See? I'm working on this building. I'm telling you. Yeah, this is going to be the last of it. You know, if you get washed out in the water, in the sun, in the sun, it's going to be a mountain. Well, good morning. It's good to see everybody this morning. Maybe I'm not on. Let me see if I'm on here. All right, listen, I need to tell you something. There's something that you saw this morning. Or at least, I'm pretty sure you saw it this morning. You slipped in on me. I'll get you later. So, anyway. Oh yeah, there's something you saw this morning, and what you saw this morning is called rain. It's this liquid stuff that falls from the sky that we haven't seen in a while, and it's gonna make your grass grow and your gardens do fine and all that kind of stuff. So, anyway. Announcements. A couple that are not in the bulletin. One is Grief Share meeting tomorrow night, 630 here at the church. Anything else you need to say about that? Okay. Tomorrow night, 630 here at the church. Also, as far as the school goes, if you remember last year, there were pledges that were made, monthly pledges. Those are, it's time to renew those if you want to continue that or if there's somebody else that wants to get involved in these pledges and monthly support of the school. See Darryl or see Dave about that. They can help you with that. So that time to roll those over or stop it or add, get in on it is coming up. All right. Also in the announcements, One of the things that's coming up at the end of July, this will be on Sunday, July the 28th at 4 o'clock, we're going to have a training for anybody, volunteers, teachers, if you would like to possibly work with kids, children, youth. We're actually going to have a sexual abuse training that afternoon, okay? And so this is gonna be required for anybody that's volunteers, teachers, and so forth. We'll make more, we'll give more information about this, but that'll be July the 28th, Sunday afternoon at four o'clock. This is an important thing for us to do as a church, and more information about that will be forthcoming. Also, Fourth of July, which is coming up. It's hard to believe, man, it's Fourth of July, right? We are going to host the picnic at our house again at six o'clock. Right? Six o'clock. Up at the house. So make plans to come. We've had a great time the last couple of years of doing that. The meat will be provided. You won't need to bring meat. Meat will be provided. What you'll need to do is bring sides, desserts, and drinks and that kind of thing. So, is that right? Anything else? Long chairs, bug spray, games, guitars, flutes, trumpets, right? Any mandolins? We just get together. Drums? Okay, yeah. We'll get together and just have a great time. That'll be the 4th of July, that Thursday, 6 o'clock. up at the house. We have the other announcements there. We have members meeting today. We have lunch today following the service and then members meeting after that. No evening service tonight. Book club is meeting at four at Dave and Allison's today. So you have other announcements in the bulletin. Wednesday night, block party, seven o'clock. We've been having great times. Last Wednesday was hot, but we had a good time. So we'll continue that this Wednesday. Ready to worship? Let us worship our great God. Student spirit truth. Let's pray father. We pray your blessing upon us. Now we ask this in Christ name. Amen. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Please stand. What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, but needless pain we bear. Oh, because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? ♪ How will all our sorrows share ♪ Jesus knows our every weakness ♪ Take it to the Lord in prayer ♪ Are we weak and heavy laden ♪ Comfort with a load of care Precious Savior, still our refuge Take it to the Lord in prayer Do Thy friends despise for safety Take it to the Lord in prayer In His arms He'll stake and shield thee Thou wilt find a solace there Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer. Soon in glory bright and clouded, there will be no need for prayer. Rapture praising in this worship will be our sweet portion there. Please be seated. Our scripture reading this morning from Genesis chapter 36 The 36th chapter of Genesis, we'll be reading the first eight verses. And this is about the twin brother to Jacob and his family as it gets going and where they are living. So Genesis chapter 36, starting in verse one, and we'll be reading from the ESV version. These are the generations of Esau, that is Edom. Esau took his wives from the Canaanites, Ada, the daughter of Elan, the Hittite, Aholabamah, the daughter of Ena, the daughter of Zibion, the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Neboith. And Ada bore to Esau Eliaphaz, Basemath, bore Ruel, and Ohilva bore Joash, Jalem, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property, that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom. Pray, please. Great and gracious Heavenly Father, oh Lord, how we do thank you that you have privileged us with your word in such great quantity that we are able to get it in so many different translations and ways and the blessings that we have that many in centuries before did not. But most of all, Father, we worship you and bless your holy name for what those who even many centuries before us also had the privilege of knowing the Christ. Your son would be crucified, sacrificed for their sin, sacrificed for our sin, sacrificed for my sin, And Father, as we go about this worship service, we would pray that you would make this word real to our hearts, that we would leave this place, Father, understanding what you wrote through Solomon, that the sum of the matter is this, to fear God and keep his commandments. Oh, this is the sole duty of man. we pray all of this in that wonderful worthy name of Jesus amen and amen please stand when trials come no longer fear for in the Now God draws near to fire of faith worth more than gold. And there His faithfulness is told. And there His faithfulness is told. Within the night I know your peace. The breath of God brings strength to me and new Each morning mercy flows As treasures of the darkness grow As treasures of the darkness grow I turn to wisdom, not my own. For every battle you have known, my confidence will rest in you. Your love endures, your ways are good. Your love endures, Your ways are good When I am weary with the cost, I see the triumph of the cross. So in its shadow I shall run. Till you complete the work begun. Till you complete the work begun. One day all things will be made new I'll see the hope you called me to And in your kingdom down paved with gold. I'll praise your faithfulness of old. I'll praise your faithfulness of old. And in your kingdom paved with gold I'll praise your faithfulness of old I'll praise your faithfulness of old All my days I will sing this song of gladness Give my praise to the fountain of delights Forbid my helplessness, you heard my cry And waves of mercy poured down on my life I will trust in the cross of my Redeemer I will sing of the blood that never fails of sins forgiven, of conscience cleansed, of death defeated, and life without end. Beautiful Savior, Wonderful counsellor Clothed in majesty Lord of history You're the way, the truth, the life Star of the morning Lord, yes, in holiness You're the risen one, heaven's champion And You reign, You reign over all I long to be where the praise is never ending, yearn to dwell where the glory never fades, where countless worshipers will share one song, And cries of worthy will honor the Lamb Beautiful Savior Wonderful Counselor Clothed in majesty, Lord of history You're the way, the truth, the life Star of the morning Glorious in holiness. You're the risen one. Heaven's champion. And you reign. You reign over all. Please be seated. I must tell Jesus all of my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress He kindly will help me, He ever loves and cares for His own. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus I cannot bear my burdens alone I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus Jesus can help me, Jesus alone A recitation this morning comes from the book of Titus. Titus chapter three, verse five. Let's stand and let's recite this verse together. Titus chapter three, verse five. He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. regeneration, born again. How? By the working of the spirit of God. You can be seated and let's pray together. Father, we open your word now and Lord, we do so. We come humbly and we ask We ask for your leading, your guiding, your enlightening our minds and our hearts, the working of your spirit. We desperately need to see our savior. Father, I know for some, it may be that for the very first time, you open their eyes to this is who he is. He's more than a story. He's real. He's a real person. He's alive. Seated at your right hand, making intercession. He's coming back, visibly, physically, to this earth again. He's returning. We will see him. And so, Father, we We look at your word. We try to understand what you revealed and what Matthew writes. And as Matthew shows us, this is who this man is. This is what he's doing. This is what he's teaching. But Father, I pray that this is not just some cultural story, some Sunday school story. Father, I pray that we we see this is our Savior. And if we're believers, you've changed our hearts. You've caused us to be born again, and it's by your grace and. Not anything that we've done, then. We are one with this savior. And it is a it is a personal thing. We love. The person we follow a person. Not myths, not stories. And so father, I I just pray that as we look at what happens with this synagogue ruler and what happens with this woman as Matthew presents this to us and. We see it, I just I pray father that. we could see the reality, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have been so gracious in revealing your word to us. You are so gracious in working in our minds and hearts so that we can see and that we can understand Father, we know and we confess we do not deserve any of this. We know and confess it is not because any good within us, it is your good pleasure to do this. And rather than it leading us to be prideful and even judgmental, Father, let it humble us. Let it humble us to a humble submission. to a great Savior, and to understand what it means when you tell us to walk in the Spirit, we'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And when you tell us that we are to be filled with the Spirit, we need you to teach us what this means, and we need you to show us what this means, looking at our Savior, hearing what He says. Father, I pray, I just continue to pray that these stories become realities in our life and they become what we experience. It's not just enough, it's not just enough to know facts, but there's the experience of it as you work it into our hearts. So we stand before you and needy people. We come before you and needy people in need of your grace, in need of your mercy, in need of you to work and to move. Father, we ask you to do that. And we ask this in the name of our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Matthew chapter 9. Matthew 9. So this is where we are as we've been walking through Matthew. Matthew chapter 9. We pick up with verse 18 this morning. Matthew chapter 9 verse 18. This is what it says. It says, while he was saying these things to them, behold, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him saying, my daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. Jesus rose. and followed him with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. For she said to herself, if I only touch his garment, I will be made well. Jesus turned, and seeing her, he said, take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well. And instantly, the woman was made well. And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making the commotion, he said, go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out. It went out through all that district. I imagine so, right? I mean, the dead being raised? Don't you imagine that report went out through all the district? You know, there's something about knowing somebody So you get to know somebody, knowing somebody as they really are. Now, I'm not talking about somebody because there could be a public face and a private face. And I'm not talking hypocritically here. So I'm not talking about somebody who's one thing in public and another thing in private. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking about as you get to know somebody, you realize and you figure out, wow, man, I may have thought they were like this, but actually they're not like that at all. That's all I'm talking about. I'm not talking about hypocritically at all. In the 1970s, Clint Eastwood played a character. And that character was Dirty Harry. Remember all the movies? Harry Callahan, San Francisco. And man, he portrayed, just like in those old spaghetti westerns, the man with no name. I mean, he portrayed something there. But who would have imagined that Dirty Harry was a classical piano player? That didn't come across in the movies, did it? Go shoot up the bad guys and go home and play on the baby grand. That's not the image we had, but see, this is what I'm talking about. So there's this image that's portrayed, but then you're actually, I don't know him, but you know, you find out things about Clint Eastwood, you find out, you know, he's got this great musical talent and all this thing. You're like, man, I didn't know that. That's what I'm talking about. You get to know somebody. You hear, maybe hear stories, maybe see something, maybe see at a distance, but then you get close, then you get to know them, and then all of a sudden you're going, wow, This is exactly what Matthew's doing with the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew's bringing him up close and personal. Matthew's showing us this is who he is. Now remember, he's writing to a Jewish people and he's writing to these Jewish people to show that Jesus Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Messiah. He is the one that the Old Testament anticipated. He