Going back to Mark chapter 5,
we're saying in that song, chorus, all things are possible to him
that believes. We just don't realize what can
be done through believing God. Peter, Jason and I were talking
about this the other night, Peter actually walked on water. He believed. He said, Lord, would
you command me to come out there? He stepped out of the boat and
he literally walked on water. He believed, he believed. And
then he started looking at the water. Then he believed, I'm
not supposed to be able to do this. Then he started to sink.
He started to sink when he realized, I'm not supposed to be able to
do this. But before that, he believed, he believed it was
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, he stepped
out of that boat and he walked on water. A man did that, a man
like me, you. What can be done? What can be
done? What can be done by this congregation? By just believing
God. The next chapter deals with unbelief,
but I want to come back to finish out this chapter before we deal
with that, because it says, and he did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief. That's a powerful statement,
powerful statement. All things are possible to him
that believes, and I believe that works. in the natural realm.
I believe it does. Michael Jordan would have never
been the athlete that he was had he not believed he could
do it. You show me a man or find me a man that says, I can't do
that. You know what? He can't. But you find a man
that says, I can do that. And you watch him go at it. You
just watch him. I remember this. I remember when
Jeremy was in high school and Rashford was in high school.
I remember there was a point, there was a time You know, he
was competing and he wanted to be a state champion. You know,
he put that over his bed every night before he could see it.
But I can remember a time when I saw a switch. I saw he believed
he could do it. And I'm telling you, from that
point on, it was just Katie bar the doors. All things are possible
to him that believes. You believe you can do it, you'll
do it. Unless it's the Lord's will for
that not to happen. You believe you can do it, you
can do it. It works even in the natural realm. Faith gives us
hope. When the Lord told him, be not
afraid, only believe, he had lost all hope when he heard that
word dead. But faith gives us that hope.
You just believe and trust me. And I tell you what, if we are
able to do that, the hope that that gives is real. It's real. Now, only believe
sounds easy. Only believe. I'll tell you what,
do it. Do it. Without the Spirit of God, without
the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to do it in this flesh. The natural
man can't do it. The natural man cannot only believe
God. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. But the natural man wants to
do something to help God along. Sarah did, didn't she? She said,
well, let's just go into Hagar here. I'm old. Let's help this
process along. You see what a mess that turned
out to be. It sounds easy, but it's not.
Now, let's look at some things here. Let's make some observations
as we go through here. Verse 21, when Jesus was passed
over again and to the other side, much people gathered unto him.
They were just out of curiosity. They wanted to see him, hear
him. They had never seen such a person or heard such a person.
And he was nigh unto the sea. And there cometh one of the rulers
of the synagogue, Jairus by name. When he saw him, he fell at his
feet where he belonged. He was a beggar, a mercy beggar
here. He sought him greatly, saying,
My little daughter lies at the point of death. She's going to
die. And you know this man had tried all the physicians. He's
not a poor man. Jairus is not a poor man. I guarantee
she had the best medical help at that time, but nothing worked.
Nothing was working for her. And then he hears, and you know
being the ruler of the synagogue, he knows of Christ. He's heard
him, he's seen miracles, and now his daughter is at the point
of death. She's sick, very sick. And he
believes, this man believes, with all his heart, I know he
does, that the Lord Jesus Christ can heal her. He can save her. He can keep her from dying. I
pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed
and she shall live. And the Lord went with him. Some
things I want to notice here. First of all, that Jairus, being
the ruler of the synagogue, and no doubt probably a wealthy man,
his position did not shield him from sorrow. It comes to every
house. Sin brings it to every house.
No one is above the sorrow in this life. The rich can't get
rid of it. The poor have it continually. The young, old, all have sorrow. That's one thing we all have
in common, isn't it? I may not be as rich as many,
and I'm not, but I tell you what, I have sorrow like everyone else
has, and everyone else has sorrow like I have. And I'm not going
to go through anything in this life that someone else hasn't
experienced. There's no new thing under the
sun, nothing new. And then death comes to us all.
