At His Feet And Desperate (January 3rd, 2021) - Karl Whittingstall

Well, thank you, Mike, and uh thank you everybody who's watching online for joining us this morning.

It's so weird in this day and age to be doing worship like this, but I believe the Lord is blessing the faithful pursuit of him, whether it means you gotta sit on your couch or uh come to worship services, they're gonna be a little different starting next week.

That's an exciting thing for you guys, and I'm excited for you.

Um if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and open them to Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

Mark 5 is where we're gonna be today.

And if you were paying attention last week, you're thinking, weren't we in Mark 5 last week?

Yes, you were, when Pastor Miles was here and him and I didn't talk, but here's the cool thing is that the Holy Spirit knew, and uh, and this turned into this little like back-to-back weeks right in Mark 5.

And so I'm excited to open God's word with you as you get there.

As you're flipping to Mark chapter 5, I want you to think about this, okay?

Mark 5 · chapter mention

And and think about this in light of the last 12 or so months, all right?

How capable of succeeding at everything are you?

And the answer is you're not really capable of succeeding at everything.

And I'm not either.

If we look back just at from March of 2020 and all of the different things that went on in our lives, all of the different challenges, but let's go a little beyond that because the pandemic was global.

It was happening to everyone.

Let's go back for the last like few years of your life.

How successful have you been at just like managing every situation, every problem, and solving all of it?

The answer is we haven't been very good at it.

And the reason why we haven't been very good at it is because we've been trying to do it on our own.

I've been trying to do it on my own.

And I haven't been looking to the one.

We don't look to the one who can help us as often as we should.

The reality is, and this is the big idea for today, is that we are completely desperate.

We're desperate.

Now, the reason why we don't live like that all of the time is because since Genesis 3, Satan has been selling mankind this lie that you don't need God's help, that you can figure it out, that you can get by, that you can do it on your own.

Well, the global pandemic has proven that we can't do that.

We need help.

We are completely desperate all the time.

And so if you're honest with yourself for just a moment, you're probably realizing, yeah, like I don't even know how I got here today.

Like this week, this last month, the since March, like the last few years of my life, have there's been so many things going on.

Like, how did I survive?

And the answer is the grace of God.

It's the work and the movement and the power of God in your life.

And as we're gonna see in our text today, we really are desperate people.

And the more we embrace our desperation for the Lord and stop trying to resist and and give into this perceived independent capability that we think we have, and we turn to the Lord.

Oh, how sweet it is when we can come to Him desperately and He takes care of us and He watches over us.

And so today in our passage, we're gonna meet two people.

We're gonna meet two people who knew how desperate they were.

They're on very different ends of the social spectrum.

Okay, one is wealthy and powerful and known, the other is poor and ignored and kind of an outcast.

But the thing that they have in common is that they both understand how desperate they are, and they both understand how much they need Jesus.

And it's my prayer for you and for me again as I go through this passage.

Every time I read it, every time I look at it, and every time you hear me say the word desperate today, you will be reminded how desperate you are.

Now, maybe you're already thinking, I'm not sure I'd use the word desperate to describe my situation.

To which I would say, Well, you think you've got this all figured out then?

Like you can do this on your own?

The answer is no, you are desperate.

Now, maybe your situation or your problem or the thing that you're facing right now isn't as big as other people.

Maybe it's a little bit smaller thing.

So you're like, no, this is like totally doable.

Well, doable by who?

You and your standard?

Like, we need the Lord all of the time.

Maybe you're sitting here though right now, and as you're listening, you're sitting in your home, and the chaos has been going on in your house this week, and you're thinking, this message is for me.

Like I am completely in need of God's help.

I believe that God's word has something for us either to prepare us for what's next in 2021, to instruct us in how we are to walk through whatever we're in right now, or maybe even just to encourage us in where we are.

Friends, the quicker we get to a place where we understand how desperate we are, the quicker we will come to the feet of Jesus.

And that's where we're gonna be today.

So let me just pray as we get into our passage.

A gracious Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, the one who holds the universe up by the word of your might and your power.

God, we come gathered online, social distance, all of these things, but coming together with the same mind to confess, Lord, we need you to teach us by your word and by your spirit this morning.

Help us to understand your goodness and your greatness and your capability.

