Do Not Fear, Only Believe | Mark 5:21-43 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Christ is alive. He's alive and well. Jesus has heard our voices. He sits at the right hand of the father, and he is patient as he desires all to reach repentance. But there is a day coming when that number will be complete, and he will return and take us home.

And we'll be with him forever and ever and ever. And until then, we wanna please him, do we not? We wanna seek him. We wanna know him. And I pray as much as we've sang about our freedoms in Jesus, we would also fear him.

For he is alive and he is holy, and he can intervene in this very moment. He can bring life and he can also cease life. He can bring restoration and he can, in his perfect justice, bring destruction. And so the Christ that we just sang to is the Christ that we are going to hear from, and I pray with you, I'm sure you are with me on this, that his voice and his voice alone would be heard. And we're gonna hear it in Mark chapter five together.

The Bible is God's word, and the word of God is the voice of God. So meet me in Mark chapter five, and scroll down in that chapter down to verse 35. If you were here last week, you know where we ended. We ended at a very awkward place because we didn't complete the story. It's because the story is written a little differently.

It's two stories really conjoined together. There's an intersection. There is a meeting of two people who had the same desire and desperate plea for Christ to do something in them. And at this time, we will continue where we left off. And where we left off is with a crowd that is fixated on an interaction between the Jesus that we love and know and a broken woman who has been made whole by not him touching her, but by her touching him.

And in this atmosphere of faith and compassion and love, a group of messengers come to Jairus, the the man who originally invited Jesus to his home because he also has a need. He has a little baby, A little girl, the age of 12 who is terminally ill and she is ready to give her final breath at any second. And this group of people come to update Jairus with what had taken place with his child. And in that very precious moment where so many hearts came alive, Jairus would have the wind of hope knocked right out of him. As he would hear the words that no father would want to receive concerning their ailing child.

Your daughter is dead. Your daughter is dead. And you can imagine how the heart of this desperate father sank to his stomach. You can also imagine the intrusive thoughts, the crashing ideas that would have visited him in that very moment, a flood of confusion, maybe frustration and fear that would have buried him further into despair unless the Lord had interjected immediately and provided a word of assurance. A revelation that would have rescued him and it did.

Do not fear, only believe. Do not fear, only believe. And there is no doubt that Jairus here would have experienced this temptation as a prevailing one. The prevailing thought could have been that he would have connected the death of his daughter with the delay that Jesus had prolonged. Let's read this together to understand what I'm saying in verse 35.

While he being Jesus 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 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. Do you read that in verse 35?

While he being Jesus was still speaking, speaking to the woman that he just restored. This woman who was stunned by the fact that this man who was a obvious man of God, a prophet more than a prophet, Messiah turning to her and saying, daughter, daughter. And reassuring her not just of her restoration physically, but of a relationship, A relationship with a true and living God. He's speaking to her. And while he's speaking to her, these messengers came and tell this father, your daughter is gone.

Why bother him any further? Why why move forward? This is it. This is the finish line. Let's just let's just go home.

There's a funeral waiting for you. Could it be that Jairus thought, oh Jesus, if you had just kept walking instead of talking. What would you think if you were Jairus in this moment? What would be the thoughts? What would be the calculations you would have made?

Maybe my daughter wouldn't have died if Lord, you weren't, I'm sorry to say, distracted maybe. Distracted. And here we have already an instruction from the school of faith that is absolutely important for you and I to know about ourselves. Our fear comes from many things, but let me tell you what the strongest or one of the strongest motivations for our fear. It is from a perception, a false perception that Christ's supervision over our affairs is subject to negligence or oversight.

One of the things that create fear is our our failed perception that Jesus is subject in his lordship of my life to being negligent, forgetful, overwhelmed, maybe sometimes emotionally unstable, and I didn't do my best this week so he changed his ideas about how he's going to bless me and guide me and provide for me. You know, if I were to ask every single person in this place, do you believe Jesus is the shepherd of your soul? Do you believe he really guides you? Do you believe he can provide everything that you need? It would be very hard for me to believe that one of you would even say, I don't think so, unless you're a non believer.

I don't think that's the object of our doubt. I think we all can say, yes, it's right. Jesus does lead us. He promises to not forsake us. But it's our doubt that comes from his ability to do so consistently or adequately.

