent another servant to come talk to us, we’d say, “Well, is he so arrogant that he can’t come talk to me in person?” Jesus knew the humility that was in this man and He wouldn’t make a judgment that was wrong. We would have thought him lazy and rude. We would have thought he really didn’t want to seek after God. “Where’s the effort? Where’s the climbing of the tree like Zachaeus?” We’d have been religious about the whole business as we judged him. But Jesus walked by the Spirit, He could see what was in this man’s heart and you can see this man’s faith growing. You can see that as he sent the servants and the servants start to come to Jesus’ house, this man sought God and thought, “Now wait a minute, what is the requirement for Jesus Christ to be here? All He has to do is say the word and it will be done.” And he’s reasoning it out and he’s thinking about it. You know, faith is one of the most logical things that a man could have. It’s not just blind stupidity that we see so often, it is sitting down and saying, “You know, this is the living God and this is the situation and this is how it can work out and the richer our faith, the more God will act and work according to His will.” Look at what he says in verse 8.
Luke 7:8 – For I myself am a man under authority…
See he begins to reason it out and logic tells him “I should have rich faith. What is the matter with me?” No doubt he chastised himself for his unbelief. He had more than all the crowds and multitudes didn’t he? I mean, at least he sent his servants, he built the synagogue. He had a love for God, but you know as he thought about this and said, “Hey, wait a minute, this isn’t a requirement, this isn’t even necessary, I don’t even have to go through this, I don’t even need this self-help book over here.”
Luke 7:8 – For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.
All the world teaches me to have faith in God. I can look at the stars and the moon and the grass and the lilies of the field. I can look at everything that tells me that I should have rich faith. “When Jesus heard this…” Jesus hears the crowds wailing and moaning, He shuts them up, sends them out. He hears people also that talk with rich faith who put their trust in God. He hears our conversation.
Luke 7:9 – When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd…
Of course He turned to turn to the crowd. He said, “Guys, wake up, you’re crushing Me, you’re pushing in on Me, but you don’t have what this man has. He’s not even to be here with Me. I won’t even meet this guy face to face and yet he will experience more of Me than all the things that you will see. You saw me deal with the woman who was bleeding for twelve years. You saw me dialog, you saw me bring her out, but this man who didn’t see any of this, whom I will never meet face to face will have more of Me in his life than all of you who are crushing Me at this moment.”
Luke 7:9 – When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”
He’s not a Jew, he’s a foreigner. He’s not a part of the church, he’s on the outside and he has more faith than all the crowds.
Luke 7:10 – Then the man who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Of course he was well. Let’s go back to Mark.
Mark 5:24 – So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
I don’t care one iota for a person who’s a part of a crowd who says, “Oh I’ve seen miracles and I’ve seen Jesus do these things, and God really moves through all of our church and He does all of these things,” I look to see if he’s been touched by the Master’s hands. I look for the humility and the cross and the brokenness, the things that show that you’ve fallen at His feet in true humility.
Mark 5:25-26 – And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors…
You know a hospital always have all these grand things about healing. The hospitals need to put a sign over their door as you go through that says: “They suffer under the care of many doctors.” All of us, when we go to the hospital, suffer under their care, but not under Jesus Christ.
Mark 5:26 – She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
Over and over again, God lets us come to the end of ourselves, “Go seek all the doctors you want, all that pain, all that suffering, all that expert advice. What did it get you? More pain.” Take all the money, all the resources, everything that had God had given you, all of that stuff and you gave it to try and get well, but it didn’t accomplish anything. Why? The faith was missing, there wasn’t anything alive, and you weren’t touching Jesus Christ.
Mark 5:27 – When she heard about Jesus…
When you begin to hear about who He is and how He conducts Himself and the power that He has and who He is in terms of the living God, our faith begins to grow and it begins to become alive. She thought to herself, “I will sneak up on this man and touch the end of His garment. I will get in contact with the living God, no matter what it takes.” And that’s what Jesus Christ waits for.
