Luke 840 this is a Special time
for me. I enjoy this day out of all of
the days of the month the most when we come together not only
to worship our Lord In the preaching of his gospel, but to fellowship
together around a meal It's just a special time for
us to take a time to sit and talk to one another and talk about the things we've experienced
throughout the week and how that the Lord has blessed us or tried
us. That's a blessing too. And before we do that, we come
in down at the master's table and feast upon him our meat and
drink indeed. It's just a special day for me.
I enjoy it and I enjoy being with you. Verse 40, And it came
to pass that when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him,
for they were all waiting for him. And behold, there came a
man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue, and
he fell down at Jesus' feet and besought him that he would come
into his house. For he had one only daughter,
about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went,
the people thronged him. And a woman having an issue of
blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians,
neither could be healed of any, came behind him and touched the
border of his garment, and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they
that were with him said, Master, the multitude thronged thee and
pressed thee, and sayest thou who touched me? And Jesus said,
Somebody hath touched me. For I perceived that virtue was
gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she
was not hid, she was hid as far as everybody
else was concerned. Nobody else knew who it was but
the Lord, but she was not hid. If he knows, you're not him. She came trembling and falling
down before him. She declared unto him before
all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she
was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter,
be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go in peace. While he yet spake, there cometh
one from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, Thy daughter
is dead, trouble not the master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered
him, saying, Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house,
he suffered no man to go in, save Peter and James and John
and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept and
bewailed her. But he said, Weep not, she is
not dead, but sleepeth. And they left him to scorn, knowing
that she was dead. And he put them all out, and
took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her
spirit came again, and she arose straightway, and he commanded
to give her meat. And her parents were astonished, but he charged
them that they should tell no man what was done. So many beautiful scriptural
lessons in this passage. We won't address the incident
Our Lord healing the woman with the issue of blood today because
just for time's sake we just can't but I do want to mention
the remarkable fact that our Lord even on his way to show
mercy. He showed mercy Who can deny
the words of Micah 7 verse 18 who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity And passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. I he retaineth not his anger
forever because he delighteth in mercy." Now this man was a ruler of the
synagogue and not many very very few rulers of the synagogue or
anyone in established religion ever found themselves where this
man found himself at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Pharisees they tried to trick the master, they tried to ask
him questions that would cause him to say the wrong thing so
that they could defame him or prove him to be
an imposter. How many Pharisees, how many
Sadducees, how many of the chief priests ever came to our Lord
Jesus Christ like this man did? They came for all different kinds
of reasons, sinful, underhanded, deceitful reasons. This man came
differently than they did. What is the difference? Well,
this man was desperate. He was desperate. And our Lord
brings all of his sheep eventually to the place where they have
nowhere else to go. When we come to Christ, it's
because we have nowhere else to go because our nature, our
flesh, would go anywhere else. We must be In the place where
Simon Peter was when he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Where
else are we going to go? This woman with the issue of
blood. I've already been to all the doctors. I can't go to another
doctor. I've already been. When there's no hope apart from
him, that's where our Lord brings us now. We don't just wake up
one day and decide that the Lord is our only hope. Our Lord brings
us to that place. He knows how to do that. He knew
what it took exactly to bring that man to his feet. That's the place you want to
be. That's ground zero. That's the place of blessing
and life and the favor of God at the feet of the son of God
crying out to him for mercy. And that's where this man was.
And look what it took to bring him there. I wonder if he himself
had been greatly ill. Like the woman with the issue
of love, that's what it took to bring her. But if this man
had been ill himself, that might not have done it. A lot of people
get deathly ill and don't come to the master. They get angry
and bitter. Or they get proud and say, I'm
fighting, you know, I'm going to fight this thing, you know.
Good luck with that, because all you're going to have is luck,
which doesn't exist. But this man, his little daughter,
His only His one only daughter And here's what that means here's
the spiritual equivalent of that This man came to the place the
Lord knew exactly what to do to bring him to the place where
he said I Can't do anything about this I need God. We're not going to
fight this thing. We're going to find help. You
see the difference? A lot of people get sick or something
bad happens. We're going to fight. We're going
to get our prayer circle together. We're going to do this. No. God's
got to bring you to the place where you despair of all of that.
Of I, you, us, anything but Him. Need him you see where he came
and Here's what that is spiritually when you come to place where
something's got to be done about this and I can't do it You can't
do it. We can't do it And we're not going to get mad
at God We're not going to, you know,
fight. We're not going to do anything.
