I must confess I love these passages where Jesus gives life to the lifeless. And we have such a passage this morning. Gospel according to Luke chapter 8, verse 40. Luke 8, 40. And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had been waiting for Him. And there came a man named Jairus. And he was an official of the synagogue. And he fell at Jesus' feet and began to implore Him to come to his house. For he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as he went, the crowds were pressing against him. And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind him and touched the fringe or tassel of his cloak. And immediately her hemorrhage stopped. And Jesus said, Who is the one who touched me? And while they were all denying it, Peter said, Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on you. Jesus said, Someone did touch me, for I was aware that power had gone out of me. When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before him and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well, has saved you. Go in peace. Now while he was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, Your daughter has died. Do not trouble the teacher anymore. But when Jesus heard this, he answered him, Do not be afraid. Only believe. Only continue believing, and she will be made well. When he came to the house, he did not allow anyone to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the girl's father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her. But he said, Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep. And they began laughing at him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, Child, arise! And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately, and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed, astounded, astonished, but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened." Lord, we thank You that You've given us Your Word. We thank You for this Word. these demonstrations of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, Lord, that we can look to Him and know that there is nothing that is impossible. That all things can be overcome in Him. So Lord, we pray You will speak to us. Bring this Word to us in power by Your Spirit. In Christ's name, Well Luke has recorded many miraculous works already in his Gospel. In which Jesus demonstrated His almighty power and authority over everything. Over sickness, disease, over demonic beings. And over life and death. We've already seen Him raise a widow's son back to life. We've seen Jesus exercise His power over the natural world and over the spiritual realm. We've seen that Jesus has exercised authority and power over all the consequences of sin and the fall. He's already demonstrated that He has power over all that the fall has brought to man. So chapter 8, Luke recorded, remember two parables. Parable of the sower in which our Lord illustrated the necessity that our hearts be prepared to receive the gospel. And then the parable of the lamp. Jesus called to his people to shine the light of the gospel in the world. Jesus and his disciples then got into a boat to cross over to the eastern side of the Lake of Gennesaret, Sea of Galilee, it's called often. And they departed, and they're sailing along, and Jesus fell asleep. And this fierce gale of wind, really a tornado, descended on the lake. And the boat began to be swamped and in danger. And the disciples came to Jesus and woke Him up. Master, Master, we're perishing. He got up. And what did He do? He spoke to the wind and the waves. He rebuked the wind. He rebuked the waves. And they stopped. They stopped. Became calm. And He did this with just a word. to the storm. Hush, be still. And the storm obeyed Him. The weather obeyed Him. The weather always obeys God. Jesus has authority over the winds, the sea, and the weather. He created all of these things. He created the laws of science that cause them to function. And not only did the wind cease, but remember the water ceased. The waves stopped. Waters became calm. The disciples, just like most in the crowds when Jesus would perform a miracle, were fearful and amazed. Here they are in the presence of divine power and saying to one another, who then is this that even the winds and the water obey Him? So they sailed across to the country of the Gerasenes or Gadarenes. across the lake, came out onto the land. And remember, he was met by this man who was possessed by these demons. He hadn't put on any clothing for a long time, we were told. He was living in the tombs and in the mountains. Mark told us he'd often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been torn apart by him, the shackles broken in pieces. He was screaming in the tombs all night, gashing himself with stones because of these demons. And he sees Jesus as he comes to the shore. And he runs up and bows before him. And the demons who possessed him are speaking through him. And they said to Jesus, What business do we have with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torment me. Don't throw us into the abyss before the time. They asked if they're going to be cast out that he cast them into this herd of swine that was nearby. And Jesus did. And we see, this is so important, we understand this. Satan, his kingdom, his demons are all subject to the power and authority of Jesus Christ. They know they're subject to his authority. Saw them bow before him in fear and plead for mercy. They seem to know. that the Son of God appeared, came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. That's what he did. He came in and this is what Jesus has been demonstrating in these miracles. All that the devil has brought about by the fall of Adam. Jesus came to destroy what the devil had accomplished. To render him powerless to his death and his resurrection. So the demons come out of the man. They go into the herd of the swine. They run down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. We don't hear what