Alright, we're going to be in
Mark chapter 5. Mark 5 verses 21 through 43. Now I want to get right to the text
this morning, which is fitting for our title, which is Nothing
Wasted. So let's read verses 21 through
23. Mark 5 21 And when Jesus was
passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered
unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold, there cometh
one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw
him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying,
My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee,
come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she
shall live. Now the first thing that jumped
out at me when I read this, because it said, again, he came back
over again, and you see the tireless service of our Lord, and you
think about it, this is the Christ, the Christ of God, and he's fully
man, and he is pushing himself to the pounds of what man can
do in service of the Lord, to do the will of the Father, and
this is fully God. He's fully God, the creator of
all things, and yet look how he labors and serves his people,
what he's doing to secure the salvation of his people. He said the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many. So you see this back and forth,
back and forth over the Sea of Tiberias and up and down the
coast and going through Samaria and then back down into Jerusalem
and back up and down the land there just to seek out
his sheep, to find that which was lost, and to bring his sheep
into the fold. As he said when he was a young
man, about 12, he said, I must be about my father's business. And we see this heart in the
Lord to do this work. For this very purpose He came,
for this very purpose He was born to lay down His life as
the Lamb of God, as the sacrificial Passover Lamb for His people. That's the whole purpose why
He came into this life, and it shows in His service. It shows
everything that He was doing. He said in John 6, 38, I came
down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. And I was thinking about that
and thinking, as your pastor, I want to serve like that. I want to have a heart to serve
the Lord like that and to be faithful in what I do to serve
the Lord's people and to serve Him and to be faithful in doing
that which is profitable and beneficial. for you, my brethren,
the sheep and the pasture of the Lord." And you know, doesn't
the Lord, when He warms your heart, doesn't He give you that
heart, too, to want to lay down your lives for one another and
to be used by the Lord to serve His kingdom? Paul said, if you
look over in Philippians 3, Philippians 3, He knows, we see how far short
we come in this flesh, and I love what Paul says here in Philippians
3.12, it's not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." He wants to
know what the Lord's called him into the service to do. He wants
to be used by the Lord and serve his brethren and serve the Lord.
He says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. Really,
Paul? You're an apostle. You've given
up your whole life and giving away everything you had to serve
the brethren, to serve Christ and to serve his sheep. And he says, I haven't even apprehended,
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth unto those things which are before. And
many of us can relate to that, right? We think back on times
that we've spent and things we've done that have just been a waste
and I know what it is to feel guilt over things that I've done
or just the time I've wasted in not doing things that would
have been much more profitable. But like Paul says, you got to
forget those things that are behind. You can't look at them
and dwell on those things. They are what they are. We're
sinners and we confess it to the Lord and say, Lord, forgive
me. And we keep moving forward looking to and praying that the
Lord work this spirit of service and being a servant for our Lord
and having that heart to do it. And he says, I reach for those
things that are before. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And he says,
let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And
if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same road, let us mind
the same thing." So we see how it's the Lord, He works that
in our hearts and He warms us by His Spirit and hearing those
words by faith and having that heart and that desire to serve
Him, to want to be used by our Lord and to do something for
the Lord. And we don't even see it, we
don't even know it, but he does it, he works it. And so it begins
with a desire, right? It begins with a desire. Like
Paul wrote to Timothy when he said in 1 Timothy 3, 1, this
is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth
a good work. And that can be said of each
one of us. We can't all be pastors, but
He lays it on our heart. He lays a desire on our heart,
a willingness to be used by the Lord in the capacity that He
gives us and He uses it. So He begins there with that
desire. He puts that desire in our heart
and we see how we need Him, how there's that groaning in the
flesh, but thankfully the Spirit helpeth our infirmity. The Spirit
knows what to pray. The Spirit knows what things
we have need of before we even ask Him. The Spirit works all
that in us so that we're crying out to Him and looking to Him. If it's of the flesh, we know
what'll happen. If it's of the flesh, it just
dies out and goes away and doesn't come back. But if it's of the
Spirit, it won't. It won't get extinguished so
fully that it goes away forever. The Lord will keep bringing it
back. And he'll work that in us. And
don't necessarily think it doesn't all happen in a day or two or
three. It doesn't necessarily always
happen that way. The Lord can work it. He's laid things on my own heart
that took years and years and years to come to fruition. Because he had to do it. We can't
force it. We can't make it be so in the flesh. It doesn't,
what's it say, the wrath of man does not work, the works of of
God, it doesn't work those things. Even when we do our best to do
it, we can't effect the will of God in our doing. So, we wait
on the Lord and He works these things in us. And He teaches
us and instructs us and He gives us that desire. And He keeps
fanning that and He keeps working that out in us according to His
time, according to His good pleasure. What does it say? I think it's
in Revelation, Thou hast made all things beautiful. in its
time. The Lord does it. He knows how
to make all things beautiful. He knows how to perfect that
work which he's prepared us to do and to bring it to fruition. So maybe we're not all pastors
or won't be pastors, but has he given you a heart to give?
