Let us turn now to the portion we have read, Gospel according to Mark and chapter five. And reading again in verse 22, looking at these words and their context. And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and when he saw him, he fell at his feet. Notice that Jesus has just returned from the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a township called Decapolis, where He had healed the man who was stricken with the devil. And the devils, the demons, had gone out of legions, he was called, and entered into a herd of swine and into the sea. And the people of the town came out. They saw the man that had been possessed with the demons sitting and in his right mind and clothed properly. And that is we would like to be in our right mind as we hear the gospel, spiritually in the right mind. But the people of the town were annoyed, greatly annoyed at the loss of their swine, and they entreated the Lord that they depart out of their midst. A sad message to give. The man who had been healed wanted to continue with Jesus, but Jesus asked him to go back to his people and tell what the Lord had done for his soul, what the Lord had done for him. And meantime, he himself passed to the other side of the water. came to the area of Capernaum, and there he was met with people who wanted to be around him, not to ask him to depart. And we have the two miracles joined together in this portion of them. woman with the issue of blood, and she had had that issue of blood for 12 years, and also of the Jairus's daughter, 12 years of age, for whom he entreated very sorely of Jesus, telling him that she was at the point of death and asking him to come and lay his hands upon her and assure it that then she would be healed. That is the context. Well, we're going to look particularly at the healing of Jairus' daughter. We're going to look at the faith of Jairus. We're going to look at the way that that faith was strengthened. And we're going to look at the reward or the way that he was comforted in his faith. Faith is something that the Lord always requires of all suppliants who seek to come towards him, to ask of him. It is something that he requires as necessary. To the man who was blind and who sought for sight, he said, believe us though that I am able to do this. the faith that is required. And that faith is required of us whether we come to him for the first time as sinners who have not yet found salvation in him yet, not found justification in him just yet. We come to him for faith, And he will be asking us, believe us though that I am able to give you this. And we must believe that. Or we may be ones who have been on the road for some time and still it's required of us that we have faith for whatever we are asking. as children of faith. Whatever situation is facing us and we're needing the help of the Lord in it, believe us though that I am able to do this for you. Well, we're going to look then at the faith of Jairus. We're going to look at the way that his faith was strengthened and we're going to look at the comfort that was given to him at the last. I'm going to try and apply that to ourselves also as we go along. A word or two then about his faith. It looks as if he was a secret disciple at the time that this episode begins. He was a ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum, a president, as it were, over the synagogue, or as set of synagogues. And you know that these people in that way of life were not generally friends of the gospel. They were mainly Pharisees and it would not be easy for anyone to make a stand openly on the gospel side and retain that post. You have the likes of Joseph of Arimathea who came at the last and made himself openly known as a friend of the gospel, a friend of Christ indeed, and was the one who with Nicodemus did the last offering, did the last posts, last offices for our Savior. So possibly, and I can't put it stronger than that, maybe even probably, He was one who was a secret disciple. His faith was not strong when you compare it with the faith of the Roman centurion. Remember, the Roman centurion came to Jesus and he said, only speak the word. That will be enough for me. My child will be healed on the basis of thy speaking of that word. I myself, he said, am a man with authority. I speak to this man, go and he goeth. And his faith in Jesus was in the truth, in the word. But when you look at this man, he wanted that Jesus should not only speak the word, but that he should come and lay his hand upon the child. He required that there be the physical presence of Jesus before that child could be healed. So his faith was not as strong as that of the Roman centurion. Nevertheless, there was faith there. And where the Lord begins the good work, he continues it. And he didn't rebuke this man For his own, there were times when he did chide, when there was the lack of faith in that sense, that strength of faith, but here, he did not chide at all. He came with them. We read that when he applied to Jesus, Jesus went with them. And in effect, Jesus is saying, I am taking your case to be my own. I am making your difficulty, I'm making it my own. I'm coming to help you. How gracious is the Lord in that case. Perfection we don't have, but looking to him, he receives sinners to himself. Isn't it reason to be thankful also that this faith was found in Capernaum? And you remember there's a portion in Matthew chapter 11 where the Lord speaks of Capernaum as being, well, let's find it. Matthew 11 and about verse 28 or so. He has already spoken of Corazon. He has already spoken of Tyre and Sidon. But then he says in verse 23 it is, and though Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in that day of the day of judgment than for thee. How thankful we should be then that even in Capernaum there was a remnant according to the election of grace, These are things then that are set before us here concerning the faith of this ruler. And as we notice, it was not complete faith, there were blemishes in it, but the Lord had nevertheless taken his case as his own. Let us look secondly at the Lord's strengthening, the Lord's strengthening of Jairus' faith. And the first thing you notice there is that strengthening takes place by testing his faith. And very often that is the way that the Lord works when he's strengthening the faith of his children. Their afflictions, their sufferings, their difficulties that are found in their way, And it's in these difficulties, it's in these testings, that the muscles of faith are to be strengthened, as it were. That is the way he works. Not to afflict them, but to bring them on. To make them to lean more fully upon himself. And the more we are made to lean upon Christ, the more we are being conformed to the likeness that he desires us to be, the more we are being sanctified, and the more we are being sanctified, the more we are being prepared for the house of many mansions. So the testings are not afflictive in a wrong sense. They are afflictive