I'll sing the power to change Thank you, John, Sherry. Alright, go back to Mark's Gospel.
Mark chapter 5. This is the story of two dying
daughters. Remember, the Lord called the
woman daughter. Two dying daughters. Daughter
of Jairus, the daughter of our Lord. The daughter of Jairus,
I believe, was his daughter also, long before he gave her to Jairus. Oh, may it be so with our daughters
and sons. One was young, twelve years old,
and one was older, maybe forties, fifties, sixties, if not older.
You know, a woman was considered a woman at 30 years old, so she
had this infirmity for 12 years, 40s, 50s, 60s. Both of them dying. And there's always both in every
crowd like this, always. There's a young one that doesn't
know the Lord, dead in trespass and sin, and dying. And there's
older ones. They may be religious, like this
woman, but they're dying, dead and dying. Scripture says that
all of us are. It says we come forth from the
womb dead and trespassed in sin. Our young daughters, our young
sons, They're not good. They're not born good. They're
not born righteous. And they won't know the Lord
until He comes to them and reveals Himself to them. They're dead
in trespasses and sin. And until the Lord comes and
touches them, lays hold of them, and reveals Himself to them and
heals them of their sin, they'll die in their sin. This ruler, in verse 22, cometh
one of the rulers of the synagogue in Matthew's gospel. This is
recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew's gospel says a
certain ruler. It says that often in Scripture,
doesn't it? the ones our Lord came to deal with, came to save,
a certain ruler. There were many rulers, but this
certain ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ, calling upon Him,
beseeching Him with all his heart. And that's election. No man can
come unto Me, Christ said, except the Father which hath sent Me
draw him. So this man was a certain ruler
chosen by God to come to Christ. How do you know God's people?
How do you know those that are elect? They come to Christ. They
call on Christ, like this man. It says he was a ruler of the
synagogue. Now, our Lord said, there are
not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
to call. You won't find the Lord saving
many Pharisees in the Scripture, will you? Just not many. He said
to them, the Pharisees and the publicans, the harlots and the
publicans are going to enter heaven before you, good, moral,
upstanding, religious people. That's what He said to all of
them. He said, you're a bunch of hypocrites. That's what the Lord
said to them. Because He looks on the heart. I've gone through
the motions. But it didn't say not any. Saul
of Tarsus was glad about that. The Lord saved him. He was a Pharisee. Nicodemus
was glad. Well, how do you know? How do you know Nicodemus came
to him? Like a little child. He said,
I don't understand. Teacher, you've got to show me.
He said, you must be born again. Well, this ruler came to our
Lord, and it says in verse 20, Verse 22, he saw Him when he
saw Christ. Now, he heard Him first. He heard
of Him first. Faith cometh by hearing. That's
why He came. He knew that Christ was the only
one that could help him, the only one that could save his
daughter, raise his daughter. So he heard. Faith cometh by
hearing. And He came. Come unto Me, Christ
said. He did. And he saw Him. He that seeth the Son and believeth
on Him. How do you know he saw Him? He
fell at His feet. He saw Him more than Jesus. That's what Hebrews said. We
see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. But oh, you've got to see Him higher than that. Paul wrote there, he said, we
see him crowned with glory and honor. And this ruler of the
synagogue came and he saw Christ as his ruler, his Lord, his Savior,
his Sovereign, the one in whose hand his daughter's breath was
in this one's hands. And he fell at his feet. John
fell at his feet. Daniel fell at his feet. Everyone
that sees him as he is will fall at his feet. None of this going
up. Jesus is my friend. I've accepted
you. No, sir. No, sir. He fell at his feet. Every single
child of God that comes to know the true Jesus Christ scripture
falls at his feet like a beggar. Lord, whatever You will do, will
be done with me, with mine, and it will be right. Fell at his
feet, verse 23, and besought him greatly. In Mark's Gospel and Luke's Gospel
it says he worshiped him. Both of them said he worshipped
Him. Before he asked the Lord for
anything, before he asked the Lord to heal his daughter, he
worshipped Him. Like the Syrophoenician woman
about her daughter. She worshipped Him first before
she asked Him anything. And he did too. He worshipped
Him. If you really come to hear the
truth and see who God is and see who Christ is and follow
His feet, unworthy, needy, poor and needy, needing salvation,
or for your daughter, or for your son, for your husband, or
whoever, your wife. Before you ask any request, you'll
worship Him. If He doesn't answer your request,
you'll worship Him. Before you get any favors from
the Lord, you realize, I don't deserve any favors. You'll worship
Him. This is vital. This is important.
