Do Not Fear, Only Believe

Introduction

And good evening once again. Appreciate everyone coming back out for another hour of study tonight. And once again, just want to express my thanks for the invitation to be here. It is like 5 08. So I don’t normally preach that long. And I’ve got a lot more time than I’m used to tonight. So I’m just gonna add a couple of other introductory remarks. Number one is failed to mention this morning that my wife and my two younger kids are not here with me. Many of you have asked about Amber and the kids, and of course, the plan was for them to be here today, but the two littles, Aubrey and Jack, were sick, have been sick and over the last few days, and kind of kept her up all night last night.

And so she decided to stay home today. She misses you, sends her regards, and I’ll certainly let her know of all of you that have asked about her. And hopefully, we’ll see. Maybe they might be able to make it one night this week. But it’s kind of late. I’m planning on going home each night since we’re only 45 minutes away, so we’ll see about that. The other thing I wanted to say is that it’s a little bit odd being here, and Sean and Teresa not being here, and so since he’s not here, I’m gonna poke a little fun at him. and hopefully it’ll get back to him. No, I was really shocked, right, when I heard that they were moving to Tennessee, which I’m honestly a little jealous.

I always long for cooler weather, especially having lived in the Seattle, Washington area for five years. and with all the back and forth they’re doing, I was like, hey Sean, you know, if you need a ride, I have an airplane. I can help you out. I can get you there in like half the time. and then he was like, Well, how much? I was like, well, probably not gonna be very cost effective. and then, of course, the other problems are number one, I can’t fit a cow in my airplane. So, not really very helpful in regards to that. And number two, with all the luck that Sean has with his vehicles, I would probably crash my plane.

And so I don’t want to risk that either. But I do hope to fly up there sometime and see him. We were very close to them when they were here. And of course, when we were kind of just getting started, we lived in the cabin for a month or so, as many of many other people have at different times, and we’re at the receiving end of their generosity. And so love them, appreciate them, and miss them. I’m sure you all do too as well. You would open your Bibles to Mark chapter five, and we’re gonna be studying from there this evening, backing up a little bit from where we were this morning in chapter seven and eight. I struggled a little bit with trying to figure out where exactly I wanted to start with this series of lessons and what all to include and not include and what got left on the cutting room floor was it was definitely a little bit of a process.

So this evening, because I do have a little bit more time, you’re gonna get sort of a three and one, if you will. and really the it was gonna be a two for one, but this afternoon I’m looking at it going, I can’t, I just can’t, I can I can work a little bit of this extra in here. So we’re gonna look at the entire chapter of chapter five, and there are three different stories that happened, three different miracles that occur in this one chapter. And as we talked about this morning, we talked about how Jesus went about working all these miracles in order to prove who he was, to prove that he was the Messiah, the Son of God. And he used the miracles of bringing sight to the blind, of opening the ears of the deaf, of making the lame to walk again to prove that.

And that showed that he had power over our physical bodies. But it wasn’t just that power over the body that Jesus wanted to show. There are a lot of other ways, areas in which he showed he had power over. Some of those things were nature. Backing up to chapter 4, which we’re not going to look at, but in chapter 4, he calms the storm. He proved that he had power over nature. He proved that he had power over the law. That he was the creator, the writer of the law, and therefore understood it, understood its intent better than we did. And indeed in Matthew chapter 12, verses 1 through 8, he proves that he is Lord over even the Sabbath. There, Jesus that says there was going through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and of course, his disciples were plucking the heads of grains.

The Pharisees, of course, are indignant about this, and say, you know, they’re doing what’s not lawful for them to do. And he says, Well, have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who are with him? And he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor those with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And if you know what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

He proved that he had power greater than some anything that they had ever seen before. And not only did he have power over those things, he also had power over spiritual things, even the demons. And that’s what we’re going to read about here in the beginning of Mark chapter five.

1. Jesus' Power Over Uncleanness

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Garosens. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said, What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me. And of course, this is the demons really taking over and speaking to Jesus here. For he was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And Jesus asked him, What is your name? He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many. And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. And now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, Send us to the pigs, let us enter them. So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank and into the sea and drowned in the sea.

And the herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion sitting there clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs, and they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him, and he did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the decapits how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone marveled.

The tombs. Might as well have been dead. Right? And what else does it say that he was bound, and yet he would break the chains apart, and no one could subdue him anymore. This man was so possessed that he had superhuman strength. It dominated him. And that’s representative of what sin really does to mankind. It mars, it separates, it dominates, it renders one unclean. It kills.

