Go ahead and have a seat, everyone. Who was that red headed girl that just got baptized? That's my girl right there. Right? My grandpa was known as Big Red when he played college basketball. Christa has got some siblings with red hair, and God gave us this gift of this girl, Emma. Let me tell you, there's no greater joy than to see your kids living for Jesus Christ. Right? And let me just say that I'm feeling like peak church experience right now as a dad.
So, I want to tell you a story about a dad who thought his girl was going to die, polar opposite experience, and this dad is going to come and he's going to beg Jesus for the life of his little girl. That's the story we're about to study, and I'm glad you're here to study it, because you could be a rebel out there, talking to demons, or you could be the pastor's daughter trying to prove to everybody you're a good, good kid. It doesn't matter who you are. We all need to be saved by Jesus. Okay? And here's the thing, if you open with me to Mark 5:21, they're showing us that contrast. Mark is skillfully taking two different stories, and he's interweaving them as one. And he's going to show you the guy who's actually the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, the dad, the well-respected man, the guy who seems like a good guy. And then he's going to show you this woman. And this woman has a bloody discharge that makes her unclean, and she's spent all her money on medicine, and it hasn't helped her. She's socially outcast. She's poor. You’ve got the well-to-do guy who's in charge of the synagogue and the poor, socially outcast woman, and they're both coming to Jesus because they need to be saved. And the way that Mark does this, we call it a sandwich, where he starts with one story, intersects it with another story, and then he finishes the first story, two stories, but they make one point. This is so beautiful how Mark does it that I think Matthew chose to do it Mark's way. Luke chose to do it Mark's way, because the way that Mark writes this, if you can see the intersection of this desperate dad begging Jesus for His twelve-year-old girl, and then this woman who's been in chronic pain and disease for twelve years. And now here they both come because they need Jesus to save them. So, I want you to see who Jesus is and what he does for these people. I want to invite you to stand up and read with me. Mark 5:21-43, so it's a longer text, but it's because it's these two stories coming together as one. And so, please follow along. Pay close attention, because you need to see what Jesus can do for you. He's either already done it and you can worship him for it, or he needs to do it this very day. Please follow along as I read Mark 5:21-43.
And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 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.” 24 And he went with him.
And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had 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 the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that 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.” While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing[a] 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 the brother of James. 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, “Talitha cumi,” 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.
That's the reading of God's word. Please go ahead, grab your seat. There is in your bulletin a handout, if you want to take some notes on what this passage is all about. Such a long passage, we couldn't even fit it all there on your handout. We're going to see four things from these verses, and the key that you got to see is the skillful way that Mark does this. A lot of people act like Mark wasn't the best writer of the gospel. No, this is our eighteenth time as a church opening up to Mark. I see the master storytelling that Mark is doing, because Jairus, when he comes here in verses 22 and 23 and he falls down at the feet of Jesus. I mean, just picture a dad. And it's not hard for me to picture this, a dad begging Jesus for the life of his twelve-year-old girl. Okay. I mean, if you're a parent, I'm asking you to feel it right now, if something were to happen to your kid, some parents at our church have had this horrible experience where you are now begging for the life of your child. And so Jairus, he's well respected. He's well to do. He is on his knees before Jesus and pay attention to what Jairus says. And he says, “My little daughter,” in verse 23 he's begging, “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.” So Mark has this desperate dad saying, you’ve got to come touch my daughter so that she may be made well. Then he immediately takes us to this woman with her twelve-year disease, and so now she's pressing into the crowd. This poor, socially outcast, sickly woman is now going right into where all the people are, pushing her way through, because she thinks, if I could just touch Jesus, I would be. Look what she says in verse 28; it tells us what she was saying to herself, “If I touch even his garments, I will be” what, everybody?
Do you see how two completely different people, both coming to Jesus at the same place at the same time because they want. What he wants his daughter to be made well. And this woman, after twelve years of chronic pain and bleeding, wants to be made well. So, see how Mark does that. He's not just telling you two stories. He's literally bringing both points to the same word. And here's the thing, in the Greek, it's really you could translate it made well, like they do, or you could translate it save. It's this Greek word sozo, like he's saying, you need to save my daughter. If I could just touch him, I will be saved is what they're saying. They know that Jesus is the one who can save them, and they are desperate, so they are coming to Jesus, both of them probably doing things they wouldn't normally do. This guy wasn't used to getting down on his knees and begging, and she wasn't used to pressing into a massive crowd of people, but they did it because they were desperate and they needed to be saved, and so they came to Jesus.