happens to the demons after that. But they're spiritual beings. They're not dead. The herdsmen see this. They run away. They go to the town. The people come out and see what happened. They come to Jesus and they find this man now clothed and sitting at Jesus' feet. And they became frightened. Isn't it amazing how every time Jesus performs one of these divine feats, people become frightened? And what did they do? The people of that country of the Gerasenes said to Him, Please leave us. Leave us. They're gripped with great fear. Leave us. This is what we hear in America. Get Jesus out of the way. Jesus got into a boat and returned. Those people did not want Jesus. Think about it. Get away from us. Leave us alone. How many millions are saying this to Jesus today? Gerasenes were in the presence of the majesty of God, shining brightly in Christ, but they chose not to seek what He was bringing. Now what about the man who'd been freed from these demons? He wanted to stay with Jesus. But Jesus sent him out to be a witness to the glory and the grace of God. Return to your house, verse 39, and describe what great things God has done for you. So he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. So Jesus had crossed the lake through this tornado to get to this man, possessed by evil. Possessed by these demons. To free him and then send him out as an evangelist in his own country. And Jesus freed him and then he got back in the boat and crossed back over to Galilee. As he returned, verse 40, the people welcomed him. They welcomed him. They'd all been waiting for Him. Look at the difference in the response to Jesus. It's a fascinating verse. We've seen that Jesus was drawing large crowds wherever He went in Galilee. Here there's a crowd waiting for Him. In the land of the Gerasenes, our Lord had met with a demand that He go away. Now He was being welcomed. by a crowd, a crowd that included an official of the synagogue, probably in Capernaum, who begged him to come to his house because his daughter was dying. It's a synagogue official, a man of some position and rank. These officials had the responsibility for keeping order at the synagogue gatherings. This man's name was Jairus, and as a Galilean, Pretty likely he'd heard about, maybe even witnessed some of the miracles Jesus had performed. He's got a daughter who's dying. So he came to Jesus and like many others, he came to Him faced with a difficulty that only one person in all the world, in all of history could remedy. came to Jesus, and his grief was such that he fell at Jesus' feet, and he begged Him to come to his house. He had an only daughter. She was 12 years old and dying. And Jesus says, sure. And as he went, we're told the crowds were pressing against him. Crowds following him, wanting to be close to him. And whether it was based on faith or on superstition, Jairus believed Jesus had the power to heal his daughter. I mean, where would we go in such a situation? All we can do is get on our knees and go to the same one. Mark tells us, he implored Jesus earnestly. My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her. so that she'll get well and live. Remember the centurion, when his servant was dying, he said, Lord, I'm not worthy. You don't have to come to my house. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. This man's begging Jesus. Not in worship. But he is paying homage to Jesus as a man possessed of great power. Perhaps as a prophet of God as Moses and Elijah and Elisha had been. Doesn't refuse his request. He begins the trip to Jairus' house and this crowd is following him. He's being mobbed by people who desperately want to be close to him. Do you want to be close to him as they did? And one person in particular was seeking to get very close to Jesus. This is a woman who'd had a hemorrhage for how long? Twelve years. Twelve years. The same twelve years that Jiva's daughter had been alive. She had had this uncontrollable hemorrhage. And nobody could heal her. She'd spent all her money on doctors, and none of them could heal her. Now she's broke. She's ceremonially unclean, as we're going to see in a moment. And so she comes up behind Jesus. And in those days, under the laws of Judaism, which we'll look at in a second, they had four tassels that were appended to their cloak, the men. And she come up and touched one of the four tassels. And immediately her hemorrhage stopped. She just touched the tassel, not the cloak, not Jesus, the tassel. Now, I put Mark and Matthew's accounts of these two miracles in your Scripture sheet. And we're not going to spend our time this morning going through the differences between the two and the three, excuse me. But suffice to say, Matthew's account is very brief. It's only nine verses. Luke's is 17 verses, and Mark's is 23. Mark's is the most detailed. And so we will allude to it occasionally here. Why are they different? It's important we understand this. The evangelists were not out there trying to make sure they got their story straight. No. They were like four reporters who attend an event or who later investigate an event, in the case of Luke, and then they write an account of that event. And if you pick up one newspaper, the New York Times, and read that account of the event, and then pick up the Washington Times, and then pick up Newsweek, you're going to get three different versions of the event. Not completely different in terms of the basic facts, but each one will have its own twist on the article, on the event. Each may stress different aspects of the event. So it's not unusual that we would have all three, but little differences in what they saw as important. So as they traveled on the way to Jairus' house, Jesus encounters this woman. Uncontrolled flow of blood, 12 years. Mark says she'd endured much at the hands of these doctors. And all that she had done was get worse. So what's Luke showing us here about this woman? He's showing us that humanly speaking, she was