is the one that the Old Testament predicted was coming. He is the Messiah. He's the Anointed One. He's the Savior. Now that's what Matthew's trying to show. And so when he's showing this, and he's writing to this Jewish audience, we've already seen he's going to pull from the Old Testament, and he's going to quote from the Old Testament, and he's going to show these things that he's doing, these healings and so forth. And all of it is showing this Jewish audience this is who he is. This is the Messiah. Here he is. And so he's bringing him up close and personal. And he's saying to us, this is who the Lord Jesus Christ is. This is what he does. This is what he says. This is what he teaches. and you get to see him. So many times, if we're not careful, so many times people, and particularly people that may have grown up in the church and so forth, so they grow up and they hear the stories, and they hear the Sunday school, and the story, and the story, and the story, and then you actually read the scripture, and then you're confronted with this is who he really is. Sometimes the story matches, sometimes the story gets created in our mind to where this is almost like a mythological character. But it's if we're not careful, sometimes it's almost like, man, this is a bunch of superstitious stuff here. This guy running around, laying his hands on people and healing people and now raising a girl from the dead and a woman touching him of his garment being here. This this just sounds this sounds a lot like Walt Disney. And if we're not careful, that's the way we tend to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Matthew's shattering that. Matthew's bringing him up close and personal, and Matthew's putting him right here in front of us and saying, this is who he is. Here he is. He's a real person. He's not a story. He's a real person. And here he is, and this is what he is doing, and this is what he's teaching. This is who he really is. This is not a poor copy of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. So many times, the stories in our imaginations are nothing but poor copies of who he is. And if we're not careful, we end up trusting and building our lives around poor copies and not him. And there's a difference. There's a huge difference. But here he is. This is him. So what he does, this is what he teaches. And here's the thing. And you can know him. He's not off limits. Matthew doesn't present him and say, here he is now. Gee, just wish you could know this guy like we were. No, no. Here he is. You can know him. In fact, I'll put it this way. You must know him. Because if you don't know him, you don't have any hope. Because there's no other Savior coming. This is it. Here he is. You can know him. And you must know him. And how do I know him? Because we're going to see this here with this woman. And we're going to see it again because it's going to come up again. And there's going to be this language of faith. Your faith has saved you. Your faith has made you well. Your faith. Your faith. This saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what John Calvin said about this saving faith. He said, it's not consent with mere knowing of a story. It's not just mere consent with knowing of a story. Oh, I know the story. I even believe the story's true. But it's not just mere consent. I would add a word to that. I would add mental consent. I believe it's true. I would never doubt that the story actually happened. You see, but this is not saving faith. Calvin goes on and he says this, he says, it's not consent with mere knowing of a story, not God's word fluttering about in our minds. I love that. Saving faith is not just fluttering thoughts about Jesus Christ and just these fluttering thoughts around in our mind and every now and then we grab one, think about it, but most of the time they're just fluttering around in our minds. He says, no, no, saving faith settles deep. Saving faith settles deep within the human heart. Deep within the human heart. Cleansing it of pretense. make-believe and hypocrisy, and so gripping it, so gripping the human heart, that it does not lightly fade away. Now, I like what he says about it. He said a whole lot, but I pulled some things out of that, where he was talking about this, and I thought, that's it. It's not just consent to some story. It's not just believing the story. Even believing the story is true. It's not that. It's not flittering, fluttering thoughts around in our head about Jesus and nice thoughts at times. Yes. No, no, no, no. It's something that lodges itself deep within the human heart. And it won't let that heart go. It won't let that person go. It won't let go. It's lodged itself down there. And what it's done is it's changed everything about that person. Now, here's the other thing. That kind of faith is not natural. That kind of faith, that saving faith is a gift from God. Our confessions are clear, and it uses the language of how this faith is wrought, old language, wrought in the heart of a sinner. In other words, it's given, it's a gift of God, and it's the work of the Holy Spirit and regeneration, what we just quoted out of Titus. The changing of the heart, the removing of the stony heart, giving of a new heart, and changing that, and out of that comes repentance and faith. It's not repentance and faith that causes the change. It's repentance and faith that come out of the change. That's saving faith. And it's a gift from God. It's by His grace, because I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it at all. Now, here's the other thing. as we lead into these two miracles. It's a gift from God, but we need to desperately understand that the object of our faith is a real person. The object of our faith, when God changes that heart, repentance and faith flow out of that, then we're directed to, and the object of our faith is a real person, not stories. And that real person is the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of my faith is the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else. No one else. That's important to understand. And it's important to understand as we get into these sections where Jesus begins to talk about this faith and how he says, your faith has saved you. Your faith has made you well. Understand what's behind that. So the object of our faith is a person. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not stories. I heard an old, old story. How a savior did what? Came from glory. How he gave his life on Calvary to do what? To save a wretch like me. I heard that story. And then what did I do? Then I repented of my sins and won the victory. You know the course, don't you? Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior. It's personal. A story does not save you. The Lord Jesus Christ saves. He saves. So, I must have Jesus. I must have Him. So, now, here we go. Verse 18, chapter 9. In this, there's two miracles that happen. And in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they combine both of these. They do the same thing with them. Although in Mark and Luke, we get a lot more information about what was happening surrounding these events. But there's two miracles, but the common denominator is one gracious Savior in all this. These two fabulous miracles, but one gracious Savior. So now remember, he's up north. He's in Galilee. He's up here. He's preaching. He's teaching. He's doing. He's gone across the Sea of Galilee. He's come back across. The crowds are growing again. And it's at some point when he comes back across the Sea of Galilee and he's back in Capernaum. The crowds are growing and he's teaching and that's where this happens, somewhere in that. And again, we're seeing him, Matthew's showing Jesus, this is him, up close and personal. And you know what's neat? Sometimes Matthew shows us behind the scenes. Here's what the crowds are seeing and hearing, but sometimes we get these behind the scenes look. And then what's going to happen after this, there's going to be a couple of more things that we'll see, a couple of more miracles. But then Matthew shifts. So this section, really after the Sermon on the Mount, and this great, this section where he's doing, he's healing, and Matthew's showing, oh, this is the Messiah. This is what the Old Testament said. When the Messiah comes, these things are going to happen. But then when we get to chapter 10, there's a shift in Matthew. Because he's going to appoint the 12, and then we're going to get a whole series of teachings. So now Jesus is gonna teach. It's beautiful the way Matthew lays this out. Here's what he's doing. Now let's hear what he says. Let's hear what he says. So, two miracles, a gracious Savior. Here's the first one. You remember I told you a couple of weeks ago, going through this, one of the things that's jumped out at me is how Matthew uses and beholds. And behold. And whenever you see and behold, most of the time in Matthew, something's about to happen. And behold. Well, there's two and beholds here. And the first one happens in verse 18. Because in this first miracle, he says while he was teaching, so he's teaching, crowds have grown, he's teaching, he was saying these things to them, and behold. There it is. And behold, what happens? Here comes a ruler. in the crowd comes up to him. And what we know from Mark and what we know from Luke is that he's a ruler of the synagogue. So this is not a political ruler. We've already seen a Roman army officer, a centurion come to him. So this is a ruler in the synagogue in Capernaum. Now what's interesting as he comes, Mark and Luke tell us his name is Jarius. We learn his name from them. What Matthew does, and Matthew loves to do this, he just condenses. He just takes it and he gets straight to the facts. Here's what you need to know. Mark will fill in, Luke will fill in, but Matthew's just like, hey, let's just get straight to the facts here. Let's just, let's get on. Here's what you need to know. So here comes Jarius. He's a ruler of the synagogue, man of standing, reputation. People probably would have known him. When he walks up, maybe they part out of respect. But notice, he didn't send a servant to Jesus. Here's a man of standing, some standing in respect, and he comes to Jesus himself. And you notice what happens when he gets to Jesus. Some of the translations will translate it worship. It is the same word that's used for worship, but it also means to kneel down. And it's very possible that what's happening is he approaches Jesus. Now, keep in mind, a ruler of the synagogue Here's a man whose reputation is growing, and all these guys from Jerusalem have started to filter up north, try to figure out who he is and what he's doing. And here's this man out there. He has no real standing in the synagogue, no real standing with the Jerusalem leaders, no real standing in this religious community. And he's doing, and he's saying, and people are following him. And here comes a ruler of the synagogue. And what does he do? He bows before the Lord Jesus Christ. You just have to understand the scene, what this would have communicated to people, a ruler of the synagogue bowing and kneeling before this man. Jairus knew and understood something about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now keep in mind what I've already said about faith. This had to have come through the working of the Spirit of God in the heart of Jairus to see and understand this man something and he comes and he bows before him. Luke says that he bows before him and he's begging. I get the picture, I get the feel of reading the accounts that here's a man who's desperate, here's a man who's saying, I must tell this man. Now, we also know that as he comes, Mark and Luke tell us that this happens, and then we get this interruption that we'll see in just a second with the woman as he's on his way to Jairus' house. But then there's the interruption with the woman, and what Matthew's gonna tell us, look at verse 18. While he was saying these things to him, behold, a ruler came in, knelt before him, saying, my daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. Not I hope you can help. Gee, I've tried everything else, and I might as well try you, buddy. No, I know if you'll come, lay your hand on her. Now, some have tried to pit his faith against the centurion's faith. The centurion said, say a word, she'll be healed, and that's what he did. And here he's saying, come, lay hands. Some have tried to pit this faith, like the centurion had more faith. That's not it at all. It's different situations, different circumstances. Here comes this man, and he looks to Jesus, and he bows before him, and he's almost literally begging him, my daughter's dead. What we know from Mark and Luke is that at some time during the discourse with the woman, some people come from his house and say, hey, your daughter's dead. And he gets word. But again, what's Matthew doing? Matthew's just condensing the story. Here's the facts. She died. And he comes to Jesus, and he has the utmost confidence that if this man will come and lay his hand on her, she'll be raised from the dead. He doesn't say, I wish you'd just come and preach the funeral and give great comfort to the family. He says, I want you to come raise her from the dead. You see it? You see what he's asking? He wants you to come raise her from the dead. Humanly impossible. Not for you. In Matthew, we've already seen him touch. We've already seen him touch. We've already seen the healing from his touch. Matthew chapter 8, verse 3. Matthew chapter 8, verse 15. We've seen him touch and heal. Now, this is what this guy is asking. Remember, he's a ruler of the synagogue. He would know the law. He would know full well. You cannot, according to the law, touch a dead body. And he's asking this man to come touch him. Now, I don't agree with those who also say, well, Jairus was a plant. And Jairus is trying to trip him up and get him to do something today. No. Here is a man who's desperate. Here is a man whom I think the Spirit of God has worked in and he sees Jesus and he knows I must have him. And you come lay the hand on my daughter and she'll be raised from the dead. It's this kind of faith. This is