Let's get that down for point number one, if you do want to take notes, you need to: “See Jesus as the Savior you need.” You need to see Jesus as the Savior you need. And really the reason he is named Jesus, according to Matthew, chapter 1, verse 21, wasn't just like they thought the name Jesus sounded nice when they went through the book of baby names, they gave him the name of Jesus because he came to save his people from their what? Sins. And this is a big problem for you. This is a big problem for me. It doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, who your parents are, or how you have lived your life. If Jesus doesn't save you from your sin, you will die in your sin. You will be judged in your sin, and it will be terrible. You desperately need Jesus to save you. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? Okay? You could be a good kid. You could be a hell-yes kid, you could be somewhere in between, but it doesn't matter. You need Jesus to save you from your sins.
Have you ever felt desperate about that? Did it ever feel like I need to talk to somebody about this right now? I'm going to do something like I've never done before. I'm going to admit something I've never admitted before, as I've ever felt like that to you. You either need to have a memory of desperation or today needs to be your desperate day. Please don't wait till someone you love is about to die to get desperate for Jesus. Please don't wait till you have to get sick and you get near to death. To get desperate for Jesus, you don't have to wait for your circumstances to get bad. You get desperate, you can hear this story, and you can believe in Jesus this very day. That's the point. That's why we come here. Faith comes by what, everybody? Hearing the word of Christ. And so, it doesn't matter whether you got you're the guy who runs the synagogue, or whether you're the lady that nobody wants to be around because of this bloody disease. It doesn't matter who you are. Come to Jesus. He is the Savior. According to Acts, chapter 4, Acts 4:12. “There is only one name given among men under heaven by which we can be saved.” There's only one savior. Don't put your hope in some other religion. Don't put your hope in some other person, there is only one who was named Jesus because he's the one who can save people from their sins.
Now, this Greek word isn't always used about spiritual salvation from our sin. Sometimes it's used about people getting healed from diseases. I remember when Paul had a shipwreck and the people on the boat with him were saved, their lives were spared. So sometimes it might be a disease being healed, or it might be like a rescue from danger, but the main way this word is used is I need Jesus to save me because I'm a sinner. I need him to forgive me for my sins, because he died for them on the cross, and I need Jesus to give me a new life free from that sin, because he rose from the dead. And so, there's going to come a moment where you are desperate for Jesus to save you. I would prefer for some of you, for that moment to be today, before your life gets bad, or you might even die and have to face judgment. And then how desperate would you feel when it's too late? And so, these people, you got to see a dad begging for his daughter's life his twelve-year-old little girl. And you got to see a woman. Go with me to Leviticus 15:25, so you can really understand what this woman went through, because it's not just the bleeding. If you can imagine constantly bleeding for twelve years, that sounds painful, that sounds very like it would make you want to just isolate yourself and get away from other people. But it's even worse than that, when you know how that kind of bleeding made the person unclean in the Jewish mindset, according to what it says here in Leviticus 15:25. I want to read a few verses here from Leviticus, because it talks about the condition this woman is in. In fact, Leviticus might even be explaining what's really going on in this woman to all for a massive setup for when Jesus is going to powerfully heal her in our Scripture in Mark 5. But look what it says here in Leviticus 15:25- , “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity all the days of the discharge, she shall continue in uncleanness as in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean.” So, this woman has been declared unclean for twelve years. Look what that means. Verse 26 “Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. And whoever touches these things shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.” Can you imagine living like that? If you lie down, it's now unclean. If you sit down, it's now unclean. If anybody touches where you've been, they're now unclean.
I don't think a lot of people are going to invite you over for dinner like this. And you know what? I bet this lady, she feels like a lot of people say, well, I didn't want to be a burden to you. I didn't want to bother you. I didn't want to impose upon you. And so, I would imagine a woman who knows that anyone who touches her or things she has touched is now unclean, she's going to feel so bad like she should just go away from other people. Can you imagine the loneliness, the despair this woman must have felt? And then she hears about Jesus. I mean, how many doctors’ appointments did this lady go to in twelve years? How many crazy different medicines and remedies did she try in those twelve years? And the whole time, her bank account is just going down to zero, and she hears about Jesus, and she says, I'm going to go, and I'm just going to go and touch him, and if I touch him, he will save me. Can you imagine the desperation this woman feels? She hasn't been around people, she's been isolating herself, she's been trying not to touch other people, and now, by her faith, she goes right into this great crowd thronging around Jesus, and she pushes her way right to the middle of everybody, and she's going to reach out with a touch of faith. And she's like, if I can just touch Jesus, he will save me.