incurable. That's what he wants us to know. And again, not only was she suffering physically, her condition made her ceremonially unclean. And what did that mean in Israel? It meant you couldn't associate with anybody. Couldn't come into the synagogue. Couldn't come into the temple. If anyone touched her or she touched anyone, that person would become ceremonially unclean. And she couldn't just become clean by going down and doing the ritual because the condition didn't stop. She wasn't physically contagious, but she was ceremonially contagious. She's a complete outcast, folks, from her community. A complete outcast. Now Jesus, meanwhile, is dressed in compliance with the law of Judaism. And we see this here in Numbers 15. And I think this is worthwhile reading. Numbers 15, beginning in verse 37. The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations. They shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commands of the Lord." So that was the purpose of these tassels. To remind them of the law of God. "...so as to do the law and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God." I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. So this is why these tassels, four of them. And you read this here in Deuteronomy 22, 12. You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment, which you shall cover yourself. So two of the corners would be thrown back over the shoulders so that two of them hung down the back. Now remember, we read somewhere in the Gospels the Pharisees loved to make these tassels very large and conspicuous in order to display their great compliance with the law. Now this woman, she has faith in Jesus' ability to heal her. She believes He can heal her. I think by now we all understand and would believe Jesus could heal anything because He can. Mark tells us, she thought, if I just touch His garments, I will get well. And in verse 44, in Luke, she came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. And upon touching the fringe of Jesus' cloak, immediately her hemorrhage stopped. When Jesus worked a supernatural work, the cure was always instant, total, and immediate. There were never any of these, let's see if he's going to get better. No. The cure is always immediate. She had the most minimal possible contact with Jesus. The fringe of His cloak. Now we've seen Jesus heal at a distance without even seeing His patient. Without ever meeting them. And now this woman, hemorrhaging blood for 12 years. 12 years. She merely makes contact with a tassel on his cloak, and the hemorrhage stopped immediately, instantly, gone in an instant. Her life completely changed in that moment. Woman's faith in Jesus' healing power was rewarded. Now, the question we're going to have is, was this a saving faith? We have to look to Jesus' words to see. He asked, who touched me? This crowd pressing all around him. Many must have touched him. This woman only touched this tassel. They were all denying it. Peter said, Master, these people are crowding in, pressing in. How are we supposed to know who's touching you? Who touched me? Was Jesus aware who touched his cloak? These questions get a little bit dicey because Jesus is both human and divine. He's omniscient in His divine nature. He's not in His human nature. Did He consciously heal her? Sense the power going out from Him? Well Calvin says yes. It's beyond all question. He drew her to Himself by His Spirit and He knowingly and willingly cured her. Richard Lenski says the same thing. to say that this healing power from Jesus was not of conscious volition on his part is to misunderstand the operation of this power. All miracles, he says, were wrought by Jesus' will. And this would be the majority view of the commentators. It is certain, at a minimum, that Jesus knew that healing power had gone out from Him to somebody. And most believe that he was aware that it was this woman who had touched him. So he puts the question to her, really, who's the one who touched me? He's Jesus. He knows who he's talking to. Why is he doing this? Well, because he wants her to be able to freely and publicly make this known. And she hears these words, who touched me? And she is trembling. She fell down before him and she declared before all the people the reason why she touched him. Told the whole story and how he had immediately healed her. So why did he call her out to this public confession of her healing? There's four reasons we might rely on here. Public testimony, as we do in baptism, is good for the soul and the spirit of the person who makes it. Public testimony is good for the souls and the spirit of those who hear it. We're encouraged when we hear one another's testimonies. God's glorified by genuine public testimonies of His grace. And Jesus wanted the people to know this woman was no longer ceremonially unclean. She should no longer be excluded from the religious and social life in Israel. She should be now welcomed back. He's introducing her back into the community. And he just may have wanted to make certain that the people understood it wasn't her touching His cloak that healed her. No. It was her faith. Daughter, your faith has made you well. That word for made you well is has saved you. Sotzo, go in peace. Daughter, your faith has saved you, has made you well. Go in peace. Touching her was not even the instrument of her healing. Her faith was. And He wants to bring her and the people there to faith in Him. She certainly seemed to have believed that Jesus had the power to heal her. No question about that. But look at Jesus' words again. He calls her daughter, a family name. He told her her faith had made her well. Told her, go in peace. I believe it's a fair inference that Jesus was speaking of the peace that can only come through faith in Him. And as I said, the word for made well here in verse 48, sod so, is more literally saved. It's used about a dozen times in the New Testament for healing from sickness and disease. But it's used