And if we're not careful, that kind of fear when it is nurtured and tolerated can convince us that we can evaluate the Lord's faithfulness based on whether or not he comes through according to our timetable or our preferred type of provision. And then we sit on the judgment seat looking down at our Lord and saying, you claim to be faithful, but look, I can point to different things where, to me, it wasn't really the best that you can do. I know that's not easy to hear, but listen, our ugly hearts can testify of what I'm saying. We've we've had those thoughts. We've had those ideas come through.

And Jairus did the right thing of coming to the Lord. He he did the absolute perfect thing to come to the Lord and to just unravel his heart and say, here I am. This is something that I can do. I give it over to you. And because of the nature of the problem, the nature of the issue, that's all Jairus could have done.

And that's a freeing thought that when you and I come to the Lord with a burden, in that very moment we also have to rest in knowing, that's all I could do. This is all I can do. This is what Jairus need to do this very moment. That the same Jesus you called upon is the same Jesus you were supposed to continue to trust him. Moment after moment, day after day, regardless of how things play out, and here's why.

The rest comes from the revelation that you have surrendered it to an all sovereign God who actually cares about you. That's where the rest comes. You've placed it before him and because of that there should be a serene stillness that is unshakable. In fact, it's amazing how the Bible describes what should come about for those who claim to have faith in this God. And I wanna show you one of the most precious promises attached to simple faith, like simple trust in the Lord.

It's in Isaiah 28 and I would like you to go there with me in verse 16. Despite delays, despite the circumstance of concern that seems to grow worse and worse before your eyes, Here's what God says about those who really believe, who truly believe. Isaiah 28 verse 16. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. Here it is.

You ready? Whoever believes will not be in haste. Whoever believes will not be in haste. And what does that mean? It means that a person who really believes is not overcome by uncertainty.

They're not fidgety. They're not fickle. They're not frail. They are someone who understands the foundation that they've laid their life on is something that you can rest on continually regardless of the trembling beneath your feet. A person who is not in haste is somebody who doesn't scatter and abandon his post to try to find a different recipe of success.

You're not the soil that has received this thing with joy immediately, but the moment trouble comes, you uproot yourself and move somewhere else to give your roots to. No. A person who really believes is not in haste. His faith empowers him by the grace of God to be composed and calm regardless regardless of anything that would demand otherwise. He will not be in haste.

And then Paul, the Apostle, borrows from this very scripture in Romans nine to make a case about faith, but even though he is making the same point as the prophet intended, the Holy Spirit puts a different shade on it. Not that Paul changes this verse, but he borrows the Greek version of the Hebrew text called the Septuagint. And it is still scripture obviously, but there's a different shade to this promise that only adds to the blessing of what it means to be a person who believes. And so you have to see it for your own eyes and with your own eyes in Romans nine. And in Romans nine thirty three, look how Paul gives the same verse and notice the difference in the promise, though it is the same heart.

Romans nine thirty three. Isaiah said, whoever believes will not be in haste. Paul says as he quotes the same text, as it is written, behold I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Will not be put to shame. The same text, a different shade.

And what he means here is that the emphasis for the believer, the promise toward him who believes is that because of his faith, he will never be disappointed. Never. He won't be embarrassed. He won't be regretful. He will in hindsight realize, oh, this foundation is the only foundation.

And this Messiah is a faithful God. And so put those things together. The believer will not be in haste. He's not panicky. He doesn't drift.

He's solid. Because the foundation is solid. And more than that, beyond that, he will never be put to shame. As you continue to trust the Lord and petition the Lord and wait on the Lord, His promise to you is, I'll never make you blush. I'll never make you think that I really really really do the right thing in giving myself to this truth.

You will know the light. So you'll be stable through and you will be joyful when you come through, whoever believes. But the news of his daughter's death is not the only thing that these messengers brought forth to him. What did they say afterwards? Your daughter is dead.

Then they went on to say, why trouble the teacher any further? In other words, these postmen came to Jairus and they said, there's no more that Christ can really do at this point. Your daughter has been sealed with the fate of the grave. So just dismiss him and move on and let's just go and mourn your loved one. And yet again, we have another instruction here concerning the school of faith because we're all in the school of faith.

