[0:00] Now, as most of you will be aware, we've been looking in recent evenings at what we've called resurrection case studies. We're looking at the instances in Scripture where people have been raised from the dead.
[0:12] And it's not resurrection, as we've said, in the sense of our Lord's resurrection, which is he has literally then a resurrection body, which is different in characteristic from that with which he lived prior to his crucifixion.
[0:25] But these are people who have been raised again from the dead in the same bodies in the same state. They're not resurrection bodies as such. And it's not resurrection in quite the same sense as our Lord experienced.
[0:39] But it is people being brought literally back from the dead. We've looked at those in the Old Testament where Elijah's raising of the widow of Zarephath's son, Elisha's raising of the Shunammite's son.
[0:50] We've looked at those by the apostles, Peter, and the raising of Tabitha and Paul. And the raising of Eutychus, who had died in Troas there. And we looked most recently at Jesus and the widow of Nain's son.
[1:04] It's interesting, perhaps, how few of these actually are named. Yes, we've got Eutychus and we've got Tabitha. And, of course, we will come to Lord winning next Lord's Day evening, that of Lazarus, who, of course, is named.
[1:19] But you almost wish, I don't know about you, but every time I read this, I almost wish that we had been given the name of Jairus' daughter in this incident. Because you long to know who she is.
[1:31] You long to sort of identify with her and sort of think on her by name as an individual. We almost, perhaps, feel that we know her personally because it's such a favourite and well-beloved story of how Jesus raised her from the dead.
[1:46] But we are not told. Just as we're not told about the name of the widow of Nain's son. We're not told the Shunammite's son in the Old Testament, the widow of Zanabit's son. We are told so few of the names of those whom Jesus raised from the dead.
[2:01] And we're told about Jairus, her father, but we're not told about the name of his little daughter. And at the end of the day, of course, the issue and the focus is not upon either the individual who is brought back from the dead, nor in the case of lesser servants like prophets and apostles, is the focus upon them.
[2:21] The focus is always upon Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. And that is what the purpose of these instances are for, to demonstrate the power of God over both life and death.
[2:34] Being the Lord of life, but not even death has the power to lessen what he can do, because he has the power to reverse it and to restore life, even where there was not just sickness or closeness to the point of death, but actually having experienced death, Christ is able to reverse that and to bring life out of it.
[2:56] Now, of course, closely bound up with this instance is the incident with the woman with the issue of blood. And we could spend a lot of time on that. I don't want to spend a lot of time on that.
[3:08] It is a separate issue. It's not about a resurrection case study that we're looking here at. But I think it is relevant to the case, because when we've got the issue of Jairus' daughter in two parts, first of all, we've got Jairus that comes to Jesus and he begs him for his help.
[3:26] And then as Jesus is going, there is this interruption. And the interruption with the woman with the issue of blood and the thronging of the crowd, which would have slowed down Jesus' progress.
[3:36] This, you could almost, perhaps it wouldn't be illegitimate to read into it, that perhaps the delay with the crowd, perhaps the delay with the woman with the issue of blood, made the difference between whether or not Jesus could get there before Jairus' daughter actually died, or perhaps he would have got there when she was just near the point of death and very, very ill, but had not actually died.
[4:05] And it is not illegitimate, I think, to speculate that the difference in the time was this interruption, this delay. But we'll come back to that in a few moments.
[4:17] First thing we should notice is that this is after Jesus has healed the man with the legion of devils, works on the Galerian side of the Sea of Galilee.
[4:28] He doesn't do a great many works on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee. Almost everything that he does on and by the sea side is, there's one instance in the north, the very far north of the Sea of Galilee, in the area of Bethsaida, where he feeds the 5,000.
[4:45] Most of it is done on the western, mostly the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in Capernaum and Tiberius, the natural area. But the instance with the gathering swine and the healing of man with the legion of devils, that we have preceding is coming back to what we presume is Capernaum.