We're going to come to Him. We're going to beg Him for mercy. That happens spiritually speaking
when you see what you are, when you see your sin. As Paul put
it, when sin to you, your sin becomes exceeding sinful. And
that's the picture here. This man, when he saw his little
daughter wasting away, She lay a dying. She didn't lay sick.
She lay a dying. He knew what was coming And when
he saw that he said this can't happen. This is bad This is bad
this is we're hopefully this is hopeless And he didn't say that in a defiant
way that this we're gonna this can't happen this can't happen
This cannot happen. And he didn't say that in a defiant,
in a proud way. He said it in a broken way, in
a submissive way. And when you see your sin, you're
going to say, this is bad. This can't happen. And I can't
do anything about it. This cannot be. I have sinned. I am sin. And I need God's mercy. I can't fight it. My good can't
outweigh my bad. I don't have any good. I need God to have mercy on me. And I know how that happened.
By God's grace, I know where that happens. That happens at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the mercy seat right there.
God said, I will meet with you there. Where is that? At the
feet of the master. Bowing before him. Nothing about this man's status
or character can help him now, but he knew somebody that could.
Lord, you come and she'll be healed. You come and he'll come
to my house and lay your hands upon her.
So here are the questions this morning for us. Do you need the
Savior? Do you really need the Savior?
And do you believe that he's able, that he alone is able? Are you that desperate? As the
Lord brought you to that place where you don't need to pray
the sinner's prayer. You don't need to make a decision.
You need Him. Do you know why I'm here today?
Well, Chris, it's your job. No, there's a lot of things I
could do. You know why I'm here today? Because I need Him. I
believe... That's just the truth. I'm just
telling you the truth. I need him. And I'm pretty sure quite
a few of y'all are here for the same reason. We've got to have
him. I need him as much right now
as I stand before you as I ever have. As much as I did before
I ever knew him. I need him right now. And that's
why I'm here. This man's faith was tested very
early and very strongly. All faith
is tested eventually and more than once but all faith is tested
eventually but his faith was tested at the very inception
of it. Think about this, Jairus got to see the Lord heal that
woman with the issue of blood. Here he is, he comes to the master
and he says, my daughter's dying. Please come to my house. And
he heard no doubt that the Lord had power, that he was mighty
to heal and to save. But here on the way to his house,
he gets to see a display of that power because that woman It was
secret. It was hidden from everybody
but the Lord. And then when she realized that the Lord knew,
well, everybody might as well know now. I mean, if he knows,
he's everything anyway. And so she came before him and
she confessed it. And she told her story. That's how Luke knew
to write this down. She told the story. I've been
to every doctor that I ever heard of that anybody could tell me
about that's anywhere near here. And I've spent everything that
I had, and I just got worse. But somehow, and we know now
how, don't we? Somehow I knew that now my only
hope was you. I knew if I could just touch
the hem of your garment, I'd be made whole. We know how she
knew that, don't we? Because he reveals it. He reveals
himself in power and mercy and love. But this man's faith is
tested here in that he saw that and no doubt he was encouraged
by that You reckon is that speculation? I don't really think so He saw
my daughter's laying there dying and here's a woman. She's telling
us that she's been bleeding out for years now And she just touched
the hem of his garment And she said immediately I was made whole
Wow, this is gonna be a good day This is gonna be a good day
and then when he had great reason for
encouragement and he believed before but there was there was a problem in what he
said before he said Lord come to my house and touch my daughter lay hands
on her and she'll be made whole now what's wrong with that that
sounds good and right doesn't it you remember the centurion
who said, Lord, you don't even need to come to my house. And
the Lord said, I've not seen faith like that. So this man's faith wasn't perfect. Aren't you glad the Lord doesn't
just save people that have perfect faith? Martha said, if you'd have been
here, Lord, my brother wouldn't have died. We know better than
that, don't we? Now. But is our faith perfect
now? Far from it. Far from it. The centurion's faith wasn't
perfect. No faith is perfect. Not as long as it's our faith.
And that's the only kind of faith there. Now God gives us faith.
But it's not perfect because it's... We have so much unbelief
and flesh in us But this man, you see, his faith wasn't perfect,
but the Lord came anyway. He was going to come to his house.
He came to his house, didn't he? And this man saw this happen. And then I imagine his faith
was even stronger then. I've seen it with my own eyes.
He saw a miracle. He was no doubt encouraged. But
then, just when he was thinking, boy,
this is going to be good. This is going to be good. We're
about to see a miracle happen. My daughter is going to be made
whole, sure enough. There's no doubt in my mind now.