You give with joy. Has he given you a heart to be
a helper here? You're a helper here with joy.
Has he called you. I know, ladies, it's hard to
go back there and to miss a whole service and a whole message just
to help watch the children, and it's hard. But do it with joy,
knowing that the Lord could have the one message when you are
here. He can bless that one message to your heart more than hearing
eight messages, and He can make it more fruitful and more profitable
to you in that one message. Just serve Him. Don't look at
what you're giving up. Look at how you're serving the
Lord and how He's using you in the kingdom to be a helper to
others. So he's able to do that work.
And turn over to Philippians 2, Philippians 2 verses 5 through
8, Paul reminds us of the Lord. He puts our heart and our minds
on the Lord and he says in Philippians 2, 5, let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Now I know in
the flesh that we can think of ourselves very highly We get
very easily offended when things don't go our way or when we're
called to do something that we don't want to do, but here's
Christ, who is one with the Father, one with the Spirit. He is very
God, and He willingly came and did this service in taking the
spitting and the beating in His face against those that He created.
all in service to do for us what we couldn't do, even though we
were unworthy of it and didn't earn that kind of grace and mercy,
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. So this humble servant
whom we now serve, who's exalted on high, he promises that we
shall be with him where he is. He promises that he shall bring
us home to our eternal inheritance in him and with him forever.
So servant with joy, he said, the night cometh when no man
can work. The night cometh when no man
can work. And those words always come back
to me over time, they're always brought back to me. The night
cometh when no man can work and I'm reminded that now's the time
to put aside my own desires and my own pursuits and to seek Him. And I have not attained, I've
not perfected that in any measure, brethren, but He gives me a desire
and He gives me a love and He lays you brethren, on my heart
again. And he says, this is why you're
here, this is what you're called to do, not to serve yourself,
but to serve these brethren here. And so it begins with his work
doing that. And then you think about what
he did for us, it says in Hebrews 1-3, when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Think about that, purging, like
you're just doing Laundry the old-school way where you're just
rubbing that stain out to get it out out of there And that's
what our Lord did he labored he labored before the Lord under
the wrath and the judgment of God to put away your sin and
and my sin, brethren, to take it away so perfectly, so spotless,
there's not a single thing left for us to do to be justified
before holy God. He did that. He purged our sins
in that effort. It says, for when we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's what we are, ungodly sinners.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the
death of his son, much more. Being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life. So he creates that desire and
we see the life that he's given to us and he draws out that desire
out of our hearts to look to him and to trust him and to know
So serve Him with confidence and serve Him with joy because
He works that in us. Just keep looking to Him. Keep
serving Him and trusting Him. All right, now let's look at
the next point. Nothing being wasted. All right, if you go
to Mark 5, 24. Mark 5, 24. And what we see here in this
next little batch of verses here is that we see that when the
Lord begins a work, when the Lord does something for you,
He's not going to halt it. He's not going to cause it to
come to nothing. He's going to show you full,
complete grace and mercy. And that's what we see here in
this next passage here. It says in verse 24, And Jesus
went with Jairus, and much people followed him and thronged him.
against him. They're almost running them over
because they're just trying to get near to him and it says a
certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered
many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had
and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse when she had
heard of Jesus. Right? Faith cometh by hearing.