We're just at different levels and God has one goal for all of his children that they would graduate. So here's another truth. Jairus here, unfortunately, was the recipient of agents of fear instead of faith. These men came to him not to build his faith in the person of Jesus, but to cast more doubt and to cause him to ultimately deny the power of Jesus. And if we are not continually aware of that, if you're not prepared for that, you can be caught off guard And you can be swept up by the skepticism and by the limited understanding of others who might mean well, but don't know the God of this bible the way they should.

Not everybody is an agent that will benefit you and bless you. Unfortunately, there are some who will come to stifle and to dampen and to bring you low. And here's the thing, yeah, there are unbelievers there on my social media to do that. No. No.

No. I'm talking about people who have some kind of grasp of who Jesus is and what he can do. These people understood that he was a teacher and they understood that he could do some things, but their problem was their scope of faith was very limited. Christ demanded so much more. Why bother the teacher any further?

Meaning, he could have done something up to this point, but beyond this point, he's not very helpful. You have people who are like that in the realm of Christendom. They have an idea of what Jesus can do, but they really don't have a full understanding of what he can do. And those kind of people affect those who are really believing God for something, and trusting and waiting on the Lord more than anybody else. What should of the counsel of these men be?

I don't want to add to scripture, but we have enough scripture to know exactly what true friends, true messengers should have done. I suggest that they shouldn't have downplayed the death of the daughter. But oh, instead of saying, why bother the teacher any further? You know what I would have said to Dreyas? Why not seek the teacher further?

Why not teach yourself by coming to Jesus and trusting that there is nothing too great for him, and that in that moment whatever counsel he gives rest in that truth. That would have been a much better message. Hey, this thing escalated Jairus. Turn to the Lord now and beseech him. And implore him and see what he says.

Let him make the final call. Let him draw the line. But that is not the case. Not everyone around us will spur us on to Christ and to trust him more. So be aware.

Be very aware. Fear is just as contagious as faith is. Fear is just as contagious as faith is. And this is an instruction throughout the bible. Even when Israel would go to war, before they would head out, they would have a pep talk and the leader would look out and say, if any of you are afraid, go home.

If any of you are afraid, go home lest you make your other brethren's hearts melt in fear. So the Bible is very aware and clear in telling us that people who are fearful can rub off on even those who have a little bit of faith. There's so many examples of that, but I wanna move on. We see here that Christ was speaking to this woman at this time and guess what? Jesus heard it.

Verse 36, but overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe. Based on how Jesus has dressed him, do you know how we know what happened to Jairus? Clearly, he was smitten by some kind of anxiety or terror. And we can understand that. And so Jesus addresses it.

He focuses on that. He says, listen, I know what you're feeling right now. Do not fear. Do not fear. And then he provides the antidote to overcome it.

And it's summarized in two simple words. Right? We all know it. Only believe. Only believe.

Fear might have many faces. I'm telling you, the object of people's fears are vast and wide though the fear itself is universal. We all know what fear feels like. One's fear might be another's forte, might be their strength, it might be you're actually bothered by this. Nevertheless, the remedy is the same for all types of fear, whether that fear is financial challenges, potential failure, the fangs of enemies who are merciless or the unknown future.

The solution is the same. Only believe. Only believe. And in Luke's version of the same text, the Holy Spirit tells us that Jesus added something to that. So he said in Luke eight fifty, you don't have to turn there unless you want to, do not fear, only believe and she will be well.

And she will be well. Okay. I'm gonna just be very pastoral now. We're gonna do some discipleship, just very practical impartation here. One of the most effective ways to prevail against the energy draining night stalking feeling known as fear, this is the best way to do it, is to face it with the most tailored promise that you can find in God's word regarding that very same thing that is trying to gnaw at you.

Here's the point that I'm trying to make. The more specific the truth is, the sharper the blow will be against that very lie that wants to ravage your faith. Believer, I wanna stretch you here. God wants you to grow. Don't settle in spiritual warfare for generalities about who God is.