Forgive us for our perceived independence and our giving in to sinful thoughts that we don't need your help or that we can survive on our own.

God, we are desperate people.

Help us to see our desperation.

Forgive us of our pride that would cause us to say, No, I can do this, I can get through life, I can battle this sin, I can conquer this challenge, I can have victory in this area.

God, we need you.

So please, Lord, would you use this passage?

Would you move by your spirit in this place and in all of the places where my voice is heard?

God, to move by your spirit to help us to see how much we need you and to come to you, that you would respond graciously and provide.

We love you and we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, if you have your Bibles and you've made it to Mark chapter 5, let's go to verse 21.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

Let me just read a few of the verses.

It says this And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.

Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.

And he went with him.

Now, this is the third miracle that Jesus is doing in a row.

Last week you heard about the one just prior to this, where Jesus displayed his power over the supernatural when he cast out a demon.

Um, the passage before that, the miracle that he did before that, he showed his power over all of creation when he calmed a storm.

In our passage today, we're gonna see Jesus' power over sin, in the ability to forgive sin and to heal over all of the ailments that come in our life.

And even to spoiler alert, to raise the dead.

All right.

So as we get into this, there's a few things that we're gonna learn that we're gonna see.

And here's the first one.

This is our first point tonight, there this morning.

God is my helper, and I must ask.

I must ask.

We see this from Jairus right from the beginning.

He goes to Jesus, he comes to him and he asks.

Now, things are pretty bad.

You can see there in verse uh 21 that or 23 that his little girl is at the point of death.

And he comes and he falls at the feet of Jesus.

He is desperate.

Now, again, I want you to try and get yourself um kind of on this scene.

So Jesus is there, he's coming ashore.

There's like a crowd of people.

You can kind of just imagine this with me.

There's a crowd of people along the shore, and Jesus is kind of walking up out of the little bit of the water, and the crowd's beginning to part, you know, like make the movie in your head, right?

And so Jesus coming, and then all of a sudden from the back of the crowd, it's also beginning to part because Jairus, this prominent man in the city, he is coming.

And the crowd's opening in both sides, and then it opens, and Jairus and Jesus are standing face to face, and everyone's thinking, this is one of the leaders, this is one of the rulers.

They don't always love Jesus.

What's gonna happen?

And Jairus blows everyone's mind and drops to his knees.

And it says there that he implores Jesus, implores him, he begs of him earnestly.

He doesn't care what anyone thinks, he puts all of his pride, all of his prominence aside because he knows he needs help.

And he knows that only Jesus can help.

So he doesn't care what anyone thinks, he comes before Jesus.

Now, again, the the spiritual leaders at the time were mostly opposed and often cautious toward Jesus.

But Gyrus has had some interaction with Jesus at this point that now when his little girl is at the moment of death, all of the other options have been exhausted.

He took her to the walk-in clinic, he went to Shopper's drug martin and got everything he could.

Nothing has helped.

And now he comes to Jesus.

Now, I've always thought it's interesting how desperate it gets before he goes to Jesus.

We're the same way so often.

We try and try and try on our own.

The old hymn says, Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Jesus is there for you.

Friend, where you are, whatever you're going through, the challenge that you have, the thing that's worrying you, all of what 21, 20, 21 might be that's in your head, Jesus is there for you.

He is faithful, he will care for you.

Now, check this out.

When Jairus comes to Jesus and he asks him, it says there in verse 24, just at the beginning of 24, just notice these few words.

And he went with him.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ this morning, that has got to be like arguably the most encouraging verse that we've read so far.

Now, two things though.

Jesus has not promised to make everything great.

All right, that's the first thing you gotta know.

Jesus doesn't promise that he's gonna make everything in your life wonderful, fantastic, and great all the time.

But the second thing I want you to notice is that Jesus promises to be with him.

Jesus' presence is now with Jairus.

As he goes forward, he knows that Jesus is with him.

And so I'm sure Jairus is thrilled out of his mind, he's excited.

All right, Jesus is my last hope, Jesus is my only hope.

I thought things were not gonna work out, but Jesus is gonna come with me.

All right, Jesus, let's go.

And so they head off.

But this doesn't happen if Jairus doesn't come.

This doesn't happen if Jairus stays at his house.

This doesn't happen if Jairus doesn't put his pride aside and in desperation come and ask for help.