Have you ever been that desperate that you needed a Savior? I hope you have, I hope you have a testimony like the ones we heard today, where you come to an end of yourself and you realize, if Jesus doesn't save me, I will never be saved. And this woman, look what happens. Go back to Mark 5 and see what happens. She's like, if I can just touch even his garment, I will be made well, I will be saved, she says. And then we see here in verse 29, this is the key word of the gospel of Mark. What's the key word of the gospel of Mark, everybody? Immediately, right? And so, we get a back-to-back double whammy, immediately. Here in verses 29 and verse 30, you can circle them there on your handout. When this woman gives Jesus the touch of faith, immediately her bleeding stops and her body is completely healed, and then Jesus immediately perceives that the power that he has as God has gone out of him to heal this woman like this is something powerful that happens. And the woman, you can tell it's more she knew if she touched Jesus, she would be saved. But when she actually touched Jesus, and she experiences the power come into her, look at her response in verse 33, “The woman, knowing what had happened to her, she came in...” What does it say there, everybody? “Fear and trembling, like she believed. She touched by faith, she was healed, but it was so much more than she was prepared for. The power of Jesus. It was so much more than she was ready for. And Jesus, he stops everything. Now let's think this through. Why does Jesus stop everything? Jesus, he knows. He knows the woman was coming to him. He knows the woman touched him. He knows he healed the woman, but he stops. He's like, “Who touched me? Who touched my garment?” And the disciples are like, are you kidding? Look at all these people around here. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. Who touched Me? Because he wants to say something to the woman. And the woman, she comes in fear and trembling, and now she's falling down before Jesus. And it's like she opens up, and she starts spilling out the truth of her whole life to Jesus. And look at what Jesus says to this woman in Mark 5:34, “And he said to her, ‘daughter, your faith has made you well, Go in peace and be healed of your disease.’” He calls her daughter. I thought the story was about Jairus daughter. No, it turns out it's about Jesus's daughter. And he says, woman, let's think about it now. Woman, your faith has what? How could you translate it? Your faith has saved you? And then notice how he says two things, “Go in peace and be healed of your disease.” That leaves a lot of people to come to the conclusion that when Jesus says to this woman, calling her Daughter, your faith has saved you, that she is at peace now with God, and she's also healed of her disease, that this woman might not just have been saved from her bleeding, but she might have been saved from her sins. That's what a lot of people think that she experienced, not just the physical healing, but the salvation of her soul by putting her faith in Jesus. And so, he says, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.” Can you imagine if you heard Jesus say to you, son or daughter, you've been saved by your faith?
Now, Jesus already spoke to somebody like this. Do you remember? Go back to Mark, chapter 2 and look at verse 5 with me of Mark 2. Do you remember the sermon we did, “Through the Roof Faith”? Does anybody remember that? Remember when these guys took their friend who was paralyzed, and they carried him to Jesus, and the house Jesus was in was so crowded that they went up on the roof of the house, cut a hole in the ceiling and they lowered the paralyzed friend in to Jesus. And when Jesus saw these men lowering their paralyzed friend down to him, it says he saw their faith. Look at it here in Mark 2:5. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” And then the guy's like, how can he say he can forgive sins? And Jesus is like, well, I'm the son of man. I have authority to forgive sins, and to prove it to you, I'll say to this paralyzed man, rise, take up your bed and walk and the guy picks up his bed and walks out of the house, and everyone is amazed. And what did Jesus say? Because he saw the man's faith. If Jesus looks at you and Jesus does see you, does Jesus see you as someone who has faith. Jesus is the savior. That's point number one.
But for point number two, the response to the Savior is to believe, let's get it down like this: “See Jesus wants you to trust him.” See Jesus wants you to trust him. Jesus wants you to believe in him. See how personally he takes it, referring to this paralyzed man as “Son,” and referring to the bleeding woman as “Daughter,” son or daughter, because of their faith. When Jesus looks at you, would he see your faith, and when he says, you're my son, you're my daughter, would that… See, we talk about faith in a different way than this. We talk about like, well, there are people who don't believe the story of Jesus is true, and they don't believe. And then there are people who do believe the story is true, and those people are people of faith. And you'll hear people say things like, well, I have my own faith, and I need to work on my faith, almost like our faith is private. It's up to us, and we can kind of figure out if we want to have more faith. How to have more faith? Jesus talks in a completely different way. Jesus acts like your faith is in him, like it's personal between you and him, and you either really trust in Jesus, or you don't. He doesn't talk about it like we do in America, where it's like, well, I think the story is true, therefore I believe. No, Jesus knows if you really trust in him in your life, if you've really transferred, if you've really come to that desperate place where you're like, I can't save myself. I can't keep myself alive physically. I can't save myself from impending death. I can't save myself from the judgment to come. I can't save myself by stopping this sin. No, I need Jesus to save me, and he knows whether you've really transferred your trust to him or not.