Don't try to go out there and to live this life for the glory of Jesus Christ and depend upon vague ideas of who God is and what he can do. It won't take you too far. The best thing that you can do, the the most brilliant thing that you can do to weather trials or to endure those seasons where you are really struggling to maintain peace and trust and glory to Jesus Christ, is to take what came from God's mouth and then to play it over and over again in your mind and especially in your prayers. What did God say? What did he say?

What did he really say? Know it. Become familiar with it. Hide it. Rehearse it.

We need to go beyond in those hours of crisis. God, you're good. I need some help here. That that is okay. But there's better.

Reach deep in the armory of faith and pull out those weapons that come from the words of God about you and toward you. Wield it and watch it slash every lie and cut deeper until it bleeds to death. When I think about this, I I have so many examples that come to mind, but the one that came to mind was that of Jacob. You remember Jacob was told, go to your uncle Laban's house and his mother said, I'll fetch for you when his anger subsides. And we have no indication that she ever sends an email.

Hey, Esau's doing better. You can come back home. He stays for years. He gets married, got tricked into one of them, gets married again, has children. He has an empire of a business.

And the next thing that he hears about his brother Esau who comforted himself of murdering his own blood is what you see in Genesis 32. I want you to see it in verse seven. Let's go to the beginning here and see how the Bible is harmonious with its precepts and promises and principles. Here's the next thing that this man hears about his brother. Let's go to verse six of Genesis 32.

And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are 400 men with him. How comforting is that? If you had just said Esau was coming, I can deal with Esau. But for whatever reason, Esau saw it necessary to bring 400 guys with him, some kind of reunion. You can imagine how he felt.

Verse seven tells us, so you don't have to go too far with your imagination. Then Jacob was greatly afraid. Greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the herds and camels into two camps, thinking if Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape. So he plants.

I don't blame him. K. Let me break this thing up so that he doesn't completely devour me. One side can at least escape if he's to come the way he is planning to come. But that's not all he does.

He does what you and I should do. He does what Jairus did. Verse nine, and Jacob said, oh God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, oh Lord, here's the part. Look at this. Who said to me who said to me, you said something to me.

You inscribe something over my fate. You've determined my future who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. So this fear just unannounced visits him and he knew exactly how to wrestle it. He wrestles it with what God had said to him. I got news about Esau, I'm now going to combat it with the news that God already gave me.

And he begins to now in the presence of God, before God, tell God, not that God is forgetful, but for his own heart, his own soul, you told me, you told me return to your country. He didn't just stay there, scroll down to verse 12 and see what he continues to do. Verse 12, but you said he's still praying. But you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude. Jacob knew the promises of God.

They were right there. The bullets were in the chamber. They're ready to fire. And so he says, you said this and Lord you also said this. That's how you overcome.

That's how you see victory. That's how you see yourself escape the clutches of anxiety and worry and despair. And if you're serious about living fearless, if you're serious about knowing and coasting in life with peace, and serenity, and repose, then you'll be serious about what God had said. You'll be serious about what God had said. And I get it because I've been there.

I've been there. Here's here's where I've been. Putting great effort into looking at the word of God, trying to memorize the word of God, and when the trouble comes, it seems as though things just evaporate. And you you can't hold on to anything, and it's very hard to to remain calm and to recollect when your heart and your mind is being flooded with so much. And so the best thing really is in that moment to to have it ready on your lips.

Right? And to and to know what to say in that time. But if you can't find those specific promises for every single situation in life, though that would be the greatest thing, And do the next best thing and have have just a couple solid, solid promises about who God is. Descriptions of the faithfulness of God. Examples of what God has done in other people's lives.

And and have those things ready to apply to anything at any moment. I shared this a few Fridays ago and I think it's worth sharing now. I remember years ago talking to someone who reached out to me and I barely talked to this person. They just felt it impress in their hearts to update me and to hear what's going on in my life. And when we just share what's going on and that person asked how can I pray for you, I shared a couple requests and in that moment he prayed like any of us would pray?

What's on our hearts? What we what we have maybe said before, but in that prayer he paused and I knew he wasn't reading a text or a verse or anything from an actual page, but just from his heart came out a passage from Isaiah. And when he had said it, that was the most impactful thing he prayed for me. Because God said it. It came from God's mouth.