Unlike this proud religious but lost generation who says, God,
if you do this for me, then I'll worship you. That's not the way
it goes. That's not the way it goes. When Hannah was just starting
kindergarten, Hannah, and we walked in, took a little tour
of the school, and this woman who was the principal gave us
a tour of the school. And she proceeded to tell us
that she couldn't have any children. And she said, when I get to heaven,
I'm going to ask the Lord, why didn't you give me any children? When you get to heaven, huh? Well, I trembled for that woman.
That's presumptuous, isn't it? That's pride, isn't it? What
makes you think you're going to be there? And if you're there,
you're not going to ask the Lord anything like that. You're just
going to be praising Him that you're there. And you're going
to be saying, unworthy, unworthy. I'm unworthy to receive anything
in His hands. Before we make any requests,
before we ask any favors, we'll worship Him. Before we get any
answers, before there's salvation, before you feel saved, before
the Lord tells you peace, before the Lord says, be of good cheer,
you're going to worship Him. That's the way it is. I remember, I made a profession
when I was about 12 years old. And it wasn't regular, it was
just an emotional experience. And because later on I became
the prodigal son, and the Lord brought me back amazingly. You
know my story. Brought me back, but sat and
heard the gospel. Finally one day the Lord revealed
himself to me. I knew the doctrines of grace.
Salvation is not coming to acknowledge the doctrines of grace. That
is not salvation. I knew the doctrines of grace.
That's not it. falling at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ as a sinner. He said, Lord, if you don't save
me, I'll perish. And when He, the Lord, began to reveal Himself
to me as an adult, I thought, I believe Him. I believe He's
God. I believe Christ is all. I believe
salvation is of the Lord. I believe I'm a sinner, a wretched,
miserable, blind, poor, naked sinner, but I don't believe I'm
saved. I don't know. I don't think I am. I just think
it's presumption to think I am. That's what I thought. But I
worshipped Him. They told John Calvin one day,
they said, you believe the only elect will be saved, don't you?
He said, well, certainly. That's what the Scripture says.
He said, what if you were able to look in the book and your
name wasn't there? They said, would you still worship
Him? He said, yes. Well, why? He didn't elect you? Because He's worthy. Whether He elects me or not,
beside the point, He's worthy. Before any favors, before any
answers, before any salvation, you're going to worship Him.
You're going to know who He is. Follow His feet. And verse 23, it says, He besought
Him greatly. He besought Him greatly. His
daughter is dying, his only child. His only child, a 12-year-old
child. I have an only child. And we
went through some things when she was young, some what we thought
were life-threatening, same thing with both of these. And some
of you have too. Did you beseech the Lord greatly? You know what it means to beseech
Him greatly, don't you? Weep and howl and cry. Would
you turn with me to Jeremiah 29? Jeremiah 29. Do we realize
that our daughters really are dead and dying? Do we really
realize that? Do we really realize that? Do
you realize, somebody, that you're dead and dying? If you do, you'll beseech Him
greatly. Our daughters are at the point of death. That's what
the man said, my daughter is at the point of death. And so
are ours. Look at Jeremiah 29. Oh my, Lord,
help us here. I think, did I get it right?
No, that's not it. Let's see, it's Jeremiah. Oh man, I had it written down. Alright, look at verse 10. Look at this. Jeremiah 29, verse
10. This is what the Lord says to
His people. He says, I will visit you and perform My good word
toward you. This Lord is going to do it.
He said, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you. And in causing you to return
to this place, I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the
Lord." He's talking to his people. Thoughts of peace, not of evil.
To give you an expected end. And you call upon me. You shall
call upon me. You shall go and pray unto me.
Who's he talking about? The Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ.
And I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me and find
me. When? when ye shall search for
me with all your hearts, and I will be found of you." All
your hearts. This man besought Him greatly.
And he besought Him for his daughter, Jeremiah 9. He is beseeching
the Lord for his daughter. Now look at this. Our daughters
are In the same condition, people.