Death is no respect for persons, is it? You know, parents do not
expect to bury their children, but some do. I know when my friend
died at 19, his father said to me, I never expected to bury
my son. I expected him to bury me. But
that's the way we expect it too, isn't it? But it comes to us
all, and it's no respect for persons at all. Now, what brought
Jairus to Christ? Here's what brought him to the
Lord. My daughter. My daughter. It's more painful
when your children are sick than when you're sick. That's true,
isn't it? It's more painful when they hurt than when you hurt.
My daughter is nigh unto death. She's about to die. He had a
great need and it was that the Lord was coming to heal his daughter.
I guarantee you he would have rather that he had that sickness
than she had that sickness. You know that. He would have
rather had it. But he was so helpless. He knew
there was nothing he could do. I'm sure he tried, like I said,
he tried all the medical professions at that time, and he was totally
helpless. There's nothing more difficult
than to watch your child that's very, very sick or maybe even
about to die. You can't do a thing about it.
That's difficult, real difficult. He said, my daughter is sick.
She's about to die. That's what brings us to Christ,
our need, our need of him. Do you really need the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do I really need Him? It's my
need that brings me to Him. It's my need of Him that keeps
bringing me to Him. It keeps bringing me to Him.
I need Him as much today as ever. I need His forgiveness. I need
His cleansing. I need His help. I need His strength. I need His life. I need Him.
And that keeps bringing me to Him. I know my need of Him. And in verse 35, we see that
the news of the situation of the daughter being sick nigh
unto death, like that of Lazarus, just got worse. Remember Martha
Mary sent a messenger to the Lord, said, Lazarus, he whom
thou lovest is sick. And when he, after four days,
you know, he went there and then he died. He died. While he yet spake, he was speaking
to that woman, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's
house certain which said, your daughter is dead. I can imagine. I just have a
little inkling of this, of what we went through with our son. I can just imagine what had happened
when the final notice happened, when it actually did happen.
I just know the fear of it when it was about to happen. But when
it did happen, that man just fell. His heart just absolutely
fell. Sunk. Thy daughter is dead. I don't know of a more devastating
word in human language than dead. Do you? Is there any more devastating
word than that? He knew exactly. Jairus knew
exactly when he heard that. what it meant. He knew. You know, the Bible teaches us
what dead is and what it means. The Bible teaches us that man
is spiritually dead. But men still don't get it, do
they? Preachers to this day, I mean right now, all these churches
out here, the pulpits are filled full of men who do not understand
what spiritual death means. Dead in trespasses and sin. That means you have no life.
That means you have not the life of God in you. You're dead. And all hope was shattered when
he heard that word dead. All the hope he had just left
him. It left him. It was shattered.
Here's why. He believed the Lord was able
to heal her. But when he heard the word dead,
he said, this is over. Now it's beyond his power. He
quit believing. He quit believing. As long as
she's sick, there's hope. As long as she's sick, there's
hope. As long as there's breath, as long as she can just take
one breath, there's hope. But dead is the end of all hope.
When Adam fell, was he sick after that or dead? I realized this
in preaching. When I'm preaching on the radio
or preaching here, I realized There are a multitude of people
out there on the radio. I know. There's five to ten thousand
that listen to us every Saturday morning that are dead. I can't
give them life. Ezekiel, can these bones live? Lord, thou knowest. I don't know
if they can live or not. I know on their own they can't
live. No man ever has ever resurrected himself. No natural man has ever
resurrected himself. You know, it takes life to give
life, doesn't it? Death doesn't give life. It takes life to give
life. Adam wasn't sick. He wasn't wounded,
crippled, dead. We were born dead in trespasses
and sins. They said to him, why troublest
thou the Master any further? It's over with. No, it's just
now about to begin. He's got you right where you
need to be. All hope shattered but the one standing in front
of you. Why trouble us now the master any further? Our need,
let me tell you this, and let's remember this. Our need never
troubles him. My poverty never troubles him. You let the phone ring in there.
It rang in there the other, the last week or so ago. I think
he's in or down. I said, didn't I want that? I
knew what it was going to be. Somebody asking for help. We
don't want to be troubled with that, do we? Now, well, honestly,
we really, one or two calls we can handle, but when it keeps
coming, it's like, that's starting to dip into the pocketbook now.