And to this day, that left an imprint on my heart and I forgot everything else that man prayed for. Have something ready. Have something ready for you. Have something ready for a brother. Have something ready for that emergency phone call.

Have something ready when you bump into a person and in that moment you have nothing to turn to but it's there and you can rehearse it and you can declare it and you can share it and you can also see perhaps somebody else delivered. If you can't if you can't even get yourself to get there, if you're still brother I'm being honest, it takes takes much for me to arrive there, then do the next best thing. Here's the next best thing. Apart from this, I don't know how else to help you. I'm sorry.

Be familiar enough with the map of the bible. Your bible. Get a copy of God's word in your hand. I'm a book guy. Get God's book in your hand.

There's something about even not being able to know references at the top of your head. There's something about reading it consistently enough, being familiar with it enough where you know where it's vaguely connected on some page in the right side and the this side of the book and that book. And here's here's the next best thing, know at least where you can find the promise of God with the word of God in your hands. So you can turn there as you're breathing heavily and sweating profusely and you can look at a scripture or a psalm that you know where to go to and just rehearse it and read it and wash yourself in it. I know our faith is about grace but God's not gonna help us do this.

He gave us a brain, he gave us a book, and he gave us principles so that we can grow and know greater strength against our foes and this flesh. Jacob knew how to wrestle because he knew what God had said. Something was said to Jairus, do not fear, only believe. Luke says, she will be well. That's what he held on to.

And we have every reason to believe that he trusted and obeyed what Jesus had said because we find ourselves in the next portion of this text, approaching Jairus' home. But before we enter into his house, we're told something quite interesting in verse 37. We're told by the spirit of God that Jesus only allowed Peter and James and John, the brother of James, to go with him. So remember, there was a crowd that was following Jesus and then there was a checkpoint. The woman grabs a hold of his garment.

Jesus pauses and addresses her. Jairus now is there filled with fear because these messengers said your daughter is dead. And so at that at that point, Jesus looks at the crowd and he dismisses them. And not just them, he looks at his 12 and he says, you you you come with me. Come with me.

Peter, James and John, let's go. No reaction from the others. This is the first time that we are introduced in our study of the gospels of Jesus' inner circle. Jesus had an inner circle and it was the same trio. We find them here.

We find them in different portions and different miraculous events. We find them even in those final moments in the Garden Of Gethsemane where Jesus says, would you pray with me? And they couldn't even do that for an hour. I'm not gonna spend time here explaining why Jesus had an inner circle, but I wanna show you for one brief moment who was in his inner circle and why that should bless us. Three people mentioned.

You know who moves me? The fact that Peter went. Out of all of them, Peter. Yeah. He had leadership qualities, but he messed up a lot.

And you're saying, well, where did he mess up here? He actually did. Go back to verse thirty and thirty one. We didn't cover this in-depth last week, but it's worth looking at it now. When Jesus was touched by this woman, it says in verse 30, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments?

Who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him, you see the crowd pressing around you and yet you say, who touched me? K. Here are the disciples again proving that they are lagging and are limited in their understanding of divine perspective. Jesus experienced something, Jesus perceived something they couldn't register, why he would ask such a question when there is pandemonium going on and people pressing in on him, perhaps even others trying to grab him as well, and and yet Jesus is asking, who touched me?

And there's a hint of criticism here from the disciples. Are you actually asking this question? And you can also imagine that these disciples are feeling a little squeeze because they feel the stress and the pressure of getting to Jairus' home before it's too late. And here's the Lord pausing and asking a question like that. Who touched me?

Lord, is it really important now to figure out the obvious? Everyone is touching you. They don't understand that there was power that came out of him. There was someone who really touched me. They didn't perceive that.

But when you go to Luke's version, who do you think the main spokesperson of the criticism was? You don't have to guess it, but I wanna show you so you don't think I'm lying. Luke eight forty five. Luke eight forty five. We're told in Mark, all the disciples side this, but Luke by the spirit highlights the spokesman.

Luke eight forty five, and Jesus said, who was it that touched me? When all denied it, Peter said, master, the crowd surround you and you are and are pressing in on you. Peter, Peter, Peter. So quick to speak. So quick to sound superior and smart.