So, what does Jesus see when he looks at you? Jesus thinks faith is a very personal response to him. Then he wonders, how many people will really believe in him? In fact, here's something you could write down under point number two, Luke 18:8. Luke 18:8, where Jesus kind of raises this question, when he comes back, “When the Son of Man returns on that day that every eye sees Jesus, in all of his glory, will he find faith on the earth?” Here's Jesus asking a question like, when I come back, who's even going to still be believing, who's going to be waiting, who's going to be really trusting that I will come and save them? See, Jesus implies that maybe a lot of people won't be believing in him. And so, there's this question, do you believe in Jesus? Now notice, let me show you how. This is the key. If you go back to Mark 5, you can see here, look at how Mark weaves these two stories together to make one point. Because at the moment that Jesus says, “Daughter, your faith has saved you,” they come and tell Jairus that his daughter is dead. So, this lady now has life like she's never had it before, the daughter of Jesus. And at the same moment, they come and tell Jairus that his daughter has died, and that must be the worst thing that Jairus has ever heard. I mean, that must have just broken him. And look what happens here in verse 35 while Jesus is speaking to the woman, daughter, you've been saved by your faith. There come these messengers from Jairus’ house, and they say, your daughter is dead. Can you see? Can you see this story? Daughter, you're alive. Your daughter is dead. And Why trouble the teacher any further? There's this big crowd now. They're all stopped. They're all listening to Jesus talk to this woman. And so, they're like, Jairus, let's just get out of here. Your daughter already died. It's over. And then I love verse 36, “But overhearing what they said, Jesus turns to Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue.” And I often wonder, like, was he actually physically able to hear it, or did he just hear it? If you know what I mean, and it says, “overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only” what, everybody? Have faith. Trust me.
Can you imagine if you got the worst news you ever heard in your life, if something terrible happened to someone you love, and in that moment of despair, Jesus turns and looks at you, locks his eyes with you, and says, don't fear. Keep on believing. That's what happens here. At the moment that this man has a broken heart over his precious little girl, Jesus says to him, don't give in to fear. Keep on believing. Do you see what Jesus cares about? Do you see how Mark's doing this? Jesus is commending the woman for her faith, and then he's encouraging the father to keep the faith. Jesus wants you to trust him. It's personal. It's personal, right? It's like me and my daughter Emma. When my daughter's growing up, my daughter would sometimes be afraid of things in the middle of the night. One of the real terrors that my daughter Emma had growing up here on the coast was sharks. Is anybody else afraid of sharks? Good, you should be, right? But she was afraid of them to the point where she could not sleep at night sometimes. And so here I come, dad, to the rescue, right? Dad, to calm all your fears and send you back to sleep, right? And sometimes I would do my best. I would open up my phone and I would say, “Look at the blue dot. This is where we are. Look at the blue water. This is where the sharks are.” Do you see this was a logical approach? Then we would go to the top of the stairs. You're upstairs. Sharks don't come upstairs. This is good, right? This is good. These were not working. They were not comforting, right? And at some point, I'm like, Emma girl, I'm your dad. I'm here. You're supposed to feel saved now, you know what I mean? I'm like taking this personally. Have you ever thought that Jesus might feel that way about you? Have you ever thought that Jesus is telling you don't give in to that fear? Keep on believing, and you're not listening to Jesus? You're letting your fear take over. See, that's personal to Jesus. It's not like you should just have faith. No, who is your faith in? Jesus. If you're afraid of something, you're saying, Jesus can't save me from this. That's how he takes it.
See, you’ve got to make sure that you understand there's no such thing as some kind of faith. It's only faith in Jesus. It's between you and him. You either trust him or you don't trust him. And here's what's really kind of sad about how we are as American Christians. If I ask somebody, do you really believe in Jesus, they look at me like I'm offended you even ask me that. How dare you ask me if I believe in Jesus? Of course, I believe in Jesus. Okay, so here's how we act. Of course, I believe in Jesus. I believe Jesus saved me from my sins. I believe, well, Jesus will save me when I die. I believe Jesus will save me from judgment, and I believe that Jesus will take me to eternal glory in the heavens, forevermore. But I'm still freaking out about what's going to happen tomorrow. And so, how dare you ask me if I really believe in Jesus, why even act like there's a problem in being freaked out about tomorrow? That's how we act these days. We act like, of course, Jesus has saved my soul for eternity, but I can't handle Monday morning, And we act like that's normal. That's not normal. If you believe that Jesus has come all the way down from heaven to die in your place, and he rose from the dead to give you a new life, and he's forgiven you for all of your sins, and he's promised you life after death, and he's preparing a place for you in the eternal glory in the heavens, then Monday cannot stop you, and you should not be afraid. Don't give in to fear. Keep on believing. Hear Jesus saying it to you today. Do you need your life to unravel, to figure it out? Or can you hear Jesus saying it right now, right here? Worst news you've ever heard? What's your worst-case scenario? Hear him say it to you. Do not fear. Only believe, trust me, I can save the woman that no other doctor can save. Watch whether you see what he's going to do with the twelve-year-old girl who's dead. Jesus can save you. Do you believe him. He's calling for your faith. And if you say, well, I have a hard time believing, you're having a hard time believing who? What's his name? Jesus. It's personal between you and him. Your faith. Don't think you have your own faith. All you have is faith in Jesus. Do you really trust him? Do you really believe him? He knows. And to some of you, he would say, daughter, son, your faith has saved you. And to those of you going through a hard time, he would say, don't give in to fear. Believe Jesus wants us to trust him. That's why he did this for us. That's why he loved us to the bloody end, he wants us to put our faith in him.