Our sons, our spouses, our parents, or whoever. But look at this,
verse 17. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
Consider ye and call for the mourning women, that they may
come. Send for the cunning women, understanding
that they may come. Let them make haste. This is
urgent. Take up a wailing for us. that our eyes may run down
with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters, a voice of wailing
heard out of Zion." How are we spoiled, aren't we? We're spoiled
in America today. We're greatly confounded because
we've forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
Yet, hear the word of the Lord, O ye women. Let your ear receive
the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone, her neighbor, lamentation,
death has come upon us. It's entered our palace. Cut
off from the children, from without Him. Do you remember when our Lord was
carrying His cross to Calvary? And they were weeping for Him.
Do you remember what He said? Don't weep for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. Why? They're at the point of
dying. They're dead and they're dying. If your daughter was actually
dying, would you not be beseeching the Lord greatly? Well, people,
they are. We've lost some daughters in
here, haven't we? And we didn't expect it. So what matters? What you're hearing right now
is the most important thing you could hear in your life. Your
daughter's life. Is that right? We don't believe
that. Why? We're spoiled. We're spoiled. Verse 24. The Lord went with
him. Verse 23. He besought Him greatly. My little daughter lieth at the
point of death. I pray thee, I beg thee, come,
lay your hands on her that she may be healed and she shall live."
He's saying, Lord, if you don't touch her, if you don't lay hold
of her, she's not going to be healed. She's twelve years old. If she lives through this, she's
going to grow up and the world's going to take hold of her. If
you don't take hold of her, the world's going to. Somebody's
going to. She's not going to know you. She's going to die
in her sins. Do you believe that? This is
vital, people. Vital. You know, what do you hope for for your
daughters? What do you want for your daughters?
We have some 12-year-old daughters in here. What do you hope for? What is your hope for them? Career? Or Christ? It can't be both. Now listen to me. And I learned
this from Scripture and I learned this from a faithful man who
told us this from children. Do you know what the word career
means? Listen, it's going to astonish
you. We just looked at Hebrews 12. Running a race. Do you know
what career means? Running a race. A course. Career or Christ? Do you want
them to make their way in the world? Make a way in the world?
Or do you want them to follow Christ in the way? Do you want
them to have it all? Or for Christ to be all? It can't be both. Our Lord said this. He said,
you can't serve two masters. You can't do it. But what? Don't
argue with me. Our Lord said, having food and
rain. Good. Better is a little with the fear
of the Lord. Better to live in an apartment and know Christ than in the finest
house and all the things that this world has to offer and miss
Christ. Then what matters? Then what
matters? And when our daughters are gone,
what matters? What they accumulated? What they
accomplished? Or did they know Christ? Hmm? That's a fact. That's a
fact. Our Lord said, "...better is
little with the fear of the Lord, and great treasure and trouble
therewith." And Paul said, You know, we want our children, our
daughters, I had an only daughter, our greatest hope for her, the
one thing needful for her, and still is, and our granddaughters
now, the one thing we hope for them, the one thing that we want
for them is them to know Jesus Christ. And if they do, it doesn't
matter if they're married or not married or have children
or don't marry, if they go to school, don't go to school, if
they marry a husband who's a garbage man. Well, who's going to take
care of them? What are you talking about, who's going to take care
of them? Who's taking care of you? Am I telling you the truth? Am
I telling you what the Lord is saying? Food and arraignments. This world will just steal their
hearts. The things of this world, like
it does us. Tell me, is it not so with you? No. It will just
steal your hearts. And the point being, we're all
at the point of death. We're all at the point of death.
We're all going to lose it all. Then what matters? Nothing matters
at all. But Christ is all. If you don't
hear another thing. Lord, this is what we want for
our daughters. If you'll lay hold of them and
put your hand upon them. by the gospel and save their
eternal souls, then I can lie down at night and go to bed and
rest in peace. And come what may, it'll be all
right. Now, there's no age of accountability. This is what false religion has
said all these years, and they take it from there. Twelve years
old. Our Lord is twelve years old. There's a bar mitzvah, the
Jews come, they're twelve years old. There is no age of accountability.
No. The Lord deals with individuals.