She heard of Christ and she was given a faith and she pursued
she went after Christ and she said you know she came behind
him in the press and touched his garment for she said if I
may but touch 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. Now salvation is of the Lord. Christ healed her. This was Christ's
healing of her. She is a chosen vessel of His
mercy, a chosen vessel of His grace, and this is the day of
salvation for her. He's purposed this day from before
the foundation of the world that she should come behind Him in
that day and touch Him and be healed of that issue of blood
that she had. And it's true, brethren, of every
one of his saints, there's a day appointed for each of us who
are his, that we shall hear his voice, and we shall be given
faith, and we shall pursue him and go after him to lay hold
of him, knowing that if we may but just touch his clothes, we
would be healed of our issue of sin, we would be delivered
of that which has corrupted us and prevented us from having
life and fellowship and joy, in him that he'll deliver us
from that and he'll give us life and peace and reconcile us to
almighty God. Reconcile to God who created
the heavens and the earth. Him who is so great and wonderful
takes time to think of us and has provided this salvation for
us. It says Paul wrote to Timothy
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according
to our works but according to his own purpose and grace that
he should purpose to show us grace and mercy by sending his
own son and sacrificing his own son as our sacrifice that we
might be made whole and right and righteous and just before
him, who is perfect and wonderful in all that he does. So this
was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began, he said
to Timothy. So now it says that she had gone
to many physicians. We read that she had suffered
many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. And isn't
that what we get in manmade religion? They're like physicians, right?
They're telling you, well, you follow this, you do this thing
here, you come this way, and you're going to know peace, or
you're going to know God, or you're going to come to a happy
end, and everything's going to go well for you, and you're going
to walk through this life well, and at the end, you're going
to come to whatever state of peace that they claim to have.
And that goes for all these other world religions, and it even
goes for those that go by the name of Christians. But all they're
doing is turning you back to the flesh. They're just physicians
that are of no value. They're physicians that cannot
heal. They're worthless physicians that cannot make you any better. Christ is the great physician. Christ is the one that heals
his people. He's the one who knows exactly
how to make us whole. He's the one who brought salvation
to his people. So rather than going to these
physicians that force you into labor and tell you what you must
do to be saved, whether it's by direct words or by subtle
words, Don't listen to them. They're just physicians of no
value. They're worthless. Look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice she gave no price
for her healing, right? She didn't have to pay a thing
to be made whole. It was freely given to her. And
it says in verse 30, Mark 5, 30 through 33, Jesus immediately
knowing in himself that virtue, his power, his godliness had
gone out of him turned him about in the press and said, Who touched
my clothes? And his disciple said unto him,
Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched
me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this
thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was
done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the
truth. But notice, Christ never demanded
any payment from her. He demanded no payment from her.
All these other physicians took everything she had and gave her
nothing but made her worse. But he demanded no payment from
her. But he sought her out. And the
reason why he sought her out, the purpose of that is because
she wasn't going to just get this one little healing, this
temporary healing in her flesh and then perish ultimately in
her sins. He was determined to show her grace. He brought her
to this purpose. to show her grace, full, complete
salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gonna make sure that she
knows she's a daughter of the Most High God. That's a sweet
thing. It wasn't just a one little thing. If the Lord shows you grace,
if He shows you grace, He's gonna show you nothing but grace. He's
gonna bring you to the end in Himself. He said unto her, verse
34, daughter. Daughter, thy faith hath made
thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of
thy play. And so what he's letting her
know is that he gave her that faith. He gave her that faith.