So quick to bring correction. He didn't do it just this time. He brought correction on different occasions to Jesus. What kind of audacity do you have to criticize someone who is perfect? That's who we're dealing with here, Peter.

And think about it. If Peter was responsible here for these comments, you would think that he would be the last guy to get a front row seat to a resurrection. And yet, Jesus, when he chose his trio said, Peter, let's go. That was the others. I said, really Lord?

Him? And I looked at that and I thought to myself meditating on it last night, and here's the question that came to mind rhetorically, are you not happy? Are you not glad that Jesus still allows us to follow him? To give us give us glimpses of his glory and his goodness even though at times we doubt and maybe even internalize criticism towards his leadership. I'm I'm just so blown away from time to time that the Lord allows me to still play on his team and doesn't bench me.

Even though I do things like what Peter's done, it's amazing to know that we can slip up, mess up, and yet the Lord is still willing to invite us deeper, take us further. See, that's not fair. Well, that's what grace is. It's not fair. Well, wouldn't that encourage us to just mess up even more?

Not not if you love him. It will melt you. It will mold you. It will be the greatest encouragement to holiness that you can imagine. So Peter gets to go and Jesus brings three because there is a law in Deuteronomy that on the basis of two or three witnesses, a thing is established.

So he brings three to testify of what's about to take place. And so they come and as encouraging as that point is, we have to balance it. We have to balance it with an honest view of how Jesus responds to faith. And it is true that it he is patient and he beckons us despite our imperfection and our stumbling. But look at what he's about to do now as he encounters a crowd that is crushing into the home of Jairus.

Verse 38, they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And we had 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 and they laughed at him. But he put him out all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who are with him and went in where the child was.

They laughed at him. So here's what happens. Jesus enters into the scene and it's chaos. Wailing, weeping, pulling, screaming, screeching. And the Lord steps in and he provides comforting correction.

What is this all for? She's asleep. She's not dead. And it makes you question whether this grieving was a performance or if it was sincere because they were able to shut that off so quickly and turn to him and begin to mock him. It's very difficult for a mourning person to do.

Jairus was an important man. It it's it's not a mystery why there are so many people attending his daughter's funeral. And the Lord wants to now do something even in their hearts by elevating their perspective about this situation to God's viewpoint of her condition and of her hopeful future by saying she's not she's not dead, she's asleep. Listen, when you're in Christ and when you believe this Christ and when you follow this Christ, you see things differently. Everything differently.

When you're truly born again, may God help you if you are settling for a cheap fake salvation just to have some social credit among other professing Christians. Don't settle for anything but the true thing because when you're truly born again, I'm telling you, you'll know you're born again. And when you know you're born again, here's one way, you see things differently. You see things differently. Your eyes are open to a new world though you've traveled through these streets before and come into these buildings before and ate the same food before and handled the same money before, everything now is changed.

There is a redefining of all aspects of life including the dreaded appointment that you and I have with death. Because of the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ, his authority, his vicarious death and resurrection, he's able to look at something as permanent as death and give it a different definition. He's able to give it a different metaphor, different figure, and say, this is just a transition. This is temporal. She's not sealed in this condition forever.

She's coming out of it. And every time you go through the New Testament and you you read the reference of death labeled as sleep, it is a reminder from the Holy Spirit to you that one day your body will be awakened at a resurrection morning. We don't believe in soul sleep. We don't believe that when you die, it's like when you go to sleep and then when the resurrection comes, then you will be present with the Lord. We believe that the moment you give your final breath, your soul is in his arms and you come into his presence.

And the resurrection that we're speaking of here, the sleep is the body. That same body that has been corrupted by sin, scarred by iniquity, traumatized by your own decisions and by the force of others. That same body one day when Christ makes the call will know a glorification, a healing, and a renewal forever and ever and ever. It's sleep. So why grieve, Christian?

That's why our funerals should look different. That's why our mourning is not extended. Can I tell you something? Christian marriages are a joy and this may sound strange but it may be just as strange as death being referred to as sleep. Funerals are also exciting when it comes to a person that you know who's in that casket, walk with God.