his need. She's dead. She's dead. She's 12 years old. She's entering into adulthood in first century world. And she's dead, but if you come lay your hand on her, she will live. She'll live. Now Jesus responds. Now what I want to do is I want to save what happens with the woman. So let's follow what happens with Jairus all the way through, okay? And then we'll come back to the interruption. Is that okay? Does that work? So verse 18, while he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him saying, my daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. And Jesus rose and followed with his disciples. Now we'll save the interruption because here comes the other, and behold, and behold. So after he deals with a woman, after this interruption that happens, You see in verse 23, and when Jesus came to the ruler's house. So now he makes it to Jarius's house. And he's there. Now what we also know from Mark and we also know from Luke is that there was a great crowd that's following him. So this is where, as this crowd's going, this is where this happens with this woman. You just imagine this throng going and he's moving and there they are and the disciples are with him and so forth. They get to the house. Matthew and Luke tell us that he only lets Peter, James, and John go into the house with him. It's the only ones who can go into the house with him. The mother and the father go in with him, but only Peter, James, and John. Now Matthew tells us that as he gets to the house, when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making commotion. Commotion's a weak word. They're wailing. They're wailing. Now, even a poor family, According to the traditions and according to the writings of this period in time and Jewish writings, even they would have probably hired maybe a flute player or a mourner or somebody. And so it's very possible that you have people, and this was a ruler of the synagogue. So he's probably got plenty. And it's very possible that part of this crowd is just there because maybe they've been paid to be there. And they're like professional mourners. And they're waiting, and they're carrying on, and they're this and that. And yet, surely there's some of the family, there's this genuine mourning that's happening. But when he walks into this funeral situation, and I love it when he walks into funerals. He walks into a funeral where Lazarus raises him from the dead. He walks into the funeral situation here, and this is going on, and he sees the commotion, he sees the wailing, he sees what's happening, and when he sees it, he said, go away, get out. And he says something, I almost wonder if he's saying it, because there are times when Jesus will say something, and you can just see the sarcasm in it. When he'll say something, and you can almost see the humor in it, and he's making a point. And I wonder if this is one of those times, get out of here, she's only asleep. You remember with Lazarus? We gotta go, our friend's asleep. Well, if he's asleep, he'll get up. No, no, no, no, knuckleheads, he's dead. Sleep's being used as a metaphor for death. Now, this is not teaching soul sleep. Okay, away with that idea. Matthew Poole raises a question, though. The old Puritan Matthew Poole asked a question. He said, where did her soul go? Where did it go? I mean, we know to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of the Lord, right? That's what Paul tells us. You ready for the answer? He says, it doesn't matter. I love that. He sets you up, and then he says, it doesn't matter. And he says, maybe, just maybe, her soul is hanging out with the angels until the good pleasure of God sets it back. That's as good an answer as any. He's about to do something. He's about to take this funeral situation and stand it on its head. Get out. She's asleep. And you notice what they do. And this is why I think probably, this is probably coming from those professional mourners. It just seems hard for me to imagine a family that's really mourning over the death of their daughter laughing at him like this. It seems like this is probably maybe those professional ones that are there. And so he says, get out. The girl's asleep. And they laughed at him. They scorned him. They mocked him. That's what the word means. They're mocking him. This guy's supposed to be something. This guy's supposed to be some hotshot teacher. He doesn't even know she's dead. She's dead. Hey, dummy, she's dead. She's not asleep. He doesn't even know. You just imagine the mocking and the laughing. I guarantee you his disciples were not laughing. I guarantee you Jarius was not laughing. Who is this Jesus? What do you think he is? But isn't it the same today? You want me to believe in this Jesus? Yeah. You have to believe in him if you're going to be saved. You must believe in him. This Jesus, this story, this myth, this superstition, this blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. Who is he? What has he ever done for me? He's never helped me out. Yeah, I've tried to call out to him before. I've prayed to him before. He's never done anything for me. He's never helped me. He's never done that. You know, mocking, the laughing. Or how dare you Christians? You Christians are so stupid. You Christians are so anti-intellectual. You Christians are the dumbest people on the face of the earth because you believe in this mystic Jesus and this mystic religion about resurrection and sin. No, no, no. You see the laughing, the mocking that goes on. Stand publicly. I just saw a video. The other day, and I don't know where I got it. I don't know. Somebody had sent it to me. And I don't know if you've seen this guy, but I tell you what, man, it did my heart good. If I was in North Carolina, I'd vote for this guy. It's the guy running for governor of North Carolina. And he stood up on the podium just like this. And he said, where's the media? I want to tell the media something. The Lord Jesus Christ is king. And I don't care what you say about me. If he wants me governor, I'll be governor. He said more, but that's the gist of what he said, and I thought, holy smoke. Now, don't you know there was some of the media going, ha, here we go again. We got one of these fundamentalists, one of these funny mentally people. Here we go, somebody believing in that Bible, believing in the authority, here we go again. How many times do we have to discredit this superstition? It goes on today. And yet we have to have the boldness to stand and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can laugh and they can laugh scorn, they can ridicule him, ridicule us, but God has set a day in which judgment will come. And read Revelation 14, read the end of the book of Revelation, there will be no laughing then. So they're laughing at it. Who does this guy think he is? Well, we see what he does. He comes in. Go away, the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him, but when the crowd had been put outside, he went in, took her by the hand. Again, Peter, James, and John with him, the mother, the father. So, takes her by the hand, and the girl arose. No hocus pocus. No, hey