If you don't ask, you won't get.

My kids all know that.

And lots of times they don't get, but they are not afraid to ask.

And we know this as adults.

If you don't ask, you don't get.

You have to ask, you have to put that request for.

Not everyone's checking out everything that's going on in your life.

Now, Jesus, God, sovereignly does know everything that's going on in your life, but he wants you to encounter him.

And we're gonna learn about that more in this next passage.

But right here, right at the beginning, you gotta come and you gotta ask.

You gotta ask.

Have you ever asked for something that was like a really big thing?

I remember in 2004, I wanted to ask for something really big.

I was in love with this girl.

I still am, she's my wife now, but I wanted to ask for her hand in marriage.

So I went and talked to her mom and her dad.

They were wonderful people, and I said, I love your daughter, and they were like, We love you.

And I was like, I'd like to ask her to marry me.

And they were like, Yes, we're so good with that.

As long as she says yes.

And I remember being like, What?

Wait, like she might not say yes?

And they were like, No, we she'll say yes, we're just messing with you.

It kind of freaked me out a little bit.

But then came like the real moment of truth where I had to, and it wasn't like these proposals now where there's like 30 people in the woods with their camera phones, like trying to like get that picture of you like on your knee.

It was just the two of us, and we went for a walk, and and it it was great for us, it was romantic for us, but I had to like get down on one knee, and you're like, there's a lot that you're putting out there because you're like, I'm gonna ask something that's really big.

Spoiler alert, she said yes, okay?

But had to ask.

If you don't, if I didn't ask her, I would we still be dating?

I don't I don't know what would have happened, but I had to go and I had to ask.

Listen, God who knows you and who loves you and who cares for you, who can do Ephesians 3.20 says, far more abundantly than we can ask or think, according to the power that is work within us.

Listen, he loves you and he wants you to come to him.

The reality is, though, that we deny how desperate we really are.

And in our denying of our desperation, we let pride and indifference come in and we think that we are independent.

Again, verse 24.

Jesus doesn't hesitate, though, to go with Jairus.

He goes with him.

And I heard this saying a while ago, and I'm growing fond of it, and that is that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it can feel like a meadow if Jesus is with you.

It doesn't matter where you go if Jesus is beside you.

If Jesus and Jairus now has Jesus with him because he asks.

So, just practically before we get into the rest of this passage, what do we need to do then to ask?

I would say the first thing, and you can write this down, is admit your need.

If you want God to do something only he can do, then you've got to ask him.

You can't sit back in your pride and think that you can figure it out.

You've got to come to him in desperation and admit how needy you are.

What is it that you need God's help with?

Husbands, especially, this is a challenging thing for us because in our pride, we want to lead our families, we want to have it all figured out, and we don't want to seem weak.

But maybe there's husbands listening today that you need to grab your wife by the hand, you need to circle the kids around the table, and you need to just confess to the Lord we need God's help right now.

For 2021, for maybe other things that are going on in your life that I have zero clue about.

Maybe it's work-related, maybe it's health, maybe it's the salvation of a loved one.

But we need to confess our need for God.

Secondly, we need to sorry, secondly, we need to declare his greatness.

See, when we declare how great God is and exalt him to his proper big and awesome position, in humility, then we push pride down.

Because pride goes down because we're we're better understanding who God is.

And so we need to pray prayers of dependence and of urgency that that are dependent on his greatness.

But we don't do that.

I don't I don't do this often enough.

I often pray like a like a grocery list that you text somebody.

Do you ever get these where you get a text like you're driving home and someone texts you from your house and they're like, hey, we need like these few things.

If you stop at the grocery store, could you grab these?

It's not urgent.

They said, if you stop.

But that's how we pray to God so often.

We're like, hey God, I got some stuff going on.

If you can help me out, that would be great.

If not, no worries, I'll figure it out.

Seriously, I'll figure it out.

You'll figure it out.

Like, that is not happening.

John Piper says that prayer is not this domestic intercom for ringing up the butler to bring us another pillow.

It's for fighting the devil, it's for battling with sin, it's for victories that we can't get on our own.

That's what prayer is.

And so what we need to do is admit how much we need God's help and then come to him in dependence, declaring his greatness, his bigness, and his goodness.

Now, I don't mean to make your situation or your challenge or difficulty seem small at all right now.