And you also note where do those demons go? Into the pigs, which were unclean. And so this story is demonstrating Jesus’ power over uncleanness. Here is a man who is as good as dead, and yet Jesus brings him life. Here is a man who people tried to bind and subdue, and yet the one who had the power to subdue him didn’t subdue him. What did he do? Jesus freed him instead. He freed him from the bondage not of chains, but of his possession. And I find a really beautiful irony there. And that’s something I think that we’re really supposed to get from this text is that is representative of what sin does and what Jesus is able to do. He sets us free from that which binds us.

And finally, I want us to note here that the people who hear this story, there is a very stark and important contrast between their response and the responses that we’re going to see in the next two stories in this chapter. Again, I think that’s there for a reason. The people, you would think, wow, right? Most of the time, when people hear Jesus’ miracles, see them with their own eyes, and they or they hear it firsthand from someone that experienced it, they are marveling. They are amazed. They want Jesus to come and heal their sick as well. But here, what is their reaction? They begged him to leave. And why did they beg him to leave? Because they were afraid. They were afraid. And they begged him to depart from their region.

2. Jairus, a Ruler of the Synagogue

Fear can have two very different responses. It can lead us to do the right thing or it can lead us to do the wrong thing. And we’re going to see here in this text two different responses. Some who do the wrong thing and some who do the right thing. So keep that in mind as we continue on in our study this evening. So Jesus, after all this, says, okay, well, if you want me to leave, that’s fine. I’ll leave. He didn’t have to do that, but he did. And so he, after having crossed the sea in the boat and is tired, he’s really seeking somewhere to get some rest, to get a respite, because he is tired. Right? He’s constantly got people around him. He never has a break, never even really has time to eat.

And so he throughout Mark, you know, he’s constantly getting in the boat and going across the sea. He goes across. Now he’s going to go back. And it says here in verse 21. When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Again, I think we don’t really appreciate that enough. Just how Jesus was exhausted. And yet he never said no. He always had compassion on the people. Wanted to heal them, wanted to teach them. And it says that then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. And he went with him. So as soon as Jesus gets off the boat, here comes this ruler, pleading for help, just as so many others do in these passages, these chapters in Mark. And in this case, he has a little girl, and the little girl is at the point of death. And the man correctly believes that Jesus can heal her. And of course, his request is that, oh, well, Jesus, come and lay your hands on her.

And Jesus, of course, is going to do his bidding. And that indicates that he really did have a true belief and sincerity in Jesus and who he was and what he could do. But I think it’s also important for us to note here this man’s position. It says that he was a ruler of the synagogue. This was not just some random guy. It wasn’t some layperson Jew, if you will. It was a very important man with a title. He was the ruler of the synagogue. He would have been presiding over the affairs of the synagogue, organizing, teaching. Most of these men were Pharisees. The Greek term here is Archa Synagogos, which is something that is, you know, means to be over the synagogue. And it’s an inscription that’s actually found in many places in Palestine and throughout the Roman world.

And so this is a position of importance. And this position would have very likely been a factor that would have discouraged him from going to Jesus. Why? Because if the other Pharisees saw him doing this, they would have very well stripped him of his position, maybe kicked him out of the synagogue entirely. But knowing what was at stake and having this faith in Jesus, he went anyway. In which one of us, of course, wouldn’t do anything we possibly could to help our sick child, which one of us wouldn’t give our own life to keep a child from death. And so I think we can all relate to what Jairus is feeling at this point. And his statement of belief in Jesus that if he just lays his hands on her, that she would be made well is indicative of a very strong faith.

3. The Woman With a Flow of Blood

And so Jesus begins to go with them. But as they are going, this crowd is walking with them, thronging about him. And before he even makes it there, Jesus performs yet a third miracle. Although second in order here, of course, in the chapter, not necessarily of choice, but of happenstance, as he is met by this woman with a flow of blood. So let’s continue reading in verse 24.

And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well. And immediately, notice that’s Mark’s favorite word, by the way, immediately. If you read the gospel of Mark, you will read the word immediately a lot. Immediately, but again, not without reason, right? That we understand how instant that the power of Jesus was so great that these healings were not gradual, except for when he did it on purpose, like he did this morning with the blind man.

Immediately the flow of blood dried up. And Jesus, perceiving in himself the power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, Who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. So, as we look here at the story of this woman with the flow of blood, we need to understand, number one, her condition.

