Saving a poor sinner like me,
well, that'll make your heart weep. You find out that you're
the sinner that He came to seek and to save. To find out that
you're a poor sinner. Find out that you've got nothing,
nothing to barter with. Nothing to bring, just your sinful
self. Turn with me here to the fifth
chapter of the book of Mark, Mark chapter 5. I'll talk to
you about a dead girl restored to life. That ought to be interesting. A dead girl restored to life. You're not going to hear many
stories like this. or read many stories like this from the newspaper,
from current news events. A dead girl restored unto life. Down here in verse 35, while he yet spake, it seemed to be Or it indicates
that he might have been interrupted, interfered with in some way from
a servant from this ruler's house. There came from the ruler of
the synagogue's house. Now, you've got to look over
there in verse 22. Jesus here says, And behold,
there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jarius by name. And when he saw him, he fell
at his feet, and he besought him greatly. That is, there was
no let up. deliberate and continued. He just kept on and
on and on, almost like somebody who got on your
nerves. He besought him greatly, just
sought him and sought him and sought him. Well, he had reason
to. He had reason to do this. My
little daughter lieth at the point of death. My little daughter. Now, that says something there. My little daughter. Not just
my girl, my 12-year-old girl, my 14-year-old girl, my baby
girl, but he said my little daughter. My little daughter lieth at the
point of death. Now, that had caused some anxiety
for a father, and a mother, wasn't it? I pray thee, he said, come and
lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall
live. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him and thronged him. Just kind of overcome
him. The crowd was so great. They
wanted to see what this man could do. Most of them, in all probability,
out of curiosity. Not too much true faith in this
whole crowd, I don't think. And they followed him and thronged
him, but here again, a certain woman interfered, came running
in there, and she was wanting to do business with the Lord.
So you see, in verse 35, while he yet spake,
there came from the ruler of the synagogue, that was what
I just read about in verse 22, and while he yet spake, there
came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said unto,
now he is saying unto this man Jairus. The servant comes over
and he says, Jairus, thy daughters dead, why troublest thou the
Master any farther?" Why don't you let up now? He was real insistent,
you know. He cried out and insisted and
tried to belabor this case and explain the details and all that
and the importance of it and all. Why troublest thou the Master
any further? Your daughter's dead. It's over
with now. Let's go home. But as soon as Jesus heard the
word that was spoken... Now, He didn't have to hear in
order to know what was going on, but He kind of condescends
to our level. We might understand, after all,
He was a man. man and God in one person. As
God, as God Almighty, He knew. He knew about this case. He knew about it before the world
ever was. But as soon as He heard that
the word was spoken, He saith unto the ruler of the synagogue,
Be not afraid, only believe. And He suffered no man, permitted
no man to follow Him, save Peter, James, and John, the brother
of James. And He comes to the house of the ruler of the synagogue,
and seeth the tumult," I looked that word up, tumult, that means
a noisy commotion, "...and them that wept and wailed greatly,"
is weeping and wailing. And I'm reminded of the news
clips on the television when some of the Arabs, the Jews,
cross the border or kill some Arabs and the Arabs kill some
Jews. And they take their casket down
the middle of the street and the women just wail, don't they? They just wail and cry and carry
on. Back in these days, if there
wasn't enough family to weep and to wail, they'd hire people
to weep and to wail. So there was a noisy commotion
there, tumult, tumult, to them that wept and wailed greatly.
And when he was come in, the Lord Jesus Christ now, he said
unto them, Why make ye this ado and weep? Why are ye carrying
on like ye are? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
They thought that was a big joke. Well, we'd probably do the same
thing, wouldn't we? Say, well, I don't know about
that. The girl's dead. We know she's
dead. Maybe she'd been laying there
for hours. We know she's dead. But when he had put them all
out, oh, the gentleness and the tenderness of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He put them out and said, you
fellows stay out there. And when he put them out, he
got the father and the mother of the little girl and them that
were with him. And he entereth in where the
little girl was lying, and he took the damsel by the hand,
and he said unto her, I'm not sure I can pronounce that, but
he interprets what it means. Here's what he said, which is
being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway
the damsel arose and walked, for she was of the age of twelve
years, And they were astonished with a great astonishment. No
wonder they were astonished. Here was a girl, a dead girl,
restored to life. All right, let's learn some things
from these few verses. Let's learn this, that the keys
of death are in the hands of the Lord. Let's learn that. First
off, the keys of death are in the hands of the Lord. I am the
resurrection and the life. I hold the keys of death. I hold them. I hold them. I give
them and I take them. I openeth and I shutteth. The keys is in His hands. And as I read to you, one day
in the future, He will swallow up death. in victory. Let's learn
that rank and places, men, wherever they're at, whatever their situation
is, whether they're rich or whether they're poor, their rank, their station in
life, places no man beyond the reach of grief and sorrow and
trials and troubles and tribulations, regardless. Jairus was a ruler,
