got a lot of folks that are not
well. I remember those who requested prayer, especially Patsy Ledford
is in Nashville having severe pain, it's nerve pain, and they're
trying to treat it. But it's hard to deal with nerves.
It just is. Wanda Vance has severe pain,
has had severe pain for the last four nights in her hands. And
she finally he finally got her to an orthopedic guy who did
I think x-rays or something. Anyway, he diagnosed both hands
having severe carpal tunnel. That's why she's having severe
pain in her hand. So she's had to wear braces on her hands.
Trish Robinette has COVID. She's about over it, but she
still got the coffin still being tired. Fred's looks like Fred's
low on iron. He's not feeling well and kind
of weak. So remember these folks to the
Lord and you seek the Lord's help for them. Pray for our brothers
and sisters in Christ. We know that the Lord answers
his children's prayers and we pray for their peace and their
comfort in these times. We don't know what the weather
is going to be like with the way that it's talking about, you know, We'll
get this circular effect on this storm that just passed through
and brought a lot of wind, but nothing else. But it's circling
clouds back toward us, so we may have some foul weather starting
this afternoon. Who knows? But that's the situation
as it stands. But do remember these folks in
your prayers. Let's begin our worship service this morning
with hymn number 15, Brethren, We Have Met to Worship. Brethren, we have met to worship
at the cross. power while we try to preach
the word. All is vain unless the spirit
of the Holy One all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming Can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers
and our children sinking down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners
who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the
sin. ? Will be found ? Sisters pray
and holy manna ? Will be showered all around ? Let us love our
God supremely ? Let us love each other to the end Z And pray for sinners till our
God makes all things new Z Z Then he'll call us home to heaven
Z Z At his table we'll sit down Z After scripture and your prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 272. 272. If you have your Bibles, turn to
Mark, the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 5. Begin reading with verse 21,
read through the end of the chapter. This takes place directly after
the healing of the demoniac of Gadara. The Lord is leaving.
It says, And when Jesus was passed over again by ship and to the
other side, much people gathered unto him. He was nigh unto the
sea. Behold, there cometh one of the
rulers of the synagogue, Jarius by name. And when he saw him,
he fell at his feet and besought him greatly, saying, My little
daughter, lied at the point of death. I pray thee, come and
lay thy hands on her that she may be healed and she shall live. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed and thronged him. And a certain woman, which
had an issue of blood twelve years, and suffered many things
of her physicians, of many physicians, and had spent all that she had,
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had
heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his garment,
for she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
had been healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had gone out of him, Turned him about
in the press and said, who touched my clothes? And his disciples
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. And he said unto her, daughter,
thy faith has made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy
plague. And while he yet spake, there
came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certains, which said, Thy
daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the master
further? And as soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken,
he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only
believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him, save Peter and James and John, the brother of James. And
he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth
the tumult, and them that wept, and wailed greatly. And when
he had come in, he said unto them, Why make ye this ado and
weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed at him, and
laughed him to scorn. And when he had put them all
out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and
them that were with him, and entered in where the damsel was
lying. And he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her,
Talitha cumi, which is interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel rose
and walked. For she was of the age of twelve
years, and they were astonished with a great astonishment. And
he charged them straightly that no man should know it, and commanded
that something should be given her to eat. Let us pray. Our
Father, We praise you and thank you for your word which teaches
us of our savior and his greatness, his mercy, his compassion, and
his kindness toward broken and ruined people. We thank you, Lord, that we have
this account. For we know that in ourselves
we are decrepit, impotent, unable to do anything. We are dead in trespasses and
sin by nature, children of disobedience, children of wrath by nature,
but children of God by grace. We thank you, Father, that we
can see these things and know that they are so because you
have given your children faith to believe. Help us to believe. cause us in our hearts to rest
and rely upon what you have spoken. Trust your word implicitly for
we know it is the personification, the literal personification of
Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was the word and was God and was
with God, the maker and creator of all things, made flesh, dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory. the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. We pray for those of our company
who are sick. Pray for Brother Fred, that you
continue to minister to him and increase the skills of those
doctors that they can find out what this present problem is
with his weakness. Ask Lord you would help him.