This flow, this discharge of blood, had been going on, and of course, I think we all understand kind of what that means. This was something that was uncontrollable. It was something that would have probably rendered her very weak. And she had suffered much under many physicians. Whatever they were doing was not only not helping, it was seemingly painful. I mean, you can imagine first century medicine, probably not what it is today. And thirdly, it says that she had spent all that she had. So it seems once again, not much has changed when it comes to medical care. But instead, she grew worse. Nothing is helping. This is something she could die from. She is helpless and hopeless, but for Jesus. Again, we find someone at the point of desperation.

And the last thing I want us to note about this is that her condition would have left her, like the demon-possessed man, ceremonially unclean. Now, again, to the Pharisee, they’re going, well, if you’re unclean, I’m not having anything to do with you. I’m not going near you, I’m not going to touch you, I’m not going to talk to you. You are an outcast. Get away from me. But consistently through the gospels, what do we see Jesus doing? We see him going to the undesirable. See, we see him going to the unclean and saying, I’m not going to let that be an issue. In fact, I am powerful to overcome that uncleanness. In Leviticus chapter 15, verses 25 through 30, and I’m not going to read that, but that’s where it is.

That’s the passage that describes how this person would have been ceremonially unclean. You cannot go into the temple. You can’t worship, you can’t be around other people. And so here is a woman who is not just desperate, not just helpless and hopeless, but lonely, an outcast because of her condition. She’s not even aware to be made in public. And so you think about the risk that she is taking. Not only is Jairus taking a risk, right? But this woman is also taking a risk. By going into this crowd, she is breaking the law, so to speak. By touching other people, she is breaking the law, making all these other people unclean. The Pharisees would have looked upon her and called her a sinner. And yet, what does Jesus say?

He says, daughter, your faith has made you well. By touching Jesus’ garment, she technically renders him unclean. But just as Jesus is greater than the Sabbath, he is also greater than any purity law. So that’s his prerogative as the creator. And instead of being made unclean, he makes her clean by his power. Just as he did with the demon-possessed man. And so I want us to think a moment about this woman’s faith. And there are different levels of faith, right? And that’s okay. I think one of the things that we’re supposed to see here is that Jesus meets us where we are. There are some earlier in the chapter, they didn’t have faith. They have a leave. He said, Fine. The man, Jairus, comes to him and says, I want you to lay your hands on my daughter.

He says, Fine. And then this woman says, I don’t even want to talk to him. I don’t need to talk to him. If I just touched the hem of his garment, I would be made clean. And guess what? That works too. It didn’t matter. There were different levels of faith. And yet both of them believe correctly that Jesus had the power to meet their needs. And so she makes a plan. She hears that Jesus is coming, so she figures if I can just make my way through this crowd, if I can just get close enough, I can touch the hem of his garment.

I don’t want to even have to talk to him. I just need to touch the hem of his garment. What an amazing example of faith. Most people want to have a conversation with Jesus, right? They think, well, you know, like Jairus. Well, they need to lay his hands, or he needs to say some word. And I’m reminded of the story of Naaman and Elisha, right? And Naaman, the leper wants Elisha to come out and make this grand presentation and you know, just this big act to be healed of his leprosy. And of course, it takes the servant girl saying, Well, why don’t you just go do what he says, you know. It doesn’t have to be some big show. But what Jesus shows us here is that he’s going to meet us where we are.

And sometimes we don’t need everything that we think that we do. And so this woman, as soon as she touches his garment, is healed. Despite her feelings of unworthiness. And that’s what I think that’s really interesting about that is right, it’s not. She had faith, but she also felt unworthy to come to him. And I think sometimes we maybe feel the same way. Note that like Jairus, she went to Jesus. A lot of times we think that God should come to us, right? And do all the work. And there are different reactions. Sometimes we want it one way, right? We think God should come to us and do all the work, but we cannot forget the human element as well. We cannot forget that sometimes God wants us to show our faith by our works.

But we have to go to him. There’s always effort that has to be made on man’s part. And when this woman goes to Jesus, we see that she felt unworthy. And so sometimes I think that’s where we are. Sometimes we’re we’re, well, I want God to come to me, but sometimes it’s well, I’m afraid to go to God. And we all have to kind of do that self-examination and see where we are. But never ever think that we are too unworthy to go to him in prayer. And never ever think that he won’t meet us where we are. And soon as she does this, what does it say? Immediately, the power went out from him, and Jesus perceived this. Whatever it was, some physical sensation, Jesus knew what was going on.

And he feels the power, he senses it in himself. And he asks, who touched me? And of course, the disciples are somewhat incredulous. Well, you’re in a crowd of who knows how many, probably hundreds of people. Everyone’s touching you. And yet you want to know someone’s like, this is this is impossible. Again, we’re seeing the disciples beset by small-mindedness and a lack of faith. But it’s not just that he had been touched, right? It’s the fact that he’d been touched by someone who had faith to heal. And upon hearing Jesus asking, who touched me? The woman builds up some courage and she comes to Jesus and trembling in fear. It says that she fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And I wonder sometimes, why is she so fearful here?