a ruler. He was a wealthy man, yet sickness
and trouble had come to his house. Now, I'm sure being a wealthy
man and a ruler of the synagogue, all the medical help that his
wealth could command was at his disposal. But yet, he couldn't
keep death away from his door. Rank has nothing to do with it. Rich people's children are liable
to sickness as well as the children of poor men. The children of
poor men must die, and the children of rich men must die. The possession
of wealth is no antidote to grief. Death comes to the rich and to
the poor. It stands on no ceremony. It
tarries no man's leisure or convenience. It will not be kept out by doors
and locks. It's appointed unto man once. to die and all are going to the
same place. That's the grave. All of us is
going to wind up there. Believers and unbelievers alike,
we're all going to die and we're going to wind up in a grave,
six by three, with a cloud of dirt upon our heads. We're going
to die. Heaven is the only place where
the dweller shall say, I'm not sick. That's the only place they
are, under the sun, in the universe, in the world of worlds. The only
place where men don't get sick and men don't die is God's heaven. That's the only place. So if
that is the only place, we ought to adhere to what Paul says there
in the book of Colossians when he says, set your affections
on things of heaven. Get your hearts and your minds
acquainted with what's taking place up there. Well, here's another thing we
need to learn. We need to learn something about the almighty
power of our Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation. The news of the child dying pierced his
heart. And he at once cheered the Father's
spirit. The Father was certainly in a
spiritual darkness, overcast, heaviness. When that fellow said,
Don't trouble him anymore, your daughter's dead. And our Lord
at once He turned to this man. He turned to him and with these
gracious words, he said, Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Only believe. Well, the Lord goes to the house where
all this weeping and wailing is taking place, where this little
girl is, and He takes this little girl by the hand and tells her
to arise, just reaches down there and takes that limp, cold hand
and says to her, Arise! And the moment that he said that,
her heart begins to beat and she begins to breathe. She's
alive! This girl is dead, stone cold
dead in the market. And our Lord said, Arise! And she began to breathe. And
breath returned to her lifeless, hopeless, helpless body. She arose and walked. And the
people were astonished. As I've already said, no wonder
they were astonished. They went from weeping to rejoicing. They went from mourning to congratulations. They went from death unto life. I once was dead, but now I live. I once was blind, but now I see. Time of rejoicing when the dead
are made to live. How must the family of this Jairus
felt when they saw their beloved little daughter back with life
in her face, sparkle in her eyes, The family got together. What
a happy family this was. Imagine you and I and our families,
if one of ours died and something like this happened. Wouldn't
we be happy? Wouldn't we be happy? We'd be
rejoicing. We wouldn't be crying anymore.
Oh, we'd be thanking Him who set her eyes. Happy family. Oh, this is what? Well, this
is proof beyond question. This is an indisputable fact
of what He can do, what He can do for dead souls. He can raise
dead souls. He can raise our children. You
got any dead children in your family? Dead, in trespasses and
in sins. If they have not done business
with the Lord Jesus Christ, they are yet dead in trespasses and
in sins. Ah, what He can do for dead souls. This is the proof right here.
He can raise our children from the death of trespasses and in
sins. He can make them walk before
Him in newness of life. Arise and walk. And she did. What a happy family they were
there. He can take our sons and daughters
by the hand and say unto them, arise, have we any dead souls
in our family? Certainly we do. Certainly we
do. What do we need to do? If we
can learn anything from this, let's be like Jairus, that ruler. Let's try to trouble him. Let's
seek him. Let's seek His face, let's send
Him message after message to come and help us, come and do
something for us, come and raise our children from the state of
death. We could do that, couldn't we?
Let us send message after message. Let's ask Him to help. He came at the insistence of
Jairus, Just met him down there and besought him greatly. He
insisted. Let me tell you my story, he
said. My little girl, all I've got. She's sick and she's going to
die and she needs help. He besought the Lord Jesus Christ
greatly. Oh, to the extent that the servants
and some of them said, don't trouble him anymore. Don't trouble
him anymore, the girl's dead. But the message found a place
in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's call on Him. You know, sometimes we think, and this is 20th century religion
that teaches us this, you know, that I know that a man saved
by the grace of God, he ought to be a good witness and testimony
to his children. He ought to be a faithful witness,
a godly witness. And I know that most of you that
I know of are. I know that you don't live ungodly. You're not an idolater or an
adulterer or a fornicator. You're not of the world. You've separated yourself from
the world. You're a good witness. Most of
you, like that, I feel sure you are. Feel certain that you are. But we hear so much of this business
of, if we just love our children
like they ought to be loved, that our love is so strong it'd
bring them into the fold. I don't believe that. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that'll do it.
I know the Bible says love is stronger than death, but that's
His love, not mine. That's His love. Your love is
not going to be the means. It might be, but I doubt it,
seriously, if it will be. I know you take your children
and you love them. You'll do anything for them.