Mark 5:27-28 – When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought…
According to her faith it would be done. Maybe it’s not God’s perfect will of faith. Maybe He would have liked for her to come in before the whole crowd and say, “I want to be made well” But He honored that little bit of faith. He honored it. And so it is with each of us. He honored the little bit of faith that we have, “Well, if I go pray, if I go do this, or if I go fast,” even if it might have been not exactly what God wanted, if He knew it was genuine faith, He would have responded to it. The mistake most people make is they get healed because of this one little piece of faith they have and they think that’s the way God conducts Himself for the rest of their life. This is why He draws her out into the light, to say, “This is more of what the living God is about. You will have to keep growing. Yes you think this and I will act according to it, but grow up, mature, and learn what it is to fellowship with Me completely in the light.”
Mark 5:28-29 – …because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
It is instantaneous. It is not like doctors, it is not like self-help, it is not like all the sermons you can hear or the books you can read and everything else. When God finally touches, when He finally comes in, you feel it and you can sense that the power is beginning to take place in your life. It is beyond a message you can hear and a sermon I can preach and a scripture that we can share. You begin to notice and sense that what God is beginning to do a work that is beyond any man. That’s why people complain and whine, “Well I don’t want to follow a man,” and “You may be in a cult,” and “You’re following these people over here.” Then get in touch with the living God and you won’t fall prey to any man. It’s that simple.
Mark 5:29 – Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
Those who have been touched by the living God, who have felt Him deliver them from sin don’t need any man. Do you think she went back to those doctors for a check-up first? She would seek the living God first. And then if she went to the doctor, it’s rich faith in Him and how He works and how He wills.
Mark 5:30 – At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
This one’s a little more detailed. You almost think Mark watched this happen. He hears Jairus say, “My little daughter.” You sense the woman coming up behind just thinking, “If I can just touch His clothes, that’s all I’ve got to touch.”
Mark 5:31 – “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered…
Like, “What is the matter with you? What world do you belong to?” is what they’re saying. He declared, “I’m not a part of this world.”
Mark 5:31 – “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
This is the kind of weird conversation we’re supposed to have. That if we have the mind of Christ, that we will act and say things and believe things and see things that other people ask, “What in the world are you talking about?” They’ll say something over here and you’ve got an answer over here and they will ask, “How did we get from here to here?” These are disciples saying this. These are people who love Jesus Christ and yet they need to be changed and opened.
Mark 5:32 – But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
Oh, the searching eyes of God. He will find out who is it that has this faith. “Who is it that is falling at My feet? Who is it that is sneaking in from behind? Who is it that is crying out?” You may not have this much faith, but He’s looking for that one little piece of faith that He can make alive and that is all it takes. Just that little spark.
Mark 5:33 – Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
Again, I want to emphasize how easy we make it for people to come to Jesus Christ today. Goodness sakes, in some Bibles there’s a form in the back that says, “Ask Jesus into your heart and put your signature here.” Can you imagine how ludicrous this would be? Jesus Christ gives her a Bible and says, “Here, sign the back of this.” Even if she could, then where’s a pen? Imagine how she’s shaking to try and sign the back of it. This woman is in fear and trembling and thinking, “Who is the living God and what is this all about? What does it mean to walk in the light? What does it mean to carry my cross? What does it mean to hate my own life? Who is this man who called me out, who has this power to deal with my sin?” And this is the kind of Christianity we are to live, have, experience, and present to other people—that you will come in contact with the living God who sees all of your sins and will deliver you from all those sins.
If you’re not shaking now, you will be shaking as He begins that work. You will do what this woman did in verse 33. Look what she said, it’s so beautiful. She told Him the whole truth, not half the truth nor three quarters or 99.9%. She’s standing up, she’s in the light in front of everybody, declaring the truth. What do we spend so much of our time doing here in the body? Breaking down the lies and the half-truths and the three-quarter excuses to get to the truth. Then after you’ve gone back in the prayer closet and you’re thoroughly convicted and you’re sure that you’re in sin and you know what God has shown you, so you finally with all the excuses, reasonings, hiding and trying to come in from behind to get a hold of Jesus Christ, stand up and say, “This is the truth of who I am, this is what He’s delivered me from, this was my sickness, this is how I tried to be delivered, I went to the doctors, I did all these things, but it was in vain until I touched the living God. All of my self-effort got me nowhere. All of my studying got me nowhere, all my praying got me nowhere, and all of these things did nothing for me. I have lost all my pride, all I have is shame, fear and trembling, and humility and I will stand up and I will tell that truth.”