Sorry, got a little behind it. Why is she so fearful? Maybe she thinks Jesus is mad at me. Maybe she thinks I did something wrong. I went through this crowd, I made all these people unclean. Maybe I made Jesus unclean, and he’s going to reprimand me for that. But I think it’s also possible. I mean, that may be the answer, right? She thinks she’s in trouble. But I think it’s also possible that she is trembling in a godly fear in the presence of the one who just healed her because she understands who he is. There is a proper reverence and awe fear that we talk about in the Bible. The word here that is used in the Greek can be rendered to be afraid, but it also can be rendered to feel awe or reverence at the powerful presence of the God who has healed her.

And she knows she cannot hide the truth. Because he already knows it. And so she tells him everything, which testifies to her confidence and sincere gratitude toward Jesus. And what does Jesus say? He says, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease. I think it’s really important that we understand. It was not her works that made her well. It was her faith. Yes, she had to go to Jesus, but it was Jesus’ power going to her that made her well. It was her faith. And Jesus here brings peace to a very troubled heart. Again, as with so many of these miracles, Jesus brings someone who had been an outcast back into civilized society. Someone who had been on the fringes of the crowd now finds themselves welcomed into the family of God.

4. Your Faith Has Saved You

And what is Jesus saying there when he says it? I think it’s a double meaning. He’s not just saying, yet your faith has healed you of your disease. I think he is also saying, your faith has saved you. Both physically and spiritually. The Greek word here, sozo, can mean either heal or save. Right? Jesus is saving both her life and her soul. It could also be rendered here, your faith has saved you. Not just made you well, it has saved you.

The woman’s faith in Jesus for physical healing at the same time becomes faith in him for salvation from sin. And so she shows that it is faith that saves. Being a daughter of Abraham through faith rather than through lineage, is what brings someone into the relationship and family of God. Again, Jesus, overcoming uncleanness and disease, is representative of his ability to overcome the uncleanness and disease of sin and to save completely from it.

5. Do Not Fear, Only Believe

And while he was speaking still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not fear. Only believe. And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John and the brother of James. And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Taletha, kumai, which means, little girl, I say to you, arise. And immediately the girl got up and began walking. For she was twelve years of age, and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. First thing that these people come and they say is, why? Basically, why bother? I’m sorry she’s dead. Why trouble the teacher? I want us to note here the stark contrast in the narrative. It goes from, daughter, your faith has saved you, your faith has made you well. This wonderful high of someone being healed and saved, to this ultimate low of you just lost a child.

In one instance, the life is saved, in the other, the next a life is lost. What could the teacher do? And really, you know, we can’t blame him for losing hope at this point, believing that they are too late, believing like Martha in John 11 21, when she said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died about Lazarus. These folks certainly may have believed that Jesus could heal from sickness and disease, but they certainly did not believe at this point, for whatever reason that he could raise her from the dead. They didn’t believe that.

But Jesus encourages him and says, Do not fear, only believe. Clearly, there’s some here in the crowd whose faith is not where it should be. It didn’t even occur to them that this is possible. And I think, again, something that for us to see here is that oftentimes we feel like our problems are either too big or too small to bother the teacher. And Jesus is showing us that there is no problem too big for him to solve. And so we do not need to hesitate to go to him, no matter the problem. And what is Jesus’ response? Do not fear, only believe. No problem is too big. Because he is not just a teacher, right? That’s part of the problem. Is it because, oh, rabbi, oh yeah, teacher, don’t bother the teacher.

They didn’t see. They didn’t understand who Jesus was. He wasn’t just a teacher. He wasn’t just a prophet. He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the creator, and more importantly, the life giver, the one with the power to raise the dead. Again, Jesus defines faith as the antidote to fear. In chapter 4 and verse 40, when the disciples are in the boat with him on the Sea of Galilee and they’re in the midst of this storm, he tells the disciples the same thing in the face of that storm. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? Here they are in the presence of Jesus, and they are scared to death. And he’s saying, What is wrong with you? In 1 John 4 18, John writes, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

What Jesus is trying to get Jairus to believe here, what Mark is trying to get us to see in reading this story is that there is no room for fear in the heart and life and the mind of the Christian. No room for it. Only belief. And that’s the supreme challenge for Jairus. How far is your faith willing to go? It’s one thing to believe that Jesus can heal. It’s another thing entirely to believe that he can raise from the dead. And Jesus encourages him to believe that he is able to do the impossible. So what about us? Do we fear? I mean, you look around in the world right now, and there’s a lot of people very afraid. And Jesus says, don’t fear, have faith.