What if our Lord was like that? That poem you read, you see,
I thought of that phone call. Our trouble, our need never troubles
Him. Never. What kind of physician
does not want to be bothered by the patients? And he gives
him here a word of encouragement, and I think also a command, because
with that command comes the power to do it. Be not afraid, only
believe. I have every right, I have every
right not to be afraid, because he told me not to. And there's
also a word of encouragement. Be not afraid, only believe. His word, just a word from him,
calms our fears in the worst situations. Just a word from
Him. You know, it's amazing how just
a... I don't think we realize the
power of words, do we? It can lift you up. It can bring
you down. Dicks and stones may break my
bones, but words will never hurt me. You're an idiot. I bet they
do. I bet I can hurt you. I bet I
can offend you. I bet I can hurt your feelings
or I can make you happy. Words have a lot of power to
them. But one word from God can lift a soul that's so cast down,
just lift them to heaven. Just a word. I had someone call
me just some time ago. I was down, down. And just out
of the blue, this person called me. They had just listened to
a message I preached over the Internet. It went on and on and
on about it. And I'm telling you, I was standing
in the middle of a stream fly fishing because I was so down,
I wanted to get away from everybody. Worshipping around, playing around, just
trying to deal with something. And man, the Word that Paul Mayhead,
Paul called me, right out of the blue. Man, I tell you, he
had me floating on that stream before it was over with. Just
the Word. He said, Be not afraid, only
believe. Jairus, now I want you to get
this. I don't want to miss this. Because
I believe there's something here. Jairus started out believing
that Christ could heal his daughter. He believed that. He fell at
his feet. He believed. No doubt this man
witnessed him in the temple, you know, in the synagogues.
He witnessed some things. He believed he was able to heal
him until his daughter died. And then he just, his heart sank. Listen, he believed he's able
to heal him, heal her. The Lord is saying, you continue
to believe Me, I'm able to raise her. At no point do we have a
right not to believe that the outcome is going to be alright.
Whatever it's going to be, it's going to be alright according
to His will. Continue believing that He's
able. Which is harder for the Lord
to overcome? Sickness or death? Neither one. He can raise her from the dead
just as easily as He healed Peter's mother a fever by just a word. Everything, absolutely everything,
submits to the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolutely everything lays down
to His feet. When He walks up, everything
that moves, everything that exists, everything that is bows to His
feet, even death. Death has to bow to Him. Don't
be afraid of the bad news. Christ has the keys of death.
He's got the keys. He's going to unlock it and come
out of there. Lazarus! He said to those blind
men, believe ye that I'm able to do this. Do you? Believe,
only believe. Now believe, you know, you've
heard a lot of preachers stand and say, believe, believe. They
don't tell you anything to believe. They don't tell you who He is,
what He did. What do you want me to believe?
Who do you want me to believe? Tell me something. Believe that I
am that I am. I'm God. Believe that. He said to his disciples, John
14, you believe in God, do what? Believe also in me. Exercise
that same faith in me that you exercise in God because I am
God. Equal with Him. Believe that
I am that I am. Listen, believe the best of me. What I do is that we just naturally,
we literally, naturally believe the worst. We even believe the
worst part. Remember that man that had that
talent? One had five talents and two
and then one. And that one buried it. And he
said, Lord, I knew you were an austere, You're a strict, severe
man." Well, the others didn't say that. Those others believed
he was a gracious man, a merciful man. I know they did. They went
out and they traded and they doubled what they had. But that
man hid his. And his thoughts of God, his
thoughts of the Master was awful. They were awful. That's what
we naturally want to think. Believe the best of me. Who is
he? God manifest in the flesh. Well,
continue to believe that. Continue to believe that. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe
who he is. Believe what he did. His substitutionary
work, his sacrifice. Believe who he is, the high priest
of God, the surety. Continue to believe that. That
never changes with my situation, whatever it is. It never changes.
God never changes. The Lord is good whether I'm
having a good day or a bad day. That never changes. Be the best
of me. And listen, believe that He has
our best interest at heart. Do you not have the best interest
of your children at heart at all times? Do you not have that? How much more God? How much more
does He have? And then we're going to see here
Christ's power over death. He's going to demonstrate His
power over death. Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. No ceremonies going on here.