This is what we are to have in our own life and present to other people. So often what we have to do in the body is to begin to break down the self-righteousness, the three-quarter lies over here or the excuses and talk over there, just to stand up in front of God to say, “You know, I was sick, I was bleeding to death, I was dying, I wouldn’t face that fact and finally I stood up in front of Jesus Christ and I declared to you in front of everybody else that I was going to die unless He did something.” It’s called love. It’s called gratitude. There was nothing in me worth saving, but He did it anyway. Look what He says in verse 34.
Mark 5:34 – He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Because she had this humility and brokenness, what does Jesus Christ call her? He used the most intimate of terms. He said to her “Daughter.” Most of us would have been happy to have the glance from Jesus Christ, but to hear Him whisper in our own hearts and our own spirit, to say, “Daughter” or “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Most of us would be happy to hear that our sins are forgiven. Yet to be talked to at such an intimate level. Most of us would have considered it the grandest thing today if we heard Jesus Christ just turn to us and say, “Your sins are forgiven.” But to turn to us also and to say, “Son, your sins are forgiven” or “Daughter, your sins are forgiven” is beyond most of us, beyond what we’ve experienced. Because the pride is holding us back, and self is keeping us from that, we still go to the doctors and bleed to death. We’re still patting other people on the back as they slowly bleed to death. You won’t tell them to go give it up. “You’ll only suffer under the care of many doctors. You’ll only spend all you have because you won’t give it up. You won’t surrender.”
Mark 5:35 – While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”
They loved the bluntness of cold, hard logic. You know, men who don’t have faith are cold and hard with their logic. They lose kindness. Without faith there is no kindness. Faith at least, has that glimmer of hope that God will act. When a man loses faith, he becomes cold, hard, and logical. There’s not a soft quality about him, you find this a lot in older men as they become bitter in life because all the facts tell them that life is bitter and painful. Their whole demeanor and who they are and what they portray is one of just enraged against life itself. But faith says, “My God lives and He works good, even in the midst of this kind of pain.” You see a gentleness, a love, and a holiness there, but for those that don’t have faith, you find this—“Your daughter is dead.” Jairus needed that kind of comment? He didn’t need the next part that says, “Why bother the teacher anymore?” They don’t have any faith. “Why bother Jesus Christ? He won’t help you, there’s not a thing He can do.” This is what Jairus needed to hear at this moment? How cold and hard doubt is, even in the face of someone, a woman who’s been made well.
We don’t have time to look at it today, but sometime, read the end of the gospels where it says Jesus Christ is ascending into heaven. It says, “And some doubted.” He is being delivered up into heaven, and you got the whole group of people there. I won’t give the name of what church that is today, but they’re standing there watching Jesus Christ being drawn back up and they still doubted. The reason they doubt is the humility isn’t there, the surrender isn’t there, and the brokenness isn’t there. They’ve never fallen at His feet.
Mark 5:36 – Ignoring what they said…
I love it when Jesus Christ ignores what we say. I’m glad He hasn’t an answer to every prayer and every grumble and every mumble that I’ve said before Him, He just ignored me and pressed on.
Mark 5:36 – Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
We need to do the same thing. We need to look at people and ignore all this. Don’t get involved in the debates and arguments. Look to the person that has faith and give them the faith they need. Don’t get side-tracked all over. If I got involved in every debate and every argument of scripture and how it’s out of context and how I don’t do it right, we’d never obey anything.
Mark 5:36 – Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
Let us tune everybody else out, including ourselves and say, “Okay Jesus Christ, what is the deal?”
Mark 5:37-38 – He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.
There’s a lot of commotion going on in the church today, trying to get faith, trying to believe, trying to just live by themselves and have a little bit of peace and faith. The living God is right there in the living room and all they can do is have a commotion. How sad.
Mark 5:39 – He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing…”
What is the problem? You know in 1 Corinthians, it says that those of us who are of Jesus Christ should not mourn like the rest of the world mourns. When we go in and we find somebody dead in a casket, our reaction really should be, if they were a Christian, “Praise God they’re gone. This is the happiest day of our life.” When I’m dead you should be rejoicing that I’m dead and have gone home. Of course, if you knew they didn’t go to heaven, then you better weep and wail, while everybody else says he’s a good man and everything. We won’t get into that right now.
