The lesson this morning is in
the last few verses of Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8, verses 49 through
the end of the chapter. Luke chapter 8, verse 49. While he yet spake, there cometh
one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, thy daughter
is dead, trouble not the master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered
him saying, fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house,
he suffered no man to go in save Peter and James and John and
the father and mother of the maiden. And all wept and bewailed
her. But he said, weep not. She's
not dead. She's sleeping. And they left
him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all
out, and he took her by the hand, and he called, saying, maid,
arise. And her spirit came again, and
she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat. And
her parents were astonished. But he charged them that they
should tell no man what was done. Now, our lesson last week was
on the woman with the issue of blood. The account that I'm reading
to you now is where this whole thing started. He was on his
way to Jairus' house because his daughter was sick and he
came to Christ for help. And I'm convinced, studying these
verses, that divine inspiration has mixed these two things together
on purpose. He's blended these two miracles
so that we can learn from both. And actually, the story begins
back in verse 41, where Jairus came to the Lord, and it says,
falling down at his feet, he besought him that he would come
into his house. For he had one only daughter,
about 12 years of age, and she was dying. Now, I wanna start
with this. Jairus was a believer. He was a believer. And so I know
that what he did and what the Lord did And what all who are
concerned here did has a bearing on what I do and what you do.
This account was not just given to log in another miracle of
Christ. It's logged in to teach us something
and to tell us something, show us something in a picture, in
a figure. And all of the miracles not only
verify that Jesus is the Christ, but they show us and figure how
God saves sinners. And in the light of this, let
me give you as many things as I can concerning what took place
on this day. The Holy Ghost begins His account
with a man named Jairus. Jairus. And Jairus went to Jesus
Christ because he knew he was the only one that could help
him. If it was just a matter of tending
his daughter or putting a coal rag on her head or whatever they
did in that day, he could have taken care of that himself. He
was the ruler of the synagogue. He had a lot of assets. He had a lot of things under
his, all he had to do was ask and they'd come, the physicians
or whoever was there. But she was past that. She was
dying. He didn't come and tell her she's
a little bit sick. He came and told Christ she was
dying. They'd done all they could do.
She was dying. And he came to Jesus Christ because
where else are you going to go? Where else are you going to go?
He had nowhere else to go. I wonder if I really believe what he did. I wonder. I was thinking to myself about
this all week. I think I do. I preach these things as though
I do, but do I really believe what he believed? There's nowhere
else to go. Is there anywhere else to go?
We're all dying. What are you gonna do about that?
I know we have a little space of time left. I had no idea.
I could leave here this morning. I sat right behind a man one
time in church, and I was still dabbling around in Armenian churches. I had a guitar and was playing
and singing and thought I was doing something for the Lord,
because they always give me a few minutes to testify. And I thought,
well, you know, God's using me here. But he wasn't. But anyway,
I was sitting in that church and I'd already had my time and
sat down and service was about to start and this old man came
in. He was up in his 80s and he He
was the first pastor, he's the founding pastor of that church,
and the pastor wanted to recognize him, and he said, how are things
between you and the Lord? And that old man went to throw
up two fingers like that, and God killed him instantly. His
head hit the pew, he was dead in a fraction of a second. I
never wanted to get out of a place as bad in all my life as I wanted
to get out of that church. But he'd had this familiarity
all his life and had expressed it all his life, but his time
was up. And when he threw them two fingers
up, God killed him. Killed him. You and I are dying. And you might think, well, I've
got this long space of time, or a short space of time, or
whatever. We're dying. It doesn't matter
how much time you got. You're going to die. You're going
to die. His daughter was dying. And this
man knew it. And he knew there was but one
man who had anything to do with living and dying, and that was
the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's where he went. That's
where he went. And notice, Jairus, as a believer,
he didn't ask the Lord to do anything. Huh? Just to come to his house. Just
to come to his house. He didn't ask him to heal her. He didn't know what God's will
was in this thing, but he wanted him to come to his house, and
he did. He did, and he told him what
the problem was. Jairus was a believer. I said
that in the beginning. The Lord had arranged for him
to hear. How do I know that? Because faith
cometh by hearing. That's how I know that. Faith
cometh by hearing. You can't have faith apart from
hearing. You have to hear. You have to
hear. This man heard. He knew where
to go. And those whose hearing is arranged
of God, they will hear. They will hear. They're all going
to hear. They're all going to believe. They shut up to Christ. They know who he is. They know
why he's here, what he's doing, and where he's going. Believers
know that Jesus Christ, Russell, is God. He's God come into the
flesh. He's not just another man. He's
not a special man. He's the God-man. He's called
in Scripture, God, our Savior. He's the God man, this is God,
this is very God, a very God over all, blessed forever, that's
what Paul said about him. He's God. You believe that? Huh? You believe that Jesus Christ
is God, that he's seated at the right hand of God right now?
