Turn with me this morning to Mark's Gospel, chapter 5. The Gospel according to Mark, chapter 5. And if we can look at the words that we have this morning in verse 38, chapter 5 verse 38. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue. Mark chapter 5 and verse 38. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue. This morning we follow the road with Jesus down to the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. As we saw last week, his journey down there was interrupted by the woman with the issue of blood. And that's where we want to begin. Last week we compared the approach for example of this woman to the Lord Jesus Christ with the approach of Jairus and we made certain comparisons. This morning we want to continue that road and we want to begin by seeing the first point is Jesus passes by. Jesus passes by. As Jesus is passing by this woman touches the hem of his garment. Now it doesn't matter how you contrast the approach of this woman to the approach of Jairus who was very public whereas this woman was very private. The fact is that she sought to make use of the opportunity that she had as Jesus passed by. It reminds us surely of the account of a blind man at the gates of Jericho, blind Bartimaeus, who in hearing of a tumult of a crowd, a multitude, asked the question, what's all this about? And he was told that it was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Bartimaeus cried out, Jesus thou son of David have mercy upon me. He seemed to know who Jesus was. Jesus had come to him. In other occasions there are those who come to Jesus. This woman with the issue of blood came to Jesus. But Jesus came to him and was passing by And Bartimaeus, although he was told by others to hold his peace, he cried all the more. He was going to make every use of the opportunity that was coming his way. And because of that, he was greatly blessed. The Lord stopped and blessed him. Every single time the Gospel is preached, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Every baptism that we see, every time we witness the Lord's Supper, Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Do we make and take the best of the opportunity? Do we make the most of these occasions when Jesus passes by? Every single time we come to God's house, And every time we read the Bible and we hear the name of Jesus Christ being lifted up, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. What use are we making and what advantage are we taking of the fact that he is passing by? This woman stretched out her hand and touched the hem of his garment. She touched the hem of his garment and she was blessed. Are we likewise blessed when we hear Jesus of Nazareth passing by? But there is a second thing that we want to notice and that is broken, what I have entitled here, broken lives. There is in this short journey From the time that Jesus comes over into Capernaum and the time that he takes from Jairus coming to him and the time he takes to go down to the house of Jairus we discover there is a small snapshot of the life of Jesus Christ. How long it is from where Jairus meets him to walk to his house I don't know but in that short space of time you discover that there are many that come and gather around the Lord Jesus Christ there is a tumult we are told as he makes his way down to the house of Jairus broken lives there is a man whose daughter is ill There is a man whose daughter dies. There is a woman with an issue of blood. There are those who are sick and ill and maimed and they come to Him. We are told that there are many that came to Him. There were multitudes coming to Him. Now I'm sure that there were many that day who heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and they said, we don't need to go and listen to Him. We don't need to go and seek Him. they were fit and they needed no physician there were others who came down and they were as near to the Lord Jesus Christ indeed they were touching the hem of his garment and yet we do not hear of power or virtue going out of him and dealing with them but this one woman She comes and she's greatly blessed. Isn't that true today? Is what you're seeing in this snapshot of the Lord Jesus Christ making his way down to the house of Jairus, is it not just true of what is evident today? There are those who will say, I don't need to go and listen to Jesus Christ, I can run the Edinburgh Marathon, I'm fit and I'm healthy, I don't need anything more. And as Jesus Christ passes by, they ignore him. And they don't come to hear him. There are others who come and perhaps they receive a blessing. They're only coming because perhaps they will be fed. He fed the 5,000. He fed 7,000. Perhaps they're coming because they have maimed or they're ill or something. But that's as far as it goes. There are people today who come to the church. Who come to the church and who will throng around Jesus Christ as it were. They will come to get food. They will come to get shelter. They'll come and they'll say to you, my life's broken. I've got a wife and I'm separated from my wife and I've got children and I can't see my children and I've got no money. And I've got no food and I've got no shelter. and the church can give them food, shelter, you can reach out to try and help them in every way you can and at the end of the day they still are blind to who Jesus Christ really is and to the greater and the deeper problem that is theirs. This woman may have been one like that When she touched the hem of his garment, she may have gone away and she may have rejoiced that she was cured. She may have rejoiced that no longer was the condition that she had had for 12 years. Still a problem to her. But Jesus didn't let her go. She touched the hem of his garment and Jesus stopped and spoke to her. And she looked the Lord Jesus Christ in the face. And Jesus spoke to her and says, daughter, go in peace. Thy faith hath healed thee. You see, she came to hear the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to her. Broken lives. We live in a society, we live in a day that's no different. And when thinking about this, it struck me, I don't know if it's probably struck many of you before, but this woman had a condition for 12 years. 