Then someone came from his house and said one word that caused his world
to come crashing down. One word, dead. Verse 49, dead. She's dead. That's what he was afraid of
that was what all all of his worst fears came true right there Now Now we're gonna I pray by God's
grace learn something very very few people know Our Lord here
on his way to Jairus's house was thronged by a mass of people
now, a mass of people. It says that people were jostling
against him. They said, how can you say who
touched me when everybody's touching you? You don't even have room
to walk because people are bumping into you. And all of these, many
of them I'm sure were curious or wanted to see some spectacle,
wanted to see a miracle. They wanted some selfish desire
perhaps fulfilled. But Jairus had a real and desperate
and deep need. And so the Lord went through
everybody else. He went through them. He walked
past how many people? Without saying a word to them,
without doing anything for them. And he followed Jairus to his
house. But then he did make one stop
on the way. What for? Another desperate person. Somebody that, another person
that had utterly come to the end of themselves. that had no
hope whatsoever except him. He stopped and had mercy on her
and then continued to follow the other person out of all of
that multitude that needed him. And so again, the question, do
you need him? Do you need him? Do we need him? Do we believe? And do you believe even when
your worst fears have come true? They've already come true. Now
here's a storm that's gone a step further than the one in verses
22 through 25 where the Lord was on that ship with his disciples.
Why were they scared of the storm? Why were they afraid? Why didn't
they just, you know, do what they normally do, just sit there
and drink tea while the storm raged? Because they were afraid
of what was going to happen, what they thought was going to
happen, what might happen, what could happen. The ship could
break up. The ship could be swamped. We
could sink. We could die. This might happen. Did any of
that happen? No. Most of our fear is like that,
isn't it? We spend most of our lives afraid of things that are
never going to happen. Isn't that sad? But our Lord
knows that. He's compassionate to help us
and speak peace to our hearts even in that, isn't he? And then
the Gadarene demoniac, there was a storm that went beyond
the one in that ship because that that man was possessed by
these devils and he actually bled. He was torn. He was tortured. He was personally affected. There was damage done to him
personally. But then, of course, our Lord
said, Peace be still to his heart, and he was sitting and clothed
in his right mind. But this storm here, this storm
in our text, the storm that was in this man's heart, do you think
that would be an apt description of what was going on in that
man's heart? The fear, the doubt, the dread, the anguish that his
daughter, his only daughter, 12-year-old daughter is about
to die. I can't hardly think of anything worse than that in
this life. And then he came to the place
that everything that he was afraid might happen. Happened. It happened. Now that's a storm. That's a storm. His worst fear. Literally. Came true. And no doubt his faith was tried.
We know that because of what our Lord said to him. You know,
our Lord doesn't say don't be afraid except to people who are
afraid. He doesn't say only believe except
to people who are doubting. It's over, it's too late. These
servants, whoever it was that came from his house, what they're
saying is it's too late. And no doubt his faith Was tried
and it was he was full of doubt. He was full of questions. He
was full of fear But don't be too hard on him Let's not be
too hard on him for doubting For thinking for thinking maybe
you know, I believe him up to a point. I believe the mirror.
I saw the miracle I believe because of the miracle But you see do
we believe in miracles or do we believe in the savior We're fixin' to find out in this
story, aren't we? We're fixin' to find out. Don't be too hard on him. If
this kind of storm doesn't make you wonder whether you even have
faith or not, then you probably don't. But wait a minute, Chris. How can it be good to doubt?
It ain't good to doubt him. But we doubt ourselves, don't
we? It's our, we're the problem,
not him. We're the problem. And faith is always questioning
self. That's why we can't look to self.
We can't look to self. Faith always questions self.
That one man said to our Lord, Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief. Help mine unbelief. Our faith
is full of unbelief. When the disciples, our Lord
said, one of you is going to betray me. One of you sitting
at this table with me is going to betray me. And they all began
to ask him, Lord, is it I? Is it I? Faith doubts self. John Newton wrote those words
in more contemporary times, still a long time ago to us. But he
wrote this, do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? When I turn my eyes within, that's
the problem, John. Don't do that. Don't do that. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself his child? Quit turning your eyes within.
Look to the master. Faith never questions the master.