[5:03] We're not told explicitly which township it is on the Sea of Galilee here, but it's reasonable to suppose that it was Capernaum. So we read, Now, Now, The first thing that is remarkable about this is that this is coming from one who is a ruler of the synagogue.
[5:45] When, in John chapter 7, verse 48, the Pharisees say to Nicodemus and to the officers and so on, they say, Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees or of the Pharisees believed on him?
[6:02] You know, they say, Why didn't you arrest him? Why did you bring him? He said, Never mind speak like that, like him. He says, Oh, these people are accursed. They don't know the law. They don't know anything about what people should be like in terms of righteousness. And have any of the Pharisees, Have any of the rulers believed on him?
[6:15] And, of course, Some of them did. Some of them had. Nicodemus was one who then speaks to them. Joseph of Arimathea, we assume, was another, or perhaps in greater secrecy than they might have been.
[6:27] But clearly there were some who believed in him, but they kept a low profile. Jairus here stands in contrast to, for example, other rulers of the synagogue.
[6:38] Remember, this incident is also recounted in Matthew chapter 9 and in Luke chapter 8. But in Luke chapter 13, you've got this almost remarkable instance where Jesus, having healed the woman with the spirit that kept her bent double, and it was in the synagogue that he healed her.
[6:57] We read in Luke 13, we read with Jesus when he saw her, he called her to him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loose from mine infirmity. Verse 12 of Luke chapter 13. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.
[7:11] And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work.
[7:22] In them, therefore, come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
[7:35] And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, when Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced at the glorious things that were done by him.
[7:52] So a ruler of the synagogue clearly has more anxiety about the regulations and the perception than about the working of God and the freeing of souls from the bondage of Satan, both physically and spiritually.
[8:05] And that was not uncommon with the rulers of the synagogues and with the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jewish people. They had, you might say, served a long apprenticeship to get where they were.
[8:17] They were held in high esteem by the people because of their devout faithfulness and their attention to the law in detail, and they were regarded as, you know, pillars of the community, both religious and social, and they'd served this long apprenticeship.
[8:32] And who was this? Johnny come lately. This nobody from Nazareth who now came in without having studied, you know, under any known rabbi, and suddenly here he was, quoting the scriptures and healing people and so on, and most of them did not believe in him.
[8:49] Most of them rejected him or at least were skeptical, or perhaps at the very best, like Joseph and Nicodemus, those of Adamus, were at a distance and uncertain.
[8:59] You can understand their uncertainty, but the outright hostility was perhaps less forgivable, all of which marks out the rarity of Gynas' response.
[9:14] You know, of course, your own little daughter puts everything in a different light. Whatever you may think about who this man is or about the powers that he appears to have or about the claims he makes to himself or the way he applies scripture, you may have all these anxieties, but this is your daughter's life.
[9:33] There's its take. And what we see here is, even there, the rarity of this ruler of the synagogue coming to Jesus clearly with faith to believe that he can do this, but the way in which he humbles himself before Jesus.
[9:50] There cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and when he saw him, he fell at his feet. Falling at somebody's feet, okay, it was perhaps a more known, we have supplication in those days than it would be in our culture, but still, it had the same dramatic effect that somebody who was used to having other people bow and scrape and acknowledge them with deference, here he is throwing himself at the feet of this carpenter from Nazareth.
[10:20] This comparative nobody in terms of organized religion. And so he throws himself at Jesus' feet and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death, I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her that she may be healed, and she shall live.
[10:38] Now, his little daughter, we're told a little later on, is about 12 years old. Of course, it's no coincidence that the woman with the issue of blood has had the issue of blood 12 years as well, but this parallel kind of healing here.
[10:52] But also, part of the point is that just as a Jewish boy would have his bar mitzvah at 12 and would there at that point cross the threshold from boyhood to manhood, remember that Jesus, when he goes to the temple with his parents in Luke chapter 2, he is 12 years old, he is taken to be at that stage a young man, but officially a man as Jewish law would have it and Jewish custom would have it.