Only for you to understand how big and actually great our God is.

Because in pride, we kind of begin to think we can take care of things.

When in reality we're absolutely desperate.

But God in his grace, he is there for us if we would come to him.

So, friends, go to him.

2021 is scary.

I'll just admit it.

2020, I like I don't mean to be pessimistic.

I don't know if we're like coming out of all of this craziness of what's going on.

All I know is I don't know, and that's a little bit worrisome for me.

I'm not a control freak, but I like to kind of know what's going on, and I have zero clue of what's ahead.

So I need the Lord, and I know you do too.

And so let's go to Him, let's ask.

Let's keep reading.

Verse 24, it goes on.

And a great crowd followed and thronged about him, which means they're all like getting excited because something was going to happen.

And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather she grew worse.

She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

For she said, If I touch even his garment, I will be made well.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out, immediately turned in the crowd and said, Who touched my garment?

And his disciples said to him, Do you see the crowd pressing around you?

And yet you say, Who touched me?

And he looked around to see who had done it.

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

I love here how Jesus immediately points to her faith, to her believing in him.

And this woman is an example to all of us of faith.

Here's point number two God is my helper.

I must believe.

We must have faith.

We must come to him.

This woman, you can see in verses 25 through 26, she has been struggling for a long time with this disease of blood.

Twelve years.

It hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse.

She's on the opposite end of the social spectrum from Gyrus.

Nobody knows her.

She doesn't, her name's not recorded here or anything like that.

She would kind of have been outcast because of all that was going on in her life.

And now, again, you got to put yourself in the picture there because Jesus is walking with Gyrus, and now he stops in the crowd and he turns and he begins to have this conversation with his disciples.

And Gyrus is probably getting a little bit frustrated there.

He's kind of like, What's happening?

Like, we gotta go.

Like, my little girl is dying.

Did you forget that?

The answer is no.

Jesus has not forgotten that.

I want you to notice, though, in verse 27, there's a couple words here that are really important.

She had heard the reports about Jesus.

She heard about Jesus.

It then says that she came to him and she touched his garment.

The reality is that for most of the people who are listening to my voice, this is the not the first time you've heard about the goodness and the greatness and the power and the love and the majesty of God.

You know about him.

The question is, okay, so you've heard, will you come to him and will you reach out for help?

You know he can do it.

We're reading this passage, we know he can do this, but will we go?

Will we come to him in desperation?

He's our only help.

Think of this woman.

It's just amazing to think about, right?

She's coming up behind Jesus in the crowd.

Jesus comes up from the water, he's with gyrus, they're going along, she's following through the crowd and she sees Jesus their head.

She sees his robe as it goes back and forth as she walks, and she reaches out and she touches him.

And in my imagination, if I was the movie producer filming this, she reaches out and touches him.

And it says there that immediately in verse 29, the flow of blood dried up.

Immediately she's healed.

And I imagine that she just comes to a complete stop and the crowd keeps going, and she kind of gets bumped, and tears begin to fill her eyes as she understands that everything that she thought, everything that she wondered, everything that she believed about Jesus is true.

Because she's healed.

And she stands there and her eyes begin to fill with tears of joy and happiness and thankfulness and worship as the crowd progresses just a little more and then it stops.

And she probably hasn't even noticed it at this point because she's just still so in awe of what's happened.

And Jesus turns around and he begins to have this conversation with the disciples who is like, Hey, who touched me?

And they're like, Are you crazy?

Like, look at this crowd around us.

And Jesus says, again, he's like, No, no, no, who touched me?

Like, because he felt power go out.

Now, that word power that's used there is the word that's also used for dynamite.

Like, this is not some small, like, ooh, a little like electric charge.

Jesus is like, I know something amazing just happened.

Now, also, it's just important for us to know that Jesus being God and sovereign, he knew exactly who it was who touched him.

So, why does he belabor this point with this woman?

Why is he like, who touched me?

And he like makes a big scene of this.

I think there's a few reasons.

I think the first reason is that she would give testimony to what has just happened.

How often are we so encouraged when we hear about what God has done in someone's life and we're like, that's amazing.

God is so good and so gracious and so kind, and he's giving opportunity for that to happen right now.

And she comes forward and it says there that she explains the whole truth.