There are forty and fifty year old adults with the minds of
five years old, and the Lord saves every one of them. Every
one of them. So in that respect, it's a wonderful
thing. He preserveth the simple. I'm
going to preach on that real soon. He preserveth the simple. You want to be preserved? But if a young person is old
enough to rebel against God, if a young person is old enough
to say, I don't like this, what we're doing, and I don't want
to do this, they're old enough to pay for
it. And the Lord knows. The Lord knows. No ways of accountability. Well, look what happened. Verse 24. He besought him greatly. This was a man in great need.
And verse 24, the Lord went with him. He's going with him. Isn't
the Lord saying, you draw nigh unto me, I'll draw nigh unto
you? The Lord is with you while you are with Him. Didn't He say
that? You come to Me, I won't cast you out. No way. No way. Well, much people followed
our Lord always, and they thronged Him, and they surrounded Him,
and now there's a mass of people around Him. And I believe Jairus
lost sight of Him. Jairus was lost in the crowd,
wasn't he? Lost in the crowd. He probably
lost sight of our Lord. Wait! He was coming home with
Him, and they all thronged Him. And he couldn't get to him for
the crowd. And Jairus thought, I've lost him. Jairus thought,
you know, his only daughter, and Christ said, I'm coming.
His hopes were up. And he lost sight of him. And
he thought, well, he'll forget me. Anybody? Besought him greatly. And something
came up. And you think, He's forgotten
me. He's not lost. You'll forget Him, our Lord said
in Jeremiah 11, didn't He? You may forget Me. Can a woman
forget her suckling child? He said, they may. Me, never. The gyrus lost sight of Him.
Our Lord never took His eyes off the gyrus. He knows right
where He is. But you know what He's going
to do? The Lord's going to do what He will do when He will
do it in His time. In His time. We're not going
to make demands of Him. He's not going to do it when
we say to Him. When we ask Him to do it. No, no. We're going
to have to wait on the Lord. Wait, I say, wait on the Lord.
We need patience. And you know what? There are
other pressing issues beside me and mine. There are other
pressing issues. Our Lord had an older daughter
that he's first going to attend to. You know, I love those two right
there with all my heart. But if the Lord would save an
older woman, it would rejoice my heart. Can you say the same
thing? Even if the Lord doesn't save
your own, could you rejoice if the Lord saves somebody else's
daughter? Could you? Could you say that? I believe we could. Other pressing
issues. The woman, verse 25, there's
a woman, certain woman, a certain woman at that, had an issue of
blood twelve years, suffered many things of many positions,
spent all she'd had, nothing better, grew worse. Now that
is such a picture, isn't it? That is a picture of every religious
woman that the Lord saves. Every single woman, every single
female is born with an issue of blood, and I'm not talking
about the time of life, you know, I'm talking about sin in our
blood. I'm talking about something that's
killed us and killing us, sin. And it's a pressing matter. It's
even more pressing, I believe, for one closer to death, physically,
Verse 27, she heard of the Lord and came in the press behind
and touched His garment. She said, if I could just touch
His clothe, I would be whole. She had suffered many things
of many positions, it said, and spent all she had. What a picture
of religious women. Anybody in here? Yeah, there
are, who was religious before and gone many places and heard
many preachers and so-called preachers and given lots of money
toward. And these false scriptures cause
them positions of no value. Heal the daughter of my people
slightly when there's only one balm of Gilead. There's only
one hope for any woman or young daughter with an issue of the
blood And there's only one hope. And it's in the blood. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One. It's not going here and
going there and this man, that man, this physician, that physician.
She went many places to many physicians and wasn't better.
She was worse. Our Lord said, if the light that
is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness. Someone makes
a profession of faith. If it's the wrong Jesus, then it's a double. Then you
double died. It's worse. Worse. And people
go to this place and that place, and these physicians prescribe,
well, keep the law. Or activity. You've got to be
active. It will make you active. You've got to be active in the
church. Not activity. It's resting. Salvation is in
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, not activity. Well, here's what
you need to do for your stress. You just need to do more for
more people. You need to come like a dying
sinner with an issue like this woman. You need to come to one
place where the Lord Jesus Christ is preached and come and sit
at His feet and beseech Him greatly. and cry unto Him that His blood
will be shed for the remission of your sin and His righteousness
to cover your nakedness. This woman said, if I could just
touch the hem of His garment. What's that mean? She heard of Him. Someone said,
she might have heard old Bartimaeus cry, Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy upon me. The Christ, have mercy upon me.