[11:21] So when he's sitting in the temple with the doctors and teachers of the law, he is simply doing what a devout Jewish man might be expected to do. He's not taking the part of a little boy.
[11:33] He's taking the part of an albeit young man amongst other men. And likewise for a girl, at this point, the word that is used or the different words that are used to describe her, it doesn't come through in the English.
[11:47] But for example, when he says to her, damsel I say unto the arise at verse 41, that's different from the words that is used to describe at verse 40.
[11:58] Although it's translated as damsel in the old authorised version, yet it's different words in the Greek. The mother of the damsel when they were with him entering in where the damsel was lying.
[12:08] The one is describing a very young woman. You know, just as Jesus would have been a young man technically at 12. 12 was the threshold between childhood and womanhood, just as it was between boyhood and manhood.
[12:26] And from that age onwards, she would, for example, be eligible for marriage, probably. But at this stage, she's just at the threshold and the words that are used to describe her alternate between the word for very young woman and the word for little girl.
[12:43] So, although it's translated as the same word, it's not the same terms that are being used in the original, in the Greek. They are interchangeable between little girl or young woman, but it is emphasis on young.
[12:57] Because even if she's crossed her threshold into womanhood, she's still very much at the young end of the spectrum. And part of the point here is that this little girl, Jairus' only daughter, his only child, has her whole life before her.
[13:16] Here she is on the threshold of youthful womanhood with perhaps the prospect of marriage or children of her own. It's all there ahead of her, coming from a good family with no doubt good prospects.
[13:29] And now, it's all about to be snuffed at. It's all about to be taken away from her. She is so ill, she is at the point of death. Now, perhaps, this illness has set on suddenly.
[13:44] Perhaps, she has been gradually declining. And, like the woman with the issue of blood, this family have spent everything that they could on doctors and physicians who are no help at all.
[13:56] Or, it may be that perhaps he could have gone to Jesus before this, but just hasn't. Maybe for the same reasons that the other rulers might want nothing to do with them, but here he is now at the point of desperation.
[14:11] Here he is where there is no one else to turn but to Jesus. Sometimes, I know we've made this point often in the past that sometimes the Lord allows things to be brought so low and into such a case of darkness and desperation precisely in order to cause us to turn to him because we have, perhaps in a state of comparative unbelief, exhausted all other avenues.
[14:41] People, by and large, will pray in a time of extremity with perhaps varied degrees of sincerity or devoutness or whatever but they will probably pray, oh God, please don't let this happen to me or please deliver me out of this.
[14:57] I'll do anything. I'll do this. I'll do that. I'll do the next thing. 99 times out of 100 they're not sincere. They just want the issue to go away but they will promise the earth if they had it to give.
[15:08] If only God would deliver them. If only God would help them. But sometimes, the one time perhaps out of the 99 where somebody finally turns to God to Christ in desperation, they are absolutely sincere and they recognize and they know that as all other avenues have proved futile that if deliverance should come by this one final means they have tried they would know, they would acknowledge, they would recognize that it could not possibly have come from any other source than from the Christ to whom they now apply.
[15:45] may be the Lord allowed Jairus' daughter to decline to this very point not only to the point of death but as Matthew's account has it in chapter 9 at verse 18 my little daughter is even now dead but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live.
[16:07] Such is the faith of Jairus at this time when he has nowhere else to turn. So there is the rarity of his being willing to throw himself at Jesus' mercy and there is the faith that he has and Jesus went with him and much people followed him and thronged him.
[16:28] No doubt, perhaps hoping to see a big event, a big miracle of course Jesus stops all that from happening and then there is the interruption. The interruption with the woman with the issue of blood.
[16:40] The crowd pressing so close that you know everybody is pressing against his clothes and touching him so the disciples say how can you say who touched me? Come on, they are all touching your clothes. Everybody is pressing you.