We know the Lord is the one who creates faith. He creates life
where there is no life. He creates that faith and that
life in his people. And he called her daughter, and
he doesn't say that to all, but she's being brought to know that
she is a daughter of the Most High God, that He saved her,
that He didn't just make her whole, but that she's His. She's
His. And so we know that this is of
the Lord, that the Lord has to do this. As Paul wrote, he said,
all men have not faith. It's not given to all, but to
those whom the Lord gives it. And they'll have it, and they'll
exercise it. They'll believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ by faith. It's a gift of God, as he said
to the Ephesians, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So God
as a gift gives faith to whom he will, and they shall believe
on him. And that's what we see here with
this daughter of God. She's been given faith. He's
wrought a good work on her. He's wrought a good work in her
so that she now bears that fruit. She believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ and she now knows. It's not our works. We've got
nothing to boast in. It's all the gift of the Spirit
of God bearing that fruit in us so that we give Him all the
glory and the praise. As Paul said in Romans 1.16,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And he says that because
men left in their nature, men who are just carnal and fleshly
They hate the gospel. They don't want to hear that
these are gifts that God has to give. They just want to know,
tell me one, two, three, what I need to do and I'll start doing
it and I'll start working on it if I care. And just put it
into my hands and when I'm good and ready, I'll do those things
to get myself saved. That's what carnal man wants
to do so that he can glory in and feel in control that salvation's
a work of him. But that's not what the scriptures
declare. Paul says, I don't care if you don't like that. I don't
care if it offends you. This is what I must preach. This
is what God has revealed to us. And so we declare that it's a
gospel. It's good news. It's not a work
of the flesh. It must be given of God. It must
be created of the Lord. Lay down your works-based religion. Lay down your trusting in the
things that you're doing and look to the one whom God has
provided to give salvation freely by his own grace and his merit,
his mercy, his work, what he did in laying down his life and
shedding his blood for the remission of the sins of his people. So Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. So it's just declaring that,
declaring faith. The Lord works faith. in the
hearts of his people. It's the power of God unto salvation. So he says in verse 17, for therein
in faith is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. That is, God gives the faith
and he works that faith in the heart of his people and they
believe. So from faith to faith. He's the one who gives that faith
and works it in us. As it's written, the just shall
live by faith." So He keeps us walking by faith. He keeps us
looking to Him. And that's another reason why,
like what we heard this morning, why these things don't all just
happen in an instant. But it's a patient walk of faith,
looking to Him. And every time you think that,
wow, even when you think things are just going well and you're
thinking of the Lord, the Lord still has a way of reminding
you and showing you that Yeah, you need his grace. He shows
me all the time how desperate I am for his mercy and grace
and patience with me to keep me looking to him lest I should
be puffed up and think of myself more highly than I ought to think
so. We all see it, we all know and are brought patiently through,
and it's all His work. Don't be discouraged, just keep
looking to the Lord, because He's a wonderful teacher, He's
a faithful teacher, He's a faithful Savior, and what He begins, He
shall complete. What He begins, He's going to
bring to the end, to that glorious inheritance. Just rest in Him.
Don't be discouraged, don't look away, just keep looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ. As Peter said, and I love it
again, the simplicity of Peter, I'm so taken up with these verses
from 2 Peter 1, but I love it. It's just so plain and simple
when he says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us. With
us the apostles, with us the very first believers. You've
obtained faith, just like we obtained faith. You've obtained
it, and it's a gift of God. It's all according as His divine
power. have given to us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness." So, He gives it. Are you a sinner? Do you see
your need of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you need His grace and mercy?
Do you want a God who's just pouring out His judgment upon
you and whipping you and beating you into shape and not giving
you any help to do that which He commands us to do? Our God
is merciful and gracious and He's called you to hear His gospel,
He shall bring it to the end. He's the one who gives it and
draws you sweetly, draws you by this gospel. Never by the
law and the threatenings and the fears, but He says your warfare
is accomplished. He's done all the work. Rest
in Him. Trust Him. Believe Him. He's
done everything necessary for your salvation and for your comfort
and your joy and your peace. And you can rest In Him, you
can trust Him and go right on, pass on through this life, and
when you stand before Him, never looking to your own works of
righteousness, but always looking to Christ and what He's done.
That's how we're saved, is just looking to Him and trusting,
Lord, you're at peace with me, thank you. Thank you, Jesus Christ,
because you've done this work, and it's not me, I haven't earned
it. He said, the Lord said, they that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. And he said, I haven't come to
call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. So if you're a sinner
and you know you can't save yourself, look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why God sent him to do that work for us, which we cannot
do for himself. As Peter said to him, give all
the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
on him, shall receive remission of sins. Where are the other
things put in there? Is there anything else that Peter
said to Cornelius? Nothing. He just said, all the
prophets bear witness to this, that it's Christ. It's Christ.
It's Christ who God sent to save his people and to deliver them
from their sins. Don't be like that wicked king
Asa. He was a wicked king in Judah.