You'll spend and be spent for your children. And you've proven
that time and time again. But did that bring them into
the kingdom of God? Not very many can say, yeah,
my life, My life, I lived a Christian life and it was so strong and
so dedicated that my son or my daughter was overcome by my devotion
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That drove him. Some can say
that, maybe, but not many, not many. Your love is not stronger
than death. What must I do? What must I do? I grieve. My daughter is sick
and she's about to die. What must I do? Seek the Lord! Ask Him for help. Send Him message
after message, not one time. Time after time, every day, every
day, every time it comes to your mind, wherever you're at, say,
Lord, remember him. He needs some help. God, if you
don't help him, he'll never be helped. You know what I'm talking
about. Trouble. Trouble Him. Trouble
God. Interfere. Be insistent. Hear me, Lord, help, help, help,
help. Let's call on Him to come and
quicken them from their dead state. We have dead children,
don't we? Some of you have got dead mothers
and fathers. Some of you have got dead brothers
and sisters. Some of you have got dead sons
and dead daughters. Oh, glory to Him. Quicken him. Quicken him. Give him life, Lord. Give him
life. He's dead. He doesn't understand
spiritual things. He has no desire for God. Quicken
him, Father. Tell him to arise. Work thy power,
thy mighty power in his heart and change him. Make him a new
creation. Oh, Lord, do that. Oh, He has plenty of mercy. He's not short on mercy. He has
lots of it. He's rich in mercy to all that
call upon Him. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. That's what the Bible says. Seek
Him, seek Him, seek Him. Be persistent and insistent upon
it. Lastly, learn this thing from
it. at the resurrection of this young
girl. That's a blessed pledge of what
He will do in the time when He returns. You see, He's going
to come again. There's such a thing as the coming.
He came once. He came once and He accomplished
what God sent Him to do. He finished the work. He put
away sin. He made an end of sin. And He laid down His life. And
then He took it up again. And He said, I'm going to my
Father. I'm going to my Father's house. That's where I'm going. I'm going to leave you one here
that you'll not be an orphan. I'll leave you the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit. And He'll lead you and guide
you and direct you in all truth while I'm away. But He said,
I'll come again. I'll come one day and I'll get
you. I'll come and get you. Does not the Bible say that God
said that He'll get them that sleep in Jesus and He'll bring
them with Him when He comes for us? That's what He says. Oh, listen. It's a pledge of
what he'll do in the time of his coming. He'll call his believing
people from their graves and he'll give them a more and better
and more glorious body than they had before they went into the
grave. It says that he'll gather his
elect people from the North and the South and the East and the
West depart no more. Depart no more. The believing parents shall once
more see believing children. Believing children. The believing
husband shall once more see believing wife. And I like this. that the believing
parents shall once more see believing children. Now, I have a child that's gone. That's four boys. But I got one dead in the grave. But she lives and sleeps in him.
She wasn't old enough to be converted. She was only six months old.
And the ninth of this month, had she lived, she would have
been fifty years old. Fifty years old, had she lived. But she died. God took her. And believing parents, at this
time, when He comes, and He pledges that He will, will see believing
children. There will be a glorious resurrection
morning yet to come, and them which sleep in Jesus, God will
bring with Him. That's something. Anybody here
this evening, has God given you life? Has God given you some
life? Well, let me tell you this now.
In this chapter here, this woman here, she is sick for 12 years,
I think it says. What she sought for for 12 years,
she sought in vain. She never found what she sought
for, and she did it for 12 years, sought in vain. But it came to
her, what she sought for, for twelve years, and all in vain. What she sought for came to her
as quick as a flash, as quick as a flash. It said she suffered
many things to hands, many things of many physicians. Spent all
that she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse.
But when she heard of Jesus, She had heard of Jesus. And came
in the press behind, and she wanted to touch His garment. And she said, If I may touch
but His clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately, knowing
in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned Him about
in the press, and He said this, Who touched My clothes? He knew
who touched his clothes. He knew her history. He knew
her before she was ever born. He knew her. He knew she was
going to be there. He knew what the situation was.
But he said, Who touched my clothes? And the disciple said unto him,
You see the multitude here all around you? Why do you say, Who
touched me? It's an impossibility to find
out who touched you. And he looked round about to
see her that had done this thing. What's happening here now? He
wasn't going to let this woman go. He wasn't going to let her
go. She's going to have to acknowledge before this crowd what happened. She's going to have to do it.
First she didn't think she ought to do it. You know, maybe she
can just kind of slip out and go on back home. She's healed.
She felt in her heart she's healed. Maybe I'll just go home. But
he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
And the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her. She knew what happened to her.
She knew that when I touched the hem of his garment, when
I touched his clothes, I was healed. And he wasn't going to
let her get by until she publicly acknowledged that. And she came
and fell down before him, and she told him all the truth. She
told him that I am only a poor sinner and nothing at all, but
Jesus Christ is my all in all. That's what she told him. And
she told him, I touched the hem of your garment, and virtue came
forth from you, and I felt in my very soul that I was healed. And he said unto her, Daughter,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and behold thy flag. And while he spake, and that's
where I started on this, he wouldn't let her leave that crowd until
she told him what happened. I said, Lord done anything for
you? Has he ever touched your heart? He might not let you go, and
he might let you go. I'd rather that he wouldn't let
you go. God help us all. This stand will be dismissed.