The Christian whose hope is in the resurrection of the dead does not have fear. We cannot fear death. We can’t fear anything really that’s going on around us. And that’s what the media wants us to do, right? They want us to be in a panic. They want us to look around at everything that’s going on and to be afraid. And Jesus doesn’t want us to do that. Jesus doesn’t want us to be afraid. Jesus wants us to have faith. Do not fear. Only believe.

6. Little Girl, I Say to You, Arise

Now, obviously, this is a figurative statement. The child was dead. I mean, there’s no doubt in my mind that was the true situation. She died. She stopped breathing. Her heart stopped. That just makes the miracle all that more amazing. This becomes not just a healing, it becomes a resurrection. One of very few in the entire Bible. And they arrive at the house, and there is great commotion and there’s weeping, and that’s natural given the situation, but exacerbated by the fact that it’s a child. And amid this morning, Jesus proclaims this. She’s not dead, she’s just sleeping. And of course, there’s mocking and laughing that takes place because they’re not stupid. They know. They saw her take her last breath.

And of course, they take this statement literally, supposing that Jesus cannot accept the reality of death, but Jesus obviously knows something that they don’t know. From Jesus’ viewpoint, her real death is but sleep. It is only momentary. It is a very small obstacle for Jesus to overcome. But isn’t that what people do? Right? They look at the Christian, they look at the Bible and they look at the things that we are told to do and to believe, and they mock. And they laugh. They laugh either at Jesus or at the Christian who believes in them. Because to the world, a dead Jew who rose from the dead is but a historical fallacy. It is foolishness. It is fable. And as we read from this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses I’m going to look at verses 18 through 25 this evening.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. That’s what Jesus’ word here was. It was foolishness. Of course she’s not sleeping, you fool. She’s dead. But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. To this little girl, to Jairus, Jesus’ words were the power of God unto salvation. For as it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning, I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the foolish made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not go, know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

For Jews demand signs. Talked about that this morning, and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. That’s what we’re called to believe in. We are called to believe in Christ, who is the very power and wisdom of God. And such is the nature of God’s power. That when we die, we are not dead, but merely sleeping.

The power to make a great nation out of a man and his wife who were barren and as good as dead. The power to bring people out of captivity and give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the power to make a shepherd boy, the youngest of his brothers, the king, and to give him victory over a giant, the power to bring a displaced people once again out of their captivity and back to their own lands, the power to overcome nature and uncleanness and sin and death. The power to take a world that is overcome by the evil one and release them from his grasp and deliver them to the Father. That is the power and the wisdom of God. So what does Jesus do?

He puts out the unbelieving. He puts out everyone but the parents and Peter and James and John, and he brings them in and he says to her, little girl, I say to you, arise. He takes her by the hand. Again, Jesus touch. Physical touch makes him ceremonially unclean. According to the law, you touch a dead body, you are unclean. But Jesus says, No. It is not so with me, because I am the creator, I am God. I can overcome it. It has no power over me. And he overcomes her uncleanness and he brings her back to life. I say to you, little girl, arise. These two simple words in the Aramaic. And immediately the girl got up and began walking in the earth, filled with amazement as what?

As she is delivered to her Father. Again, such is the power of Jesus. He is able to immediately give life even to the dead. To him, it’s as simple as waking someone from their sleep. And indeed, that’s the message for all of us. No, we are not dead. That’s what Satan wants us to believe. That’s where he wants us to stay.

Conclusion

And yet Christ has demonstrated his power over our death, over our sins and trespasses. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 7, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, what does he do? He made us alive together with Christ. He overcomes our uncleanness. Each of us has our own resurrection. Just like this little girl. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Is it any different with these people in this story? It’s no different. They are saved by Jesus Christ through their faith in him.

And he calls us to the same thing.

If we have faith in him, death is only temporary. We are only sleeping. And he says to us, little child, arise. Come out of your sins, and rise to walk in newness of life and cleanliness and holiness and righteousness and power and life. And that resurrection is ours if we do not fear. Only believe. Do not fear what man can do. Do not fear what this world may bring. Have faith and believe in the power and protection of the one who holds it all in his hands. If there’s anyone here tonight that needs to respond to the gospel, that Jesus can raise you from the dead, he can forgive you of your sins. We ask you to come forward now while we stand and while we sing.