And it says in 2 Chronicles 16, 12, and 13, it says Asa, In his thirty-ninth year of his
reign he was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding
great. Yet in his disease he sought
not the Lord, but to the physicians. He never looked to the Lord,
he never sought the Lord for mercy and for help. He looked
to the physicians that were of no value and could do nothing
for him. And it says, the next verse,
and Asa slept with his fathers and died in the 41st year of
his reign. Don't misunderstand, I'm speaking
of our spiritual healing. I'm speaking of our sin. The
Lord heals us of our sin. He delivers us from the infirmity
of our sin and the debt that is ours by nature, which we've
earned because they're the wages of sin, his death. And Christ
has paid that price in full. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the one who paid that debt for his people. Our final point,
we'll look at election, how election leads to life. We'll see another
picture, just like with this woman who believed and the Lord
didn't let her just shrink back into the crowd and disappear,
but he brought her out and brought her into the light, brought us
into the kingdom. That's how he brings us in. Now
we see another picture of it here in this last point with
Jairus and his daughter. It says in Mark 5.35, While he
yet spake, there came one from the ruler of the synagogue's
house, certain, which said, Thy daughter is dead. Why troublest
thou the master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word
that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be
not afraid, only believe. Notice something about Jairus
in verse 22. It says that he's one of the
rulers of the synagogue, and we know how the rulers treated
Christ. We know how the leaders and the
heads of the Jews treated Christ. They mistreated him, but you
see the work of the Lord here, how the Lord humbled this man.
He brought him to see his need in Christ. He brought him, he
touched him right where it affected him most right where this man
needed to be brought to see that don't despise this one this is
the only one who can save you this is the only one that can
help you and he brought his daughter to become sick and even to die,
that He might be delivered, that He might be delivered and shown
that this is the very Christ, that there's nothing like Him,
only He can do for you this work of salvation. And it says that,
you know, in verse 23, He besought Him greatly, saying, My little
daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and
lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed and she shall live. We see how the Lord worked this.
He worked this very thing to bring Jairus out, to bring him
now to the light, to call him out of darkness. That's where we are. We're all
enemies and we all are indifferent to God. We all think lightly
of the Lord by nature. We all don't see much of anything
why we should be looking to Christ or trusting in Him. It's really
not that important to us until the Lord touches us, until the
Lord shows us Oh, you need me. You need me. And he's going to
bring us to see it. If we're his, he'll show us that we desperately
need the Lord Jesus Christ. And if he doesn't do it, we won't
ever seek him. As it says, as it's written,
there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that seeks
after the Lord. There's none that understandeth
and none that seeketh after him. So, you know, many of us by nature,
we might seek after a God, we might seek after a God of our
imagination, but we don't seek the true living God until he
gives us life and causes us to seek him out, like this ruler
of the synagogue there. And so Paul says of us, and you,
so that none of us can boast, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. So he's the one who breaks down,
he's the one that destroys that enmity that is there in our hearts
by nature toward the true and living God. That's what we did
in Adam when Adam's seed was corrupted. We rebelled against
God and became enemies of God and mistrusting him and doubting
him and not believing him because we heeded the voice of the evil
one rather than the voice of our God who is faithful, true,
and just in all that he does and says. So, turn over to Romans
9. Romans 9. And we see here again how it's
the Lord who is determined to show mercy and grace to his people.
And in Romans 9, 11, we'll pick up it says for the children being
not yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works but
of him that calleth it was said unto her the elder shall serve
the younger which we see also is a picture of our salvation
that this old man isn't going to be the work that saves us,
but the younger, that which is formed in us of Christ, the new
man shall, that the old man shall serve the new man that Christ
creates in us. But we see his election of grace
as he says to Moses in verse 15, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. So then, it doesn't matter that
Esau in his flesh was a better man than Jacob, it doesn't matter
that he was you know, more upright in his ways and seemed to be
a better person, but he said, Jacob I loved. And he saw I hated. I passed by Jacob. I didn't show
him mercy. I didn't show him compassion.
I showed compassion to Jacob, the younger one. I showed compassion
to him and mercy upon him. So then, It's not of him that
willeth. We don't have any free will.
We don't have a will to save ourselves and deliver ourselves.
It's not of him that runs. It doesn't matter how hard you
strive, but it's of God that shows mercy. And the reality
is God's not preventing anyone from coming in to believe on
him who wants to be saved by him. He's not preventing anyone.