Mark 5:39 – He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”
Those are the real facts; that’s really what’s going on. And we as Christians are really to present the real facts of a situation. And that’s tough to do if you don’t have faith yourself—indeed it is impossible to do.
Mark 5:40 – But they laughed at him…
You will say things that men laugh all the time, but you see the reality.
Mark 5:40 – After he put them all out…
They don’t get to see it? He doesn’t seek to build up their faith, does He? He knows that it doesn’t matter what they see, they’re unwilling to humble themselves. Why don’t we also push some people out? “You’re not entitled to this information; you won’t be a part of this. I know these miraculous things, I know what’s happening, I see what people are experiencing, but I won’t tell you about it. Indeed, you won’t even be permitted to see it, because you won’t humble yourself.”
Mark 5:40 – But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.
Jesus Christ looked at the facts square in the face. There’s the body, there’s the living God. We’ve got a problem here and something will happen. But again, all those who aren’t willing to humble themselves are put out. Until they’re willing to have the faith that we’ve seen here.
I had a man call me just the other day, He’d been reading the Hating for Jesus book, and listening to some sermons on the website and he said, “Man, how can your congregation handle this, everybody running around thinking they’re worthless, they’re of no value, they’re mourning, they’re in the dust?” So he pictures everybody running around beating up on themselves and he pictures me running around and saying, “You’re bad, you’re wicked, you’re evil, you’re in the dust, you’re…” But I didn’t try to tell him, I didn’t even begin to try to convince him that they’re beginning to experience a resurrected life. Yes they went through the mourning process, yes they went through that fear and trembling process, and now they’re beginning to get a taste of humility. If he were to come in, he would experience and see the resurrected life and he will see some joy there.
He’s not entitled to that kind of information until he is willing to go through the suffering process, until he is willing to humble himself. So I had to give up my pride that wanted to justify, and my need to explain everything. When they laugh at you, you put them outside and you don’t worry about them, and you get on with people who can be made well. And if he’s willing to humble himself and if he’s willing to cry out to the living God, if he’s willing to fall at His feet, He will know the same joy all of us are beginning to experience. Nobody’s exempt from this kind of humility.
Mark 5:40 – But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.
We’ve got to look problems squarely in the eye and say, “We have a problem here.” The body is there, she is dead. We won’t smooth or cloud it over. We won’t run from it, we will say, “This is the reality. This has got to change. This is sin. This is directly or a consequence of sin in the world and we’ve got to have God acting in it.” And do the same thing with your own sins in your own life. To walk into your bedroom and say, “There is the problem and there is the sin, and the excuses are gone, but my God lives. Right there is Jesus Christ and He will do the work if I but humble myself and have just a little bit of faith.”
Mark 5:41 – He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
Whatever language Jesus was speaking there was shorter than the translation. How short His prayers are and how long-winded we are and how many years it takes us to get delivered over problems and sins and struggles and everything else because it just takes us that long to humble ourselves; it’s that simple.
Mark 5:42 – Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
Oh, pray that Jesus would give us a Christianity where men and ourselves are completely astonished. Where we would be tired of religion, tired of men’s talk, tired of explanations and study and debates. I want a Jesus that’s astonishing. Not one that entertains my flesh, but where the crowds are put out, where the entertainment is put out and He’s just the living God of my life and I’m just astonished at how He works.
Mark 5:43 – He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
“Do not tell anybody about this miracle.” Don’t run out and begin to say and do all these things that will entice people and persuade people to have faith. That’s what happens in the church today. If this happened in the church today, again, she would be pranced up on the stage and you’d have a video of the whole event, everybody would have been invited over and then everybody would say, “How many of you want to have faith?” Of course everybody wants to have faith at that point. But Jesus Christ wants faith that comes from the humility and the brokenness of the cross, not a faith that comes because we want to get something for the flesh.