four times as many times in the New Testament for saved. used by the angel to Joseph when he said, O the child who is to be born, he will save his people from his sins. Matthew 121. So Jesus' words, Your faith has made you well, may well refer to more than just physical healing. F. F. Bruce goes even farther. The meaning is, You are a saved woman. Well, Jesus' day wasn't done. Now remember, Jairus has come up to Him. Jairus' daughter's dying, and Jesus is stopping to deal with this woman. Come on, Jesus, I need you to hurry. Now here comes this messenger. Someone from the house of the synagogue official of Jairus. And you've got to believe Jairus is frantic this whole time. It's a delay. Who would blame him? And here comes a man from his house. Your daughter's died. Don't trouble the teacher anymore. Now this messenger apparently didn't realize that Jesus has power over life and death. Despite what the messenger said to Jairus, our Lord said to him, Do not be afraid any longer. Only believe. And it's imperfect. Only keep believing. And she will be made well. Now, we see here, Jairus' faith is now going beyond Jesus' power. He must, by faith, accept Christ's promise, His Word, that his daughter will be restored to good health, even though she's now dead. He must continue to believe that she would be made well. Again, a variation of the word sato, that she will be saved. So notice what happens here. Here, Jesus explicitly makes belief a condition of His exercise of His power to heal. He doesn't always do this. He does it here. So now Jairus must believe not only in Jesus' power, but in His Word. Jesus has made him a direct promise. You keep believing and she will be made well. Now Jairus, in hearing this from the messenger, don't trouble the teacher anymore. He doesn't say to Jesus, forget it, she's dead. He still had hope, even though he's got word she's died. And he's got at least some measure of belief that Jesus could bring her back from death. So Jesus comes to the house. He doesn't let anyone go in except Peter and James and John. His inner circle does this three times. Here, the transfiguration. And when He went out to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane before Judas came with the temple police to arrest Jesus. Why these three? Why three at all? Look at Deuteronomy 19.15. single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed. On the evidence of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be confirmed. I think that's the best explanation. Jesus repeated this in terms of church discipline in Matthew 18, 16. If he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses, every matter may be confirmed. That's probably the best explanation for why he takes three witnesses with him. Who would be with him later. Who would write seven books of the New Testament. One who would be the first martyr of the New Testament. They get to the house. And they're all weeping and lamenting for her. And in Israel in those days, you had to have a couple of flute players, minimum. He had to have a wailing woman. They had professional mourners. We don't have this today. But these people would come in and mourn, wail loudly for pay without any actual grief in their hearts. And of course, there's some with grief in their hearts. Genuinely mourning. But the fact that we've got flute players here, as Matthew tells us. And a professional wailing woman tells us she's dead. You know, the gospel writers don't want there to be any question, she was dead. But though she was dead, Jesus doesn't view death as the end. I hope we don't either. Death isn't the end. It's just something we pass through on the way to eternal glory. That's how Jesus looks at it. Jesus has authority over life and death. And the key to eternal glory is faith in Him. So here they are in the funerals going on, the wake. He said, stop weeping. She's not died. She's asleep. Now in the New Testament, asleep is always used for death of a Christian, of a believer. And these professional mourners begin laughing at Jesus. Laughing at Him. Knowing she was dead. Saying she's asleep. Ironically, their laughter ends up confirming the fact that the child had really died. They knew she was dead. That's why they're laughing. Now Jesus puts them all out, Mark tells us. And so now it's just Peter and James and John and the girl's father, Jairus, and his wife, the girl's mother. And they go into the room where the child was. You know, we have to realize, folks, that what is death to people is no more than sleep to Jesus. John 11, verse 11, the story of Lazarus. This He said. And after He said this to them, He said, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of his sleep. Now here's the disciples. They think, Well, he's sleeping. Somebody can wake him up there. No, no, no. If he's fallen asleep, Lord, he'll recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Lazarus is dead. Stephen, same thing in Acts 7, 60. He fell asleep. So for believers, And please make this a part of your whole view of everything. To die physically is no more than sleep. To die physically is no more than sleep. Well, Jesus takes the girl by the hand and says, Talitha cum. Child, arise. Little girl, I say to you, get up. Now Mark here, retains these Aramaic terms. That's where we get talitha koum. Luke translates it into Greek and then it makes its way into English. I think three different commentators wrote this. I don't know whether if they were copying from each other or what. But what they wrote was, at the word of Jesus, death immediately gave up its prey. Child's spirit returned. You see, death, physical death, is merely the separation of our spirit from our body. Spirit of life. The breath of life. Her spirit returned. So she's alive again. She got up immediately. Jesus gave orders for something to be given to her to eat. Her parents are amazed. He says, don't tell anyone. He took her by the hand, but how did He save her? Saved her by His Word. His