12 years of pain and sorrow. Jairus has had 12 years of joy. His daughter, did you notice, is 12 years of age. For the 12 years that this woman has had this condition, Jairus has had his daughter but at the end of the day both of them are brought to great need both of them come to Jesus Christ both of them cry out to him and the Lord blesses them you see they come to realise the greater blessing that the Lord can give. Jesus says to Jairus, don't fear, don't be afraid, just believe. Believe in me. And if you believe in me, it doesn't matter what happens. It may be that you will go down there and your daughter will be dead. He's told she's dead. But it doesn't matter. No matter what you're going to face, you believe in me. My friend, do we come to the Lord Jesus Christ with all our outward problems and think that Jesus will just sort all the outward problems? Well, he may do. But there's a greater problem. It's the problem of the heart. It's the problem of sin. It's the problem of being alienated from God himself. and you discover that in blind Bartimaeus for example when he left he just didn't leave rejoicing that he could see we are told that he glorified God he followed the Lord Jesus and he glorified God this woman when she left I believe she would glorify God Jesus now makes his way down to the house of Jairus We have seen Jesus passing by. We have seen broken lives. Some come to him, some receive a great blessing from him. But then you come to the third point and that is the house of mourning. Jesus goes with Jairus all the way down to the house of Jairus and he comes to the house of mourning. And I want you to notice first of all, what I've put down is how intimate death is and mourning is. Do you notice that when Jesus leaves this woman and those who had come from Jairus' house and told him, your daughter's dead, don't trouble the master any further, your daughter is dead. Did you notice that when he left there it was only himself and his three disciples along with Jairus that went. That surely confirms to us that those who were there never expected that Jesus would do what he was going to do. Do you think if the crowd that was there thought that Jesus would pure that this girl would rise from the dead, do you think that they would have stayed where they were? They would have gone. It's amazing how hard the human heart is and how unbelieving the human heart is. Even later on when Lazarus is dead, these very disciples, Jesus has raised a son of the widow of Nain. He has raised this girl from her deathbed. And yet when Lazarus dies, Jesus waits another two days. And he says, I am glad, he said, that I wasn't there. That you might believe. That's his disciples, his own disciples. That you might believe the power, that even then they seem to be lacking that faith, that belief. Is that somehow the way we are at times, isn't it? Someone might walk in that door today You might say to yourself, well, look at that person. Maybe someone that's what we call a down and out or something. God can't deal with that person. God won't save that person. Jesus can't really bring that person alive. There might be people that you know, family that you know, and they may appear so hard to the things of the gospel. They may appear to be so against the things of the gospel. And you say to yourself, well there's no hope for them. Is that not just unbelief? Is that not just unbelief? Do you know that God can save, the Lord Jesus Christ can save the chief of sinners? Let's never think that someone is there, out there, beyond the power of Jesus Christ. Even these disciples who saw this, who were witness to this, they said, well, we'll go down and we'll die with him. And he says, I'm thankful that I wasn't there when Lazarus died, that you might believe, that you might see, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me shall never die, but shall live. They make their way down then. It's an intimate. Only his three close disciples go with him. The rest of the crowd, he tells them, he suffers them not to go with him. They must stay there. And he takes his three disciples with Jairus down to the house. How intimate death is, isn't it? It's now Jesus and his close disciples that are going to go into this home. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't it? When one of the Lord's people leave this world and the Lord's people gather, maybe the night before the funeral, the day before the funeral, they meet in the evening before and they worship God. Isn't that a wonderful thing? When the Lord's people can come into your home, even at the time of death, the most intimate of occasions, the most intimate of times, and they come in to this house, Jesus and his disciples. Why does Jesus then put out those who are even in the house? Those who are wailing, those who are mourning, crying out hopelessness, and he puts them out the door as well. Put them out. Now all you've got is Jesus, and His disciples. And when this miracle is done, He says, don't publish it abroad. Don't put it abroad. Ah, you see how wonderful the Lord is. He's not seeking the applause and the accolades of the scribes and the Pharisees. He's not one who's there who's proud, who's wanting to have the accolade and the applause of all these people in authority or whoever. Here is a man that says, don't even tell them. My friend, isn't it terrible when the church seeks to simply court the favour of the world? Look who we are, look what we can do. Not the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes into this home in the morning of this home and he comes in with his own disciples. No public applause, no trying to impress others, but rather coming into this home. And when you come into this home what do you find? What are we reminded of? We're reminded today that death is no respecter of persons. Death is no respecter of persons. Someone 80, 90 dies, well maybe you expect that. Someone 40, 50 dies, it's a shock. Someone 20, 30, that's hurtful. But a 12 year old girl, That doesn't happen, that shouldn't happen. This shouldn't take place. A 12 year old girl, and there she is suffering, and now she is dead. We are reminded that death is no respecter of persons. Whether they be 12, 22, 32, we think that we will live forever, we think that We think that next year's promised to us and the following year's promised to us, we think the next ten years is promised to us. Not even the youngest person in this building today has tomorrow promised to them. Because death is no respecter of persons. It's no respecter of age, it's no respecter of persons. Here's Jarus, a very respectable man, probably an older man. This girl is probably a daughter his older age, because he's a ruler in the synagogue, a very well respected man. A man that wasn't, not a man that's, you go to places and you might find homes where there's drug addicts and all the rest of their homes are a mess and then trouble comes upon them. That's not this man at all. This man is the ruler of the synagogue, a respectable man. A man that when he speaks people will listen no doubt to him. He's a ruler when he tells, when something is stated in the synagogue people listen and act upon what he says. But even this man cannot stop death. Because not only is death no respecter of age, it's no respecter of persons either, and it's no respecter even of his religion. If there was anybody that religion could do something for, to save this young girl, then here's your man. We said that the last time, didn't we? We said it a fortnight ago. A ruler of the synagogue, and yet nothing can be done for his daughter. But we also see here, not just that death is no respecter of persons, but we also see here what a blessed affliction, when that affliction brings the Lord Jesus Christ into your home. What a blessed affliction, no matter what affliction it may be, no matter what trouble it may be, no matter what may come across your life, it's a blessed affliction, isn't it? the day that that affliction brings you to flee to the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ 12 years this woman had suffered every single day of it was worth it because at the end of it she came to know the Lord Jesus Christ 12 years this man has known this little daughter and now he has been taken from her but what a blessed affliction it ultimately proved to be when it brought Jesus Christ into his home and into his life and that's true you know of each and every one of us whether we be the Lord's people or whether we be not the Lord's people no matter who we are whatever affliction may come our way Whatever trouble may come across our path we are able to say it was good for me that I've been afflicted because it brought me to bow the knee before God and it brought me to know the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed affliction. But it also brings us to ask the question how can such things be? How can young children be taken out of this world? How can babies die? How can infants be taken away? How can God allow such a thing? Indeed, if you go back to the time of Noah and the great flood, not only were adults, men and women, boys and girls, but even infants and babies were destroyed in the flood. How could God allow that? And you come to Pharaoh in Egypt and the children and infants in Egypt are slain that night. How can that be? Well, These are difficult questions, aren't they? Especially for someone who may have lost a child. How does a Christian respond to someone that's perhaps lost an infant, a child, a baby even? How do you respond? It's very difficult. But the Bible does give us some indication, at least, that even in death there can be a blessing. Even in the death of this young woman, this young girl, there was a blessing. Go back to David in the Old Testament. Go back to David in the Old Testament. David in 2 Samuel chapter 12. David has sinned with Uriah, Uriah's achiever. He sinned. And when Nathan comes and points out his sin, there is a child. And that child dies. And while that child is in illness, David is mourning. And when the child dies, David picks himself up, he washes himself, and he begins to weep. His servants couldn't understand this. And they say to him, the child is dead. You know what David says? He cannot come to me. In other words, he will not be raised from the dead. My son is dead, but I will go to him. The implication is that the child has gone to glory. And David is comforted, surely, by the very fact, he says, He will not come to me, but I will go to him." Surely it's a comfort to know that