[16:51] It would be better to say who hasn't touched me rather than say who touched me. But Jesus knew what he meant but the point is that however much his progress may have been slowed because of the crowd thronging him, however long it may have taken for him to sense the virtue going out of him, to look around, to identify in a, if we can say culprit, we need it in the generous sense, the woman who was the one who had if you like stolen this healing or sought it secretly for modesty, for shame because of her condition and then her own confession and Christ's saying you know, daughter thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace, behold thy plague and then we have those who come to Janice and say look, it's too much, she's dead, don't trouble the master any further because no doubt they thought that this master, this good physician was just in the same case as all the other kinds of physicians on whom people could spend vast sums of money and they might give them little powders to mix in with water and they might give them this potion to apply or whatever and if it worked, well great, the doctor looked good and if it didn't he could just say well sorry, they were too far gone but this doctor, this good physician is completely different from all the others.
[18:12] Thy daughter is dead, why troublest thou the master any further? Now Jesus would have been aware, no doubt, of the fact that Jairus would know and could not help but think however restrained he might have been either if only had come sooner.
[18:30] He couldn't have come much sooner because Jesus was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He was dealing with the man of the Legion of Devils. He was busy being tossed and turned on the sea the night before that so he wouldn't have been available much for several days beforehand but he might have thought if only that woman had not got in the way if only there had not been that interruption he might have been in time.
[18:53] Jesus would have known all of this and he says to Jairus, be not afraid, only believe. Now we don't read a word of what Jairus says at that time we don't read a word of his complaining or his, you know, embitterness or whatever but it could not help of course his mind what would have happened if there hadn't been this interruption?
[19:15] What would have happened if this poor woman had not intervened? But remember that he had already laid down his claim. He had already gone to Jesus.
[19:26] He had asked before this interruption had come and Jesus has said repeatedly and continues to say throughout the gospel accounts now he'll come with me I will know why it's passed out.
[19:37] Everybody asks receives and Jairus is here laid down a marker and Jesus has said he'll come he'll come and he'll deal with it he'll accept the invitation.
[19:49] Some of you might be old enough to remember on the program Mastermind on television if you'll forgive me for using an example from the world Magnus Magnusson who made that position so famous used to have this phrase if the beeper was going or the time was running out he would say if he had begun to ask a question he would use his voice I've started so I'll finish.
[20:12] If he had begun to ask the question the contestant had the right to answer it. He would finish the question and they could answer it. He would read out to his message and you may answer. Now they might fail to get the right answer but the point was he had begun and so it would be completed if we wanted to take a more spiritual example that we might cite Philippians chapter 1 verse 15 yet we who have begun the good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
[20:40] So the Lord might be legitimately enabled in a spiritual sense to say I've started so I'll finish. Be not afraid only believe. In other words you threw yourself at my feet before and I said I would come believe.
[20:55] Just like he said to Martha when we come to look at Lazarus he said I have the resurrection of life. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
[21:06] Believe us to others. That's the question he puts to her and this is the urging that he makes to Jairus be not afraid only believe. Now we said this morning perfect love cast without fear.
[21:19] Our love isn't perfect. We tend to have fear mixed in the fear which is the expectation of suffering or sorrow and the anticipation of it and it makes us afraid. Jesus said don't be afraid only believe.
[21:32] Why might Jairus not be afraid? He might not be afraid because Jesus is there and because he has said it and because he has taken charge of the situation.
[21:43] You see this is the point you go to Jesus with a difficulty you go to Jesus with a problem and all too often we go to Jesus with a problem and we tell him about it we sort of leave it there and then maybe the next day we sort of gather it all back up again and put it back on our shoulders and try to carry it ourselves and that's not exactly faith is it?
[22:03] That's not exactly trusting Christ with it. We have laid it at his feet we have taken it to him and prayed and we have to leave it with him and we have to trust and believe that he will deal with it and we will find that he will.
[22:16] If we ask we shall receive. It may not be the answer perhaps you hoped it may not be the solution you expected but the Lord will never turn away those who come to him by faith.