Only God can satisfy God. He satisfied God. and God received
him up into heaven and set him at his own right hand. Thou art
my son. He's the son of God. The whole
book of John is written for that very thing, to prove to us that
Jesus was the son of God. He knew that this was God come
into the flesh. God and man in one glorious person And I'll tell you something else,
he knew why he came. God come into the flesh to save
sinners. Isn't that what Paul said? This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation, Jesus Christ come into this world to save
sinners. So Jairus was a believer and
then secondly, he came to him with a need in harmony with the
God-man's purpose and office. Prayer, I want you to hear me
now, prayer is never the gratification of the flesh. What do I mean
by that? Well, I mean like a little kid
is getting close to Christmas and mommy sits down with this
little kid and they give him a little piece of paper and they
start writing the Santa Claus what they want. That's the way
most people, that's what most people think prayer is. Telling
God what you want. That's not what prayer is. Not
what prayer is. You can go, there's a model for
prayer given in the book of Matthew. You can go there and read it.
He teaches them how to pray. They ask him to teach them how
to pray. And they say, okay, you pray
like this. Our Father. Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. To know God is to know him as
he's revealed in the saving person and work of Jesus Christ our
Lord. And he came with a need in harmony
with that. His daughter was dying. So was
mine. So was mine, so was yours. They're dying. What am I gonna
do about it? Am I gonna run down here to the
doctor? This whole world thinks they're
gonna live forever. I just, I laugh sometimes when
I hear people talk about doing this and doing that. Oh, don't
do that, you'll shorten your days, you know, and all. This
world's dying. And then I tell you, the older
I get, the more I realize, man, time, it was Monday yesterday,
Sunday today. And it goes just that fast, just
that fast. So if you live 90 years, 95 years,
100 years, it ain't nothing but a flash in the pan. That's all
it is. It's that fast. He knew this. He knew that Jesus
Christ was Lord. He's Lord. There's nothing beyond
his power. He's Lord. Paul said if we live,
we live under the Lord. If we die, we die under the Lord.
So whether we live or die, we're the Lord's. He can do with us
what he will. Jairus knew that. He came to
him, told him his need, and left it in his hands. Prayer's always in harmony with
God in Christ and his purpose of grace. And every son and daughter
of Adam's dying, sin entered, death passed. I doubt his daughter
knew she was dying. She knew she was sick. But I doubt she knew she was
dying. But he knew it. He knew it. But this much I do
know, sin reigns unto death. You're going to die. And you cannot begin to make
intercession for your sons and daughters till you realize that
they're dying. When you realize how serious
this is, then you'll put yourself into prayer for it. You'll seek him alone who can
do anything about it. You can't do anything about it.
We think we are. I think we can. Just like the old lepers of old,
there appears a blemish in the skin. This is what happened outwardly
with leprosy. There'd be a blemish in the skin,
and then another, usually up in the scalp, and they'd bring
them to the high priest, and he'd take a look at it, and he'd
tell them if that's leprosy or not. Well, spiritually speaking,
that's what our children do. They first have a little blemish.