No hoopla, he put out the hoopla, the ones that were lacking the
scorn, he put them out. Just the power, just listen, just
the raw power of his word, that's all. I say, I say, damsel, arise. Go over in John chapter 5. John chapter 5, look in verse
25. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For
as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself. See, life comes from life. and
hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is
the son of man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming
in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and
shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection
of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of
damnation." I tell you, when he speaks, when
he commands life, it happens. He has the power. That's the
one thing, that's the last enemy said to be destroyed. That's
the one thing that this human race dreads, dead. That's just the finality of that
word. You know, you can say any other
word, sick, unhealthy, whatever. But when you say dead, you know
the finality of it. It's over. It's over. That's what they thought. That's
what Jairus thought. That's what everybody in that
house thought. It's over. I've lost my daughter. No, you're
about to see something here. He's going to raise her from
the dead. Just by His Word. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Turn over to Hosea chapter 13. Hosea chapter 13, verse 14. Hosea 13, 14. I will ransom them from the power
of the grave. I will redeem them from death.
O death, I'll be thy plagues. I'm going to plague you. I'm
coming after you. I'm going to root you out. I'm going to destroy
you. O grave, I will be thy destruction. Can you imagine? And this is real. What I'm giving
you is real. It's not a fairy tale. It's real. Can you imagine
there will be a time where every believer here will never hear
the word dead again. Never hear the word dead or death,
dying. That'll all be gone. That'll all be gone. I was talking
to someone the other day, and I said, it's just hard to wrap
my mind around actually walking on a new earth. Just walking
on solid ground, just like that up there. Solid. Without sin. Without sorrow. Without suffering.
Without bad news. Not to hear bad news again. When the phone rings, you have
a cold sweat pop out on you. Never have that happen again. I'll be your destruction. Repentance
shall be hid from mine eyes. He said, I'm going to destroy
death. I'm going to destroy the grave.
I'm going to destroy everything that sin has caused. I'm going
to put an end to it. I'm going to put an end to it. Christ is the cure for death. You know, we've come up with
some cures for some pretty, the Lord's given some men, even natural
men, wisdom to come up with some real cures for some devastating
diseases. They cannot and will not come
up with one for death. Can't do it. Can't do it. Christ is the cure for death.
Turn over to 1 Thessalonians, and I'll wind this down. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13, But I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep."
He said, she's asleep. She's asleep. His people are not dead. They are asleep. Do you ever
have a really, really, really good night's rest? I just imagine that's what it's
like to fall asleep in Christ. resurrected, it's just like a
good night's sleep. Better than that. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye saw or not,
even as others which have no hope. If we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. They're with Him. For this we
say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. We have God's Word on it. Those
which have fallen asleep in Christ, He's going to bring with Him.
And if He tarries, we'll fall asleep in Him. He'll bring us
with Him. We'll be part of that group that's coming with Him
to get the rest that's still here on the earth. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Only believe. Just trust me.
Christ is able to take a bad situation, and make it serve
his glory and our good. Be not afraid. Whatever comes,
only believe. Only believe. Not do something
else or this or that. Just believe in God. There's nothing more than trusting
him. It's just absolute confidence in God. It's just confidence
that He's going to do what He said He'd do. And I don't care
if the storm is blowing right in your face. God said He's going
to do it. So you wait on Him. And while
you wait on Him, be not afraid. Just be not afraid. Trust Him.
I remember one time, I tell you, the older you get, the more you
start remembering this and talking too much. It's kind of like that
Roosevelt and his fireside chat. But I remember once we were walking
off to the football field where the boys were playing football. And it was lightning. I mean
it was lightning. They had to stop the game. The
lightning was really cracking and coming down. He had hurt
his foot. And so we were walking off and
he was limping and he said, we need to hurry up. I said, no we don't. I said that
lightning was God's lightning. They say to him, here we are. They're not going to strike anywhere
that he doesn't command them to strike. Be not afraid, only believe.