Okay, now I want to focus in on this touch of faith. What happens when this woman touches Jesus? Okay, we already saw the double immediately that she's completely healed, and Jesus knows this power has gone out, he creates this moment. And I want to look back at verse 33 okay, because how does the woman come before Jesus? Now I want you to think this through with me. If you were struggling with something, a problem with your physical body for twelve years, if you've been to countless doctors’ appointments, and you've given all your money to medications and remedies, and then, all of a sudden, twelve years later, in one moment, you are miraculously, instantaneously healed. I think this woman would be running up to Jesus. I think this woman would be giving Jesus a big old hug. I think she would be finger guns to the sky celebrating. This is the greatest moment of my life. I need you to see how this woman comes to Jesus, because this is how anybody comes to Jesus. This woman comes in fear. This woman comes to him with trembling. This woman is falling down on the ground before Jesus, and she is just like spewing out of her soul the truth of her life. This woman is so overwhelmed. She knew Jesus could save her. She believed she had faith. She touched him, and when the power of God, the almighty power of God healed her, it was more than she was prepared for. It was more than she was ready for. It overwhelmed her to the point that she's falling at the feet of Jesus in fear and trembling.
Now this is the third miracle in a row. Mark has written in his book where people were overwhelmed with fear of Jesus. Go back to chapter 4, verse 41 and maybe you can remember, it's been a few weeks now, but we talked about this Storm on the Sea of Galilee and these disciples, some of whom were fishermen, they were afraid that the wind and the waves, they were going to perish in this storm. And they had there was a great storm. And then Jesus came, and he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, “Peace, be still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm.” And Jesus says to the disciples, where's your faith? Why don't you trust me? And then look at verse 41. What does it say about the disciples in the boat? “And they were filled with great” what, everybody? Fear. “And they said to one another, ‘Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?” They saw an amazing miracle. Jesus can speak to the wind, he could speak to the water, he could tell the physical creation what to do, and it does it. Wow. That's amazing. What's their response? Great fear. They're more afraid of who's in the boat than the storm that was outside the boat.
Okay, now then, go to the next story where there's a man possessed by a legion of demons. That means thousands of demons possessing this man, this man of crazy strength, breaking shackles and chains. And everybody's afraid of this guy. Well, Jesus shows up, and he casts out thousands of demons into what animal? Does anybody remember? A bunch of pigs. And then the guys watching the pigs, they go run and tell everybody. And so here come people from miles around to come see what happened to that crazy guy down there. And look what it says in verse 15 of Mark 5, “They came to Jesus. They saw the demon possessed man,” the one who had the legion, thousands of demons. And he's sitting there, he's clothed, and he's in his right mind, and they were what? Afraid.
We’ve got the disciples seeing the wind and the waves cease and they're afraid. We’ve got the people seeing the demons cast out, and they're afraid. And we have a woman who's been healed of a twelve-year disease, and she's falling down before Jesus in fear. Now, if somebody tells me something once and I don't get it, maybe they didn't do a good job telling me, but if you tell me twice and I don't get it, that's on me. And if you tell me something three times in a row and I don't get it, it's because I don't want to get it. And what Mark has said to us three times in a row, he's intentionally stacking miracles to prove to you that when you see Jesus, you will respond with what? Fear.
Okay, let's get that down for number three, we need to: “See fear as an appropriate response to Jesus.” Fear is an appropriate response to Jesus. I need everybody at our church to see this. I need everybody at our church to agree with this, at least. And it's not my agenda. It's not like I want to make you fear Jesus. This is Mark's agenda. Mark wants you to fear Jesus. Mark just wants to show you that when you see the power of Jesus over the physical creation, over the spiritual beings, over even the bodies of human beings. When you see the power of Jesus, it will be more than you are prepared for. It will be more than you are ready for, and it will cause you to fear even the disciple whom Jesus loved. When he has Revelation, chapter 1, and he sees Jesus in all of his glory, he falls at the feet of Jesus like what kind of a man? Like a dead man. Now Jesus, he says to this woman who's afraid, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.” He encourages her. Jesus loves his people. Jesus lifts them up. But Jesus has a power. Jesus has a glory. You will not ever be comfortable like casual familiar with the Lord Jesus, because he is the Almighty God, and when you see Jesus, you will be overwhelmed when the world sees Jesus riding on the clouds and every eye sees him. Have you paid careful attention to how the world's going to respond when they see Jesus? It says they will mourn, they will weep, they will wail. When they see the unfiltered, revealed power of Jesus, they will know that he is the one and they don't stand a chance.