You know, and then another, and then another, and then they become
open running sores. His daughter was dying. And there's nothing you can do
for him except exactly what Jairus did. You could fall down on your
face before the Lord and tell him your situation. He already
knows it, but he's gonna have you say it anyway. But then I find a difficulty
in prayer. In Romans 8, 18 through 21, Paul
talks about the purpose of God in creation. It's the stage upon which God
will manifest his glory and the salvation of a people through
Jesus Christ. And in verse 22, he begins to
tell us some of the difficulties. While this is taking place, he
says, creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting for this manifestation
of the sons of God. It groans within itself. It longs for that change. It
longs for the end for which it was created. And it doesn't do
this in words. Creation doesn't do it in words.
It does it in its nature. And then in verse 23, and he
said, not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. There's a groaning
inside the believer because he knows there's a change out there
that's gonna take place. And this change, what this change
is all about is everything negative is gonna disappear. Everything
that harms you, everything that threatens you, everything that
keeps you from worship, everything that keeps you from following
God perfectly is gonna be taken away. And we groan for it, we
long for it. And while they do, as creation
does, have a testimony of God's divine hand, yet they're not
yet what they shall be, and we don't know how to pray as we
ought to. Now watch this, Romans 8, 26.
Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know
not what to pray for as we ought. We pray in the infirmity of our
flesh. That's how we pray. We pray in
the infirmity of our flesh and of the sin that's in us and the
ignorance and the Holy Ghost cleans up our prayers. And he
takes these groanings within us and he cleans it all up and
he presents it to God. There is in the heart of a believer
a true desire to be delivered from sin and death. In Romans
7, Paul describes many good qualities. He's talking about the two eyes.
He's got an old man and a new man within him, and they're,
man, they collide. They're contrary one to the other,
one fighting the other all the time. And he talks about some
good qualities. I would do this, but I don't. I do this. And on and on it goes
through there. He talks about many good qualities. But when he begins to sum it
all up, he don't say, well, there's some good things in me and some
bad things. That ain't what he says. What he says when he sums
it up, oh, wretched man that I am. You see, pretty good ain't good
enough when it comes to God. You're still wretched, still
wretched. And he said, oh, wretched man
that I am. Who gonna deliver me from the
body of this flesh? And that's where the believer,
he sums up everything. He does it continually. He does
it all the time. I know that you've heard me preach
on sin and somebody would say, well, you know, he's preached
enough on that. We already know it. Why don't
you get on to something else? because continually you have
to understand that and you have to look to Christ, that's why.
We gotta be reminded, don't we? We'd be puffed up beyond measure
if it wasn't for that. Believers are all sinners, saved
by grace. We've all been convinced of sin. Paul writes to the Corinthians,
talking about both his spiritual death and his, he was left for
dead two or three times. And he said, we had the sentence
of death in ourselves, convinced of it. Now watch this, that we
should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the
dead. That's what it all comes down to, isn't it? And this is what's in the heart
of the intercessor. He comes to the source where
he received life and grace and he pleads for those that he loves. He pleads because he knows that's
where it is. It's all in Christ. And then
thirdly, I want us to see the trial of faith. The Lord's gonna
try the faith of Jairus and he's gonna manifest it for what it
truly is, true faith. It's the gift and work of God
in you. And let me stress that true faith
knows that Jesus Christ is Lord. What's that mean? That means
he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
even question what he does. He's the Lord. And he's under
no obligation to save my children or yours. But if they're going
to be saved, he's the only one can do it. It's not like you've got a, it's
not a multiple choice thing. We shut up to him. If there ain't
saving to be done, he's the savior. He'll save. But put yourself in Jairus' shoes. He comes to the Lord. He knows
who the Lord is and he comes to him. And in God's providence and in
his kindness and mercy, Christ agrees to come with him to his
house. Well, my soul, if I was Jairus,
I'd be singing to myself when I was on my way to my house.