It says there in verse 33.

All the awkwardness of her disease, all the uncomfortableness of the conversation.

She comes and she falls at his feet, she's down on the ground, and she's just like wondering what's he gonna think, what's he gonna say?

And this is the other reason why Jesus turned around and said, Who touched me?

Because now he gets to look at her.

They had this encounter.

He looks at her in her eyes, he gazes down into her face as she looks up at him and he says, daughter.

And I love that because it's not man, it's not woman, he uses actually.

The grown-up word for the word that Jairus used to describe his daughter.

It's this word of great care and love.

It's like as if saying, sweetheart.

There's so much tenderness as Jesus speaks to her.

And he gets to look at her, and she knows that he knows that she knows.

There's this faith there.

Because she is believed.

And so Jesus says, your faith, your faith in me.

Jesus is saying, your belief in who I am, in my power, in my ability has made you well.

Now look what it says there, what Jesus says in verse 34.

He says, it's made you well, go in peace, and be healed of your disease.

It sounds like two things are happening there, and that's because two things are happening there.

The first one, made you well, go in peace.

In the original language, that all has to do with being right with God.

She has been granted forgiveness there.

She has been made right with, she has peace with God.

That's awesome.

This woman just got saved right there on the walk.

And be healed of your disease.

So just like a bonus for solving a greater problem than the problem of this disease that was for 12 years and would have lasted for the rest of her life.

That's the secondary thing.

Jesus has also taken care of her eternal problem, the problem of sin.

And in grace, he gives forgiveness and gently just loves her and says, You have been made well and be healed of your disease.

This is our awesome God.

How encouraging is it?

Like, this woman's faith isn't perfect.

But she comes.

She comes, she admits her desperation, and she comes to this encounter with Jesus.

So often we lack faith as we call out to the Lord.

We lack faith.

We we give him this like grocery list.

It's like, if you can pick this up.

We're not desperate.

And Jesus here, he's showing us I want to encounter you.

I want you to come, I want you to confess your need for me.

Because I love you and I care for you and I can help you and I will help you.

The question is, will we go to him?

He is trustworthy.

Everything that this woman believed as she reaches out and touches Jesus' garment, everything she realized she believed, she realized now is true.

We make all kinds of assumptions based on things that we have way less proof for than we have for trusting in God.

We have this tangible book, we have the Spirit who imparts wisdom and knowledge to us, we have testimony after testimony of how God has worked, yet we still struggle to believe so often.

And there's other things that are ridiculous that we believe and we just like go along with it, like flying.

Like that's insane.

I don't know how airplanes work.

Now, maybe you're a pilot and you're sitting at home right now and you're like, this guy knows nothing.

Okay, that's correct.

I don't know anything.

But yet I'm willing to get on an airplane.

I'm willing to strap myself into a metal tube and launch it across the earth at such a speed that eventually it begins to go up into the sky.

Now that's crazy, but I'm believing that people have shut the right things, filled the right things, latched the right things, tightened the right things, and everything is gonna happen just right so that I won't crash.

Now, I don't mean to like put any fear in anybody, but planes have crashed before, all right?

Aviation does not have a perfect track record.

But you know who does have a perfect track record?

It's Jesus.

It's G he perfect track record.

Now, if I went for like a plane ride, because you can't really fly anywhere right now, so you'd have to get someone to invite you to go on a plane ride or something like that.

But if I went and I was like, okay, well, just before we get in, let me just like check over the plane.

That would be absolutely useless.

Because I don't know anything about aviation.

I don't know anything about the things that go up and down on airplanes or the thing that wiggles at the back, the tail, I guess that's what it's called.

Like, I don't know anything.

So it would be useless for me to walk around.

But this is what we try to do with the Lord all the time.

He's like, this is the plan for your life, this is where you're going, this is what's happening, and we're like, okay, God, just let me just check this out for a second.

As if we're gonna get out, be able to figure it out, as if we're gonna be able to like give some wisdom to him.

I heard one author say that trying to figure out and understand the plans of God is like trying to explain to a two-year-old why they need to nap and eat when they need to nap and eat.

Like it's just, it's not gonna happen.

But God knows, and we need to trust him.

This woman comes and she trusts Jesus.

The application to the first point is practical.

You gotta go, you gotta ask.