Fear is what we're taught about God, that is a way to respond to God. In fact, let's go to the Psalms. Everybody, turn with me to Psalms, chapter 2. Is anybody reading the Psalms with us here at Compass HB? I’ve got to tell you, this was such an encouraging week for me to be a pastor here at this church. How many of you were reading the Psalms? I was so encouraged. And if you didn't hear about this last week, we're reading through the Psalms together. It's on the back of your handout. You can see the Psalms we're reading through, and we're doing one psalm every day, and we're putting up a live video at 7am every morning, and you can watch that video if you want on YouTube. You can watch it any time of the day you want. We're doing it live at seven. If you look on the back of your handout, you can see, after the first week, we have 3.3% completed with the Psalms, everybody. So, we’ve got 96.7% left to go. So even if you missed the first whole week, you could still get an A in the class if you start with us now. All right? And so, it's encouraging to see who God is in the Psalms, and it's super encouraging to do it together as a church. And in Psalm 2, guess who we saw loud and clear? Jesus was the point of Psalm 2. In fact, it's one of the clearest passages in all of the Bible. And it says in Psalm 2, verse 2, that “the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh, the Lord, and against his anointed.” Anointed is the word in Hebrew, Messiah. In Greek, Christ. It's saying, Yeah, people are going to go against God and his anointed one, whose name is Jesus, because he's your Savior. And so, here he is in Psalm 2. Look at verse 7. “’I will tell of the decree,’ the Lord said to me, “You are my son.” Here's the father calling him Son, and he's going to send him back to judge the world. He's going to send him back to rule the nations. He's going to send him back because the Kingdom is going to come and God's will is going to be done. And so, here's what it says, because Jesus is coming as a king. And I loved how somebody said at my fellowship group, they were like, now I can see why the Jews were expecting a king when I read something like Psalm 2, it makes a lot of sense, because they said, a King is coming. They just didn't realize he came the first time to suffer and die for our sins. And it's so ironic, because the Jews were so ready for a king, and they got a Savior. And now we're like, we’ve got a savior. We're fine when the King is about to come. And here's what it says. This is the appropriate response to knowing that the Messiah, the Christ, is going to come. It says in Psalm 2:10, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth, all the politicians, the governing authorities, the people with power, watch out.” Verse 11, “You should serve the Lord with” what everybody? Fear “and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son.” I picture somebody bowing the knee, kissing the ring of the king. “Kiss the Son. Watch out, or he'll get angry with you. His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
When people really experience the presence of God, oh, there's great joy that God loves you. There's also fear and trembling at God's magnificent power and his authority. And so, it's not like there's a competition between loving God and fearing God. They're not meant to compete. They're meant to complement. Someone who knows that God is gracious and merciful and ready to forgive and abounding in steadfast love. Yes, it's appropriate to love God because he first loved us. But when you also know that God is holy and God is just, and God has power, and God can do whatever he wants, and God has the authority to judge you for your sins. There's also this response of fear. They don't compete, they complement because they show you know all of who God is. Do you know all of who God is? Or do you just focus in on some of who God is? If you know the power of God, like this woman experienced the day she was healed, you would fear.
And go over to chapter 5, verse 7. We saw this in the last Psalm we read, Psalm 5. It has these two responses to God, beautifully arranged right next to each other. Look at what David writes here in Psalm 5:7. “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.” You don't just love me. You have an abundance of steadfast love for me. So, I come right into where you are. “I boldly come before your presence, before your throne of grace. I know you love me, but I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you like I can come right up to you because you love me, but I bow before you because I fear you, because you are a holy God. You are not like me.” Do you know God that way, where you love him and you fear him? You know we call ourselves these days, Christians. You know, other people used to call us Christians, and I don't think they meant it as a compliment, right? I think when people were looking at that group of people who believed over there, they're like, oh, look at those Christians. You know what we used to be known as back in the day? We used to be known as God Fearers. Have you ever heard that before? A God-fearing man? A God-fearing woman. In fact, isn't that the kind of woman that you want your son to be looking for? Because charm is deceitful and beauty is in vain. But a woman who what? Fears the Lord, she is to be what? Praised. Now, let me just tell you, in the Hebrew language, they have words for reverence and awe, and in the Greek language, they have words for reverence and awe. Why do they keep using the word fear then? The people who want to dumb the fear of God down to reverence and awe, they have an agenda.
The agenda of Scripture is to tell you an appropriate response to God is fear. If you ever saw the full power of God right in front of you, you would be on your knees with fear and with trembling. That's what this woman does, even though she believed and she got exactly what she was hoping for, the salvation of Jesus. Jesus was still more than she was prepared for. Is that the way you view Jesus, as a King, and when he comes with his power, whoa, watch out everyone. King Jesus is here and the world will fear.