Believe only. That's the faith that Christ
gives. Do you believe that he is able to meet your every need
even when your worst fear has already come true? When it is hopeless, that's where faith begins now,
when it's hopeless, when you're hopeless. Don't bother the master
don't bother him verse 49. Don't bother the master Now they
knew he was the master and yet they're saying here It's too
late If dead here in this sense they
said she's dead does that mean too late If that means too late
Then how does what does that say about what the word master
means to them? What does he the master of? If
dead is too late You see what i'm saying? You may say master
Many shall say unto me that day lord lord, but what does that
word mean to you? They said master don't trouble the master. He's
the master But what does that word mean to them? If dead is
too late What about you this morning?
What is the word master? He's the master. Do you agree
with that? What does that mean to you? The master of what? The
master of everything. The master of everything. Everybody,
everything. If he is that, if that's who
he is, then dead's not too late. Oh, I believe in the sovereignty
of God. Well, but how far does that go? You'd have very few religious
people disagree that God is sovereign, but what do you mean by that?
What do you mean he's the master? Can he give life to who he wants
to give life to and withhold it from who he wants to withhold
it from? When he died on Calvary, was that him giving life to sinners,
dying that they might live, or was that him just giving us another
chance to do something for ourselves? When you realize that you are
dead, where are you going to go? Religion says, well, as long
as you're just sick, there's hope. But the opposite is true.
As long as you're just sick, there's no hope for you. You've
got to come to the place where you're dead. You've got to come
to the place where this man came, where your worst fear is true.
The worst thing that can possibly happen has happened. My sin. Has killed me Paul said sin revived
and I died I died no hope Nothing to do. No, no just completely
helpless You have to die like paul did
he said I was alive without the law once but when the commandment
came when god showed me what it means What his law truly says
and I saw how I measured up to it or didn't Sin revived and
I died. Who was it that died that day?
When Paul said I died, did his flesh die? Well, then what about
the rest of Romans 7? Clearly his flesh hadn't died,
but you know who died? The my good outweighs my bad
me. He's a goner. The I got this,
I just need to make a decision me. He's a goner. The going about to establish
my own righteousness, me, is dead. He's dead. And this is our Lord's work.
He said, I kill and I make a life. That's what he did when he saved
me. He killed me and he gave me life. When this great physician, the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he operates, the patient always dies. And then they live. The Lord heals us by killing
us. We must die to self in order
to live unto God. He said nobody Is worthy of me
except those that take up their cross and follow me. There's
only one reason to take up a cross crosses do one thing People die
on them Have you done that? Have you taken up your cross?
And gone all in with the lord jesus christ died To self died
to your own righteousness Died to all of the things paul mentioned
in philippians chapter 3 his own righteousness and heritage
and works. The great physician didn't come
to his people Israel when they were wounded and weary on the
battlefield in Ezekiel 37 to bandage their wounds and give
them some medicine. The Lord didn't bring Ezekiel
into a field where people lay a dying in the words of our text. He brought him into a battlefield
that was full of exceeding dry dead bones, nothing but skeletons. You see that? You see why our
text went where it went? Because that's where we are by
nature. They didn't just lay a dying. They were skeletons. The worst has already happened.
Now it's time to wait on God. It's time to cry out to God.
It's time to see if God will do something. Because if he doesn't do something,
nothing's going to be done. And he said to Ezekiel, preach
to them, preach to those bones and call upon the Holy Spirit
to come where they are and work and give life. You have no hope
until you just have one hope. When you talk about a sword in
your bones, your daughter is dead, it's too late. But here's the thing, too late
to us. It has to come to that, doesn't
it? If it's not too late, then it's not time yet for the Lord's
mercy. It's got to be too late. It's
got to be hopeless. It's got, we got to be helpless.
It's got to be too late for you. But for him, it's just the right
time. For him, it's the time of love. But the one here, and
that's where this man is now, too late. He's afraid he's he
went from Ecstatic. I'm sure to witnessing a miracle
the kind of miracle he needed for his daughter to make everything.
Okay again To this word dead too late But here the one who said let
there be light and there was light spoke to this man and said
what be not afraid Believe only It wasn't any harder for our
Lord to raise this girl from the dead than it would have been
to heal her of her disease This is the one who speaks and it
is done Whether is easier to say thy sins be forgiven thee
or rise take up that bed and walk Nothing's any harder or easier
for God I Is anything too hard for the Lord? That's what he
asked Abraham. And when Abraham and Sarah doubted,
is anything too hard for the Lord? You believe in God, our
Savior said, believe also in me. Lord, if you will, you can. That's
faith. That's faith. And what grace
it takes now. This is the last thing you're
ever going to do. Ever. The last thing you're ever going
to do. is to believe only. It's impossible. You're not going
to do it. You're not going to do it. Not believe and worry. Not believe and hedge your bets.