Pray for Patsy Ledford, she's experienced this great pain pray
that you'd turn her eyes to Jesus Christ. Pray that the doctor
would be able to find some way to give her some comfort. Pray
for Wanda. She's been diagnosed with this
nerve ailment in her hands. We ask Lord you'd be with her
again with those doctors that can help her. Pray for Dee Parks. Bless him as he continues in
his therapy treatments for his cancer. Lord, We pray for those
who are away from us today that you'd watch over them. Pray for
Tricia, she's getting over this COVID. Pray for our shut-ins. We ask, Lord, that you'd be comfort
to them and a strength to them. Help us to remember each other
in prayer. Call out each other's names to
heaven. Help us, Lord, this hour to worship you in spirit and
in truth. Be with us all by the presence of your spirit. to take
the things of Christ and show them unto us. We pray in Christ's
blessed name, amen. I hope his gifts are nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus. ? On Christ the solid rock I stand
? All other ground is sinking sand ? All other ground is sinking
sand ? When darkness veils his lovely face ? I rest on his unchanging
grace My anchor holds within the veil. On crisis solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, not his
blood. Support me in the whelming flood. ? And all around my soul gives
way ? Heathen is all my hope and stay ? On Christ the solid
rock I stand ? All other ground is sinking sand ? All other ground
is sinking sand ? He shall come with trumpet sound
? Oh may I then in him be found ? Dressed in his righteousness
alone ? All blest to stand before the throne ? On Christ the solid
rock I stand ? All other ground is sinking sand May I stand to receive the office
of mourning, please? Let us pray. Father, again, we
pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our great savior and master,
our elder brother, our closest and dearest friend, the friend
who gave his life for us that we might have life and have it
more abundantly. We thank you for the gift of
Jesus Christ and all those gifts that you've given to your children
through him. We all know that all good and
perfect gifts comes from above, from the Father of lights in
whom there is no variable, there's no shadow of turning. We thank
you, Lord, that you have given us Christ and all things with
him. As we render unto thee that which
belongs to thee because you gave it to us. Let us do so with joy. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. I invite your attention back
to Mark chapter 5. This is also recorded in Matthew
chapter 9, this incident here. I don't know how many times I've
preached from this passage since I've been here, probably several.
I was looking and I found at least four different messages
starting in 2006, but I know I preached a long time before
that. Jonathan preached from this passage
one time when he was preaching here on Sunday afternoon. The story you're familiar with
is the report of the salvation of a sinner, a picture of the salvation of
a sinner who stops Jesus Christ in His progress as He's going
to raise a woman, a young girl, from the dead. This woman's story, the woman
with the issue of blood, is kind of a sacred pause, providential
parenthesis in the story of Jarius and his dying daughter. Jarius'
daughter is sick unto death and he has come to get help from
the master. And when he does, he approaches and he besought
him greatly. He fell at his feet and besought
him greatly, saying, My little daughter, you who have children
know how special they are and how fearful you can be when they're
sick or ill. my little daughter lies at the
point of death I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her just
touch her that she may be healed and she shall live in Matthew
9 when it says he fell down before him it says he worshiped him
saying my daughter is grievously sick In all probability, at this
time, the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ and his power to heal
was the headline of the day in the region. Everybody pretty
much knew about Jesus of Nazareth and his power to heal. And they
loved him for that. They followed him. Multitudes
oppressed, as it's called by the apostles. You'd walk and
all these people are pressing up against you and you say someone
has touched you. You just healed the demon-possessed man whom
nobody could do anything for, not religion, not men, not change,
not anything that men do, binding
him, trying to tame him. Nobody could touch the demoniac
and the Lord had just spoke to the demons that possessed him
and cast them into the swine and the swine committed suicide
as they drowned themselves in the sea and the man was healed. And he said, I want to follow
you. And he said, no, you don't need to follow me, but just go
tell your folks that I had compassion on you, that I had compassion
on you. And that feat had increased and
excited his appeal to the multitudes. An important truth is set forth
in the contrast and comparison of the demonic of Gadara and
Jairus, the ruler of the Jews. There was a great divide. and
social and moral status between these two men. But the fact is that the great
need, that great need is the societal and spiritual equalizer,
and it bypasses status if you have great need. In truth, status
is just a vapor. It's a smudge mark on the written
report of human experience. One day, and that right soon,
every soul here and every soul who's still around long enough
before the Lord comes back will all be the same. Will all be
the same. The prince and the pauper will
live side by side. The scholar and the sluggard
will both occupy a small piece of real estate, a pit of real
estate. and will be nothing more than
putrefaction personified, rotting away, and a carnival for worms,
as one man said. Great need supersedes all things. If you're in great need, you
don't think about anything else. In time and circumstance, great