[22:29] Be not afraid only believe you have thrown yourself at my feet you have asked for my help and I have said yes I am coming to help now you think because of this word that you received that this little girl is beyond my help your situation is too difficult for me your problem is too dark too serious that you are beyond my help or my compassion be not afraid only believe now isn't it the case that sometimes we think not so much in terms of physical bereavement but perhaps in terms of our own situation it's too late Jesus may be on the way and he may be able to help others but no not in this instance sorry brother or sister my situation is too bad you don't know what you're talking about minister if you only knew my situation if you knew what I've done if you knew what I've been through and the problems I have in my head in my heart and how hard it is for me to let go you would recognise that although you say these things
[23:29] I'm actually beyond the reach of Jesus I am just too far gone too dark too simple too deep beyond the knowledge I am I've died effectively spiritually there's nothing Jesus can do for me I mean I like to listen to it how he helps other people I love to hear these stories about what he did in those days but you know that was then this is now I am beyond his reach well whatever I may say I would urge you to listen to what Jesus would say be not afraid only believe and there may be the nub of it you say I'm beyond his reach I can't be helped that is what you believe you believe at the moment that Christ actually doesn't have the power in your case you believe that yes he may have raised the dead then yes he may have cleansed the lepers and opened the eyes of the blind but that was then this is me it's not even so much that was then this is now but rather that was other people and this is me and where I am concerned
[24:34] Jesus just doesn't do that kind of thing he just doesn't intervene like that well I would say have you asked and have you believed look at what John has told us he throws himself but Jesus speak and he asks and although there's all the interruptions of the crowd and there's all the throngings and all the delay and all the difficulties and other people seeming to jump the queue and all the frustration and then they said see I knew it was too late I knew it was gone too far I knew it wouldn't work and I knew if only perhaps I'd done it soon I might have been hope so you see I am beyond the reach of Jesus you're wrong and I was right Jesus said be not afraid only believe now in contrast then to the crowd that is thronged before now 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 see if it tumult and then wept and wailed greatly all the fuss that is going on because now a death has taken place and culturally this was part of the sending out the message that somebody there was a bereavement in the house that if there was a death in the place then it says in Matthew's account it says when Jesus came into the ruler's house he saw the minstrels and the people making a noise these would be professional mourners that at the point of death they would send out the eyes would call a keening a sort of wail that would send out the message to all the neighbours round about she's died the death has come to this house and everyone would know and the word would spread look there's a bereavement everyone gather give your support mourn with them for this time this was an event in the community and the message was going out she's dead that's why there's the tumour the wailing whether it's the professional mourners or whether it's just the family weeping this would be a big noise literally and this would be going on when Jesus arrives with Peter
[26:43] James and John and when he was coming to them those who wept and wailed greatly when he was coming he said why make you this if you and weep the damsel is not dead but sleepeth and they laughed into scorn although they're wrong to do that yet it underlines to us that she was definitely dead in Matthew's account Jairus had said my little daughter is even now dead but rather when he comes it says he saw the minstrels they laughed into scorn I think it must be Luke's account it says knowing she was dead so we've got this they all wept and wailed and when Jesus said this is Luke chapter 8 verse 52 weep not she's not dead but sleepeth they laughed into scorn knowing that she was dead so it's just to underline across the different gospel accounts that it's not the case that she wasn't just in a coma she wasn't just sort of deeply unconscious they would have checked for a pulse they would have recognised that she was going cold literally as the blood ceased to flow they would know she was dead they laughed into scorn knowing she was dead we don't know how far away
[27:56] Jairus' house was we don't know how long it took for the word to get to Jesus and then for him to arrive but by then she was as dead as dead could be so it's not just a coma she's not just unconscious she is definitely dead and this is put in partly for us to recognise that Jesus isn't just warming up someone who's unconscious he is bringing somebody back from the dead why make you this ado and weep the damsel is not dead but sleep such is the brevity of the time you might say for which she will in fact be dead they laughed into scorn but why do you put them all out he taketh the father and mother of the damsel and them that were with him that's Peter James and John and entered in where the damsel was lying if they are not fit to have the faith to believe in what Christ can do they are not fit to witness the miracle he doesn't want a big sort of stage pantomime he wants rather something that is an act of mercy an act of compassion the miracles