The Lord's coming. He's coming to my house. He knows
my problem. He wouldn't be coming if he didn't
intend to save my daughter. And he's thrilled, he's happy,
he's singing. He's singing. And all of a sudden,
the Lord just stops. There's a huge multitude following.
And the Lord just stops. And he turns around and he said,
who touched me? Touched you? They're thronging you. Everybody
here's touching you. No, somebody touched me. I perceive virtue's gone out
of my body. And I don't know how long this
encounter with the woman with the issue of blood took. But
it took a little while, because he asked who touched him. And
then they had time to respond three or four times. And finally,
the woman, knowing that she couldn't be hid, she fessed up. I touched
him. I touched him. And my issue of
blood was dried up as soon as I did. I was healed and made
whole immediately. And so this all went on. It took
a little while, Russell. This man's desperate. His daughter's
dying. They're on their way to the house.
And he's standing there. Jairus didn't say a word. He
didn't say, Lord, my daughter's dying. You remember that? No,
he didn't say one word. He stood there quietly, and the
Lord did what he would do. And when the Lord was winding
it up, it says, while he yet was speaking, He's still speaking
to this woman with the issue of blood. Thy faith hath made
thee whole. And while he's yet speaking,
here comes the servant from Jairus's house and said, your daughter's
dead. No need to trouble the master
anymore. She's dead. Faith will take that. False faith
won't. False faith won't. I can just
imagine that desperation must have been just eating Jairus
up on the inside while he stood there while all this was going
on. But he also knew this, our Lord's going to save all his
elect. He's not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
Joshua, for he shall save his people from their sins. But here's
the trial. Your daughter's dead. This whole
thing got worse. Just when he thought it couldn't
get any worse, it got worse. She died. She died. You remember when Lazarus, he
was sick. But the Lord wouldn't go. He
had other things to do. He said, I'll go, but not right
now. And he just kept on doing what
he was doing. And he died. He died. Lazarus died. And his
two sisters come out, and both of them told him, if you'd been
here, my brother wouldn't have died. We like to put limitations
on God, don't we? It was in God's purpose for him
to die. It was in God's purpose for this
maiden to die. The Lord killeth and the Lord
maketh alive. He's the Lord. Nothing happens
outside the purpose of God. And this is what was taking place.
She died. Now false faith will throw in
the towel, right there. It'll just throw in the towel. No need to go any further. No
need to trouble the master. She's gone. Huh? Lord said, no, she's just sleeping.
She's just sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn
because they knew she was dead. I'd like to go back and make
a list of all the things that I knew that I learned later on
I didn't know. Wouldn't you? I could fill up
a notebook. I mean things I knew. And then
I found out, I didn't know. I didn't know. Actually, our sons and daughters
are dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead, talking about those he quickened to life everlasting.
You hath he quickened who were dead. She was still living, but
she was dead in trespasses and sin. But whether this maiden, and
we all like to put limitations on God, but whether this maiden
was breathing or not had no impact on whether or not she could be
healed, none whatsoever. I like what happened, that rich
young ruler come, he had every recommendation that a man could
have. And he came to the Lord, and
the disciples, they were all sitting around, and they knew
the Lord was gonna save him. This most reputable man in town,
he's a young man, he's a businessman, he does good business, he's honest,
pays his tithes, he keeps the Sabbath, he keeps the law, he
does all these things, and the Lord sent that man away packing.
And they turned around and looked at each other, and they said,
who then can be saved? You know what the Lord told them?
With man, it's impossible. But with God, huh? That's the
difference. With God, all things are possible. And that's exactly what was going
on this day. Exactly. Jairus didn't open his mouth. He came to the omnipotent God-man
for help. And his providence seemed to
indicate a willingness on his part to do what he asked. And I'm gonna tell you something.