Not believe but. Not believe if. Not believe and. Believe only. Believe only. Cast out every other Feeling
every other thought All of your fears all of your
reasonings all of your personal wisdom if you can call it that All of your deductions all of
your theological cast it all out And just believe on Christ What was this what was our Lord
telling this man to believe? Was he saying now these people
are the folks that come from his house and said don't trouble
the master anymore She's dead. It's over. It's too late And
then the Lord says wait only believe only believe don't be
afraid only believe is he saying? to him believe that the dead
can live again and No, he's not saying that. That's what Martha
believed. Martha said, I believe my brother will live again at
the resurrection. And the Lord had to correct her,
didn't he? He said, Martha, I am. I am. You're looking to an event.
This man was looking at a miracle, I'm sure, and was impressed by
it. Take your eyes off of that. He's not saying only believe
that dead people can live. Only believe in me. He said to
his disciples, you believe in God, believe also in me. Do you
believe that I am able to do this? Martha, I am the resurrection. I am the life. Do you believe
this? That's what he said to her. And
that's what he's speaking to this man's heart. Only believe,
believe on him. Believe because who he is, that
whatever he says is done. It doesn't matter what it is.
Because of who he is, my daughter can live. If he wills it, she
lives. Because of who he is, what he
did at Calvary is effectual because he is the son of God, the Christ
of God, the redeemer of sinners, the effectual savior. Then I
trust him. I trust his precious blood. Paul
said through faith in his blood, we have righteousness. Do you
believe that because of who he is, his blood is sufficient to
wash sins away? His blood doesn't give sinners
a shot. It washes sins away. Whoever
he died for has no sin. Do you believe this? That's what
he's saying. Only believe on me. Only believe
that I am. Whatever he does is effectual
and complete and successful and sufficient because of who he
is What he did got the job done. It was satisfactory to the father.
It doesn't require anything from you or by you Salvation is of
the Lord only believe She's dead Yeah, but wait a minute who gave
her life to begin with? Only believe Who took her life
from her? Only believe. Who can give it
back to her? Only believe. You see, it's all
about Him. He took it for a little while
and He can give it back if He wants to. It's His to give. Only believe. Not only believe
that miracles can happen. Only believe that He is the giver
of life. You see the difference? We believe
in miracles. That's one of the religious thing.
Don't believe in miracles. Believe in him. Believe that he is able, believe
that he is willing. He showed mercy on the way to
showing mercy. He delights to show mercy. There
is one on the throne of heaven and earth this morning, this
very morning, who can forgive your sins. if he wants to. Do you believe that? Cry out
to that one for forgiveness. If you will, you can. He said,
ask and you'll receive. Knock on the door and I'll open
it. Seek and you shall find. Well, that sounds awful easy,
doesn't it? That just sounds too easy. Are
you afraid somebody's gonna get in that ain't supposed to? We
begrudge mercy, don't we, sometimes, but not him. He never does. Come, are you thirsty? Come and
take the water of life freely. The Spirit and the bride say
come. Let him that hears say come. If he says come, then what
are we gonna say? Come if, come if you know enough,
come if you, you know, You're spiritual enough. Just come to him as you are. Only come. Only believe. Only believe. Don't look to self. Don't come if you're ready. Don't
come if you're able. Just come. Let him that heareth say come
and let him that's thirsty come. The only question is do you need
him? We sing that song that says the only fitness he requires
is to feel your need of him and this he gives you Your part in
salvation is you need it and you're not even gonna know that
unless he tells you that Salvations of the lord Let me think let
me ask you this if you think that's too easy just to just
come just come as you are Come to christ. Is that too easy? Let me say this to you. If you
come and you do not receive life and mercy, it's not because you
didn't do enough. It's not because you didn't know
enough. It's because you came to the wrong one. Now think about
that for a minute. If you come and you don't receive
mercy, it's not because you didn't know enough or do enough or get
ready enough, prepare enough. Because you came to the wrong
one you come to him. You don't have mercy. I don't
care what condition you're in Come and you'll receive mercy You don't come to the preacher
You don't come down and now You don't come to a decision You
don't come to your idea of Christ you come to the Christ revealed
in this book and you come by faith that he gives you and And
think about this now. This is what we're saying. This
man came with faith that God gave him, and he increased that
faith as time went along. You see him increase it when
he's witnessed the Lord, but also it has to go beyond that. It has to go beyond what our
eyes see. We have to see him as the one The only refuge the
only hope when it's hopeless when it when it's over That's
when the lord works when it's over for you And no doubt that
was an increase in this man's faith to see this to see what
our lord did finally but what about this girl How much faith did she have that
the lord she was dead And so our Lord is showing us in these
two pictures the truth of salvation. Yes, He gives you faith. And
He's not going to save you apart from your will. He said, My people
shall be willing in the day of My power. And yet, was this girl
willing to be made alive? What's He teaching us there,
Chris? He don't need your will. He don't need your decision.