[29:00] Jesus does are always compassion pure compassion and that is what he's doing here he's seeking to raise this girl from the dead yes it will be partly a witness and a testimony but here we read he charged them straightly no man should know he doesn't want many witnesses he wants enough to know and to see and to test this was done it was done by the power of Christ but he doesn't want it to be turned into a pantomime so they went in and entered where she was lying he took the damsel by the hand and sailed to talitha kumai which is being interpreted damsel I sailed to thee arise this is as I've mentioned in the past one of those little instances in Mark's account of the gospel unique to Mark's account of the gospel where Jesus is quoted with the actual words he said which is Aramaic or Syriac is the old expression for the language and that is the colloquial language that was used in Palestine by the Jewish population of Palestine at that time they didn't speak
[30:04] Hebrew as such Hebrew was the language of the synagogue of the scriptures it was the language of official religion and it was a written yes spoken and read language but it wasn't the day to day colloquial language of the people that was Aramaic and so when Jesus is using these dead this is not Hebrew he's speaking he's speaking the local dialect he's speaking Aramaic and what is unique about Mark is that Mark cites these instances another one is where he heals the man who's deaf and he breathes where it says Abafla another instance of Aramaic being used now what does that tell us it tells us that this is a literal eye witness account it tells us that all the five people in the room with them not counting Jesus and John as his daughter that this is coming from one of them who heard not only that he had done this but actually cited the words he said the literal words that he said not just the general idea but these are the words he actually spoke the local dialect
[31:10] Aramaic almost certainly this is Mark is traditionally thought to be the recollections of Peter dictated to Mark afterwards and whoever it came from either Peter James or John one of them it's most likely to be Peter this is definitely an eye witness another instance as well of course where he says Talitha which is made arise damsel arise just these two words straight away the damsel arose and walked that also is unique to Mark you know she doesn't just sit up in bed she doesn't say oh well I'm feeling better now but I'm a bit wabbled so I don't think I'll be walking for a day or two yet you know she's not just so weak that she gets up and walked now that means that she has full strength in her limbs and in her body she's not just restored from feeling a bit woozy but she is back to the peak of health again she got up and she walked again eyewitness account unique to Mark here implies she walked about in the room as opposed to simply going out through the door that would come in due course you know they were astonished with great astonishment now you might think oh well they then put their complete faith and trust in Jesus after that that's entirely possible giantess already had faith that
[32:26] Jesus could do this but perhaps they trusted him as the Messiah after that perhaps not what description he astonished with great astonishment they were just absolutely flabbergasted that's all it means there it doesn't mean overcome with faith overcome with devout piety or whatever just absolutely flabbergasted that's what astonished with great astonishment that's how it's translated in the old fashioned language but that's what it means she's completely blown away by this not only is she awake and alive she's walking about that's how alive she is that's how complete the transformation is he charged them straightly that no man should know of course you're not going to keep it a secret when all the professional mourners and everybody else know she was dead they laughed and discord knowing she was dead and then she walks out through the door a few minutes later the dead have been raised that is going to spread but it's not meant to be a big sort of public declaration Jesus always seeks to keep these things done because the main event is meant to be his death and resurrection his own rising from the dead which is a complete total resurrection as opposed to just coming back in the same body with the same limitations it is the same body when he rises but it's got different characteristics this is