Who is this? Somebody told her. who this Jesus
of Nazareth was. They said, he's that prophet
of whom Moses spoke. The one whom we will tell us
all things. Remember the woman at the well?
Told her that. He's that prophet. He's Immanuel.
Somebody said, this is God with us. Somebody said, well, he's
the Lord. He's the Savior of sinners. He's the priest. He's the king. He's everything. He's salvation. He's the Lamb
of God. Maybe she heard John preaching that. She heard him. Faith cometh by hearing. And this hem of the garment is
closed. She thought, if I can just touch
the high priest's garment with the bells and the pomegranate.
Here's what it is. If you ever realize what you
are, you'll realize you're a naked sinner before God. That your
heart, your mind, everything you are, everything you've ever
done or thought is naked and open before the eyes of God Almighty,
a holy God. And you'll come to Him realizing
you're naked, and you'll say, Lord, clothe me. Like Ruth came
to Boadia, put your skirt on for me. She said, if I could
just touch the hem of His garment, if I could just wrap myself up
in His skirt, In His clothes. I'm not worthy to see Him in
His face. She came behind. She's crawling in this crowd.
Did she beseech Him greatly? She's crawling. If you seek Me, you'll find Me
when you search for Me with all your heart. There's a big crowd
thronging Him. She got to Him. She found Him. She found Him. She did. There it is! He laid hold of
that garment. Oh, his clothes. You hear of
his righteousness. All of God's people know this.
Lord, cover me in your righteousness. I'm not going to be in heaven
if you don't cover me in your righteousness. Lord, cover me
in your blood. It's the only pardon for my guilty
soul is in your blood. You'll come crawling. I'll tell
you what, you come crawling, you'll go home weeping. If you
come guilty, you'll go home justified. If you come bowed down, you'll
go home lifted up. You'll be leaping over walls. It says immediately, verse 29,
"...straightway the fountain of her blood was dried
up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." And it says, what does it say?
"...Thou shalt be saved." Not maybe. Shout beside Him. There is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's vein. And sinners that plunge
beneath that blood lose all their guilt this time. Lose all their
guilt this time. And her fountain of her sin was
dried up. It was gone. Now people, let
me say this, she felt it. She felt it. Now, feelings are
not salvation. This is false religion. If you
feel good, I'll make you feel good, feel good, feel good. That's
not it. Not it. Before there's feelings, there's
faith. Before feelings, there's faith. This woman believed Christ,
heard of Christ, believed Christ, came to Christ. Before she got
a feeling, before she felt anything, she laid hold of Him. But buddy, if you do, if you really do,
by faith and sincerity, you'll feel it. You don't trust this, don't look
at this, that's not what I'm saying, but you know, real need.
You ever really been hungry? Huh? You ever really been hungry? Really been thirsty? And you
thought, I'm going to die of thirst unless I get something
to drink. Have you really been? Our Lord said, blessed are they
that hunger and thirst. What happened when you took a drink
of that water? Did you feel it? Come on now. What happened when
you were hungry? Somebody said, look, I've got
bread here. Oh, smells good. Let me have that. And you took
it and you ate it. Did you feel it? And you ate
until you couldn't eat anymore. Did you feel full? Tell me. Lost sinner, when you came to
Christ and heard this gospel, did you not feel satisfied? John,
I remember when you heard that gospel of a passive righteousness.
You heard that gospel of a sinner standing there, passive, and
the Lord come by and give commandment to bring him. I remember that
woman sitting at the well. You heard Him say to you, come
here, and you came. You heard that gospel. Do you
not feel joy? Feel peace? Feel grateful? Feel thanksgiving? She felt it. Don't trust feelings. There's
going to come a time when you don't feel anything. You're going
to feel lost. You're going to feel dead. You're going to feel
cold. Our Lord said it would be better to be cold than lukewarm. But He said hot's good. Hot's
good too. When I preach, I want to feel
it. Sometimes I can't feel a thing. Does that mean it's a failure?