Now go back with me to see what Jesus does when he tells Jairus, keep on believing. “Do not fear. Only believe.” Now, can you see how fear is used in two different ways in our text? One is the woman has a good fear of Jesus that he then shows his love for her and says, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.” But then Jairus is now perhaps going to have the wrong kind of fear where you're not afraid of Jesus, you're afraid of something else. Here he's afraid of his daughter being dead, and so Jesus tells him, don't have that kind of fear. No, that's the opposite of faith kind of fear. Don't have that fear. You need to believe. You need to trust me. So, notice how the word fear is used, even by Mark in this one mashup of these two stories. He uses the fear of the woman as a response to the power of Jesus. But then, see, Jairus might have the wrong kind of fear in response to the bad news that his daughter is dead. And so, Jesus says, you’ve got to believe. And Jesus then changes the whole scene. He tells the crowd to stay right there, and he only brings three disciples with him, Peter, James, and John. This is the first time we see Jesus kind of call the inner circle of the disciples, and then he goes to the house. And because Jairus is the ruler of the synagogue, because he's well respected and well to do in the community, there are already mourners there, and these are professional mourners. See in our culture, when you get sad, you get quiet. In this culture, when you get sad, you get loud. And there's weeping, there's wailing, there's people playing flutes, people playing these dirges like, oh, it's so sad that Jairus’ daughter has died. The professional mourners are already there, and then Jesus says a line that becomes famous in the church forevermore. He says she is not dead. She is just what? Asleep. And then they all start laughing at Jesus. And Jesus is like, get out of here. And so, this is where you start to see Jesus, like clearing the temple out Jesus mode. This is where Jairus, you need to believe in me. And Jesus goes to work. The crowd is going to stay over here. The mourners are getting out of here. And it's just Jairus, his wife, and his three closest disciples. And they go into a room where a twelve-year-old little precious girl is lying down dead, or, as Jesus says, asleep.
And this becomes famous, like Paul writes, I mean this becomes now the metaphor. When someone dies who believes in Jesus, they say throughout the Scripture now they don't use the word that they died. They just say that they are asleep. And it's all because of this. It's because Jesus goes and he takes the hand of the little girl and he says, in Aramaic, the spoken language of the day, “Talitha,” it's kind of like how you might say Abba about a father. It's this intimate term, “Talitha,” like, little girl, like the way I would talk to my daughter. “Talitha,” Jesus says, “Talitha cumi.” Little girl, arise, and the girl, the twelve-year-old girl, gets up and starts walking around. And notice we're back to “immediately” again here, notice it says, “Immediately, the girl got up, and immediately” everyone in that room is overcome with amazement. So, I don't think that Mark just uses immediately to keep a fast pace in his Gospel. I think Mark uses “immediately” to show you, God just did something. Jesus just showed up, something beyond the normal human experience just happened. “Prepare for the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight at once,” immediately, like the Lord is coming and you need to get ready. And here's a way where the Lord showed up and he showed us what he could do when he said to a girl who was dead that she was just asleep because he told her to arise. And when it says immediately, they were overcome with amazement. It's literally the idea that they were “outside of themselves.” It's like they were beside themselves. If you've heard that, and we would use the phrase, and their minds were blown. They couldn't believe it. It's like they're outside of themselves, and they're just like, what just happened that wasn't even on my radar as a possibility that that could happen? What did we just see? Did we just see resurrection from the dead?
And see, maybe you've heard this story before, and maybe you've heard about the ancient miracles of Jesus, you're not supposed to just think, oh, that's amazing that Jesus could do something like that. But that doesn't really relate to my life today. No, they take this idea that if you die, you will be asleep, because everyone who believes in Jesus should expect that someday you are going to hear Jesus say, Son, Daughter, arise. And even if you are dead, if you are in Christ, if you've trusted in him, even if you are dead, you will live.
This is not just an ancient miracle. This isn't just even foreshadowing what Jesus is going to do on the third day after he dies on the cross. This is actually foreshadowing what Jesus is going to say to you when you die. Sometimes we think, oh, that's the worst-case scenario. Storms, demons, physical diseases, those all sound intense, but the worst enemy that we have is death. And no politician can save you from death, no doctor can save you from death. No. Who is the only one who could actually save you? And here he is proving it. Oh, they're not dead. They're asleep. And here's Jesus showing all those mourners. Can you imagine if you're one of those professional mourners, you're like, playing your flute. Jesus clears you out, and you guys are like that guy. She's asleep. And then later on, you see that girl walking around town, skipping around town, smiling like twelve-year-old girls are prone to do. Just what? Walking around happy to be alive, because Jesus said to her, arise. You might lose your breath. You might not be able to play your flute anymore after that. We've never seen anything like that. We're going to all see that. In fact, if you believe in Jesus, you're going to experience that.