boys, you better pray and fast right quick, because this is going to be a tough one. No, hey, hey, hey, call up. Let's get some reinforcements. None of that. He just walks in. Get out. The girl's sleeping. Walks in, sees her, touches her hand. Boom, she's up. She's raised from the dead. Haven't we seen this over and over? His word, his touch, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, even over death here. And so she arose and the report of this went out throughout all the district. Mark and Luke give us a little more information. There she is. She gets up, she walks around. Luke, I think it's Luke says, Jesus says, give her something to eat. Then he tells the parents, now listen, don't, don't spread this around. How are you going to keep this quiet? How in the world are you going to keep this quiet? Everybody in the world knows she's dead. What are they going to do when they see her in the morning going out and playing? So there's the first miracle. There's this man, Jairus, the ruler. I must have Jesus. That's what he's saying. He's the only one. Then what did Jesus do? Jesus responds. Jesus responds. Compassion. The compassion and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, remember, on his way there's another behold. So there's the first behold. Behold, this ruler comes. Now here comes the second one. Behold. On his way, verse 20, and behold a woman. A woman. Again, crowds In Mark chapter 3 verse 10, Mark specifically says the crowds are gathering and they're growing and people are clamoring and they're wanting to just touch him. Just touch him. So already, what appears to be happening is some sort of superstitious, mythical view of Jesus. We just need to touch him. We just, we just need to get, just touch him. He doesn't have to speak to us, and so maybe, so is she coming with this? Maybe. Maybe. But Jesus does not let it rest there. He does something with this woman that is incredible. Not only is it incredible, I think it's absolutely necessary to understand when it comes to salvation. This is what happens. Here she comes. She's had this issue of blood. We don't know what it is. She's been bleeding 12 years. Mark Luke say she's been to physician after physician. She spent all that she's had and she's had it 12 years and she can't be healed again. Notice this is something that is humanly impossible. When you read the Jewish literature, the time and then afterwards. This particular ailment, although we don't know exactly what it was that's happening with her and this issue of bleeding, there were all kinds of things. There were all kinds of superstitious, mystical things, like holding certain things in your hand. There was even something about taking a grain and putting it in the dung of a donkey or something and carrying it around. Just crazy, superstitious things. Now, if you've ever been around superstitious people, you know they kind of get out there, don't they? Right? They just kind of get out there about things. Oh, wow, you know. All kinds of things. She's probably tried all this. She's probably tried doctor after doctor, and now here she comes. And again, it's just like Jarius. Here she comes, and as the text tells us, she's talking within herself. She's talking to herself. And this is what's happening. When Jesus, or verse 20, and again, behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him. She comes up behind him. She's not even gonna come in front of him. Now, again, dead body, touching a dead body, that's a no-no to the law. And here's a woman. in public and a woman with a discharge of blood whatever it is everybody probably would have known about it 12 years public and and maybe they they again they split they don't want to touch her and here she comes up behind she's not coming in front is is there the idea of the defilement from the mosaic law there probably she's defiled she's gonna humbly come she comes from behind him and and and here's what she She does. This is what she says. If I only touch his garment, I will be made well. Now, let me point out one technical thing about the text of Matthew here at this point. Matthew is going to use the word sozo, which is for salvation. And what she says, the words that he puts in her lips is this, if I can only touch him, I'll be saved. It's a little unusual for the other healing accounts where Matthew writes about this. There may be something to that, because Jesus is going to turn around and use the same word with her. So is there something else going on? Not only are you going to be healed, but you're going to be saved. So this is what if I can only touch the hem of her garment. And you notice before that, in verse 20, she had this issue of blood for 12 years, came up behind him, touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, literally, she's talking within herself. She's talking to herself. You ever talk to yourself? You know what they say, this is an old one. I didn't make this one up. So if it bombs, it's not my fault. But you know what they say, it's okay to talk to yourself. You know? What is it about just don't answer yourself? Right? I don't know. We've all had these internal, you know, we're reading the book Spiritual Depression, Lloyd-Jones, and Lloyd-Jones says you better talk to your soul often. You better say to soul, soul, you better listen. You've got to talk to yourself. She's talking. She's in her mind. She's going, I've got to get to him. I must have him. And this and this. And don't you know the internal struggle that was going on? Do I do this? Do I not do this? What are people going to think? What are people not going to think? Are they going to stop me? What's he going to do? What in the world's he going to do? I have no idea if he's going to accept me. I have no idea. What if he just zaps me right there? I don't care. I've got to have him. I don't care what the neighbors say. I don't care what the family says. I don't care what the co-workers say. I don't care what my wife says. I don't care what my husband says. I gotta have him. I don't care what my parents say. I gotta have him. See? It's this that's driving her to him. And so what happens? This conversation going on within herself, I just need to touch the hem of his garment and I will be saved. And Jesus turned. He turns. Now we know from Mark and Luke that as this happens, something, they use a really, really strange phrase. They talk about power going out of Jesus. And they talk about Jesus recognizing power when I, I have no idea what that means. Other than that, he knew something. This is what I think. I don't think Jesus is caught off guard. I don't think Jesus is surprised. I think when he asked the question, it's the same question God asked Adam, where are you? God knew where Adam was. God knew who this woman, or Jesus knew who this woman was. Jesus knew who it was that touched him. He's doing something because he's not going to allow a superstitious touch to stand. You're going to understand it's my grace that healed you. Not the touching of the garment. I think that's what this is all about. He knows. And so the question is