No! Salvation is not in feelings,
it's in faith. When I don't feel it, I say,
Lord, You said Your Word would not return void. And that's probably
the time the Lord is going to bless the preaching more than
ever. But she felt it. And look at this, verse 31. It
says, verse 30, Immediately, knowing it himself, the Lord
turned about him and said, Who touched my clothes? See, all
this virtue is in Him. We're saved by virtue of Him.
That's power. We're saved by His power, not
ours. We've said our faith. Look at this. His disciples said
unto Him, Lord, you see the multitude thronging thee, and you say,
Who touched me? The Lord's demanding a confession
out of her. He knew who touched her. He brought
her to touch Him. She wouldn't have come if He
hadn't brought her. She touched Him because He had
already touched her heart. And He looked around about to
see her. That's what the Lord does in
any given situation where people are gathered together, a bunch
of dead and dying sinners. He looks around to see His own. See, her that had done this thing,
worshiping Spirit and truth, the woman fearing. This is how
you know somebody, one of God's own. They worship, they bow,
they come to Christ. They fear, they tremble, knowing
what was done in her. Not done by her. Done in her. Read on, she came and fell down
before him and told him all the truth. Doesn't our Lord know? Sure he does. He is the truth. But he's demanding of her a confession. And our Lord said, he that believeth,
what do you add to that? And is baptized shall be saved. He's demanding a confession of
her. You're going to tell everybody.
You're going to come to me confessing your sin. You say, if we confess
our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. She told him all the truth. What
she said was, I was religious. Lord, I was religious, but I
didn't know you. I had worshiped some Jesus. I
was baptized and confessed to another Jesus. I didn't confess
you the Lord Jesus. I was lost, thought I was saved,
thought I knew God, didn't know God. Now I know who God is. It's
you, Lord Jesus. I thought I was moral. I thought
I was upright. I thought I was a good woman.
Lord, I realize I've got an issue. And it's in my blood and there's
nothing I can do about it. It's called sin. I can't get
rid of it. I know you're the only one that can. That's why
I've come to you. And she told him, that's the
truth. That's the truth. And here's what he said under
there, verse 34. He said under there, daughter. Now the sweetest words to me,
some of them, one of them is daddy or papa. That's awful sweet to me. But
I love being able to say daughter. Everyone is not the Lord's daughter,
but everyone that comes to Christ is. He said, Thy faith that made
thee whole, go in peace, be whole of thy plague. Somebody says,
see preacher, it's her faith that did it. Where did she get the faith? By grace you are saved through
faith and not of yourself. It's a gift of God. And what
is faith? It's not a what, it's a who. To whom coming? It's not what
you believe, it's who you believe. It's who you come to. Why do
you come? Why do you believe? Her faith was in Christ. Where'd
she get it? Christ. He gave her the faith. She didn't get any credit. None
whatsoever. None. Lest any man should bow. Lest any woman should bow. You'd
think she went away saying, yep, I let Him save me. Oh, man. I let Him heal me. He couldn't
have healed me unless I let Him do it. Can you imagine? Blasphemy. I've got to go. I've got to quit. I'm going to
stay, but I've got to quit. Verse 34, he said, Daughter, thy faith
hath made thee whole. Go in peace. Before, oh my, before
feeling there's faith, and before he speaks peace to
you, you're going to fall down at his feet and tell him all
about yourself. And then that's when he said,
am I the only one? He came to me because I'm the
only one. Let me read this to you. This morning, Brother Mike
Anderson is coming to confess the Lord and believe in baptism
like the Lord commanded. And I asked him why. I said, I'm not examining you,
but why? Some have come and asked for
it and asked them why, and they can't tell me why. And some young
people for various reasons, they don't know. So I say, I'm not
going to do it until you know why, until you know who you're
confessing and why. He said to me, and I wrote it
down, so this is what you said to me. He said, I understand
that baptism doesn't wash away my sins. Only God forgives sins. He says, our sins are forgiven
through the blood of Jesus Christ. He said, I know that. He said,
this is a gift too. I know it's a gift that sins
are paid for by Christ. There's nothing I can do to earn
my salvation, he said. You know what he told me? on our sovereign God, His Word,
and I believe Christ is my Lord and my only Savior and my only
hope. I was born a sinner. This is what you said. I sinned
against God, but I believe the Lord Jesus Christ has paid for
my sin by the shedding of His blood at Calvary. That's why
I want to be baptized." I said, Mike, that's my confession. I couldn't have put it better.