I don't like the funerals that I go to where people claim to be Christians but their life testifies otherwise and you just hope that they're in heaven. I don't like those funerals. I like those funerals where you go and you're like, I know where that guy is. I know where she is. Oh, that person loved God.

That person served. That person was truly a saint because of the grace of Jesus Christ in them and through them. Celebration. They're sleeping. And I can go up to that casket and pay my respects and say, I'll see you soon.

Do you have that confidence? Death is referred to in the book of Job as the king of terrors. People say, I'm not afraid of death. Really? You just flinch at them and you see them go like that.

Clearly, you're afraid of being hurt. If you're afraid of being hurt, then you're afraid of dying. But Christ delivers you from death. He delivers you from the fear of death. And he gives you a whole new dictionary on life where you're able to look at death itself and say, because of Jesus, this is sleep.

For the believer, that stirs you to worship. For the unbelieving, it's a cause for derision and scorn and that's exactly what we just said and heard. They laughed at him. It's not just a chuckle because of a surprising comment made by some stranger to just deal with the awkward tension. It was a collective effort to mock Jesus and his message.

It was continual. They kept jeering at him. And it came to the point where the reaction of these people was enough for Jesus to say, okay, I know what I'm gonna do with you and he pulls them away from the whole thing and pushes them out. That's how much authority he had. I don't know how he did it.

It's kinda like a cleansing of the temple thing. But he managed to take a packed house and with his authority, get out. In the same way that we read this reaction and believe that it points to a reflection of the culture that we are in today, which blasphemes God's truth on so many fronts, I believe that the judgment that Christ gave this crowd is also a foreshadowing of what will come on that final day to the same type of people. They laughed at him and we read, but he put them all outside. He put him outside of a home to not witness a resurrection.

But there will be a final evasion where people will not be in the presence of God and will not know the resurrection unto life. Because during this life, they mocked him, they hated him, they despised him, and they rejected his truth when it was given to them. Don't be that person. Don't be that person. You will miss out on so much.

Not just in this life, but in eternal life. These people were exposed to the truth, but they were expelled. And one day there will be a people who have been exposed to truth and there will be an eternal expulsion where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I pray that your soul would be saved for real if you're not born again in this place. Jesus tells him to leave.

Let's finish this together with an alertness, shall we? Verse 41, taking her by the hand. I love that. Because Mark is very descriptive of how Jesus is personal in his miracles. He looks around to see.

You see a lot of seeing from Jesus in Mark. There's a lot of touching with the miracles in Mark to show that he's personal. He's compassionate. He wants to be near. He doesn't just want to dispense his power from afar.

He wants you to feel him and know his love in every touch. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, talitha kumai, Aramaic which means little girl I say to you arise. You can imagine the suspense of that moment. Right? And immediately the girl got up and began walking for she was 12 years of age.

And they were immediately overcome with amazement. This healing was so complete, there was no need for rehab, there was no need for any kind of supervision or inclination towards restoration. It was immediate. She left. She just jumped out of bed and began walking around with full strength in her bones, in her muscles, in her nerves.

They were amazed at what they had seen. And it could have ended there, but it ends with verse 43 and verse 43 is so insightful. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this. Why? Why not?

Well, one reason for certain is because Jesus again did not want to fuel the hysteria of people coming to him just for miracles. He had a message. There was healing in his gospel that he wanted to prioritize and to to throw this out there would would probably just cause people to get all caught up in the miracles all over again. And so, he hesitates for this news to go out just yet. But there's something else he tells them, and told them to give her something to eat.

Now we look at that like, okay, that's that's a sweet gesture. No, it says something. It says something about Christ. Because again, let's go back into that scene, that bedroom. Right?

This young girl gets up, she starts walking and you can just imagine the joy just bursting forth. You can imagine the belief, but disbelief. You can imagine the embrace. You can imagine the tears, the crying. If she had siblings, well, she was the only one, but maybe other relatives in there that would hear later on.

The reunion that would happen that, and all these things. Right? And yet with all of that holy commotion, Jesus is aware of something that nobody else is aware of. Hey, she needs to eat. Give her something to eat.

She she probably hasn't eaten in days. Give her some food. Somebody prepare her some lunch. And reflecting on that, I thought to myself it showed that the Lord was more attentive to her needs than anyone else in that house. He knew exactly where she was at and the depth of his awareness of what she needed is an insight about how he is.