So you also be very, very wise and listen to what Jesus Christ has to tell you to be quiet about. I shudder when I watch Christians just begin to share all the good things that God has done in life with everybody and anybody and in any circumstance. Some people are just pigs and they will trample your pearls to death. There are men for whom I will share the gospel, but I will not share my life. There are men who I will not even tell some of the most intimate and personal things that God has done in my life because they don’t have the humility, they don’t have the brokenness. They will just seek God for what they can get from Him.
In Mark 5, Jesus has just healed a man of some demons in his life.
Mark 5:17 – Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
Now here Jesus Christ does a miracle and the result of the people is not to come to Jesus Christ. In other words, the crowd who saw the woman who had been bleeding, or the little girl that been raised from the dead, would say, “Man, this is good stuff,” and the crowds would have gotten bigger and bigger and everybody would have tried to crush Jesus Christ even more and more to get something from Him.
Jesus Christ went into a town and delivered a man from demons and the reaction of the town is to be terrified about who Jesus Christ is. So they pleaded with Him to leave.
Mark 5:17 – Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
They went to Jesus Christ and said, “Will You please leave? Will You get out of here? We don’t want You, we’re afraid of You—get!” So Jesus Christ can handle these people in a different way.
Mark 5:18 – As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.
He begged, pleaded, and asked, “I want to be a disciple, I want to follow, I want to go where you go.” But look at God’s will in verse 19.
Mark 5:19 – Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
There is a time to speak and certain people to speak to that will draw them closer to Jesus Christ, though they be terrified of who He is and though they be in total anxiety about this whole message and what it’s about, share with them as God would lead you to do it. And though you might want to go do something else and go preach over here, God says, “No, I want you to share and tell what God has done in your life.”
Then there are the crowds and multitudes and it’s just none of their business. And He will give you strict orders to shut your mouth. Listen to what He tells you. If we ever had some tremendous miracle that could be advertised here and you begin to advertise it, you’re asking for a world of trouble and sin and mess. We’re talking about humility and brokenness here.
Mark 5:19-20 – Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
We’ve looked at one day in the life of Jesus Christ, healing and going where people are and what they need to do.
Jesus Christ worked hard to lay down His life and to surrender and give up all. All kinds of promotional things exist about evangelizing and serving other people easily. There are books out on how to share the gospel without any fear or how to do it in a simple fashion. This kind of interaction with people, being in prayer, and laying down your life, being involved in people’s lives, and going where they want you to go is hard work in Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak…
Being a Christian involves hard work, it is a hard work of pleasure because it is a hard work of love.
Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Christianity is the most inconvenient religion that there is. To follow God in every fashion, to follow His Holy Spirit will mean that you will be inconvenienced all the time. You know that well. But for those who love God it is a labor of love. For those who want to see twelve-year-old girls raised from the dead, and women freed from their suffering, and men delivered from demons, and people rescued from their sin, and see people worshipping and loving God, it’s not hard work. It’s a sheer joy. Let us lose enough self, to be dead enough to self that we find hard work to be the reward of loving God.
Let’s go ahead and pray.
Father, we praise You that You live and that You’re alive and we ask, oh Lord, that You show Yourself to be alive. You rescue us, Father, from ourselves and from our sins and that You crucify us, oh Lord, that You might live within us. Take from us our time and our pleasure and all the things that we covet so easily, Father. Rob them from us and crucify us to them, oh Lord, that we might be a people of love, that we might, Father, fellowship with You; that we might come into the light. Declare the whole truth, Father, of what You’ve done in our life. Amen.
This transcription has been edited to a reader friendly format. Every effort has been made to be true to the speaker’s original message. Any mistranslations are unintentional.
The following sermon was preached by Timothy Williams.
Read by a professional reader.
For more information visit the web sites www.luke1425.org or listen to the podcast at www.consider.info.
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out. (Proverbs 18:15)
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In the past God overlooked such ignorance,
but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
(Acts 17:30)
Repentance
The Consider Podcast knows what it is to fear God. It is time for all men and women to repent. It is time for the Christian church to repent of its Bible corruptions and together with non-believers to obey the Full Gospel Message of repentance. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. (2 Corinthians 5:11). He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13) With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” (Acts 2:40) “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.” (Acts 5:20)
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Timothy Williams, The “Consider” Podcast, www.consider.info, www.luke1425.org, Sound Doctrine Church, Seattle, Washington State
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