Is that it? It's this God, this Christ. He
was brought up in Catholicism. They don't know God. They didn't
know God. They didn't know Christ. Well, what about the man's daughter?
Look at this. Bear with me a few more minutes,
okay? Maybe the Lord will do this for one of ours. It says
in verse 30, Five, while he yet spake, the
ruler of the synagogue, somebody came to the ruler and said, your
daughter is dead. Don't trouble the master anymore. Don't trouble him. He's hopeless. She's gone. Don't
trouble him. Can you trouble the Lord
too much? Can you call on Him too much?
Huh? He's the one who said, Keep calling,
like an importunate widow. Sophie, they told her not to
come up and bother me in my study, you know, you remember? So she
came up one morning and said, they told me not to come up here
and bother you. Alright, so what did I do? I
said, you stay right there. Well, this morning she had boldness. She just came right on in with
her hot chocolate. I'm studying this message. She
came right on in with her hot chocolate. You know what I said?
Pull up a chair. She can always come. She's not
troubling me. I don't see her enough. She's not troubling me. She can't. Can't trouble me. I'll go to
all the trouble I can for her. What about our Lord? He's much
more. Don't trouble Him for your dead
daughters. Can't trouble the Lord. That's
why He came. For those in trouble with dying
daughters. If you really know your dead
daughters at the point of death, or you're at the point of death,
you'll keep calling until he answers you. And as soon as the
Lord heard that, verse 36, he said to that ruler, be not afraid,
only believe. Oh Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. And he suffered
no man to follow him, say Peter, James, and John, the brother
of of James. He took three people in. He sent
everybody out. And there's everything significant. He had three chosen men to go
in in the healing of this daughter. Three chosen men. When our Lord
left this earth, He sent His disciples and 70 men and every
other preacher that is sent by Christ. He said, you go into
all the world, preach the gospel and baptize in my name. He said,
heal the sick. Raise the dead. This gospel still
raises the dead. This gospel still heals the sick. And men are doing it. If this
mother and father had said, I don't like James, don't bring him in,
he wouldn't have healed her daughter. If this mother and father had
rejected the men that our Lord brought in for the healing of
his daughter, she would have hurt herself. The mother and
father would have hurt themselves. Our Lord said, if you receive
them, you receive Me. If you don't, you won't. And they said, come on in, Jane.
Come on in, John. Come on in, Peter. Come in here.
And they came in, and the three of them, five of them, six of
them, counting our Lord, came in. Verse 38, they were wailing
and weeping, and you know, much of this... People like to be seen weeping
and wailing, don't they? God's people don't. sorrows, those who had no hope.
But he came in, and he said, why do you make this ado and
weep? The damsel's not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed
him to scorn. I thought about this, that you
tell people their daughter is dead in sin, they'll laugh you
to scorn. You're trying to help people. You're trying to tell
them their daughter's only hope. You tell them her, she's dead.
They will laugh you to scorn. But if they don't hear that,
their daughter is not going to live. And they laughed at him. And
he said, get out of here. And look at verse 41, he took the
damsel by the hand. Young ladies, I pray, I hope
and pray that the Lord will take you by the hand, will lay hold
of you. And he said unto her, I pray,
I hope that the Lord will speak to your hearts. He said, Talitha
Kami, which is, interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Oh, how I pray. Oh, how I hope. And maybe if
we do it with weeping, we'll come again with joy, bringing
our sheaves with us. But Damsel, young lady, I hope
and pray the Lord will say unto you, arise. And straightway the
damsel arose. She did. And she walked. She
walked. And by God's grace, some do.
They're dead and trespassing sin. Walk by faith in Christ.
She was just 12 years old. Can a 12-year-old come to Christ?
Sure can. It doesn't happen very often. And a 10-year-old, a 9-year-old. And they were astonished. And
I prayed, Lord, do something astonishing before it's too late. Our daughter is at the point
of death. And is this real or not? And He says He charged them,
no man should know it, and He commanded, give her something to eat. How
do you know she's alive? She's walking by faith. Where
do you think she walked? Where do you think she walked?