not, and he asked the question, you know, this power, whatever, however, whatever that means. And then, you know, it's Peter, Luke says it's Peter who says, come on, man, you see all these people that you're asking us who touched you. These people are touching you. Don't you know, there were hundreds of people that probably had already touched him. And then bam, this one touch. And he goes, who touched me? Come on, listen, I see the sovereignty of God all over this, not chance. This is the sovereign God. So, turns to her. And he looks at her. Picture the scene. He looks at her. Take heart. Be of good courage. And you know what he calls her? Daughter. You see it? He didn't turn to her and say, you filthy woman, how dare you? And looking over at the Pharisees and the scribes, like, oh boy, I better say favor with these guys. They already don't like me. Wink, wink. You dirty woman! He turns to this woman. Her only hope is him, because here she is, 12 years, spent everything in Physicians County. He turns to this woman, and he looks at her, and he says, be of good courage, daughter. You see the affection, you see the compassion, you see the tenderness of the Lord Jesus Christ, turns to her daughter, and then he says to her, your faith has made you well. Now he's gonna use sozo again, he's gonna use salvation, he's gonna use the word for saved here. Is there something more here? Maybe, because it's not normal for Matthew to use this word in these situations where he's talking about healing. But you see the compassion of Christ You see it here. Be of good courage, daughter. Your faith, your faith has saved you. Your faith has made you well. And instantly, the woman was made well. And then we see, as this happens, and then we see what happened with Jarius, right? Luke tells us that as he responds to her, he sort of clears his voice. Luke says he said it in such a way that everybody could hear what he's saying. And Matthew and Luke also add to this account that the woman, when he says, who is it that touched me, the woman realizes she's been found out. She can't just touch the hem of his garment and power go out and heal and her slink away and nobody know about it. She's found out and what she does is she comes and falls before him and she confesses. This is important. She confesses. And in the midst of all that, daughter, your faith is aging. Now I think what he's doing is he's calling her out. He's not about to let some little touch, an unknown touch go out and healing take place in his power and this not be known. And that not be known that it was the faith and grace of a merciful God that saved this woman. Not superstitious myth. This is how it happened. Your faith has saved you. It's not a superstitious touch. It's your faith that has saved you. So here it is, two miracles. Sort of combined in all three accounts, but a little more information in Mark, a little more information in Luke. Common denominator here, a compassionate, gracious savior. Jairus' daughter's healed. The woman healed. This is who he is. See, this is Matthew. He said, this is who he is. He's a real person. I need His touch. You need His touch. Again, I go back to something I said earlier. I must have Jesus. I must have Him. It's not optional. It's not just one way. He is the way. He is not just a Savior. He is the Savior. He's not just a way to have my sins forgiven. He is the only way my sins will ever be forgiven. He's not just a righteousness that I might could add to my otherwise already acquired righteousness to stand before God. He is my only righteousness to stand before a holy and righteous God. That's why I must have Him. Xerxes knew this I must have him this woman knew it. I must have him and And there there is this the saving faith that comes the saving faith not in stories not in a mystic person not in there but the saving faith comes lodges itself deep within the heart a Change of nature change of heart comes lodges itself deep within the heart Go to Romans chapter 10 because I think Romans chapter 10 is a commentary and particularly on what happens to this woman Go to Romans chapter 10. This is what Paul says. Romans 10. Romans 10. Verse five, he says, for Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that a person who does the commandment shall live by them, but righteousness based on faith says do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Verse nine, because if you confess with your mouth You see it? If you confess with your mouth. Now follow it. if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Paul tells us in Corinthians the only way that a person can ever say Jesus is Lord is through the work and influence and the working of the Holy Spirit. The only way a person can ever come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as being King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Savior, the only Savior, is that the Spirit of God changes that heart. That's the only way. So there's a confession, Paul says, that's made with the mouth that Jesus is Lord. What preceded that confession had to have been the working of the Holy Spirit, because no one says he's Lord without the working of the Holy Spirit. And believe in your heart. You see it confession and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Not you might be saved, but you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. In other words, the point is this. He's a real person. I come to him. My faith and trust is in him. The object of my faith, saving faith, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that, as Calvin says, when that has lodged itself deep, when that has worked its way down in the heart, and it grabs me and it grips me, there's going to be confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus calls her out and says, I'm not gonna let you slink away. What you're going to do is you're going to confess. And what does she do? She confesses. The garments, the touching of the garments will not save you. Being religious will not save you. Just doing the spiritual disciplines, as important as they are. But if you're doing them because you think that is somehow you using garments to get to him or make yourself right with him, you've missed it. It is a person. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. who died on a cross, was buried and raised the third day. He died on that cross for my sin, not his. Paid the price, took God's wrath, buried, raised the third day, seated at the right hand of the Father now. It's a person. My faith and trust is in him. And what happens as that happens, that change, and all that happens, repentance and faith come, and it's the Spirit of God who takes me and unites me with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm united with a person. I'm not united with a mystical story. I'm not united with just fluttering memories of some savior that I learned about in childhood in my head. I am united. with the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am one with the Lord Jesus Christ. When we take communion, don't you understand? That's what we're saying. I am one with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a person. Well, how? I go back to this faith, don't I? It all comes back to this faith. It's your faith. It's your faith that saved you. It's not through garments. She had to confess him. She did confess him. He called her out. He's magnifying his grace. He's magnifying his mercy in this situation, not superstition. United with Christ through faith. So here's what I want to close with. And I want to read to you from a book that I just finished reading. Here's the question, because as I'm thinking through this, and I'm thinking about this, and I'm working through this, and I'm going, and then something keeps coming back to me. Because when you talk like this, then there's always someone who says this. Okay, then how much faith? I don't know that I have the faith of this woman. I don't know that I have the faith of Jarius. And if I can't have that much faith to do that kind of thing and to do those, you see those kinds of games, Satan can play those kinds of games with a believer and have you so twisted in thinking that you're not a believer because your faith doesn't match a certain level. I want to read to you something a Puritan wrote. His name is Richard Sibbes. And he wrote this little book called A Bruise Read. And I just finished reading it, through it, Wonderful book. If you're struggling with assurance of salvation, get this. It's wonderful. Matthew chapter 12, where he quotes out of Isaiah, it's the bruised reed. He'll not break the bruised reed. He'll not quench the smoking flax. Now this is what Sibbes says as he closes. This is basically a summary of this whole book. He says, since there is such comfort where there is little truth of grace, that it will be so victorious, let us often try what God has wrought in us, search our good as well as our ill. Listen to this. And be thankful to God for the least measure of grace, more than for any outward thing. I'm not proud that I touched his garment, I'm proud of what he did here. You see? Least measure of grace here. All right now he goes on and he says this it will be of more use and comfort than all this world which passes away and comes to nothing. Yay. Let us be thankful for that promised and assured victory which we may rely on without presumption as Paul does but thanks be to God which give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. See a flame and a spark A tree in a seed, see great things in little beginnings. Look not so much to the beginning as to the perfection. In other words, where it's headed. So we shall be in some degree joyful in ourselves and thankful to Christ. Neither must we reason. Listen to this. Neither must we reason from a denial of great of a great measure of grace. I don't have this woman's. Grace, I don't have this woman's faith, therefore I have none. Civ says no, no, no, no, no. Don't you reason that way? Neither must we reason from a denial of great, a great measure of grace to a denial of any at all in us. For faith and grace do not consist in an indivisible amount. It is what it is. So that he who has not such and such measure has none at all. No, that's not the way God works. But as there is a great difference between a spark and a flame, there is a difference. There's a spark and then there's a flame. So there is a great difference between the least measure of grace and the greatest. There is. Our faith needs to increase, our faith. But we're not talking at this point, he's talking about saving faith. And he who has the least measure is within the compass of God's eternal favor, though he is not a shining light, yet he is a smoking wick. I'll add to what Siv says here, and who started that fire. It wasn't you, it was God. which Christ's tender care will not allow him to quench. The issue is not the amount. The issue is the object. If the object of your faith are stories and sort of mystical, superstitious kind of things, ideas flooding around in your head every now and then that you grab ahold of every now and then, then chances are that's not saving faith that the Bible talks about. But if the object of your faith is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the real Lord Jesus Christ, the one Matthew presents, the one we just saw, raised Jairus' daughter, healed this woman, seated at the right hand of God, the Father now, who is coming back physically, bodily to this earth again, coming back, that the object of your faith? Trust in him, believe in him, you understand I must have him. God started that fire in you and he will not allow it to go out. That's saving faith. Let's pray. Father, I pray. I thank you as we look at our Lord and we see these things, we understand full well. Just we can see the compassion, we can see the mercy, we can understand that and see But I also pray that just through the working of your spirit, Lord, help us look beyond just just story. Look behind. Just thinking, Oh, that's a nice story is. No, look beyond this and see this is who he is. This is what he's doing. This is what he's teaching. This is the one that I believe. I must have. I ask this in his name, amen. Let's stand and sing. I must tell Jesus all of my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress He kindly will help me, He ever loves and cares for His own. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. passionate friend. If I but ask Him, He will deliver, make of my troubles quickly an end. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior, One who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, He all my cares and sorrows will share. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. O how the world to evil allures me! O how my heart is tempted to sin! I must tell Jesus and He will help me, over the world the victory to win. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. He's the only one. That's it. Listen, don't go out of here looking for anything else. It's a danger to look to other things what only Jesus can give you. Call out to him. He's right there. It's a great Savior, isn't he? Great Savior. We're going to have a great lunch too. Uh, and then we're gonna have a great members meeting as well. One of the good things about members means just hear what's going on. You get to hear these other ministers. You get to hear what other groups are doing, and it's great and encouragement to hear. So, uh, they plans to stay, eat lunch and no evening service tonight. Book club four o'clock. David else. Anything else we need to announce this evening? Let's go love him and follow him. Let's say our verse. You haven't noticed the TV. I'm so thankful for that TV because now I don't have to look around the light, and it doesn't get washed out in the back there. And so, Dave, thank you, and Eric, Bob, I think you were involved in putting that up. You got an attic, didn't you? Yeah, in the heat. Didn't have to go up and get it, so. Let's say our verse. James, if you will, when we say our verse, if you'll dismiss us in prayer, okay? Let's say it. Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times, in every way. The Lord be with you all.