Word, the same thing by which He calmed the wind. Same thing by which He spoke the worlds into existence. This was a magnificent display of the power of His voice, of His Word. Why? Because He wants to draw men to hear the message of forgiveness in Him. He's got a message that He is speaking, that He came to speak. The power of His spoken Word, though, is such that it reaches even to the dead. And it exerts a life-giving influence on death itself. Nobody else can do this. Nobody. Only God. Only Christ. Her spirit returned because He commanded her spirit to return. It says He commanded the evil spirits to depart from that poor man in the land of the Gerasenes. Her spirit, separated from her body, obeyed His command. Both Mark and Luke record Jesus brought her back to life by speaking to her. Just as He had the winds in the sea. And when He spoke to her, the girl got up. And her cure was total. It was instant. And He said, get her something to eat. She's probably hungry after being dead for a while. After being sick and dying. Girl's parents amazed, astonished. Don't tell anyone. I do believe he wants to draw people by his message, not by his power. His power is there to authenticate the words of the gospel that he sent by God. He's not looking to draw people who will align themselves with his power. He wasn't there to take over the Holy Land, to conquer Rome, to free the Jews from Roman oppression. When they saw His power, that certainly would have been what some of them thought. And even though Jesus said, don't tell anyone, the news, Matthew says, spread throughout all that land. Now how is that going to be kept quiet? All these witnesses. Everybody heard about Jesus. This kind of news could not be contained. First thing we want to realize here. Faith is not always a necessity before Jesus performed a miracle. Sometimes people had faith. Sometimes people didn't. In this case, Jairus' faith. He believed what Jesus said, and his daughter was healed. And everyone who believes in Jesus' authority over physical ailments and diseases doesn't receive a miraculous healing. Remember what these illnesses, diseases, trials, and troubles of this life are. They're suffering, sharing in His suffering to refine us, to test us. And again, let's be mindful, let's never forget, the main purpose of Jesus' miracles was to authenticate Him as the Son of God in human flesh. To authenticate His message of forgiveness of sins. While we're looking at all of these incredible things, what matters is forgiveness of sins. That woman with the hemorrhage appears to have received that forgiveness. Jairus believed Jesus. And I believe he received that forgiveness. An eternal life through faith in Him. Are some still healed today? There's a lot of testimonies of such healings. So there is evidence they do occur, but nobody is sent out by Christ as a healer. He's the healer. And He might work through the prayers of men and women. But we can't lose sight. The greatest miracle we see today is the healing of spiritual blindness. We can be in perfect health and spend eternity in hell. What we need is healing for our spiritual blindness. I was blind but now I see. We need cleansing, not of a hemorrhage of blood. We need a cleansing of our sin. Those people in the Gerasenes told Jesus, get away from us. These people in Galilee came to Jesus. They came to Jesus on their knees. And if you come to Him and confess your sins to Him and your need of His forgiveness and of His righteousness, He will heal you. He will heal you of your spiritual blindness, and He'll cleanse you of your sin. That's the picture I believe we have here. He may or may not heal your physical ailment, but He will heal your spiritual condition and save you from eternal fire. We see it again this morning. Jesus is the hope of the hopeless. He showed it in restoring the demoniac, in healing this woman who was beyond being cured. And He rewarded the faith of Jairus, who was told by a messenger, don't bother him, it's too late. Why did Jesus come? Why did He come? He came to seek and to save those who are lost in sin. Those who come to Him not for a demonstration of His power, but for forgiveness of their sins. Not merely a belief in His power, but belief in Him. Belief in the message He preached. We should know, folks, belief only in His power will not save you. The demons believe, and they shudder. Belief in His righteousness, in His death as the atonement for your sins, and His conquering of death on the third day when He rose. That's the faith that saves. And it's expressed in a life of obedience to Him. In these two healings, Jesus illustrates that faith is the instrument of spiritual cleansing and that faith is the instrument of new spiritual life. That's what I believe we see here. And it's that cleansing and that new life that every man so desperately needs. And for that cleansing and for eternal life, like Jairus and this tormented woman, one must come to Him. You can't be like the Gerasenes. You can't be like those people trying to drive Jesus out of the classroom. No, you must come to Him like these people in their great distress. And once you come to Him, I trust that's why you're all here, because you have come to Him. You must cling to Him. Don't let go of Him. Jairus didn't let go, even when it looked even more hopeless than when he started. He held on. Why? Because like Abraham, he believed Jesus. He believed Jesus. And he clung to Jesus. So like Jairus, we must keep on believing no matter what. Let us pray. O Lord, I pray that You've brought this Word to us in Your power, that we've heard You, that we see Your glory, that You've, by this Word, equipped us, Lord, to be effective stewards, effective witnesses of Your grace May we, Lord, by Your working in us, go out into our communities, as You sent the demoniac into his, as witnesses of Your glory. And may Your church finally become what You've called it to be, a shining city on a hill, in Christ's name.