need makes us all beggars at mercy's door. Our Lord had begun
his journey to Jarius's house, but was halted in his progress
by a woman with a chronic condition. And since our God is a God of
order, this pause was for Jarius's benefit, a divine delay of providential
predestination. During this brief heaven-ordained
interlude, a scheduled intrusion to heal this woman Uriah's daughter
lapsed from dire infirmity to extreme mortality. When Uriah
heard the news that his daughter was dead, I can't imagine what
was going on in his mind. Here are two fathers, two daughters,
two curses, two miracles, one Lord over all. Words used in
this passage are words designed to address a real comparison
of the two females in this episode. These two females are universally
representative of everybody. They represent us as we are born
into this world. Though all humanity is viewed
and judged in the first and last Adam, that is in Adam or in Christ,
the maladies of these two females picture the condition of all
men and women by nature. as to their standing before thrice
holy God. What makes these two representatives
of all humanity? How do they represent you and
me? This dying child and dead child and this woman with the
issue of blood. The reason they represent them
because both of these conditions are curses. They're curses. The woman with the issue of blood
had been in a constant state of menses for a dozen years,
it says, 12 years. She was anemic. She was weak. This was not only a sad and dire
condition as she was anemic and her life was a continuous hemorrhagic
existence, but because it was her menses, by the law, she was
cursed. She was cursed in Leviticus 15
verses 25 through 30. It talks about that very thing
when a woman has her menses, when she has her cycle, when
she has her period. She can't stay in the village. She can't
stay in her house. She has to leave. She has to
be an outcast and go outside the city until her menses is
finished and she cannot enter back into this. Now remember,
she's a child of God. She's a child of Israel. She
cannot enter back into the city until an atonement is made for
her. A sacrifice must be made for her sin before she can enter
back. Her condition is a picture of
ruination. It excluded her from camp. She
was a pariah. She was considered unclean and
could not be received back in the camp unless a blood atonement
was made by the priest for her. And while she had her issue,
it was said of her, she was cursed. I remember when my mama used
to have her cycle, she'd say, the curse has come. It's the
curse. Well, where'd she get that? She
got it from the fact that in the Bible, under the law, it
was a curse. It was a real curse. This is
the state of all humanity before God. It is what issues from man,
from out of his heart that defiles him. It's our issue that's the
problem. It's not what we take into the
body that defiles, but it's what's in our heart and comes out of
our heart that defiles us according to Mark chapter 7. Because of
what man is, he is cursed and cannot please God. while he is
yet in the flesh. For the flesh cannot please God,
Scripture says in Romans 8. He cannot be received among the
brethren unless or until a blood propitiation is made by the great
high priest for him. Without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sin. And not just any blood will do.
If that were the case, this woman could have made atonement for
herself and a whole lot of people because she had had an issue
of blood for twelve years. She had shed much blood. But
it was cursed, and being cursed she could do nothing for herself
and nothing for anyone else. She was reduced to the status
of where every sinner who's in need finally ends up, the status
of being a beggar, a beggar. Said she had spent all she had.
She was dead broke. Spent all she had. Well, if you're
in great need and you want to get fixed, you will spend everything
you got to get fixed. She was wholly dependent on the
benefaction of someone else outside herself. If somebody don't help
this woman, she's done in. She's done for. This is a picture
of Adam's race. It is clear that the best and
the wisest of Adam's race, even though they tried, they could
not help her. Many had tried to help her, could
not ease her distress, but only served to make her situation
worse. That's what she said. She wasn't
many better for everything she tried. She was worse, says in
verse 26. Her physicians were like those
who helped Job, supposedly. They were physicians of no value.
I'll never forget old Jack Shanks preaching a message on this passage,
and he said her doctors were doctor of religion, and he couldn't
do any good for her. Her doctor was doctor of works,
and he couldn't do anything for her. And then she went to doctor
of law, and he couldn't do anything for her. And she ended up going,
doctor, do your best, and he couldn't do anything for her. She spent all she had on doctors.
on doctors. Like Jairus' daughter also is
a universal picture of humanity. She was dying and then she was
dead. This is both the physical and
spiritual state of men before God. Man is dead in trespasses
and sin. Death is the cursed and just
penalty for sin. In the day ye sin, ye shall die. Death reveals a total inability
and impotency to do anything. You don't ask dead people to
do things because they can't do anything. They're dead. They're
clean dead. You don't ask them to make a
decision. If you do, they ain't going to make one because they're
dead in trespasses and sin. You don't ask them to walk down
an aisle because their legs don't work. Nothing works in a dead
person. The Bible says the dead man does nothing and he knows
nothing. So death reveals a total impotency
to do anything. It is the curse inherited in
Adam by imputed sin. In Adam all died by one man. Sin entered the world and death
by sin. Death is the curse of the law.