Go with me to John, chapter 6, verse 38. Look at how Jesus describes it here in the Gospel of John. We know that Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.” This is a key word for Jesus, this idea of raising it up. He often lifts people up when he heals them. He often says to people arise when he's even bringing them back from the dead, like this idea of raising, of resurrection. This is a key idea associated with the Lord Jesus. And so, when he says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up,” what is he talking about? He's talking about the temple of his body. He's prophesying his own resurrection. But look at what he says here in John 6:38-40. This is John 6:38-40. Jesus says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
That's exactly what we're trying to do right here. I want you to see who Jesus is as the Savior. I want you to believe in Jesus and respond to him with faith. I want you to see that Jesus, in all of his glory, he's more than you're ready for. He is someone to fear. And if you believe in Jesus, on that day, you will hear him say, arise, and you will have a whole new body, a resurrected life. It's coming the day that Jesus comes. The dead in Christ will rise, and those who are alive will be caught up to meet them in the air. And so, we will always believe, be with the Lord. There is coming a future Day of Resurrection.
Let's get it down like this for number four: “See death is not the end with Jesus.” See death is not the end with Jesus. And I hope this could encourage even some of you. Perhaps you've known someone who has passed, and it did break your heart, and it did cause you to fear. Did you know that if they believed in Jesus, they will rise? Jesus says, “I am the resurrection. I am the life. Everyone who believes in me, even if they die, they will live.” Jesus is able to save you. Do you believe him? See, you can wait till you're knocking on death's door. I've seen people come in here when they've gotten a devastating diagnosis. I've had family members beg me to go visit their family member in the hospital after some terrible accident. I've heard about people getting chronically sick, and tried to talk to them. No, sometimes God is very merciful, and he gives people a chance to turn to him before they die. But I would encourage you, please don't wait till that happens. Please don't wait till someone you love is about to die, or whether you get sick and might die yourself. Can you please hear this story of a desperate dad and a diseased woman, someone who is well to do, and someone who had spent all her money, someone who is connected to everyone else around him, and a lady who is totally outcast. It does not matter who you are or where you come from, you need a Savior, and we know his name.
Do you trust him? Do you believe he can save you even after death? Because let me tell you, if Jesus can save you after death, he can save you on Monday. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Jesus, if he saved you, he will save you to the uttermost. He will save you to the very end. Like, take a pick. Do you want a great storm to take you down? Do you want thousands of demons to come against you? Do you want to have a bloody discharge for twelve years? Do you want someone you love to die? Pick your problem. Jesus is able to save, that's what Mark's saying. Let's go to the extremes of human existence. He's more powerful than that. Let's go even to the point of death. That's not the end for him. No, that's why we say when so and so our brother or sister in Christ, when they die, oh, we just say they are asleep, because pretty soon they're going to hear him say, Son, Daughter, arise, and they will get up and they will walk around, and they will have a better life than they ever had before. All because of Jesus. He is worthy of your trust. And if you came in here today and you don't believe in Jesus, I hope you feel desperate. I hope you will call on his name. I hope you'll talk to someone after this service. And if you came in here believing, I hope you're encouraged by a fresh vision of who Jesus is. If Jesus has saved you, to the end, you can trust him. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for Mark and these two stories together to make one point that they were made well, they were saved because they trusted in Jesus. I love Jesus. Saying to the woman, Daughter, your faith has saved you. And then when Jairus hears that his daughter is dead, I love Jesus, saying to him, do not fear, keep on believing God. I pray for my brothers and sisters. I pray that they could hear the words of Jesus echoing to us on the other side of the world, thousands of years later, do not fear. Only believe. Let us hear Jesus say that. Let us be renewed in our faith that he is worthy of trusting, he is our Savior to the uttermost. And I pray for those who are here today, whether they're a rebel, but whether they're a people pleaser, whether they grew up going to church or this is their first day, God could you open their eyes so they can look on the Savior? Could they believe in Jesus? Because everyone who believes in Jesus, they will know you as God. They will experience your power. They will fear you, and even if they die, Jesus will raise them up. God, what an amazing Savior you've given us. We come before you now, Father, and we just want to thank you. Thank you for saving us by your Son, Jesus. Thank you for sending him from heaven. Thank you for all of us that have believed in Jesus, that we can know you're not going to lose one of us. But just like Jesus said to that twelve-year-old girl, arise and she got up. And they were like, wow, I can't even believe it. So someday, you're going to say to us, arise and we're going to get up. We're going to wake up from our sleep and we're going to say, wow, look at me now. I can't even believe it. Even though we believed, we are not going to be ready for who Jesus really is. So, Father, let the name of Jesus be exalted in our hearts. Let the name of Jesus be exalted in Huntington Beach. Let the name of Jesus be seen as the name above every name, the only name given among men by which anyone can be saved. Let the name of Jesus be praised. Now we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.