But the application to the second point is that we need, it's a theological application of something we need to believe.

We need to believe bigger of our God.

We so often get him small because we think we're so great and we can do so much.

When in reality we're so little and we can do so little, we are absolutely desperate, but he is so great and he is so big, we need him.

Now, this woman, it says there back in verse 27, I kind of highlighted it already.

She had heard about Jesus and then she came, right?

She heard, she came, and she touched him.

If only we had something we could hear more about Jesus from.

Oh, but we do, friends.

This is why God has given us his word.

This is why passages like this are in the Bible.

It is to help us understand how good, how great, and how capable God is.

2021 is starting off, and maybe you're sitting at the beginning of 2021 and you're like, I am so nervous of all that's ahead.

God has given you his word to take away nerves, to take away fear.

Not because it's not going to be difficult, but that you will better know who it is that you're trusting in, who it is that you're depending on, who it is that you are desperate for help with.

He cares, he loves, and he will provide.

God is our helper, we must believe.

Let's keep going in our passage.

Verse 35.

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house someone who said, Your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the teacher any further?

But overhearing what was said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear, only believe.

Now, I want us to just pause on that, this messenger who comes, because this is like total like plot twist going on here.

Jairus was coming for one thing, his daughter was sick, and now she's passed away.

She's dead.

And this person doesn't seem to have too much compassion, at least the way that it reads in English, it's just kind of like, hey, your daughter's dead, you got to get back to the house.

Like, that's there's not a lot of compassion and gentleness there.

Now I want to believe the best of that person, but Jesus' response then to this is so awesome because he says, Do not fear, only believe.

Because he's looking at Jairus now.

And as Jairus is standing probably beside Jesus, because they were walking to his house, and Jesus is standing there over this woman who's still there on her knees, just weeping as the scene's going, daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed.

Jairus is standing there, your little girl's dead, and he's looking at this woman with tears of joy running down her face as his eyes begin to well up with tears of frustration, of anger, of sadness.

All hope is lost.

Like, what do I do now?

You're healed, my daughter died.

This is the worst.

And I love Jesus there though, in verse 36, overhearing what was said.

It's like Jesus knows this whole conversation's going on, and he's just like, Jairus, do not fear, only believe.

It's almost like it's like he's at a like clap.

He's like, Jairus, look up here, look up here, look up here.

Don't fear, only believe.

Like, don't let all of this distract you.

I am still with you.

I'm still with you.

And so Jesus says this: do not fear, only believe.

This leads us to our third point.

God is my helper.

I must not lose faith.

I must not lose faith.

It is not over until Jesus says it's over.

Do not fear, loved one.

2021 might be scarier than 2020.

I hope not.

But Jesus is saying to us this morning, do not fear, only believe.

It's not over until Jesus says it's over.

Verse 37.

And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John and the brothers of James.

He kicks everybody else out.

He's like, You're not coming with us anymore.

They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

And when he entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

The child is not dead, but sleeping.

Now, these are professional mourners.

They know what a lifeless, pulseless body looks like.

One author wrote this real death is separation of the soul from God, not the body from the soul.

In this sense, her body was asleep, and Jesus was going to bring her back to life.

But Jairus still doesn't know all of this just yet.

So, verse 40.

And they laughed at him, all of these professional mourners, but he put them outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.

Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha kumi, which means, little girl, I say to you, arise.

And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was about twelve years of age.

And they were immediately overcome with amazement.

And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Jesus said to Jairus, Do not fear, only believe, because nothing is over until Jesus says it's over.

Jesus is there in this moment with this little girl, and again, he's using these words of tenderness and love and compassion.

And it's recorded in both Greek and Aramaic there.

Talitha kumi.

It's like honey, sweetie, little love child, whatever the little the word is that you would use for your little one.

That's the kind of expression that's coming on here.

Tim Keller wrote, Jesus is facing death, the enemy of the human race, and such is his power that he holds this child by the hand and he gently lifts her right up through it.

Honey, get up.

Jesus is saying by his actions, if I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep.

The question is, who are we holding on to?

Or what are we holding on to?

Jesus is the one we need to hold on to.

Jesus is who we need to not let go of.

What is it that you're hoping in?

If it's not Jesus, it won't last.

If it's not Jesus, it won't deliver.