even the child can enter into glory. And you know, even the children of Pharaoh, it can be a blessing. Even the children in Noah's day, it can be a blessing. What are they saved from? A life of paganism? A life of sin? A life of corruption? Sometimes you know, it can be a blessing. Because as Abraham said to the Lord, will the God of the earth, of all the earth not do right? A child who dies and leaves this world is not judged the same way as you and I will be judged. Pharaoh's children, the children of Egypt will not be judged the way Pharaoh will be judged. You see that when the Lord speaks of Judas Iscariot. What does he say about Judas Iscariot? The son of man will go The son of man will go to Calvary, he will die at Calvary, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. It would have been better had he never been born. It would have been better had Judas died even in the womb. It would have been better had he died even as an infant. Now you see we don't know the depths of these things do we? We don't know all that is involved in the death of a young child, the death of a 12-year-old, a 10-year-old, the death of a baby, all these children that are murdered in the womb by abortion. But we do know this, will the God of all the earth not do right? Judgment Day will reveal all these things to us. But the death of this young girl ultimately was a great blessing to Jairus and to his wife and to that household because it brought the Lord Jesus Christ into their home. They were greatly blessed that day and I believe that the greater blessing that they would even witness was the fact that this young girl whom Jesus came to and said, arise, and he walked her round the room, gave her something to eat. What a great blessing it would be when they see that young girl growing up, having met the way she did with the Lord Jesus Christ. Having been blessed the way she was, by the Lord Jesus Christ and very possibly also not just risen off that bed not just brought alive physically but I believe the greater blessing there in that she was born again spiritually what a wonderful thought it is to think of this mother and father the great blessing that they would see as this young girl grew up in the house of the Lord her father the ruler of the synagogue and yet she looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the true ruler, the true king, the one who is the synagogue and the tabernacle, the temple, the one who fulfills everything, every role, it all finds its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us then see that this death was a great blessing as Jesus Christ was brought into the home. Let us in application at the end then ask ourselves first of all as Jesus Christ passes by are we making all the use that we can? Are we reaching out and touching even the hem of His garment? Are we running to Him and praying, come to my home, come to my home, my children are dying, they are dead spiritually, come, make them alive, bless them with spiritual blessings. broken lives? Do we see that our own lives, so many things that come across our own lives are just but the tip of the iceberg? The real problem is the heart. And we need to have the heart dealt with. And the house of mourning. Ah, the religion that was there in the Lord's day. As they were in wailing and moaning and and professional at it, their religion could do nothing for them. Only Christ could deal with this man's great problem, his daughter. My friend, no matter what problem we've got, no matter how our lives may appear to be broken, we are able to come to Jesus Christ. He is able to, when we by faith lay hold upon Him, even death itself is swallowed up in victory. We can even see those who are our loved ones leaving this world, but Jesus has blessed us so that even where there is death, there is hope there is hope in Christ when we but trust in Him and believe that He is able to do for us more than we can even ask or think and more than we can even imagine even the death of an infant we are able to say We leave that in the hands of our God and with the God of all the earth will he not truly do right? This evening, God willing, I want to look at a prayer that was uttered up in the Old Testament. It was a request that was one of the most glorious requests, if not the most glorious request in prayer that you will find in the Old Testament. I'll leave you to think yourself what that prayer is. And this evening, God willing, we'll look at it. Something else about it, the view that most writers take on it, I'm going to suggest a different take on it. So if you want to hear of the greatest request in the Old Testament, and if you want to hear another point or another viewpoint on it, then come this evening and hear the Word of the Lord. Let us pray. Gracious and ever-blessed Lord, we thank Thee for Thy goodness to us. We thank Thee for all Thy mercies day by day. We pray and ask, O Lord, that even in the broken lives that we see around us in this world, all that is going on, and so many, they do not even seek the Lord. They do not acknowledge Him. And so many that will come, and all they are seeking is to address the outward troubles and tribulations that they have, and yet they do not see the hand of the One that is able to do it, to deal with all, not only their outward troubles, but more important, the very fountain, the heart. Lord, we pray that Thou would bless us today, that we would look unto Him, for Thou hast said, Look unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Bless us now, we pray Thee, and pardon us all our sins, for Jesus' sake. Amen.