The Lord healed her. raised her from the dead, and
walked out that door. Where do you think that 12-year-old
girl went? Following Him. He gave her something to eat. This is how you know when the
Lord raises you. Oh my, this gospel is sure sweet
to you. Can't get enough of it. Can't
get enough of it. Alright, as I said, we're going
to Have a baptism. I want you to see something.
Acts chapter 2, okay? I'll not keep you any longer. Too much longer. But this needs
to be seen. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter
2. I want you to look at this. Maybe
somebody doesn't know what baptism is. Acts chapter 2. As I said, Brother Mike Anderson
is coming. Boy, I love being able to say
brother. Brother Mike Anderson is coming
to confess our Lord according to His command and obedience
to the divine command. Our Lord said, He that believeth
in is baptized. Baptism, as I said, is not salvation. It doesn't wash away your sins.
It doesn't do anything to you. It's just a confession. It's
what our Lord said to do. Peter said it's the answer of
a good conscience. It's kind of like when two people
get married, the Lord said, be married. And before witnesses,
do you take this woman? I do. Do you take this man? I do. Commitment. It's a true
commitment. You don't try it out. No, no, no. It's an answer of
a good conscience. It's evidence of a believing
heart. I believe the Lord. You heard Mike's confession.
It's a confession of sin. It's a confession of guilt, of
faith in Christ, that when He was crucified, I deserved to
be crucified. He's doing that because of me.
I'm the one that should have been crucified, and I want to
be crucified with Christ. And when He was buried, that's
what I need. I deserve to die. The soul that
sins will surely die. You say, Christ, I believe, died
for my sin. That's what I deserve at the
hands of a holy God. But Christ came out of the grave. And I believe Christ is the resurrection. My hope of eternal life is in
Him. Him only. This is a confession
of Christ, and it's a public committal. It's telling everybody,
all my salvation is Jesus Christ. That's what this is saying. You
can't be ashamed of Christ. You can't believe. With all your
heart, with the heart man believeth unto salvation, and with the
mouth confession is made. Although you're not called upon
to say anything, nobody in the New Testament did when they were
baptized, yet our Lord said, get in the pool. And this is
what you're saying with your heart. Christ died, I died. Christ buried, I was buried.
Christ rose, I arose. Christ is my all. By baptism,
He commanded it. It's a confession. It's a renunciation
of yourself. Crucify. Crucify me. It's a renunciation of your past
religion. You know, Mike, down in Mexico,
it's a 99.9% Catholic. If you're baptized, they'll kick
you out of that family. It's happened to every single
believer in every church in Mexico. They kick you out. You're disowned.
If you had any inheritance, you forget it. You lose everything
for Jesus Christ. The people I'm here to tell you,
the same thing must happen to us. They say, I don't need anybody
but Christ. You mean you'll forsake everything
for Him? Oh yeah. And it's a commitment to his
people. His people. You don't join the church. The
Lord adds to the church. Look at verse 38. Peter said,
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sin. Faith in Christ. And you'll receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. The promise is unto you and your
children and all that are far off. I said, Lord, our God shall
call. And in many other words, he testified
and exhorted, save yourself from this untoward generation. Come
out from among them. And they that gladly received
his word. Now, Peter just preached Christ like I tried to do. And
those that gladly received were baptized. Every one of them.
Three thousand. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine. They came to hear. They couldn't
get enough of the gospel. Fellowship around that gospel.
That's what fellowship is. Breaking of bread. That's the
Lord's table. And in prayer, fear came upon
every soul. Wonders and signs. And all that
believed, they were together. If you were a believer, you were
with the believers. If you're a sheep, you'll be
with the sheep. That's how you know. If you confess
Christ, and they all confess Christ by baptism, all of them,
And they all had the same profession. We've all done it. We've all done it. And verse 47, a praising God. Who gets to pray? God does. Favor
with all the people. The Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be ordained. All right. Brother Mike, you
go. Get ready. Sherry, John, you'll come up
and lead us in a closing hymn. I want to sing 304. You can remain seated. This is
a great hymn, especially the chorus to remind you of this
woman with an issue. 304. Let's sing it.