Whosoever is under the law is cursed by the law in Galatians
chapter 3. It stands to reason that a dead
person is beyond the help of humanity. It stands to reason
nothing short of a miracle of grace can suffice to unclench
the vice grip of death. The only way death is undone
is by the death of the effectual substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain for sinners. She came, this woman, and touched
his garment. She came and touched his garment. Why? According to her words,
she believed that if she touched his garment, she'd be made whole.
Where'd that come from? She had heard of Jesus Christ,
there's no doubt about that. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. It says she heard of Christ,
And when she heard he was coming her way, she pushed through that
crowd, probably on her hands and knees, and reached out and
touched the hem of his garment. Why did she do that? She believed
that if she got to Christ, she'd be helped. She believed that. Isn't that what faith is? Isn't
that what it is? Faith acts this way according
to Hebrews chapter 11. They that come to God must believe
that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that seek Him. She believed when she got there,
He would help her. Faith, we know, is not natural
to men. It's not something they can work
up. It's something that God gives them or withholds from them.
She believed because God had given her faith to do so. And
in this blessed action, we see the providence of God. Her sickness
and her cure were ordained of God. And this all took place
before the eyes of another man in great need. Think about this. Jairus and the Lord are headed
toward his home. The last word he heard was that
his daughter was alive but dying. And they're headed that way.
And all of a sudden, our Lord stops. because he perceives that
virtue has gone out of him and he said, who has touched me?
And here's Jarius, my daughter, my daughter. And he stopped,
but what does he see? He sees this woman who has touched
the Lord Jesus Christ be healed right in front of her eyes. Even
the words our Lord speaks are meant to encourage Jarius. Our
Lord tenderly looked at this woman and said, daughter, Jairus's daughter's the one that's
sick, and our Lord said to this woman, he's just healed. Daughter,
thy faith has made thee whole. She is his daughter. Why? Because
according to Isaiah 9, 6, he's the everlasting father. In him
dwells the fullness of the Godhead Father. She's the daughter of
Abraham, as evidence of the fact that she believed on Christ,
because all who believe on Christ, according to Galatians 3, 26,
are children of Abraham. The remarkable words spoken to
her by our Lord had designs on Jairus, thy faith. has made thee
whole. Now he believed Christ because
he come and said, Oh, you got to just come and touch her. This
woman had come and touched him and been relieved. That Christ cured this woman
has never been in question. Virtue, it says, and power flowed
from him to her and was cured. That to me is a phenomenal statement
and I've tried to think about it and I've tried to come up
with what I can't figure that out. But he said, virtue and
power has gone from me. Has gone from me. Now the things
he did, this is the amazing thing according to Acts chapter 2 or
Acts chapter 10. The things he did, he didn't
do as God. He didn't perform these miracles
as God. He was God. But he performed
these miracles as a perfect man, endued completely with the Holy
Spirit of God. That's how he did it. He accomplished
these things according to Acts chapter 10, because he was a
man who had the full power of the Holy Spirit. And that's why
he could say to us, and to his disciples, when they were astonished
at what he did, he says, you're going to do greater works than
these. Now, if you look at the works they did, there's none
greater than his physical healings and raising of the dead. There's
none of that that's greater than what he did. What's greater?