More knowledgeable, more caring, more present, more aware than anyone you know. Anyone you know. You might have a mom who adores you. You might have a father who provides for you. You might have siblings who will die for you.

You might have friends who make so many promises to be there for you. You might have a pastor who supports you, but no one like Jesus. They all missed it. He didn't. You see, Christ, what he does here is is he brings to the attention of the people something that he knew that she needed that they didn't.

And Christ does this in ways that I hope you would never be blind to. I think about even Elijah, how God tells him, go to the East Of The Jordan and I've commanded the ravens to feed you there. So he goes and twice a day the ravens come and they provide him a meal. And notice when the ravens come, they provide him exactly what he needed for that meal. He had no leftovers.

So you have to trust that dinner time, a raven's gonna come. And the next day, another raven, another raven. And then from there he tells him to go to Zarephath which was in Sidon. And he says, go there for I've commanded a widow to feed you there. God has all these instruments, all these vessels around us.

And whether you're aware of it or not, he moves through people through providence because he's aware of what you need and he places it perfectly in your path. How the Lord knew how to take care of Elijah, how he knew how to take care of this woman, the Lord knows how to take care of you and me. Remember how it mentioned, grab a hold of one or two promises that you can tuck in here and from time to time sharpen your memorization of it so that you'd be ready to face that fear that wants to viciously rip it out from you. Here's one to consider, Isaiah forty nine fifteen, Can a woman forget her nursing child that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? You know what the Lord is doing there?

He's pointing to one of the strongest demonstrations of human love. A woman, a mother for her nursing child, that baby can't do anything in return for that mother. And yet there's something churning in her. There's something keeping her up at night. There is no doubt in any part of who she is that she will give 10 lives for that baby to survive another day.

And the Lord points to that kind of a love, and he says as extreme and as high as that love is, it is still subject to fail. It's possible even for a mother to forget on some level, and then he contrast that love with his love. My love, as we read here, even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. My love is not only stronger, it's unbreakable. It's constant.

It doesn't have episodes. It's dependable. It's strong and it's something you can lean on, and I don't get tired of it. A mother may know exhaustion, I do not sleep. A mother may burst out from time to time, what did I get myself into?

I don't. Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. But secondly, this command shows how practical God is. Does it not? Give her something to eat.

Lord, you just raised her from the dead. Maybe you can also make a meal. Right? You can fill her belly. You you filled her body with breath.

You can fill her belly. Maybe you can make something appear before her on her lap before she even takes another step. But he doesn't do that. He did his part, he looks at the parents and he says, now make her something. God is very practical.

And what you see here is that the power of Christ in our lives does not discourage us discourage us from participating and making things happen. Let me put it this way, not every situation in your life requires a miracle. God has expectations on you. He has instruction. He has wisdom.

He has given us skills, resources, and he expects us to plan and prepare accordingly for things to be accomplished. And from time to time, he may allow us to face a situation like what Jairus faced so that we would have to call on him because there's nothing else we can do. And in those moments where only a miracle makes sense, Do not fear, only believe. Let's pray. Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

Father, help us believe in your personalized love for each person here. Help us not wait for a subjective surge of emotion. Help us not look to events to qualify how you care for us. Like Jacob, may we be greatly acquainted with what you have said already in your word. Help us believe your word.

Lord, you know the fears in this place, the unspoken fears, The fears that might be embarrassing to share about because they seem so silly and trivial. But Lord as you showed with this young girl, you know and you care. We love you for that. And so Lord in this very moment we wanna worship you. Because as we leave this place and go and deal with the affairs of life, as we go into our bank account and look at numbers that might not be the most favorable, or a calendar and see things that are coming up that might be overwhelming, or going back to a home that might seem anything but a home, or might receive a report that will rattle us to the core.

We just pray that this word would not be forgotten. Help us ignore the agents of fear in our lives that don't believe fully what you're able to do. Mute every other voice and magnify your own. And Lord, in those moments where we feel lazy toward your word, indifferent, help us, God, cultivate a familiarity so that we can be prepared. We sing to you because we are grateful to you.

You deserve the glory. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together.