False faith won't stay the course. He's gonna reveal that phony
faith. It sets limitations. And when
it reaches that limitation, whatever it is, it throws in the towel. And then fourthly, I see one
requirement of the Lord. And a lot of places I've seen
where he turns these two words around, a lot of miracles I see
this where he turns these two words around and he says, only
believe. That's not what he says here.
He says, believe only. Only. Nothing else. Nothing else. Just faith. Nothing
else, not faith in your hand. The difference between worldly
faith and true faith is true faith stands alone. Worldly faith
is believe and. Those Judaizers, they came into
Galatia and they was telling them, yes, believe and be circumcised. Believe, but sign this little
card saying that you're gonna tithe. Believe, but now you have
to promise to keep the Sabbath. Believe and keep the law. True
faith, here's the Lord. Believe only. Only. Nothing else. Nothing else. It's out of your hands, it's
out of their hands, it's out of everybody's hands. What do
you believe? True faith rests in Christ alone. That's where, nothing else. Christ
alone. And if everybody deserts you,
it's still there. Christ hasn't moved, and faith
won't move either. It'll stay right there. I know faith is the gift of God's
sovereign grace and not something man can produce, but when God
gives it, those who receive it believe. God don't believe for
you, You believe. And he did. And I can tell you
right now, there's no comfort in believing, but to believe
only rests everything in the hands of a sovereign savior.
And then fifthly, see this privileged few. I love this. God has a place and a time to
manifest his glory, and as he does, he'll assemble certain
ones together to see it. God often does his work before
a few privileged folks. He just took a few up on that
Mount of Transfiguration, didn't he? Peter, James, and John, that's
it. But a handful on this day saw
him take a dead girl's hand and raise her to life. Now that crowd
out there have hired mourners. If you take time to study a little
Jewish history, you'll find out that they hired mourners. to
come. Don't ask me why. But they did. And they'd come and just mourn
and wail. They were professional wailers. And they'd just come
and whine and cry and carry on. I don't know. I don't know why
they did it, but they did. It's just part of Jewish history. And they were all wailing out
there. And then the Lord said, no, she's just sleeping. And
they all quit wailing and started laughing, and they laughed him
to scorn. And he said, you just stay right
out there. You're not coming in here. You're
not gonna see my glory. And he says to this whole unbelieving
world, you're not gonna see my glory. Not gonna do it. But I've
got a few. I got a few. And I'm gonna manifest
my glory to them. and they gonna see it, and they
gonna know what took place. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
I know your election of God. Huh? Why? He saw it. My gospel
didn't come to you in word only, it come in power. Came in the
Holy Ghost, and you become followers of us and the Lord. God give
you a patient, a patient will. and you waiting for the lord
to come back from work i don't know your election i'll tell
you what james and john went into that little room inside
their house arrest and all that and i have and or you get out
and he walked over there and they saw they saw one of god's
elect raised to life everlasting You think about that. And very
quickly, I'm going to give you these other two things. Those
who left him to scorn were all shut out. And then lastly, I
see this one raised to life. Raised to life eternal. Here
she is. She's dead. She's laying there.
You know the dead, and I hope you understand I'm going back
and forth between physical and spiritual here. I'm trying to
show you something. This is a picture. The dead don't eat anything.
They don't have an appetite. They don't do anything because
they're dead. When God raised this young maiden back to life,
he turned around, looked at her, and said, get her something to
eat. He didn't ask her if she was
hungry. He already knew she was hungry. He gave her a lot. He said, now get her some meat.
Get her some meat. And I tell you that's the first
thing that happens when God raises a natural man to life everlasting,
he's got an appetite. And I can tell you, I've been
preaching a long time, Russell, you can't satisfy his appetite. He'll be back tomorrow, he'll
be back Wednesday, he'll be back Sunday, he'll go to a Bible conference. You can't satisfy his appetite
for Christ. He's hungry. He's hungry. And
he'll stay hungry until he sees Christ with his own eyes. All
right, thank you.