with a good purpose in mind. Now, we see the way that the testings took place in the case of this man. First of all, the Lord has said, I will go with you. But as he went with them, a big crowd began to throng, is the word that's used. They thronged, they crowded, they pressed round Jesus. And indeed, with every minute that was passing in an emergency, Every minute is precious, and he must have felt that test that was in that. That he didn't go immediately to his house, but that there was that delay. Delay that was caused, of course, as the Lord purposed another healing to take place at that time, which is in the context. There was a further test. There was the test of the disciples, the language that was used by them. Verse 23, my little daughter lies at the point of death, I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her that she may be healed and she shall live. And Jesus went with them and much people followed him and thronged him. And a certain woman, and then there's this healing that took place. And you come on to further on in the chapter and Verse 33, while he had spake, there came one from the ruler of the synagogue's house. And they said to him, don't trouble the master any further. Your daughter has died. She had been at the point of death, an imminent death when Jairus had come to the master Jesus first of all, but now these ones come from the house of Jairus' daughter, and they say, she has died, there's nothing you can do about it, don't trouble the master any further. What a test that was. These ones who came, they had probably tried to dissuade him, probably tried to dissuade him from coming to Jesus in the first place. They would have said, what's the point? He's on the point of death anyway. And now here they are and they're coming to him and they're saying, she's dead. It's as if they're saying, you should have listened to us in the first place. It's as if we've proved a point here. And that you find frequently is the case. Unbelief triumphs in its own apparent successes. And what a test that was for this man. And he felt it. And Jesus realized that he felt it. And Jesus said to him, just believe. Come to that more in a minute. And there was another test, and it's implicit in what I've been just saying about them coming to him. She's already dead. And the test here was that Jesus had taken this case to be his own, and now it looks as if he's failed. Looked as if he's taken this case up in his own arms, and this case that he's taken to himself, he's failed in it. The child is dead. And that was the biggest test of all. And it's then that the Lord says, only believe. Well, these were severe tests to the faith of this man. And the Lord encouraged him to continue to believe, I've taken your case upon myself, as it were, continue to believe that I am able to do what I have taken on. Well, faith being tested and faith being strengthened was not the way it was with Abraham. The testing of the faith, the strengthening of the faith, and Abraham glorifying God as his faith clung on in these tests. So this man's faith was being strengthened also, and he was glorifying God in it. Let us look also now at not only the strengthening of his faith, but the encouragement, and very briefly on that, because we've touched on it already. The Lord said to him, to encourage him, only believe. I've taken this on. I am able to do what I have said. My word is in it. And that word, you see, that's what he had failed at the beginning. He wanted more than the word. But Jesus is saying, my word is sufficient. Only believe that truth. Same as you find with Martha, when the Lord said to her, said I not unto thee, if thou would believe, thou shalt see the kingdom of God. Only believe. Believe my word. And thirdly, there is the comforting, the strengthening of this man's faith, a stimulus given to this man's faith. And how did that take place? Well, it took place with a gracious demonstration of the truth of his word. The word that he spoke very clearly to Martha on another occasion, I am the resurrection and the life. Well, it's implicit here. And it's that that is the gracious demonstration of the proof, the truth of that doctrine. The resurrection doctrine. And you know how he took place. He came to the house. He was told that the child was dead and he said, she's not dead, she's sleepers. Well, physically, we believe she was dead, but the Lord was speaking here. And that would seem to indicate that the child was a child of faith, a covenant child. The Lord was saying she is not dead, she's spiritually alive. That's a better way of putting it would be to say, she shall be raised at the last day, the resurrection. She's not dead, but sleeping, because those who die in Christ, they shall live. Yes, their body's in the grave, a bodily death, but they shall rise. The promise is, because he liveth, they shall live also. They are sleeping meantime, but they will rise. The sting has been taken out of death for his own people. And they shall not face a lost eternity. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. And those who die in Christ, it's as if they sleep in the grave, waiting for that Talitha cummi of the resurrection day, the loving care, the loving call of a savior to his people. Well, you have that demonstrated here, just as it was demonstrated through Lazarus being raised in another portion of scripture. The power of that truth, the word, By my word, I raise her up. A gracious demonstration there to encourage, to comfort, to be a stimulus to his faith, that he would go on in the way of faith, trusting in the doctrines of God's word. being led by the Spirit into the truth more and more, that is the way that the child of God must go, looking unto Jesus in his truth, the author, the finisher of faith. These are then truths that are set before us very briefly here today, the strengthening of a faith that was deficient in some ways, Strengthening in the tests. The test when it becomes, when it becomes, when it reaches a point where we are wavering, where we're trembling, and we are, the Lord knows, the Lord knows our weaknesses. The encouragement. I have taken your case on. Only believe, only trust, only lean on myself. And then the demonstration, the comfort, that he gives to comfort, to strengthen further in faith, to encourage to go on. And the child was given back to their parent. And then he said, just to show the truthfulness of this miracle, give her something to eat. And then notice he said to them, Don't go telling this. Don't go speaking about this to others. Wonder why? Probably so that she would not become the center of interest, as it were, where he himself must be that. The glory must always be to him. And if they were to talk much about this miracle, it would be the child who would become the center of attention. It would be the danger of an idolatry developing there. There would be a danger of taking away from the main purpose that we may glorify him and thus enjoy him. Let us pray.