Jesus says, do not fear, only believe.

Is this hard to understand?

Yeah.

Is it difficult?

Yeah.

And I'll be honest with you, sometimes in our lives, the walk from the beach to the house for gyrus, the journey of our life from this moment when we recognize how much we need help to the final time when God delivers us from it, that journey can be pretty long sometimes.

And it can be pretty lonely sometimes.

And it might feel like you're running into a lot of different people and situations along the road where you're sitting there and you're like, come on, come on, come on, come on.

Lord, like I need you to deal with this because we got to get to my thing down here.

And God, in his grace and his mercy, he's saying, Listen, your chaos is not incompatible with my love.

In fact, if you try to put your understanding of time and order on my love, you won't feel loved by me.

Because in his sovereign plan, he knows what's going on.

He knows what's going on and he's loved us perfectly already.

This is why it says that while we were yet sinners, he came and he gave his life for us.

Because he loves us.

He's taking care of our biggest problem, the problem of sin that separates us from him for all of eternity.

Every other one of life's challenges and difficulties and diseases and illnesses and struggles and arguments and battles with sin are small compared to the victory that he's had to conquer eternity for us and to welcome us to his presence.

But so often we get so distracted by all of these other little things.

The other thing, too, to note here is that sometimes we go to God for one thing when in reality we need something totally different.

Jairus wanted his daughter to be healed.

He didn't know he was going to need a resurrection.

Maybe you've been going to the Lord for some specific things.

And the Lord's like, well, there's some other things that we need to work on here.

Maybe, first of all, you need to put your faith and trust in him for the forgiveness of your sin.

You're like, I want you to paint the barn, Lord.

I need you to like slap a new coat of paint on this situation, I need you to fix this.

When in reality, he's like, No, no, no, we gotta tear this thing down and start from the bottom.

Loved one, know that in his grace and in his love, it is the kindest thing he can do.

And it is the best thing.

Is it easy?

No.

Is it difficult?

Yeah.

But just like in verse 24, if he's with you, that's a good thing.

Psalm 23 says, The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want.

And he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He can do all of these things.

He can restore my soul and lead me in paths of righteousness.

And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't have to fear, because you are with me, and your rod and your staff and all of your plans, they guard my life.

They they comfort me.

And you can prepare a table in the presence of my enemies, and you can anoint my head with oil.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

There is peace because you are with God, and God is with you.

If you have put your faith and trust in him, then loved ones, do not give up.

Do not lose faith.

Jairus had to learn this lesson, and it was not easy.

Can you imagine the emotion roller coaster that this guy went on that day alone?

From like, okay, I need to, I'm going and I'm gonna talk to Jesus, and I'm gonna put all my pride aside, and everyone in the town's gonna see me do this, and then he's going, and then he's watching this woman get healed, and he's getting frustrated, and now he finds out that his daughter dies, but this woman got healed, so that's kind of cool, except that my daughter just died, and then Jesus is like, do not fear, only believe, and then they go, and he goes into the room with Jesus and he raises his daughter from the dead.

I don't know what 2021 has for you, I don't know what it has for me.

But I know that this passage is important for us because we need to hear this again and again and again.

Again, that the walk from the beach to the house can be long.

We're desperate.

And Jesus is saying to us this morning and over and over again do not fear, only believe.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, God, we just confess how much we need your help.

Forgive us for the times when we have been overwhelmed with worry with all of the things that are going on around us.

Forgive us for the times when we have tried to fix our problems and our situations on our own as if we could do that.

And we failed to trust you.

God, would you help us?

Help us to be dependent.

Forgive us for our perceived independence, help us to be dependent, help us to be desperate and help us to lean on you.

And God, would you continue to so graciously and lovingly and powerfully show your mercy and provide for us, Lord?

We need you.

God, would you would you today, for the people who are listening right now and are very worried and anxious about what's ahead, would you bring peace by your spirit?

Would you help them to know that you are not far off, but you are near?

And for those who are are looking at what's ahead and are growing anxious and or maybe not thinking too highly of all of the things that are going on or worrying too much.

God, would you draw them to yourself that as times get difficult and times get challenging, Lord, that they would better know and understand who you are because they've met with you in your word.

So that when challenges come, they will not fear, but they will believe.

Help us, God.

We need you.

I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.