We're going to go to men with words, and God's going to raise
them from the dead, spiritual death. These healings were physical. This woman would die eventually. Jairus would eventually go to
the grave. His daughter would eventually
go to the grave. but the greater work than that to raise them
from the dead is to preach the gospel that raises men to eternal
life and they never die. They never die. Thy faith has
made thee holy, said the Virgin. Power flowed from Him. Never,
however, discount the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
are words of the healer to the healed. Your faith has made you
whole." Now, not only did Jarius see this woman miraculously healed,
but he heard the Master laud her faith. Thy faith. These words are truly for her,
because she has no illusion as to how she was healed and the
source of her faith, because she knows what was, according
to verse 33, done to her. She didn't do anything, she just
reached out and touched, and something was done to her, so
she knows where that salvation is. And she's not looking to
her faith as the source of it. Faith pleases God, and she comes
to God because she believes that He is in the world, or them that
diligently seek Him. Your faith has made you whole,
is what He said. faith in christ honors god because
it holy wrists in god i think it was got richard said what
they wouldn't win the lord said faith that faith is saved the
or faith that faith is made the old what he's saying is that
faith will ultimately put the crown on the head of jesus christ
for what is done great is that faith was she knew what was done
to her that's what it said We see the glory of God by faith.
Faith is not possessed of power. That's the error of modern religion. If you have faith, you have some
kind of power. You don't have no power. You're powerless. Power
belongs to the Lord. We see the glory of God by faith. Faith doesn't have power. Faith
is possessed of confidence, however, and assurance and hope. All these
things are found when God gives a man faith. He gives him hope.
He gives him assurance. He gives him peace. she had believed
in so many people and so many remedies in her life this woman
and when she only believed in Christ she was healed she was healed
Jarius's daughter however cannot exercise faith she's dead her
recovery addresses the power of Christ over death he raised
She is raised from the deathbed of sin to omnipotent grace. However, because our Lord had
said these things to the woman with the issue of blood, he now
addresses Gerise in the same manner. Gerise says, You don't
have to come, Lord. She's dead. He says, She ain't
dead. She's just sleeping. The fellow said that she is dead
and I shouldn't bother you no more. She ain't dead. She's sleeping. Right after he's heard the words
to this woman, thy faith has made thee whole. How he addresses
Jerusalem, the same manner if a man dies, shall he live again?
The crowd ain't gonna be on your side. When the Lord said, she
ain't dead, she's sleeping, they laughed at him. Said they mocked
him to scorn. What are you talking about? She's
dead. Ain't nothing you can do about dead people. When I saw
thee in thy blood, It was the time of love. And I said unto
thee, live. Live. You believe in Christ. The world
and the crowd ain't gonna be on your side. They're gonna laugh
at you, scorn you. What you do is foolishness then. But think
of what Jairus has seen and heard. While the words thy faith hath
made thee hold, go in peace. Or yet upon the tongue of the
master, the defeat is come with words that would cast down the
heart. Thy daughter is dead. What is the response of the master? Don't be afraid. Only believe. My soul. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Has not faith been
proved before your eyes? I cured my daughter. Can I not
cure your daughter? Only believe. This blessed providential
parenthesis has revealed to Jairus what faith can do and all it
ever does. What does faith do? Only believes. It ain't going to move mountains. It ain't going to move mountains.
It ain't going to stir the multitude. What's faith going to do? It's
going to believe what God has said. Not its eyes. not its feelings, not its emotions. I doubt there's more of an emotional
time in a man's life than what Jarius was experiencing right
here. Our Lord didn't say wipe your tears away or weep. If you
weep enough, God, the Holy Spirit's going to come down. He didn't
say that. He said only believe. People say, well, anybody can
believe. Yeah, well, go ahead. Because if you believe scripturally,
you believe this and if you don't believe this then you're an unbeliever. It's that simple. Only believe. Only believe. This blessed providential
parenthesis that happens in Jarius' life has revealed to Jarius what
faith can do and what it does. It believes. When our Lord says
this to him, this is not a plea to just believe. It is command
to do nothing else but believe. This is the hard thing, isn't
it? People think it's easy to believe. No, if you believe God,
it's tough to believe God because most of the time our whole life
is filled with unbelief. We struggle with it all the time.
But just to believe God, to believe God. Only believe. Faith is not power. It's not about power. It's about
confidence in Christ, based on His word alone. Don't be afraid. Only believe. The daughter's
cure was likewise truly revealing. She was made alive by the voice
of the Lord. He took her by the hand, and
how He addresses her is full of gospel grace, pressed down
and running over. the words telly thank you my
literally means arise my little man my little man he said a lot
about his little man said they he knows them he calls them by
name he says he calls them and they follow him they often follow
another only believe oh that that were the model that
I can live by Only believe, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Be not afraid. You're going through
a trial, going through a hard time, you're suffering, struggling,
only believe. Only believe. Father bless us
to our understanding, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.
God bless you.