It's the flesh of man. It's the heart of man that prevents
himself from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful
and kind and has provided salvation. But if he passes you by and doesn't
show you this, then what can we say? Because the Lord has
to reveal it to his people. The religious would have just
rejected Christ, but Christ brought him to see his needs. We see
that the Lord calls his people from all different walks of life
and all different types of people. As it says in Revelation 7-9,
So now, Having seen this, how the Lord
was being gracious to Jairus, who was an enemy by nature, an
enemy of the Lord, as we see a truth in ourselves, we also
see a picture of what the Lord does for us in his daughter,
how the Lord gives us life. The Lord has to raise us from
the dead and provide for us. It says that he suffered no man,
so he brings Peter, James, and John with him, and the parents,
and he brings them back there, and the little girl. she's dead
and she can't do anything. And the other people in the house
didn't even believe the Lord when he said that she was only
asleep. They knew for a fact that she
was dead. And it says that he came in at
verse At verse 41, he took the damsel
by the hand and said unto her, Talitha humai, which is being
interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway
the damsel arose and walked, for she was of the age of 12
years, and they were astonished with great astonishment. And
so we see in that where the Lord raised up this little girl from
the dead, that's how he deals with us. He raises up from the
dead. As Paul wrote, and you had to
quicken, which were dead in trespasses and in sins. All of us are dead
by nature, all of us are dead spiritually, so that we don't
believe the Lord. As he said, except the man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So we've got
to be made alive by the Spirit of Christ, even to see our need
of Christ, and to see the perfection of Christ, and to see the fitness
of Christ as our Savior, and the only Savior, and that He's
our Savior, that we need Him, that he has put away my sins. So he brings us to see that. So has the Lord showed you your
need of Christ? Has he shown you that you're
a sinner? Has he shown you that you can't do anything to save
yourself? Has he given you a desire to
be saved, to know the Lord God, to be reconciled to the true
and living God? If He's worked that in your heart,
He's surely going to bring it to the end. He's going to bring
it to fruition that you shall believe on Christ, that He shall
be your Savior, and you'll trust Him and rest in Him. He's not
going to leave you in darkness. Now, I just want to close with
this last verse, Mark 4, 543. It says, and he charged them
straightly that no man should know it, but listen to this,
and commanded that something should be given her to eat. And
we see this, a picture here that when the Lord raises up his children,
when he gives them life, he's gonna send them to a local church
where the gospel's being preached. He's gonna provide for them.
He's gonna give them something to eat because we need our sustenances
upon Christ. We don't come forth, we don't
get born, suck on our mom's breast once, and then that's the last
meal that we need to eat. But the Lord continues to provide
for us. We continue to need to eat, and
eat, and have another meal, and another meal, and another meal,
and another meal. And so Christ has provided for
us so that he won't let us die and perish, but he's going to
continue to give us something to eat. And that which is what
we need to eat is the Lord Jesus Christ. His flesh is meat indeed
and his blood is drink indeed. And so we need him and he provides
for us and that's what we're going to do when we take the
Lord's Supper. We're remembering Christ. We're looking at how
he shed his blood to put away our sins. How his body was broken
that we might have life in him. He laid down his life that we
would know life and know fellowship and be reconciled to Almighty
God. So I pray the Lord will bless that word to our hearts. And those of us who don't know
we're sinners, that he shows us we're sinners. That he brings
us to see, that he breaks us and shows us our need of him. Whatever that is, he'll have
his people and he'll bring them to himself. And when he begins
that work, Be thankful and trust him because he brings it to the
end. He doesn't just stop it short It doesn't let you shrink
off into darkness. He calls you out into the light
and he shows you his grace and mercy Completely and entirely
in him. So, all right, let's pray our
gracious Lord. We thank you For the salvation
which you've provided in your son Jesus Christ Lord. We thank
you that we could see how you save your people in this woman
with the issue of blood and Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, and
Jairus' daughter, how you give life from the dead. Lord, show
us our need of Christ, and show us that He is our Savior. Oh, Lord, give us faith to believe
on Him. Help us to see Him. Deliver us
from the enmity and the hatred that is in us by nature, and
reconcile us to You, to Yourself, Lord. Help us. life and love
and joy and peace in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. It's in
his name we pray. Amen.