All of that is the problem. Christ just saves you because
he wants to. He don't need your faith. He's
gonna give you faith. But the means are not salvation. Christ is salvation. Is that
clear here? Think about what he said unto
her. I say unto you, I say unto you, arise. Why didn't he just
say arise? You ever thought about that?
Why didn't he just say Arise. You reckon she would have? I
suppose she would have. But he said, I say, I say. Do you see how these are written? This is written. Everything in
this book is written to reveal to us that salvation is of the
Lord, to show us who he is. I say unto you, arise. Do you believe only him do we
know who he is? And do you suppose turn to john
chapter 5 I just want to say a couple more things and i'll
be through john chapter 5 Verse 21 For as the Father, now as I read
this, ask yourself this, is he talking about physical death
or spiritual death? For as the Father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. This is what this
is all about now. These are written that you might
honor the Son. We have a story here showing who He is and what
He does. What He does for sinners, how
He saves sinners freely, powerfully. That you might honor the Son. Even as they honor the Father,
he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which
hath sent him. Verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that
heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. Is he talking about physical
life or spiritual life there? He that heareth my word and believeth,
you have life. Now, okay, that's spiritual life,
wouldn't you say? You don't come to life physically
by believing. But look at the beginning of
it again. If he's talking about spiritual life in verse 24, what
kind of life is he talking about when he says, as the father raiseth
up the dead, verse 21, and quickeneth him, even so the son quickeneth
whom he will. If you have spiritual life this
morning, if you are saved, if you are a child of God, if you
are a believer, if you are one of God's sheep, it's because
he wanted it to happen. If you will. He gives life to
whom he will. And there are many situations,
think about this, there are a lot of different situations and circumstances
just in the everyday course of life where your decision has
a bearing on what happens. Wouldn't you say that? And even
that of course is in the, according to God's purpose in providence,
that's his design. But there are things that your
decision has a bearing on the outcome. When you say, none of
those are ever used to picture salvation. Have you ever noticed
that? None of those. Never does he create a scenario
where anybody has to decide something in order to receive his blessing.
It's always like this. Here's a dead girl laying there.
Can't see, can't hear, can't know, can't think, can't will,
can't decide. And the master walks up to her
and takes her by the hand and says, Damsel, I say unto thee,
arise. Imagine waking up from death
with your hand in his. If you are a believer, you've
done that by faith. You've done that by faith. You
woke up. What was the first thing you saw when you woke up from
the dead spiritually? My faith. His face. And you knew he had you. He had
you by the hand and by the heart and by everything. He had you
in his hand. He said that, didn't he? No man
shall pluck you out of my hand. But also imagine this. Imagine
the reality of that. And not that that's not real,
but by faith we see that. Imagine the culmination of that. He saved you that day, whatever
day it was. I don't even know what day it
was in my experience. I don't know when it was. I can't give
you a date, but he woke me from the dead. I'm alive today because
of him. But imagine, may the Lord treat
us this morning to a thought of what shall be. May he give
us faith to see it because of Christ and him alone. Because
of his precious blood shed for me and you on Calvary, we're
going to actually wake up from death like this little girl did
one day. And what do you think we're going
to wake up to? We're going to close our eyes
upon this wretched world. In which so much is so wrong And we're gonna open them upon
his face And we're gonna see him as he is Revelation 21 1 through 7 don't
turn there. Just read it later. That's your
homework We're gonna wake up Literally with our hand in his
I Don't know but I'll tell you this whatever that pictures it's
probably gonna be a lot better than that You reckon we're gonna wake up
with our soul in his hand And we're gonna see his face
imagine what she saw And he said bring her something to eat What do you imagine her testimony
was from that day on? I made a decision for Jesus? Thank God for a revelation of
the truth that salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord, what
a Lord He is. There's none like Him, a just
God and a Savior. Let's pray.