[33:52] Gileus' daughter's same old limitations body in which she got sick she's raised from the dead it's not quite a resurrection in the same sense but Jesus undoubtedly intends that his own death and resurrection is itself to be the linchpin of history it is to be the main event so why does he do all these other things if he wants to be the main why does he tell people don't tell anyone about this don't go and spread the news don't let anybody know why does he keep the damn put down why would he want to do that why don't spread the word because the main event is meant to be his death and resurrection and all these other things why is he doing that because he has compassion on the needs of his people because when he has the power to help he if we can say it reverently he cannot say no he has the means to help the means to staunch the flow of blood the means for the woman who will have to assure it the means to open the eyes and the blind he means to open the ears of the deaf he means to cleanse the leper feed the hungry and the means to raise the dead he has the power to do it and when he's asked he cannot such is the love and compassion of
[35:12] Jesus he's not going to turn you away when you know your need and when you bring that need to Jesus when you are prepared to say look it's all what he wants to say look Lord I don't actually think you can help me so I'm not going to bother asking you don't ask don't get simple as that or you ask well Lord you know this is my need but I don't actually think you can but you know if you can help me anyway that's not faith either throw yourself at his feet throw yourself at his feet say Lord my little daughter's at the point of death Lord my soul my life is at the point of absolute wreckage my life's a car wreck just now it's a car crash I can't do anything with it I am in real need I'm at my wits end I'm in misery Lord help me if you will the Lord has compassion on the needs of all who come to him he doesn't say oh wait a minute let's see how much of the catechism you can decide let's see how well you know your books of the
[36:14] Bible let's see if you actually have sufficient deep knowledge and trust of me as the son of God and so on oh he sees their need he recognizes their faith they believe that he's able to do it and they ask him now these are the things that you do need to have for it whatever your particular need is you bring it to the Lord you believe that he can do it and you ask him because you trust that he will and desires to do it because Christ although he doesn't want to detract attention from his own death and resurrection which is the big event that is the thing which saves and redeems mankind all who will trust and believe in his name that is the source and ground of the forgiveness of sin he is not going to turn away the needy he never ever does in the gospel accounts he's not going to start now he is such a God who cannot change remember he is Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever he doesn't want it spread around like a pantomime or on the ancient equivalent of
[37:18] Facebook all the place and never believe what happened there in Capernaum really happy emoji face or whatever you know it's not to be reduced to the level of flippancy this is a big deal because a man in need has come and asked Jesus on behalf of his daughter and Jesus doesn't say no and even when it seems like it's too late and even when things have been brought so low that he may have been inclined to think oh that's it I am beyond the reach of Jesus she's dead there's nothing now that can be done and you think you are beyond the reach of Jesus let me tell you now you're wrong and the scripture testifies that you are wrong but Jesus is right and Jesus has power and you ask and no interruption will be able to stop you from receiving his grace I've I've started I've started so I'll finish if we may say that reverently in the context of the Lord he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ
[38:18] Philippians 1 6 perhaps more appropriate to quote scripture than things of the world but the point is the same that if we ask we shall receive if we go to him with our need nothing unto nobody is beyond the reach of Christ you don't need to resent the interruptions of the world you don't need to think ill of others who may have appeared to jump the queue and got their need attended to before you who may be asked first have got your need attended to he will remember you he will come to you he will answer because he always does that is the testimony of scripture that is the word of God that not even death itself has the power to conquer Christ nor has it the power to conquer any who come to him by faith he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her his literal words which is being interpreted damsel
[39:22] I say unto thee arise little girl get up and straightway the damsel arose and walked we are not saved or redeemed or brought to a new life by Christ just so that we can lay about and think isn't it wonderful to be in the kingdom the Hebrew word for walk is the same as the word for to go if you are walking you're going somewhere if Christ has raised you from death to light it's so that you could go somewhere he intends you to move he intends you to walk he intends you to follow he doesn't intend you to stand still and become like a pillar of salt like Lot's wife who looked back he intends you to get up and be walking like this little girl he intends you to follow where he leads immediately she got up and walked and they were astonished with great astonishment how astonished will you be when Christ actually answers your prayers there is nothing beyond the reach of Christ not illness not death not your situation not your need come to him by faith throw yourself at his feet whatever the interruptions whatever the problems of the world throw yourself at his feet ask and you shall receive because he alone has the power to save to get